// BEGIN editorial data
 var i = 0;
var CubaTimeline = new Array();
CubaTimeline.ID = "CubaTimeline";
CubaTimeline.ID_WB = 6056547;
CubaTimeline.sPubDate = "12/23/2008 5:48:12 PM GMT";
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CubaTimeline[i++] = new Array("","Cuba","Old Havana, November 1999. ","http://msnbcmedia.msn.com/j/msnbc/Components/Photos/z_Projects_in_progress/CubaTimeline/cuba_timeline_intro.standard.jpg","","", "sub", "", "", "", "", "Jose Goitia", "AP file", "174", "298", "#000000", "", "", "", "");
CubaTimeline[i-1].body = "It's been more than four decades since Fidel Castro established Cuba as a communist beachhead in the Americas. Since then Cuba's government - first under Fidel and now under his brother Raul - has been at loggerheads with the United States, while opponents have been forced into exile.";

CubaTimeline[i++] = new Array("","Entering Havana","","http://msnbcmedia.msn.com/j/msnbc/Components/Photos/z_Projects_in_progress/CubaTimeline/981229cuba_history_02.standard.jpg","","", "", "", "", "", "right", "", "Sovfoto", "266", "227", "#000000", "", "", "", "");
CubaTimeline[i-1].body = "<headline/><br>Revolutionary forces seize control of Cuba in January 1959. Official diplomatic ties between the United States and the new Cuban government last until Jan. 3, 1961, when President Eisenhower breaks off relations. The Bay of Pigs invasion follows a little more than three months later. Pictured, Fidel Castro makes his triumphant entrance into Havana. Among those beside his jeep is the Argentine-born revolutionary Che Guevara, who becomes a leftist icon in his own right.";

CubaTimeline[i++] = new Array("","Bay of Pigs","","http://msnbcmedia.msn.com/j/msnbc/Components/Photos/z_Projects_in_progress/CubaTimeline/981229cuba_history_03.standard.jpg","","", "", "", "", "", "right", "", "Sovfoto", "266", "226", "#000000", "", "", "", "");
CubaTimeline[i-1].body = "<headline/><br>Cuban soldiers guard prisoners of war captured at the Bay of Pigs in 1961. The U.S.-backed invasion by CIA-trained Cuban exiles ends in disarray and solidifies Cuba&#146;s decision to ally itself with the Soviet Union. ";

CubaTimeline[i++] = new Array("","Cuban Missile Crisis","","http://msnbcmedia.msn.com/j/msnbc/Components/Photos/z_Projects_in_progress/CubaTimeline/981229cuba_history_04.standard.jpg","","", "", "", "", "", "right", "", "John F. Kennedy Library", "264", "245", "#000000", "", "", "", "");
CubaTimeline[i-1].body = "<headline/><br>An Oct. 23, 1962, intelligence photograph shows a medium-range ballistic missile site in San Cristobal. The discovery of Soviet missiles on Cuban soil prompts President Kennedy to blockade the island. A showdown with the Soviet Union nearly escalates into a war. ";

CubaTimeline[i++] = new Array("","Che Guevara dies","","http://msnbcmedia.msn.com/j/msnbc/Components/Photos/z_Projects_in_progress/CubaTimeline/981229cuba_history_05.standard.jpg","","", "", "", "", "", "right", "", "Freddy Alborta", "265", "235", "#000000", "", "", "", "");
CubaTimeline[i-1].body = "<headline/><br>The body of famed revolutionary Che Guevara is inspected by his Bolivian military captors in 1967. Che attempted to foment a revolution in the South American country but was betrayed to authorities. He was executed, but his legend lives on in Cuba. ";

CubaTimeline[i++] = new Array("","Spreading revolution","","http://msnbcmedia.msn.com/j/msnbc/Components/Photos/z_Projects_in_progress/CubaTimeline/981229cuba_history_06.standard.jpg","","", "", "", "", "", "", "", "Sovfoto", "204", "298", "#000000", "", "", "", "");
CubaTimeline[i-1].body = "<headline/><br>A group of Angolan rebels plans operations with a Cuban military adviser in 1977. The African expeditions are a way of showing thanks to the Soviet Union, which was pouring billions of rubles into Cuba with little hope of repayment. ";

CubaTimeline[i++] = new Array("","Mariel boatlift","","http://msnbcmedia.msn.com/j/msnbc/Components/Photos/z_Projects_in_progress/CubaTimeline/981229cuba_history_07.standard.jpg","","", "", "", "", "", "", "", "Tom Salyer", "185", "298", "#000000", "", "", "", "");
CubaTimeline[i-1].body = "<headline/><br>Cuban refugees, most in life vests, cover the deck of the 118-foot Panamian freighter Red Diamond in June 1980 about 40 miles from Key West, Fla. The ship, with about 850 refugees on board, is one of hundreds that carry tens of thousands of Cubans to the United States after Castro invites those unhappy with the revolution to leave. Many of the refugees had been freed from prisons and mental hospitals. ";

CubaTimeline[i++] = new Array("","Desperate straits","","http://msnbcmedia.msn.com/j/msnbc/Components/Photos/z_Projects_in_progress/CubaTimeline/981229cuba_history_09.standard.jpg","","", "", "", "", "", "", "", "Steve Starr", "186", "298", "#000000", "", "", "", "");
CubaTimeline[i-1].body = "<headline/><br>Four Cuban men in two small rafts float in the ocean between Cuba and the United States. The men were among the thousands who took to the sea in the early 1990s to escape economic misery after the Soviet Union stopped propping up the Cuban economy. Unknown thousands perish in the voyage across the Florida Straits. ";

CubaTimeline[i++] = new Array("","Sunny Cuba","","http://msnbcmedia.msn.com/j/msnbc/Components/Photos/z_Projects_in_progress/CubaTimeline/981229cuba_history_10.standard.jpg","","", "", "", "", "", "", "", "John Moore", "187", "298", "#000000", "", "", "", "");
CubaTimeline[i-1].body = "<headline/><br>Tourists relax on the beach near the 490-room Hotel Melia Varadero in Varadero, Cuba, in August 1998. Off-limits to U.S. tourists since the early 1960s, Cuba has drawn flocks of Europeans and Latin Americans since the mid-1990s, when the nation began pushing tourism as an antidote to its economic stagnation. ";

CubaTimeline[i++] = new Array("","Shot from the sky","","http://msnbcmedia.msn.com/j/msnbc/Components/Photos/z_Projects_in_progress/CubaTimeline/981229cuba_history_11.standard.jpg","","", "", "", "", "", "", "", "Roberto Schmidt", "165", "298", "#000000", "", "", "", "");
CubaTimeline[i-1].body = "<headline/><br>Cuban-Americans in Miami protest the February 1996 downing of two Cessna airplanes belonging to a Miami-based organization called Brothers to the Rescue. Cuba claims the two unarmed planes violated its airspace, but the U.S. disputes that claim. In response, the U.S. Congress swiftly passes the Helm-Burton Act which bans the economic embargo's removal as long as either Castro is in power. ";

CubaTimeline[i++] = new Array("","The pope visits Cuba","","http://msnbcmedia.msn.com/j/msnbc/Components/Photos/z_Projects_in_progress/CubaTimeline/981229cuba_history_12.standard.jpg","","", "", "", "", "", "right", "", "Domenico Stinellis", "266", "225", "#000000", "", "", "", "");
CubaTimeline[i-1].body = "<headline/><br>Pope John Paul II, riding in the \"Popemobile,\" passes a painting of Che Guevara during a trip to Cuba in January 1998. The pope ends his visit by celebrating Mass in Havana&#146;s Plaza of the Revolution. ";

CubaTimeline[i++] = new Array("","The Elian saga","","http://msnbcmedia.msn.com/j/msnbc/Components/Photos/z_Projects_in_progress/CubaTimeline/981229cuba_history_14.standard.jpg","","", "", "", "", "", "", "", "Kevin Lamarque", "272", "233", "#000000", "", "", "", "");
CubaTimeline[i-1].body = "<headline/><br>After a highly publicized legal battle in the United States, Elian Gonzalez returns to a hero's welcome in Havana in June 2000. The 5-year-old had been rescued at sea on Thanksgiving Day off Florida. The Clinton administration sided with the boy's father, who sought his return to Cuba, in a lengthy struggle against Elian's relatives in Florida, who wanted him to remain in the United States.  ";

CubaTimeline[i++] = new Array("","The Carter visit","","http://msnbcmedia.msn.com/j/msnbc/Components/Photos/z_Projects_in_progress/CubaTimeline/981229cuba_history_13.standard.jpg","","", "", "", "", "", "", "", "Cristobal Herrera", "265", "226", "#000000", "", "", "", "");
CubaTimeline[i-1].body = "<headline/><br>At the invitation of Fidel Castro, Jimmy Carter becomes the first former or sitting U.S. president to visit the island since the 1959 revolution. In May 2002, Carter holds a number of meetings with Castro and other government officials as well as leaders of the dissident movement. In an unprecedented live TV and radio broadcast, Carter urges Cuba to embrace democratic reforms while calling on the United States to lift its trade embargo. A few days after Carter&#146;s departure, President Bush declares the sanctions would remain until Cuba takes steps toward open and free elections.";

CubaTimeline[i++] = new Array("","Jailing dissidents","","","","", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "");
CubaTimeline[i-1].body = "<headline/><br>Seventy-five people are arrested and summarily jailed in a crackdown on dissidents in March 2003 that draws international condemnation. Three men are executed by a firing squad for trying to hijack a passenger ferry to the U.S. ";

CubaTimeline[i++] = new Array("","Travel curbs","","","","", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "");
CubaTimeline[i-1].body = "<headline/><br>The Bush administration stiffens sanctions on Cuba in June 2004 by further restricting travel and spending by Americans, including Cuban Americans, who were previously free to travel on a regular basis to visit relatives.";

CubaTimeline[i++] = new Array("","Raul Castro ","","http://msnbcmedia.msn.com/j/MSNBC/Components/Photo/_new/app-cuba-Raul%20Castro.standard.jpg","","", "", "", "", "", "", "Adalberto Roque", "AFP - Getty Images", "298", "258", "#000000", "", "", "", "");
CubaTimeline[i-1].body = "<headline/><br>Five days after his last public appearance, Castro hands power temporarily to his brother Raul Castro on July 31, 2006, after undergoing intestinal surgery. Nearly two years later Fidel announces his resignation and Cuba's parliament names Raul president on Feb. 24, 2008. The move ends nearly 50 years of rule by Fidel, but leaves the island's communist system unshaken.";

CubaTimeline[i++] = new Array("","Slow privatization"," ","http://msnbcmedia.msn.com/j/MSNBC/Components/Photo/_new/app-081223-cuba-reforms.standard.jpg","","", "", "", "", "", "", "Javier Galeano", "AP", "217", "298", "#000000", "", "", "", "");
CubaTimeline[i-1].body = "<headline/> <br>President Raul Castro begins to implement reforms in May 2008 by lifting bans on private ownership of cell phones, appliances and computers. Restrictions on Cubans staying and dining at resort hotels are also lifted. And in an effort to boost lagging food production, restrictions on the amount of land available to private farmers are relaxed in July 2008. ";

CubaTimeline[i++] = new Array("","Cuban-Americans","","","","", "sub", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "");
CubaTimeline[i++] = new Array("","First revolutionaries","Col. Jose Marti, son of a famous patriot of the same name.","http://msnbcmedia.msn.com/j/msnbc/Components/Photos/z_Projects_in_progress/CubaTimeline/cubaamerica_history_02.standard.jpg","","", "", "", "", "", "right", "", "", "197", "158", "#000000", "", "", "", "");
CubaTimeline[i-1].body = "<headline/><br>The United States, especially South Florida, has served as a magnet to Cuba's politically disaffected since the turn of the century, when Cuban revolutionaries waged war against Spain. In the late 1920s, a virtual dictatorship by Gerado Machado led to the establishment of vocal opposition groups in Miami. But it has been over the past 40 years, following Castro's rise to power, that Cuban-Americans have made the greatest political strides. ";

CubaTimeline[i++] = new Array("","The Miami cell","Leaders of the Cuban exile community in Miami in 1933.","http://msnbcmedia.msn.com/j/msnbc/Components/Photos/z_Projects_in_progress/CubaTimeline/cubaamerica_history_03.standard.jpg","","", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "136", "225", "#000000", "", "", "", "");
CubaTimeline[i-1].body = "<headline/><br>In the late 1920s, a crisis in Cuban government and the effects of an economic depression spur new immigration to the United States. From Miami, the Directory of University Students (DEU) agitates for the overthrow of President Gerardo Machado. Recognized by the expatriate community as the \"Miami Cell,\" these exiles ask for less U.S. involvement in Cuban affairs. <p>By 1930, the DEU and Menocal&#146;s supporters have united against the Machado administration, which collapses in August 1933.";

CubaTimeline[i++] = new Array("","Castro's refugees","Fidel Castro reads the oath of office upon being sworn in as prime minister of Cuba.","http://msnbcmedia.msn.com/j/msnbc/Components/Photos/z_Projects_in_progress/CubaTimeline/cubaamerica_history_04.standard.jpg","","", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "137", "248", "#000000", "", "", "", "");
CubaTimeline[i-1].body = "<headline/><br>On Jan. 1, 1959, Fidel Castro assumes control of Cuba, sparking a huge exodus from Cuba to Miami and other cities abroad. Between 1959 and 1962, about 215,000 Cubans -- many of them middle-class -- join an estimated 124,000 Cubans already living in the United States.<p>Cold War politics transform the Cuban refugee situation, with the Republican administration contributing $4 million in refugee relief in 1960. The Kennedy administration increases expenditures to $2.4 million a month.<p>Cuban-owned businesses thrive, and more than a dozen Cuban newspapers serve the populace. Downtown Miami becomes the hub of Cuban business activity.<p>U.S.-sponsored \"Freedom Flights,\" an airlift between Cuba and Miami, commence in 1965. Over 3,000 flights deliver 150,000 Cubans to the U.S. -- primarily Miami -- between 1965 and the program&#146;s termination in 1973.";

CubaTimeline[i++] = new Array("","An underground army","Cuban soldiers stand around a wagon carrying a dead soldier involved in the Bay of Pigs invasion of 1961.","http://msnbcmedia.msn.com/j/msnbc/Components/Photos/z_Projects_in_progress/CubaTimeline/cubaamerica_history_05.standard.jpg","","", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "138", "246", "#000000", "", "", "", "");
CubaTimeline[i-1].body = "<headline/><br>The CIA contributes more than $100 million in covert aid to the Cuban community during the early 1960s. The aid culminates in the disastrous Bay of Pigs invasion of April 1961. The fiasco breeds a plethora of clandestine anti-Castro groups in the United States. In March 1963, disgruntled members of Castro's army create the Miami-based Alpha 66 organization.";

CubaTimeline[i++] = new Array("","Radicalism and reform","An anti-Castro Cuban, left, at a guerrilla warfare training camp operated by Alpha 66 in Miami.","http://msnbcmedia.msn.com/j/msnbc/Components/Photos/z_Projects_in_progress/CubaTimeline/cubaamerica_history_06.standard.jpg","","", "", "", "", "", "", "", "Nathan Benn", "137", "228", "#000000", "", "", "", "");
CubaTimeline[i-1].body = "<headline/><br>On Jan. 25, 1968, the first anti-Castro terrorist attacks occur in the United States. Two Miami-based shipping firms that send packages to Cuba are bombed. Between 1975 and 1983, Florida's Dade County experiences 57 terrorist bombings, most of which are carried out by members of Cuban exile groups. More than 250 acts of terrorism occur within U.S. borders over the next 25 years. One group, Omega-7, is linked to the assassinations of several Cuban diplomats and an array of bombings.<p>In 1976, Emilio Milian, a Miami-based radio news commentator and critic of the bombing campaign, is severely injured by a bomb. The incident creates a wave of revulsion in the community. Rifts develop. Many Cuban-Americans, believing that Castro&#146;s government won&#146;t collapse through force, seek to build up further political influence in the community and beyond.";

CubaTimeline[i++] = new Array("","Marial","A boat carrying Cuban refugees steams toward the United States on June 4, 1980.","http://msnbcmedia.msn.com/j/msnbc/Components/Photos/z_Projects_in_progress/CubaTimeline/cubaamerica_history_07.standard.jpg","","", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "136", "246", "#000000", "", "", "", "");
CubaTimeline[i-1].body = "<headline/><br>A massive request for asylum at the Peruvian Embassy in Havana in April 1980 triggers a series of events leading Castro to lift exit restrictions. A \"Freedom Flotilla\" from Miami docks at the Cuban port of Mariel to transport refugees to the United States. More than 125,000 Cubans leave for the States. Less well-off and educated than their predecessors, the exodus includes criminals and the mentally ill. In reality, however, only a small percentage of the new exiles are criminals by U.S. standards. ";

CubaTimeline[i++] = new Array("","Miami to Washington, D.C.","Eva Morales, mother of slain pilot Pablo Morales, is comforted by family members.","http://msnbcmedia.msn.com/j/msnbc/Components/Photos/z_Projects_in_progress/CubaTimeline/cubaamerica_history_08.standard.jpg","","", "", "", "", "", "right", "", "Colin Braley", "196", "156", "#000000", "", "", "", "");
CubaTimeline[i-1].body = "<headline/><br>The Cuban American National Foundation (CANF), the largest Cuban-American organization in the United States, commences activity in 1981. After leading a human rights investigation of the Cuban government, CANF earns the backing of President Reagan. Radio Marti begins broadcasts to Cuba in 1985.<p>Ten years later, intensive lobbying by Cuban-American groups leads to the passing of the Cuban Liberty and Democratic Solidarity Act (Libertad Act), which imposes penalties on foreign companies doing business in Cuba. <p>CANF remains a powerful lobbying force although the group has been hurt by internal conflict over the more moderate stance espoused by new leader Jorge Mas Santos, the son of CANF&#146;s founder.";

CubaTimeline[i++] = new Array("","The next generation","","http://msnbcmedia.msn.com/j/msnbc/Components/Photos/z_Projects_in_progress/CubaTimeline/cubaamerica_history_09.standard.jpg","","", "", "", "", "", "right", "", "Luis Alvarez", "197", "158", "#000000", "", "", "", "");
CubaTimeline[i-1].body = "<headline/><br>New waves of Cuban refugees reach U.S. shores in the mid-1990s as Cuban economic conditions continue to deteriorate. By 2007, more than 1.6 million Cuban-Americans live in the United States, according to the U.S.Census Bureau.  <p>Miami's Little Havana remains the center of the Cuban-American population, but large communities are found in Miami's suburbs as well as in New York City, Los Angeles and Chicago.";

	// END editorial data