Fidel Castro Achievements. [76], In 1954, Batista's government held presidential elections, but no politician stood against him; the election was widely considered fraudulent. From 1975 to 1989, Cuban expeditionary forces fought in the Angolan civil war on the side of the communistic Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola. Castro's improving relations across Latin America were accompanied by continuing animosity towards the US. He handed over provisional power in July 2006 because of health problems and formally relinquished the presidency in February 2008. [112] In the summer, the MR-26-7 went on the offensive, pushing the army out of the mountains, with Castro using his columns in a pincer movement to surround the main army concentration in Santiago. Sturgis opened a training camp in the Sierra Maestra mountains, where he taught Che Guevara and other 26 July Movement rebel soldiers guerrilla warfare. [387] Historian Richard Gott remarked that one of the keys to Castro's success was his ability to use the "twin themes of socialism and nationalism" and keep them "endlessly in play". In retaliation, the National Institute for Agrarian Reform INRA took control of 383 private-run businesses on 14 October, and on 25 October a further 166 US companies operating in Cuba had their premises seized and nationalized. During his first marriage, Castro had a brief encounter with Maria Laborde, an admirer from Camaguey whom very little is known and has long been deceased. [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. A national youth baseball champion, he studied sports medicine in the University of Havana and became an. He became their candidate for a seat in the House of Representatives from a Havana district in the elections scheduled for June 1952. [149], In the summer of 1959, Fidel began nationalizing plantation lands owned by American investors as well as confiscating the property of foreign landowners. 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' . Castros brother Ral, minister of the armed forces, ranked second to him in all government and party posts. [235] The severe lack of consumer goods for purchase led productivity to decline, as large sectors of the population felt little incentive to work hard. 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. [388] Castro described Karl Marx and Cuban nationalist Jos Mart as his main political influences,[389] although Gott believed that Mart ultimately remained more important than Marx in Castro's politics. [40], Castro co-founded a legal partnership that primarily catered to poor Cubans, although it proved a financial failure. His closest and most trusted friend was Ral Castro, his younger brother by five years and longtime armed forces minister. But the economic realities, despite rapid dramatic growth in the gross national product, severely limit what Cuba can buy on the world market. It means that we have to adopt to the reality of that world. In this way, his understanding of socialism was less about who controlled power in a country and more about the method of distribution. [436] Initially restricted for his own private use and other members of the Politburo, it was later presented as diplomatic gifts for allied countries and friends of Castro, most notably seen smoked by Che Guevara, Josip Broz Tito, Houari Boumdine, Sukarno, and Saddam Hussein. The group were sent throughout the world to carry out humanitarian missions on behalf of the Cuban government. As a result, Prime Minister Jos Mir Cardona resigned, going into exile in the US and joining the anti-Castro movement. By Jill Radsken Harvard Staff Writer. [321], Castro's government diversified its economy into biotechnology and tourism, the latter outstripping Cuba's sugar industry as its primary source of revenue in 1995. [115] By this time the great majority of Cuban people had turned against the Batista regime. "[522] The European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker said that Castro "was a hero for many. [87] Castro kept in contact with the MR-26-7 in Cuba, where they had gained a large support base in Oriente. [44] Seeing himself as Chibs' heir, Castro wanted to run for Congress in the June 1952 elections, though senior Ortodoxo members feared his radical reputation and refused to nominate him. It was long held that Cuban forces were acting as surrogates for the Soviet Union in these Cold War conflicts. Policies introducing central economic planning and expanding healthcare and education were accompanied by state control of the press and the suppression of internal dissent. The United States came to oppose Castro's government and unsuccessfully attempted to remove him by assassination, economic embargo, and counter-revolution, including the Bay of Pigs Invasion of 1961. [109] The opposition called a general strike, accompanied by armed attacks from the MR-26-7. [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. After the fall of the Soviet Union, Castro had no choice but to begin accepting some economically liberal policies as a means to keep Cubas economy afloat. Castro also disliked worrying about his appearance and hated shaving, making the beard and uniform all the more convenient for him. [264] Barre who saw seizing the Ogaden as the first step towards creating a greater Somalia that would unite all of the Somalis into one state rejected the federation offer, and decided upon war. [435], Castro's most iconic public feature eventually became the Cuban cigar that he smoked on a daily basis. [457], Castro's closest male friends were the members of his immediate bodyguard unit, Escolta or the "Escort". Castro was angered by Gorbachev's approach, believing that he was abandoning the plight of the world's poor in favour of dtente. [296] On 30 January 1988, Ochoa was summoned to a meeting with Castro in Havana where he was told that Cuito Cuanavale must not fall and to execute Castro's plans for a pull-back to more defensible positions over the objections of the Angolans. [155], Castro's government emphasised social projects to improve Cuba's standard of living, often to the detriment of economic development. Parents and Siblings. [27], In April 1948, Castro travelled to Bogot, Colombia, leading a Cuban student group sponsored by President Juan Pern's Argentine government. [52] From July 1952 they went on a recruitment drive, gaining around 1,200 members in a year, the majority from Havana's poorer districts. Critics call him a dictator whose administration oversaw human rights abuses, the exodus of many Cubans, and the impoverishment of the country's economy. [170] On 16 December, the US ended its import quota of Cuban sugar, the country's primary export. By 1970, a third of the population would be involved in the CDR, and this would eventually rise to 80%. [299], The prospect of an all-out Cuban-South African war served to concentrate minds in both Moscow and Washington and led to an increased push for a diplomatic solution to the Angolan war. [42] He took part in a high school protest in Cienfuegos in November 1950, fighting with police to protest the Education Ministry's ban on student associations; he was arrested and charged for violent conduct, but the magistrate dismissed the charges. [391], Biographer Volker Skierka described Castro's government as a "highly individual, socialist-nationalist 'fidelista' system",[392] with Theodore Draper terming his approach "Castroism", viewing it as a blend of European socialism with the Latin American revolutionary tradition. [267] Castro extended support to Latin American revolutionary movements, namely the Sandinista National Liberation Front in its overthrow of the Nicaraguan rightist government of Anastasio Somoza Debayle in July 1979. 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. Whereas Fidel was "charismatic, energetic, visionary but extremely impulsive and totally disorganized", Ral was described as a "natural, methodical, and uncompromising organizer". Asserting Cuba's independence, Castro refused to sign the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, declaring it a Soviet-US attempt to dominate the Third World. [410][411], Balfour described Castro as having a "voracity for knowledge" and "elephantine memory" that allowed him to speak for hours on a variety of different subjects. [356] Describing his brother as "not substitutable", Ral proposed that Fidel continue to be consulted on matters of great importance, a motion unanimously approved by the 597 National Assembly members. Under US pressure, the hostages were released, and Castro welcomed them back as heroes. [400] Castro was also described as a poor father; often absent from their lives, he had little interest in the activities of his children and was more interested in his work. [433] His personal weapon of choice was a 7.62 Kalashnikov AKM which Castro occasionally carried with him during the 1960s but was later kept stored in a suitcase carried by one of the members of his escort or kept placed between his feet while driving along with five cartridges; he frequently used it during shooting exercises and practice. Fidel's paternal grandfather was Manuel de Castro y Nez (the son of Pedro Juan de Castro Lpez Mndez and Juana Nez Pereira). [80], In 1955, bombings and violent demonstrations led to a crackdown on dissent, with Castro and Ral fleeing the country to evade arrest. [74] Initially permitted a relative amount of freedom within the prison, he was locked up in solitary confinement after inmates sang anti-Batista songs on a visit by the president in February 1954. [225] [510] Quirk stated that Castro wielded "absolute power" in Cuba, albeit not in a legal or constitutional manner,[511] while Bourne claimed that power in Cuba was "completely invested" in Castro,[512] adding that it was very rare for "a country and a people" to have been so completely dominated by "the personality of one man". [442], Castro's main vacation destination was Cayo de Piedra, a small key island formerly the site of a lighthouse, approximately a mile long and divided into two by a cyclone in the 1960s. 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. [305] Increasingly isolated, Cuba improved relations with Manuel Noriega's right-wing government in Panamadespite Castro's personal hatred of Noriegabut it was overthrown in a US invasion in December 1989. We are executing murderers and they deserve it. Countering these threats, Castro aligned with the Soviet Union and allowed the Soviets to place nuclear weapons in Cuba, resulting in the Cuban Missile Crisisa defining incident of the Cold Warin 1962. Why should some be miserably poor, so that others can be hugely rich? His personal needs for absolute control seems to have changed little over the years. In his capacity as both president of the NAM and of Cuba he appeared at the United Nations General Assembly in October 1979 and gave a speech on the disparity between the world's rich and poor. [437] Prior to the Revolution, Castro smoked various brands including Romeo y Julieta Churchill, H. Upmann, Bauza, and Partags. [172] Castro delivered the longest speech ever held before the United Nations General Assembly, speaking for four and a half hours in a speech mostly given over to denouncing American policies towards Latin America. [53] Although a revolutionary socialist, Castro avoided an alliance with the communist Popular Socialist Party (PSP), fearing it would frighten away political moderates, but kept in contact with PSP members like his brother Ral. [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. [12] Admitting he was "politically illiterate", Castro became embroiled in student activism[13] and the violent gangsterismo culture within the university. [19] In later years, anti-Castro dissidents accused him of committing gang-related assassinations at the time, but these accusations remain unproven. [399], Various Western governments and human rights organizations nevertheless heavily criticized Castro and he was widely reviled in the US. [233][234], Influenced by China's Great Leap Forward, in 1968 Castro proclaimed a Great Revolutionary Offensive, closing all remaining privately owned shops and businesses and denouncing their owners as capitalist counter-revolutionaries. Castro accepted the offer, but he also had an immediate need for guns and ammunition, so Sturgis became a gunrunner. His big battle is international affairs. [439] Ral and Vilma's house La Rinconada is located close by on 222nd street. [453] Besides Ral, Castro was not close to any of his other siblings, although he did have friendly relations with his elder brother Ramn and sister Angelita. My still incipient Marxist ideas had nothing to do with our conductit was a spontaneous reaction on our part, as young people with Mart-an, anti-imperialist, anti-colonialist and pro-democratic ideas. 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. Ral has been consistently dogged by rumors that Angel Castro was not his real father. [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. To start: Spain is what it is today and back then bc of Italians as they a. [196] In response, the US successfully pushed the Organization of American States to expel Cuba; the Soviets privately reprimanded Castro for recklessness, although he received praise from China. In the meantime Castro created a one-party government to exercise dictatorial control over all aspects of Cubas political, economic, and cultural life. In March 2011, Castro condemned the NATO-led military intervention in Libya. [189] He ordered the 1189 captured rebels to be interrogated by a panel of journalists on live television, personally taking over the questioning on 25 April. [111] Despite their numerical and technological superiority, the army had no experience with guerrilla warfare, and Castro halted their offensive using land mines and ambushes. 1463 Words6 Pages. He asserted that Castro "always had a keen sense of humor and could laugh at himself" but could equally be "a bad loser" who would act with "ferocious rage if he thought that he was being humiliated". Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz was born in Birn, Holguin Province, Cuba, the fifth of nine children of ngel Mara Bautista Castro y Argiz, a plantation owner originally from Galicia, Spain, who operated a plantation in Cuba's Oriente Province. [400] He profiled him as an egocentric who loved being the center of attention, and with his almost electric charisma, grabbing the attention of the people around him. [230] Diverting from Soviet Marxist doctrine, he suggested that Cuban society could evolve straight to pure communism rather than gradually progress through various stages of socialism. [516], Noting that there were "few more polarising political figures" than Castro, Amnesty International described him as "a progressive but deeply flawed leader". [122] Heading toward Havana, he greeted cheering crowds at every town, giving press conferences and interviews. [314] He ceased support for foreign militants, refrained from praising FARC on a 1994 visit to Colombia and called for a negotiated settlement between the Zapatistas and Mexican government in 1995. [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. [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". Within the first six months of Castro's government, 1,000km (600mi) of roads were built across the island, while $300million was spent on water and sanitation projects. [215] Seeking to further consolidate control, in 1963 the government cracked down on Protestant sects in Cuba, with Castro labelling them counter-revolutionary "instruments of imperialism"; many preachers were found guilty of illegal US links and imprisoned. Others say the 50-year policy has failed to achieve its goals, and Cuba does not pose a threat to the United States. Articles from Britannica Encyclopedias for elementary and high school students.
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