Timeline of US-Cuba relations as tensions rise in Trump's second term

Added: 2026-05-28

[00:00:00]Cuba's long struggle has ended with the flight of Batista and the triumph of Fidel Castro. Modern Cuba's story began in 1959.

[00:00:09]Fidel Castro's rebels took power, ousting dictator Fulgencio Batista, and the US quickly recognized Castro's new government. But initially friendly relations soured as Americans criticized summary trials and executions of Batista loyalists. In 1960, Cuba nationalized nearly all US businesses, and the US declared an embargo on most exports to Cuba. In 1961, it broke diplomatic relations.

[00:00:35]Castro declared Cuba a socialist state, and a day later the US sponsored a doomed operation meant to topple Castro at the Bay of Pigs.

[00:00:45]In 1962, the world came close to nuclear war when the Soviet Union put nuclear missiles in Cuba, and the US responded with a blockade, a standoff known as the Cuban Missile Crisis. This government, as promised, has maintained the closest surveillance of the Soviet military buildup on the island of Cuba. US President John F.

[00:01:08]Kennedy agreed not to invade Cuba again.

[00:01:11]the first Latin American country to become a target for nuclear war. US President Jimmy Carter tried to normalize relations with Cuba when he took office in 1977, reestablishing diplomatic missions and negotiating the release of thousands of prisoners. But the rapprochement was short-lived with conflicts over Cuba's military mission in Africa, tension caused by Cuban refugees in 1980, known as the Mariel Boatlift, and the election of Ronald Reagan the following year.

[00:01:41]In 1991, the Soviet Union collapsed, devastating the Cuban economy and beginning a decade of crisis on the island known as the special period. We will tighten the enforcement of our embargo to keep the pressure for reform on, but we will promote democracy and the free flow of ideas more actively.

[00:02:02]After 9/11, the US began sending terror suspects from around the world to Guantanamo Bay naval base in eastern Cuba, angering Cuba, which accused the US of torturing detainees on its territory. In 2006, after a period of ill health, Fidel Castro handed leadership over to his brother Raul, the head of the Cuban military.

[00:02:23]Two years later, Fidel Castro resigned and his brother was elected as president. Good afternoon. In 2014, US President Barack Obama and Raul Castro announced the restoration of diplomatic ties between the US and Cuba. In the most significant changes in our policy in more than 50 years, we will end an outdated approach that for decades has failed to advance our interests, and instead, we will begin to normalize relations between our two countries.

[00:02:52]The thaw in relations brought with it an exchange of prisoners and the removal of of Cuba from a US terrorism blacklist.

[00:02:59]Commercial flights resumed and travel bans were relaxed. Just before leaving office in 2017, Obama ended the wet foot, dry foot policy, which had allowed Cubans who reached US soil to stay in an effort to shift migration towards legal pathways.

[00:03:16]But soon after Donald Trump took office and announced a partial rollback of the Obama-era policies, once again restricting travel and financial transactions. He would later restore Cuba to the list of state sponsors of terrorism. America will expose the crimes of the Castro regime.

[00:03:34]Meanwhile, tensions rose over mysterious health issues affecting US diplomats called Havana syndrome.

[00:03:41]The US withdrew most of its embassy staff from Cuba, leaving a skeleton crew in place.

[00:03:46]Joe Biden's administration reversed many of Trump's decisions, even as shortages of food and medicine in Cuba sparked protests against the government and the ruling Communist Party. The protesters called for freedom and human rights.

[00:04:00]In the final days of his presidency in January 2025, Biden once again removed Cuba from the list of terror sponsors in exchange for the release of political prisoners.

[00:04:11]Trump reversed that decision within hours of taking office.

[00:04:15]He also blocked energy supplies heading for Cuba and in early 2026 captured Venezuelan Nicolas Maduro removing Cuba's main source of oil. This led to blackouts and deepening poverty and hunger as farmers struggled to produce food. Trump also ramped up his rhetoric.

[00:04:34]Cuba, which we will be taking over almost immediately.