From Resistance to Revolution: The Struggle for Control of the Cuban Olympic Committee, 1953-1964‪.‬

Introduction The history of sport in Cuba is often partitioned between two phases, not merely for the convenience of the historian, but mainly because there is such a clear demarcation line--sport before 1959, enjoyed by the rich, limited for the poor, and sport after 1959, when it was caught in the combustible events of the Cuban revolution, and welded to a new political culture. By following the fortunes of the Cuban Olympic Committee (COC) and the attempts by successive regimes to place it under government control, this study will seek to illustrate the difference between Cuban sport either side of the revolutionary break, and examine the events of the difficult interface period. The first annexation of the COC, by Fulgencio Batista's government, took place from 1953-54; the second, by Fidel Castro's revolutionary leadership, began in 1961, and was finalized in 1964. The Batista government was only partly successful; Castro's seizure was complete. To capture why Castro's representatives succeeded so fully in controlling the COC, it will be contrasted with the relative failure of Batista's government.