Fidel Castro, like many other political powerheads before and after him, has been a figure of both admiration and revulsion. In the minds of Latin Americans, he’s the grandfather of post-modern independence; in the minds of Cubans, he’s the father of modern Cuba; in the minds of American citizens, he’s an inhumane dictator. From his role in a Lenin-Marxist political moderate group during his early years of law school, to the intense years of guerrilla warfare he waged against the corrupt forces of Batista’s army, to the decisive moments of the Cold War and the Cuabn Missile Crisis when he was nationalizing Cuba into a socialist state, Castro has played both the role of the protagonist and antagonist in post-modern world history throughout his …show more content…
According to the personal accounts of Ana, “the revolution had completely transformed the country by 1962 … laws that once protected Cuban citizens were destroyed in the first two years and that the government which was once democratic and organized was transformed into tyranny” (Correa, Daniel S. and Sarah Z., Jonas). After the end of President Batista’s reign, Castro initially presented himself as a moderate leftist, but became increasingly radical. Castro even declared that a purge was necessary to purify the nation; extrajudicial imprisonment and arbitrary executions continued throughout Castro’s political career. In addition to abuses against prisoners, Castro also abused civilian rights via imposed economic reforms. The First Agrarian Reform, which was also the nation’s main priority, stripped lands from civilians, regardless of their support or challenge towards Castro’s rule. However, instead of being evenly distributed among Cuban civilians, according to the principles of communism, the lands all went to the government, under Castro’s name (Correa, Daniel S. and Sarah Z., Jonas). Aside from forcing children to work in fields as a mandatory requirement to be educated and fed, Castro’s government also
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Show MoreWith the death of longtime dictator Fidel Castro what is going to happen to Cuba’s government. Cuba is a Communist country and it has been like that for many years. Fidel Castro was a dictator for nearly five centuries until he became ill and relinquished presidency to his brother Raul Castro. This research will be comparing and contrasting Cuba’s and the United States government.
In her book From Cuba with Love, Megan Daigle dives into the nexus of sex, money, and deprivation in Cuba following the fall of the Soviet Union and the tightening of the U.S. embargo in the early 1990s as it deals with “jineterismo,” the local practice of pursuing relationships with foreigners in order to gain access to hard currency. With the end of the Soviet Union, Cuba was stripped of its primary source of financial and political support, quickly sending Cuba into an economic crisis that its government called “el Periodo especial en tiempo de paz” or the Special Period in Peacetime. “Seeming overnight, the Cuban economy collapsed by 40 percent” (4). To make matters worse this was the same time the United States solidified its embargo on
The Cuban Revolution had many lasting impacts. One area that was greatly influenced from 1959 to 1990 was gender relations. From the start to the end of the revolution women in Cuba faced many difficulties in gaining civil rights, some people were against it while others fought fiercely for equality, but in the end the quality of these women's lives were changed for the better. Before and during the revolution, Cuban Women were treated unequally and some of the population saw this as a problem and others did not. Throughout this time many people were against women's rights, even women themselves.
What does Zinn mean by referring to industrialists like Andrew Carnegie and John D. Rockefeller as “robber barons”? What did they do to deserve that name? Why do Schweikart and Allen refer to them as “titans of industry”? What good do they think Rockefeller and Carnegie did?
During the mid and late 1800s imperialism was alive and well in the United States. It was not enough for America to have acquired massive tracts of land throughout the late 1800s, such as Alaska and Hawaii, Guam, and Puerto Rico. The idea of imperialism and the Monroe Doctrine called for more land and limited European intervention in the Western Hemisphere. Ultimately the imperialistic eye of the United States had to eventually turn to Cuba, an area under Spain’s control that represented tremendous opportunity to fuel the growing imperialist machine that was America. The Monroe Doctrine could not tolerate Spanish control over Cuba, forbidding European intervention in the Western Hemisphere.
In this part in particular, De La Fuente utilizes figures and solid facts to prove his claims, especially with his effective use of census records to show black flight from Cuba due to lack of opportunity (pg. 104). Speaking to social mobility and education, De La Fuente identifies the mediocrity of Cuban and American efforts to create a literate population. Although the government made significant strides to educate the populations, imperialist motivations fueled the system, which lacked secondary systems of support and training for Afro-Cubans. It is essential that De La Fuente identifies lack of labor opportunities and education in Cuba because both Afro-Cubans and white Cubans could eventually find solidarity in combatting these issues. Upon reading this chapter, De La Fuente’s revelation of a cyclical nature in Cuba with revolution and racism is uncovered.
Castro’s government hurts the mental health of Cubans despite promising equality, progress, and freedom. Poverty haunted Cubans, even with the support of the USSR, and now, without it, the situation can only worsen without government action. The majority of Cubans have been suffering from poverty, which lead to drinking, smoking, domestic conflicts, and depression. Castro’s administration imposes restrictions on speeches and media and intensifies the oppression of Cubans because of previous dictatorship, huge discrepancies of wealth and domestic problems. The addiction to substance has only been increasing [Gorry], causing family and interpersonal conflict to worsen.
January of 1959, Cuba welcomed the first of the Cuban Revolution, and had become a communist country under the rule of Fidel Castro as mentioned in “Document D”. The US, against communism, became much involved in Cuba during 1962, when
The artist is criticizing how Fidel Castro failed to lead Cuba successfully because he did not follow “The Marxist Theory” which explains how the artist shows Castro burning the book as if to show how Castro was opposing and Marx and Engels theories. Furthermore, the artist aims to say that not following “The Communist Manifesto” exactly would result in consequences such as a failed state. Castro’s plans for Cuba were unsuccessful and placed Cuba in horrific situations economically and socially to this today which is seen in the cartoon where the artist depicts Cuba as an isolated and torn-down state. The artist of the political cartoon criticizes how Castro poorly handled leading the country of Cuba for many years as a Prime Minister and as a President. The artist criticizes Fidel Castro as a leader but does not criticize the theories of Marx and Engels and of communism as a whole.
Cuba is a nation that has been conquered by many people over the years and because of decolonization it is hard for the Cuban people to get rid of the rulers who wanted to influence their history. Fidel Castro gave the Cuban people independence. He was a forceful and cunning dictator who controlled the country and negatively effected the economy. The United States did not support the arrogant dictator’s establishment of communism which led to an economic downfall. Due to Castro 's insistence on practicing communism, the Cuban economy suffered as the government nationalized businesses while the United States implemented a trade embargo which resulted in homelessness and unemployment.
Nothing changed things got worse and worse and worse. Cuba remained the same as it did earlier with Batista; a poor country in debt whose livelihood depends on sugar production. At first the United
Phase 1 of the guerrilla warfare principles emphasise on the importance of popular support, which Castro strongly related to. Additionally, the warfare encouraged troops to fight on land that is not only readily available, but an area rebels have cohesive knowledge on. Guerrilla warfare has proved to be successful method of initiating liberty on numerous occasions. It worked for Tito in Yugoslavia, the Viet Cong in Vietnam and certainly for Fidel Castro in Cuba. The country was free after four centuries of neocolonialism, and ‘Cuba Libre’ was finally
Castro pushed education for his people to assist his aim in creating a well-rounded Cuba. In politically, economically, and socially declining environments, Joseph Stalin and Fidel Castro both gained power and attempted to bring the change the people so desperately
Raul Castro, an 83 year old who took the leadership of Cuba forcefully by the side of his brother in 1959, has taken the privilege of freedom of speech from the Cuban civilians. He has attempted to take care of his people but this attempt has been just an attempt. He has been too busy in the countries trading and allies but he is not aware that his country is dying. The Castro brothers established the Cuban communist party, this party became the only rightful enabled party. This is taking the human rights of the Cuban people because they can’t decide for themselves.
Communist ideology in Cuba is not a given truth to many historians, in this essay we will explore how Castro used ideology, and manipulated popular support in order to rise to power. While at times over-emphasized, guerrilla war, and the revolutionary spirit were part of the initial core of his attaining power. Guerrilla warfare executed by Ernesto ‘Che’ Guevara, and Fidel Castro, is a foreshadowing of the rest of Castro’s career in establishing power- ambiguous political stance. The version they used -Mao’s model- relied heavily on propaganda, and connecting to the poor people of the Sierra mountains. Besides fighting a dangerous war, both Castro and Che would lend themselves useful to the surrounding communities, in helping to build infrastructure, and instructing basic literacy skills.