Castro Rise The Power

Castro Rise The Power

Dr. Fidel Castro Ruz became involved with political protests as a young student. After Batista’s coup in 1952, he went to court and tried to have the Batista dictatorship declared illegal. However, his attempt to peacefully bring down the Batista government did not work, and so in 1953,

Castro turned toward violent means. On July 26, 1953, Castro led a group of men to attack the Moncada military fortress. However, his little rebellion was immediately crushed by the Batista army. In fact, the Roman Catholic archbishop of Santiago had to make the government promise that the rebels would live, if they would stop fighting and come down from the mountains.

Sure enough, the government kept its promise and Fidel Castro and his followers were sentenced to three years of imprisonment. Batista, in order to gain some popular support, released them after a few months.

Castro’s rebellion failed, it sparked hopes of revolution everywhere in

Cuba. After a few years of exile in Mexico, Castro and a small band of about eighty-five men returned to Cuba in December of 1956. Many of the men perished during the initial landing, but a small group including Fidel

Castro and an Argentinian Marxist Ernesto "Che" Guevara, survived and went into the mountains. During the next two years, Castro and Guevara fought the

Batista army continuously in small guerrilla wars. They called themselves the Twenty-sixth of July Movement, after the earlier unsuccessful raid on the Moncada barracks. Their group gained in numbers and popularity among

Cubans as the desire for political change in Cuba increased. Castro promised sweeping changes including free elections, non-corrupt government, land, improved educational systems, jobs and health care for all. Castro became sort of like a Robin Hood for Cuba and many flocked to his banner. The final blow to the Batista regime came when the United States withdrew its support as Batista was falling from power. Seeing that a full scale war against him was inevitable, Batista fled the country with his family and close friends to the Dominican Republic. On January 8, 1959, the revolutionary forces marched into Havana unopposed.

Tension between Cuba and the United States

Tension between Cuba and the United States increased dramatically after the

Castro takeover. The main reason was that Castro a...

... middle of paper ...

...litical opposition. Fidel Castro, being the President, basically have a monopoly of power in Cuba. Every decision must go through him in order to be valid. Cubans have enjoyed free municipal elections since the 1970s. The election is done by secret ballot, and remarkable, you do not have to be a member of the Communist Party to run.

Yet these local elections do not affect anything on the national level.

National and international issues are handled by the National Assembly. In the National Assembly, the equivalent of the American Congress, members are appointed instead of elected.

However, the political grip loosened in 1993 when for the first time, members of the National Assembly were elected by popular vote. The elections were tightly controlled and only one candidate could vie for each seat.

Although as an election, this was a farce, it the high voter turnout rate shows that Cubans were eager to legitimize the government’s attempt at reforms. This eagerness shows that Cubans are ready for political change and they are willing to take an active role in making this happen. As more economic reforms improve the economy, pressure for political change will

increase.