may 17, 1959 - Agrarian Reform Law (INRA established)

Description:

-beginning of land reform

-INRA (National Institute for Agrarian Reform) established - in charge of reform, answerable only to Castro (absorbed ORPC within months --> became real government)

-large landholdings nationalised (confiscated from Cuban + foreign companies) --> either redistributed to poor plantation workers + small plantation owners, or used as state farms/cooperatives

-compensation to companies: calculated from tax office records - value of land had been severely undervalued by corporations so they received very little compensation

-same basic principles applied as in Mao's China: need for social + economic justice, peasants in need of promised reforms and would become impatient if rapid + radical action wasn't taken

-nationalisation angered US corporations - loss of investments

-some of middle classes supported Castro's reforms

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