11 October 2017 - FIDEL CASTRO

FIDEL CASTRO

G'day folks,

Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz was a Cuban revolutionary and politician who governed the Republic of Cuba as Prime Minister from 1959 to 1976 and then as President from 1976 to 2008.

Cuban leader Fidel Castro (1926-2016) established the first communist state in the Western Hemisphere after leading an overthrow of the military dictatorship of Fulgencio Batista in 1959. He ruled over Cuba for nearly five decades, until handing off power to his younger brother Raúl in 2008. During that time, Castro’s regime was successful in reducing illiteracy, stamping out racism and improving public health care, but was widely criticized for stifling economic and political freedoms. Castro’s Cuba also had a highly antagonistic relationship with the United States–most notably resulting in the Bay of Pigs invasion and the Cuban Missile Crisis. The two nations officially normalized relations in July 2015, ending a trade embargo that had been in place since 1960, when U.S.-owned businesses in Cuba were nationalized without compensation. Castro died on November 25, 2016, at 90.

Fidel Castro: Early Years 

Castro was born on August 13, 1926, in Birán, a small town in eastern Cuba. His father was a wealthy Spanish sugarcane farmer who first came to the island during the Cuban War of Independence (1895-1898); his mother was a domestic servant for his father’s family who bore him out of wedlock. After attending a couple of Jesuit schools–including the Colegio de Belén, where he excelled at baseball–Castro enrolled as a law student at the University of Havana. While there, he became interested in politics, joining the anti-corruption Orthodox Party and participating in an aborted coup attempt against the brutal Dominican Republic dictator Rafael Trujillo.

 In 1950, Castro graduated from the University of Havana and opened a law office. Two years later, he ran for election to the Cuban House of Representatives. The election never happened, however, because Batista seized power that March. Castro responded by planning a popular uprising. “From that moment on, I had a clear idea of the struggle ahead,” he said in a 2006 “spoken autobiography.”

Castro’s Revolution Begins 

In July 1953, Castro led about 120 men in an attack on the Moncada army barracks in Santiago de Cuba. The assault failed, Castro was captured and sentenced to 15 years in prison, and many of his men were killed. The U.S.-backed Batista, looking to improve his authoritarian image, subsequently released Castro in 1955 as part of a general amnesty. Castro ended up in Mexico, where he met fellow revolutionary Ernesto “Che” Guevara and plotted his return.

The following year, Castro and 81 other men sailed on the yacht “Granma” to the eastern coast of Cuba, where government forces immediately ambushed them. The estimated 18 survivors, including Castro, his brother Raúl and Guevara, fled deep into the Sierra Maestra Mountains in southeastern Cuba with virtually no weapons or supplies.

 According to Castro, the revolutionaries started reorganizing with only two rifles, but by early 1957 they were already attracting recruits and winning small battles against Rural Guard patrols. “We’d take out the men in front, attack the center, and then ambush the rear when it started retreating, in the terrain we’d chosen,” Castro said in his spoken autobiography. In 1958, Batista tried to snuff out the uprising with a massive offensive, complete with air force bombers and naval offshore units. The guerrillas held their ground, launched a counterattack and wrested control from Batista on January 1, 1959. Castro arrived in Havana a week later and soon took over as prime minister. At the same time, revolutionary tribunals began trying and executing members of the old regime for alleged war crimes.

Castro’s Rule 

In 1960, Castro nationalized all U.S.-owned businesses, including oil refineries, factories and casinos. This prompted the United States to end diplomatic relations and impose a trade embargo that still stands today. Meanwhile, in April 1961, about 1,400 Cuban exiles trained and funded by the CIA landed near the Bay of Pigs with the intent of overthrowing Castro. Their plans ended in disaster, however, partially because a first wave of bombers missed their targets and a second air strike was called off. Ultimately, more than 100 exiles were killed and nearly everyone else was captured. In December 1962, Castro freed them in exchange for medical supplies and baby food worth about $52 million.

 Castro publicly declared himself a Marxist-Leninist in late 1961. By that time, Cuba was becoming increasingly dependent on the Soviet Union for economic and military support. In October 1962, the United States discovered that nuclear missiles had been stationed there, just 90 miles from Florida, setting off fears of a World War III. After a 13-day standoff, Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev agreed to remove the nukes against the wishes of Castro, who was left out of the negotiations. In return, U.S. President John F. Kennedy publicly consented not to reinvade Cuba and privately consented to take American nuclear weapons out of Turkey.

Cuban Life under Castro 

After taking power, Castro abolished legal discrimination, brought electricity to the countryside, provided for full employment and advanced the causes of education and health care, in part by building new schools and medical facilities. But he also closed down opposition newspapers, jailed thousands of political opponents and made no move toward elections. Moreover, he limited the amount of land a person could own, abolished private business and presided over housing and consumer goods shortages. With political and economic options so limited, hundreds of thousands of Cubans, including vast numbers of professionals and technicians, left Cuba, often for the United States.

 From the 1960s to the 1980s, Castro supplied military and financial aid to various leftist guerilla movements in Latin America and Africa. Nonetheless, relations with many countries, with the notable exception of the United States, began to normalize. Cuba’s economy foundered when the Soviet Union collapsed in the early 1990s and the United States expanded sanctions even further. Yet Castro, who by this time had switched his title from prime minister to president, found new trading partners and was able to cling to power until 2006, when he temporarily gave control of the government to Raúl after undergoing emergency intestinal surgery. Two years later, in 2008, he permanently resigned.

In 2015, U.S. and Cuban officials announced they had agreed to terms on the normalization of relations between the two nations, with mutual embassies and diplomatic missions opening in each country.

 Castro died on November 25, 2016, at the age of 90. His death was announced on state television and later confirmed by his brother Raúl. 

Clancy's comment: I've read that he survived more than 600 assassination attempts; most by the CIA.

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10 September 2013 - FIDEL CASTRO

FIDEL CASTRO

 

Also Known As: Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz

G'day folks,

Welcome to a post on an interesting political leader of Cuba - FIDEL CASTRO. Who was he? What is he most famous for? 

Historical Importance of Fidel Castro:

In 1959, Fidel Castro took control of Cuba by force and remained its dictatorial leader for nearly five decades. As the leader of the only communist country in the Western Hemisphere, Castro has been the focus of international controversy.

Biography of Fidel Castro:

Fidel Castro was born near his father's farm, Birán, in southeast Cuba in what was then the Oriente Province. Castro's father, Angel Castro y Argiz, was an immigrant from Spain who had prospered in Cuba as a sugarcane farmer. Although Castro's father, Angel, was married to Maria Luisa Argota (not Castro's mother), he had five children out of wedlock with Lina Ruz González (Castro's mother), who worked for him as a maid and cook. Years later, Angel and Lina did marry. 

Fidel Castro spent his youngest years on his father's farm, but spent most of his youth in Catholic boarding schools, excelling at sports.

Castro Becomes a Revolutionary

In 1945, Castro began law school at the University of Havana and quickly became involved in politics. In 1947, Castro joined the Caribbean Legion, a group of political exiles from Caribbean countries who planned to rid the Caribbean of dictator-led governments. When Castro joined, the Legion was planning to overthrow Generalissimo Rafael Trujillo of the Dominican Republic but the plan was later canceled because of international pressure.

In 1948, Castro traveled to Bototá, Colombia with plans to disrupt the Pan-American Union Conference, when country-wide riots broke out in response to the assassination of Jorge Eliecer Gaitán. Castro grabbed a rifle and joined the rioters. While handing out anti-U.S. pamphlets to the crowds, Castro gained first-hand experience of popular uprisings.

After returning to Cuba, Castro married co-student Mirta Diaz-Balart in October 1948. Castro and Mirta had one child together. 

 Castro vs. Batista

In 1950, Castro graduated from law school and began practicing law. 

Retaining a strong interest in politics, Castro became a candidate for a seat in Cuba's House of Representatives during the election of June 1952. However, before the elections could be held, a successful coup led by General Fulgencio Batista toppled the previous Cuban government, canceling the elections. 

From the beginning of Batista's rule, Castro fought against him. At first, Castro took to the courts to try legal means to oust Batista. However, when that failed, Castro began to organize an underground group of rebels. 

Castro Attacks the Moncada Barracks

In the morning of July 26, 1953, Castro, his brother Raúl, and a group of about 160 armed men attacked the second-largest military base in Cuba - the Moncada Barracks in Santiago de Cuba. Confronted with hundreds of trained soldiers at the base, there was little chance that the attack could have succeeded. Although 60 of Castro's rebels were killed, Castro and Raúl were captured and then given a trial.

After delivering a speech at his trial which ended with, "Condemn me. It does not matter. History will absolve me," Castro was sentenced to 15 years in prison. He was released two years later, in May 1955.

The 26th of July Movement

Upon his release, Castro went to Mexico where he spent the next year organizing the "26th of July Movement" (based on the date of the failed Moncada Barracks attack). 

On December 2, 1956, Castro and the rest of the 26th of July Movement rebels landed on Cuban soil with the intention of starting a revolution. Met by heavy Batista defenses, nearly everyone in the Movement was killed, with merely a handful escaping, including Castro, Raúl, and Che Guevara. 

For the next two years, Castro continued guerrilla attacks and succeeded in gaining large numbers of volunteers. Using guerrilla warfare tactics, Castro and his supporters attacked Batista's forces, overtaking town after town. 

 Batista quickly lost popular support and suffered numerous defeats. On January 1, 1959, Batista fled Cuba. 

Castro Becomes Cuba's Leader

In January, Manuel Urrutia was selected as president of the new government and Castro was placed in charge of the military. However, by July 1959, Castro had effectively taken over as leader of Cuba, which he remained for the next four decades. 

During 1959 and 1960, Castro made radical changes in Cuba, including nationalizing industry, collectivizing agriculture, and seizing American-owned businesses and farms. Also during these two years, Castro alienated the United States and established strong ties with the Soviet Union. Castro transformed Cuba into a communist country. 

The United States wanted Castro out of power. In one attempt to overthrow Castro, the U.S. sponsored the failed incursion of Cuban-exiles into Cuba in April 1961 (the Bay of Pigs Invasion). Over the years, the U.S. has made hundreds of attempts to assassinate Castro, all with no success. 

In 1961, Castro met Dalia Soto del Valle. Castro and Dalia had five children together and finally married in 1980. 

 In 1962, Cuba was the center of world focus when the U.S. discovered the construction sites of Soviet nuclear missiles. The struggle that ensued between the U.S. and the Soviet Union, the Cuban Missile Crisis, brought the world the closest it ever came to nuclear war. 

Over the next four decades, Castro ruled Cuba as a dictator. While some Cubans benefited from Castro's educational and land reforms, others suffered from the food shortages and lack of personal freedoms. Hundreds of thousands of Cubans have fled Cuba to live in the United States. 

Having relied heavily on Soviet aid and trade, Castro found himself suddenly alone after the downfall of the Soviet Union in 1991. With the U.S. embargo against Cuba still in effect, Cuba's economic situation suffered greatly in the 1990s. 

In July 2006, Castro announced that he was temporarily handing over power to his brother, Raúl, while he underwent gastrointestinal surgery. Since then, complications with the surgery caused infections for which Castro underwent several additional surgeries. Still in ill health, Castro announced on February 19, 2008 that he would not seek nor accept another term as president of Cuba, effectively resigning as the leader of Cuba.

Ten facts about Castro

- Born August 13, 1926, on a sugar plantation in southeast Cuba.

- Had a childhood ambition of playing major league baseball in the US.

- Educated by Jesuits at a military prep school, the Colegio de Dolores. Classmates included children of the Bacardi family, whose famous distillery and vast properties Fidel would later nationalise.

- In 1940, Castro wrote to the then US President Flanklin D. Roosevelt asking for a $US10 note. The money never arrived.

- Arrested in 1953 for assaulting a military barracks in Santiago in southern Cuba. At the subsequent trial he announced "history will absolve me" and was sentenced to 15 years in jail but later released as part of a political amnesty.

- Gave up smoking cigars at the advice of his doctors in 1985.

- After the death of King Hussein of Jordan in 1999, Castro became the longest continuously serving head of state in the world.

- Castro claims there have been more than nine attempts by the United States's CIA and associated US intelligence services to eliminate him.

- Nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize in 2001 for his work on behalf of developing nations.

- In 2006, Forbes magazine estimated Castro's personal fortune at $US900 million ($980 million) - almost double the fortune held by Queen Elizabeth. Castro denied the claims.

Clancy's comment: One interesting man, eh? Even now, he writes essays that are published worldwide and he has certainly made some interesting statements and quotes over the years.The world is an interesting place, eh? Amazing how many leaders of poor countries are filthy rich.

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