Fidel Castro

Batista won comfortably, but the election was widely recognized as fraudulent. It had however allowed some political opposition to be openly voiced, and supporters of Castro and his Movement had begun agitating for an amnesty for all those imprisoned over the Moncada incident. Some government politicians suggested that such an amnesty would provide good publicity, and the Congress and Batista eventually agreed. Read Less

His army's military failures in Oriente, coupled with his censorship of the media and the repressive techniques of torture and extra-judicial killings employed by the police and armed forces were being increasingly criticized both at home and abroad. Influenced by a wave of anti-Batista sentiment amongst their citizens, the U.S. government made the decision to stop supplying him with weaponry, which he had been using against the rebels, leading him to instead begin buying arms from the United Kingdom. The opposition used this as an opportunity to rise up across the country, proposing a general strike which would be accompanied by armed attacks from the MR-26-7. The strike began on 9 April, and while receiving strong support in the center and east of Cuba, in Havana and other urbanized western parts of the country most workers continued working as usual.

When this war is over a much wider and bigger war will begin for me: the war that I am going to wage against them. Read Less

The majority of the country's sugar crop was being sent to the Soviet Union to maintain Cuba's trade quota, but the 1969 crop was heavily damaged by a hurricane. As a result, the government postponed the Christmas and New Year holidays of 1969/1970 so that the harvest could continue with detailed monthly targets being set for every mill, while the military were drafted in to aid in the agricultural effort. Castro and other Cabinet ministers joined in with the harvest, as did several foreign diplomats from friendly nations. Ultimately, the country failed to achieve that year's production quota for sugar. Castro publicly proclaimed it to be a worse set-back for the Revolution than the failed Moncada Barracks Attack, and offered to resign, but assembled crowds denounced the idea, cheering their support for Castro. Despite the country's economic problems, many of Castro's social reforms remained popular in Cuba, whose population were largely supportive of the "Achievements of the Revolution" in education, medical care and road construction, as well as the government's policy of "direct democracy". Read Less

Padilla fell ill, with Castro visiting him in hospital; soon after, the poet publicly confessed his guilt and was released. Soon, the government formed the National Cultural Council through which it ensured that intellectuals and artists produced work that supported their administration. Read Less

However, the U.S. and six Caribbean nations opposed the coup as a basis for invading the island and overthrowing the government; those Cuban soldiers who fought alongside their Grenadian comrades were killed. Castro denounced the invasion and compared the U.S. to Nazi Germany, with condemnation also coming from the Soviet Union and the U.N. General Assembly. Subsequently fearing a U.S. invasion of Nicaragua, Castro sent General Ochoa to help train the governing Sandinistas in the tactics of guerrilla warfare, but received little support from the Soviet Union.

In 1985, Mikhail Gorbachev became Secretary-General of the Soviet Communist Party. A reformer, he implemented measures to increase freedom of the press (glasnost) and economic decentralisation (perestroika) in an attempt to strengthen socialism, but like many more-orthodox Marxist critics, Castro feared that they would actually weaken the socialist state and allow capitalist elements to regain control. Hoping to strengthen relations with the western powers, Gorbachev entered into further talks with the U.S. government, who demanded that the USSR reduce its support for Castro's Cuba, something Gorbachev conceded to. Relations between the two nations deteriorated, and Castro ordered the security services to begin surveillance of Soviet diplomats in the country. When Gorbachev visited Cuba in April 1989, he was greeted with a banner proclaiming "Long live Marxism-Leninism!", a reproach for his reforms, and while his meetings with Castro were friendly, Gorbachev informed the Cuban leader that the perestroika reforms meant an end to subsidies and special favours for Cuba. Read Less

Castro is a controversial and highly divisive world figure, being lauded as a champion of anti-imperialism, humanitarianism, socialism and environmentalism by his supporters, but his critics have accused him of being a dictator whose authoritarian administration has overseen multiple human rights abuses both at home and abroad. A prolific author on various topics, he has had a significant influence on the politics of various individuals and groups across the world, including senior leaders like Nelson Mandela, Hugo Chávez and Evo Morales.

Fidel's father, Ángel Castro y Argiz (1875 - 1956) was a Spaniard born to a poor peasant family in rural Galicia, Northwest Spain. Working as a manual laborer on local farms, in 1895 he was conscripted into the Spanish Army to fight in the Cuban War of Independence against the Cuban revolutionaries who wished to secede from the Spanish Empire. The United States declared war on Spain, leading to the Spanish-American War of 1898, in which the U.S. seized control of Cuba, setting up their own government on the island. In 1902, the Republic of Cuba was proclaimed, however it remained only partially independent of the U.S., which retained economic and political dominance over it. For a time, Cuba enjoyed economic growth, and Ángel Castro decided to migrate there permanently in search of employment. Doing so, he undertook various jobs, eventually earning enough money to set up his own business growing sugar cane on a farm named Las Manacas in Birán, near Mayarí in Oriente Province. Read Less

Published online by the government, in his letter Castro stated that his health was a primary reason for his decision, remarking 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". Read Less