DP History · Paper 2

Promises and Reality

Castro's Cuba, 1953 to 1985

Fidel Castro made promises. He wrote them in prison cells, declared them from balconies, and codified them into law. Some were kept. Some were broken. Many were complicated.

Below are twenty of those promises, drawn from Castro's own words and the revolutionary laws his government passed.

Your job is to judge each one. Was it fulfilled? Partially fulfilled? Unfulfilled?

What each verdict means

Fulfilled. The promise was kept as stated, or the outcome closely matched the claim.
Partially fulfilled. Some elements were achieved, others were not, or the outcome was mixed.
Unfulfilled. The promise was not kept, or was overturned by later policy.

There are no points to score. Historians disagree on many of these. The goal is to practice the analytical move at the heart of Paper 2: reading a stated aim against the historical evidence, and reaching a defensible conclusion.

Twenty promises. About fifteen minutes. No timer, no correct answers, just your judgment.