Historical_Account_Fidel_Castro

Fidel Castro was the dictator of Cuba. He began his leadership of Cuba since 1959 and as a result of all these years, Castro has achieved many things, including creating the first communist state in the western hemisphere, overthrowing Fulgencio Batista as dictator and giving Cuba fantastic health and education systems. He has had many negative accomplishments, such as conflict with the United States and problems about communism. The effect of Castro as dictator has had an immense effect on Cuba and he is the world's longest-serving leader. Fidel had received the education that he well deserved and in 1952, and therefore, Fidel Castro decided to run for Cuban House of Representatives. The elections were never held out as the dictator at the time named Fulgencio Batista cut them short, upon grabbing a hold of power and ended democracy in Cuba. Fidel Castro thought only negative of Batista; he was corrupt, not a legitimate leader and was seen as a puppet from the USA. Castro believed that having Fulgencio Batista as dictator of his country was not going to help at all, and wanted to genuinely help his country, and this was possibly a defining moment in Fidel Castro’s life, as from that moment onwards he became determined to put a stop and overthrow Fulgencio Batista. Consequently to Batista's being on top, Castro and his brother gathered a small force, and attacked the Moncada Army Barracks in Santiago de Cuba on July 26. This plan did not well and as a result, Castro was captured and sentenced to fifteen years in prison. However, in 1955, Fulgencio Batista released him. Castro and his brother immediately went into exile in Mexico. This is where Castro began to instruct a group of revolutionaries named the 26th of July Movement. Afterwards, In December 1956, Castro's armed forces invaded Cuba. They suffered losses, but several of them were able to escape to the Sierra Maestra, which was a mountain range in southeast of Cuba. From there onwards, Castro was able to direct his revolution. Over the next two years, he gained escalating support and help from the Cuban people, and on January 1, 1959, Batista fled the country. Almost immediately after Batista fled the country, this then lead to Castro rising to power. He extremely improved the education and health systems and made them for free to citizens in Cuba. In Cuba his first act as a person in power was to implement a Soviet-style communist regime. So, Castro tried to keep relations with the United States; however they declined as they did not approve of a communist country. In 1960, he took over U.S. oil refineries in Cuba. The United States then stopped buying Cuban sugar and Castro responded by taking over all U.S. businesses in Cuba. Because President Kennedy was infuriated by Castro's actions, this then lead to an authorized an attempt to overthrow Castro dictator in 1961, this was known as the Bay of Pigs invasion. This involved about 1300 exiles which were armed with U.S. weapons, landed at the Bahía de Cochinos (Bay of Pigs) on the southern coast of Cuba. Hoping to find support from the local population of Cuba, they intended to cross the island to Havana. It was evident from the first hours of fighting, however, that the exiles were likely to lose. President Kennedy had the option of using the U.S. Air Force against the Cubans but decided against it. Consequently, the invasion was stopped by Castro's army. By the time the fighting ended on April 1990 exiles had been killed and the rest had been taken as prisoners. The US had failed with the Bay of Pigs invasion, however, they were still unhappy about the regime in Cuba, and wanted it to change. Still wanting to cause and form a regime change, this was an ongoing attempt and lead to blockade of Cuba and the "Cuban Missile Crisis’’. Fidel Castro was looking for a way to defend his island nation from an attack by the U.S, Ever since the Bay of Pigs invasion failed in 1961; Castro felt a second attack was to be anticipated. The Cuban Missile Crisis was the closest the world ever came to nuclear war. This caused The United States armed forces to be at their highest state of readiness ever and Soviet field commanders in Cuba were prepared to use battleground nuclear weapons to defend the island if it was invaded. Luckily, President Kennedy and Premier Nikita Khrushchev declared war was stopped. Subsequent to the crisis, Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev proclaimed that the Soviets would take apart the weapons installations and return the missiles to the Soviet Union, this was on the condition that the United States would not invade Cuba. Castro had a massive effect on the country of Cuba. As a result of all Castro’s actions, many people believe Fidel Castro only had a bad influence on Cuba and only did badly for the country. On the other hand, Fidel Castro did have some positive achievements although not as many as his negative outcomes. Fidel Castro is still alive today, but had given up his position as dictator of Cuba, and his brother is carrying on his measures.