Emergence of Fidel Castro

Spanish Rule

• By 1898, the U.S. had liberated Cuba from Spain, who oppressed and mismanaged Cuba

• Although promised their independence, Cuba was quickly turned into a protectorate

• The U.S. was afraid that another country would take control of the island

U.S. Control

• The Cuban government was forced to include in its constitution the right of the U.S. to intervene on the island to preserve independence and maintain law and order

• Guantanamo Bay was taken as a U.S. naval base to establish a permanent military presence in the region

U.S. Control

• By the 1950s, the U.S. controlled the Cuban economy. U.S. companies:– Owned half of the land

– All the electricity and telephones

– All Cuban industries

– Controlled tourism

– Most of the railways

Conditions in Cuba

• Unemployment was over 30%

• There was no social security

• Fewer than 50% of Cuban children received an education

• Wealth was concentrated in the hands of a privileged few collaborators with the Americans Sugar Cane

General Fulgencio Batista

• In 1952, General Fulgencio Batista seized control and swept aside the outward appearances of democracy

• Government was corrupt and brutally suppressed opposition

• Batista encouraged huge investments of American capital since the 1930s. However, he had connections to the American mafia

Fidel Castro’s Upbringing

• Fidel Castro Ruz was born in the province of Oriente in the easternmost part of Cuba

• His father, an immigrant from Spain, was a poor sugar cane farmer in a region dominated by the American-owned United Fruit Company

• However, he was able to work his way up to a land-owner and was fairly well off

Attempt at Gaining Office• In 1945, he entered the School of Law of the

University of Havana, where his chief interest was politics

• In 1950, he began to practice law• He became a member of the reformist Cuban

People’s Party• In 1952, he was a candidate for a seat in the

House of Representatives• However, General Fulgencio Batista overthrew

the government of President Carlos Prio Socarras and cancelled the election

Young Fidel Castro

Moncada• When legal means failed to overturn

Batista’s dictatorship, in 1953, Castro organized a rebel force

• On July 26, 1953, he led some 160 men in a suicidal attack on the Moncada military barracks in Santiago, Cuba, which was intended to ignite a popular uprising

• Most of the men were captured and brutally tortured and killed

Aftermath of Moncada• The nation was put under martial law and

imposed strict censorship• Castro retreated to the mountains and hoped to

establish a guerilla base• However, the Rural Guard found Castro, but did

decided not to kill him• His trial gave him an opportunity to voice his

opinion (History will absolve me!), criticize the government, and gain sympathizers

• Castro was eventually sentenced to 15 years’ imprisonment

Conditions in Cuba by 1955• Economy was thriving• Skyscrapers were being built• Nat King Cole and other celebrities

were bringing tourists to Cuba• America liked that Batista was

rooting out Communism, although Castro was not a committed communist yet (his brother Raul was)

War of National Liberation

• Under these conditions, Batista didn’t want the atmosphere to be spoiled by public sympathy for a few revolutionaries

• Castro and Raul were released in a political amnesty in 1955, and they went to Mexico to continue their campaign against the Batista regime

• There, Castro organized Cuban exiles into a revolutionary group called the 26th of July Movement (the day of the Moncada attack)

War of National Liberation• In Mexico, they obtained the help of an

Argentine doctor, Ernesto Guevara, who would eventually be known as The Che

• They would organize, train, and arm a military force that would travel by sea to Oriente

• On December 2, 1956, Castro and an armed expedition of 81 men landed on the coast of Cuba

• All were killed or captured except for Castro, Raul, and 10 others, who retreated to the Sierra Maestra mountains to wage guerilla war against the army of Batista

War of National Liberation

• Batista couldn’t censor the foreign newspapers• As a result, Castro invited journalists to meet

with him and trumped up the number of rebels their were as well as gave manifestos to the Cuban people

• After several attacks on small, lightly defended outposts, the government withdrew the army from small outposts in the Sierra Maestra region

• By 1958, all of the mountainous areas of Oriente were outside the government’s control

War of National Liberation

• The Rebel Army had its own:– Hospital– Schools– Printing press– Radio station– Land mine factory

• Because of criticism, student agitation, and demands for the release of political prisoners Batista could not restore any freedoms

• Support from the U.S. was wavering and they suspended a shipment of arms

War of National Liberation

• Batista tried to put an end to the fighting by sending 10,000 troops to the mountains

• In July 1958, a battalion was trapped in a narrow valley, surrounded, and forced to surrender

• During the offensive aerial bombardment by planes being armed and fuelled at Guantanamo caused resentment

End of Batista

• Volunteers flocked to them from all over the island, as the dictator’s forces suffered successive military defeats

• The General of the failed summer offensive met with Castro and agreed to join his army with the Rebel Army to get rid of Batista

• On January 1, 1959, Batista fled the country• Castro’s 800 guerrillas had defeated the

Cuban government’s 30,000 man army

Reasons for Castro’s Success• Batista’s regime was very

unpopular

• Batista reacted to the revolt by torturing and killing potential sympathizers, so that many from the middle classes began to support Castro as a preferable alternative

• Batista’s army was poorly led and badly paid…morale was low

Reasons for Castro’s Success

• Batista’s cruelty embarrassed even the Americans, and they stopped supplying him with arms

• Castro was an effective, charismatic leader

• Castro had the enthusiastic support of many of the people

The Establishment of the Castro Regime

• People who had supported MR-26-7 came out of hiding and took control of garrisons and local government

• Cuba’s new provisional government was led by a Manuel Urrutia, who was president

• However, Castro retained real power

Consolidating Power

• Castro would make speeches in front of a crowd and like a direct democracy ask them questions

• He would imprison or execute anyone against the regime

• Show trials would allow the prosecution to appeal an “unjust” verdict

• Castro also made it seem as if Raul and other potential successors would be more radical than he

• He suspended all political parties, but promised elections in the future

Consolidating Power

• The Committees for the Defense of the Revolution (CDRs) were placed in every village, street, and block

• They were composed of trusted residents who were to keep an eye on other local residents and to report to the authorities any sign of unusual activity or disaffection

• Rough treatment, solitary confinement, hunger, threats, and other forms of psychological torture were used in the name of state security

U.S. vs Cuba

• The U.S. claimed that the Cuban legal system did not deliver justice

• They also didn’t like the executions

• The State Department organized a media campaign against Castro

• Castro claimed that Batista didn’t give his opponents any sort of trial – he just had them killed

• He said “We are not executing innocent people or political opponents, we are executing murderers”

• He compared these killings to Hiroshima/Nagasaki and complained of U.S. support of brutal dictators

U.S. vs Cuba

• Having a foreign enemy was useful in consolidating support and national unity

• Some of Batista’s cronies had taken refuge in the U.S., which was refusing to extradite them