Fidel Castro was the leader of the Cuban Revolution, Cuban politician, leader of Cuba and president of Cuba from 1976 to 2008. Castro was adored and hated, praised and despised. It is widely believed that his death will become the worst moment for the Cuban population. The main idea is that Fidel Castro followed his policies, despite the strong opposition of the U.S., without any outside help.
There is not much information about the life of Fidel Castro. Special services of Cuba carefully hide his details of biography and private life. Even the exact date of his birth is unknown. It is supposed that Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz was born in 1926 near Biran, Oriente province. He received an excellent education at Jesuit institutions and finally Colegio Belen in Havana. Castro also studied at the University of Havana where he got a law degree. He was active in politics, and took part in an attempt to overthrow the Trujillo dictatorship in the Dominican Republic in 1947. He even entered a small law firm that defended the poor and people with political difficulties. In 1940, Cuba guaranteed labor rights, but after World War II the Cuban Revolutionary Party that was the active political party in Cuba became corrupt. Fidel Castro was a candidate of the Ortodoxo Party in the 1952 elections, but those elections were canceled. Then he claimed the dictator with violating the constitution. That was the moment when Fidel began his revolutionary career. Later he and his brother Raul organized people who carried out an armed attack on the Moncada army barracks in 1953. The attack failed; many people were killed, and Castro and his brother Raul were taken prisoner. During the trial, Castro critiqued the modern regime and called for political and social liberties. The speech is named “History will absolve me.” On May 15, 1955 the Castro brothers were released after an amnesty. Later Fidel organized the July 26th Movement.
In 1958, Fidel returned from South America with his future companion Ernesto Che Guevara. This moment has played a huge role in the fate of all Cuban people. Fidel Castro and Che Guevara and their movement gained strength, and already in 1959 the rebel forces moved into Havana. Later Batista's regime was overthrown, and another dictator took his place. Castro became commander of the Cuban troops and a head of the government. The U.S. provided assistance to him in the first years after the revolution, but soon the relations between them failed and the government of Cuba decided to establish a socialism. As the result, all large and medium landowners lost their land, property, private companies were nationalized, and many Cubans began to leave the country, but that was only the beginning. Castro knew that the U.S. would continue to overthrow the Cuban government and only the Soviet Union was the guarantor of power. President of the U.S. Dwight D. Eisenhower broke off diplomatic relations with the Cuban government and Fidel Castro intensified his relations with the USSR. In 1962, Cuba placed Soviet ballistic missile on its territory according to the preliminary agreement with Russia. In response, the U.S. strengthened its army and the world was at the risk of nuclear war. Later Khrushchev agreed to remove the missiles in exchange for the United States' public agreement not to invade Cuba.
President of the U.S. agreed to remove the Jupiter missiles from Turkey. Unfortunately, Castro was humiliated because superpowers left him out of the negotiations. The main idea is that Cuba has never been the same since that time. It should be noted that the events of October 1962 have had a positive effect on the whole course of history. The obvious advantage was the introduction of a direct telephone line between the Kremlin and the White House. It was designed to quickly solve complex political problems that can lead to uncontrolled military consequences. The crisis also provoked a revision of the position regarding nuclear weapons. First, a movement for nuclear arms control and disarmament to reduce the risk of using it appeared. Secondly, all countries assessed the risk of nuclear war and began to legally regulate this area.
In 1965, Castro declared himself the first secretary of the Central Committee of Cuba. On April 16, Castro proclaimed that Cuba was a socialist state and 1,400 Cuban exiles invaded Cuba to overthrow the Castro regime, but they were killed and captured. The important idea is that the U.S. denied any involvement, but it was revealed that Cuban exiles were trained by the U.S. authorities and armed with U.S. weapons. In 1959 the National Security Archive revealed that the U.S. had begun planning an overthrow of the Castro government. Castro proclaimed an end to democratic elections in Cuba in order to consolidate his power. He declared himself a Marxist-Leninist and announced the adoption of communist economic and political policies. It should be noted that Castro fought the influence of the United States in Cuba and tried to cope with the U.S. trade embargo without international support. Fidel also estanblished the system that provided all members of society with the opportunity to have a direct contact with him and become his followers.
In 1966, Castro proclaimed a speech, in which he attacked U.S. imperialism, Latin American governments, and political movements that opposed armed struggle and communist parties. Such policies isolated Cuba and made normal relations with Latin America impossible. In 1970, Fidel realized that he should ensure economic integration with the East European Council of Mutual Economic Assistance. It meant the diversification of the Cuban economy. In other words, a country had to concentrate on the production of sugar, nickel, and citrus products in return for oil, manufactured goods, and canned foods. This agreement caused the dramatic rise in world energy prices between 1973 and 1982 and devastated Third World economies. It should be noted that despite the dramatic warming of relations between the U.S. and Cuba, Castro still has a negative attitude to Washington.
In the early stages of the Cuban Revolution Castro was regarded as the savior of the nation. One minister in Cuba published an article in which he mentioned: “Fidel Castro is an instrument in the hands of God for the establishment of His reign among men”.. Talking about his political career it should be noted, that Castro is a strong man who ruled for nearly half a century. His ideology is communism, but he is an authoritarian military man. He provided the authority based on fear and respect. Second, the system of Castro had failed because communism has aggravated all the basic material problems, food, housing, drinking water, transportation, electricity, communications, and clothing, but there was a good educational and health system. The country cannot exist as a dictatorship in a world where Marxism has been discredited. The important idea is that Cuba belongs to Western civilization, therefore it is impossible to keep the country isolated from surrounding countries. Cuban leaders understood that they are not heroes, but followers of an absurd system. Nevertheless, Fidel Castro managed to deal with homeland security and governmental affairs without external support.
Information about the personal life of Castro is as ambiguous as his life. The official biography of Castro doesn’t include information about his numerous love affairs. Nowadays Castro is the 89-year-old former president of Cuba. Mr. Castro constructed an effective system and retired from his post in 2006, handing over to his younger brother Raul. He suffered from an intestinal disorder and is rarely seen in public. Nowadays he prefers to live in his house and write his columns for the communist. The leader of Cuban revolution Fidel Castro embraced socialism to achieve independence and social justice. He constructed an effective system with universal education and health care in the country. Cuba adapted even after the collapse of the USSR.
Finally, Fidel Castro was a prominent leader who managed to improve positions of his country even in difficult circumstances. He managed to survive despite numerous attempts to kill him, he followed his policy despite the opposition of the U.S. and without outside help. Fidel Castro provided policies in the attempt to ensure the independence of the country and improve public services. Difficult does not mean impossible and Fidel Castro proved that he was able to get a power, to survive after numerous attempts to kill him, to construct effective system that will not give up the U.S. and USSR. For almost 20 years Fidel Castro completely transformed the state, stimulated an economic growth, provided a free medical care for the population and increased the level of education. It is difficult to provide some characteristic of this political figure, since he is believed to be a national ruler and the most severe dictator of mankind. He was the worst enemy of the U.S., has entered into a nuclear and economic alliance with the USSR. In other words, Fidel Castro was a national leader of Cuba and one of the best-known dictators in human history.
Bibliography
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http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/fidel-castro/12158917/Fidel-Castro-photographed-meeting-Russian-patriarch.html
Fagen, Richard, “Charismatic Authority and the Leadership of Fidel Castro”, the Western Political Quarterly, 18, No. 2, Part 1, 1965, 275-284.
“Fidel Castro”, Biography, 2016., accessed March 31, 2016
http://www.biography.com/people/fidel-castro-9241487
Montaner, Carlos, “Communism Has Failed Cuba”, Foreign policy, 2009, 56-58.
Prevost, Gary, “Headwaters: The Faculty Journal of the College of Saint Benedict and Saint John’s University”, A CSB/SJU Faculty Journal, 24, 2007, 19-34.
