In 1959, guerrilla fighters led by Fidel Castro and Che Guevara overthrew Cuba's dictator, Fulgencio Batista, in what became the Cuban Revolution. Castro began making relations with the Soviet Union and tried to close a lot of American businesses in Cuba; the United States did not like this. In 1961 Castro officially announced that his government was socialist. The US attempted to invade Cuba to regain control of it and overthrow it's communist led government but failed. The Communist Party of Cuba was created in 1965 and has ruled the island ever since. Today, Cuba is the only communist state outside of Asia, in the Caribbean, and in the western hemisphere.