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06-29-2008, 01:20 PM
Fidel Castro - A brief biography (RTÉ.ie) (19/2/08) (http://www.rte.ie/news/2008/0219/castrof.html)
Fidel Castro, the illegitimate son of a successful Creole sugar plantation owner, was born in Cuba in 1926. He was a rebellious boy and at the age of thirteen helped to organise a strike of sugar workers on his father's plantation.
Fidel was sent to a Jesuit boarding school, but preferred sports to academic subjects.
After he had finished his education Fidel Castro became a lawyer in Havana. As he tended to take the cases of poor people who could not afford to pay him, he was constantly short of money. His experience as a lawyer made him extremely critical of the great inequalities in wealth that existed in Cuba. Like many other Cubans, Castro resented the wealth and power of the US businessmen who appeared to control the country.
In 1947 Fidel Castro joined the Cuban People's Party. He was attracted to its campaign against corruption, injustice, poverty, unemployment and low wages. The Cuban People's Party accused government ministers of taking bribes and running the country for the benefit of the large US corporations.
In 1952 Fidel Castro became a candidate for Congress for the Cuban People's Party. He soon built up a strong following amongst the young members of the party. The Cuban People's Party was expected to win the election but during the campaign, General Fulgencio Batista, with the support of the armed forces, took control of the country.
In 1953, with an armed group of 123 men and women, Castro attacked the Moncada army barracks. The plan to overthrow Batista ended in disaster and although only eight were killed in the fighting, another eighty were murdered by the army after they were captured.
Castro was put on trial charged with organising an armed uprising. His speech at the trial was later published as History Will Absolve Me. Castro was found guilty and sentenced to 15 years in prison.
The trial and the publication of the book made Castro famous in Cuba.
Following public pressure, Fulgencio Batista decided to release Castro after he had served only two years of his sentence. Batista also promised elections but when it became clear that they would not take place, Castro left for Mexico where he began to plan another attempt to overthrow the Cuban government.
After building up a stock of guns and ammunition, Castro, Che Guevara, Juan Almeida, and eighty other rebels arrived in Cuba in 1956. On the way to the mountains they were attacked by government troops. By the time they reached the Sierra Maestra there were only 16 men left, with 12 weapons between them. For the next few months Castro's guerrillas raided isolated army garrisons and were gradually able to build up their stock of weapons.
When the guerrillas took control of territory they redistributed the land among the peasants. In return, the peasants helped the guerrillas against Batista's soldiers.
In an effort to get information about Castro's army, many innocent people were tortured. Suspects, including children, were publicly executed and left hanging in the streets as a warning. The behaviour of Batista's forces increased support for the guerrillas.
Batista had 10,000 men hunting for Castro and his 300-strong army. But Castro's guerrillas were able to inflict defeat after defeat on the government troops.
Castro was now confident he could beat Batista in a head-on battle. Leaving the Sierra Maestra mountains, Castro's troops began to march on the main towns. After consultation with the US government, Batista decided to flee.
Castro marched into Havana on 9 January 1959, and became Cuba's new leader.
In its first hundred days in office Castro's government cut rents by up to 50% and land was redistributed among the peasants (including the land owned by the Castro family).
Members of the Mafia, who had been heavily involved in running casinos and nightclubs, were forced to leave the country.
Cuba adopted the slogan: 'If you don't know, learn. If you know, teach.' Eventually free education was made available to all citizens and illiteracy in Cuba became a thing of the past.
The government also set about the problem of health care. Before the revolution Cuba had 6,000 doctors. Of these, 64% worked in Havana where most of the rich people lived. When Castro ordered that doctors had to be redistributed throughout the country, over half decided to leave Cuba. To replace them Cuba built three new training schools for doctors.
The death of young children from disease was a major problem in Cuba. Infant mortality was 60 per 1,000 live births in 1959. To help deal with this Cuba introduced a free health-service and started a massive inoculation program. By 1980 infant mortality had fallen to 15 per 1,000
Some of Castro's new laws also upset the United States. Much of the land given to the peasants was owned by US corporations. So also was the telephone company that was nationalised.
The US government responded by telling Castro they would no longer be willing to supply the technology and technicians needed to run Cuba's economy. When this failed to change Castro's policies they reduced their orders for Cuban sugar.
Castro refused to be intimidated by the US and adopted even more aggressive policies towards them. In the summer of 1960 Castro nationalised US property worth $850m. He also negotiated a deal where by the Soviet Union and other communist countries in Eastern Europe agreed to purchase the sugar that the US had refused to take. The Soviet Union also agreed to supply the weapons, technicians and machinery denied to Cuba by the US.
In March I960, US President Dwight Eisenhower approved a CIA plan to overthrow Castro. The plan involved a budget of $13m to train a paramilitary force outside Cuba for guerrilla action. An estimated 400 CIA officers were employed full-time to carry out what became known as Operation Mongoose.
In 1961 Eisenhower retired and the problem of dealing with Castro was passed on to the new president. John F Kennedy had doubts about the plan to invade Cuba but he was afraid he would be seen as soft on communism if he refused permission for it to go ahead.
On 14 April 1961, B26 planes began bombing Cuba's airfields. After the raids Cuba was left with only eight planes and seven pilots. Two days later five merchant ships carrying 1,400 Cuban exiles arrived at the Bay of Pigs. The attack was a total failure.
At the beginning of September 1962, U2 spy planes discovered that the Soviet Union was building surface-to-air missile launch sites. There was also an increase in the number of Soviet ships arriving in Cuba which the US government feared were carrying new supplies of weapons. President Kennedy complained to the Soviet Union about these developments and warned them that the US would not accept offensive weapons in Cuba.
On 15 October photographs were taken that revealed that the Soviet Union was placing long range missiles in Cuba.
The Executive Committee of the US National Security Council favoured a naval blockade of Cuba, and Kennedy accepted their decision.
There were angry demonstrations outside the US Embassy in London as people protested about the possibility of nuclear war.
On 24 October, President Kennedy was informed that Soviet ships had stopped just before they reached the US ships blockading Cuba.
The Cuban Missile Crisis was the first and only nuclear confrontation between the US and the Soviet Union. The event appeared to frighten both sides and it marked a change in the development of the Cold War.
Castro remained dependent on the support of the Soviet Union. Nikita Khrushchev and his successors, including Leonid Brezhnev, Yuri Andropov, Konstantin Chernenko and Mikhail Gorbachev provided aid to his government. However, after the fall of communism in the Soviet Union in 1989 this economic help came to an end.
In 1991 Cuba suffered an economic crisis. Its outdated and unrepaired equipment meant that sugar and tobacco production fell. At the same time Cuba could no longer rely on former countries in eastern Europe to buy its goods. Castro suffered great embarrassment when his own daughter sought asylum in the US in 1994.
Castro sought alliances regionally to counter US hegemony and found like-minded partners in regional nationalist figures such as Hugo Chávez in Venezuela and Evo Morales in Bolivia. Over time he has become a world icon, and has served as head of the Nonaligned Nations Movement.
The UN General Assembly has constantly voted against the US sanctions which continue to be imposed on Cuba. But Cuba is the only Latin American country without an economic cooperation agreement with the EU. However, trade with individual European countries remains strong since the US trade embargo on Cuba leaves the market free from American rivals.
On 31 July 2006, Castro delegated his duties in all his official roles to his brother Raúl. This transfer of duties was intended to be temporary while Fidel recovered from surgery for an 'acute intestinal crisis with sustained bleeding'. He was too ill to attend the nationwide commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the Granma boat landing on 2 December 2006, which also became his belated 80th birthday celebrations.
Despite optimistic reports on his health throughout 2007, there was no indication of a return to duty, and his announcement that he will not seek or accept the Presidency again refers to the fact that his current five-year term ends on Sunday next, when the new National Assembly, elected last month, meets to elect the President.
Fidel Castro, the illegitimate son of a successful Creole sugar plantation owner, was born in Cuba in 1926. He was a rebellious boy and at the age of thirteen helped to organise a strike of sugar workers on his father's plantation.
Fidel was sent to a Jesuit boarding school, but preferred sports to academic subjects.
After he had finished his education Fidel Castro became a lawyer in Havana. As he tended to take the cases of poor people who could not afford to pay him, he was constantly short of money. His experience as a lawyer made him extremely critical of the great inequalities in wealth that existed in Cuba. Like many other Cubans, Castro resented the wealth and power of the US businessmen who appeared to control the country.
In 1947 Fidel Castro joined the Cuban People's Party. He was attracted to its campaign against corruption, injustice, poverty, unemployment and low wages. The Cuban People's Party accused government ministers of taking bribes and running the country for the benefit of the large US corporations.
In 1952 Fidel Castro became a candidate for Congress for the Cuban People's Party. He soon built up a strong following amongst the young members of the party. The Cuban People's Party was expected to win the election but during the campaign, General Fulgencio Batista, with the support of the armed forces, took control of the country.
In 1953, with an armed group of 123 men and women, Castro attacked the Moncada army barracks. The plan to overthrow Batista ended in disaster and although only eight were killed in the fighting, another eighty were murdered by the army after they were captured.
Castro was put on trial charged with organising an armed uprising. His speech at the trial was later published as History Will Absolve Me. Castro was found guilty and sentenced to 15 years in prison.
The trial and the publication of the book made Castro famous in Cuba.
Following public pressure, Fulgencio Batista decided to release Castro after he had served only two years of his sentence. Batista also promised elections but when it became clear that they would not take place, Castro left for Mexico where he began to plan another attempt to overthrow the Cuban government.
After building up a stock of guns and ammunition, Castro, Che Guevara, Juan Almeida, and eighty other rebels arrived in Cuba in 1956. On the way to the mountains they were attacked by government troops. By the time they reached the Sierra Maestra there were only 16 men left, with 12 weapons between them. For the next few months Castro's guerrillas raided isolated army garrisons and were gradually able to build up their stock of weapons.
When the guerrillas took control of territory they redistributed the land among the peasants. In return, the peasants helped the guerrillas against Batista's soldiers.
In an effort to get information about Castro's army, many innocent people were tortured. Suspects, including children, were publicly executed and left hanging in the streets as a warning. The behaviour of Batista's forces increased support for the guerrillas.
Batista had 10,000 men hunting for Castro and his 300-strong army. But Castro's guerrillas were able to inflict defeat after defeat on the government troops.
Castro was now confident he could beat Batista in a head-on battle. Leaving the Sierra Maestra mountains, Castro's troops began to march on the main towns. After consultation with the US government, Batista decided to flee.
Castro marched into Havana on 9 January 1959, and became Cuba's new leader.
In its first hundred days in office Castro's government cut rents by up to 50% and land was redistributed among the peasants (including the land owned by the Castro family).
Members of the Mafia, who had been heavily involved in running casinos and nightclubs, were forced to leave the country.
Cuba adopted the slogan: 'If you don't know, learn. If you know, teach.' Eventually free education was made available to all citizens and illiteracy in Cuba became a thing of the past.
The government also set about the problem of health care. Before the revolution Cuba had 6,000 doctors. Of these, 64% worked in Havana where most of the rich people lived. When Castro ordered that doctors had to be redistributed throughout the country, over half decided to leave Cuba. To replace them Cuba built three new training schools for doctors.
The death of young children from disease was a major problem in Cuba. Infant mortality was 60 per 1,000 live births in 1959. To help deal with this Cuba introduced a free health-service and started a massive inoculation program. By 1980 infant mortality had fallen to 15 per 1,000
Some of Castro's new laws also upset the United States. Much of the land given to the peasants was owned by US corporations. So also was the telephone company that was nationalised.
The US government responded by telling Castro they would no longer be willing to supply the technology and technicians needed to run Cuba's economy. When this failed to change Castro's policies they reduced their orders for Cuban sugar.
Castro refused to be intimidated by the US and adopted even more aggressive policies towards them. In the summer of 1960 Castro nationalised US property worth $850m. He also negotiated a deal where by the Soviet Union and other communist countries in Eastern Europe agreed to purchase the sugar that the US had refused to take. The Soviet Union also agreed to supply the weapons, technicians and machinery denied to Cuba by the US.
In March I960, US President Dwight Eisenhower approved a CIA plan to overthrow Castro. The plan involved a budget of $13m to train a paramilitary force outside Cuba for guerrilla action. An estimated 400 CIA officers were employed full-time to carry out what became known as Operation Mongoose.
In 1961 Eisenhower retired and the problem of dealing with Castro was passed on to the new president. John F Kennedy had doubts about the plan to invade Cuba but he was afraid he would be seen as soft on communism if he refused permission for it to go ahead.
On 14 April 1961, B26 planes began bombing Cuba's airfields. After the raids Cuba was left with only eight planes and seven pilots. Two days later five merchant ships carrying 1,400 Cuban exiles arrived at the Bay of Pigs. The attack was a total failure.
At the beginning of September 1962, U2 spy planes discovered that the Soviet Union was building surface-to-air missile launch sites. There was also an increase in the number of Soviet ships arriving in Cuba which the US government feared were carrying new supplies of weapons. President Kennedy complained to the Soviet Union about these developments and warned them that the US would not accept offensive weapons in Cuba.
On 15 October photographs were taken that revealed that the Soviet Union was placing long range missiles in Cuba.
The Executive Committee of the US National Security Council favoured a naval blockade of Cuba, and Kennedy accepted their decision.
There were angry demonstrations outside the US Embassy in London as people protested about the possibility of nuclear war.
On 24 October, President Kennedy was informed that Soviet ships had stopped just before they reached the US ships blockading Cuba.
The Cuban Missile Crisis was the first and only nuclear confrontation between the US and the Soviet Union. The event appeared to frighten both sides and it marked a change in the development of the Cold War.
Castro remained dependent on the support of the Soviet Union. Nikita Khrushchev and his successors, including Leonid Brezhnev, Yuri Andropov, Konstantin Chernenko and Mikhail Gorbachev provided aid to his government. However, after the fall of communism in the Soviet Union in 1989 this economic help came to an end.
In 1991 Cuba suffered an economic crisis. Its outdated and unrepaired equipment meant that sugar and tobacco production fell. At the same time Cuba could no longer rely on former countries in eastern Europe to buy its goods. Castro suffered great embarrassment when his own daughter sought asylum in the US in 1994.
Castro sought alliances regionally to counter US hegemony and found like-minded partners in regional nationalist figures such as Hugo Chávez in Venezuela and Evo Morales in Bolivia. Over time he has become a world icon, and has served as head of the Nonaligned Nations Movement.
The UN General Assembly has constantly voted against the US sanctions which continue to be imposed on Cuba. But Cuba is the only Latin American country without an economic cooperation agreement with the EU. However, trade with individual European countries remains strong since the US trade embargo on Cuba leaves the market free from American rivals.
On 31 July 2006, Castro delegated his duties in all his official roles to his brother Raúl. This transfer of duties was intended to be temporary while Fidel recovered from surgery for an 'acute intestinal crisis with sustained bleeding'. He was too ill to attend the nationwide commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the Granma boat landing on 2 December 2006, which also became his belated 80th birthday celebrations.
Despite optimistic reports on his health throughout 2007, there was no indication of a return to duty, and his announcement that he will not seek or accept the Presidency again refers to the fact that his current five-year term ends on Sunday next, when the new National Assembly, elected last month, meets to elect the President.