Editing Economy of Cuba (section)

===Early economic planning (1959-1967)===
{{Main|Agrarian reforms in Cuba|Four Year Plan (Cuba)|Great Debate (Cuba)}}
On 3 March 1959, Fidel Castro seized control of the Cuban Telephone Company, which was a subsidiary of the [[ITT Corporation|International Telephone and Telecommunications Corporation.]] This was the first of many nationalizations made by the new government; the assets seized totaled US$9&nbsp;billion.<ref>{{cite magazine|url=http://content.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1223316,00.html|title=Cuba After Castro: Can Exiles Reclaim Their Stake?|date=5 August 2006|magazine=[[Time (magazine)|Time]] |access-date=11 June 2015}}</ref>

After the 1959 Revolution, citizens were not required to pay a personal [[income tax]] (their salaries being regarded as net of any taxes).<ref name=":0">{{cite news| url= https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9D00EEDA1039F935A15752C1A963958260 |work=The New York Times |date=November 1995 |title= Well-to-Do in Cuba to Pay an Income Tax |access-date=29 January 2007 }}</ref> The government also began to subsidize [[Healthcare in Cuba|healthcare]] and education for all citizens; this action created strong national support for the new revolutionary government.

The [[Soviet Union|USSR]] and Cuba reestablished their diplomatic relations in May 1960. When oil refineries like Shell, Texaco, and Esso refused to refine Soviet oil, Castro nationalized that industry as well, taking over the refineries on the island.<ref name="Cuba and the U.S. Empire">{{Cite book|jstor=j.ctt1b3h9jn.8|title=Cuba and the U.S. Empire|chapter=The year 1960|date=1 January 2016|publisher=NYU Press|isbn=978-1-58367-606-6|editor-last=Franklin|editor-first=Jane|series=A Chronological History|pages=24–33|last1=Franklin|first1=Jane}}</ref> Days later in response, the United States cut the Cuban sugar quota completely; Eisenhower was quoted saying "This action amounts to economic sanctions against Cuba. Now we must look ahead to other economic, diplomatic, and strategic moves."<ref name="Cuba and the U.S. Empire"/> Cuba and the Soviet Union signed their first trade deal that year, in which Cuba traded sugar to the Soviet Union in exchange for fuel.<ref name=":022" />{{Rp|page=2}}

On 7 February 1962, Kennedy expanded the United States embargo to cover almost all U.S. imports.

By the late 1960s, Cuba became dependent on Soviet economic, political, and military aid. It was also around this time that Castro began privately believing that Cuba could bypass the various stages of socialism and progress directly to [[Communist society|pure communism]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Quirk |first=Robert E. |title=Fidel Castro |pages=559–560 |year=1993 |publisher=New York and London: W.W. Norton & Company |isbn=978-0-393-03485-1}}</ref> General Secretary [[Leonid Brezhnev]] consolidated Cuba's dependence on the USSR when, in 1973, Castro caved to Brezhnev's pressure to become a full member of [[Comecon|Council for Mutual Economic Assistance]] (Comecon).<ref>{{cite book |last=Pavlov |first=Yuri I. |title=Soviet-Cuban Alliance, 1959-1991 |page=94 |year=1996 |publisher=North-South Center Press, University of Miami |isbn=978-1-57454-004-8}}</ref> Comecon deemed Cuba one of its underdeveloped member countries and therefore Cuba could obtain oil in direct exchange for sugar at a rate that was highly favorable to Cuba.<ref name=":022" />{{Rp|page=41}} Hard currency Cuba obtained from re-exporting oil facilitated Cuba's importation of goods from non-Comecon countries and facilitated its investments in social services.<ref name=":022" />{{Rp|page=57}}