The Uses Of Fidel Castro And The Cuban Revolution

The Cuban Revolution is one of the most important and influential events to occur in Latin American history. Between the years 1953 and 1959, Fidel Castro, a young politician and activist at the time, led an armed guerrilla rebellion against the authoritarian government in Cuba. While much of the war was fought using guns and soldiers, a majority of the revolution was fought not firing a single shot. Fidel Castro’s “other” weapon in the revolution was propaganda. The combination of bullets and propaganda proved to be extremely successful for Fidel and his fellow rebel comrades. Castro’s revolutionary propaganda “machine” is considered to be one of the main factors that lead to his victory and even today, aspects of his “machine” can be seen

Fidel’s earliest written propaganda were published inside of El Acusador (The Accuser.) El Acusador was an underground anti-Batista newspaper published by Castro’s group early on. It was in this newspaper that Castro would publish his first manifesto four months after Batista’s military coup. In his manifesto, Fidel outlined the goals, or “five revolutionary laws,” of the government he hoped to implement in Cuba. These “revolutionary laws” are: (1) To return power to the people and reinstate the 1940 constitution, (2) To expropriate land from large landowners and turn the land over to “smallholders,” (3) To instate rights for workers to share 30% of the profits of larger enterprises, (4) To instate rights for sugar workers to receive 55% of company profits, (5) To confiscate the wealth of those with “ill-gotten gains” and split the properties recovered between workers and institutions such as hospitals, asylums and orphanages. With the newspaper, Fidel hoped to clear up what changes he wanted to bring about and hoped to stir up support from the locals living in poverty. Fidel also used his many speeches as propaganda as well. One of his most famous speeches is his “History will absolve me” speech, given during his trial for the Moncada barracks attack. It was a four hour speech in which Fidel utilized his lawer experience to try and form a defense in

These operations were meant to attract both the media’s attention and fuel the people’s dislike and hatred of Batista’s military soldiers. There were two major operations carried out by Fidel and his men. One of these operations, carried out early 1958, was to kidnap the world famous Argentine race car driver, Juan Manuel Fangio. Fangio was kidnapped at gunpoint, in broad daylight, and held until the race he was set to partake in had started. This ordeal was a major embarrassment for Batista, as he made arrangements for Fangio to be protected by his own security forces. Upon his release, Fangio commended his captors for the great care and respect he was treated with. He even stated that “if what the rebels did was in a good cause, then I, as an Argentine, accept it.” The second major operation was the kidnapping of a busload of around 30 U.S. sailors and marines. They were held between late June to mid-July. Fidel 's reasoning behind this operation was to pressure Batista to stop the air bombings of villages inside their guerrilla territory. This operation would prod the United States to make demands of Batista and his regime to rescue them. When Batista couldn 't deliver, it discredited him and damaged his relationship with the United States. This kidnapping also brought to light the savagery of the Batista regime further