Fidel Castro And The Cuban Revolution

After it became officially globally acknowledged that Cuba was in fact a communist state and was being led through a dictatorship run by Castro, it did not take long before powerful enemies and essential allies were formed. The act of seizing all foreign land with none or very little compensation was received with great hostility amongst those who lost in their property through this process, and probably the reaction that had the biggest impact on Cuba’s economy was that of the US. Castro’s communistic policies did not of course help calm this resentment and also took part in leading to the establishment of trade embargos with Cuba from the US. This meant that Cuba would now lose a very valuable buyer of their precious sugar, [5] but they did however gain another one, a powerful nation that shared quite similar Marxist ideals and were quick to form an alliance with the Cubans, the USSR.

Fulgencio Batista was elected President of Cuba between 1940 and 1940. In 1952 Batista declared that constitutional guarantees and the right to strike will be suspended. He became a dictator with absolute power over Cuba. Batista turned the Cuban capital of Havana into one of the largest gambling cities in the world. Batista reorganised the Cuba’s treasury so that political representatives and himself can take freely from the riches. Under Batista’s rule, education and health care wasn’t free to the general public. The Cuban public were not satisfied with Batista and how he was ruling Cuba, the people didn’t have a say in decisions in government, were treated unfairly with high taxes, selling/giving the peoples land to American business owners.

His father Ángel was a wealthy sugar plantation owner who did most of his business with the American- owned fruit company. Which dominated the agriculture in the region at the time.

On January 1, 1959, Fidel Castro and his band of rebels overtook the Cuban government. Their Revolution was based on massive agrarian reform and equality throughout. It was not based on Communism or communistic ideals. The US government was against the rise of Castro and his people. They had been able to control the Cuban government by controlling the successive presidents, since the Spanish-American War early in the 20th Century. The rise of Castro was undertaken with a distinct anti-American flavor to it. Castro was able to expand his popularity by fusing the anti-American fever with massive reforms intended to give social and economic equality to all Cubans. The economic presence, of the US, within Cuba was great at the time of Castro’s

After the Cuban Revolution, Castro visited the USA in April 1959 in hopes to gain support and aid from the U.S. to improve the Cuban economy. Castro specific pointed out his land reforms to better the Cuban standard of living. Castro addressed the UN nation and pledged that like any other developing nation, Cuba would remain neutral in the Cold War. Castro’s hopes of U.S. was unlikely after President Eisenhower declined to meet Castro and Vice- President Nixon did not fare very well either (Stanley). When Castro returned back to Cuba, he implemented a radical land reform system, which limited large estates to 1000 acres. Castro was able to break off the monopoly held by the wealthy few in Cuba by introducing this Agrarian Reform Law. This law allowed the majority of Cuban to own a portion of land and be part of the larger

Nearly fifty-five years ago, an embargo was placed on Cuba, halting all trade between the two countries. Fidel Castro led the Cuban Revolution, which began in July of 1953, leading to their victory and the previous leader, Fulgencio Batista, surrendering from his position. Castro was an American friend and had gained a great deal of support from Cuban citizens with his promises to restore basic, essential liberties. Castro later began to stray from these promises, starting by nationalizing American businesses within Cuba following by presenting anti-American behavior. In 1960, he initiated talks with the Soviet Union and began to progress toward communism, leading to America creating the embargo in 1961. The embargo was mainly put in place to contain the spread of communism to other South American countries. The terms to lift the embargo included, the discontinuation of their communist ways and move toward democracy, and to improve the freedom of the individuals whom live on the island. These have both yet to have happened, yet fifty-four years later, the embargo is still firmly in place. Lifting the embargo can fix issues related to the Cuban people, it can bring countless trade opportunities, and it can push for positive changes in Cuba. Therefore, the United States should lift the embargo on Cuba.

In 1959 Fidel Castro attempted to overthrow dictator Fulgencio Batista; Castro led a revolutionary movement in a guerrilla war against Batista 's forces. "As anti-Batista sentiment grew, Castro took a leading role in the Cuban Revolution which eventually ousted the president."(Stevenson 118)Once in power, Castro nationalized American property and because of this the United States diplomatic relations with Cuba were cut in 1961. Even prior to the break in relations, President Eisenhower agreed to a CIA-backed plan to overthrow Fidel Castro. When John F. Kennedy was elected, he was informed of the CIA 's plan. The newly elected president, unfortunately approved of the plan to attempt an uprising in Cuba against Fidel Castro.

Cuba before Castro is generally said to have been incredibly poverty-ridden and morally backwards. The unemployment rate was very high. Corruption was widespread throughout the government, especially in Havana. In combination with all of this, Cubans were highly oppressed by the government. The dictator at the time, Fulgencio Batista was a dictator backed by the U.S. who used brutality to keep the Cuban people under control. He was forced to use drastic measures to maintain his country. Fidel Castro was a lawyer from the University of Havana who tried to take down Batista through the legal system, which failed. He then turned to more covert tactics. Castro later leads a band a rebels, the “26 July” army, and overthrows dictator Fulgencio Batista, who was backed by the United States government. By doing this, he becomes the leader of the first Communist state located in the Western hemisphere. He wants to deconstruct the capitalist government that was in place and build his regime in the image of the Soviet Union. Relations with the United States quickly disintegrate and Castro strives for a better relationship with the USSR. He also wanted to secure a spot or Cuba in the International Communist Movement (ICM). He did not consider himself Communist but he needed help with Cuba. He then decided to turn communist because the United States would not offer help. Russia, on the other hand, would.

Castro’s involvement with the foreign and domestic politics during the early Cold War period greatly influenced the outcome of the Cuban Revolution. Without the actions taken by foreign powers like the United States and Russia, some events on the domestic front may have had very different results. It is important to understand how every nation’s foreign policies can influence more than just one other nation, and this was especially true for Cuba. It was this mix and chain of events which produced the communist Cuba that we are familiar with today.

Under the rule of Batista between 1940 and 1944 Cuba seemed to be making steady progress towards being a democratic and sovereign nation, which was a huge turn over from it’s previous status as either a colony of Spain or being completely unatonomous under the Platt Amendment. The constitution put into place by Batista in 1940 also curried him more favor in the eyes of the Cuban people. It extended rights beyond cookie cutter Western ideals of democracy and “committed Cuba to land reform and social jutice, including public education and an eight-hour working day” (Fellows and Wells, 2013). When Batista left office he was extremely popular and had managed to curry favor in the eyes of the Cuban public.

Fidel Castro was a crucial influential leader in Cuban history right alongside his younger brother, Raúl Castro, whom stayed beside him while Fidel was leading the first Communist State in the Western Hemisphere. Together, the Castro brothers, along with Che Guevara, who aided in Castro’s Revolution to overthrow Fulgencio Batista and his military dictatorship in 1959, governed the island of Cuba since the downfall of Batista’s dictatorship. Fidel Castro caused many uprisings during his leadership that got the United States involved as well as other countries who were brought into the debates. He was known for his charismatic personality, strong ideologies, as well as his communist views for nationalism and was not phased by many threats.

Cuban leader, Fidel Castro (1926-) established the first communist state in the Western Hemisphere after he and his forces began a campaign of guerrilla warfare to successfully overthrow Cuban dictator Fulgencio Batista in 1959. Following this Castro became the country's new leader. He ruled over Cuba for nearly five decades, until recently handing over power to his younger brother Raúl in 2008. During Castro’s political rule several reforms took place, policies were formulated and implemented that have had significant impact on the social structure of the nation of Cuba. Impact; still felt today that has been both

The purpose of this paper is to examine the role that the media played in creating the image of Fidel Castro and his fellow revolutionaries into one that would be supported internationally during and shortly following the days of the Cuban Revolution (1956-1960). Media such as radio, newspapers, and even film would transform what should have been a small group of guerilla forces into one that would gain the support, not only of many of the people in Cuba, but even individuals around the world and had changed the tide of the revolution against the dictatorship of Fulgencio Batista and in the favor of those who sought to take down his government by portraying the revolutionaries as romanticized patriots struggling against a horrible dictator.

In 1940 to 1944, communist Fulgencio Batista withheld power as the president of Cuba and then from 1952 to 1959, United States backed dictator until fleeing Cuba because of Fidel Castro’s 26th of July Movement. Socialist Fidel Castro governed the Republic of Cuba as Prime Minister from 1959 to 1976 and then as President from 1976 to 2008. Fidel Castro’s intent was to provide Cuba with an honest democratic government by diminishing the corrupt way in which the country was run, the large role the United States played in the running of Cuba as well as the poor treatment & the living conditions of the lower class.

The first thing that comes to mind when you think of cigars, radical politics, social strife and Fidel Castro is Cuba. Officially known as the Republic of Cuba, it is also known as the Pearl of the Caribbean, a country isolated from the capitalist world. For the last 40 years Cuba has been under the rule of the Castro regimen, a government who brought advances in education and healthcare, brought electricity to the country side however, ruled with an iron fist when it came to dealing with it’s opposition. Castro jailed many of his political opponents, closed down opposition newspapers and made no moves towards elections. Under his rule, the amount of land a person could own was limited, he ended private businesses and controlled consumer goods.