Everyone knows the name Fidel Castro, the revolutionary of Cuba. At the University of Havana in 1945 is where Fidel Castro began his long and treacherous journey as a radical nationalist. (Fidel: The Untold Story). He fought the infamous Flugencio Batista in the name of social justice until victory was won. He claimed to have fought for a democratic Cuba and a restoration of constitutional government and Cuban sovereignty, but he also stood for socialism and communist ideals. As Tim Padgett from Times Magazine on page 42 stated “Fidel imported old-world Marxism and its perverse notion that social justice is best delivered via the injustice of autocracy.” He supported everything the US and pro-democracy states despised and stood as a revolutionary …show more content…
In 1952, Flugencio Batista, then president of Cuba, conducted yet another falsified election in his favor. Resulting in a shutdown of all political parties, constitutional rights and even the closure of the University where Castro attended. By July 26, 1953 Fidel Castro and his brother Raúl, standing for social justice, began assembling, “111 insurgents... and headed an armed assault on the Moncada army barracks in Santiago de Cuba,” (Padgett 43). Raúl and Fidel were caught and set to trial, beginning the Revolution of Cuba. It was at this trial where Fidel Castro stood before the judges announcing his lack of fear for prison stating confidently, “History will absolve me” (Fidel Castro). This is where his support came from, he was seen by his followers as the symbol of avengers who stood up the greater evil. Through gore and long ensued battles his victory came in January of 1959, Fidel Castro was the new leader of Cuba (Fidel: The Untold Story). Those who were pro Batista fled to Miami and other far away locations as soon as possible. While those who stayed, predominately the working class, stayed and celebrated in the streets because justice had been served and the dictator had been overthrown by the Valiant …show more content…
While on the contrary, during Castro’s USA tour Eisenhower refused a visit with him calling his ideals communist and unjust. Nixon, following Eisenhower’s judgment, claimed that Castro “is either incredibly naïve about communism or under communist discipline-my guess is the former” (Depalma 19). This sentiment spread to the American citizens rapidly creating a huge divide among Cubans and Cuban Americans. One of the first and most controversial reforms done by Castro was the Agrarian Reform which sought to break up all the landholdings by foreigners, including the US, from the Batista rule and redistribute it to those who worked for it, also known as the working-class citizens. The US grew animosity as some of these land holdings were owned by the USA, stripping them of some of their economic property. In addition, cases of denied human rights were reported. In September of 2000, there was a committee on foreign relations held by the chairman Jesse Helms where two Cuban doctors were interviewed about their medical expedition in Zimbabwe. When Leonel Cordova and Noris Pena were kidnapped by Zimbabwean police and Cuban diplomats by the orders of Castro himself. In this testimony, they clearly describe the conditions they faced after they made a declaration against the Cuban Government regarding their mission and the Castro regime in general. After being kidnapped Castro officials tried to
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
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...
Fidel Castro was a Cuban revolutionary who rejected the democracy. At that point, General Fulgencio Batista was leading the country using the democratic economic system. After an unsuccessful attempt of rising against the government, Fidel Castro was sentenced to 15 years in prison. He was released under an amnesty and fle...
The Cuban revolution was one that transformed Cuba into an independent socialist society. This revolution sent a message around the globe. The message: “ Socialism can be achieved and capitalism, with its culture stripping mechanism’s can be supplemented”. However, the revolution did leave its mark on Cuba. This can be seen in the events that took place during the early stages of the revolution. The effects of the revolution were positive for certain sections of the population and negative for others.
Cuba is an island located in the Caribbean Ocean, 150 km south of Key West, Florida. Before the revolution, Cuba was stepping foot into democratic territory, allowing the people more freedom and respect for human rights. Fidel Castro, the future leader of Cuba, had other plans, soon to be assuming leadership of Cuba. He revolted against the current Fulgencio Batista in 1959. Though it was not successful the first time around, Castro took power of the government from Fulgencio. Soon after, Cuba became communist country under Castro’s rule, thus severing ties with the United States. The majority of Cubans did not want communism yet, it brought more order and less civilian crimes. Despite the U.S government’s wishes, Cuba’s leaders chose to become a communist country versus a democratic one, however it was more beneficial for the people of Cuba.
Originally a dictator ran Cuba: President Fulgencio Batista, who was an ally to the United States. Cuba during this time enjoyed a healthy urban middle class, and its citizens enjoyed some degree of freedom without a police state. Many other countries seemed a lot more likely to revolt, because economically and developmentally, Cuba seemed stable. However, the United States’ role and control of Cuba’s economy started to take its toll on the “peasants”. In 1953, the United States owned many of the major entities, such as 50% of the railroad. Just as much development as there was in the urban areas there was a lack thereof in the rural areas. Not just economically, Cubans started to resent the image of Sin City that Americans gave the country. Cuba was a popular tourist spot where Americans came to behave badly. Castro’s success came from these opposite sides of distaste for the United States, the peasants economically and the middle class socially & nationally. Castro was not originally a socialist; he was a nationalist first. However when he attacks Moncada Barracks, he is arrested and exiled to Mexico City. During this time his failures are turned into “successes” through propaganda. Castro meets with Che Guevara in Mexico City and when he returns, he purges the military of 483 Batista loyalists and enacts land reforms and nationalizes US
Fidel Castro’s belief of a Cuba libre was not only his; many Cubans envisioned an independent Cuba, ‘A Cuba that could have been’. Plenty felt the urge to raise their voices and prove their discontent and patriotism to the world, but what could have been remained a silent whisper. Furthermore illiteracy and ignorance encircled a big chunk of society one which could not comprehend the causes and effects of such a term as ‘imperial’. In Thomas G. Patterson’s Contesting Castro: The United States and the Triumph of the Cuban Revolution, Nixon is quoted expressing that Castro is "either incredibly naive about communism or under communist discipline." (Paterson 257) His assumption was most probably correct "Pazzo recalled that Castro did not want to appear as one more Latin American leader ‘sold out’ to imperialism." (Paterson 257) Cuba’s history is revealed in numerous writings like Marifeli Perez-Stable’s The Cuban Revolution: Origins, Course and Legacy ,and other documents which will be used to support the idea that Cuba was not a victim of it’s own rebellion, but one of a ‘wrong leader’, if one might say, and a harsh and complicated past. In addition the United States’ imperialism caused that many succeed and even more undergo horrendous treatment, illiteracy and inadequate lifestyles for the US own benefit. This caused the Cuban revelation, so why still ask why.
Che Guevara attempted to have a revolution in Bolivia and Guatemala. In Mexico, he trained for his return to Cuba in 1956. The textbook also mentions how Fidel Castro formed local camps as a new revolutionary power (510). They continued to fight in urban areas. It was not until 1959 where they defeated Batista and his government. Many people were happy because Fidel Castro became the president of Cuba. The Cuban people had faith in Fidel Castro to improve the state of Cuba and benefit the people unlike Batista. The Caribbean: A History of the Region and Its People state that, “In 1958 almost all Cubans agreed that a renewed Cuban nationalism would approve their future,”
Castro refused to give into this threat and started carrying around a gun with him. These steps that Fidel Castro took were in the direction of a rebellious leader. That is exactly what he would become in years to come, his influence and the relationship with the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics would bring major change to Latin America. Years later in 1953 Castro had started a rebellion against the Cuban government which at the time was under rule of President Fulgencio Batista. It lasted until 1959; in the end Castro was victorious.
The American government created their own enemy out of Fidel Castro, pushing Castro into a position where he had to fall back onto the Soviet Union’s help in order to escape from the overwhelming military capabilities of the U.S. Castro was a dictator and he did terrible atrocious things but no more than any other government, including the American government, but it cannot be denied that he did not make some very beneficial changes to many aspects of Cuban society which broadly include improved literacy rates amongst both children and adults, more accessibility to healthcare and housing. Though on the other side of that coin, Castro was infamous for his suppression of the Cuban people’s freedom of expression, where Castro made huge progress in the economic, social and cultural aspects of Cuban society he retrogressed in
The dictatorship of President Batista caught the attention of a young attorney named Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz, or better known as Fidel Castro. In protest against President Batista, Castro formed and led a small group called M-26-7. The name of this group symbolized when the group attacked the Moncada Barracks in Santiago de Cuba on July 26, 1953. This marked the beginning of the Cuban Revolution. The attack was unsuccessful and it left many of the attackers, including leader Fidel Castro, jailed while others fled the country and a few killed in the attack. After going to trial, on October 16, 1953, Castro was sentenced to 15 years in prison in the hospital wing of the Presidio Modelo while delivering his History Will Absolve Me speech. However, on May 15, 1955, Castro and the rest of the prisoners were released after President Batista believed that to be of no threat. Upon getting being released from prison, Castro’s main focus was to strengthen the M-26-7. Later that year, Fidel Castro and his brother Raúl Castro fled Cuba to avoid being arrested after the 1955 bombings. Fidel said that his reason for leaving was because all doors of peaceful struggle had closed on him.
Both Batista and Castro contributed to the extremism of Cuba's military/political history. As many Cuban leaders had done before him, Fulgencio Batista was part of a militant movement that overthrew his predecessor, Carlos Manuel de Cespedes y Quesada. During this movement, Batista was chief staff of the army, which eventually led to his attaining control of Cuba. In a similar manner, Fidel Castro overthrew Batista. Instead of staging a coup, Castro was the leader of the best organized force of anti-Batista groups during the Cuban Revolution. Because of the guerilla warfare that Castro and other groups were waging against Batista, he eventually resigned from office and fled to the country.
Many nations were falling to Communism, especially, the nation of Cuba. Cuba was first ruled by a corrupt dictator, nevertheless in the 1950s, a rebel group was organized to overthrow the government. The leader of this rebel group was none other than Fidel Castro. “Fidel Castro was born into the farming life until he decided to go to law school. Once he graduated law school, his goal was to reach social justice and reform the government. By 1959, Fidel Castro led his rebel group to victory using guerrilla warfare to transform the country.” This transformation became known as the Cuban Revolution. To help with the transformation, Castro sought the support of the Soviet Union, which would lead to the new Communist Cuba. Castro nationalized
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
2. After the attack on the Moncada Barracks fails, and Castro and his revolutionaries are released from prison, he begins to gather recruitments to start his revolution campaign in Mexico. Shortly after, he and Che Guevara return to Cuba to start the revolution. The group that implemented these problems became known as the July 26 Movement, after the date of the attack on the Moncada Barracks. During Castro’s trial for the attack on the Moncada Barracks, he outlines the six problems in Batista’s regime: foreign Monopolies on land ownership, lack of industrialization, inadequate housing, high unemployment, poor education, and deplorable healthcare. After Castro comes to power, he takes steps (i.e. the Five Revolutionary Laws, Land Reform, Social Reform, etc.) to solve these problems.