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1966, Feb |
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A new trade agreement was signed with the USSR. Cuba was increasingly dependent on Soviet Russia for both direct and indirect aid. Serious friction developed between the two countries, however, leading to savage attacks on the Cuban ideology in Pravda and a cooling of relations in 1967. | 1 |
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1968, Jan |
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Eleven old-guard Communist leaders were tried for treason and sentenced to long prison terms, apparently because of their objections to Cuban revolutionary activity abroad. | 2 |
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1970, July 26 |
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Castro admitted the failure of the sugar harvest to achieve its goal. After the failure, moral incentives were abandoned in favor of material ones, including minor wage differentials, production quotas, and material rewards for high productivity. | 3 |
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197075 |
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Despite economic problems and poor productivity, the Castro government made advances in housing, employment, health care, and education. In part as a result of Soviet aid, rural income jumped, and hunger was largely eradicated. | 4 |
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1971, March |
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Prominent Cuban poet Herberto Padilla was arrested, put on trial for treason, and forced to make a public confession. The move reflected growing government intolerance and provoked widespread international condemnation. | 5 |
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1974 |
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Under pressure from the Cuban Federation of Women, the government introduced the national Family Code. The code gave equal rights to women, as well as legal rights to children, but was never aggressively enforced. The year 1974 also saw the inauguration of Assemblies of Popular Power, meant to counter the central state's style of governing from the top down. Real power remained in the higher echelons of the Cuban Communist Party (PCC) and Castro's inner circle, but these assemblies did express some popular concerns. | 6 |
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1975, July |
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The OAS lifted a trade embargo that it had imposed on Cuba in 1964. | 7 |
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Oct |
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Castro sent troops to Angola to help defend the Socialist government against invading South African soldiers. At the peak of its involvement, Cuba fielded 32,000 troops there. Along with troops, during the 1970s and 1980s Cuba sent nearly 30,000 professionals to 22 Third World countries. | 8 |
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Dec |
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The first Communist Party Congress was held. The PCC had a membership of over half a million. The Congress adopted a new constitution. | 9 |
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