Thesis Statement

In the book From Amigos to Friends by Pelayo Pete Garcia, the Catholic church and the revolutionaries clash in a battle to determine whether or not communism shall prevail in Cuba.

New & Improved Research Question

This is my new question...
How did the Cuban revolution interfere with the people's religious affiliations?

QQC: Research

Quote: "Catholic radio & television programs were forced to close down."

Question: Why would the revolutionaries turn against the church?

Comment: During the time of the revolution 70-75% of the Cuban population were Catholic. Since religion heavily influenced a majority of the population, I find it odd that the revolutionaries would publicly oppose the church. During the first stages of the revolution the church and revolution lived amongst each other without conflict. But the when the revolutionaries started to deny the church information about certain operations, things started to go downhill. Things continued to digress as the years of the revolution continued and towards the end of the revolution the church and revolutionaries were not co-existing peacefully. Verbal attacks and arrests began to occur in the church. The reason behind these arrests were due to priests possessing counterrevolutionary contraband. Due to the threat of becoming a suspect, the number of priests went down in mass numbers. Personally I think that to gain more followers the revolutionary leaders should have humored the church and let them think they were fully involved in whatever actions &/or decisions were taking place. In doing so the church would have not as frequently opposed the revolutionaries tactics and beliefs. Therefore the church would have sent a positive vibe towards the revolution to the many Catholics that attended mass (Catholic service) during that time period. Therefore there would have been less counterrevolutionary activity and the revolution would have been more successful or at least their operations would've ran more smoothly.

Annotated Bibliography

This article summarizes Cuba’s different economical struggles and the government’s refusal to intervene. It also explains how different revolutions such as the revolution started in response of Porfiriato, helped encourage other revolutions taking place. This article has helped our groups understanding of what took place during the time of our particular revolution.

Citation: Todd, Molly. "War: Latin America" from The Greenwood Encyclopedia of Daily Life, Volume 6, The Modern World. Daily Life Online: Exploring Everyday Life Past and Present. Greenwood Publishing Group. 12 February 2009. .

First blog assignment

From amigos to friends by Pelayo Pete Garcia
The book that i am currently reading is a biography of three young boys during the Cuban Revolution. David, Carlos & Luis live in Havana, Cuba, them and their families are drastically effected by the revolution taking place.
The Cuban Revolution is a socialism revolution that takes place during the late 1950's, led by Fidel Castro & Che Guevara.
Possible research question: "How did the revolution interfere with peoples religious affiliations?"