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Why Did the U.S. and Cuba Sever Diplomatic Ties in the First Place?

5 minute read

On Wednesday, U.S. President Obama and Cuban President Raul Castro announced that the two nations are on their way to restoring diplomatic relations. Obama, speaking of the change, said that the two nations are not served by a policy rooted in events that took place a half century ago.

But what exactly did happen back then?

It was actually over half a century ago that Fidel Castro led Cuban rebels against Cuba’s strongman leader Fulgencio Batista, if you count from when Castro led revolutionaries to the island in late 1956. (He had been involved in anti-Batista efforts for several years before that, too.) Though early reports on the movement speak of Castro and his supporters as underdogs with no hope of victory, as 1959 dawned, they proved victorious. America watched with interest, but it wasn’t long before it became clear that Castro’s Cuba would not be an easygoing neighbor to the United States.

As Castro purged Cuba of Batista supporters, he declined to institute the democratic reforms that many had hoped for. Initially, the revolution had not been overtly Communist, but Castro moved further toward that ideology as his rule went on. In the middle of 1959, he instituted wealth-distribution and land-confiscation programs; that July, TIME reported that a former Cuban official had said that “Cuba’s No. 1 Communist… is Fidel himself.”

In a Cold War world, the rise of Communism in a nation so close to Florida was not taken lightly. Though the U.S. ambassador to Cuba, Philip W. Bonsal, did finally manage to meet with Castro that September, their discussions — partly concerned with arrests of U.S. citizens in Cuba and the government confiscation of some U.S. investments in Cuba — proved fruitless.

In the United Nations, Cuba began to stand with Communist nations against the U.S.; in Cuba, the ruling regime encouraged anti-U.S. sentiments; in early 1960, the U.S.S.R. instituted a trade-and-aid deal with Cuba; U.S. sugar producers pushed for the nation to stop buying sugar from Cuba; Castro accused the U.S. of sabotaging a ship that blew up in Havana’s harbor. The details of changes in Cuba and the U.S. reaction to those developments are complicated and often conflicting, but suffice it to say that TIME called that period a “rapidly deteriorating situation that sees Cuban-American relations reach a new low each day.”

Eventually, in late October of 1960, the U.S. imposed a strict embargo barring two-thirds of American imports from Cuba, which before then had been buying a whopping 70% of its imports from the United States. As the two nations sparred over economics, Ambassador Bonsal was recalled from Cuba, after which point both embassies — Cuba’s in D.C. and America’s in Havana — were left to be headed by chargés, which meant, TIME pointed out, that “diplomacy between the two nations will become as difficult as commerce.”

In the weeks that followed, as rumors of a possible invasion by the U.S. spread throughout Cuba, people began to line up at the U.S. embassy seeking visas to leave the island. The daily lines became an embarrassment to the Castro regime but the rumors only increased as time went on. When Castro later demanded that the two countries have the exact same number of staffers in their respective embassies (11), the U.S. brought its entire staff home instead.

The crowds were still waiting when, early in January of 1961, the embassy closed its doors; there were more than 50,000 visa applications on file at the time. As TIME reported:

The crowd of desperate Cubans swarming around the U.S. embassy in Havana refused to believe that the doors were locked and that no more visas could be issued. One man hammered on the glass, waving his U.S. Army discharge papers. A woman with a broken leg was held up piteously to the scurrying U.S. staff workers inside. “But you are the humane people! You are the humane people!” a woman pleaded, grabbing a U.S. consular official as government photographers stood near snapping pictures of those who wanted to flee Castro’s Cuba.

The U.S. could not help them—at the moment. After two years of harassment. President Eisenhower ordered the State Department to break all diplomatic ties, at both the embassy and consular level, for the first time in the history of U.S.-Latin American relations. To most Americans the wonder was that the U.S. had stood it so long.

The only place in Cuba where a U.S. presence remained would be the naval base at Guantanamo Bay; a few weeks later, the U.S. announced a decision to all end travel to Cuba. Early 1961 proved to be the end of one phase of U.S.-Cuba relations, and the beginning of another, more openly combative, phase — and this week may well mark the beginning of the next.

Read TIME’s 1959 cover story about Fidel Castro’s rebellion, here in the TIME Vault: Fidel Castro

Witness Cuba's Evolution in 39 Photos

Cuban Evolution Joakim Eskildsen
An old American car, long a staple of Cuban roads, sits along Guanabo Beach, near Havana.Joakim Eskildsen for TIME
Cuban Evolution Joakim Eskildsen
A group of youngsters in Central Havana sit on a street corner to discuss the latest news of the Spanish La Liga football league. Their hair is styled like their idols'—soccer stars and Reggaeton singers.Joakim Eskildsen for TIME
Cuban Evolution Joakim Eskildsen
In route to his job as a welder, 62-year-old Carlos stops at a government cafeteria to buy cigarettes.Joakim Eskildsen for TIME
Cuban Evolution Joakim Eskildsen
Cockfighting, a Cuban tradition, takes place in an anti-aircraft bunker to avoid the police. Fighting is not forbidden, but gambling, which is always present at the matches, is.Joakim Eskildsen for TIME
Cuban Evolution Joakim Eskildsen
Antonio Perez Hernandez shows off his prize-winning rooster prior to a fight in Campo Florido.Joakim Eskildsen for TIME
Cuban Evolution Joakim Eskildsen
Havana’s most famous street, the Malecón, as a cold front rolls in.Joakim Eskildsen for TIME
Cuban Evolution Joakim Eskildsen
At his teacher's request, Rodney Cajiga, gets his hair cut in Justiz, a small town east of Havana.Joakim Eskildsen for TIME
Cuban Evolution Joakim Eskildsen
Corrugated zinc sheets barely cover a grocery store.Joakim Eskildsen for TIME
Cuban Evolution Joakim Eskildsen
Jesus, a fisherman from Puerto Escondido, returns from the sea. “It was a good day, despite the cold front,” he said, displaying one of the fish he caught.Joakim Eskildsen for TIME
Cuban Evolution Joakim Eskildsen
Roberto, 22, is a college dropout from the East, who moved to a small cottage in Havana to farm with his father, Jorge. “My wife got pregnant and I had to support her and the child. Here I have a chance," he said.Joakim Eskildsen for TIME
Cuban Evolution Joakim Eskildsen
A pumpkin for sale, cut in half for clients to see it is still fresh.Joakim Eskildsen for TIME
Cuban Evolution Joakim Eskildsen
Delvis Montero, 39, works seven days a week making charcoal and earns $100 a month. “I work hard so my children can go to school and never have to do this extremely hard work," she said.Joakim Eskildsen for TIME
Cuban Evolution Joakim Eskildsen
Madelin, who works at a Havana boutique, hitchhikes to work each morning rather than taking the bus.Joakim Eskildsen for TIME
Cuban Evolution Joakim Eskildsen
Around 7 in the evening, Cubans begin preparing dinner. Central Havana, usually crowded, look deserted.Joakim Eskildsen for TIME
Cuban Evolution Joakim Eskildsen
At night, neighbors leave their doors open to let the breeze in.Joakim Eskildsen for TIME
Cuban Evolution Joakim Eskildsen
Yunier Utre, 19, lives in the Teodoro Rivero settlement in Jaguey Grande, Matanzas province. He works in the mango plantations from sunup to sundown.Joakim Eskildsen for TIME
Cuban Evolution Joakim Eskildsen
Tourists relax on lounge chairs at Melia Las Americas in Varadero, which is next to the only 18-hole golf course in Cuba.Joakim Eskildsen for TIME
Cuban Evolution Joakim Eskildsen
The wiring for the electrical system at a tenement in Old Havana. Joakim Eskildsen for TIME
Cuban Evolution Joakim Eskildsen
Old Havana at dusk.Joakim Eskildsen for TIME
Cuban Evolution Joakim Eskildsen
Juan Lara, 72, takes his cows to graze roughly 10 miles from his home every morning.Joakim Eskildsen for TIME
Cuban Evolution Joakim Eskildsen
Juan Carlos has been a fisherman all his life. Close to 70, he keeps this cottage in the Puerto Escondido fishermen’s village. “I have a real house in my town, 20 miles from here," Carlos said.Joakim Eskildsen for TIME
Cuban Evolution Joakim Eskildsen
Jaguey Grande’s Library, where students from nearby schools come every day to do their homework.Joakim Eskildsen for TIME
Cuban Evolution Joakim Eskildsen
Fidel Hernandez sets fire to the bushes around the fence he just installed to keep his goats enclosed. He has taken his grandson with him, as he says that he loves to hang around his grandpa.Joakim Eskildsen for TIME
Cuban Evolution Joakim Eskildsen
The growth of small private businesses, like this one in Pedro Pi, is a sign of changing times.Joakim Eskildsen for TIME
Cuban Evolution Joakim Eskildsen
A woman at a telephone booth in Pedro Pi. There is only one phone in this farmer’s community, 12 miles from downtown Havana. Neighbors come to make their calls, get their messages and share gossip.Joakim Eskildsen for TIME
Cuban Evolution Joakim Eskildsen
A government-run auto repair shop in Jaguey Grande.Joakim Eskildsen for TIME
Cuban Evolution Joakim Eskildsen
A huge concrete school building.Joakim Eskildsen for TIME
Cuban Evolution Joakim Eskildsen
Ricardo Rodriguez and his wife travel 30 miles every day to the town of Ceres to buy charcoal that they later sell in the town of Cardenas, near the Varadaero resort in Matanzas province. “The profits are meager, but we survive on that," Rodriguez said.Joakim Eskildsen for TIME
Cuban Evolution Joakim Eskildsen
Aguedo Leon (far right), 82, goes to the cattle register in Campo Florido, Havana city, to report the birth of a calf. It is mandatory for farmers to do so immediately after the cow delivers. Failing to report a new birth can result in a $20 fine.Joakim Eskildsen for TIME
Cuban Evolution Joakim Eskildsen
Outside Havana, an old American car with a new Japanese engine is used as a taxi.Joakim Eskildsen for TIME
Cuban Evolution Joakim Eskildsen
At the Puerto Escondido fishermen’s village, a welder repairs the carriage they use to move fish into town.Joakim Eskildsen for TIME
Cuban Evolution Joakim Eskildsen
Riding on horse drawn carriages is still the main way to move in the Cuban countryside.Joakim Eskildsen for TIME
Cuban Evolution Joakim Eskildsen
Ormiles Lores Rodriguez, 40, works as an accountant at the Grito de Baire farmimg cooperative. She says salaries have improved and employees get bonuses every three months if they meet their output quotas.Joakim Eskildsen for TIME
Cuban Evolution Joakim Eskildsen
Dusk falls on Old Havana.Joakim Eskildsen for TIME
Cuban Evolution Joakim Eskildsen
Despite its age, the driver claims his car can reach speeds of 100 miles per hour, thanks to its engineering that includes a mix of American, Russian, Japanese and Cuban parts.Joakim Eskildsen for TIME
Cuban Evolution Joakim Eskildsen
Two young men wait to go out with a girl in Old Havana. "We dress to impress her," they said, "and we take pictures to our barber for him to know exactly what we want."Joakim Eskildsen for TIME
Cuban Evolution Joakim Eskildsen
Alicia, 8, crosses the street to buy candy in Patricia’s Cafeteria, 2 miles from Guanabo beach.Joakim Eskildsen for TIME
Cuban Evolution Joakim Eskildsen
An aging car drives through Old Havana at dusk.Joakim Eskildsen for TIME
Cuban Evolution Joakim Eskildsen
A woman prays to Yemaya, the sea goddess, on the Malecón, Havana's main esplanade.Joakim Eskildsen for TIME

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Write to Lily Rothman at lily.rothman@time.com