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Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz (born August 13, 1926) is a communist Cuban politician, one of the primary leaders of the Cuban Revolution, the Prime Minister of Cuba from February 1959 to December 1976, and then the President of the Council of State of Cuba until his resignation from the office in February 2008. He currently serves as First Secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba, a position he has held since its inception in 1965. Castro
was born into a wealthy family and acquired a law degree. While
studying at the University of Havana, he began his political career and
became a recognized figure in Cuban politics. His political career continued with nationalist critiques of the president, Fulgencio Batista, and of the United States'
political and corporate influence in Cuba. He gained an ardent, but
limited, following and also drew the attention of the authorities. He eventually led the failed 1953 attack on the Moncada Barracks, after which he was captured, tried, incarcerated, and later released. He then traveled to Mexico to
organize and train for an invasion of Cuba to overthrow Batista's
government, which began in December 1956. Castro subsequently came to
power as a result of the Cuban revolution that overthrew the U.S.-backed dictatorship of Batista, and shortly thereafter became Prime Minister of Cuba. In 1965 he became First Secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba and led the transformation of Cuba into a one-party socialist republic. In 1976 he became President of the Council of State as well as of the Council of Ministers. He also held the supreme military rank of Comandante en Jefe ("Commander in Chief") of the Cuban armed forces. Following intestinal surgery from an undisclosed digestive illness believed to have been diverticulitis, Castro transferred his responsibilities to the First Vice-President, his younger brother Raúl Castro,
on July 31, 2006. On February 19, 2008, five days before his mandate
was to expire, he announced he would neither seek nor accept a new term
as either president or commander-in-chief. On February 24, 2008, the National Assembly elected Raúl Castro to succeed him as the President of Cuba. Fidel Alejandro Vittore Castro Ruz was born on a sugar plantation in Birán, near Mayarí, in the modern-day province of Holguín – then a part of the now-defunct Oriente province. He was the third child born to Ángel Castro y Argiz, a Galician immigrant from the impoverished northwest of Spain who became relatively prosperous through work in the sugar industry and successful investing. His mother, Lina Ruz González, was a household servant. Angel Castro was married to another woman, Maria Luisa Argota, until
Fidel was 15, and thus Fidel as a child had to deal both with his
illegitimacy and the challenge of being raised in various foster homes
away from his father's house. Castro has two brothers, Ramón and Raúl, and four sisters, Angelita, Juanita,
Enma, and Agustina, all of whom were born out of wedlock. He also has
two half siblings, Lidia and Pedro Emilio who were raised by
Ángel Castro's first wife. Fidel was not baptized until he was
8, also very uncommon, bringing embarrassment and ridicule from other
children. Ángel
Castro finally dissolved his first marriage when Fidel was 15 and
married Fidel’s mother. Castro was formally recognized by his father
when he was 17, when his surname was legally changed to Castro from
Ruz, his mother’s name. Although
accounts of his education differ, most sources agree that he was an
intellectually gifted student, more interested in sports than in
academics, and spent many years in private Catholic boarding schools,
finishing high school at El Colegio de Belén, a Jesuit school in Havana in 1945. While
at Belén, Castro pitched on the school's baseball team. There
are persistent rumors that Castro was scouted for various U.S. baseball
teams, but there is no evidence that this ever actually happened. In late 1945, Castro entered law school at the University of Havana.
He became immediately embroiled in the political culture at the
University, which was a reflection of the volatile politics in Cuba
during that era. Since the fall of president Gerardo Machado in the 1930s, student politics had degenerated into a form of gangsterismo dominated
by fractious action groups, and Castro, believing that the gangs posed
a physical threat to his university aspirations, experienced what he
later described as "a great moment of decision." He
returned to the university from a brief hiatus to involve himself fully
in the various violent battles and disputes which surrounded university
elections, and was to be implicated in a number of shootings linked to Rolando Masferrer's MSR action group. "To not return", said Castro later, "would be to give in to bullies, to abandon my beliefs". Rivalries were so intense that Castro apparently collaborated in an attempt on Masferrer's life during this period, while Masferrer, whose paramilitary group Les Tigres later became an instrument of state violence under Batista, perennially hunted the younger student seeking violent retribution. In 1947, Castro joined the Partido Ortodoxo which had been newly formed by Eduardo Chibás.
A charismatic figure, Chibás attracted many Cubans with his
message of social justice, honest government, and political freedom. Chibás was running for president against the incumbent Ramón Grau San Martín who had allowed rampant corruption to flourish during his term. The
Partido Ortodoxo publicly exposed corruption and demanded government
and social reform. It aimed to instill a strong sense of national
identity among Cubans, establish Cuban economic independence and
freedom from the United States, and dismantle the power of the elite
over Cuban politics. Though
Chibás lost the election, Castro, considering Chibás his
mentor, remained committed to his cause, working fervently on his
behalf. In 1951, while running for president again, Chibás shot
himself in the stomach during a radio broadcast. Castro was present and
accompanied him to the hospital where he died. During 1948, Castro was twice linked to political assassinations. He was suspected of Manolo Castro's assassination that took place on February 22. University
policeman Oscar Fernandez was killed in front of his own home on June
6. Dying Oscar Fernandez and other witnesses identified Castro as the
assassin. The incident passed. In 1948, Castro joined an anti-American demonstration trip to Bogotá, Colombia, paid by Argentinean army colonel and President Juan Perón. Castro joined mob violence and property destruction, and later sought refuge in the Argentinean embassy. In 1948, Castro married Mirta Díaz Balart,
a student from a wealthy Cuban family through which he was exposed to
the lifestyle of the Cuban elite. Mirta's father gave tens of thousands
to spend in a three-month honeymoon in New York. Castro also received a $1,000 wedding gift from Fulgencio Batista, the ex-President who was a friend of both families. Although Castro considered enrolling at Columbia University, a private university in Manhattan, he returned to Cuba to complete his degree. Castro started to have money problems. He refused to find work and others had to pay the family's bills. The
relationship with his wife was also strained. In 1950 he graduated from
law school with a Doctor of Laws degree and began practicing law in a
small partnership in Havana. By now he had become well known for his passionately nationalist views
and his intense opposition to the United States. Castro spoke publicly
against the United States involvement in defending South Korea in the Korean War. In
1951, Fidel Castro said to Batista "I don't see an important book
here". When Batista asked which, Castro replied "Curzio Malaparte's The
Technique of the Coup d'état". According
to Rafael Diaz-Ballart, Fidel Castro realized that Batista was not a
"revolutionary" leader anymore, even though both looked at each other
with admiration. Increasingly interested in a career in politics, Castro had become a candidate for a seat in the Cuban parliament in the 1952 elections when former president, General Fulgencio Batista, ousted President Carlos Prío Socarrás in a coup d'état,
cancelled the elections and assumed government as "provisional
president". Batista was supported by establishment elements of Cuban
society, powerful Cuban agencies, and labor unions. As
discontent over the Batista coup grew, Castro abandoned his law
practice and formed an underground organization of supporters,
including his brother, Raúl, and Mario Chanes de Armas.
Together they actively plotted to overthrow Batista. They collected
guns and ammunition and finalized their plans for an armed attack on Moncada Barracks, Batista's largest garrison outside Santiago de Cuba. On the 26th of July, 1953, they attacked Moncada Barracks. The Céspedes garrison in Bayamo was also attacked as a diversion. The attack proved disastrous and more than sixty of the one-hundred and thirty-five militants involved were killed. Castro and other surviving members of his group managed to escape to a part of the rugged Sierra Maestra mountains east of Santiago where they were eventually discovered and captured. Although there is disagreement over why Castro and his brother, Raúl,
were not executed on capture as many of their fellow militants were,
there is evidence that an officer recognized Castro from his university
days and treated the captured rebels compassionately, despite the
'illegal' unofficial order to have the leader executed. Others,
such as Angel Prado, military commander of the 26th of July Movement,
say that on the morning of the attack Castro's driver got lost and he
never reached the barracks. In his spoken autobiography Castro
maintains that his car, which was second in the convoy of 'ten or
twelve' cars, encountered a foot patrol near to the Moncada Barracks.
When he stopped the car to deal with them, the rest of the convoy also
stopped and so the momentum of the operation was lost. He gives this as
the sole reason for the failure of the operation. Castro
was tried in the fall of 1953 and sentenced to up to fifteen years in
prison. During his trial Castro delivered his famous defense speech History Will Absolve Me, upholding his rebellious actions and boldly declaring his political views: I
warn you, I am just beginning! If there is in your hearts a vestige of
love for your country, love for humanity, love for justice, listen
carefully... I know that the regime will
try to suppress the truth by all possible means; I know that there will
be a conspiracy to bury me in oblivion. But my voice will not be
stifled – it will rise from my breast even when I feel most alone, and
my heart will give it all the fire that callous cowards deny it...
Condemn me. It does not matter. History will absolve me. While he was being held at the prison for political activists on Isla de Pinos, he continued to plot Batista's overthrow, planning upon release to reorganize and train in Mexico. After having served less than two years, he was released in May 1955 due to a general amnesty from Batista who was under political pressure, and went as planned to Mexico. Once in Mexico, Castro reunited with other Cuban exiles and founded the 26th of July Movement, named after the date of the failed attack on the Moncada Barracks. The goal remained the overthrow of Fulgencio Batista.
Castro had learned from the Moncada experience that new tactics were
needed if Batista's forces were to be defeated. This time, the plan was
to use underground guerrilla tactics, which were used by the Cubans the
last time they attempted a populist overthrow of what they considered
an imperialistic regime. The Cuban war of Independence against the
Spanish was Cuba's introduction to guerrilla warfare, about which they
read once the Cuban campaign ended but was taken up by Emilio Aguinaldo in the Philippines. Once again, it would be guerrilla warfare to bring down a government. In Mexico Castro met Ernesto "Che" Guevara, a proponent of guerrilla warfare.
Guevara joined the group of rebels and became an important force in
shaping Castro's evolving political beliefs. Guevara's observations of
the misery of the poor in Latin America had already convinced him that
the only solution lay in violent revolution. Since regular contacts with a KGB agent named Nikolai Sergeevich Leonov in Mexico City had not resulted in the hoped for weapon supply, they decided to go to the United States to gather personnel and funds from Cubans living there, including Carlos Prío Socarrás, the elected Cuban president deposed by Batista in 1952. Back in Mexico, the group trained under a Spanish Civil War Veteran, Cuban-born Alberto Bayo who had fled to Mexico after Francisco Franco's victory in Spain. On November 26, 1956, Castro and his group of 81 followers, mostly Cuban exiles, set out from Tuxpan, Veracruz, aboard the yacht Granma for the purpose of starting a rebellion in Cuba. The rebels landed at Playa Las Coloradas close to Los Cayuelos near the eastern city of Manzanillo on December 2, 1956. In short order, most of Castro's men were killed, dispersed, or taken prisoner by Batista's forces. While
the exact number is in dispute, it is agreed that no more than twenty
of the original eighty-two men survived the bloody encounters with the
Cuban army and succeeded in fleeing to the Sierra Maestra mountains. The group of survivors included Fidel Castro, Che Guevara, Raúl Castro, and Camilo Cienfuegos. Those who survived were aided by people in the countryside. They regrouped in the Sierra Maestra in Oriente province and organized a column under Fidel Castro's command. From their encampment in the Sierra Maestra mountains,
the 26th of July Movement waged a guerrilla war against the Batista
government. In the cities and major towns also, resistance groups were
organizing until underground groups were everywhere. The strongest was
in Santiago formed by Frank País. In
the summer of 1957, País’s organization merged with the 26th of
July Movement of Castro. As Castro's movement gained popular support in
the cities and countryside, it grew to over eight hundred men. In
mid-1957 Castro gave Che Guevara command of a second column. A journalist, Herbert Matthews from the New York Times, came to interview him in the Sierra Maestra, attracting interest to Castro's cause in the United States. The New York Times front
page stories by Matthews presented Castro as a romantic and appealing
revolutionary, bearded and dressed in rumpled fatigues. Castro and Matthews were followed by the TV crew of Andrew Saint George, said to be a CIA contact person. Through television, Castro's rudimentary command of the English language and
charismatic presence enabled him to appeal directly to a U.S. audience.
In 1957, Castro also signed the Manifesto of the Sierra Maestra in
which he agreed to call elections under the Electoral Code of 1943
within the first 18 months of his time in power and to restore all of
the provisions of the Constitution of 1940 that
had been suspended under Batista. While he took steps to implement some
of the measures in the Manifesto upon coming into power, Cuba failed to
have elections, the most important part of the program, within the
allotted time. In February 1958, Castro published in Coronet Magazine a famous statement of the goals of the movement. He
stated that "we are fighting to do away with dictatorship in Cuba and
to establish the foundations of genuine representative government" and
promised to "prepare and conduct truly honest general elections within
twelve months" after success. He also stated, "we have no plans for the
expropriation or nationalization of foreign investments here". He also
justified his attacks on Cuba's economy as the only way to bring down
the Batista dictatorship. Despite his denouncement of dictatorships,
Castro himself has been described as a dictator. In May 1958, Batista launched Operation Verano aiming to crush Castro and other anti-government groups. It was called La Ofensiva ("The
Offensive") by the rebels (Alarcón Ramírez, 1997).
Although on paper heavily outnumbered, Castro's guerrilla forces scored
a series of victories, largely aided by mass desertions from Batista's
army of poorly trained and uncommitted young conscripts. During the Battle of La Plata, Castro's forces defeated an entire battalion. While pro-Castro Cuban sources later emphasized the role of Castro's guerrilla forces in these battles, other groups and leaders were also involved, such as escopeteros (poorly armed irregulars). During the Battle of Las Mercedes,
Castro's small army came close to defeat but he managed to pull his
troops out by opening up negotiations with General Cantillo while
secretly slipping his soldiers out of a trap. When Operation Verano ended, Castro ordered three columns commanded by Guevara, Jaime Vega and Camilo Cienfuegos to
invade central Cuba where they were strongly supported by rebellious
elements who had long been operating in the area. One of Castro's
columns moved out onto the Cauto Plains. Here, they were supported by Huber Matos, Raúl Castro and
others who were operating in the eastern-most part of the province. On
the plains, Castro's forces first surrounded the town of Guisa in Granma Province and drove out their enemies, then proceeded to take most of the towns that had been taken by Calixto García in the 1895-1898 Cuban War of Independence. In December 1958, the columns of Che Guevara and Camilo Cienfuegos continued
their advance through Las Villas province. They succeeded in occupying
several towns, and then began preparations for an attack on Santa Clara,
the provincial capital. Guevara's fighters launched a fierce assault on
the Cuban army surrounding Santa Clara, and a vicious house-to-house
battle ensued. They also derailed an armored train which Batista had
sent to aid his troops in the city while Cienfuegos won the Battle of Yaguajay.
Defeated on all sides, Batista's forces crumbled. The provincial
capital was captured after less than a day of fighting on December 31,
1958. After the loss at the Battle of Santa Clara,
expecting betrayal by his own army and having lost all backup from the
previously supportive US government, Batista (accompanied by president-elect Andrés Rivero Agüero) boarded a plane and fled to the Dominican Republic in
the early hours of January 1, 1959. Accompanying Batista into exile was
an amassed fortune of more than $ 300,000,000 that he acquired through
"graft and payoffs."
Batista
left behind a junta headed by Gen. Eulogio Cantillo, recently the
commander in Oriente province, the center of the Castro revolt. The
junta immediately selected Dr. Carlos Piedra, the oldest judge of the Supreme Court,
as provisional President of Cuba as specified in the Constitution of
1940. Castro refused to accept the selection of Justice Piedra as
provisional President and the Supreme Court refused to administer the
oath of office to the Justice. The rebel forces of Fidel Castro moved swiftly to seize power throughout the island. At
the age of 32, Castro had successfully masterminded a classic guerrilla
campaign from his headquarters in the Sierra Maestra and ousted Batista. On January 8, 1959, Castro's army rolled victoriously into Havana. As news of the fall of Batista's government spread through Havana, The New York Times described
the scene as one of jubilant crowds pouring into the streets and
automobile horns honking. The black and red flag of the 26th of July
Movement waved on automobiles and buildings. The atmosphere was chaotic. Castro
called a general strike in protest of the Piedra government. He
demanded that Dr. Urrutia, former judge of the Urgency Court of
Santiago de Cuba, be installed as the provisional President instead.
The Cane Planters Association of Cuba, speaking on behalf of the
island's crucial sugar industry, issued a statement of support for
Castro and his movement. Law professor José Miró Cardona created a new government with himself as prime minister and Manuel Urrutia Lleó as president on January 5. The United States officially recognized the new government two days later. Castro himself arrived in Havana to cheering crowds and assumed the post of Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces on January 8. Fidel Castro sought to oust liberals and democrats, such as José Miró Cardona and Manuel Urrutia Lleó. In
February professor José Miró Cardona had to resign
because of Castro's attacks. On February 16, 1959, Castro was sworn in
as Prime Minister of Cuba. Professor Miró soon went into exile in the United States, and would later participate in the Bay of Pigs Invasion against
Castro's form of government. President Manuel Urrutia Lleó
wanted to restore elections, but Castro opposed free elections. Castro's slogan was "Revolution first, elections later". The new government began expropriating property
and announced plans to base the compensation on the artificially low
property valuations that the companies themselves had kept to a
fraction of their true value so that their taxes would be negligible. During this period Castro repeatedly denied being a communist. For
example in New York on April 25 he said, "...[communist] influence is
nothing. I don't agree with communism. We are democracy. We are against
all kinds of dictators... That is why we oppose communism." Between
April 15 and April 26, Castro and a delegation of industrial and
international representatives visited the U.S. as guests of the Press
Club. Castro hired one of the best public relations firms
in the United States for a charm offensive visit by Castro and his
recently initiated government. Castro answered impertinent questions
jokingly and ate hot dogs and hamburgers. His rumpled fatigues and
scruffy beard cut a popular figure easily promoted as an authentic hero. He was refused a meeting with President Eisenhower. After his visit to the United States, he would go on to join forces with the Soviet leader, Nikita Khrushchev. On May 17, 1959, Castro signed into law the First Agrarian Reform, which limited landholdings to 993 acres (4 km²) per owner and forbade foreign land ownership. Castro started to organize attacks on President Manuel Urrutia Lleó. Castro himself resigned as Prime Minister of Cuba and
later that day appeared on television to deliver a lengthy denouncement
of Urrutia, claiming that Urrutia "complicated" government, and that
his "fevered anti-Communism" was having a detrimental effect. Castro's
sentiments received widespread support as organized crowds surrounded
the presidential palace demanding Urrutia's resignation, which was duly
received. On July 23, Castro resumed his position as premier and
appointed Osvaldo Dorticós as the new president. As early as July 1959, Castro's intelligence chief Ramiro Valdés contacted the KGB in Mexico City. Subsequently, the USSR sent over one hundred mostly Spanish speaking advisors, including Enrique Líster Forján, to organize the Committees for the Defense of the Revolution. In
February 1960, Cuba signed an agreement to buy oil from the USSR. When
the U.S.-owned refineries in Cuba refused to process the oil, they were
expropriated, and the United States broke off diplomatic relations with
the Castro government soon afterward. To the concern of the Eisenhower
administration, Cuba began to establish closer ties with the Soviet
Union. A variety of pacts were signed between Castro and Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev,
allowing Cuba to receive large amounts of economic and military aid
from the USSR. The mould was set. U.S. disappointment with their lack
of power in Cuban decision making fueled Castro's fears leading to
increasing Cuban dependence on USSR support. In June 1960, Eisenhower reduced Cuba's sugar import quota by 7,000,000 tons, and in response, Cuba nationalized some $850 million worth of U.S. property and businesses. Health care and education were
socialized. The new government took control of the country by
nationalizing industry, redistributing property, collectivizing
agriculture and creating policies that would benefit the poor. While
popular among the poor, these policies alienated many former supporters
of the revolution among the Cuban middle and upper-classes. Over one
million Cubans later migrated to the U.S., forming a vocal anti-Castro
community in Miami, Florida, actively supported and funded by successive U.S. administrations. By the early autumn of 1960, the U.S. government was engaged in a semi-secret campaign to remove Castro from power. In September 1960, Castro created Committees for the Defense of the Revolution, which implemented neighbhorhood spying in an effort to weed out "counter-revolutionary" activities. By
the end of 1960, all opposition newspapers had been closed down and all
radio and television stations were in state control, run under the Leninist principle of Democratic Centralism. Moderates, teachers and professors were purged. He was accused of keeping about 20,000 dissents held captive and tortured under inhuman prison conditions every year. Groups such as homosexuals were locked up in concentration camps in the 1960s, where they were subject to medical-political "re-education". Castro's admiring description of rural life in Cuba ("in the country, there are no homosexuals") reflected the idea of homosexuality as bourgeois decadence, and he denounced "maricones" (faggots) as "agents of imperialism". Castro stated that "homosexuals should not be allowed in positions where they are able to exert influence upon young people". Loyalty to Castro became the primary criteria for all appointments in the island. The Communist Party strengthened its one-party rule, with Castro as the Prime Minister. In the 1961 New Year's Day parade, Castro exhibited Soviet tanks and other weapons. The Soviet Union awarded him with the Lenin Peace Prize later that year. The
Bay of Pigs Invasion (known as La Batalla de Girón, or Playa
Girón in Cuba), was an unsuccessful attempt by a US-trained
force of Cuban exiles to invade southern Cuba with support from US government armed forces, to overthrow the Cuban government of Fidel Castro. The plan was launched in April 1961, less than three months after John F. Kennedy assumed the presidency in the United States. The Cuban armed forces, trained and equipped by Eastern Bloc nations, defeated the exile combatants in three days. On May 1, 1961, Castro declared Cuba a socialist state and officially abolished multiparty elections. Critics noted that Castro feared elections would eject him from power. In a nationally broadcast speech on December 2, 1961, Castro declared that he was a Marxist-Leninist and that Cuba was adopting Communism. On February 7, 1962, the US imposed an embargo against Cuba. This embargo was broadened during 1962 and 1963, including a general travel ban for American tourists. Tensions
between Cuba and the U.S. heightened during the 1962 missile crisis,
which nearly brought the U.S. and the USSR into nuclear conflict.
Khrushchev conceived the idea of placing missiles in Cuba as a
deterrent to a possible U.S. invasion and justified the move in
response to U.S. missile deployment in Turkey. After consultations with
his military advisors, he met with a Cuban delegation led by
Raúl Castro in July in order to work out the specifics. It was
agreed to deploy Soviet R-12 MRBMs on Cuban soil; however, American Lockheed U-2 reconnaissance
discovered the construction of the missile installations on October 15,
1962 before the weapons had actually been deployed. The U.S. government
viewed the installation of Soviet nuclear weapons 90 miles
(145 km) south of Key West as
an aggressive act and a threat to U.S. security. As a result, the U.S.
publicly announced its discovery on October 22, 1962, and implemented a quarantine around Cuba that would actively intercept and search any vessels heading for the island. Nikolai Sergevich Leonov, who would become a General in the KGB Intelligence Directorate and
the Soviet KGB deputy station chief in Warsaw, was the translator
Castro used for contact with the Russians during this period. In
a personal letter to Khrushchev dated October 27, 1962, Castro urged
him to launch a nuclear first strike against the United States if Cuba
were invaded, but Khrushchev rejected any first strike response. Soviet field commanders in Cuba were, however, authorized to use tactical nuclear weapons if
attacked by the United States. Khrushchev agreed to remove the missiles
in exchange for a U.S. commitment not to invade Cuba and an
understanding that the US would secretly remove American MRBMs targeting the Soviet Union from Turkey and Italy,
a measure that the U.S. implemented a few months later. The missile
swap was never publicized because the Kennedy Administration demanded
secrecy in order to preserve NATO relations and protect Democratic
Party candidates in the upcoming U.S. elections. Fabian
Escalante, who was long tasked with protecting the life of Castro,
estimated the number of assassination schemes or attempts by the CIA to be 638. Some such attempts allegedly included an exploding cigar, a fungal-infected scuba-diving suit, and a mafia-style shooting. Some of these plots are depicted in a documentary entitled 638 Ways to Kill Castro. One of these attempts was by his ex-lover Marita Lorenz whom he met in 1959. She allegedly agreed to aid the CIA and attempted to smuggle a jar of cold cream containing
poison pills into his room. When Castro realized, he reportedly gave
her a gun and told her to kill him but her nerve failed. Castro
once said, in regards to the numerous attempts on his life he believes
have been made, "If surviving assassination attempts were an Olympic event, I would win the gold medal." According to the Family Jewels documents declassified by the CIA in 2007, one such assassination attempt before the Bay of Pigs invasion involved Johnny Roselli and Al Capone's successor in the Chicago Outfit, Salvatore Giancana and his right-hand man Santos Trafficante. It was personally authorized by the then US attorney general Robert Kennedy. Giancana
and Miami Syndicate leader Santos Trafficante were contacted in
September 1960 about the possibility of an assassination attempt by a
go-between from the CIA, Robert Maheu,
after Maheu had contacted Johnny Roselli, a member of the Las Vegas
Syndicate and Giancana's number-two man. Maheu had presented himself as
a representative of numerous international business firms in Cuba that
were being expropriated by Castro. He offered $150,000 for the
"removal" of Castro through this operation (the documents suggest that
neither Roselli nor Giancana and Trafficante accepted any sort of
payments for the job). According to the files, it was Giancana who
suggested using a series of poison pills that could be used to doctor
Castro's food and drink. These pills were given by the CIA to
Giancana's nominee Juan Orta, whom Giancana presented as being an
official in the Cuban government who was also in the pay of gambling
interests, and who did have access to Castro. After
a series of six attempts to introduce the poison into Castro's food,
Orta abruptly demanded to be let out of the mission, handing over the
job to another, unnamed participant. Later, a second attempt was
mounted through Giancana and Trafficante using Dr. Anthony Verona, the leader of the Cuban Exile Junta,
who had, according to Trafficante, become "disaffected with the
apparent ineffectual progress of the Junta". Verona requested $10,000
in expenses and $1,000 worth of communications equipment. However, it
is unknown how far the second attempt went, as the entire program was
cancelled shortly thereafter due to the launching of the Bay of Pigs Invasion. Jose Maria Aznar,
former Spanish Prime Minister, wrote that the embargo was Castro's
greatest ally, and that Castro would lose his presidency within three
months if the embargo was lifted. Castro retained control after Cuba became bankrupt and isolated following the collapse of the Soviet Union in
1991. The synergic contraction of Cuban economy resulted in eighty-five
percent of its markets disappearing, along with subsidies and trade
agreements that had supported it, causing extended gas and water
outages, severe power shortages, and dwindling food supplies.
In
1994, the island's economy plunged into what was called the "Special
Period"; teetering on the brink of collapse. Cuba legalized the US
dollar, turned to tourism, and encouraged the transfer of remittances
in US dollars from Cubans living in the USA to their relatives on the
Island. After massive damage caused by Hurricane Michelle in 2001, Castro proposed a one-time cash purchase of food from the U.S. while declining a U.S. offer of humanitarian aid. The U.S. authorized the shipment of food in 2001, the first since the embargo was imposed. During
2004, Castro shut down 118 factories, including steel plants, sugar
mills and paper processors to compensate for the crisis due to fuel
shortages, and in 2005 directed thousands of Cuban doctors to Venezuela in exchange for oil imports. Following
the establishment of diplomatic ties to the Soviet Union, and after the
Cuban Missile Crisis, Cuba became increasingly dependent on Soviet
markets and military and economic aid. Castro was able to build a
formidable military force with the help of Soviet equipment and
military advisors. The KGB kept
in close touch with Havana, and Castro tightened Communist Party
control over all levels of government, the media, and the educational
system, while developing a Soviet-style internal police force. Castro's
alliance with the Soviet Union caused something of a split between him
and Guevara. In 1966, Guevara left for Bolivia in an ill-fated attempt to stir up revolution against the country's government. On
August 23, 1968, Castro made a public gesture to the USSR that caused
the Soviet leadership to reaffirm their support for him. Two days after the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia to repress the Prague Spring,
Castro took to the airwaves and publicly denounced the Czech rebellion.
Castro warned the Cuban people about the Czechoslovakian
'counterrevolutionaries', who "were moving Czechoslovakia towards
capitalism and into the arms of imperialists". He called the leaders of the rebellion "the agents of West Germany and fascist reactionary rabble." In
return for his public backing of the invasion, at a time when many
Soviet allies were deeming the invasion an infringement of
Czechoslovakia's sovereignty, the Soviets bailed out the Cuban economy
with extra loans and an immediate increase in oil exports. In 1971, despite an Organization of American States convention that no nation in the Western Hemisphere would have a relationship with Cuba (the only exception being Mexico,
which had refused to adopt that convention), Castro took a month-long
visit to Chile, following the re-establishment of diplomatic relations
with Cuba.
The visit, in which Castro participated actively in the internal
politics of the country, holding massive rallies and giving public
advice to Salvador Allende,
was seen by those on the political right as proof to support their view
that "The Chilean Way to Socialism" was an effort to put Chile on the
same path as Cuba. When Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev visited
Cuba in 1989, the comradely relationship between Havana and Moscow was
strained by Gorbachev's implementation of economic and political
reforms in the USSR. "We are witnessing sad things in other socialist
countries, very sad things," lamented Castro in November 1989, in
reference to the changes that were sweeping such communist allies as
the Soviet Union, East Germany, Hungary, and Poland. The subsequent collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 had an immediate and devastating effect on Cuba. On November 4, 1975, Castro ordered the deployment of Cuban troops to Angola in order to aid the Marxist MPLA-ruled government against the South African-backed UNITA opposition
forces. Moscow aided the Cuban initiative with the USSR engaging in a
massive airlift of Cuban forces into Angola. On Cuba's role in Angola, Nelson Mandela is said to have remarked "Cuban internationalists have done so much for African independence, freedom, and justice." Cuban troops were also sent to Marxist Ethiopia to assist Ethiopian forces in the Ogaden War with Somalia in 1977. In addition, Castro extended support to Marxist Revolutionary movements throughout Latin America, such as aiding the Sandinistas in overthrowing the Somoza government in Nicaragua in 1979. It has been claimed by the Carthage Foundation-funded Center for a Free Cuba that an estimated 14,000 Cubans were killed in Cuban military actions abroad. Castro
never disclosed the amount of casualties in Soviet African wars, but
one estimate is 14,000, a high number for the small country. Juan
Antonio Rodríguez Mernier, a former Cuban Intelligence Major who
defected in 1987, says the regime made large amounts of money from drug
trafficking operations in the 1970s. The cash was to be deposited in
Fidel's Swiss bank accounts "in order to finance liberation movements". Norberto Fuentes,
a defected member of the Castro brothers' inner circle, has provided
details about these operations. According to him, an operation
conducted in cooperation with the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine helped
Cuban intelligence to steal one billion by robbing banks in Lebanon
during the 1975-76 civil war. Gold bars, jewelry, gems, and museum
pieces were carried in diplomatic pouches via air route Beirut-Moscow-Havana. Castro personally greeted the robbers as heroes. Cuba
and Panama restored diplomatic ties in 2005 after breaking them off a
year prior when Panama's former president pardoned four Cuban exiles
accused of attempting to assassinate Cuban President Fidel Castro in
2000. The foreign minister of each country re-established official
diplomatic relations in Havana by signing a document describing a
spirit of fraternity that has long linked both nations. Cuba,
once shunned by many of its Latin American neighbours, now has full
diplomatic relations with all but Costa Rica and El Salvador. Although
the relationship between Cuba and Mexico remains strained, each side
appears to make attempts to improve it. In 1998, Fidel Castro
apologized for remarks he made about Mickey Mouse which led Mexico to
recall its ambassador from Havana. He said he intended no offense when
he said earlier that Mexican children would find it easier to name
Disney characters than to recount key figures in Mexican history.
Rather, he said, his words were meant to underscore the cultural dominance of the US. Mexican president Vicente Fox apologized
to Fidel Castro in 2002 over statements by Castro, who had taped their
telephone conversation, to the effect that Fox forced him to leave a
United Nations summit in Mexico so that he would not be in the presence
of President Bush, who also attended. At
a summit meeting of sixteen Caribbean countries in 1998, Castro called
for regional unity, saying that only strengthened cooperation between
Caribbean countries would prevent their domination by rich nations in a
global economy. Caribbean
nations have embraced Cuba's Fidel Castro while accusing the US of
breaking trade promises. Castro, until recently a regional outcast, has
been increasing grants and scholarships to the Caribbean countries,
while US aid has dropped 25% over the past five years. Cuba has opened four additional embassies in the Caribbean Community including: Antigua and Barbuda, Dominica, Suriname, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines. This development makes Cuba the only country to have embassies in all independent countries of the Caribbean Community. North Korea has granted Castro "the Golden Medal (Hammer and Sickle) and the First Class Order of the National Flag". Libyan de facto leader Muammar al-Gaddafi has granted Castro a "Libyan human rights prize". On a visit to South Africa in 1998 he was warmly received by President Nelson Mandela. President Mandela gave Castro South Africa's highest civilian award for foreigners, the Order of Good Hope. Last
December Castro fulfilled his promise of sending 100 medical aid
workers to Botswana, according to the Botswana presidency. These
workers play an important role in Botswana's war against HIV/AIDS.
According to Anna Vallejera, Cuba's first-ever Ambassador to Botswana,
the health workers are part of her country's ongoing commitment to
proactively assist in the global war against HIV/AIDS. In Harlem, Castro is seen as an icon because of his historic visit with Malcolm X in 1960 at the Hotel Theresa. Castro was known to be a friend of former Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau and
was an honorary pall bearer at Trudeau's funeral in October 2000. They
had continued their friendship after Trudeau left office until his
death. Canada became one of the first American allies openly to trade with Cuba. Cuba still has a good relationship with Canada. In 1998, Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chrétien arrived
in Cuba to meet President Castro and highlight their close ties. He is
the first Canadian government leader to visit the island since Pierre
Trudeau was in Havana in 1976. The European Union accuses the Castro regime of "continuing flagrant violation of human rights and fundamental freedoms". In December 2001, European Union representatives
described their political dialogue with Cuba as back on track after a
weekend of talks in Havana. The EU praised Cuba's willingness to
discuss questions of human rights. Cuba is the only Latin American
country without an economic co-operation 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. In 2005, EU Development Commissioner Louis Michel ended
his visit to Cuba optimistic that relations with the communist state
will become stronger. The EU is Cuba's largest trading partner. Cuba's
imprisonment of 75 dissidents and the execution of three hijackers have
strained diplomatic relations. However, the EU commissioner was
impressed with Fidel Castro's willingness to discuss these concerns,
although he received no commitments from Castro. Cuba does not admit to
holding political prisoners, seeing them rather as mercenaries in the
pay of the United States. Castro is seen as an icon by leaders of recent socialist governments in Latin America. Hugo Chavez of Venezuela is
a long-time admirer and reached agreements with Cuba to provide
subsidized petroleum in exchange for Cuban medical assistance. Evo Morales of Bolivia has described him as "the grandfather of all Latin American revolutionaries". Castro was baptized and raised a Roman Catholic as a child but did not practice as one. In Oliver Stone's documentary Comandante, Castro states "I have never been a believer", and has total conviction that there is only one life. Pope John XXIII excommunicated Castro in 1962 on the basis of Pope Pius XII's Decree against Communism,
a 1949 decree forbidding Catholics from supporting communist
governments. In 1992, Castro agreed to loosen restrictions on religion
and even permitted church-going Catholics to join the Cuban Communist Party. He began describing his country as "secular" rather than "atheist". Pope John Paul II visited
Cuba in 1998, the first visit by a reigning pontiff to the island.
Castro and the Pope appeared side by side in public on several
occasions during the visit. Castro wore a dark blue business suit (in
contrast to his fatigues) in his public meetings with the Pope and
treated him with reverence and respect. In December 1998, Castro formally re-instated Christmas Day as the official celebration for the first time since its abolition by the Communist Party in 1969. Cubans were again allowed to mark Christmas as
a holiday and to openly hold religious processions. The Pope sent a
telegram to Castro thanking him for restoring Christmas as a public
holiday. Castro
attended a Roman Catholic convent blessing in 2003. The purpose of this
unprecedented event was to help bless the newly restored convent in Old
Havana and to mark the fifth anniversary of the Pope's visit to Cuba. The senior spiritual leader of the Orthodox Christian faith arrived in Cuba in 2004, the first time any Orthodox Patriarch has visited Latin America in the Church's history: Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I consecrated a cathedral in Havana and bestowed an honor on Fidel Castro. His
aides said that he was responding to the decision of the Cuban
Government to build and donate to the Orthodox Christians a tiny
Orthodox cathedral in the heart of old Havana. After Pope John Paul II's death in April 2005, an emotional Castro attended a mass in his honor in Havana's cathedral and signed the Pope's condolence book at the Vatican Embassy. He had last visited the cathedral in 1959, 46 years earlier, for the wedding of one of his sisters. Cardinal Jaime Lucas Ortega y Alamino led
the mass and welcomed Castro, who was dressed in a black suit,
expressing his gratitude for the "heartfelt way the death of our Holy
Father John Paul II was received (in Cuba)."
According
to Article 94 of the Cuban Constitution, the First Vice President of
the Council of State assumes presidential duties upon the illness or
death of the president. Raúl Castro was the person in that position for the last 32 years of Fidel Castro's presidency. Due
to the issue of presidential succession and Castro's longevity, there
have long been rumors, speculation and hoaxing about Castro's health
and demise. In 1998 there were reports that he had a serious brain
disease, later discredited. In June 2001, he apparently fainted during a seven-hour speech under the Caribbean sun. Later
that day he finished the speech, walking buoyantly into the television
studios in his military fatigues, joking with journalists. In January 2004, Luis Eduardo Garzón, the mayor of Bogotá, said that Castro "seemed very sick to me" following a meeting with him during a vacation in Cuba. In
May 2004, Castro's physician denied that his health was failing, and
speculated that he would live to be 140 years old. Dr. Eugenio Selman
Housein said that the "press is always speculating about something,
that he had a heart attack once, that he had cancer, some neurological problem", but maintained that Castro was in good health. On
October 20, 2004, Castro tripped and fell following a speech he gave at
a rally, breaking his kneecap and fracturing his right arm. He was able to recover his ability to walk and publicly demonstrated this two months later. In 2005, the CIA said it thought Castro had Parkinson's disease. Castro denied such allegations, while also citing the example of Pope John Paul II in saying that he would not fear the disease.
On July 31, 2006, Castro delegated his duties as President of the Council of state, President of the Council of Ministers, First Secretary of the Cuban Communist Party and the post of commander in chief of the armed forces to his brother Raúl Castro.
This transfer of duties was described at the time as temporary while
Fidel recovered from surgery he underwent due to an "acute intestinal crisis with sustained bleeding". Fidel Castro was too ill to attend the nationwide commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the Granma boat
landing on December 2, 2006, which also became his belated 80th
birthday celebrations. Castro's non-appearance fueled reports that he
had terminal pancreatic cancer and was refusing treatment, but
on December 17, 2006 Cuban officials stated that Castro had no terminal
illness and would eventually return to his public duties. However, on December 24, 2006, Spanish newspaper El Periódico de Catalunya reported
that Spanish surgeon José Luis García Sabrido had been
flown to Cuba on a plane chartered by the Cuban government. Dr.
García Sabrido is an intestinal expert who further specializes
in the treatment of cancer. The plane that Dr. García Sabrido's
traveled in also was reported to be carrying a large quantity of
advanced medical equipment. On
December 26, 2006, shortly after returning to Madrid, Dr. García
Sabrido held a news conference in which he answered questions about
Castro's health. He stated that "He does not have cancer, he has a
problem with his digestive system," and added, "His condition is
stable. He is recovering from a very serious operation. It is not
planned that he will undergo another operation for the moment." Although
most Cubans acknowledge that they are aware Castro is seriously ill,
most also seem worried about a future without Castro. On January 16, 2007, the Spanish newspaper, El País, citing two unnamed sources from the Gregorio Marañón hospital — who employs Dr. García Sabrido — in Madrid, reported Castro was in "very grave" condition, having trouble cicatrizing, after three failed operations and complications from an intestinal infection caused by a severe case of diverticulitis.
However, Dr. García Sibrido told CNN that he was not the source
of the report and that "any statement that doesn't come directly from
[Castro's] medical team is without foundation." Also, a Cuban diplomat in Madrid said the reports were lies and declined to comment, while White House press secretary Tony Snow said the report appeared to be "just sort of a roundup of previous health reports. We've got nothing new." On January 30, 2007, Cuban television and the paper Juventud Rebelde showed fresh video and photos from a meeting between Castro and Hugo Chavez said to have taken place the previous day. In mid-February 2007, it was reported by the Associated Press that
Acting President Raul Castro had said that Fidel Castro's health was
improving and he was taking part in all important issues facing the
government. "He's consulted on the most important questions," Raul
Castro said of Fidel. "He doesn't interfere, but he knows about
everything." On February 27, 2007, Reuters reported that Fidel Castro had called into Aló Presidente, a live radio talk show hosted by Hugo Chávez,
and chatted with him for thirty minutes during which time he sounded
"much healthier and more lucid" than he had on any of the audio and
video tapes released since his surgery in July. Castro reportedly told
Chávez, "I am gaining ground. I feel I have more energy, more
strength, more time to study," adding with a chuckle, "I have become a
student again." Later in the conversation, he made reference to the fall of the world stock markets that had
occurred earlier in the day and remarked that it was proof of his
contention that the world capitalist system is in crisis. Reports
of improvements in his condition continued to circulate throughout
March and early April. On April 13, 2007, Chávez was quoted by
the Associated Press as saying that Castro has "almost totally
recovered" from his illness. That same day, Cuban Foreign Minister
Felipe Roque confirmed during a press conference in Vietnam that Castro
had improved steadily and had resumed some of his leadership
responsibilities. On April 21, 2007, the official newspaper Granma reported that Castro had met for over an hour with Wu Guanzheng,
a member of the Politburo of the Chinese Communist Party who was
visiting Havana. Photographs of their meeting showed the Cuban
president looking healthier than he had in any previously released
since his surgery. As a comment on Castro’s recovery, U.S. President George W. Bush said:
"One day the good Lord will take Fidel Castro away," Hearing about
this, Castro, who is an atheist, ironically replied: "Now I understand
why I survived Bush's plans and the plans of other presidents who
ordered my assassination: the good Lord protected me." In
January 2009 Castro asked Cubans not to worry about his lack of recent
news columns, his failing health, and not to be disturbed by his future
death. At the same time pictures were released of Castro's meeting with the Argentine president Cristina Fernandez on January 21, 2009. In
a letter dated February 18, 2008, Castro announced that he would not
accept the positions of president and commander in chief at the
February 24, 2008 National Assembly meetings, saying "I will not aspire
nor accept — I repeat I will not aspire or accept — the post of President
of the Council of State and Commander in Chief," effectively announcing his retirement from official public life. The letter was published online by the official Communist Party newspaper Granma.
In it, Castro stated that his health was a primary reason for his
decision, stating that "It would betray my conscience to take up a
responsibility that requires mobility and total devotion, that I am not
in a physical condition to offer". On February 24, 2008, the National Assembly of People's Power unanimously chose his brother, Raúl Castro, as Fidel's successor as President of Cuba. In
his first speech as Fidel’s successor, he proposed to the National
Assembly of People's Power that Fidel continue to be consulted on
matters of great importance, such as defence, foreign policy and "the
socioeconomic development of the country". The proposal was immediately
and unanimously approved by the 597 members of the National Assembly.
Raúl described Fidel as "not substitutable". Fidel also remains the First Secretary of the Communist Party. |