When researching such a controversial figure as Fidel Castro, one has to be very objective. The fact that he is loved and hated by so many and the massive amounts of propaganda associated with him makes it difficult to discover who the true man is. There is ample information concerning his life after the revolution, his relations with the United States, and his iron-fisted rule over Cuba. However, little focus is given to his life before the Cuban Revolution. It is the purpose of this essay to piece together the story of his youth and discover what may have influenced his rise to dictator when only in his thirties.
Fidel Castro Ruz was born on August 13, 1926, to Angel Castro y Argiz and Lina Ruz Gonzáles. Born an illegitimate child, his father and mother married soon after his birth, and his parents baptized him in a Roman Catholic ceremony. 1
Little is written about his relationship with his family. Fidel kept his private affairs and feelings to himself. It is known that he did not have a good relationship with his father unlike the affectionate relationship he had with his mother. Although his parents saw little necessity in schooling, he demanded to be sent to school. He went to stay with his godparents in Santiago to attend a Jesuit school called the Colegio Dolores. However, his godparents treated him badly. Upon his graduation at age sixteen, he went to Colegio Belen, a prep school in Havana. In the fall of 1945, he entered the University of Havana. He began the study of law and became active in student affairs. This involvement in student politics helped lead him into Cuban politics. 2
Castro will discuss little about his university career. According to university reports, he seems to have done well in his stu...
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...ntion to bring about a social revolution on behalf of the people. By sifting through articles, speeches, and letters, scholars find that Fidel is years away from Communism or Marxism-Leninism while in Mexico. Until Castro decided to carry his revolution into the Communist camp around the mid-1960s, he remained indignant when Communist charges were leveled against him. 18
Astonishingly, Fidel Castro began his rule of Cuba at the age of thirty-three. However, by reviewing his experiences in revolutionary activities, it is easy to see how he accomplished so much in such a short amount of time. Although Castro has a very controversial image in the world, many authors relate the fact that he truly did have the best interest of Cuba at heart in all of his endeavors. How he chose to rule once he gained power may seem to many as though this was far from his mind.
On July 26, 1953, the war for Cuba’s independence began, and for 6 years many Cubans fought for their freedom. The most famous of these revolutionary icons being Fidel Castro, who led the main resistance against the Cuban government. On January 1, 1959, Fidel Castro and the rest of the Cuban's succeeded. This revolutionary war went on to affect the entire world and Eric Selbin believes it is still affecting it. Throughout Eric Selbin's article, Conjugating the Cuban Revolution, he firmly states that the Cuban revolution is important in the past, present, and future. Selbin, however, is wrong.
Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz was born on August 13, 1926, near Birάn in Cuba’s Eastern Oriente Province to a wealthy sugar plantation owner and a mother who was a domestic servant to his father’s first wife (Source A). Castro was the third of six children and was raised in prominently wealthy circumstances that allowed him to attend well known and well revered schools like Belen Jesuit Prep. (Source A). He was a man that could not be just labeled solely by one phrase or one convenient definition, he was loved by supporters of communist rule and he was also a face feared by many Cubans. He held multitudes of titles to countless different people, ranging from honorable military leader to a protruding symbol of the communist revolution in Latin America that was feared by the Cuban people and Americans alike.
Fidel Castro was born on August 19, 1926, in Birán, Cuba. He spent most of his younger years on his father's farm with his brothers and sisters. Then, he attended Belen, a famous Jesuit boarding school, and excelled in sports, history, geography, and debate (Press 11-13). In 1945, Castro began law school at the University of Havana and became very involved in politics. Later, In July 1953, Castro led about 120 men in an attack on the Moncada army barracks in Santiago de Cuba. The assault failed and Batista’s troops succeeded. During the course of the battle, Castro was captured an...
Cuba's political history carries a pattern: when the masses are disillusioned by the current ruler, they turn to a young, strong-willed leader-of-the-people as their new ruler, only to become disillusioned to that ruler when he becomes too oppressive. It has seemed a never- ending cycle. Batista and Castro were both well-regarded leaders initially who appealed strongly to the masses and common citizen. Later, both established dictatorships and lost the support of many of those that they governed. Castro and Batista are each guilt of repression and corruption within their governments. For example, at some point under each regime, the constitution was either suspended or not followed at all. Castro did, though, make one very important contribution to Cuba's political system: Socialism. For the first time, Castro and Che Guevara a socialist plan called the New Man theory which called for developing an ideology amongst citizens that would call for working not for personal enrichment, but for social betterment.
There may be some question over Fidel Castro’s achievements in providing economic success, or democracy to Cuba in the last forty five years or so. However Cuba’s record on providing egalitarian health care and education to the masses have generally been agreed as a success story, even by Castro’s old enemy the United States. “To be educated is to be free,” (Marti in Marshall, 1987, p146) has become one of the more popular revolutionary slogans and has been greatly adhered to by Castro’s government. While health care is articulated in the 1975 Cuban constitution as being “the right of all and the responsibility of the state” (Feinsilver, 1993, p26). The social political stance of Castro’s government has been the driving force behind the success in health care and education. Issues such as housing, employment, health care and education are viewed as a basic human right and are in theory guaranteed by the state to all. In Cuba, health care indicators are also seen as a measure of the government’s efficiency and performance. Other socialist states that have come and gone over the last century have also professed to put these issues at the forefront of priority. States such as Russia and China have to a lesser or greater degree failed to provide the standard of services provided in Cuba. “Until 1969 China’s health care system served only the urban population, which represented about 15 percent of the total population” (Feinsilver, 1993, p2). There are certainly factors that make this comparison unfair but Cuba’s achievements in providing these social services are still quite remarkable given its economic position. By truly placing education and healthcare as one of the fundamental priorities of the revolution, and developing specific programs and initiatives to deal with these two social issues, Cuba managed to succeeded where others more wealthy nations failed. The use of popular participation and central government control also were powerful tools in implementing these social policies. It would now be useful to look at some of these initiatives that have been taken by the Cuban government that enabled it to equal if no surpass education and health standards in many developed countries.
"Fidel Castro(a)." Encyclopedia of World Biography. Detroit: Gale, 1998. Student Resources in Context. Web. 7 Apr. 2014.
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.
After his graduation in 1950, Castro continued to practice politics and study law. He decided to become a member of the reformist Cuban People’s Party, called Ortodoxos. The Ortodoxos called for economic independence from the United States, political liberty, social justice, and an end to government corruption. Throughout these years, Castro stayed true to his interests, and political capabilities, and became a candidate for a seat in Cuba’s House of Representatives during the election of June 1952. However, right before the election was held, Fulgencio Batista disbanded the previous government and cancelled the election. This incident is what really pushed Castro into fighting this corrupted government and restoring justice to Cuba. Th...
Cuba has come an exceptional way economically, politically, and culturally since its discovery in 4200 BC. According to a recent MDG Report Card by the Overseas Development Institute, Cuba is among the top twenty performing countries in the world. As a former colony of Spain, Cuba was under their domination for 388 years before gaining independence. One cannot predict the future of the country, but by looking at the history of Cuba from its pre-colonial era to the present, it is clear that it will be written by charismatic Cuban leaders.
This historical investigation aims to address the question: How significant was Fidel Castro’s role in the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962?
Castro wanted to expand Cuba’s education system. His primary goal was the extension of education and other social services. In his autobiography, Castro has stated that “[he is] a Socialist, a Marxist, and a Leninist” (Fidel Castro 2008). Being a Socialist indicates that Castro wanted a range of economic and social
Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz, better known as Fidel Castro, was born on August 13, 1926 in Biran, Cuba. He attended Roman Catholic boarding schools in Santiago de Cuba and then moved on to Belen High School in Havana, Cuba. In 1945, he attended the University of Havana where he entered the School of Law with a primary focus in politics. During his years in law, Castro became very active in politics, including participating in the attempt to overthrow the Trujillo dictatorship in the Dominican Republic in 1947. He narrowly escaped capture and returned to Havana to complete his degree in 1950.
Cuban dictator Fidel Castro is a revolutionary leader who fought for the independence, excellence of his people. Castro type of leadership fits with the family of power oriented, and he much cares for the poor people. He fought against the commercial and political dominance of USA in Cuba. He inspired his followers, encouraged and showed them great courage in the very worst situations of Cuba. Castro was quite well wishing to the people of
4. Fidel Castro put into place a series of agrarian and urban reform laws in the spring of 1959, at the beginning of Castro’s rule. The First Urban Reform Law states that there would be a 50% cut in rent, which was good for the peasants, but bad for the landowners (such as United States companies). The Agrarian Reform Law took land from people who had more than 1000 acres of land, and gave it to the poor. It was bad for landowners, especially foreign ones, because they lost land. In addition to that, the prices were controlled. The United States began to worry about these laws because they seemed communist in nature, and began placing economic sanctions on Cuba, pushing Cuba closer to the Soviet Union.
Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz was born on August 13, 1926 in Biran, Cuba. He was born into a higher middle-class family. His father was a sugarcane farmer and came directly from Spain. His mother was a house servant that his father had an affair with. Castro always had a somewhat strained relationship with his family and was sent off to boarding school at a young age. Hating the family he was sent off to, young Castro started acting up in the neighborhood. Although extremely clever and knowledgeable, Castro was always more interested in frivolities and games rather than schoolwork. By the time he was accepted into the School of Law of the University of Havana, Castro became heavily involved in the politics in Cuba and other Hispanic countries. Surrounded by peer pressure and negative influences, he took part again and again in attempts to overtake/oust Hispanic movements he didn’t agree with. As his childhood ended and he ascended into the adult world, the smart little troublemaker would soon become a strong political figure to be reckoned with.