castro & the cuban revolution
InformationFidel Castro conducted an armed revolt against the Cuban president Fulgencio Batista from 1953 to 1959. Once victorious, Castro replaced Batista's government with a revolutionary socialist state. The movement later transformed to communist lines and ended up becoming The Communist Party in October 1965. Additionally, the revolution reshaped Cuba's relationship with the United States. Immediately after the revolution, Castro's government began a program of nationalization and political consolidation that transformed Cuba's economy and civil society. The revolution also heralded an era of Cuban intervention with foreign military conflicts.
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Background and Causes |
Fulgencio Batista became president for a second time in March 1952 after seizing power in a military coupe and cancelling the 1952 elections. Throughout the 1950s, Batista showed signs of dictatorial rule. Cuba remained plagued by high unemployment rates and limited water infrastructure. Batista's response was to antagonize the population by forming lucrative links to organized crimes and allowing American companies to dominate the Cuban economy. In the months following March 1952, Fidel Castro petitioned to overthrow Batista. His sole problem was that his constitutional arguments were rejected by the Cuban courts. Castro then decided to launch an armed revolution after figuring that the Cuban regime could not be replaced through legal means.
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Analysis |
The Cuban Revolution was a crucial turning point in U.S.-Cuban relations. The U.S. feared the spread of communism in Latin America and Castro resented the Americans for providing aid to Batista's government throughout the revolution. Eisenhower then decided to freeze all Cuban assets on American soil and tightened its embargo on Cuba after Castro's government nationalized all U.S. property in Cuba. The embargo is still intact today. Castro's victory also created global repercussions. He wanted to send weapons to Algerian rebels to export his revolution. In the following decades, Cuba became a major supporter of communism and desired to spread it to developing countries.
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