Episode
Frontline: Crisis in Central America 2: Castro's Challenge
Overview
The Cuban revolution of the 1950's was the first successful challenge to US preeminence in the Western hemisphere. Part 2 looks at the roots of the revolution, Fidel Castro's rise to power, the establishment of the first Communist state in the Americas, the support for his revolution abroad, and Cuba's troubled history with the United States.
Details
- Series
- Frontline
- Season
- Season 3
- Episode
- Episode 12
- Air date
- 1985-04-10
Episode context
Crisis in Central America 2: Castro's Challenge is Episode 12 in Season 3 of Frontline. It aired on 1985-04-10.
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Episode 11: Crisis in Central America 1: Yankee Years
From the Spanish-American War in 1898 until the 1950's, US preeminence in Central America and the Caribbean was never successfully challenged. Part 1 looks at these turbulent years that set the stage for today's crises-from the glory days of building the Panama Canal, through the early US Marine occupation of Nicaragua, to the Cold War crisis in Guatemala in 1954, which resulted in the CIA's first 'covert' war in the region.
Episode 13: Crisis in Central America 3: Revolution in Nicaragua
In 1979, the Sandinistas led a revolution that overthrew the Somoza dynasty which had ruled Nicaragua for almost 50 years. It was a revolution the US first tried to prevent, then tried to court, and later tried to undermine. Part 3 traces the evolution of US involvement in Nicaragua and the struggle for control of the revolution.
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