{"id":48,"date":"2022-06-16T13:22:29","date_gmt":"2022-06-16T13:22:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/polistorie.eu\/?p=48"},"modified":"2023-07-16T16:29:25","modified_gmt":"2023-07-16T13:29:25","slug":"fidel-castro-anticomunistul-care-a-ajuns-sa-si-creada-minciunile-comuniste","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.polistorie.eu\/en_GB\/fidel-castro-anticomunistul-care-a-ajuns-sa-si-creada-minciunile-comuniste\/","title":{"rendered":"Fidel Castro \u2013 The anti-communist who believed his own lies"},"content":{"rendered":"

Fidel Castro, the dictatorial leader of Cuba for 50 years, was known for his beard, his oratorical talent, his fiery speeches that lasted for hours, and for being one of the main people responsible for the Cuban Missile Crisis. He was one of the most enduring and controversial figures of the 20th century. He was a beloved man to many and he was seen as a charismatic leader who had freed Cuba from a US-backed dictator and who restored Cuba’s independence. He was also hated by many others for transforming Cuba in a communist dictatorship and for the fact that in 1962 he brought humanity one step away of a nuclear Armageddon.<\/p>\n

In reality, Fidel Castro and his era in Cuba are a mix of good and bad. Fidel Castro succeeded in 1959 in removing from power the dictator Fulgencio Batista, who was supported by the USA, replacing one dictatorship with another. Initially Castro did not have a communist discourse, repeatedly saying that the revolution through which he came to power was not a communist one. But after Castro expropriated the American companies operating in Cuba and distributed the land previously owned by them to the peasants, relations between Cuba and the US deteriorated badly. Eventually the US imposed a trade embargo on Cuba and organized Cuban exiles for an invasion of Cuba, in 1961.<\/p>\n

The invasion failed, and Castro, seeing that the Americans were boycotting them economically and threatening them militarily, aligned Cuba with the world’s other superpower, the Soviet Union. In order to fully align with the Soviet Union, he also had to be on the same page ideologically, so he turned Cuba into a communist dictatorship. If before the economic and diplomatic break with the USA Castro said, “I said very clearly that we are not communists”, after the alliance with the Soviet Union, he firmly stated that he is a Marxist-Leninist and will remain so. In 1962, Castro agreed to the Soviets stationing nuclear ballistic missiles in Cuba, this alerted the Unite States, and they prepared to counterattack. This tense period that got the world one step away of nuclear destruction is known as the “Cuban missile crisis”. After that, Castro did not cause major international events, but remained a communist thorn in the side of the Americans.<\/p>\n

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During the 50-year period in which he ruled Cuba, he maintained a mediocre standard of living in Cuba, his great achievements being the improvement of the educational system and the health system, transforming Cuba into the country in Latin America with the best performing health system and a literacy rate of 99%.
\nCuba’s economic problems began with the collapse of the Soviet Union and the socialist countries of Europe. The economic aid of $8 billion per year from the Soviet Union disappeared, and the socialist countries with which he had 85% of the trade were no longer interested in collaborating with Cuba. Cuba’s economy collapsed, and the standard of living went from mediocre to almost unbearable.<\/p>\n

In my opinion, Fidel Castro turned Cuba into a communist country not out of conviction, but out of necessity. In 1961, when Castro started getting close to the Soviet Union, he had on the one hand an influential superpower in the area, with hostile intentions towards Cuba, and on the other hand a superpower that was willing to help Cuba due to its strategic position, the only price being the ideological conversion. Castro accepted that price and the Cuban people paid it.<\/p>\n

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When the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, Castro no longer had to maintain the communist facade, but he did. The first reason would be that after 30 years of fiery speeches about the superiority of socialism, he could not change his ideological orientation overnight. Probably, if he had tried, he would have lost his power and credibility, and the reality is that almost no one would give up absolute power after 30 years of it.<\/p>\n

Another thing that probably caused Castro not to give up the communist structure is that he probably came to believe his own rhetoric. After 30 years, Fidel Castro may have been convinced by his own charismatic speeches. He started to\u00a0 believe his own communist lies. But whether or not he had come to believe his own speeches, one thing was clear, he could no longer change the ideology and the system he had imposed to please the Soviet Union.<\/p>\n

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In conclusion, Fidel Castro was a charismatic figure who appeared to have good intentions, intentions that did not materialize due to Cuba’s dependence on the Soviet Union and the American economic boycott. It is very possible that those intentions were real, but intentions and charisma do not feed people, something clearly demonstrated by the state of Cuba both during the Castro era and today. Most Cubans live in a terrible poverty, which proves the true effect that Fidel Castro and his regime had on Cuba. The Castro regime turned Cuba’s economy into one dependent on the Soviet Union, and when the Soviet Union failed to send aid, the economy collapsed and Cubans who were already living poorly ended up living in miserable conditions.<\/p>\n

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Recomandations:<\/p>\n

How did Cuba become an ally of the Soviet Union?<\/p>\n