Fidel Castro: The Cuban Revolution

Thirty-seven years to the date April 20th, 2017, Fidel Castro enacted the policy of the Mariel boatlift, in which he’d allow Cubans seeking to emigrate to the United States to do so by departing at Mariel. This number would eventually eclipse 125,000 people seeking asylum and refuge from Cuba, and the regime in which at one point they felt represented or directly opposed their own viewpoints. The first wave of Cuban exiles being the extremely wealthy, in direct opposition to Fidel Castro’s regime for a race-less society, and a single-class economy, government, and social order. The ultimatum being set at you’re with the revolution or you’re not, this encouraged former supporters of the now ousted Batista, to seek refuge in the United States.

The Cuban Adjustment Act was enacted in 1966. The Act allowed illegal Cuban immigrants, who were already living in the United States for two years prior, to easily gain their citizenship. It also fast-tracked Cuban

In 1955 a revolutionary leader came to power in Cuba. His name was Fediel Castro. Castro kicked out the gambling crime bosses out of Cuba, angering those in the US. Castro wanted to be friends with a major power. He first tried to talk to the US. The president at the time, Eisenhower, did not come down to Cuba though. He sent his

In the 1950’s, tourists visited the island of Cuba for its warm beaches, culture and Spanish colonial architecture. But underneath the surface, was a revolution ready to burst through the Cuban people they just needed the right person to lead them. Cuba at this time was run by a Political Dictator named Fulgencio Batista.

Cubans have had a long history of migrating to the United States, often for political reasons. Many Cubans, particularly cigar manufacturers, came during the Ten Years' War (1868-1878) between Cuban nationals and the Spanish military. Yet the most significant Cuban migrations have occurred in the last 35 years. There have been at least four distinct waves of Cuban immigration to the United States since 1959. While many, perhaps most, of the earlier migrants were fleeing Cuba for political reasons, more recent migrants are more likely to have fled because of declining economic conditions at home.

In addition to the aforementioned reasons, the United States was also concerned with the safety of the Cuban refugees at sea. By fall of 1994, the United States and Cuba agreed to redirect the flow of people from Cuba through "safe, legal, and orderly channels". Thirty thousand Cubans were intercepted at sea, returned to the U.S. navel base at Guantanamo Bay, and eventually allowed to enter the United States in

The United States embargo of Cuba has its roots planted in 1960, 53 years ago, when “the United States Congress authorized President Eisenhower to cut off the yearly quota of sugar to be imported from Cuba under the Sugar act of 1948… by 95 percent” (Hass 1998, 37). This was done in response to a growing

People began migrating from Cuba after a man named Fidel Castro overthrew the previous dictator of Cuba in 1959. Fidel Castro promised democratic policies but soon after taking control he began making the government totalitarian and everyone who opposed him was imprisoned. Castro became even more totalitarian and communist because he wanted complete control of Cuba. Because of this relations between Cuba and the United States worsened. At one point Castro nationalized American businesses without compensation. After this a complete embargo was put into effect. The embargo caused there to be more poverty in Cuba. Cuba became more allied with the soviets. The embargo caused many Cuban citizens to flee Cuba

     It was after Castro took power that the United States changed its way in which it dealt with Cuba dramatically. The United States decided it would

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.

Fidel Castro was welcomed by many Cubans in 1959 overthrow of the dictatorial President Fulgencio Batista, but made many Americans nervous. Fulgencio was pro-American and was an ally with many companies in the U.S. He was also against communism, unlike Fidel. Sugar plantation in Cuba was taken over and owned by American corporations and many successful individuals, as well as its mines, cattle ranches and utilities. Fidel opposed the approach that Americans took to their business and interests in Cuba. The time had come for the Cubans to take more control of their own country and properties. Fidel replaced the Cuban system from capitalism to communism, this is when transformation started taking place. He promised his people to give them back their rights, and free them from the U.S. The US was against Cuba since Castro was a communist, all they knew was that communism was bad. They have this image that communists are people who have beards, dress weirdly and are bad so we should stop them. This was an example of what schematic reasoning might lead to. They did not get to know Castro although he wasn’t that bad, all what he wanted to do was

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.

The Cuban people have been under the harsh dictatorship of both Felgenico Batista and Fidel Castro. They both had very strict policies and gave the Cuban people limited or no freedom at all. Batista and Castro were similar but yet different. One major difference that they had was that Batista was friendly with the United States and he had respect for American interest. On the other hand Fidel Castro hasn’t been as friendly with the United States, so the U.S has a trade embargo that restricts and American company to do business with Cuba and also U.S citizens are prohibited from traveling to Cuba unless for special circumstances.

In 1959 Castro launched his guerilla army into Havana to overthrow dictatorial leader of Cuba, Fulgencio Batista. Many Cubans welcomed Castro and his ideas to reduce American influence in Cuba. However, this power change became a concern for the Americans. Batista had been considered pro-american and an ally of America. Castro on the other hand disapproved of the American approach to business and interests in Cuba and believed it was time for Cubans to assume control of their own nation. In 1960 Castro began to establish diplomatic relations with the Soviet Union, effectively severing former ties with the Americans. The Eisenhower, and later Kennedy administrations authorized the CIA to come up with a way to remove Castro. The Americans

succeeded by Raúl Castro. Even though the country is filled with rich natural resources, the economy and the people were struggling to survive. When Fidel Castro, the “maximum leader” of the island, casually confessed that “The Cuban model doesn’t even work for us any more,” it showed that the economy was in serious trouble. Although it was obvious that the near­total state control of the economy was no longer working, for the leaders, the Castro brothers, to admit this was a huge step. Many analyzed that this meant changes and reforms were coming to the Cuban system.