Fidel Castro was born and raised in Cuba in a small town called Mayari. He studied at the University of Havana in law, where his love for politics started. His political ideas were formed throughout the years, he took part of many several student political groups which were all devoted to helping the poor workers and peasants. His political beliefs became more evident, Castro joined the Party of the Cuban People, which is a Cuban communist party, where Fidel became the leader of in 1951. As Fidel Castro was running for elections, Fulgencio Batista, who served as the elected President of Cuba from 1940 to 1944 staged an established dictatorship in Cuba. In response to Batista’s dictatorship, Fidel Castro joined an underground group whose attempt was to overthrow the unpopular dictator. In 1953, Castro formed an attack with a group of 150 revolutionists, but failed and was captured. He was sent to jail for conspiracy to overthrow the Cuban government. Fidel used the years in jail to study political philosophy, history, and literature, which helped him strengthen his policy of change from corruption to social equality.
With this education and knowledge he gained, Fidel then became the principal leader in defeating U.S. imperialism’s attempted invasion of Cuba. Castro led Cuba through U.S. imperialism’s during the ‘Cuban missile crisis;’ has survived hundreds of assassination attempts. Castro has also led Cuba through decades of the cruel U.S. embargo. Fidel was most importantly known for leading Cuba through the ‘special period’ in the 1990s that led to the sudden loss of Cuba’s foreign trade.
After the revolution it was evident that Fidel Castro took control of Cuba, educating them, and renewing their health. Through all his determination and hard work, Fidel is known as the man who led a revolution that left Cuba with free healthcare and food shortages. Although most individuals may not view Fidel in the best light nowadays, he did indeed do phenomenal things for his people which makes him one of the most undervalued and overlooked political figures.
After watching, Cuba and Cameraman, it was clear to me as an audience of the film that under the rule of Fidel Castro, the nation of Cuba underwent significant economic, political, and social changes. There was a small but very wealthy class of landowners and government officials, and large numbers of impoverished peasants in the countryside and poorly-paid urban workers. Most Cubans were uneducated, and modern health care was not available to them. Castro focused his policies on converting Cuba and the wider world from a capitalist system. Having a socialist economy allowed Cuba to the elimination of the class barriers and enable all people to live fulfilled lives and to ensure environmental sustainability.
I did not know a lot about Fidel Castro until we read about him in this module. I feel you did a good recap on all the articles. I agree with you that Fidel did great things for his country such as free health care but he also left them with food shortages and stole from his citizen to better himself and the government. Having the socialist economy allowed elimination of barriers for citizens but the Party of the Cuban People were still a hierarchy. I do not think he is undervalued as a political figure. Castro was in power fo almost 60 years he had more than enough time to help the citizen's he had taken from during the revolution.
ReplyDeleteBrianda,
ReplyDeleteI agree that Fidel Castro should be given more praise for his early years of being in power. When watching "Cuba and the Cameraman", I could see the faces of the citizens light up at the start of his regime. When they realized they would be receiving education, healthcare, and housing, a lot of people seemed relieved. Also, I remember a scene where a little boy is talking about the changes he has seen and he gets so excited about the prospect of store fronts opening up. I think that if Fidel Castro served under term limits, like we have in the US, then he would have been a good leader. Since he remained in power for so long, he seemed to get arrogant and power hungry which caused him to make less positive decisions. Some of these include eliminating his political opponents and closing opposing newspaper. Although I believe Castro's rule lived for far too long, I do agree that his success at the start did positively benefit Cuba.
Brianda,
ReplyDeleteI find it interesting how much the Cuban people praised Fidel Castro for his 'gifts' of healthcare, food and education for all, without realizing that the real 'super hero' behind the scenes was the Soviet Union who provided much of these subsidies. The Cuban people might have been given a plethora of free services, but they were being robbed of quality services. The services provided, especially after the subsidies from the Soviet Union stopped, were of despicable and quite frankly, dangerous quality. To me, Fidel was a liar in this sense. He may have brought all of these things to the country, but where did he get them from? And at what risk was he putting the country in doing so?