The Cuban Revolution Essays - Cuban Revolution, Fidel Castro

The Cuban Revolution The Cuban Revolution Final Draft The Cuban Revolution was in various ways different from the American Revolution and in other ways similar to it at because it had the same purpose and it also succeeded. Therefore, it can be rightfully said that the Cuban Revolution is an example, among others, of revolutions following the steps and ways (set of guidelines) of the American Revolution, which led it to be a victorious one. It could also be said that this revolution also offered a number of contrasts to the American Revolution, thus making it clear that the American Revolution was a very unique and special kind of revolution that can never be exactly repeated by any other nation. One main similarity between the Cuban and the American Revolution is that they both held the same purpose, which was to overthrow the current abusive government and establish a new one that would serve the people rightfully and advance social and economic justice in the nation. Abuses of Batista's regime began on the same day that he came into power, when he suspended the constitution, dissolved the congress and instituted a provisional government, promising elections the following year. After crushing an uprising by a young lawyer, Fidel Castro, on July 26, 1953, the regime seemed secure and when the political situation had been calmed, the Batista government announced that elections were to be held on the fall of 1954.* That year Grau San Martin, Batista's opponent, withdrew from the campaign just before the election because he claimed that his supporters had been terrorized. Thus, Batista was reelected without any opposition since he brutally suppressed political opposition and le t his people live in appalling poverty. He crushed worker, peasant, and student opposition. Between 1952 and 1959, 20,000 Cubans were assassinated by Batista's henchmen. * The bodies of those assassinated were often dumped in public places with their eyes gouged out to intimidate the rest of the population; sending a message that any kind of opposition would not be tolerated at all. The Cuban economy under Batista's government brought little wealth to the Cuban people, 50% of who did not have electricity; 40% were illiterate and 95% of the children living in rural areas suffered from poverty-related diseases. * Before the 1953 uprising, Fidel Castro had written a pamphlet denouncing Batista as a tyrant and calling on young Cubans to be prepared to sacrifice their lives in a fight for freedom. Castro's friends distributed the pamphlet throughout Havana, and many of them within the Ortodoxo party began to conspire with him to overthrow Batista. Castro continued violently denouncing th e Batista government and encouraging armed rebellion through articles in the underground newspaper, El Acusador (The Accuser), of which he was political editor. During the summer of 1952, Castro had begun to turn his network of friends into a revolutionary movement. In several cities and villages, Castro's friends organized military training units; each composed of ten revolutionaries and their leader. The leaders answered directly to Castro. Almost all of those who joined this young military force were between the ages of eighteen and twenty-two. This organization of Castro's was kept secret as he established contacts with other revolutionary leaders throughout Cuba. However, in July 26 (1953), the storming of the Moncada Barracks by 150 young rebels led by Castro ended up in failure with most of them being killed and those eventually captured were put on trial. Castro was given a separate trial on October 16, at which he gave an emotional and eloquent two-hour speech denouncing ty rants such as Batista and claiming that the rebels' cause would one be victorious. Marta Rojas, a young editor at the time and later the editor of the Cuban government's official newspaper Granma, transcribed Castor's closing statement of his speech in court, which would become famous to all Cubans: ? I know that jail will be as hard as it has ever been?; but I do not fear this, as I do not fear the fury of the miserable tyrant who snuffed out the life of seventy brothers of mine. Condemn me, it does not matter. History will absolve me! The entire statement, reproduced in several forms and distributed widely throughout Cuba,