Fidel Castro’s Cuba
By: Dylan Romphf
By: Dylan Romphf
With the recent news out of Cuba I thought it necessary to go into some background of the island nation’s dictator of more than forty years. Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz and a small group of followers seized power on January 1, of 1959 after the old dictator, Fulgencio Batista, fled the country. He has remained the dictator of communist Cuba until resigning Tuesday February 19, outlasting ten US presidents and becoming the world’s longest ruling head of government.
The US and Cuba have had many tense moments between them with Castro in control. Most notably perhaps is the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962, which many agree is the closest the world has come to a nuclear war. It began as Soviet Russia and Cuba became friendly, and Soviet leader Nikita Krushchev gave Cuba many nuclear missiles which they preceded to point at the US . President Kennedy did not take this blatant threat lightly, quickly assembling an elite team to advise him in the countries best interests. The world teetered on the brink of nuclear war as tensions rose even higher. Luckily, after two weeks of high alert the soviet leader took back the nuclear arsenal on terms that the US would not invade Cuba .
The US also has a trade embargo on all shipments to and from Cuba for many decades now with the goal of hurting their economy. The idea was to place Cuba ’s citizens in a position to take action against Cuba ’s government. However some have argued that it just gives Fidel a scapegoat to his slowly declining economy.
Cuban and American clashes have made a big impact on both American and Cuban citizens and as Fidel Castro resigns it has given hope of change for thousands. However with his resignation, many speculate as to any major change towards a democratic government, or even any change in the current communist government. Even with a new face in Cuba ’s dictatorship do not expect any exciting news any time soon.
