Pre-colonial Cuba

• 5300 BC or earlier. Initial colonization of the Antilles by archaic hunter gatherers.

1400s

• 1492 October 28 Christopher Columbus lands in east Cuba.
• 1494 Columbus returns to Cuba and sails along the south coast.

1500s

• 1508 Sebastián de Ocampo circumnavigates Cuba, confirming that it is an island.
• 1510 Spanish set out from Hispaniola. The conquest of Cuba begins.
• 1511 Diego Velázquez de Cuéllar leads a group of settlers in Baracoa.
• 1512 Indigenous Cuban resistance leader Hatuey is burned at the stake.
• 1514 Havana founded.
• 1523 Emperor Charles V authorises 4,000 gold pesos for the construction of cotton mills.
• 1527 First African Slaves arrive in Cuba.
• 1532 First Slave rebellion is crushed.
• 1537 French fleet briefly occupy Havana.
• 1538 Governor of Cuba relocates to Havana.
• 1538 Slave rebellion comprising of African and indigenous slaves is crushed.
• 1538 French corsairs blockade Santiago de Cuba
• 1542 Spanish crown abandons the encomienda colonial land settlement system.
• 1546 French corsairs plunder Baracoa
• 1555 French campaign against the Spanish in the Caribbean leads to the sack of Havana
• 1586 English privateer Francis Drake lands at Cape San Antonio but doesn’t attack
• 1597 The Castillo de los Tres Reyes Magos del Morro Morro Castle (fortress), is completed above the eastern entrance to the Havana harbor.

1600s

• 1603 Authorities decree that the sale of tobacco to foreigners is punishable by death.
• 1607 Havana is officially named capital of Cuba.
• 1628 Dutch fleet led by Piet Heyn plunders the Spanish fleet in Havana harbor
• 1649 Epidemic kills a third of the island’s population.
• 1662 English fleet captained by Christopher Myngs captures Santiago de Cuba to open up trade with neighbouring Jamaica
• 1670 English retreat after Spain recognises England’s ownership of Jamaica.
• 1670 Francisco Rodríguez de Ledesma becomes Governor of Cuba. He serves for ten years.

1700s

• 1728 The University of Havana is founded.
• 1741 British Admiral Edward Vernon captures Guantánamo Bay, renaming it Cumberland Bay, during the War of Jenkins’ Ear. His troops are resisted by local guerrilla forces and withdraw.
• 1734 Francisco de Güemes y Horcasitas Gordón de Saenz de Villamolinedo begins a 12 year tenure as Governor of Cuba.
• 1747 Francisco Antonio Cagigal de la Vega begins a 13 year tenure as Governor of Cuba.
• 1748 October 12 Battle of Havana. Skirmishes between the British and Spanish fleets in Havana harbor.
• 1748 Construction of Havana cathedral completed.
• 1762 March 5 English expedition secretly leaves Portsmouth to capture Havana.
• 1762 July 30 British troops occupy Havana during Seven Years’ War.
• 1763 British reach agreement with the Spanish to trade Cuba in return for Florida.
• 1793 Slave rebellion in Saint-Domingue (which was to become the Haitian revolution) brings the first of 30,000 white refugees to Cuba.
• 1799 Salvador de Muro y Salazar becomes Governor of Cuba 1799-1812

1800s

• 1812 Juan Ruíz de Apodaca becomes governor of Cuba 1812-16.
• 1843 Leopoldo O’Donnell, Duke of Tetuan becomes governor of Cuba 1843-48.
• 1844 So-called Year of the Lash when an uprising of black slaves, known as the Conspiración de La Escalera (Conspiracy of the Ladder), was brutally suppressed.
• 1853 January 28 José Julián Martí Pérez born in Havana.
• 1866-78 First war of Cuban independence. Also known as the Ten Years’ War.
• 1868 October 10 , Revolutionaries under the leadership of Carlos Manuel de Céspedes proclaims Cuban independence.
• 1878 February 8, Pact of Zanjón ends Ten Years’ War and ends uprising.
• 1879 August, A second uprising (”The Little War”), engineered by Calixto García, begins but is quelled by superior Spanish forces in autumn 1880.
• 1886 Slavery abolished
• 1890 February, José Sánchez Gómez becomes provisional Governor of Cuba.
• 1895 23 February Mounting discontent culminated in a resumption of the Cuban revolution, under the leadership of the writer and patriot José Martí and General Máximo Gómez y Báez.
• 1895 May 19 José Martí killed in battle with Spanish troops at the Battle of Dos Ríos.
• 1895 September, Arsenio Martínez Campos is governor of Cuba until January
• 1898 June 6th–10th Invasion of Guantánamo Bay American and Cuban forces invade the strategically and commercially important area of Guantanamo Bay during the Spanish-American war.
• 1898 March 17, U.S. Senator, and former War Secretary Redfield Proctor protests against Spanish controlled concentration camps
• 1898 December 10, Treaty of Peace in Paris ends the Spanish-American War by which Spain relinquished sovereignty over Cuba.
• 1899 January 1, The Spanish colonial government withdraw and the last captain General Alfonso Jimenez Castellano hands over power to the North American Military Governor, General John Ruller Brooke.
• 1899 December 23 Leonard Wood becomes US Provisional Governor of Cuba

1900s

• 1901 March 2, Platt Amendment passed in the U.S. stipulating the conditions for the withdrawal of United States troops, assuring U.S. control over Cuban affairs.
• 1902 May 20 The Cuban republic is instituted under the presidency of Tomás Estrada Palma.
• 1906 September 29 U.S. troops reoccupy Cuba under William Howard Taft.
• 1906 October 13 Charles Magoon becomes U.S. governor of Cuba
• 1909 January 28 Cuba returns to homerule. José Miguel Gómez of the Liberal Party becomes president.
• 1913 May 20 Mario García Menocal presidency begins.
• 1917 April 7 Cuba enters World War I on the side of the Allies.
• 1921 May 20 Alfredo Zayas becomes president.
• 1925 May 20 Gerard Machado becomes president.
• 1926 August 13 Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz born in the province of Holguín.
• 1928 June 14 Ernesto Guevara de la Serna (Che Guevara) born in Rosario, Argentina.
• 1933 September 4 “Sergeants’ Revolt” organized by Fulgencio Batista ends Machado dominance.
• 1935 May 8 Leading radical politician Antonio Guiteras is assassinated.
• 1941 December Cuban government declare war on Germany, Japan, and Italy.
• 1943 Soviet embassy created in Havana.

1950s

• 1951 August 15 Eduardo Chibás, leader of the Ortodoxo party and mentor of Fidel Castro commits suicide on live radio.
• 1952 March Former president Batista, supported by the army, seizes power.
• 1953 July 26 Some 160 revolutionaries under the command of Fidel Castro launch an attack on the Moncada barracks in Santiago de Cuba.
• 1953 October 16 Fidel Castro makes “History Will Absolve Me” speech in his own defense against the charges brought on him after the attack on the Moncada Barracks.
• 1954 September Che Guevara arrives in Mexico City.
• 1954 November Batista dissolves parliament and is elected constitutional president without opposition.
• 1955 May Fidel and surviving members of his movement are released from prison under an amnesty from Batista.
• 1955 June Brothers Fidel and Raúl Castro are introduced to Che Guevara in Mexico City.
• 1956 November 25 Fidel Castro, with some 80 insurgents including Raúl Castro, Che Guevara and Camilo Cienfuegos set sail from Mexico for Cuba on the yacht Granma.
• 1956 December 2 Granma lands in Oriente Province.
• 1957 January 17, Castro’s guerrillas score their first success by sacking an army outpost on the south coast, and started gaining followers in both Cuba and abroad.
• 1957 March 13, University students mount an unsuccessful attack on the Presidential Palace in Havana.
• 1957 May 28 1957, Castro’s 26th July movement overwhelm an army post in El Uvero.
• 1957 July 30 Cuban revolutionary Frank País is killed in the streets of Santiago de Cuba by police while campaigning for the overthrow of Batista government.

1958

• 1958 February Raúl Castro opens a front in the Sierra de Cristal on Oriente’s north coast.
• 1958 March 13 U.S. suspends shipments of arms to Batista’s forces.
• 1958 March 17 Castro calls for a general revolt.
• 1958 April 9 A general strike, organized by the 26th of July movement, is partially observed.
• 1958 May Batista sends an army of 10,000 into the Sierra Maestra to destroy Castro’s 300 armed guerrillas. By August, the rebels had defeated the army’s advance and captured a huge amount of arms.
• 1958 November 1 A Cubana aircraft en route from Miami to Havana is hijacked by militants but crashes. The hijackers were trying to land at Sierra Cristal in Eastern Cuba to deliver weapons to Raúl Castro’s rebels. It is the first of what was to become many Cuba-U.S. hijackings^[2]
• 1958 December Guevara directs a rebel attack on Santa Clara
• 1958 December 28 Guevara’s guerrilla troops seize Santa Clara.
• 1958 December 31 Camilo Cienfuegos leads revolutionary guerrillas to victory in Yaguajay.

1959

• 1959 January 1 President Batista resigns and flees the country. Fidel Castro’s column enters Santiago de Cuba.
• 1959 January 2 Guevara and Camilo Cienfuegos arrive in Havana.
• 1959 January 5 Manuel Urrutia named President of Cuba
• 1959 January 8 Fidel Castro arrives at Havana, speaks to crowds at Camp Columbia.
• 1959 February 16 Fidel Castro becomes Premier of Cuba.
• 1959 April 20 Fidel Castro speaks at Princeton University, New Jersey.
• 1959 May 17 The Cuban government enacts the Agrarian Reform Law which limits land ownership to 1,000 acres and expropriates all other land.
• 1959 July 17 Osvaldo Dorticós Torrado becomes President of Cuba, replacing Manuel Urrutia who resigns over disagreements with Fidel Castro. Dorticós serves until 2 December 1976
• 1959 October 28 Plane carrying Camilo Cienfuegos disappears during a night flight from Camagüey to Havana. He is presumed dead.
• 1959 December 11, Trial of revolutionary Huber Matos begins. Matos is found guilty of “treason and sedition”.

1960s

1960

• 1960 March 4, the freighter La Coubre a 4,310-ton French vessel carrying 76 tons of Belgian munitions explodes while it being unloaded in Havana harbor.
• 1960 March 17, U.S. President Dwight Eisenhower orders CIA director Allen Dulles to train Cuban-exiles for a covert invasion of Cuba.
• 1960 July 5 All U.S. businesses and commercial property in Cuba is nationalized at the direction of the Cuban government.
• 1960 October 19, U.S. imposes embargo prohibiting all exports to Cuba except foodstuffs and medical supplies.
• 1960 October 31, nationalization of all U.S. property is completed.
• 1960 December 26, Operation Peter Pan (Operación Pedro Pan) begins, an operation transporting 14,000 children of parents opposed to the new government. The scheme continues until U.S. airports are closed to Cuban flights during the in 1962.

1961

• 1961 January 1, Cuban government initiate national literacy scheme.
• 1961 April 15, Bay of Pigs invasion
• 1961 US Trade embargo on Cuba.

1962

• 1962 January 31 Cuba expelled from the OAS.
• 1962 August 17, CIA Director John McCone suggests that the Soviet Union is constructing offensive missile installations in Cuba.
• 1962 August 29, At a news conference, President Kennedy tells reporters: “I’m not for invading Cuba at this time…an action like that…could lead to very serious consequences for many people.”

Central Havana

• 1962 August 31, President Kennedy is informed that the August 29 U-2 mission confirms the presence of surface-to-air missile batteries in Cuba.
• 1962 October 16, McGeorge Bundy informs President Kennedy that evidence shows Soviet medium-range ballistic missiles in Cuba. Kennedy immediately gathers a group that becomes known as “ExComm”, the Executive Committee of the National Security Council.
• 1962 October 22, President Kennedy addresses the U.S.
• 1962 October 23, U.S. establishes air and sea blockade in response to photographs of Soviet missile bases under construction in Cuba. U.S. threatens to invade Cuba if the bases are not dismantled and warns that a nuclear attack launched from Cuba would be considered a Soviet attack requiring full retaliation.
• 1962 October 28, Khrushchev agrees to remove offensive weapons from Cuba and the U.S. agrees to remove missiles from Turkey and promises not to invade Cuba.
• 1962 November 21 U.S. ends Cuban blockade, satisfied that all bases are removed and Soviet jets will leave the island by December 20.

1963-69

• 1963 October 2nd Agrarian reform.
• 1963 November Compulsory military service introduced.
• 1964 OAS enforce embargo against Cuba.
• 1965 October 3, the Integrated Revolutionary Organizations (ORI) become the governing Communist Party of Cuba.
• 1967 October 9 Che Guevara executed in La Higuera, Bolivia
• 1968 March all private bars and restaurants are finally closed down.

1970s

• 1972 Cuba becomes a member of the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance (COMECON).
• 1975 July OAS lift the trade embargo and other sanctions.
• 1974 Maternity leave bill introduced by the Cuban government.
• 1975 The Soviet Union engages in a massive airlift of Cuban forces into Angola.
• 1975 The Family Code bill establishes the official goal of equal participation in the home.
• 1976 March South African forces backing the UNITA rebel force withdraw from Angola. It is regarded as a victory for Cuban forces.
• 1976 October 6 Two timebombs destroy Cubana Flight 455 departing from Barbados, via Trinidad, to Cuba. Evidence implicated several CIA-linked anti-Castro Cuban exiles and members of the Venezuelan secret police DISIP.
• 1976 December 2 Fidel Castro becomes President of Cuba.
• 1977 January 1 Political and administrative division divides Cuba into fourteen provinces, 168 municipalities and the special municipality of Isla de la Juventud.
• 1977 May 50 Cuban military personnel sent to Ethiopia.
• 1979 October 21, Huber Matos is released from prison having served out his full term. He was reunited in Costa Rica with his wife and children, who had left Cuba in 1963, and moved to Miami.

1980s

Cuban exiles on board a boat during the Mariel Boat Lift of 1980

• 1980 April Mariel Boat Lift. Cuban Government announces that anyone wishing to leave Cuba may depart by boat from Mariel port, prompting an exodus of up to 125,000 people to the U.S.
• 1980 June 7 U.S. President Jimmy Carter orders Justice department to expel Cubans who have committed “serious crimes” in Cuba.
• 1983 October 25 United States invade the island of Grenada and also clash with Cuban troops.
• 1984 Cuba reduce its troop strength in Ethiopia to approximately 3,000 from 12,000.
• 1987 Law #62 on the Penal Code introduced recognising discrimination based on any reason and the violation of the right of equality as a crime.
• 1989 12 July, Prominent general in the Cuban armed forces Arnaldo Ochoa is executed after allegations of involvement in drug smuggling.
• 1989 September 17 The last Cuban troops leave Ethiopia.

1990s

• 1990 March 23, U.S. launch TV Marti
• 1991 May Cuba remove all troops from Angola.
• 1992 July National Assembly of Cuba passes the Constitutional Reform Law allowing for direct elections to the assembly by the Cuban people every five years.
• 1993 November 6, Cuban government announce it is opening state enterprises to private investment.
• 1996 February, Cuban authorities arrest or detain at least 150 dissidents, marking the most widespread crackdown on opposition groups in the country since the early 1960s.
• 1996 March 12. The Helms-Burton Act, which extends the U.S. embargo against Cuba to foreign companies is passed.
• 1998 January 21, Pope John Paul II becomes the first Pope to visit the island.
• 1999 Christian anti-abortion activist Oscar Elías Biscet is detained by Cuban police for organizing meetings in Havana and Matanzas.
• 1999 November 5, 6 year old Elián González is found in the Straits of Florida clinging to an inner tube.

2000s

Cuban leader Fidel Castro amidst crowds in Brazil, 2003. In 2006 Castro had an emergency operation which led to a period out of the public eye for the first time since 1959. Presidential and other duties were performed by his brother and Vice President Raúl Castro

• 2000 December 14 Russian President Vladimir Putin visits Cuba and signs accords aimed at boosting bilateral ties.
• 2001 January 1 Cuba celebrates the beginning of the millennium a year later than the majority of the western world. Official government line asserts that: “the second millennium and the 20th century are considered to end on 31 December of the year 2000.”
• 2001 June 23, Fidel Castro faints during a televised speech.
• 2002 January, Russia’s last military base in Cuba, at Lourdes, closes down.
• 2002 May 6, US Under Secretary of State John Bolton accuses Cuba of trying to develop biological weapons, adding the country to Washington’s list of “axis of evil” countries.
• 2002 May 12, Former U.S. president Jimmy Carter becomes the first U.S. president past or present to visit Cuba. He praises the Varela project and criticizes the U.S. embargo.
• 2003 April Cuban government arrest 78 writers and dissidents blaming U.S. provocation and interference from James Cason, the chief of the United States Interests Section in Havana.
• 2004 November 8, Ban on transactions in US dollars, and imposition of 10% tax on dollar-peso conversions introduced.
• 2005 May 20, Around 200 dissidents hold a public meeting, said by organisers to be the first such gathering since the 1959 revolution.
• 2005 July 7 Hurricane Dennis causes widespread destruction and leaves 16 people dead.
• 2006 July 31, Raúl Castro assumes presidential duties as Fidel Castro recovers from an emergency operation.

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Exploiting the US-Soviet Cold War, he was for decades able to rely on strong Soviet backing, including annual subsidies worth $4-5 billion, and succeed in building reputable health and education systems. But, at least partly because of the US trade sanctions, he failed to diversify the economy.

The disappearance of Soviet aid following the collapse of the USSR forced the government to introduce tight rationing of energy, food and consumer goods.

The economy has soldiered on with the help of Canadian, European and Latin American investments, especially in tourism.

But some of these economic reforms have been rolled back in recent times, with President Castro denouncing what he calls the “new rich”.

Cuba has forged closer ties with China and with oil-producing Venezuela. The former has invested in the nickel industry; the latter supplies cheap fuel.

But the money sent home by Cubans living abroad - many of them in the US city of Miami - is still crucial to the economy. Hardships have led to an increase in prostitution, corruption, black marketeering and desperate efforts to escape in search of a better life.

Cuba has fallen foul of international bodies, including the UN’s top human rights forum, over alleged rights abuses. The UN’s envoy has urged Havana to release imprisoned dissidents and to allow freedom of expression.

The US leases the Guantanamo Naval Base on the eastern tip of the island.

FACTS

• Full name: Republic of Cuba
• Population: 11.3 million (UN, 2005)
• Capital: Havana
• Area: 110,860 sq km (42,803 sq miles)
• Major language: Spanish
• Major religion: Christianity
• Life expectancy: 75 years (men), 79 years (women) (UN)
• Monetary unit: 1 Cuban peso = 100 centavos
• Main exports: Nickel, sugar, tobacco, shellfish, medical products, citrus, coffee
• GNI per capita: n/a
• Internet domain: .cu
• International dialling code: +53

Acting president: Raul Castro

Fidel Castro, a devotee of Marxist-Leninist theory, brought revolution to Cuba and created the western hemisphere’s first communist state. He became its head of government in 1959.

He handed over control of the government to his brother and designated successor, Raul. Since then, speculation has grown about whether the ailing leader will return to power.

Mr Castro issued a statement on the first anniversary of the power handover saying he is fighting for a full recovery and is consulted on every government decision.

In 1953 Fidel Castro took up arms against the dictatorship of President Fulgencio Batista. The regime had become a byword for repression and corruption.

Aiming to spark a popular revolt, on 26 July Mr Castro led more than 100 followers in a failed attack on the Moncada military barracks in Santiago de Cuba.

Fidel and Raul Castro survived, but were imprisoned. Amnestied after two years, Fidel Castro campaigned against the Batista regime while in exile in Mexico and established a guerrilla force known as the 26 July Movement.

His revolutionary ideals attracted support in Cuba and in 1959 his forces overthrew Batista. Within weeks he was head of government, and on course to become the world’s longest-serving leader.

He angered Washington by nationalising US-owned properties and businesses and by courting the Soviet Union. Under his authoritarian rule, Cuba has seen an exodus of its citizens, many of whom have made new lives in the US.

While US President George W Bush supports efforts to free Cuba from the regime’s uncompromising control, the veteran leader’s resolve has not softened. He has remarked that he is prepared to die “with a gun in my hand” to prevent Cuba becoming a US “neo-colony”.

It is said that Fidel Castro has been the target of many CIA-sponsored assassination plots; in 1999 a Cuban interior ministry official put the figure at 637.

Raul Castro is believed to be more open to economic change than his brother, having dabbled in reforms in his role as defence minister. However, some analysts say he would be a more radical leader. He is known in Cuba as a political hardliner.

He has expressed a willingness for dialogue with the US, but has warned Washington against issuing threats.

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A chronology of key events1492 - The navigator Christopher Columbus claims Cuba for Spain.

1511 - Spanish conquest begins under the leadership of Diego de Velazquez, who establishes Baracoa and other settlements.

1526 - Importing of slaves from Africa begins.

1762 - Havana captured by a British force led by Admiral George Pocock and Lord Albemarle.

1763 - Havana returned to Spain by the Treaty of Paris.

Wars of independence

1868-78 - Ten Years War of independence ends in a truce with Spain promising reforms and greater autonomy - promises that were mostly never met.

1886 - Slavery abolished.

1895-98 - Jose Marti leads a second war of independence; US declares war on Spain.

1898 - US defeats Spain, which gives up all claims to Cuba and cedes it to the US.

US tutelage

1902 - Cuba becomes independent with Tomas Estrada Palma as its president; however, the Platt Amendment keeps the island under US protection and gives the US the right to intervene in Cuban affairs.

1906-09 - Estrada resigns and the US occupies Cuba following a rebellion led by Jose Miguel Gomez.

1909 - Jose Miguel Gomez becomes president following elections supervised by the US, but is soon tarred by corruption.

1912 - US forces return to Cuba to help put down black protests against discrimination.

1924 - Gerado Machado institutes vigorous measures, forwarding mining, agriculture and public works, but subsequently establishing a brutal dictatorship.

1925 - Socialist Party founded, forming the basis of the Communist Party.

1933 - Machado overthrown in a coup led by Sergeant Fulgencio Batista.

1934 - The US abandons its right to intervene in Cuba’s internal affairs, revises Cuba’s sugar quota and changes tariffs to favour Cuba.

1944 - Batista retires and is succeeded by the civilian Ramon Gray San Martin.

1952 - Batista seizes power again and presides over an oppressive and corrupt regime.

1953 - Fidel Castro leads an unsuccessful revolt against the Batista regime.

1956 - Castro lands in eastern Cuba from Mexico and takes to the Sierra Maestra mountains where, aided by Ernesto “Che” Guevara, he wages a guerrilla war.

1958 - The US withdraws military aid to Batista.

Triumph of the revolution

1959 - Castro leads a 9,000-strong guerrilla army into Havana, forcing Batista to flee. Castro becomes prime minister, his brother, Raul, becomes his deputy and Guevara becomes third in command.

1960 - All US businesses in Cuba are nationalised without compensation; US breaks off diplomatic relations with Havana.

1961 - US sponsors an abortive invasion by Cuban exiles at the Bay of Pigs; Castro proclaims Cuba a communist state and begins to ally it with the USSR.

1962 - Cuban missile crisis ignites when, fearing a US invasion, Castro agrees to allow the USSR to deploy nuclear missiles on the island. The crisis was subsequently resolved when the USSR agreed to remove the missiles in return for the withdrawal of US nuclear missiles from Turkey.

1965 - Cuba’s sole political party renamed the Cuban Communist Party.

1972 - Cuba becomes a full member of the Soviet-based Council for Mutual Economic Assistance.

Interventions in Africa

1976 - Cuban Communist Party approves a new socialist constitution; Castro elected president.

1976-81 - Cuba sends troops first to help Angola’s left-wing MPLA withstand a joint onslaught by South Africa, Unita and the FNLA and, later, to help the Ethiopian regime defeat the Eritreans and Somalis.

1980 - Around 125,000 Cubans, many of them released convicts, flee to the US.

1982 - Cuba, together with other Latin American states, gives Argentina moral support in its dispute with Britain over the Falkland islands.

1988 - Cuba agrees to withdraw its troops from Angola following an agreement with South Africa.

Surviving without the USSR

1991 - Soviet military advisers leave Cuba following the collapse of the USSR.

1993 - The US tightens its embargo on Cuba, which introduces some market reforms in order to stem the deterioration of its economy. These include the legalisation of the US dollar, the transformation of many state farms into semi-autonomous cooperatives, and the legalisation of limited individual private enterprise.

1994 - Cuba signs an agreement with the US according to which the US agrees to admit 20,000 Cubans a year in return for Cuba halting the exodus of refugees.

1996 - US trade embargo made permanent in response to Cuba’s shooting down of two US aircraft operated by Miami-based Cuban exiles.

1998 - Pope John Paul II visits Cuba.

1998 - The US eases restrictions on the sending of money to relatives by Cuban Americans.

1999 November - Cuban child Elian Gonzalez is picked up off the Florida coast after the boat in which his mother, stepfather and others had tried to escape to the US capsized. A huge campaign by Miami-based Cuban exiles begins with the aim of preventing Elian from rejoining his father in Cuba and of making him stay with relatives in Miami.

2000 June - Elian allowed to rejoin his father in Cuba after prolonged court battles.

2000 October - US House of Representatives approves the sale of food and medicines to Cuba.

2000 December - Russian President Vladimir Putin visits Cuba and signs accords aimed at boosting bilateral ties.

2001 October - Cuba angrily criticises Russia’s decision to shut down the the Lourdes radio-electronic centre on the island, saying President Putin took the decision as “a special gift” to US President George W Bush ahead of a meeting between the two.

2001 November - US exports food to Cuba for the first time in more than 40 years after a request from the Cuban government to help it cope with the aftermath of Hurricane Michelle.

2002 January - Prisoners taken during US-led action in Afghanistan are flown into Guantanamo Bay for interrogation as al-Qaeda suspects.

2002 January - Russia’s last military base in Cuba, at Lourdes, closes down.

2002 April - Diplomatic crisis after UN Human Rights Commission again criticises Cuba’s rights record. The resolution is sponsored by Uruguay and supported by many of Cuba’s former allies including Mexico. Uruguay breaks off ties with Cuba after Castro says it is a US lackey.

2002 May - US Under Secretary of State John Bolton accuses Cuba of trying to develop biological weapons, adding the country to Washington’s list of “axis of evil” countries.

2002 May - Former US president Jimmy Carter makes a goodwill visit which includes a tour of scientific centres, in response to US allegations about biological weapons. Carter is the first former or serving US president to visit Cuba since the 1959 revolution.

2002 June - National Assembly amends the constitution to make socialist system of government permanent and untouchable. Castro called for the vote following criticisms from US President George W Bush.

Dissidents jailed

2003 March-April - Crackdown on dissidents draws international condemnation. Seventy-five people are jailed for terms of up to 28 years; three men who hijacked a ferry in an attempt to reach the US are executed.

2003 June - EU halts high-level official visits to Cuba in protest at the country’s recent human rights record.

2004 April - UN Human Rights Commission censures Cuba over its rights record. Cuban foreign minister describes resolution - which passed by single vote - as “ridiculous”.

2004 May - US sanctions restrict US-Cuba family visits and cash remittances from expatriates.

2004 October - President Castro announces ban on transactions in US dollars, and imposes 10% tax on dollar-peso conversions.

2005 January - Havana says it is resuming diplomatic contacts with the EU, frozen in 2003 following a crackdown on dissidents.

2005 May - Around 200 dissidents hold a public meeting, said by organisers to be the first such gathering since the 1959 revolution.

2005 July - Hurricane Dennis causes widespread destruction and leaves 16 people dead.

2006 February - Propaganda war in Havana as President Castro unveils a monument which blocks the view of illuminated messages - some of them about human rights - displayed on the US mission building.

Castro hospitalised

2006 July - President Fidel Castro undergoes gastric surgery and temporarily hands over control of the government to his brother, Raul.

2006 December - Fidel Castro’s failure to appear at a parade to mark the 50th anniversary of his return to Cuba from exile prompts renewed speculation about his future.

2007 April - A lawyer and a journalist are given lengthy jail terms after secret trials, which rights activists see as a sign of a crackdown on opposition activity.

2007 May - Castro fails to appear at Havana’s annual May Day parade. Days later he says he has had several operations.

Anger as the US drops charges against veteran anti-Castro militant Luis Posada Carriles, who is a former CIA operative and Cuba’s “Public Enemy No. 1″ accused of downing a Cuban airliner.

2007 July - First time since 1959 that Revolution Day is celebrated without Castro present.

Castro issues statement on first anniversary of power handover saying he is fighting for full recovery.

2007 September - Castro gives interview to Cuban TV. It is his first television appearance in more than three months.

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