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Dr. Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz (born August 13, 1926) has ruled Cuba since 1959, when he overthrew the government of Fulgencio
Batista and turned his country into the first communist state in
the Western Hemisphere. He held the title of premier until 1976, when he became
president of the Council of State and the Council of
Ministers. He has been the First Secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba since its inception in 1965. His
brother, Raúl Castro, is the number two official in the country and is
widely thought to be Fidel Castro's designated successor.
Early life
Born in Birán, near Mayarí, Cuba, into a wealthy farming
family (son of Ángel Castro y Argiz, an immigrant from Spain, and his cook Lina Ruz González), Fidel Castro was educated at
Jesuit schools and then at the Jesuit
preparatory school Colegio Belén in Havana. In 1945 he went to the University of Havana to study law, graduating in 1950.
Castro practiced law in a small partnership between 1950 and 1952. He intended to stand
for parliament in 1952 for the "Orthodox Party" but the coup d'état of General Fulgencio Batista overthrew the government of Carlos Prio Socarras and led to the cancellation of the election. Castro charged Batista with violating the constitution
in court but his petition was refused. In response, Castro organized a disastrous armed attack on the Moncada Barracks in Oriente province on July 26, 1953. Over eighty of the attackers were killed, and Castro was taken prisoner, tried, and sentenced to fifteen years
in prison. (Castro used the closing arguments in the case to deliver "History Will Absolve Me"[1] , a passionate speech defending
his actions and explaining his political views.) He was released in a general amnesty in May 1955 and went into exile in Mexico and the United States.
He returned to Cuba with a number of other exiles, clandestinely sailing from Mexico
to Cuba on the 60-ft pleasure yacht Granma. They were called the 26th of July Movement. At this stage Castro was not yet a
Communist or even a socialist. He
described himself and his movement as believing in the "Jeffersonian
philosophy" and adhering to the "Lincoln formula" of cooperation
between capital and labour. As late as
1959, Castro told the US News & World Report that he had "no intention of
nationalising any industries".
The 26th of July Movement's first action was in
Oriente province on December 2, 1956. Only twelve of the original
eighty men survived to retreat into the Sierra Maestra Mountains and from there wage a guerrilla war against the Batista government. The survivors included Che Guevara,
Raúl Castro, and Camilo Cienfuegos. Castro's movement gained popular support and grew to over 800 men. On May 24, 1958, Batista launched seventeen battalions against Castro in Operación Verano. Despite
being outnumbered, Castro's forces scored a series of stunning victories, aided by massive desertion and surrenders from Batista's army. On New Year's Day
1959 Batista and president-elect Carlos Rivero Aguero fled
the country, and Castro's forces took Havana.
Religion
Castro is a confirmed atheist and has not been a practicing Catholic since his childhood. Pope
John XXIII excommunicated Castro on January 3, 1962. This was
consistent with a 1949 decree by Pope
Pius XII forbidding Catholics from supporting communist governments. For
Castro, who had previously renounced his Roman Catholicism, this was an event of very little consequence, nor was it expected to
be. It was aimed at undermining support for Castro among Catholics; however,
there is little evidence that it did.
His relations with Pope John Paul II have been somewhat
better. In the early 1990s Castro agreed to loosen restrictions on religion and even
permitted church going Catholics to join the Cuban Communist Party. In 1998, Castro hosted the pope on his visit to Cuba, the first by a ruling pontiff to
the island. Pope John Paul II was extremely critical of the
Castro regime.
Foreign policy
Initially the United States was quick to recognize the new government.
Castro became prime minister in February, but friction with the
United States soon developed when the new government began expropriating
property owned by major U.S. corporations (United Fruit in particular),
proposing compensation based on property tax valuations that for many years the same companies had managed to keep artificially
low. Castro visited the White House in April 1959, and met with Vice President Richard Nixon. Supposedly Eisenhower snubbed Castro, giving the excuse that he was playing golf, and he left
Nixon to speak to him and discern whether or not he was a Communist. Castro's economic policies had caused some concerns in Washington that Castro was a Communist with an allegiance to the
Soviet Union. Following the meeting Nixon remarked that Castro was "naive" but not necessarily a Communist.
In February 1960, Cuba signed an agreement to buy
oil from the USSR. When the U.S.-owned refineries in Cuba refused to process the oil they were expropriated, and the United States broke off diplomatic relations with the Castro government soon after. To the concern of the
Eisenhower administration, Cuba continued to establish closer ties with the
Soviet Union. A variety of pacts were signed between Castro and Soviet Premier Khrushchev, and Cuba began to receive large amounts of economic and
military aid from the USSR.
Castro as a young revolutionary
On April 17, 1961, two days after
bombardments by B-26c bearing false Cuban markings, and the day after Castro had described his revolution as a socialist one, the
United States sponsored an unsuccessful attack on Cuba. Brigade 2506, a force of about 1,400 Cuban exiles, financed and trained by the CIA, and commanded by CIA operatives Grayston Lynch and William Robertson, landed south
of Havana at Playa Girón on the Bay of Pigs. The CIA's
assumption was that the invasion would spark a popular uprising against Castro. There was, however, no such uprising. What part
of the invasion force made it ashore was captured, while President Kennedy withdrew support at the last minute. Two U. S. supplied support ships, the Houston and the
Río Escondido were sunk by Cuban propeller driven aircraft. Nine were executed in connection with this action. Castro,
who was personally calling the shots on the battlefield, gained even more support from ordinary Cubans due to his actions during
the attempted invasion.
Later that year, in a nationally broadcast speech on December 2, Castro
declared that he was a Marxist-Leninist and that Cuba was going to
adopt Communism. During the sixties, several smaller-scale attempts to regain
Cuba were made. Cuban exiles, financed and equipped by the CIA tried to copy the style of Castro's revolution, forming small violent gangs operating
mainly in the Sierra de
Escambray, a remote region near Trinidad, Cuba, hoping for an
uprise and causing a lot of civilian casualties.
Cuban Missile Crisis
According to Khrushchev's memoirs, the Soviet Premier conceived the idea of placing missiles in Cuba as a deterrent to further
US aggression against the island (or against the Soviet Union directly) while he was vacationing in the Crimea in the spring of 1962. After consultations with his own military he met with a Cuban delegation led by
Raúl Castro in July in order to work out the specifics. It was agreed to
deploy Soviet R-12 MRBM on Cuban soil, however, American U-2 reconnaissance
discovered the construction of the missile installations on October 15,
1962 before the weapons had actually been deployed. The US government viewed the
installation of Soviet nuclear weapons 90 miles south of Miami as an aggressive act and a
threat to US security. The Cuban missile crisis resulted
with the United States publicly announcing its discovery on October 22,
1962 and implemented a quarantine around Cuba that would actively intercept and search any
vessels heading for the island.
In a personal letter to Khrushchev written on October 27, 1962 [2] , Castro urged Khrushchev to launch a
nuclear first strike against the United States if Cuba were invaded, but Khrushchev rejected any first strike response [3] . Soviet field
commanders in Cuba were, however, authorized to use tactical nuclear weapons if attacked by the U.S. .
Khruschev agreed to remove the missiles in exchange for a US commitment not to invade Cuba and to remove American missiles
from Turkey. After tensions were defused, relations between the United States and Cuba
remained mutually hostile, and the CIA continued to sponsor a number of assassination schemes over the following years.
Relations with Canada and Trudeau
In 1976, Pierre
Elliott Trudeau, then Prime Minister of
Canada, made one of the first state visits to Cuba by a Western leader during the
height of the American blockade and personally embraced the Cuban leader. Trudeau provided $4 million in Canadian aid, and
arranged a loan for another $10 million. In his speech Trudeau declared, "Long live Prime Minister and Commander-in-Chief Fidel
Castro. Long live Cuban-Canadian friendship."
Trudeau and Castro continued their friendship after the Canadian Prime Minister left office with Trudeau visiting the Cuban
leader several times in the 1980s and 1990s. Castro travelled to Montreal in
2000 to attend Trudeau's funeral.
Asylum issues
On March 28, 1980, a bus of asylum seekers
crashed through the gates of the Peruvian Embassy in Havana. Over 10,000 Cubans fled to the embassy within 48 hours. Castro announced on April 20 that anyone could leave by boat at the port of Mariel in
Havana. Cuban exiles began sailing to Mariel in what became known as the "freedom flotilla". According to U.S. Coast Guard
figures 124,776 Cubans had fled their homeland when Castro closed Mariel on Sept. 26.
Although the vast majority of Cubans who fled during the Mariel Boat
Lift, were legitimate asylum seekers, Castro used the event as an opportunity to
expel an estimated 20,000 convicts and mentally disabled citizens.
Economic policy
Castro consolidated control of the nation by nationalizing industry, expropriating property owned by Cubans and non-Cubans
alike, collectivizing agriculture, and enacting policies which he claimed would benefit the population. Many Cubans fled the
country, most importantly to Miami, Florida,
where they established a large, active anti-Castro community. Because of the embargo imposed by the United States, Cuba then
became increasingly dependent on Soviet and eastern block subsidies, worth up to one quarter of the island's gross domestic
product, to finance improvements to Cuba's economic conditions. The collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 had severe
repercussions on the Cuban economy.
The American economic sanctions, which include a general travel ban for American
tourists to Cuba, have been cited by Castro supporters as major factor in Cuba's economic troubles. Supporters of the embargo
reply that the United States is the only nation which has an embargo on Cuba, and that Cuba is still free to trade with all other
nations. At the same time the United States attempts to forbid foreign subsidiaries of US companies from trading with Cuba,
imposes sanctions on foreign companies that would benefit from properties which the United States alleges were taken without
compensation, and restricts its own trade with smaller nations that would trade with Cuba.
Cuba is the second most popular tourist destination in the Caribbean (behind the Dominican Republic), providing it with much
needed foreign currency. Cubans also receive large amounts of currency (with an estimated value of $850 million annually) from
Cuban-Americans who send money back to their relatives or friends. Cuba also receives most of its energy needs in oil from
Venezuela partly in exchange for Cuban medical personnel, replacing the previous
long supply lines from Eastern Europe over a decade after these subsidies were cut.
In recent years, Castro has invested in biotechnology to support the
Cuban economy and to find substitutes for foreign imports of medical supplies. Cuban developments in this area have stirred
concern and fears around the potential for biological weapons.
Thus in 2002 one of the goals of a visit by former US President, Jimmy Carter, was to inspect Cuban genetic engineering sites. Since then, the Cuban economy has benefited from both the export of medical
technology and from "health tourism".
Education and health care
Fidel Castro and a crowd waving the Cuban flag
Education and health care were made available to all, even those living in the remotest corners of the island. UNESCO statistics confirm that Cuba's rate of basic literacy is now among the highest in Latin
America.
Infant mortality rates are the lowest in the region, health care is excellent and all Cubans receive free milk until the age
of six. Besides entertainment, Cuban television broadcasts college-level courses for the adult population.
The Cuban media often highlight the contrast between contented Cuban children and their counterparts in Bogotá, Los Angeles or Buenos Aires — dealing in drugs, dragged into prostitution, or living in
shanty towns. In contrast, no Cuban children live on the streets.
Castro's leadership of Cuba has remained largely unchallenged. His supporters claim this is because the population believes
Castro is responsible for improved living conditions. Castro's opponents believe his continued leadership is due to coercion and
repression.
Supporters of Fidel Castro's regime point to Cuba's relatively advanced healthcare and medical system as a success of his
government since it came to power in 1959. Much of the post-revolutionary rebuilding of the country focused on children. Cuban
life expectancy as of 2002 is only slightly lower than the USA's.
Critics of Castro's regime allege that although Cuba's infant mortality rate is now the lowest in Latin America that was also
was the case before Castro -- when it was also the 13th lowest in the world.
It is generally acknowledged that Cuba has made substantial progress in developing pharmaceuticals. Cuba has its own portfolio
of related patents and tries to market its medicine around the world.
Literacy campaign
Cuba also has improved the literacy of its people. Castro's literacy campaign focused on rural areas where literacy was very
low. In a fall 1960 speech before the United Nations, Castro had
announced that "Cuba will be the first country of America that, after a few months, will be able to say it does not have one
illiterate person." Nearly 270,000 teachers and students were sent across the country to teach those who wanted to learn how to
read and write. By 1961, Cuba's illiteracy rate had been reduced from 20 percent to 4 percent. People who completed the course
were asked to send a letter to Fidel Castro as a test. Cuba's National Literacy Museum archives more than 700,000 such letters.
[4]
Popular image
An apparent cult of personality around Castro has arisen
despite his personal attempts to discourage it. In contrast to many of the world's modern strongmen, Castro has only twice been
personally featured on a Cuban stamp. In 1974 he appeared on a stamp to commemorate the visit of Leonid Brezhnev, and in 1999 he appeared on a stamp commemorating the 40th anniversary of the
Revolution. There has been a much stronger tendency to encourage reverence for Cuban independence hero José Martí and the "martyrs" of the Cuban revolution such as Camilo Cienfuegos. Castro himself is famous for his long and detailed
speeches which often last several hours and contain lots of data and historical references. He rarely appears in public without
his military fatigues.
Human rights
The Castro regime has been frequently accused of numerous human
rights abuses, including torture, arbitrary imprisonment, unfair trials, and
extra-judicial executions. Many argue that several thousand unjustified deaths have occurred under Castro's decades-long
rule.
Groups like Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch also criticize the censorship, the lack of press
freedom in Cuba, the lack of civil rights, the outlawing of political opposition groups and unions, and the lack of free and
democratic elections.
On the other hand, Castro sees this as an appropriate response to the United States continuing to engage in secret warfare
against Cuba using spies and mercenaries, and claims that many human rights activists are in fact agents of the United States.
There has even been at least one incident of biological warfare using swine fever. Declassified documents now evidence that the
US has used such tricks in the past. Many Castro supporters feel that Castro's often harsh measures are justified to prevent the
United States from installing a foreign or puppet leader. Opposition to the regime is thus frequently portrayed as illegitimate,
and being a United States-led conspiracy.
Supporters also contend that Cuba's human rights record is by far better than that of many other countries in the
Caribbean/Latin America region; this is widely debated, however, particularly in light of the many Latin American countries that
returned to democracy during the 1980s and 1990s.
- For more see Allegations of human rights abuses in Castro's Cuba.
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