[20] The American historian John Lewis Gaddis wrote that Castro "began his career as a revolutionary with no ideology at all: he was a student politician turned street fighter turned guerrilla, a voracious reader, an interminable speaker, and a pretty good baseball player".[21]. [294] His diet was quintessentially Cuban, based on traditional pescatarian cuisine but also the additional influence from his native Galicia. [457], Castro's closest male friends were the members of his immediate bodyguard unit, Escolta or the "Escort". [399], Various Western governments and human rights organizations nevertheless heavily criticized Castro and he was widely reviled in the US. On December 2, 1956, Castro and an armed expedition of 81 men landed on the eastern coast of Cuba from the yacht Granma. It had allowed some political opposition to be voiced, and Castro's supporters had agitated for an amnesty for the Moncada incident's perpetrators. Severino Castro Apastillado. The US saw the missiles as offensive; Castro insisted they were for defence only. [173] The opening session of the United Nations General Assembly in September 1960 was a highly rancorous one with Khrushchev famously banging his shoe against his desk to interrupt a speech by Filipino delegate Lorenzo Sumulong, which set the general tone for the debates and speeches. Those elections were canceled when Fulgencio Batista forcibly seized power. [496][497] According to political scientists Steven Levitsky and Lucan Way, the Cuban regime entailed "full authoritarianism (like China and Saudi Arabia)", as there were "no viable channels for opposition to contest legally for executive power. [375] In late October 2016, Castro met with the Portuguese president Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, who became one of the last foreign leaders to meet him. [268] Castro's critics accused the government of wasting Cuban lives in these military endeavours; the anti-Castro Center for a Free Cuba has claimed that an estimated 14,000 Cubans were killed in foreign Cuban military actions. She often appeared in public with Castro, in particular in Oliver Stone's, This page was last edited on 28 April 2023, at 14:14. [413] Castro was a voracious reader; amongst his favourite authors were Ernest Hemingway, Franz Kafka, William Shakespeare, and Maxim Gorky, and he named For Whom the Bell Tolls as his favourite book, committing several portions of the novel to memory and even utilizing some of its lessons as a guerrilla fighter. There Fidel Castro organized Cuban exiles into a revolutionary group called the 26th of July Movement. [426] Officially, the Cuban government did maintain a cult of personality, but unlike other Soviet-era leaders and his allies, it was less widespread and took on a more subtle and discreet form. And there are political prisoners those who have expressed positions against the revolution though today only some 300, down markedly from the number at the outset of the revolution. [76] Both Fidel and Mirta initiated divorce proceedings, with Mirta taking custody of their son Fidelito; this angered Castro, who did not want his son growing up in a bourgeois environment. [487] Another son known as Ciro was also born in the early 1960s, the result of another brief fling, his existence confirmed by Celia Snchez.[476]. Castro and Chvez developed a close friendship, with the former acting as a mentor and father-figure to the latter,[331] and together they built an alliance that had repercussions throughout Latin America. [504] Balfour also noted that throughout Latin America, Castro served as "a symbol of defiance against the continued economic and cultural imperialism of the United States". General Cantillo secretly agreed to a ceasefire with Castro, promising that Batista would be tried as a war criminal;[114] however, Batista was warned, and fled into exile with over US$300 million on 31 December 1958. We are not executing innocent people or political opponents. [110], Batista responded with an all-out-attack, Operation Verano, in which the army aerially bombarded forested areas and villages suspected of aiding the militants, while 10,000 soldiers commanded by General Eulogio Cantillo surrounded the Sierra Maestra, driving north to the rebel encampments. His younger brother and successor as president Raul Castro announced the news on . In addition, he was repetitive and obsessive. [80], In 1955, bombings and violent demonstrations led to a crackdown on dissent, with Castro and Ral fleeing the country to evade arrest. [105] As Cuba's press was censored, Castro contacted foreign media to spread his message; he became a celebrity after being interviewed by Herbert Matthews, a journalist from The New York Times. [100] The MR-26-7 members operating in urban areas continued agitation, sending supplies to Castro, and on 16 February 1957, he met with other senior members to discuss tactics; here he met Celia Snchez, who would become a close friend. Cuban revolutionary Fidel Castro is born in the Oriente province of eastern Cuba. He became active in Cuban politics after graduating in 1950, and he prepared to run for legislative office in the 1952 elections. After a year's imprisonment, Castro travelled to Mexico where he formed a revolutionary group, the 26th of July Movement, with his brother Ral Castro and Ernesto "Che" Guevara. He was 84. [288] In a July 1983 speech marking the 30th anniversary of the Cuban Revolution, Castro condemned Reagan's administration as a "reactionary, extremist clique" who were waging an "openly warmongering and fascist foreign policy". What happened in Cuba after Fidel Castro left power? He wants to increase people's standard of living, the availability of material goods, and to import the latest technology. He spent most of his time under their protection and were usually his companions in his personal interests. [84] Fidel liked him, later describing him as "a more advanced revolutionary than I was". [36], In September 1949, Mirta gave birth to a son, Fidelito, so the couple moved to a larger Havana flat. [16] Castro became critical of the corruption and violence of President Ramn Grau's government, delivering a public speech on the subject in November 1946 that received coverage on the front page of several newspapers. Donald Trump restored some of the commercial and diplomatic restrictions that had been lifted under Obama. [240] Despite the economic issues, many of Castro's social reforms were popular, with the population largely supportive of the "Achievements of the Revolution" in education, medical care, housing, and road construction, as well as the policies of "direct democratic" public consultation. [287] Castro supported the leftist New Jewel Movement that seized power in Grenada in 1979, befriending Grenadine President Maurice Bishop and sending doctors, teachers, and technicians to aid the country's development. [190] Castro's victory reverberated around the world, especially in Latin America, but it also increased internal opposition primarily among the middle-class Cubans who had been detained in the run-up to the invasion. [62] Accompanied by 19 comrades, Castro set out for Gran Piedra in the rugged Sierra Maestra mountains several kilometres to the north, where they could establish a guerrilla base. A better way to understand Castroism is as a system that sought to combine the economic and political elements of Marxism with those of Simn Bolvar, whose anti-imperialist bent is clearly evident in Castros own philosophy. [228] From this conference, Castro created the Latin American Solidarity Organization (OLAS), which adopted the slogan of "The duty of a revolution is to make revolution", signifying Havana's leadership of Latin America's revolutionary movement. [493][494][495] Political opposition was not permitted. However, he refused to do so and began to carry a gun and surround himself with armed friends. He then took part in urban riots that broke out in Bogot, Colombia, in April 1948. The collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 took him by surprise and meant the end of generous Soviet subsidies to Cuba. Peter Bourne, Castro biographer, 1986[184], In January 1961, Castro ordered Havana's US Embassy to reduce its 300-member staff, suspecting that many of them were spies. [340] [502] The Castro government relied heavily on its appeals to nationalistic sentiment, in particular the widespread hostility to the US government. [395] He drew inspiration from the wider Latin American anti-imperialist movements of the 1930s and 1940s, including Argentina's Pern and Guatemala's Jacobo rbenz. [98] As trust grew, some locals joined the rebels, although most new recruits came from urban areas. Others say the 50-year policy has failed to achieve its goals, and Cuba does not pose a threat to the United States. [309] By 1992, Cuba's economy had declined by over 40% in under two years, with major food shortages, widespread malnutrition and a lack of basic goods. [385], Castro's government was also nationalistic, with Castro declaring, "We are not only Marxist-Leninists, but also nationalists and patriots". [170] On 16 December, the US ended its import quota of Cuban sugar, the country's primary export. [226] Castro was personally devastated when Guevara was killed by CIA-backed troops in Bolivia in October 1967 and publicly attributed it to Guevara's disregard for his own safety. In the letter, titled Brother Obama, he recapped the aggressive U.S. policy toward Cuba during the Cold War and castigated Obama, the first sitting U.S. president to visit the island in nearly 80 years, for not acknowledging the accomplishments of the Cuban Revolution, including its efforts to eradicate racism. His popularity was greater than ever. In the west of Cuba, he had three residences: Casa Americana (confiscated from an American businessman connected to Batista); Rancho la Tranquilidad in the locality of Mil Cumbres; and La Deseada, a hunting lodge utilized in the winter for duck hunting and fishing trips. Castro's privileged background (although non-bourgeois) contradicted his message, so. Fidel Castro was cremated the next day. [203], Militarily weaker than NATO, Khrushchev wanted to install Soviet R-12 MRBM nuclear missiles on Cuba to even the power balance. [178] Fearing counter-revolutionary elements in the army, the government created a People's Militia to arm citizens favourable to the revolution, training at least 50,000 civilians in combat techniques. Visiting Havana's poorest neighbourhoods, he became active in the student anti-racist campaign. [271], In the late 1970s, Cuba's relations with North American states improved during the period with Mexican President Luis Echeverra, Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau,[272] and US President Jimmy Carter in power. [17], In 1947, Castro joined the Party of the Cuban People (or Orthodox Party; Partido Ortodoxo), founded by veteran politician Eduardo Chibs. Officially announcing Cuba's identity as a socialist state, the first National Congress of the Cuban Communist Party was held, and a new constitution drafted that abolished the position of president and prime minister. In June 1947, Castro learned of a planned expedition to overthrow the right-wing government of Rafael Trujillo, a US ally, in the Dominican Republic. The theory is straightforward enough. He was conceived through an extramarital affair between his father, ngel Castro y Argiz, a well-to-do sugarcane farmer hailing from Spain, and ngels wifes servant Lina Ruz Gonzles; the pair wed when Fidel was a teenager. Fidel Castro on discovering Marxism, 2009[33], That same year, Grau decided not to stand for re-election, which was instead won by his Partido Autntico's new candidate, Carlos Pro Socarrs. Castro also disliked worrying about his appearance and hated shaving, making the beard and uniform all the more convenient for him. [8] Being baptized enabled Castro to attend the La Salle boarding school in Santiago, where he regularly misbehaved; he was next sent to the privately funded, Jesuit-run Dolores School in Santiago. [460] They were also his companions on special events, such as his birthday or during national holidays, which they would regularly exchange gifts and engage in one-sided discussions with Castro where he would recall his life stories. His parents divorced and . Political scientist Paul C. Sondrol has described Castro's approach to politics as "totalitarian utopianism",[394] with a style of leadership that drew upon the wider Latin American phenomenon of the caudillo. His father, ngel Castro y Argiz, an immigrant from Spain, was a fairly prosperous sugarcane farmer in a locality that had long been dominated by estates of the U.S.-owned United Fruit Company. The 125,000 immigrants, including some criminals, strained the capacity of U.S. immigration and resettlement facilities. [156] A third part of this social program was the improvement of infrastructure. [88] Other militant anti-Batista groups had sprung up, primarily from the student movement; most notable was the Directorio Revolucionario Estudiantil (DRE), founded by Jos Antonio Echeverra. Certain restrictions on emigration were eased, allowing more discontented Cuban citizens to move to the United States. [401] Nobody, not even Ral was exempt from this; despite being the minister of the armed forces, he would bring seemingly minor military decisions to Castro for his final approval in order to avoid inadvertently contradicting him. Fidel!" Snchez disputes this, saying that his doctor had Castro reduce his cigar usage starting in 1980 and quit entirely in 1983 after a cancerous ulcer was found in his intestine. German and Italian women in the 1950s and . He is either incredibly naive about Communism or under Communist discipline-my guess is the formerHis ideas as to how to run a government or an economy are less developed than those of almost any world figure I have met in fifty countries. [420], Within Cuba, Castro was primarily referred to by his official military title Comandante El Jefe; he was usually addressed as Comandante (The Commander) in general discourse as well as in person but could also be addressed as El Jefe (the Chief) in the third person, particularly within the party and military command. [370] In January 2015, he publicly commented on the "Cuban Thaw", an increased normalization between Cuba-US relations, by stating that while it was a positive move for establishing peace in the region, he mistrusted the US government. [43] His hopes for Cuba still centered on Chibs and the Partido Ortodoxo, and he was present at Chibs' politically motivated suicide in 1951. [449], Until 1979, Castro's primary vehicle was a black ZiL limousine, first an armoured convertible ZIL-111 from Khrushchev, a ZIL-114 and briefly a ZIL-4104 gifted to him by Leonid Brezhnev, while his escort would accompany him in several Alfa Romeo 1750s and 2000s. On 18 February 1961, 400 peoplemainly Cubans, Puerto Ricans, and college studentspicketed in the rain outside of the United Nations rallying for Castro's anti-colonial values and his effort to reduce the United States' power over Cuba. [156] Over 800 houses were constructed every month in the early years of the administration in an effort to cut homelessness, while nurseries and day-care centers were opened for children and other centers opened for the disabled and elderly. [205] Undertaken in secrecy, only the Castro brothers, Guevara, Dortics and security chief Ramiro Valds knew the full plan. [459] Unlike the other MININT Departments, both his and Ral's units bypassed the normal chain of command and reported to them directly. Carter continued criticizing Cuba's human rights abuses, but adopted a respectful approach which gained Castro's attention. [134] Returning home, an argument between Castro and senior government figures broke out. Some Americans disagreed with President John F. Kennedy's decision to ban trade with Cuba, and outwardly supported his nationalist revolutionary tactics. [388] Castro described Mart's political ideas as "a philosophy of independence and an exceptional humanistic philosophy",[390] and his supporters and apologists repeatedly claimed that there were great similarities between the two figures. Fidel Castro's speech to the Movement just before the Moncada Attack, 1953[51], Castro formed a group called "The Movement" which operated along a clandestine cell system, publishing underground newspaper El Acusador (The Accuser), while arming and training anti-Batista recruits. [225] [115] By this time the great majority of Cuban people had turned against the Batista regime. ", "Viva Fidel Castro!" Also known as: Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz. When Fidel Castro Ruz was born on 13 August 1926, in Birn, Holgun, Cuba, his father, ngel Mara Castro y Argiz, was 50 and his mother, Lina Ruz Gonzalez, was 22. . [425] During speeches, Castro regularly cited reports and books he had read on a wide variety of subjects, including military matters, plant cultivation, filmmaking, and chess strategies. In the early 1960s, Castro saw one of his bodyguards smoking a noticeably aromatic but unbranded cigar. [135], On 16 February 1959, Castro was sworn in as Prime Minister of Cuba. [400][469] Popular with women and often recognized as a sex symbol in Cuba,[461] Castro never had difficulty in finding love and seduction, and Snchez denies that Castro ever engaged in any unusual or un-consensual behaviour. . [409] British historian Alex von Tunzelmann commented that "though ruthless, [Castro] was a patriot, a man with a profound sense that it was his mission to save the Cuban people". Many members of the Cuban upper and middle classes felt betrayed by these measures and chose to immigrate to the United States. [361] On 7 August 2010, Castro gave his first speech to the National Assembly in four years, urging the US not to take military actions against those nations and warning of a nuclear holocaust. Castro welcomed debate between proponents and opponents of the economics reformsalthough over time he began to increasingly sympathise with the opponent's positions, arguing that such reforms must be delayed. There was no doubt about who the victors were. [94] Upon arrival, Castro discovered that only 19 rebels had made it to their destination, the rest having been killed or captured. ngel Castro and Lina Ruz, Fidel's parents. [167], Relations between Cuba and the US were further strained following the explosion of a French vessel, the La Coubre, in Havana harbour in March 1960. [438] The house itself was decorated in a classical Caribbean style, with local wicker and wood furniture, porcelain plates, watercolor paintings, and art books. The New York Post reported that Castro had sex with at least two women a . ROME -- Italian film legend Gina Lollobrigida, who achieved international stardom during the 1950s and was dubbed "the most beautiful woman in the world" after the title of one of her movies, died in Rome on Monday, her agent said. . Angered, Castro in turn announced his resignation as prime minister on 18 Julyblaming Urrutia for complicating government with his "fevered anti-Communism". On July 26, 1953, he led about 160 men in a suicidal attack on the Moncada military barracks in Santiago de Cuba in hopes of sparking a popular uprising. However, after massive damage caused by Hurricane Michelle in 2001, Castro successfully proposed a one-time cash purchase of food from the US while declining its government's offer of humanitarian aid. and "Down With Yankee Imperialism!". [323] Economic hardship led many Cubans toward religion, both in the form of Roman Catholicism and Santera. Ambassador to Cuba, E. T. Smith, who felt the whole CIA mission had become too close to the MR-26-7 movement,[116] personally went to Batista and informed him that the US would no longer support him and felt he no longer could control the situation in Cuba. [304] In Eastern Europe, socialist governments fell to capitalist reformers between 1989 and 1991 and many Western observers expected the same in Cuba. By November, Castro's forces controlled most of Oriente and Las Villas, and divided Cuba in two by closing major roads and rail lines, severely disadvantaging Batista. [138], Proceeding to Canada,[139][140][141] Trinidad, Brazil, Uruguay and Argentina, Castro attended an economic conference in Buenos Aires, unsuccessfully proposing a $30billion US-funded "Marshall Plan" for Latin America. In 1965, Castro authorized Che Guevara to travel to Congo-Kinshasa to train revolutionaries against the Western-backed government. For the TV series, see, The Movement and the Moncada Barracks attack: 19521953, Imprisonment and 26 July Movement: 19531955, Bay of Pigs Invasion and "Socialist Cuba": 19611962, Cuban Missile Crisis and furthering socialism: 19621968, Economic stagnation and Third World politics: 19691974, Foreign wars and NAM Presidency: 19751979, First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Cuba, President of the CouncilofStateofCuba, President of the CouncilofMinistersofCuba, Secretary-General of the NonAlignedMovement, Committees for the Defense of the Revolution, revolutionaries against the Western-backed government, Tri-Continental Conference of Africa, Asia and Latin America, Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, Fidel ngel "Fidelito" Castro Daz-Balart, List of awards and honours bestowed upon Fidel Castro, United States Interests Section in Havana, wide variety of awards and honours from foreign governments, Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, "Por vez primera en Mxico se exhibe el testimonio fotogrfico del Che Guevara", "Raul Antonio Chibs: Manifiesto Sierra Maestra", "The shadows of Cold War over Latin America: the US reaction to Fidel Castro's nationalism, 195659", "Setting Up the Scapegoat Who Will Be Blamed for Cuba? Angelito Castro Del Valle, born in 1974. [79] Setting about strengthening the MR-26-7, he established an 11-person National Directorate but retained autocratic control, with some dissenters labelling him a caudillo (dictator); he argued that a successful revolution could not be run by committee and required a strong leader. [200] By 1962, Cuba's economy was in steep decline, a result of poor economic management and low productivity coupled with the US trade embargo. [257] Castro always maintained that he took the decision to launch Operation Carlota himself in response to an appeal from Neto and that the Soviets were in fact opposed to Cuban intervention in Angola, which took place over their opposition. For more on the Cuba embargo debate, visit ProCon.org. Whether the U.S. should maintain its embargo against Cuba begun during the political rule of Fidel Castro is hotly debated. This does not mean that we are going to surrender. [306] In February 1990, Castro's allies in Nicaragua, President Daniel Ortega and the Sandinistas, were defeated by the US-funded National Opposition Union in an election. He knew how to bear with integrity and without hesitation the sufferings that some of us involuntarily caused her. Fidel Castro: Early Years Castro was born on August 13, 1926, in Birn, a small town in eastern Cuba. Appalled, he raged that he would rather die "a thousand times" than "suffer impotently from such an insult". [25] Returning to Havana, Castro took a leading role in student protests against the killing of a high school pupil by government bodyguards. Text by: Sabina Castelfranco Follow. With his rugged rebel look and seductive charisma, Fidel Castro was known not only as a giant of 20th century history, but also as quite the ladies' . He continued to signify his willingness to renew diplomatic relations with the United States, provided that it end its trade embargo against Cuba. Under his administration, Cuba became a one-party communist state; industry and business were nationalized, and socialist reforms were implemented throughout society. Introduced to it by his father at the age of 15, Castro continued the habit for almost 44 years with the exception of a brief period during the 1950s while a guerrilla fighter and boycotting against Batista linked tobacco firms. These changes were brought on in part by the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union, which had been Cubas chief ally and trade partner. The most likely candidate, former rural guardsman Felipe Miraval, never denied nor confirmed the possibility. [168] Inspired by their earlier success with the 1954 Guatemalan coup d'tat, in March 1960, US President Eisenhower authorized the CIA to overthrow Castro's government. All political dissent and opposition were ruthlessly suppressed. Whatever we may think of him he is going to be a great factor in the development of Cuba and very possibly in Latin American affairs generally. Parents and Siblings. [24] The military force consisted of around 1,200 troops, mostly Cubans and exiled Dominicans, and they intended to sail from Cuba in July 1947. Castros main activity at the university was politics, and in 1947 he joined an abortive attempt by Dominican exiles and Cubans to invade the Dominican Republic and overthrow Gen. Rafael Trujillo. From there he proceeded to Somalia, Tanzania, Mozambique and Angola where he was greeted by crowds as a hero for Cuba's role in opposing apartheid South Africa. President Urrutia increasingly expressed concern with the rising influence of Marxism. The Cuban Missile Crisis ended when the Soviet Union agreed to withdraw its nuclear weapons from Cuba in exchange for a pledge that the United States would withdraw the nuclear-armed missiles it had stationed in Turkey and no longer seek to overthrow Castros regime. [99] With volunteers boosting the rebel forces to over 200, in July 1957 Castro divided his army into three columns, commanded by himself, his brother, and Guevara. [346] In February 2007, Ral announced that Fidel's health was improving and that he was taking part in important issues of government. Date July 26, 2019. Policies introducing central economic planning and expanding healthcare and education were accompanied by state control of the press and the suppression of internal dissent. His trade agreement with the Soviet Union in February 1960 further deepened American distrust. [127] Although repeatedly denying that he was a communist to the press, he began clandestinely meeting members of the PSP to discuss the creation of a socialist state.[128]. Barack Obamas historic visit to Cuba with a 1,600-word letter in Granma. [310] Castro hoped for a restoration of MarxismLeninism in the USSR, but refrained from backing the 1991 coup in that country. [446] Aquarama II had two companion speedboats utilized by his escort, Pioniera I and Pioniera II; one was equipped with a large cache of weapons and another was equipped with medical equipment. Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree. [273] Conversely, his relationship with China declined, as he accused Deng Xiaoping's Chinese government of betraying their revolutionary principles by initiating trade links with the US and attacking Vietnam. He became their candidate for a seat in the House of Representatives from a Havana district in the elections scheduled for June 1952. [274] In 1979, the Conference of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) was held in Havana, where Castro was selected as NAM president, a position he held until 1982. I witnessed the spectacle of a totally spontaneous revolution [T]hat experience led me to identify myself even more with the cause of the people. Sturgis purchased boatloads of weapons and ammunition from Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) weapons expert Samuel Cummings' International Armament Corporation in Alexandria, Virginia. He also allied with Alphonse Massamba-Dbat's socialist government in Congo-Brazzaville. [266], After forcing back the Somalis, Mengistu then ordered the Ethiopians to suppress the Eritrean People's Liberation Front, a measure Castro refused to support. In discussions with his colleagues or foreigners, he would repeat the same things over again on a continuous loop until they were convinced he was right.
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