[1] Her Majesty Isabella II, Queen of Spain, issued a royal charter in the year 1854 founding the Colegio de Belén (Belen School) in Havana, Cuba.

In 1961 the government of Fidel Castro (himself a graduate of Belen) confiscated all private and religious schools in Cuba.

[2] Castro's government nationalized businesses and banks, confiscating more than $1 billion in American-owned property.

Thousands of those dubbed “enemies of the revolution” were executed or imprisoned, and the school curriculum was reshaped by communist doctrine.

Free speech was not an option, and the Cuban socialist press was an extension of the government.