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.
Cubans have sought to control their own destiny for over a century. As Spanish power continued to dwindle in the nineteenth century, many of its subjects in the New World began to demand greater control over their own future. For these future liberty combatants, the ruling elite of Spain seemed to promise only a continued future of decadence and economic decline. Cuba, ever the crown jewel of the Spanish empire, proved to be no exception to this line of thought. In the 1890s, with military aid from the United States, Cuba won its independence from Spain, but it had yet to gain complete control over its own destiny. It appeared too many Cubans as if they had only replaced one master with another, Spain for the United ...
The evolution of religion in Cuba, after Castro’s insurrection in 1959, has included much suppression by its proclaimed atheist, communistic government. There are several reasons that account for why this suppression has occurred, coupled by a recent trend (beginning in the late 1980s) of a religious revival, and more importantly, a growing Christian population within Cuban society. This growing spirituality can be attributed to many aspects of the Cuban economy and society. Also, it is important to observe how Castro’s negation of religious and human rights was perceived by Pope John Paul II during his pilgrimage to Cuba in January of 1998. The suppression which has existed in post-revolutionary Cuba has not necessarily subsided, rather it has been manifested to suit the political desires of Cuba’s pontiff, Fidel Castro.
By shifting the people’s focus in this direction, Cuba’s hidden government was able to surreptitiously pass more and more socialist policies until it gained sufficient power to fuse into one with the official government, eighteen months later (471). An example of this kind of manipulation is that Castro’s government created an edict that forbade public elections for a minimum of four years. The reasoning he gave was that it was to be done for the people’s own safety, to prevent Cuba from returning to “oligarchy and tyranny” (491). In reality, he opposed elections because an elected government would have been significantly harder to control than one made up of his own people. Similarly, the aforementioned expropriation of foreign property and collectivization of agriculture was met with little local resistance as it was championed with a sense of nationalistic pride to ‘take back Cuba from the imperialist United States’. The calculated, efficient way in which Castro used propaganda to sell the Cuban people communism is consistent with our thesis.
... five criteria for democracy as presented by Charles Hauss, Cuba failed miserably in competitive elections and rule of law, on the other hand while certainly far from industrialized democracies, recent developments hint at the potential for improvements in civil rights and the prevalence of capitalism. As far as systems theory is concerned in Cuba, it is almost impossible until improvements are made In the aforementioned civil rights criterion. Finally as it compares to other communist countries, Cuba is showing signs of travelling the path of the USSR and facing collapse as Perestroika begins and the regime is restructured. All things considered, Cuba has become an immensely intriguing country for political scientists in recent years as it has begun several transitions toward far greater democratization than it had ever experienced under its former leader.
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...
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...
Today Cuba is a drastically suffering country. Cuba is in a terrible economic state. The average Cuban is barely able to afford even the bare minimum of living essentials. They are suffering from not having enough food and water which creates a large number of malnutrition people and a higher risk for diseases. What make matters worse is that the Cuban government cannot get the necessary medicines to treat these diseases (Kirkpatrick 1996). With less than 50 percent of the drugs on the market, Cubans do not have adequate health care and medicines. They are also denied access to technology necessary for them to become a more up to date and prosperous county. Some Cubans have not even seen their American families in years nor can they receive money as they please from their American families. This country is suffering extremely and it is starving for an economic improvement (Rampersad 2006).
For years Cuba not only has been fighting for freedom, also several domestic issues are being part of the island’s national history. Human rights, prostitution; and poverty are part of the most relevant domestic issues that Cuba is facing until now dates. While the government has the primary responsibility and is particularly accountable for the full execution of the human rights inherent to all human beings, Cuba is part of many countries around the world where human rights are violate on a daily basis. As reported on the Country Reports on Human Rights for year 2013; Cuba is a country where the government organized mobs to assault and disperse those who sought to gather peacefully (Country Reports of Human Rights), the society in Cuba live without guarantee of basic individual freedoms of press, religion, association, speech, etc. Cuba count with a political system of abusive laws, corrupt institutions, and with a criminal code that allows the state to imprison individuals even before they committed a crime on the suspicion that they might commit one in the future. This is the Cuba’s “dangerousness” law, this repressive law categorize those who do not have the same ideas as the government or contradict socialist norms; as a potential threat or “dangerous”. The number of political prisoners increase every year, they are subject to criminal prosecution and they don’t have any guarantees since public hearings are conduct by incompetent and biased tribunals. Like Ramon Velasquez case, who was condemn to three years in prison in January 2007, after a “march of dignity” across Cuba to call for respect of human rights and freedom for political prisoners (Imprisoned for “Dangerousness” in Cuba). Unfortunately these type of detentions a...
With 1950’s Cuba in distress, Fidel Castro was able to swiftly consolidate power. Focusing on the events of 1952 to 1959 when Castro obtained the position of the Prime Minister of Cuba, this essay will examine- how did Fidel Castro’s “History will absolve me” speech provided the morale to his rise to power in 1950’s Cuba? His defence speech during his trial for the 26th of July Movement called History Will Absolve Me and Fidel Castro: Rebel, Liberator, or Dictator by Jules Dubois will serve as the two main sources alongside many academic sources. Through his speech, Castro became a household name in Cuba, giving him the recognition he needed to gain presidential power. Due to the positive Cubans response to his speech, Castro gained the support