By Gabby Shacknai President Barack Obama announced this year that the U.S. would restore diplomatic relations with Cuba, a major landmark in the history of a fraught relationship. Use the points below to illuminate the historical context for your class. Refer to the vocab sheet for key terms. 1) The history of U.S.-Cuban conflict At the end of the Spanish-American War in 1898, Spain signed the rights to its territories over to the U.S., which established military rule in Cuba for several years. Cuba gained independence in 1902, but the U.S. military routinely intervened in Cuban affairs. In 1959, Fidel Castro and his band of guerrillas overthrew then-President Gen. Fulgencio Batista, establishing a communist government. By 1960, Cuba had nationalized hundreds of private companies, seized private land, and taxed American products so heavily that U.S. exports fell by half in two years. U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower and his administration responded by imposing heavy trade restrictions on all but food and medical supplies. When Castro expanded trade with the Soviet Union , the U.S. cut all diplomatic ties ; President John F. Kennedy issued a permanent embargo on Cuba in February of 1962. In the early 1960s, the U.S. conducted several operations aimed at overthrowing Cuba’s government and limiting the influence of communism, including The Bay of Pigs and Operation Mongoose. In October 1962, the countries’ relationship faced its darkest moment with the Cuban Missile Crisis, which brought both countries to the brink of nuclear war. In 1982, Cuba was added to the state-sponsored terrorism list. 2) What is the state-sponsored terrorism list? “State sponsor of terrorism” is a designation applied to countries that the U.S. Department of State determines have “repeatedly provided support for acts of international terrorism.” The list was created in late December 1979 and initially included Libya, Iraq, South Yemen and Syria. The U.S. added Cuba to the list in 1982. President Barack Obama removed Cuba from the list in 2015, leaving only Iran, Sudan and Syria. 3) What does Cuban-American diplomacy means for travel and trade? Only Congress can lift the still-existing trade embargo, but new regulations will expand travel and trade in Cuba, enabling Americans to visit Cuba for religious or educational reasons. U.S. airlines will be allowed to provide flights to Cuba, and U.S. tourists can bring up to $400 worth of Cuban goods out of the country. 4) How will normalized relations affect Cuban culture? Before the trade embargo, Cuba’s economy relied heavily on American goods. As capitalism-based trade re-enters the Cuban arena for the first time in decades, some speculate that more and more Cubans could begin running businesses. Many Cubans hope that a renewed relationship with the U.S. will help bring new life to the country’s economy, but others worry that U.S. interests could exploit Cuban resources and culture. 5) How will Cuba play in the 2016 presidential election? Many Republican presidential candidates have criticized Cuba’s removal from the terrorism list, signaling that the restoration of U.S.-Cuban diplomacy could become a contentious issue in the 2016 campaign. Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, who announced his candidacy on Monday, called the decision “further evidence that President Obama seems more interested in capitulating to our adversaries than in confronting them.”