who is fidel castro?
Castro's Background Fidel Castro was born on August 13, 1926 in Mayarí, Cuba, near his father's farm known as "Las Manacas". He was the third of seven children and his parents were Lina Ruz Gonzalez and Angel Castro Argiz. Lina was a very religious woman that did not receive much education and Angel fought as a cavalry officer in the Spanish army during the Spanish-American War. Later on, Angel stayed in Cuba to become a sugarcane owner. Lina had stressed how important education was since she did not receive any herself, and for this reason sent her kids to school. Fidel Castro attended Belen boarding school at age 15. Fidel's Earlier Years
Fidel Castro went to the University of Havana in 1945 and began to study law and politics. He joined the liberal (left-wing) Cuban People's Party. Fulgencio Batista y Zaldívar (born 1901 and died 1973) was dictator of Cuba at the time. He had been in control since 1933. Most of Cuba's population at the time lived in poverty because of Batista's economic policies that allowed foreign companies (especially ones from the United States) to build their businesses in Cuba. In fact, the United States dominated in the sugar industry and in oil production. For this reason, Batista had support from the U.S. but the superpower had done nothing to prevent him from being overthrown. |
In the Midst of a Revolution: The 1950s
Batista was an oppressive ruler and Fidel Castro was determined to start a revolution and overthrow him. On July 26, 1953, Castro had led men to Santiago de Cuba to attack the Moncada army barracks. The attack was a failure and led to Castro's arrest and the death of many of his followers. Fidel Castro had defended himself during his trial and he also used his trial as an opportunity to demand for free elections, land reform, profit sharing, and industrialization.
Batista was an oppressive ruler and Fidel Castro was determined to start a revolution and overthrow him. On July 26, 1953, Castro had led men to Santiago de Cuba to attack the Moncada army barracks. The attack was a failure and led to Castro's arrest and the death of many of his followers. Fidel Castro had defended himself during his trial and he also used his trial as an opportunity to demand for free elections, land reform, profit sharing, and industrialization.
Both Fidel Castro and his brother Raúl Castro were arrested for 15 years for their revolts. However, they had gained the support of many of the Cuban people. The two brothers were released from prison in 1955 thanks to an amnesty, or an official pardoning from the government.
26th of July Movement
Fidel Castro did not give up after his arrest. In fact, he willingly went into exile in Mexico, where he brought together a small group of rebellious people. These group of people named themselves the "26th of July Movement" (because of Castro's attack in Santiago on July 26) and prepared for an armed revolution. On December 26, 1956, they all returned to Cuba on a boat that was named Granma that had been bought from an American. When they arrived in Oriente, the ran into government forces right away and had lost many people. Fidel Castro, his brother Raúl, and Argentinian revolutionary Ernesto "Che" Guevara had survived. Along with the other survivors, they fled to the southeast on the mountains of the Sierra Maestra, where Castro and his followers had become allies with more people also against Batista. In 1958, they engaged in guerrilla warfare against the Cuban army.
In 1959, Fulgencio Batista had left Cuba and traveled to the Dominican Republic at the start of the new year on January 1. Castro had traveled all the way to the other side of Cuba (towards the west) to Havana. Control was taken over the capital and Fidel Castro had become premier of Cuba on February 16.
So now what..?
Now that oppressive dictator Batista was overthrown, what did that mean for Cuba and the two superpowers?
The United States had initially approved of Fidel Castro and the media gave him positive reviews. He was seen as someone who was interested in improving the lives of the poor Cuban population. However, Castro had upset the upper and middle class because he had take parts of their large properties and distributed them amongst the poor. Many of the upper and middle-class Cubans had ended up fleeing to the U.S. because they were unhappy with Castro.
The Soviet Union at this time was not very involved with Cuba. When Castro had become leader, Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev had paid no attention. There were also not any Soviet representatives in Cuba at this time. Nonetheless, Cuba would soon prove to be important to the Soviet Union as Castro's communist ways became more apparent. For example, Castro planned on bringing the United States of America's domination of the Cuban economy to a halt. The reason most of Cuba's population was poor was because the United States had been allowed to dominate industries in the country.
As ties between Cuba and the U.S got worse, Cuba and the Soviet Union were able to strengthen their economic ties.