The history of Cuba was turbulent in the period that leads up to the time in which “América” is set. Relations between Cuba and the United States underwent a rupture that continued for more than fifty years.

Cuban president Fulgencio Batista had seized power in 1952 and established a corrupt dictatorship. He was supported by the U.S. government because of his anticommunist policies. In 1959, however, Fidel Castro, who had been trying for six years to overthrow Batista, led a guerilla army into Havana, Cuba’s capital city. Batista was forced to flee, and Castro became prime minister, quickly establishing a Communist government. In 1960, U.S. businesses in Cuba were nationalized, with no compensation. Taxes on U.S. imports were raised, and U.S. president Dwight D. Eisenhower responded by freezing Cuban assets in the United States, imposing a trade embargo, and severing diplomatic relations with Cuba.

In April 1961, U.S. president John F. Kennedy authorized a group of 1,400 Cuban exiles, backed by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), to invade Cuba and overthrow Castro. Known as the Bay of Pigs invasion, this was a dismal failure; the Cuban military put an end to it within three days. Meanwhile, thousands of Cubans had fled the country since Castro seized power.