Christopher Columbus claims Cuba for Spain on hi Essay Example For Students

: Christopher Columbus claims Cuba for Spain on hi Essay s first voyage in 1492. The Spanish are ousted by the US in the war of 1898. The island is then effectively annexed by the US. American business interests flourish but the domestic political process is seriously compromised by US interference. 1933 sees the entry of Fulgencio Batista y Zaldvar onto the political scene when the then army sergeant leads a military revolt that installs a new revolutionary government. In January 1934 Batista topples the new government and installs himself as dictator, ruling until 1940 when he is legitimately elected as president. Finding himself out of power in 1944, Batista, now a general, bides his time until 10 March 1952, when he overthrows the government in a bloodless coup and cancels planned elections. The US recognises the Batista government on 27 March. Batista rules by decree and presides over a corrupt regime with links to US business and organised crime. More background. Mini biography: Born on 14 June 1928 in Rosario, Argentina, into a liberal, middleclass family. He is the first of five children. As a child he suffers from asthma, and will do so for the rest of his life. 1947 He begins studying for a degree in medicine at the University of Buenos Aires. He spends his leave on motorcycle tours with his friend Alberto Granado, who runs a dispensary at the leper colony of San Francisco del Chanar near Cordoba in Argentina. In journeys undertaken in 1951 and 1952, Guevara travels first in Argentina, where he meets the lepers at Cordoba, then heads west into Chile and then north through Peru, Colombia, Venezuela and onto Miami in the US, where he is turned back by the immigration authorities. While in Peru he works in the San Pablo leprosarium. His experiences with the lepers and the poor and underprivileged during his travels have a key impact on the development of his political thought. He becomes convinced that genuine equality can only be achieved through socialism. Guevaras experiences on the road are later described in his book Motorcycle Diaries .