Fidel Castro Calvin Jory C Block Okoth History Global

1
Fidel Castro

• Calvin Jory
• C Block
• Okoth History Global Studies II

Image 1. Fidel Castro
2
Index

• Early Life
• Education
• Influences
• Political Beginnings
• Castros Revolution
• Assumption of Power
• Castro In Power

• Foreign Policy
• In the 1960s
• Bay of Pigs
• Cuban Missile Crisis
• In the 1970s and 80s
• In the 1990s to present day
• Castro Himself
• Local Consequences
• Global Consequences
• Lasting Image

3
Early Life

• Named Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz
• Born in Birán, Cuba
• Family worked on sugar plantation
• Mother was his fathers household servant, while
  father was married to another woman
• Ridiculed by peers for being an illegitimate
  child
• Raised in various foster homes

4
Education

• Attended Catholic boarding schools
• Finished high schools at Belen, a Jesuit school
  in Havana in 1945
• Entered law school at the University of Havana
• Since the fall of president Gerardo Machado in
  the 1930s student politics had degenerated into
  gang violence

5
Influences

• Eduardo Chibás acted as Castros mentor
• Leader of the Partido Orthodox
• Ran for president against Ram?n Grau San Martín
• Stood against corruption in the government
• Demanded government and social reform
• Install sense of national identity among Cubans
• Known for wanting Cuban economic independence
  from the United States

6
Political Beginnings

• Castro was shocked by lack of social justice
• Joined the Partido Ortodoxo, against government
  corruption
• Castro was an active member of the party until
  the 1952
• Was a candidate for a seat in the Cuban
  parliament until the takeover by Fulgencio Batista

7
Castros Revolution

• Fulgencia Batista took power in 1952
• Accepted poorly by the Cuban people
• Led revolt against Batista starting in 1953
• Used guerrilla warfare tactics
• Imprisoned by Batista
• Released two years later
• Castro along with Che Guevara captured the
  capitol in 1958

Image 2 Castro and his men
8
Assumption of Power

• Castro appointed Commander-in-Chief of the Armed
  Forces
• Law Professor José Miró Cardona created new
  government
• Castro sworn in as Prime Minister of Cuba in 1959
• Greeted by mass public approval

9
Castro In Power

• Signed into law the First Agrarian Reform,
  limiting landholding and forbidding foreign land
  ownership
• Favored the poor over the wealthy
• Strengthened Social Services
• Promoted Public Education
• Turned Cuba into a socialist state
• Nationalized industry and property

10
Context

• From take over of Cuba by Castro until fall of
  USSR, relations between US and USSR have been
  hesitant
• United States and the USSR competed for control
  of western hemisphere, through alliances and
  pacts
• International, largely non-violent struggle
  became known as Cold War
• Cuba acted as another battle ground between the
  United States and the USSR
• Castro saw competition as an opportunity to
  achieve large amounts of aid from Soviet Premier
  Nikita Khrushchev

11
Foreign Policy in the 1960s

• Worked to separate from the United States
• Seized American factories and industries in Cuba
• Bought oil from the USSR
• United States broke off diplomatic relations with
  Cuba
• Put lasting trade embargo in place
• Cuba received large amounts of economic and
  military aid from the USSR
• United States attempted to remove Castro from
  power and failed

Image 3 Castro and Khrushchev
12
Bay of Pigs

• In 1961, President Kennedy signed an order to
  invade Cuba
• United States publicly denied an involvement
• 1,400 CIA trained Cuban exiles landed at the Bay
  of Pigs on April 17th, 1961
• Cuban people expected to welcome U.S. invasion
• Cuban army defeated the U.S. force
• Invasion strengthened Cuban support of Castro

13
Cuban Missile Crisis

• Khrushchev moved R-12 nuclear missiles into Cuba
• Use as a deterrent against US so they would not
  invade Turkey
• Missiles uncovered by US reconnaissance planes
• US saw this as a direct threat
• Soviets withdrew missiles when the US agreed to
  withdraw from Turkey
• Make a pact to never invade Cuba

Image 4 Launch Site
14
Foreign Policy in the 1970s and 1980s

• In 1970s, Castro spread his focus beyond his own
  country, got involved in events in Africa
• In 1975 Castro funded a Marxist revolution in
  Angola
• Supported Ethiopia in their wars against Somalia
• Started revolutions in South America as well
• Aided the Sadinistas in overthrowing the Somoza
  government in Nicaragua

15
Foreign Policy in the 1990s- Present Day

• Worked to improve his foreign policy regarding
  local countries
• Restored relations between Cuba and Mexico,
  Panama
• Called for the Caribbean nations to join
  together, so as to better fight the economic
  dominance of the United States
• In 1998 Castro sent 100 medical aids to Botswana
  to help the fight against HIV/AIDS

16
Castro Himself

• Charismatic leader
• Had 8 children to multiple women
• Keeps his public image by wearing military
  fatigues, projecting an image of a perpetual
  revolutionary
• 2005 listed by Forbes as one of the worlds
  richest people, an estimated 550 Million

Image 5 Castro
17
Local Consequences

• Sent Cuba into economic depression
• Made Cuba completely reliant on the USSR for
  economic aid
• With collapse of the USSR, along with the US
  embargo, 85 of Cuban markets had disappeared
• Nearly destroyed the Cuban sugar industry, Cubas
  major export

18
Global Consequences

• Created sophisticated style of guerilla warfare
• Supported communist revolutions around the world
• Nearly sent the world into a nuclear war

19
Lasting Image

• In Cuba, is known as a revolutionary leader
• Respected by Cubans for standing up against the
  US
• Known for creating a better public education
  system and Social Services
• Known by the world as violent dictator

20
Electronic Bibliography

• Fagen, Richard J.. "Charismatic Authority and
  Leadership Qualities of Fidel Castro." The
  Western Political Inquiry 187 1965, 264-276.
  March 6. ltJSTORgt.
• Fitzgerald, Frank T.. "The Reform of the Cuban
  Economy, 1976-86 Organization, Incentives, and
  Patterns of Behavior." Journal of Latin American
  Studies 21.2 May, 1989, 285-309. March 10.
  ltJSTORgt.
• "Castro, Fidel ." Encyclopaedia Britannica.
  2007. Encyclopaedia Britannica Online School
  Edition. 13 Mar. 2007. http//school.eb.com/eb/a
  rticle-9020736.
• Foss, Clive. "Fidel Castro." Spartacus. 6 Apr
  2007. http//www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/COLDc
  astroF.htm.
• "Castro Profile of a Great Survivor." BBC News.
  12 Dec 2006. BBC News Corporation. 6 Apr 2007
  http//news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/244974.stm.
• "Fidel Castro Ruz Cuban President." CNN
  Interactive. CNN. 6 Apr 2007 http//history1900s.
  about.com/gi/dynamic/offsite.htm?zi1/XJ/Yasdnhi
  story1900scdn educationtm133f00tt14bt1b
  ts1zuhttp3A//www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/c old.war/kb
  ank/profiles/castro/

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Image and Print Bibliography

• Print Sources
• Geyer, Georgie Anne. Guerrilla Prince. 1st.
  Canada Little, Brown Company, 1991.
• "Fidel Castro."Britannica. 15th ed. 1986
• Image Sources
• Image 1. Fidel Castro. Harvard Law.
  http//blogs.warwick.ac.uk/cas_images/tag/cuba/.
• 24 Aug 2006. (5 Apr 2007).
• Image 2. Castro and his Men The Che Store.com
  http//images.google.com/imgres?imgurlhttp//www
  .thechestore.com/images/rev-04.jpgimgrefurl
• (6 Apr 2007)
• Image 3. Castro and Khrushchev. Global
  Clashes. http//www.globalclashes.com/2006/08/cub
  a_libre.html.
• (6 Apr 2007).
• Image 4. Launch Site. Cuban Missile Crisis.
  http//geog.ucsb.edu/jeff/115a/history/cubanmiss
  le.html
• (6 Apr 2007)
• Image 5. Castro. Kennerly.com.
  http//www.kennerly.com/images_pix/140_Fidel-Castr
  o.jpg. (6 Apr 2007)