Fidel Castro was an illegitimate child of the upper middle class in Cuba. He was the son of the family maid and his father, who happened to be a wealthy farmer and landowner. Castro was highly educated for the twentieth century in Cuba, earning a Doctorate in Law. However his success in life did not come to him as a lawyer, but as a ruthless politician and revolutionary. When dictator, Fulgencio Batista was overthrown during the Cuban Revolution in 1959, Fidel Castro boldly took on the role of leader over Cuba, broke away from the domination of the United States, and put Cuba’s economy in the hands of the Soviet Union. According to Charlip, “Castro visualized a reformed Cuba, with agricultural cooperatives, industry, education and healthcare …show more content…
Frustrated by the economic domination and policing of the United States, Castro started to cut the U.S. out of the economy and find sources elsewhere, the Soviet Union. This eventually led to the end of diplomatic relations between the United States and Cuba. Castro’s popularity grew considerably, making him a “heroic symbol of anti-imperialism.” (Charlip)
A smart move made by Castro was to drastically improve education in Cuba. Education up through university was free to everyone, so it was not surprising that within a decade, the amount of teachers tripled, the number of schools quintupled, and illiteracy appeared to vanish. (Charlip) In fact, Cuba became the most literate country in Latin America. Moreover, Cuba also had the highest book production in all of Latin America. (Charlip) Improved education in Cuba was undoubtedly a success.
Another success under Castro’s rule was improvements made to health care. The rise of more hospitals and clinics allowed more access to treatment than ever before. Treatment was also free, so more people would take advantage of the health care system. This change significantly improved the quality of life and increased life
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Cuba’s economy became stagnant, private businesses were confiscated, and due to fear of their leader and further collapse, the people fled for the United States in waves. As Charlip discussed, to keep the economy afloat, Castro had to open the country to foreign investment and introduce components of capitalism to the economy. These factors enabled Cuba’s economy to stabilize. It is interesting that when socialism failed, capitalism was the solution, particularly because Castro once said, “I find capitalism repugnant. It is filthy, it is gross, it is alienating... because it causes war, hypocrisy and competition.” His frustration with the fall of the Soviet Union and the humiliation he faced with the U.S. for turning to capitalism was
The U.S.’s relationship with Cuba has been arduous and stained with mutual suspicion and obstinateness, and the repeated U.S. interventions. The Platt agreement and Castro’s rise to power, served to introduce the years of difficulty to come, while, the embargo the U.S. placed on Cuba, enforced the harsh feelings. The two major events that caused the most problems were the Bays of Pigs and Cuban Missile Crisis.
“What light is to the eyes - what air is to the lungs - what love is to the heart, freedom is to the soul of man” (Brainy Quotes). Light is essential to the eyes, love is what makes the heart beat, and freedom is the hope of man kind; all of which are essential to the happiness of humanity. Having to live without these rights is a difficult way of living. For example, Cubans have suffered time after time in pursuit of their freedom, but sadly they never accomplish their goal. They live in fear of their broken government, but never stop fighting for freedom. In the early 20th century, Cuba was a democracy. From 1940 to 1944 Fulgencio Batista, a Cuban politician, was Cuba’s president. In 1952 he decided to run again, but when it was apparent he’d lose, Batista seized power before the election took place. The citizens were outraged causing them to turn against their flawed democracy that was brought upon by the election. As a result, Fidel Castro, a communist revolutionary political man, began to plot Batista’s downfall. The Cuban Revolution, also known as Castro’s Revolution, began on July 26, 1952, and ended January, 1, 1959. After Batista, Cuba’s former president, fled the country, Castro took complete control and turned Cuba into a communist country. The Revolution brought upon: many deaths, censored news and publicity, and no freedom of speech. Throughout the years Castro stayed in power, but due to health issues originating on July 31, 2006, he had to step down. After Castro returned, he took control of Cuba up until February 19, 2008. He then abdicated his place as dictator and handed down his position to his brother, Raul Castro.
The United States embargo of Cuba has its roots planted in 1960, 53 years ago, when “the United States Congress authorized President Eisenhower to cut off the yearly quota of sugar to be imported from Cuba under the Sugar act of 1948… by 95 percent” (Hass 1998, 37). This was done in response to a growing number of anti-American developments during the height of the cold war, including the “expropriation of United States-owned properties on the island… [and] the Soviet Union [agreeing] to purchase sugar from Cuba and to supply Cuba with crude oil” (Hass 1998, 37). Bad sentiments continued to pile up as Cuba imposed restrictions on the United States Embassy and especially when, after the United States “officially broke off diplomatic ties with Cuba, and travel by United States citizens to Cuba was forbidden ... Castro openly proclaimed his revolution to be ‘socialist’” (Hass 1998, 38). The day after this, the Bay of Pigs invasion occurred, but it failed in its job to topple Castro (Hass 1998, 38). Left with no diplomatic options and a failed military attempt, the United States decided that the only way to end Castro’s socialist regime was to sever all ties, and from 1961 to 1996, a series of acts were passed prohibiting the majority of trade and interaction with Cuba. (Hass 1998, 38).
Cuba is 99.8% literate, which is 8th in the world, while youth literacy is at 100%. In Cuba, they had 6 deaths under age 5 per 1,000 births between 2005 and 2010, while the US had 8 per 1,000. Furthermore, Cuba has a life expectancy equal to first world countries around the world, such as the US and the UK. All of this is despite the fact that Cuba is still a relatively poor, impoverished country. It is a testament to Castro pushing education and healthcare as important issues to him, and it is another sign that he was an effective leader for Cuba.
Fidel Castro has most certainly been a controversial dictator during his reign in Cuba. His regime has made quite the infamous name for itself during the sixties. When news spread of his, for some, long anticipated death, some were riddled with joy and took to the streets with celebration. Others were solemn for the fall of an impactful leader. However, no one could deny that he left a legacy. Majority of what we hear about Fidel Castro in the United States is negative, seeing that Fidel ousted United States backed dictator Batista and positioned himself against the United States throughout much of his time in power. It shouldn’t be forgotten that Fidel has done pretty indefensible things while in charge but he also is not totally devoid of
Fidel Castro was a man who had a target on his head. Lots of people from all over the world wanted him dead. Fidel Castro wasn’t a capitalist person, he was a Communist.
... the majority of which sought refuge in the United States. With the fall of the Soviet Union, Cuba now stands at a crossroads. The battle cry has changed from “ Socialism or death to Resist, struggle and win” (Castro’s Cuba II). Hopefully, Castro and/or Cuba will not be forced into a market-based economy and all the materialistic commodities that go along with capitalism. In my opinion, Castro should hold out for as long as possible griping to the former battle cry “Socialism or death”. Only time will tell what the fate of Castro’s Cuba will be. Trade might once again flourish the economy, tourism might open up new economic opportunities and foreign investments from Italy, France and Spain could possibly dig Cuba out the current economic hole it’s in. Until then however, the battle against capitalism must not lose any of its vigor.
Fidel was acclaimed to be intellectually gifted by his teachers, but was a trouble maker. Despite his mischievous conduct, he was a self-disciplined student and had a great deal of Spanish pride which he learned from his teachers as well as his priest (Source F). During Castro’s schooling he did not focus solely on his academics,but he focused primarily in athletics such as baseball, in which he earned a award in 1945 as the country’s best secondary school athlete((Source F).Castro was also
In the 1960's and 1970's Cuba seemed to be making good progress. Universal education was developed and the health service became something the island was known for. Cuba remained one of the richest countries in the Caribbean. Many Cubans wanted to leave the island, many tried and failed. Cuba wanted to develop the Soviet Union’s economic style, but it stopped its people from choosing the West’s economic system and forced them to
However, the US played a much larger role in Cuba’s past and present than the building of casinos and the introduction of the first taints of corruption. In the past, even before Batista, Americans were resented by Cubans because the Americans made a lot of Cuba’s decisions. Under Batista, 80% of Cuban imports came from the US, and the US controlled at least 50% of sugar, utilities, phones and railroads. If Cuba was a business in the stock markets, then the US would have been close to owning 50% of its shares. When combined with a long history of US-backed leaders, and US involvement, it is understandable that Cubans begrudged the Americans....
With the destruction of lands in Europe during WWII, Cuba became the world's largest supplier of sugar. Cubans were suffering when others were doing well because sugar was their only major export. This caused an increase in unemployment and poverty in many Cuban cities. Fed up Cubans began to show more disgust and distrust of their government and soon began to rebel. Although not confined to Cuba, "among most Latin-American states wealthy persons were more loyal to class than to country" (Fitzgibbon 1961). Anyone who went against the Batista government could be put in jail, beaten, or even executed. The rural salaries were unstable and erratic at best, and the standard of living was low. Dependence on the sugar industry did not hinder the economy of Cuba, only the earnings of its working class. It was the leaders of the nation who gained profit from this dependence, and it was the heads of the nation who insisted on keeping it that way. After 1950, Cuba began a downward spiral. There was significant corruption and poverty. The sizeable middle class did not emphasize democratic leadership. There was no social hostility in the working class, and the people found they preferred order to confusion. Batista could no longer legitimize his cabinet. The failure in the elections of 1954 showed the unhappiness of the average Cuban citizen. Batista's power was challenged as Cubans took to the streets in protests resulting in
Cutting ties with the United States, he forged new bonds with the Soviet Union. Little by little, Cuba was trading less with the U.S. and more with the U.S.S.R. He began to establish anti-American policies and other barriers with its northern neighbor. Around this time Castro announced that he identified as a Marxist/Lenist. He then launched a one-party government and made sure the millions of Cuban citizens had equal opportunity to the country’s social services such as healthcare. He also had a stab at fixing the country’s economic status, albeit rather
Cuba was one of the communist countries back in the 19th century, its economy largely relies on the Soviet Union, after the USSR explodes in 1991, its economy experienced a quick downfall. Nowadays, Cuba is reforming to adapt the new world economy, as well as solving some problems they left in the past, like the poor political relationship with the United States.
In 1959, Fidel Castro led a revolution and rose to power in Cuba. William Appleman Williams explain that Castro stated that the problem of education is one of the problems that he would take immediate steps to resolve. (Williams n.d.) Therefore, one of the social policies Castro implemented when he rose to power was his Education Reform Policy. The peak of this policy was in 1961, which Ernesto Guevara dubbed the “year of education”.
Burns, Bradford E. Latin America: A Concise Interpretive History. Upper Saddle River: Pearson Education, 2002.