The Virginius Affair was a diplomatic dispute that occurred from October 1873 to February 1875 between the United States, Great Britain, and Spain (then in control of Cuba) during the Ten Years' War. Virginius was a fast American ship hired by Cuban insurrectionists to land men and munitions in Cuba to attack the Spanish regime there. It was captured by the Spanish, who wanted to try the men onboard (many of whom were American and British citizens) as pirates and execute them. The Spanish executed 53 men but stopped when the British government intervened.

Throughout the ordeal, there was loose talk that the US might declare war on Spain. During the lengthy negotiations, the Spanish government underwent several leadership changes. US consul Caleb Cushing ended the episode by negotiating $80,000 in reparations to be paid to the families of the executed Americans. The Spanish government compensated British families through negotiation before American compensation. The incident was remarkable for the use of international diplomacy for a peaceful settlement implemented by US Secretary of State Hamilton Fish rather than opting for a costly war between the United States and Spain. The Virginius Affair started a resurgence in the US Navy in the late 19th century. Until then its fleet had been inferior to the warships of Spain. (Full article...)

• ... that after his movement's victory in the Cuban Revolution, television broadcasts showed Camilo Cienfuegos freeing parrots from birdcages, declaring that the birds had "a right to liberty"?
• ... that Rudi Kappel, co-founder of the first airline of Suriname, was arrested both on entering and leaving Santiago de Cuba?
• ... that Brooklyn Nine-Nine actress Melissa Fumero is the daughter of Cubans who fled to the U.S. as teenagers?
• ... that after his release from a hospital for the criminally insane, Richard Dixon burgled $16 from a credit union and hijacked a jet to Cuba?
• ... that José Ramón Balaguer fought as a soldier-medic for Fidel Castro's rebel army before becoming Cuba's minister of public health?
• ... that before his Major League Baseball career, Leo Posada represented Cuba internationally in cycling?

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Anarchism as a social movement in Cuba held great influence with the working classes during the 19th and early 20th century. The movement was particularly strong following the abolition of slavery in 1886, until it was repressed first in 1925 by President Gerardo Machado, and more thoroughly by Fidel Castro's Marxist–Leninist government following the Cuban Revolution in the late 1950s. Cuban anarchism mainly took the form of anarcho-collectivism based on the works of Mikhail Bakunin and, later, anarcho-syndicalism. The Latin American labor movement, and by extension the Cuban labor movement, was at first more influenced by anarchism than Marxism. (Full article...)

Fulgencio Batista y Zaldívar^[a] (born Rubén Zaldívar; January 16, 1901 – August 6, 1973) was a Cuban military officer and politician who served as the elected president of Cuba from 1940 to 1944 and as a military dictator from 1952 until his overthrow in the Cuban Revolution in 1958.

Batista initially rose to power as part of the 1933 Revolt of the Sergeants, which overthrew the provisional government of Carlos Manuel de Céspedes y Quesada. Batista then appointed himself chief of the armed forces, with the rank of colonel, and effectively controlled the five-member "pentarchy" that functioned as the collective head of state. He maintained control through a series of puppet presidents until 1940, when he was elected president on a populist platform. He then instated the 1940 Constitution of Cuba and served until 1944. After finishing his term, Batista moved to Florida, returning to Cuba to run for president in 1952. Facing certain electoral defeat, he led a military coup against President Carlos Prío Socarrás that pre-empted the election. (Full article...)

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• ...that Castillo de los Tres Reyes Magos del Morro (pictured), a fortress which guards the entrance to Havana bay in Havana, was named after the biblical Magi?

• ...that JMWAVE was the codename for a United States covert operations and intelligence gathering station in Miami, Florida created in 1961 to overthrow the government of Fidel Castro?

• ...that Perucho Figueredo was a Cuban poet, musician, and freedom fighter who wrote the Cuban national anthem, La Bayamesa, in 1867?

• ... that the Latin American School of Medicine in Havana enrolled between 10,000 and 12,000 students from up to 29 countries in 2006?

• ...that a Comparsa is the band which plays a conga during a Cuban Carnival celebration?

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