Historical Organization
Revolutionary Government of Cuba
Revolutionary Government of Cuba
Details
Organization Timeline
Castro says the revolution is beginning rather than ending
đź“… 3 January 1959A Santiago speech presented military victory as the start of social reconstruction and insisted on vigilance against elite restoration.
Manuel Urrutia assumes the presidency
đź“… 5 January 1959The revolutionary coalition installed Judge Manuel Urrutia as provisional president.
United States recognizes the new government
📅 7 January 1959The Eisenhower administration extended diplomatic recognition to Cuba’s revolutionary government.
Castro addresses the crowd at Camp Columbia
đź“… 8 January 1959In a nationally broadcast speech, Castro warned that victory did not mean that every problem had been solved.
Operation Truth mass rally
đź“… 21 January 1959A huge Havana rally defended revolutionary trials of officials accused of torture and murder under Batista, amid international criticism.
Workers and peasants assemble for Operation Truth
đź“… 21 January 1959The mass gathering asserted popular support for the new government while debating revolutionary justice and the crimes of the dictatorship.
Castro visits Venezuela
đź“… 23 January 1959On his first foreign visit after victory, Castro thanked Venezuelans for solidarity with the Cuban struggle.
Fundamental Law reorganizes the state
đź“… 7 February 1959The revolutionary government adopted a Fundamental Law based partly on the 1940 Constitution while concentrating legislative authority in the Council of Ministers.
The revolutionary cabinet receives legislative authority
đź“… 7 February 1959Under the Fundamental Law, the Council of Ministers combined executive and lawmaking powers during the provisional period.
José Miró Cardona resigns as prime minister
đź“… 13 February 1959Disagreement over authority within the new government led the provisional prime minister to resign.
Fidel Castro becomes prime minister
đź“… 16 February 1959Castro formally became head of government, bringing political office into line with his leadership of the victorious Rebel Army.
Government reduces telephone rates
đź“… 3 March 1959The revolutionary government ordered lower telephone charges, confronting a major foreign-owned utility over the cost of public services.
The state intervenes in the Cuban Telephone Company
đź“… 3 March 1959The government took control of the foreign-owned utility and lowered rates, presenting public services as a social right.
Urban rents are reduced
📅 10 March 1959A law substantially lowered many rents, one of the government’s early measures to redistribute income toward tenants.
Castro begins a visit to the United States
đź“… 15 April 1959The Cuban prime minister travelled to explain the revolution and seek economic understanding without requesting formal state honours.
Castro addresses the American Society of Newspaper Editors
đź“… 16 April 1959During his United States tour, he defended Cuban sovereignty and argued that social reform was necessary for democracy.
Castro meets Vice President Nixon
đź“… 19 April 1959The long Washington meeting exposed differing expectations about elections, economic policy and the future relationship between Cuba and the United States.
Castro’s Washington visit ends
đź“… 20 April 1959The unofficial visit revealed both international enthusiasm for the revolution and growing conflict over elections, property and communism.
Castro proposes a Latin American development programme
đź“… 2 May 1959At an inter-American economic meeting in Buenos Aires, he called for large-scale investment to overcome poverty and dependence.
Agrarian reform prohibits foreign ownership of farmland
đź“… 17 May 1959The law challenged the dominance of overseas corporations and connected national sovereignty with redistribution in the countryside.
First Agrarian Reform Law is signed
đź“… 17 May 1959The law limited large estates, redistributed land and created a framework for cooperatives and state farms. It struck at concentrated and foreign landownership.
Osvaldo DorticĂłs becomes president
đź“… 17 July 1959The Council of Ministers selected Osvaldo DorticĂłs to replace Urrutia, while effective leadership remained centred on Castro.
Manuel Urrutia resigns as president
📅 17 July 1959A confrontation over the revolution’s direction ended with Urrutia’s resignation after Castro publicly denounced his anti-communist position.
RaĂşl Castro becomes minister of the Revolutionary Armed Forces
📅 15 October 1959The appointment placed the reorganization of Cuba’s military institutions under a central leader of the guerrilla struggle.
Huber Matos resigns his command
đź“… 19 October 1959Matos and other officers resigned in protest at the growing influence of communists within the revolutionary government.
Huber Matos is arrested
📅 21 October 1959Camilo Cienfuegos carried out Castro’s order to arrest Matos in Camagüey on accusations of treason and conspiracy.
Anti-Castro aircraft drops leaflets over Havana
đź“… 21 October 1959A plane piloted from Florida scattered political leaflets; anti-aircraft fire and falling fragments killed and injured people below.
Camilo Cienfuegos disappears
📅 28 October 1959Cienfuegos’s aircraft vanished during a flight from Camagüey to Havana, prompting a major but unsuccessful search.
Che Guevara becomes president of the National Bank
📅 26 November 1959Guevara’s appointment signalled the increasing role of revolutionary leaders in restructuring Cuba’s economy.
Huber Matos is sentenced to twenty years
đź“… 15 December 1959A revolutionary tribunal convicted Matos of treason and conspiracy, marking the collapse of the earlier coalition between moderate and radical leaders.