Cuba is an island nation in the Caribbean. Formerly owned by Spain, the U.S. liberated it and several other nations in 1898. In 1959, Communists took control of the Cuban government, and they became very susceptible to Soviet influence. The Soviet Union began storing nuclear weapons on the island, leading to the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962. In 1963, U.S. President John Kennedy placed an embargo on the nation. Beginning in 2009, the U.S. slowly began to liberalize relations with the nation. By 2017, the two were once again major economic partners.