Fidel Castro And The Cuban Revolution

During the 1950’s, Cuba was on the brink of revolution. The nation, which had suffered numerous corrupt and oppressive governmental regimes, fell victim to yet another when Fulgencio Batista seized power under a military coup in March of 1952. A cry for a just Cuba, that was economically, politically, and socially free continued to echo throughout the island. In 1959, a group of radical revolutionaries, under the leadership of Fidel Castro, overthrew the Batista dictatorship and put in place the political and social structures that exist in Cuba to this day.

This demonstrated how much power the US had in Cuban politics, that it could easily play with Cuba’s leadership. Cuban citizens started to become angry. One of these people were Fulgencio Batista, who led a Coup and successfully overthrew the existing government, becoming the new de-facto dictator (Brenner et al. 6). Although his first term in office was progressive as he supported labor unions and established economic reforms, his second presidency was quite the opposite (7).

This economic stimulus that the USSR gave the Cubans did not come without a steep price. For the second time in a few years Castro felt the pressure of a super power trying to control the future of his county. Soviet Premier

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.

Cuban healthcare is a unique system that came about as a result of campaign promises from Fidel Castro in 1959. Although during Batistas rule doctors were well trained and respected, most all the countrys health services and facilities were located in concentrated population centers. The lack of access to rural farmers and families had created marked disparities between the two groups. However, as Fidel rose to power, his new state would act to provide free and accessible care to all citizens of Cuba.2 He set very specific policy goals for the country such as:

For many Cubans the Batista government was simply a puppet regime with the puppet masters being wealthy Americans. This was because his economic policies favoured foreign investors and did little for the development of domestic industries, which resulted in the wealth of the country being concentrated in the hands of a wealthy whtite minority. Consequently, in the 1950s, this harsh regime caused political resistance to reach to its boiling point. In response to these high levels of frustration, Fidel Castro and a small rebel group led a successful revolutionary army into Havana in 1959. This was the first step on the road to a new era in the lives of many Cubans.

Cuba’s colorful history can be documented to before the days of the American Revolution in 1776, but today, American policy directly affects many Cubans’ lifestyles because of a nearly 45-year-old trade embargo that has been placed on the island nation. It is crucial to analyze the development of Cuba and its neighboring island nations in order to discern the reasons for Cuba’s current political situation with the United States. The following paper will discuss the events that shaped Cuba and larger Caribbean nations like Haiti, the Dominican Republic and Jamaica; next, a detailed description of Cuba’s turbulent history will help in explaining the Cuban transformation into a

This is a brief examination into Cuba’s historical progression and their constant political struggles with the government, the people of Cuba, and

Castro’s half century run as Cuba’s first czar turned a once successful national economy into a shambles where everything is provided “free” by the government. The only problem is the government has nothing that isn’t already Castro’s personal fortune of one billion that in retrospect isn’t doing him much good now.

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.

Cuba is an island located between the Caribbean Sea and the North Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 11.27 million people with 60% of them being Roman Catholics. It's the largest island in the Caribbean and the westernmost island in the Greater Antilles. The official language is Spanish and the currency is the Cuban Peso.

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, being driven out of his position. Castro had gained a lot of support from Cuban citizens with his promises to restore political and civil liberties. Castro later began to stray from these promises, starting by nationalizing American businesses within Cuba and by presenting anti-American actions. In 1960, he began talks with the Soviet Union and moved toward communism leading to America creating the embargo in 1961. The embargo was put mainly put in place to contain the spread of communism to other South American countries. The terms to lift the embargo included, the revocation 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.

The Cuban revolution was the spark that ignited the flame of communism in Cuba. The developing nation gained independence only as recently as 1898, and was already filled with an atmosphere of distrust and resentment towards the United States. In July of 1953, a revolution began in Cuba between the United States backed President Batista and Fidel Castro. Fidel and his brother Raul Castro lead a series of guerilla warfare battles against the forces of President Batista. “I am Fidel Castro and we have come to liberate Cuba,” stated Fidel Castro. In January of 1959, Fidel Castro became the President of Cuba. With the regime of Fidel Castro, Cuba would fall to communism.

Major improvements took effect following the 1959 revolution lead by Castro. Batista’s inadequate education system came to a complete halt as one, if not the first, positive changes brought in by Castro was to ensure equal access to education for every individual regardless of one’s class, gender, race,

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.