why cuba get revolutionalized

8/13/2019 Why Cuba Get Revolutionalized

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WHY CUBA GET REVOLUTIONALIZED?

The main reason is that it had been a very brutal and oppressive dictatorship. Fulgencio Batista had

been Cuba's leader for most of the time since coming to power in a military coup in 1933. He remained a

dictator until 1940 when he officially became an elected president. The election was not a fair one, but

Batista honoured the notion of democracy when he was defeated in the 1944 election, and peacefullyhanded power over to his opponents. He had close ties to US businesses (and is suspected to have had

close ties to organised crime, just like in Godfather Part 2). In 1951 he entered the race to become

President again, but when an opinion poll showed him in last place he staged a second coup and siezed

power again.

After the 1952 coup Batista faced massive public disapproval and civil disobedience, including a

rebellion lead by Fidel Castro which was crushed (don't worry, Castro becomes important again later).

The US had many tied to Cuba, which legalised gambling in an attempt to woo American tourism.

Prostitution also became very common. Cuba experiences massive widespread poverty because Batista

put all the country's resources into providing holidays for the rich Americans he did business with. He

declared an elction in 1954, but with himself as the only legal candidate. Student protests and street

riots became commonplace and Batista held power only with the aid of an army that many suspect wasfinanced my America. Eventually Fidel Castro's reassembled army displace him and in 1959 Batista fled

to Portugal, which was then a fascist dictatorship under Oliviera Salazar, and also stayed for a while in

Spain, which was also a fascist dictatorship, under General Franco.

Castro's 26th of July Movement won the Revolution because the had the loyal support of the majority of

Cubans. In fact when the rebels entered Havana they expected a fierce battle to take the capital. To

their astonishment the people of Havana flocked to their aid and the army. Batista had already fled and

the head of army ordered his troops not to resist the rebels.

So the Cuban Revolution was caused by widespread discontent in Cuba towards an undemocratic

government that was neglectful of its populace.

So how was it replaced by another government that was undemocratic? Well America took great

exception to the fact that its puppet regieme had been overthrown and almost immediately armed and

trained Batistists in exile to overthrow Castro. Castro became convinced that any electin would be

interfered with by the US, and that unless he had complete control of the country that they would install

Batista again, or a similar dictator. He decided that a socialist dictator was better for Cuba than a fascist

dictator, and most Cubans agree with him. Cuba's poverty is a result of America's trade embargo on that

state, and its lack of democracy a result of America's hostility to its government. I'm not trying to make

Castro out to be a good guy, he has done many distasteful things, merely trying to explain to you how

Cuba came to revolution and why the visions of those revolutionarues have never been fulfilled.

The Cuban Revolution(19531959) was an armed revolt conducted by Fidel Castro's 26th of July

Movement and its allies against the government of Cuban President Fulgencio Batista. The revolution

began in July 1953,and finally ousted Batista on 1 January 1959, replacing his government with a

revolutionary socialist state. The Movement organization later reformed along communist lines, becoming


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the Communist Party in October 1965. The Communist Party, now headed by Castro's brother Ral,

continues to govern Cuba today.

The Cuban Revolution had great domestic and international repercussions; in particular, it reshaped

Cuba's relations with the United States, which continues an embargo against Cuba as of 2013.In the

immediate aftermath of 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 into foreign military conflicts, including the Angolan Civil War and Nicaraguan

Revolution.

Cuban Revolution (Summary)

11/18/2012 byThor

The Cuban Revolutionwas a civil warthat took place in Cuba between December 2, 1956, and

January 2, 1959. In this armed struggle, the guerrilla forces, led by Fidel Castro, fought against

the government army, under Fulgencio Batista, a dictator who had got into power through a

military coup in 1952.

With an armed militia force of only 80 members, Fidel Castro and hisbrother Raul had sailed

from Mxico to Cuba, landing on Las Coloradas beach, on the south coastof the island, on

December 2, 1956. In the first military engagement with the government forces they were

defeated. The surviving members, however, penetrated the Cuban jungles of Sierra Maestra

where they recruited more men, got more weapons, and better organized. Thanks to

ideological propaganda and logistical supports they found in small Cuban towns, the 80-

member militia force grew into an army of thousands.

The civil war lasted three years, with battles taking place in the mountains and towns. Under

the command of Camilo Cienfuegos, Juan Almeida Bosques, and Ernesto "che" Guevara, they

carried out surprise attacks on governement military outposts and communication centers. By

mid 1958, Fidel and Raul Castro began a four-prong offensive as they headed from south to

north, and then westward, towards the capital, La Habana. On December 30, 1958, Camilo

Cienfuego defeated anarmy unitcomposed of 300 men at the Battle of Yaguajay. The next day,

on December 31, three guerrilla units defeated Fulgencio Batistas army again at the Battle

of Santa Clara. Having heard of this defeat, Fulgencio Batista left the island of Cuba and went

into exile to the Dominican Republic. Castros revolutionary forces ent ered La Habana on

January 2, 1959.

Most of the Cuban people supported Castros revolution because he had promised them to

bring back democracy and freedom to Cuba. However, far from calling freedemocratic

elections, Fidel Castro, the master of lie and political cheat, aligned with the Soviet Union andthe European Eastern block of communist nations, setting up a Marxist regime in Cuba and a

new dictatorship, which would last many times longer than the preceding one and would be

even crueler, subjecting the island not only to a Marxist tyranny, but also to extreme poverty.

Thus, over time, the people of Cuba would be worse off, economically and politically, than they

used to be during Fulgencio Batistas regime.
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The revolution began in 1952, when former army Sergeant Fulgencio Batista seized power during a hotly

contested election. Batista had been president from 1940-1944 and ran for president in 1952. When it

became apparent that he would lose, he seized power before the elections, which were cancelled. Many

people in Cuba were disgusted by his power grab, preferring Cubas democracy, as flawed as it was. One

such person was rising political star Fidel Castro, who would likely have won a seat in Congress had the

1952 elections taken place. Castro immediately began plotting Batistas downfall.

Assault on Moncada:

On the morning of July 26, 1953, Castro made his move. For a revolution to succeed, he needed

weapons, and he selected the isolated Moncada barracks as his target. 138 men attacked the compound

at dawn: it was hoped that the element of surprise would make up for the rebels lack of numbers and

arms. The attack was a fiasco almost from the start and the rebels were routed after a firefight that

lasted a few hours. Many were captured. Nineteen federal soldiers were killed, and the remaining ones

took out their anger on captured rebels and most of them were shot. Fidel and Raul Castro escaped, but

were captured later.

History Will Absolve Me:

The Castros and surviving rebels were put on public trial. Fidel, a trained lawyer, turned the tables on

the Batista dictatorship by making the trial about the power grab. Basically, his argument was that as a

loyal Cuban, he had taken up arms against the dictatorship because it was his civic duty. He made long

speeches and the government belatedly tried to shut him up by claiming he was too ill to attend his own

trial. His most famous quote from the trial was History will absolve me. He was sentenced to fifteen

years in prison, but had become a nationally recognized figure and a hero to many poor Cubans.

Mexico and the Granma:

In May of 1955 the Batista government, bending to international pressure to reform, released many

political prisoners, including those who had taken part in the Moncada assault. Fidel and Raul Castro

went to Mexico to regroup and plan the next step in the revolution. There they met up with many

disaffected Cuban exiles who joined the new 26th of July Movement, named after the date o f the

Moncada assault. Among the new recruits were charismatic Cuban exile Camilo Cienfuegos and

Argentine doctor Ernesto Ch Guevara. In November, 1956, 82 men crowded onto the tiny yacht

Granma and set sail for Cuba and revolution.

In the Highlands:

Batistas men had learned of the returning rebels and ambushed them: Fidel and Raul made it into the

wooded central highlands with only a handful of survivors from Mexico; Cienfuegos and Guevara were

among them. In the impenetrable highlands the rebels regrouped, attracting new members, collecting

weapons and staging guerrilla attacks on military targets. Try as he might, Batista could not root them

out. The leaders of the revolution permitted foreign journalists to visit and interviews with them were

published around the world.


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The Movement Gains Strength:

As the July 26th movement gained power in the mountains, other rebel groups took up the fight as well.

In the cities, rebel groups loosely allied with Castro carried out hit-and-run attacks and nearly succeeded

in assassinating Batista. Batista decided on a bold move: he sent a large portion of his army into the

highlands in the summer of 1958 to try and flush out Castro once and for all. The move backfired: thenimble rebels carried out guerrilla attacks on the soldiers, many of whom switched sides or deserted. By

the end of 1958 Castro was ready to deliver the knockout punch.

Castro Tightens the Noose:

In late 1958 Castro divided his forces, sending Cienfuegos and Guevara into the plains with small armies:

Castro followed them with the remaining rebels. The rebels captured towns and villages along the way,

where they were greeted as liberators. Cienfuegos captured the small garrison at Yaguajay on December

30. Defying the odds, Guevara and 300 weary rebelsdefeated a much larger force at the city of Santa

Clara on December 28-30, capturing valuable munitions in the process. Meanwhile, government officials

were negotiating with Castro, trying to salvage the situation and halt the bloodshed.

Victory for the Revolution:

Batista and his inner circle, seeing that Castros victory was inevitable, took what loot they could gather

up and fled. Batista authorized some of his subordinates to deal with Castro and the rebels. The people

of Cuba took to the streets, joyfully greeting the rebels. Cienfuegos and Guevara and their men entered

Havana on January 2nd and disarmed the remaining military installations. Castro made his way into

Havana slowly, pausing in every town, city and village along the way to give speeches to the cheering

crowds, finally entering Havana on January 9.

Aftermath and Legacy:

The Castro brothers quickly consolidated their power, sweeping away all remnants of the Batista regime

and muscling out all of the rival rebel groups that had aided them in their rise to power. Raul Castro and

Ch Guevara were put in charge of organizing squads to bring to trial and execute Batista era "war

criminals" who had engaged in torture and murder under the old regime.

Castro was an unknown factor in 1959; he would not "come out of the closet" as a communist until

later. Communist Cuba would be a thorn in the side of the United States for decades, triggering

international incidents such as the Bay of Pigs and the Cuban Missile Crisis. The United States imposed a

trade embargo in 1962 which led to years of hardship for the Cuban people.

Under Castro, Cuba has become a player on the international stage. The prime example is its

intervention in Angola: thousands of Cuban troops were sent there in the 1970's to support a leftist

movement.


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The greatest legacy of the Cuban Revolution has perhaps been as an example to other would-be Chs

and Fidels. The revolution spawned copycats in almost every nation in Latin America as idealistic young

men and women took up arms to try and change hated governments for new ones. The results were

mixed. In Nicaragua, rebel Sandinistaseventually did overthrow the government and come to power. In

the southern part of South America, the upswing in Marxist revolutionary groups such as Chile's MIR and

Uruguay's Tupamaros led to right-wing military government seizing power: Augusto Pinochet is a prime

example. Working together through Operation Condor, these repressive governments waged a war of

terror on their own citizens. The Marxist rebellions were stamped out, but many innocent civilians died

as well.

Many Cubans disagree about the revolution. The thousands of middle and upper class Cubans who fled

the nation (often to Miami) loathe Castro and have kept the pressure on the United States government

to retain the embargo. Many of those still in Cuba, after years of hardship, have tried to flee to the

United States or Mexico in makeshift rafts and boats. Nevertheless, there are still many in Cuba who

love Fidel and continue to embrace the revolution. Will history absolve him? Only time will tell.

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