Castro's Revolution: Rise, Impact and Controversy

“A revolution is a struggle to the death between the future and the past.” - Fidel Castro

In 1959 Fidel Castro won a revolution and overthrew the oppressive and cruel Batista government. Young Fidel along with other revolutionaries sought after a solution, one that remains controversial today, Communism. Castro wanted to use Communism to elevate Cuba’s global position and bring its people from poverty. Fidel turned something that could have given Cuba a second chance, into something that almost destroyed it. On July 29th, 1953, Fidel Castro and his revolutionary friends may have failed with their attacks on the Moncada Barracks, but they inspired a nation to fight for equality. On January 1st the Batista government fell. Cubans across the

intervened in 1898, in what was meant to be Cuba’s final war of independence(). Historians have suggested that U.S. intervention was caused by the stiff competition between two of the biggest newspaper giants, Joseph Pulitzer and William Randolph Hearst. Their increasing sales were caused by what we would call yellow journalism. Hearst was reporting the Cuban nationalists as “courageous freedom fighters”. Whereas, Pulitzer originally opposed U.S. involvement, though he changed his mind. Later he admitted that his “change of heart” was only to further circulation of the New York World. It has also been argued that the reason for the U.S. intervening was the purchase Cuba from a fading and war-depleted

Castro’s second hand man, Abel Santamaría, was among the captured. He was tortured and executed on the same day. After the attacks many key rebels were captured, including Fidel and Raúl Castro. Fidel and the other revolutionaries were taken to a prison north of Santiago. On the 21st of September a total of 122 defendants were put on trial, at the Palace of Justice in Santiago. The defendants were accused of "organizing an uprising of armed persons against the Constitutional Powers of the State". During his trial, Fidel acted as his own defence counsel, in which he spoke for nearly 4 hours. He ended his speech saying, "Condemn me, it does not matter. History will absolve me." The trial ended on October 5th, with many of the defendants being acquitted. Castro and his brother, Raúl, were sentenced to 15 years in