The beginning of a new regime was the mark of a new era of new policies and reforms. Castro as the new leader of Cuba, made fundamental changes in Cuba that established a sense of economic and social equality; These alternations were established by one of the most major first reforms Castro had implemented, the first Agrarian reform. – The agrarian reform was the first major policy to be established by the new government under the rule of Castro, the reform demanded the liquidation of “Latifunda” (private owned plantations and companies), also called for the redistribution of agricultural estates between the working classes, and the nationalization of agricultural estates (and industries) that were owned by the U.S government. The agrarian reform was a measure designed to eliminate difficulties to economic and social equality in Cuba. (Transformations in Cuban Agriculture after 1959)
Castro implemented additional significant social-economical polices which further more increased his popularity with in the public order, such as attempts towards improving health care, medical facilities, and tourism, but mostly highlighting the importance of education by drastically transforming the Cuban educational system. Achieving an extraordinary change required Castro to start the “1961 literacy campaign” which called for raising the literacy rate percentage in the Cuban society, by allowing education and it’s equipment free of charge, building schools, increasing the amount of teachers per student, and making it available to all ages who desired to peruse education. These reforms where a major increase in Castro’s popularity. “The quality of life lies in knowledge”- Fidel Castro (The Right Priorities: Health, Education, and Literacy. PBS.o...
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...actions, by radically rationing on all products, including food, medicine and oil. Close to 90% of Cuba’s oil was imported from the Soviet Union; this raised many difficulties that Castro had to face, for this problem had paralyzed transportation. Castro took action by mobilizing and introducing 80,000 bikes to Cuba from neighboring countries to decrease the problem at hand. Cuba faced many difficulties after the desolation of the Soviet Union, the time period was called “the special period” but with all the difficulties and challenges Cuba had faced, Castro managed to maintain power because of his influential popularity that assisted him. (special period and recovery) (Cuba, Economy) (Cuban Development and the Sugar Economy: The Effects on Cuban Development of Changing International Economic Relations) (Protecting Social Achievements during Economic Crisis in Cuba)
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.
Fidel was acclaimed to be intellectually gifted by his teachers, but was a trouble maker. Despite his mischievous conduct, he was a self-disciplined student and had a great deal of Spanish pride which he learned from his teachers as well as his priest (Source F). During Castro’s schooling he did not focus solely on his academics,but he focused primarily in athletics such as baseball, in which he earned a award in 1945 as the country’s best secondary school athlete((Source F).Castro was also
The Cuban Revolution began at a time when Cubans could no longer tolerate the American capitalist influence in Cuba. Cubans blamed the United States for their destitutions and for the ruthlessness of American politically supported dictator Fulgencio Batista. Bastia’s administration was inhumane. Of the countless things he did, he annulled the 1940 Constitution that he helped to instate, widened the gap between wealth and poverty and turned United States supplied guns and ammunition on his own people. Fidel Castro and the 26th of July Movement extended hope and freedom to the oppressed people of Cuba. Castro earned the support of the public during his most famous
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,”
In 1961, Fidel Castro, Cuba’s dictator, introduced the Marxist-Leninist ideology to the Cuban people, “by grafting it onto the images, symbols, values, and concepts of Cuban nationalism” (Medin 53). This ideology was promoted through what Medin describes as a world where there are no "in-betweens," but instead only "good and evil", and any straying from that perceived norm was seen as counter-revolutionary and must be removed so they wouldn’t corrupt the process of developing a “homogenous revolutionary social consciousness” (Morales-Diaz 1). “The notion of ‘counter-revolutionaries’ and the connection to capitalist nations epitomizes the revolutionary government's contempt for anyone who is not on the side of the communist revolution" (Medin 40). In that way, Castro was creating enemies of any Cubans who weren’t up to his standards. According to Arenas, this new idea of unifying Cuba came at the expense of the persecution of a large segment of the population an...
Cuba’s unpredictable shift toward socialism and its growing dependence on the Soviet Union divided both the leadership and the country at large. With a relationship dating back to before Fidel Castro’s installment into power, Russia and Cuba have both played major roles in the development and regression of each other’s economies and societies.
“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.
Twenty percent of all Cubans were permanently unemployed. One point five percent of the landowners controlled forty six percent of the land. Half of the population had no electricity. Over half lived in bohios, a shack. Thirty seven percent could not read or write. Infant mortality was through the roof. And the
There may be some question over Fidel Castro’s achievements in providing economic success, or democracy to Cuba in the last forty five years or so. However Cuba’s record on providing egalitarian health care and education to the masses have generally been agreed as a success story, even by Castro’s old enemy the United States. “To be educated is to be free,” (Marti in Marshall, 1987, p146) has become one of the more popular revolutionary slogans and has been greatly adhered to by Castro’s government. While health care is articulated in the 1975 Cuban constitution as being “the right of all and the responsibility of the state” (Feinsilver, 1993, p26). The social political stance of Castro’s government has been the driving force behind the success in health care and education. Issues such as housing, employment, health care and education are viewed as a basic human right and are in theory guaranteed by the state to all. In Cuba, health care indicators are also seen as a measure of the government’s efficiency and performance. Other socialist states that have come and gone over the last century have also professed to put these issues at the forefront of priority. States such as Russia and China have to a lesser or greater degree failed to provide the standard of services provided in Cuba. “Until 1969 China’s health care system served only the urban population, which represented about 15 percent of the total population” (Feinsilver, 1993, p2). There are certainly factors that make this comparison unfair but Cuba’s achievements in providing these social services are still quite remarkable given its economic position. By truly placing education and healthcare as one of the fundamental priorities of the revolution, and developing specific programs and initiatives to deal with these two social issues, Cuba managed to succeeded where others more wealthy nations failed. The use of popular participation and central government control also were powerful tools in implementing these social policies. It would now be useful to look at some of these initiatives that have been taken by the Cuban government that enabled it to equal if no surpass education and health standards in many developed countries.
Bourne, Peter G. Fidel A Biography of Fidel Castro. First ed. New York NY: Dodd, Mead & Company, 1986. N. pag. Print
After his graduation in 1950, Castro continued to practice politics and study law. He decided to become a member of the reformist Cuban People’s Party, called Ortodoxos. The Ortodoxos called for economic independence from the United States, political liberty, social justice, and an end to government corruption. Throughout these years, Castro stayed true to his interests, and political capabilities, and became a candidate for a seat in Cuba’s House of Representatives during the election of June 1952. However, right before the election was held, Fulgencio Batista disbanded the previous government and cancelled the election. This incident is what really pushed Castro into fighting this corrupted government and restoring justice to Cuba. Th...
The pre-revolutionary Cuba had been imported from the United States for most of the food . After the revolution in 1959 , food shortages became a certainty because of the decline in domestic agricultural production and reduction of food imports . However , the new government of Cuba , promised food to all people , had provided the food rationing system a certain price at a low price in 1961 . Even after the relationship with the United States is broken , Cuba was able to enjoy the very favorable terms of trade with the Soviet Union . In 1987 , 63 percent of all food imports , more than 80% of foreign trade was one of the Soviet bloc .
...ld have respect for property and to have rights and liberty for all cubans. In Marifeli Pérez-Stable’s book The Cuban Revolution: Origins, Course, and Legacy, she looks back at the Cuban Revolution through a sociological point of view. Pérez-Stable states that Cubans held national independence and social justice as goals.14
Cuba's political history carries a pattern: when the masses are disillusioned by the current ruler, they turn to a young, strong-willed leader-of-the-people as their new ruler, only to become disillusioned to that ruler when he becomes too oppressive. It has seemed a never- ending cycle. Batista and Castro were both well-regarded leaders initially who appealed strongly to the masses and common citizen. Later, both established dictatorships and lost the support of many of those that they governed. Castro and Batista are each guilt of repression and corruption within their governments. For example, at some point under each regime, the constitution was either suspended or not followed at all. Castro did, though, make one very important contribution to Cuba's political system: Socialism. For the first time, Castro and Che Guevara a socialist plan called the New Man theory which called for developing an ideology amongst citizens that would call for working not for personal enrichment, but for social betterment.
Castro wanted to expand Cuba’s education system. His primary goal was the extension of education and other social services. In his autobiography, Castro has stated that “[he is] a Socialist, a Marxist, and a Leninist” (Fidel Castro 2008). Being a Socialist indicates that Castro wanted a range of economic and social