Castro’s Screw Up And Cuba's Economic Crisis Before Fidel Castro took power on January 1, 1959, Cuba ranked third in per capita income among Latin American nations, behind Argentina and Venezuela. The island's economy was agriculturally based, with sugar, tobacco and citrus as the principal crops. Before Castro's takeover, the United States was Cuba's dominant trading partner, accounting for 67% of Cuban exports and 70% of the island's imports. Tourism was an important source of foreign exchange, with approximately 230,000 foreign visitors in 1958 and 102 scheduled flights per week just between Miami and Havana. Baseball was the national sport, and everything popular