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| 1996, Feb. 24 |
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| Two civilian U.S. planes were shot down in Cuban airspace by Cuban jets; the U.S. called for international sanctions against Cuba and heightened its own embargo. | 1 |
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| 1997, Oct. 8–10 |
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| Some 1,500 delegates attended the fifth Communist Party Congress in Havana. No major changes in economic or political policy emerged. Pres. Castro reaffirmed supremacy of the Communist state, anointed his brother Raúl Castro as his successor, and called for Cubans to stand by revolutionary ideals in the face of adversity and outside pressure for change. | 2 |
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| 1998, Jan. 11 |
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| A new National Assembly was elected. | 3 |
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| Jan. 21–25 |
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| Pope John Paul II visited Cuba to call for an end to U.S. trade sanctions and for Castro to release political prisoners and afford political and religious freedom to his citizens. In preparation for the Pope's visit, Christmas was declared a national holiday for the first time in Communist Cuba's history. | 4 |
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| Feb. 24 |
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| In the opening session of the National Assembly, Fidel Castro was elected to another five-year term as president of the Ruling Council of State. Ricardo Alarcon was reelected as the president of the National Assembly. | 5 |
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