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The Cuba before Castro is an relatively unknown period, overshadowed by Castro's Regime and the Cuban Missile Crises and buried beneath propaganda and ideological bitter. Despite that, Pre-Revolutionary Cuba was an very interesting state.
At the start of the 1950's, Cuba's capital, Havana, was a glittering and dynamic city. Fueled by the sale of sugar to the US, it had grown dramatically, standing as one of the most prosperous city's in the new world.
Since the late 40's, Cuba enjoyed incredible amounts of revenue from tourism coming from both Europe and mainly the US. By 1950, Cuba had become an literal Island-Hotel with all the most pompous luxury Hotels, Resorts and Casinos.
In 1954, Havana ranked among the 5 most wealthiest citys in the world while Quality of Life in Cuba would surpass the US in the same year. By 1959, Cuba ranked worldwide third in life expectancy and second in per capita ownership of automobiles.
Cuba would also rank worldwide first in the number of television sets per inhabitant. The Cuban TV Industry stood by 1954 as the most modern and innovative in the entire world.
Cuba's literacy rate however (76%) was the fourth highest in Latin America. Simultaneously, Cuba ranked 11th in the world in the number of doctors per capita, with private clinics and hospitals being the majority of providers of services for the poor.
Cuba's income distribution compared favorably with that of other Latin American societies. It had a thriving middle class of great prosperity and a rather "progressive" social mobility.
Cuban industry layed mostly on american businesses hands. Nevertheless it provided most of the job's for Cuba's poor population, with many businesses owners building entire towns for their works, filled with schools, hospitals, churches (etc) for their employees.
After the revolution, Castro's government expropriated most industrial owners, leaving their businesses abandoned and such towns becoming authentic "Ghost Towns".
An example of that is tge abandoned town of Camilo Cienfuegos, named after one of Castro's comrades. Locals still call it by it's original name: Hershey (named after the American chocolate baron Milton Hershey), a once prosperous town built by Hershey and left to rot after 1959.
Cuba's agriculture nevertheless suffered heavily (Despite relying pn sugar and other agricultural products exports). Lack of modernization, outdated farming methods, farmers with low-to-none education and an already old aged workforce contributed to an large sector backwardness.
Politically, Cuba lived under the dictatorship of pro-American General Fulgencio Batista since 1952. His initial rule was popular as it brought prosperity and stability, but increased political repression and corruption quickly eroded the Generals image among the population.
