Short answers, pulled from the story.
Cuba and the United States restored diplomatic relations on the 20th of July 2015, ending a break that had lasted since 1961. The reopening followed secret talks brokered partly by Pope Francis and held in Canada and Vatican City.
The United States has maintained a comprehensive trade embargo against Cuba since 1960, after Cuba nationalized American-owned property, including onshore oil refineries worth about $1.7 billion. Congress later expanded the embargo through the 1992 Cuban Democracy Act and the 1996 Helms-Burton Act.
In April 1961, about 1,500 CIA-trained Cuban exiles launched an armed invasion at the Bay of Pigs and were defeated by Cuban armed forces. Two of the seven U.S. ships involved in the operation belonged to the United Fruit Company.
The United States has paid Cuba $4,085 per year to lease Guantánamo Bay since 1974. Before that, the lease was $2,000 per year, paid in gold, until 1934, when the rate was adjusted to match the dollar value of gold.
The United States has designated Cuba a state sponsor of terrorism three times: from 1982 to 2015, from 2021 to 2025, and again from 2025 onward. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo cited Cuba's harboring of American fugitives, including Assata Shakur, when the designation returned in January 2021.
The 2026 Cuban crisis followed a January 2026 U.S. intervention in Venezuela that killed 32 Cuban troops, after which Venezuelan oil shipments to Cuba were cut off. On the 29th of January 2026, President Trump signed an executive order declaring a national emergency and imposing tariffs on countries supplying Cuba with oil, citing alleged links between Cuba and groups including Hamas and Hezbollah.