Cuba's Government and Ernesto Guevara
Ernesto “Che” Guevara Che Guevara was the Argentine born Marxist guerrilla who helped oust the corrupt Cuban government and set up a communist system 90 miles from the US. Che under the leadership of Fidel Castro helped lead a small guerrilla band of soldiers to take over the country. After the old government was out Che helped Castro decide communism as the way to go for Cuba. He helped Castro try to quickly industrialize the country, set up social reforms to try, and make Cuba a better place for its citizens. Che supported the struggle against imperialism by taking bands of guerrillas to Congo and Bolivia to help with revolutions there. Ernesto Guevara was born May 14, 1928 in Rosario, Argentina.
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After some obstacles, the group was finally ready to go on November 25, 1957 eighty-two men loaded with equipment climbed aboard a tiny yacht and set sail for Cuba. The fighting started off on very bad terms for the guerrillas. They missed the landing point and date, and a few days after landing the army attacked them and the group was highly disorganized. Fidel reformed his group, which then only consisted of 20 or so men. After awhile though, the guerrillas were started to have an effect all across Cuba. As the guerrilla army grew Fidel gave Che his own column and promoted him to commandant. The two columns worked well and progress began to move more quickly. Within a year the guerrilla forces began setting up liberated territory in the mountains and moving out across Cuba. Fidel knew that if he could take Santa Clara, then the war would almost be guaranteed his. Santa Clara fell on January 1, 1959 not long after Batista had left the country. By the next day the whole island was under the control of the rebel forces. Fidel setup groups of men in all the towns and cities he conquered to help keep law and order. The new government showed no favoritism towards either the capitalist or the communist at first. Guevara was appointed as minister of industry, and he started trying to go through with a rapid industrialization process. The idea behind this was to help quickly diversify the
In the past fifty years we have witnessed the end of the cold war, the end of communism in a vast majority of nations as well as the rise of the United States to being the sole world power. But while the world has greatly changed over the past half-a-century, there has been little change in the Cuban-American relationship. Since the rise of Fidel Castro to power in the early nineteen fifties, the United States has all but cut off all relations with the Cuban government. It has now been thirty-nine years since the United States first imposed its various sanctions on the Cuban government and even though Cuba has faced great hardship and misfortune in recent years due to these sanctions, the United States to this day is still
Ernesto “Che” Guevara was a part of the 26th of July Movement in Cuba. He became a revolutionary leader who inspired many and brought the guerrilla to victory in 1959. He was a part of the eighty-two men who sailed on the Granma from Mexico to Cuba in December of 1956 (Staten 114). The biographical film, Che: Part One directed by Steven Soderbergh, shows the journey of Che and the guerrillas as they attempted to defeat Batista’s military. Che: Part One is not simply just a depiction of Che’s life, but it brings you right into the action of the armed struggle the guerrilla faced. The revolution shaped Che into the leader he became. He started out as a simple doctor who wanted to bring the people of Cuba what they deserved. Che went through changes as the periods of the revolution went on. He grew to be a leader that would bring his people to the victories they achieved. Throughout the portrayal of the revolution, it can be seen how Che changes and adapts based on what situation he is facing and how the movie shows it. The film goes back and forth between the times Che is in Cuba fighting and after he wins the revolution and talks about his experiences.
The measures taken by Castro and explicitly stated by him at his trial in 1954, from the very beginning of his anti-Batista movement illustrate his initial desires to reform Cuba and ultimately increase its standard of living. Different understandings can be perceived by reading various books and documents that focus on the political changes shaping Cuba’s modern-day society. Each illustrates different aspects of the insurrection while simultaneously giving the reader an accurate depiction of the historical occurrences. Authors Perez-Stable and Patterson focus on the turbulent circumstances that lead Cuba through the various leaders, each with his own agenda trying to
In the early 1900’s, Cuba was a stomping ground for many of the rich and famous from the United States. Many famous movies stars and wealthy business entrepreneurs spend their vacations there along with a substantial amount of money. Trade and commerce between the United States and Cuba flowed freely and abundantly. Even with the Dictatorship-like regime of Batista, the countries benefited from the economic trade between them. This was all about to come crashing down as revolts against Batista occurred and Fidel Castro came to power within Cuba.
What does it mean to be in control of people? Do you only control them by the laws? Or do you go out of your way and control every aspect of their lives? A totalitarian government works this way, they allow no one to have freedom. Freedom is considered nothing to people within these governments, they know nothing about it and usually will never.
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.
I decided to write this research paper because we were assigned to find an issue or subject within Latin America to write about. One of the most widely known and influential revolutionary figure in the history of Latin America is Ché Guevara. Ché knew how to use his intelligence and judgment in all the circumstances he encountered taking advantage of each moment as if it was a highly intensive chess game he was sincerely
In Mexico he began to organize a guerrilla voyage to Cuba for a violent uprising against Batista authority (Castro, 2009). On December 2, 1956 Castro, joined by 81 other revolutionaries (which included big names such as Che Guevara, and Jesus Montane), reached the Cuban cost. (Castro, 2009). For the next two years Castro helped the Rebel Army organize their forces throughout the entire island. Here is a timeline of events during the two years during the rise of the rebellion (Frank, 2013):
This increased the decline of the Batista era. In 1956, the Castro brothers, Fidel, Raul and Che Guevara arrived in Cuba and started fighting against the government forces. Batista left Cuba in 1958 with his troops. Pre-Castro era was corruption in the government as well in the armed forces. The goals and aims of Fidel Castrol was to free Cuba, spread Communism, and spread tyranny. Castro received support from the peasants, poor, and all the people who were fed up with Batista because they wanted to see
economic growth comes from agriculture and exports to and from Europe. Since America has had an embargo on Cuba since 1962 neither countries trade with each other because of many disagreements about governing techniques and Fidel's unwillingness to comply with U.S. instructions. Cuba’s long history and culture has contributed to many economic and social growth through out the world, but Cuba is still struggling to try to stable their economy.
The Cuban government was not ideal for its people at the time, so they decided to initiate a change. Before Castro’s revolution, Cuba’s economy was highly based on tropical fruits, sugar, and tobacco. During this time, the government of Cuba mainly consisted of wealthy land-owning conservatives. Fidel Castro, a strong liberal who thought the Cuban government was corrupt, decided to bring together a band of two-hundred revolutionaries (Carey, Jr. 15). These revolutionaries attacked the Moncada Military barracks on July 26th, 1953 resulting in a failure that earned both Castro and the revolutionaries a ten-year prison sentence. Two years into his sentence, Castro was exiled to Mexico and began to plot another attempt in Mexico City. After many battles with Cuba’s National Army, Castro’s rebels were able to keep Cuba in a state of turmoil while other rebel groups were able to gain control. Through his actions, he was able to gain the support of the Cuban people who thought he was the logical choice for the new leader (Carey, Jr. 15).
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.
Cuba is an island nation that was adopted in 1902. One third of it consists of mountains and rolling hills. It lies in the West Indies, and is said to be a beautiful island. Havana is Cuba’s capital, and the center of government for Cuba. Some important cities are Santiago de Cuba and Camagüey. Santiago de Cuba is near the south-eastern area of Cuba, and has a population of about half a million people. It’s considered the second most important city in Cuba, probably because it’s an important sea port. Camagüey is the fourth largest city in Cuba, according to Wikipedia. The symbol of Camagüey is a clay pot, mainly because there are clay pots everywhere. They can be very small, or very big. They’re used to capture rainwater to be
A revolution is known as being an activity or movement designed to effect fundamental changes in the socioeconomic situation. Cuba during the decade of the 1950's experienced this type of rebellion in search for an enhanced and better-developed society, independent of all outside domination. Cuban citizens were at a point where they needed to be free and be able to enforce the constitution established in 1940, which included amendments stating that Cuba should be a "democratic republic shall not conclude or ratify pacts or treaties that in any form limit or menace national sovereignty or the integrity of the territory," and such. I chose this topic because there has been so much controversy
In 1959, Fidel Castro led a group of rebel forces to end and overthrow Fulgencio Batista’s regime in an effort to free the Cuban people from his tyrannous rule. For very many different political reasons this has been portrayed as an act of great injustice and hypocrisy in the modern world. A lot of this has of course been advocated primarily by the US due to the high level of political tension between the two nations that developed in the mid 1950s. Believing this conventional wisdom that Castro was simply an evil communist who oppressed his people and stripped them of their human rights is very dangerous because it