The Cuban revolution was triggered with the takeover of former president Fulgencio
Batista. Even though he had the support of the U.S., many Cubans opposed him. One of them was an outspoken lawyer by the name of Fidel Castro. He decided to take action against Batista and the government on July 23, 1953, by leading approximately one hundred guerrillas to attack the Moncada Barracks. This was the event that started the Cuban Revolution (Hurst Web).
Batista and his inner circle, seeing that Castro’s victory was imminent, took what loot they could gather up and fled. Batista authorized some of his aides to deal with Castro and the rebels. The people of Cuba took to the streets, cheerfully greeting the rebels. Cienfuegos and
Guevara
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A prime example of this is its intervention in Angola; thousands of Cuban troops were sent there in the
1970's to support a leftist movement.
Many Cubans have disagreements in regards to the revolution. The thousands of middle and upper class Cubans who fled the nation (often to Miami) depised Castro and have kept the pressure on the United States government to retain the embargo. Many of those still in Cuba, after years of hardship, have tried to flee to the United States or Mexico in makeshift rafts and boats. Still, there are many in Cuba who love Castro and continue to embrace the revolution.
Will history forgive him? Only time will tell (Minster Web).
The beginning of Fidel Castro as President, led to many positive changes for Cuba.
Castro transformed the education system, creating a vast number of opportunities for those that had been subject to discrimination due to racism and classism under the Batista regime. Castro also improved the public health care system, giving all Cubans access to free health care. A comparison of government probity and political liberty under both Batista and Castro
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Castro further compromised political liberty through censorship of the media. “The media was an essential factor for the consolidation of the authoritarian regime of Fidel Castro” and was therefore “...limited for political and economic reasons” (Egan Web). There have been many criticisms of this censorship. The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights stated in its report on Cuba that: “One of the most serious violations of human rights that occurs in Cuba, is violation of the right to freedom of expression.” (Egan Web). Political liberty has been further compromised under Castro by the use of propaganda in education. Although Castro improved the education system dramatically, he also used schools as a place to teach communist values, encouraging positive attitudes about the revolution. He felt that if children were taught these ideas at a young age they would be loyal to his regime. Children were therefore “subjected to daily indoctrination” (Egan Web).
Having analyzed government morality and political liberty under both Batista and
Fidel Castro entered Havana, Cuba and took his place as Prime Minister in January of 1959, just after the fall of the Batista regime. Within days, many of the Cuban upper class began exiting the island, wary of losing their socioeconomic status and possibly their lives (Leonard 13). Castro’s radical new policies appealed to most of the suppressed lower class seeking change, but the middle sector “became disillusioned with their new leader” and soon comprised the majority of the Cuban refugees in Miami, Florida (Leonard 3). Beginning in December 1960 and ending with the Cuban Missile Crisis in October 1962, over 14,000 of those refugees wou...
“Cuba - A Case of Communist Take-Over.” The New York Times Magazine July 1961: 59-64 Guido, Jessica.
The government also restricted business developments and the people now had to ask for special permission (which was not always granted) to open a very small business which often did not last long. Cubans were not allowed to in any way express their discontent towards the government since Fidel also censored and restricted the freedom of expression of the Cuban people. this has also caused major immigrations from the island to the united states and other countries causing problems due to the many, many incoming immigrants. in the year of 1960 to 1962, Cuban parents sent their children (approximately fourteen hundred) to live in the united states due to fear of them being indoctrinated by the Cuban government. This was known as “Operation Peter Pan”.
“What light is to the eyes - what air is to the lungs - what love is to the heart, freedom is to the soul of man” (Brainy Quotes). Light is essential to the eyes, love is what makes the heart beat, and freedom is the hope of man kind; all of which are essential to the happiness of humanity. Having to live without these rights is a difficult way of living. For example, Cubans have suffered time after time in pursuit of their freedom, but sadly they never accomplish their goal. They live in fear of their broken government, but never stop fighting for freedom. In the early 20th century, Cuba was a democracy. From 1940 to 1944 Fulgencio Batista, a Cuban politician, was Cuba’s president. In 1952 he decided to run again, but when it was apparent he’d lose, Batista seized power before the election took place. The citizens were outraged causing them to turn against their flawed democracy that was brought upon by the election. As a result, Fidel Castro, a communist revolutionary political man, began to plot Batista’s downfall. The Cuban Revolution, also known as Castro’s Revolution, began on July 26, 1952, and ended January, 1, 1959. After Batista, Cuba’s former president, fled the country, Castro took complete control and turned Cuba into a communist country. The Revolution brought upon: many deaths, censored news and publicity, and no freedom of speech. Throughout the years Castro stayed in power, but due to health issues originating on July 31, 2006, he had to step down. After Castro returned, he took control of Cuba up until February 19, 2008. He then abdicated his place as dictator and handed down his position to his brother, Raul Castro.
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 number of anti-American developments during the height of the cold war, including the “expropriation of United States-owned properties on the island… [and] the Soviet Union [agreeing] to purchase sugar from Cuba and to supply Cuba with crude oil” (Hass 1998, 37). Bad sentiments continued to pile up as Cuba imposed restrictions on the United States Embassy and especially when, after the United States “officially broke off diplomatic ties with Cuba, and travel by United States citizens to Cuba was forbidden ... Castro openly proclaimed his revolution to be ‘socialist’” (Hass 1998, 38). The day after this, the Bay of Pigs invasion occurred, but it failed in its job to topple Castro (Hass 1998, 38). Left with no diplomatic options and a failed military attempt, the United States decided that the only way to end Castro’s socialist regime was to sever all ties, and from 1961 to 1996, a series of acts were passed prohibiting the majority of trade and interaction with Cuba. (Hass 1998, 38).
In 1952, Flugencio Batista, then president of Cuba, conducted yet another falsified election in his favor. Resulting in a shutdown of all political parties, constitutional rights and even the closure of the University where Castro attended. By July 26, 1953 Fidel Castro and his brother Raúl, standing for social justice, began assembling, “111 insurgents... and headed an armed assault on the Moncada army barracks in Santiago de Cuba,” (Padgett 43). Raúl and Fidel were caught and set to trial, beginning the Revolution of Cuba. It was at this trial where Fidel Castro stood before the judges announcing his lack of fear for prison stating confidently, “History will absolve me” (Fidel Castro). This is where his support came from, he was seen by his followers as the symbol of avengers who stood up the greater evil. Through gore and long ensued battles his victory came in January of 1959, Fidel Castro was the new leader of Cuba (Fidel: The Untold Story). Those who were pro Batista fled to Miami and other far away locations as soon as possible. While those who stayed, predominately the working class, stayed and celebrated in the streets because justice had been served and the dictator had been overthrown by the Valiant
Cuban Dictator was overthrown by Fidel Castor. The main problem was that the United States
Around the time of the late 1940s, Castro had joined in a group in which one of the leaders were killed. The Group was the socialist Party of the Cuban People. Castro stole guns for the group, and had returned home later that year. He had a children the year later, with his wife Mirta Diaz Bal...
And he did not respond to the concerns of the people. Before long Batista’s government became corrupt and his leadership was incompetent. Unemployment was high; almost half of the rural population was illiterate. Diseases like tuberculosis and typhoid were rampant; water infrastructure was limited. Organized crime was too powerful. The typical living arrangement for families was a hut with a thatched roof. Cuba’s industries were run by the United States. Economically the country was in shambles. Other than the intellectuals in Havana, the general population was not aware of the turmoil in the government and was not yet to a point of
The Cuban revolution was one that transformed Cuba into an independent socialist society. This revolution sent a message around the globe. The message: “ Socialism can be achieved and capitalism, with its culture stripping mechanism’s can be supplemented”. However, the revolution did leave its mark on Cuba. This can be seen in the events that took place during the early stages of the revolution. The effects of the revolution were positive for certain sections of the population and negative for others.
One mission by Che Guevara was he, “strove to create a proper industrial base and to diminish the economy’s dependence on sugar,” (515). To improve the milk and meat production in Cuba efforts were made to breed a new kind of cattle. This effort failed which resulted in a famine because of this and with the U. S trade embargo the Cuban government began to give rations of daily necessities to citizens, (The Caribbean: A History of the Region and Its People). Guevara efforts were too expensive for Cuba causing a crisis. The government, “decided to resolve its crisis by means of a “revolutionary offensive”: first, the nationalization of all services, restaurants, shops, and petty commercial iinstallations... witha production goal of 10 million tons of sugar (516). That goal did not work causing Fidel Castro to offer to resign. Cuba started to become a communist society. In terms of who was in charge and their role in, The Caribbean: A History of the Region and Its People state, “Castro was the visible head, the spokesman, and the international strategists while his brother Raul would become more and more the chief of personnel, the head of the armed forces and secret services,”
United States because there of have the rights to intervene in cuba affairs, and cuba had to
He suspended the Constitution, effectively establishing a dictatorship, and increased the Cuban dependency on the US. Batista allowed the US to build casinos, reaping the profits from the casinos and from the growing drug trade. He ignored crimes, allowing many drug dealers to continue under the condition that he got a share of the profits. He, a select group of friends, and businessmen from the US, grew richer and richer while the lower class of Cuba were poor and suffering. The people of Cuba saw this corruption and resented it, causing a gaping rift between leaders and people.
Both Batista and Castro contributed to the extremism of Cuba's military/political history. As many Cuban leaders had done before him, Fulgencio Batista was part of a militant movement that overthrew his predecessor, Carlos Manuel de Cespedes y Quesada. During this movement, Batista was chief staff of the army, which eventually led to his attaining control of Cuba. In a similar manner, Fidel Castro overthrew Batista. Instead of staging a coup, Castro was the leader of the best organized force of anti-Batista groups during the Cuban Revolution. Because of the guerilla warfare that Castro and other groups were waging against Batista, he eventually resigned from office and fled to the country.
The tropical island of Cuba had been an object of empire for the United States. Before the Missile Crisis, the relationship between Castro and the US were strained by the Bay of Pigs occurrence in 1961. This was where counterrevolutionary Cubans were American funded and tried to invade Cuba and overthrow Castro. However, the counterrevolutionaries failed. Castro then found an alliance with the Soviet Union and an increase of distrust that Castro had on the US. On January 18, 1962, the United States’ Operation Mongoose was learned. The objective would be “to help the Cubans overthrow the Communist regime” so that the US could live in peace. Consequently, Castro informed the Soviet Union that they were worried about a direct invasion on Cuba, thus longed for protection against th...