Fidel Castro
Fidel Castro has been the leader of Cuba since 1959 when he overthrew Fulgencio Batista. He became Prime Minister in 1961 was then elected president by Cuba’s National Assembly in 1976 after a new constitution was ratified that same year. He has greatly improved education in Cuba and has provided health care to almost every citizen, either of which were widely available before Castro was in power. He has led several revolutions against previous leaders of Cuba and has ultimately been successful in his attempts to remain in power. He earned a PhD in law at the University of Havana and while in practice he devoted his efforts to helping the poor people of Cuba. He attempted several times to overthrow the government in the 1950’s because he was disallowed to run for office after Batista overthrew the existing government and canceled formal elections. He was convicted of trying to overthrow the government and was sentenced to 15 years in prison but was released by Batista after only two years, supposedly to prove to all Cubans that Castro was no longer a threat to Batista’s power. One of Castro’s first actions after taking control in 1959 was to seize control of American businesses in Cu
For a short time in the nineties, Castro allowed some forms of capitalism to invade Cuba. Outsiders, including Americans, invest in tourism, biotechnology, and telecommunications. Many Cubans became very rich due to this opening of international trade, which had gone against everything that Castro had preached since he has been in power in Cuba. It also created a black market in Cuba for these goods which caused inflation to skyrocket. The Cuban peso’s worth fell to dramatically. In the 4 year period from 1989 to 1993, their currency fell from $1.18 to less than a penny in value. The Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962 seemed to be the straw that broke the camels back for diplomatic relations between Cuba and the United States. Castro’s affiliation with the USSR eventually led to the Soviet Union storing nuclear weapons in Cuba that had the ability to reach the many cities in the United States. President Kennedy strongly warned Castro that if the ballistic weapons were not removed immediately, there would be fierce repercussions directed towards Khrushchev and Castro. After a tense standoff, an American naval blockade of Cuba prompted Khrushchev to agree to remove the weapons without Castro’s knowledge. Castro wanted Kennedy to agree that the United States would not invade Cuba, a notion that terrified him for many years prior to this incident. After the Cuban Missile Crisis, Castro involved Cuba into several revolutionary wars by offering supplies to the revolutionaries. He sent aid to Algeria, Ghana, and Angola in the early to mid sixties, as well as supporting a revolution in Bolivia in 1967. He did this with military support from the USSR. Castro continued his support for revolutionaries and this became his main focus for the most part of the next 2 decades. Today, Castro is an aging leader in a country that has as many problems today
Some topics in this essay:
Cubans Castro,
Cuba Outsiders,
President Kennedy,
University Havana,
Pigs Invasion”,
National Assembly,
Cuba Florida,
Dwight Eisenhower,
Soviet American,
USSR Castro,
missile crisis,
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invade cuba,
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american businesses,
helping poor,
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health care,
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Approximate Word count = 1264
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)
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