Fidel Castro was born near Biran, Cuba on August 13, 1926. Biran is located on Cuba’s Eastern Oriente Province. Fidel was the third of six children in his family including his two brothers and three sisters. Hid dad Angel was a wealthy sugar plantation owner who was originally from Spain. His moms name was Lina Ruz Gonzalez. She was a maid of Angels first wife Maria Luis Argota which was around the time of his birth. When Fidel was 15, Angel ended the marriage with his first wife and got married to Fidel’s mom Lina Ruz Gonzalez. At the age of 17 Fidel got his name after it was changed from Ruz to Castro.
He grew up in a wealthy family around a bunch of poor people in Cuba. Was a troublemaker and got in trouble at his school Colegio Dolores in Santiago de Cuba and then El colegio de Belen in Havana. At school he pitched for the baseball team, played basketball, and ran track. He graduated in 1945 and went to university of Havana where he came interested in Cuban nationalism, anti-imperialism, and socialism focusing on politics. Castro became a lawyer and be came interested in politics aimed at taking over the Cuban dictator at the time Fulgencio Batista.
Fidel Castro was greatly against religion and hen he was dictator, he banned all religion all together in Cuba and claimed it as a atheist state. Castro wanted to make alliances with larger communist nations, overthrow corrupt foreign regime, and abolish the upper class. He came to power trying to restore the 1940 constitution, create honest administration, reinstate full civil and political liberties, and undertake modern reforms. U. S. was offended by these policies and his new anti-American state of mind.
Castors trade agreement with the Soviet Union in February 1960 made American not likeCuba even more. The U. S. broke diplomatic elations with Cuba in January 1961. In July of 1953 was when Castro had his first of many attempts to try and take over leadership in Cuba. The first attempt, Castro led an attack with 120 men in Santiago de Cuba. This attack failed, and Castro was sentenced to 15 years in prison. The United States backed Batista (the president at a the time), looking to improve his image. Therefore Batista released Castro in 1955 with many other prisoners which was for a general amnesty.
Castro then went to Mexico, where he met Ernesto “Che” Guevara and plotted his return to Cuba (“Cuba Before the Revolution”). One year later, Castro and 81 other men returned and invaded the east coast of Cuba, however government forces were waiting for them and immediately stopped them. With only 18 survivors, including Castro, his brother Raul, and Guevara. They then fled into the Sierra Maestra Mountains with virtually no weapons or supplies. Later on, In 1958, Batista tried to kill the uprising of Castro with a massive attack. This was done with air force bombers, plus naval units.
The guerrillas held their ground, by counterattacking. Then one week later Castro arrived in Havana and took over power as prime minister (“Cuba Before he Revolution”). Cuba pre-revolutionary was a hard, unfair, and poor time in Cuba. The president at the time was Fulgencio Batista. Batista had many bad ideas plans. His economic planning was very poor. He let American imperialism into Cuba, and had a corrupt military and government. Which would lead to the revolution of Fidel Castro. During this time only 58% of the people had electricity and only 35% had running water in there homes.
This also meant that only 28% of the population had toilets, and only 44% of people had showers. This led to many people being unhappy, unhealthy, and the people in the countryside had nothing. When Castro took over power he got the countryside electricity and water. And helped build other things like schools. (“Cuba before the revolution”). Cuba didn’t have the things they need because they had a monoculture economy that was dependent on the United States. This was because the United States were the larges importer on there sugar and many United States company’s were in Cuba.
The United States owned so much of Cuba it actually owned 50% of there railroads in the country. Which is why we see so much imperialism in Cuba which made some revolters mad. This lead to many people unhappy with Batista and many eople tried to over take him in the election. This is were he had his corrupt military threaten any one who opposed him or any rebellions. If anyone would still go up against him in the election Batista would rig the election, therefor making him win every time. Anyone who opposed him was killed or tortured, which was a estimated 20,000 people during his presidency.
In 1965, Castro merged Cuba’s Communist Party with his revolutionary organizations, installing himself as head of the party. Within a few years, he began a campaign of supporting armed struggle against imperialism in Latin American and African countries. In January 1966, Castro founded the Organization for Solidarity with the Peoples of Asia, Africa, and Latin America to promote revolution and communism on three continents. In 1967, he also formed the Latin American Solidarity Organization to foster revolution in select Latin American countries.
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 olitical 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 (“Fidel Castro”). In 1960, Castro nationalized all U. S. – owned businesses, including oil refineries, factories, and casinos. This caused 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 (“Fidel Castro”). Castro’s regime has been credited with opening 10,000 new schools and increasing literacy to 98 percent. Cubans enjoy a niversal health-care system, which has decreased infant mortality to 11 deaths in 1,000 (1. 1 percent).
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. Though there are no exact numbers, the Cuba Archive estimates that tens of thousands were murdered, with a documented 5,600 killed by firing squads alone. Even more Cubans were killed by state forces when they ried to flee the country, which occurred during the 1980 Canimar River Massacre and the Tugboat Massacre of 1994 (“Fidel Castro”).
In the late 1990s, speculation began to arise over Castro’s age and well-being. Many health problems had been reported over the years, the most significant occurring in 2006, when Castro use the through surgery for gastrointestinal bleeding. In a dramatic announcement, on July 31, 2006, Castro designated his brother Raul as the country’s temporary leader. Raul had served as Castro’s second in command for decades and had been officially selected as his successor in 1997. Following Fidel Castro’s surgery, his only appearances were in photographs and video recordings of meetings. “Fidel Castro”).
On February 19, 2008, 81-year-old Fidel Castro permanently gave up the Cuban presidency due to his deteriorating physical condition. He handed over power to Raul, who was 76 years old at the time. The Cuban National Assembly officially elected Raul Castro as president of Cuba the same month, although Fidel Castro reportedly remained first secretary of the Communist Party. Fidel Castro then died on November 25, 2016. Thousands of Cubans payed tribute to him at a memorial.
