Fidel Castro is a Cuban communist politician who became the leader of Cuba in 1959, the first Communist state in the Western hemisphere.Fidel Castro led the overthrow of the Batista dictatorship in 1959.Fidel Castro helped lead the Cuban Revolution.Fidel Castro brought social reforms to Cuba but was criticized for oppressing human rights.During Fidel Castro’s time, Cuba had a resentful relationship with the United States which resulted in the infamous Bay of Pigs invasion and the Cuban Missile Crisis.In 2008, Fidel Castro stood down as President and passed on the reigns to his younger brother Raúl Castro, having ruled Cuba for nearly five decades.
Fidel Castro is considered to be one of the most extraordinary political figures of the 20th century. He is a Communist icon who has ruled Cuba for half a century and who turned it from a colonial paradise to a player on the world stage.
A dictator who is only 90 miles from US shore but who has outlived 9 U.S. Presidents and survived 638 assassination attempts by the CIA. The assassination attempts reportedly included cigars poisoned with botulinum toxin, an exploding cigar, a ballpoint pen containing a hypodermic syringe preloaded with the lethal concoction Blackleaf 40, and plain, mafia-style execution endeavors, among others. There were plans to blow up Castro during his visit to Ernest Hemingway’s museum in Cuba. There was even a documentary film entitled ‘638 Ways to Kill Castro.’ Some attempts were made to assassinate his character by using thallium salts to destroying his beard or lacing his studio with LSD so that he would feel disorientated during his broadcast. Castro once said, in regards to the numerous attempts on his life he believed had been made, “If surviving assassination attempts were an Olympic event, I would win the gold medal.”
A tropical paradise spilling with rum, rumba and roulette. This was the Cuba most Americans knew in the 50s but just below the surface the rhythm of revolution was beating. The Cubans wanted to rid themselves of their Spanish colonial masters but U.S. sent troops to fight for Cuba’s independence. America invested capital in the country which led to a nationalist sentiment in Cuba.
