History
Opened in September 1920 in Havana by educator Hiram Ruston, The Ruston Academy was considered the premiere American school in Latin America. Originally focused on providing an English college-preparatory education for the children of American expatriates in Cuba, it quickly grew into a bilingual academy with a multinational student body. In the 1940s, Ruston expanded to include an elementary school, business preparatory program, basic English classes for Cuban students, and a boarding school, with enrollment measuring at roughly 750 students. In 1955 Ruston moved to a new, larger campus in Havana. [1]
The school was founded by retired English teacher Hiram Hall Ruston and his sister Martha Ruston, of Princeton, Indiana. Mr. Ruston served as headmaster from 1920 to his death in 1946, after which James Baker took over the school's administration. James and his wife Sibyl inherited ownership of the school and converted it into an educational non-profit foundation. Ruston Academy was closed down by the Castro government in 1961. Its former location was used as a public school, storage facility, homeless shelter, and military intelligence facility by the Cuban government. [1]
The Ruston-Baker Educational Institution (RBEI) was founded in 1992 by James Baker and former members of the Ruston Academy Board of Directors, with the goal of reopening Ruston Academy following the collapse of the Castro government. The RBEI maintains a network of alumni located across the globe. Sibyl Baker died in 1993 and James Baker died in 2001. [1]
Operation Peter Pan was a clandestine exodus of over 14,000 unaccompanied Cuban minors ages 6 to 18 to the United States over a two-year span from 1960 to 1962. They were sent by parents who feared, on the basis of unsubstantiated rumors, that Fidel Castro and the Communist party were planning to terminate parental rights and place minors in alleged "communist indoctrination centers", commonly referred to as the Patria Potestad. No such actions by the Castro regime ever took place.
Raúl Modesto Castro Ruz is a Cuban retired politician and general who served as the first secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba, the most senior position in the one-party communist state, from 2011 to 2021, and President of Cuba between 2008 and 2018, succeeding his brother Fidel Castro.
Roberto Críspulo Goizueta Cantera was a Cuban-born American business executive who served as the chairman, president, and chief executive officer (CEO) of The Coca-Cola Company from August 1980 until his death in October 1997.
Little Havana is a neighborhood of Miami, Florida, United States. Home to many Cuban exiles, as well as many immigrants from Central and South America, Little Havana is named after Havana, the capital and largest city in Cuba.
The Intelligence Directorate, commonly known as G2 and, until 1989, named Dirección General de Inteligencia (DGI), is the main state intelligence agency of the government of Cuba. The DI was founded in late 1961 by Cuba's Ministry of the Interior shortly after the Cuban Revolution. The DI is responsible for all foreign intelligence collection and comprises six divisions divided into two categories, which are the Operational Divisions and the Support Divisions.
Belen Jesuit Preparatory School is a private, Catholic, all-male, preparatory school run by the Antilles Province of the Society of Jesus in Tamiami, unincorporated Miami-Dade County, Florida, operated by the Society of Jesus. It was established in Havana, Cuba, by the Jesuits in 1854, but moved to the United States after the communist government of Fidel Castro, himself an alumnus, took power and expelled the Jesuits. It has since made the Cardinal Newman Society's honor roll. The name Belen is Spanish for "Bethlehem."
Oriental Park Racetrack in Marianao, Havana, Cuba, was a thoroughbred horse-racing facility operated during the winter by the Havana-American Jockey Club of Cuba. Founded in 1915, Oriental Park was the only race track in Cuba before Fidel Castro came to power in 1959. It was closed February 5th, 1967.
The Instituto Técnico Militar, originally designed as the Colegio de Belén, Havana, is located at 45th and 66th streets in Marianao, Havana, Cuba.
The Cuban National Ballet School(Escuela Nacional Cubana de Ballet) in Havana, with approximately 3,000 students is the biggest ballet school in the world and the most prestigious ballet school in Cuba. It was directed by Ramona de Sáa until her death on 17 April 2024.
Henry Pollack is the Cuban born American host and founder of "Havana Rock," a radio program that has been on the air since May 1995, the Miami, Florida show on radio station WWFE 670 AM and has enjoyed a cult following since it first aired in 1995. The show has received much praise for its staunch anti-Communist stance and has been featured on CNN, BBC, ABC and Fox News. It is also the only radio show in South Florida that is completely bilingual. He is also the editor of an anti-Fidel Castro web sites on the net, which went online in 1998 as one of the first anti-Castro websites on the internet.
Immaculata-La Salle High School is a private, Roman Catholic high school in the Coconut Grove neighborhood of Miami, Florida. It is part of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Miami and located between Mercy Hospital and Vizcaya on South Bayshore Drive.
Cuban immigration has greatly affected Miami-Dade County since 1959, creating what is known as "Cuban Miami." However, Miami reflects global trends as well, such as the growing trends of multiculturalism and multiracialism; this reflects the way in which international politics shape local communities.
Ramón M. Barquín was a Cuban military colonel and opponent of former President Fulgencio Batista. Barquín was jailed by the Batista government for leading a failed coup attempt in 1956. He later fled Cuba in 1960 following the 1959 takeover by Fidel Castro.
Francisco Aruca was a Cuban American radio host and businessman. Aruca in 1979 founded Marazul Tours, the largest travel agency that provides travel service from the United States to Cuba. He was also a radio host on Miami's "Radio Progreso", WOCN (1450). Aruca was the only child of Francisco Gonzalez and Lilia Aruca. He graduated from the Colegio de Belen in 1959. He later received his B.A. in Economics from Georgetown University and his M.A. from Catholic University.
The University of Havana is a public university located in the Vedado district of Havana, the capital of Cuba. Founded on 5 January 1728, the university is the oldest in Cuba, and one of the first to be founded in the Americas. Originally a religious institution, today the university has 15 faculties (colleges) at its Havana campus and distance learning centers throughout Cuba.
The following is a timeline of the history of Havana, Cuba.
The Directorio Revolucionario Estudiantil was a Cuban student activist group launched in opposition to Fidel Castro in 1960, based at the United States, where it soon developed links with the Central Intelligence Agency. In August 1962 it carried out an attack on a beachfront Havana hotel. As of 1963, it was the largest anti-Castro student group in Miami; it also had a chapter in New Orleans, where it had contact with Lee Harvey Oswald in mid-1963. Immediately after the November 22, 1963 assassination of John F. Kennedy, it launched a campaign asserting that Lee Harvey Oswald had been acting on behalf of the Cuban government. The group lost its CIA support in December 1966.
Merici Academy was an all-girls school in Havana, Cuba, run by North American Ursuline nuns. The school was in existence from 1941 to 1961, when it was closed as a result of the Cuban Revolution.
The Camilo Cienfuegos Military Schools System are a type of boarding school in the Cuban Revolutionary Armed Forces. Founded 1966, it has 20 campuses in many cities, and is an official military high school. They provide pre-military training to students aged 11 to 17. They forge of more than 70% of officers and 50% of the generals and colonels in the FAR. It is named after Camilo Cienfuegos, a Cuban revolutionary who, along with Fidel Castro, Che Guevara, Juan Almeida Bosque, and Raúl Castro, took part in the 1956 Granma expedition. Unlike the Russian Suvorov Military Schools, they are co-educational, modeled on United States military high schools and preparatory pre-college institutes.
The Colegio de Belén located between 45th and 66th streets, situated next door to the Tropicana nightclub, in Marianao, Havana, was designed in 1925 by the architect Leonardo Morales y Pedroso and his brother the engineer Luis Morales y Pedroso of the firm Morales y Compañía Arquitectos.
