Fidel Castro - From birth to death

Fidel Castro
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Fidel Castro, the Cuban dictator was born in 1926. His forces began a campaign of guerrilla warfare to successfully overthrow the Cuban dictator, and Castro became the country's new leader on 2nd December 1976. His communist domestic policies and military and economic relations with Soviet Union led to strained relations with the United States that culminated in the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis. Castro made improvements in health care and education sector but he eroded the civil liberties of the people severely. The collapse of communism in the Soviet Union which gave a negative impact on Cuba's economy led Castro to relax some restrictions over the time. Because of failing health, Castro officially handed over the power to his brother Raúl Castro in 2008.

Early Political Rising and Arrests 

Around 1947 Castro had become passionate about social justice. He travelled to the Dominican Republic to join an expedition attempting the overthrow of the country's dictator, Rafael Trujillo. 

The coup eventually failed to achieve it's goal but the incident did little to suppress Castro's passion for reform, therefore he travelled to Gogota, Colombia, the following year to participate in the anti-government rioting there. 

Castro also joined the Partido Ortodoxo, a political party founded to reform government in Cuba. He pledged to expose the government's corruption and warn the people about General Fulgencio Batista, a former president, who was planning to return to power. 

Meanwhile, Castro and Mirta Diaz-Balart got married. She was from a wealthy political family in Cuba. She gave birth to their child, named, Fidel, in 1949. Marriage with Balart, gave Castro wealthier lifestyle and political connections. 

Mirta Diaz-Balart and Fidel Castro
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In March 1952 a coup led by General Fulgencio Batista successfully overthrew the government as a result, the upcoming election was cancelled, which left Castro without a legitimate political platform and little income. 

Batista solidified his power with military and set himself as a dictator. This has his government recognised bu the United States. Therefore in response, Castro and fellow members of the Partido Ortodoxo organised a group called " The Movement " and planned an insurrection. On July 26, 1953, Castro and his supporters ( app. 150 ) attacked the Moncada military barracks outside of Santiago de Cuba in attempt to overthrew Batista. However this move failed and Castro was captured, tried, convicted and he among his brother Raúl Castro and many others were sentenced to prison.

Guerrilla War against Batista

Castro renamed his group the " 26th of July Movement " and continued with his activities secretly through correspondence. He and his men were released in 1955 under an amnesty deal with the government, and he travelled with his brother to Mexico, where they planned their revolution further. Castro met Che Guevara. He joined castro's group and became an important confidante. 

Fidel Castro returned to Cuba on December 2, 1956, and launched an attack with little more than 80 insurgents and a cache of weapons near eastern Manzanillo. Batista's forces killed or captured most of the attackers, but Caqstro, Raul, Guevara and some more were able to escape to Sierra Maestra mountain range. Slowly over the two years, Castro's steadily growing forces waged guerrilla war against the government. He was also able to organise a parallel government, carrying out some reform and controlling provinces with agricultural an manufacturing production. 

In 1958, Castro and his forces carried out a series of successful military campaigns and captured key areas throughout Cuba. Eventually, Castro's efforts led to the collapse of Batista's government and in January 1959, Batista fled to the Dominican Republic. Remarkably, at the age of 32 Castro concluded his campaign to take control of Cuba. 

A provisional government was created with Manuel Urrutia as president and Jose Miro Cardona as the Prime Minister. Castro assumed the post of commander-in;chief of the military. In February 1959, Miro suddenly resigned , and Castro was sworn in as Cuba's PM. 

A Turn towards Communism  

Castro tried to end U.S economic dominance on the island by implementing far-reaching reforms. It was announced that compensations would be imposed on foreign companies, which the companies had negotiated with the previous governments. This led to insignificant strain in U.S - Cuba relations. 

Castro kept on denying of him being a communist, but his policies closely resembled s Soviet-Style control of both the economy and the government. In May 1959, Castro signed the first Agrarian Reform Act, which limited the size of land holdings and forbade foreign property ownership, this led to state land control, with the farmers becoming more government employees. 

Castro's government also began to establish relations with the Soviet Union. Cuba signed a trade agreement in Feb 1960, to buy oil from the Soviet Union and established diplomatic relations. This gave a big push to the tensions between Cuba and U.S as the U.S owned refineries in Cuba refused to process oil, Castro expropriated them, and the United States retaliated by cutting Cuba's import quota on sugar. 

Bay of Pigs and the Cuban Missile crises 

On January 3, 1961, outgoing president Dwight D. Eisenhower broke off diplomatic relations with the Cuban government. On April 14, Castro formally declared Cuba a socialist state. 

Three days later, some 1,400 Cuban exiles invaded Cuba at the remote Bay of Pigs in an attempt to overthrow Castro regime. This ended in disaster, with hundreds of insurgents killed and more than 1,000 captured. 

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 Though the United States denied on their involvement in the event, it was later revealed that the Cuban exiles were trained by Central Intelligence Agency and armed with American weapons. 

Castro in turn, put an end to democratic elections in Cuba on May 1 and denounced Americam imperialism. Castro declared himself a Marxist-Lennist and announced the Cuban government was adopting communist economic and political policies. This led U.S to impose a full economic embargo on Cuba. 

Bay of Pigs incident gave a strong reason to Castro to grow his relations with the Soviet Union. In October 1962, his increasing reliance on Soviet support brought the world to the brink of nuclear war. Hoping to deter another invasion by U.S, Castro ans Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev placed nuclear missiles in cuba, just 90 miles off the coast of Florida. The President of the United States John F. Kennedy responded by demanding the removal of the missiles.

Over 13 anxious days of secret communications between Khrushchev, Kennedy and their agents, Soviets agreed to remove the missiles in exchange for the United States agreement not to invade Cuba. U.S also agreed to remove Jupiter missiles from Turkey. Castro was humiliated.

Cuba Under Castro

Castro could remained ashamed for long. He merged Cuba's communist Party with his revolutionary organisations, installing himself as head of the party in 1965.  He began a campaign of supporting armed struggle against imperialism in Latin America and African countries. Castro founded the Organisation for Solidarity with the Peoples of Asia, Africa and Latin America to promote revolution and communism on three continents. 

The U.S agreement not to invade Cuba had not precluded attempting to topple the Castro regime in other ways. Castro was the target of numerous CIA assassination attempts, but they couldn't succeed ever. 

Castro opened 10,000 new schools and is always credited to increase the literacy of the country to 98%. Cuban's enjoyed an universal health-care system. But at the same time, civil liberties were whittled away, as labor unions lost the right to strike, independent newspapers were shut down and religious institutions were harassed. Castro removed opposition to his rule though executions and imprisonments as well as through forced emigration. Huge amount of Cubans left the country, count of which goes upto 120,000 in 1980 alone. 

Collapse of the Soviet Union  

The 1991 collapse of Soviet Union sent Cuba's economy into a tailspin, and therefore, Castro's revolution began to lose momentum. Cuban inflation and unemployment grew due to the non availability of cheap oil and many other things. 

Former Soviet Union
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Yet Castro could keep control of the government during the dire economic times. Castro adopted a quasi-free market economy and encouraged international investment. He also legalised the U.S dollar and encouraged tourism. 

The shift of power

In late 1990s, questions began to rise over Castro's age and well being. Numerous health problems had been reported over the years. He also underwent a surgery for gastrointestinal bleeding. In an announcement on 31st july 2006, Castro designated his brother Raúl Castro as the country's temporary leader. On February 19, 2008, 81 year old Fidel Castro permanently gave up the Cuban presidency due bad health conditions. He handed over it to Raul who was 76 at that time. 

Fidel Castro died on November 25, 2016 at the age of 90. His brother and successor Raul Castro made the announcement of his death on Cuban state television. 

Raul Castro
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