Hate It or Love It

After the Second World War, Cuba’s most hated or could be the second most hated dictator of Cuba, Fulgencio Batista caused terror to the Cuban nation. The reason I say second is because plenty of people also hated the leader who took over Batista, Fidel Castro. But why hate a man that saved the Cuban nation at the time?

 Castro served two years in prison and after his release, went to Mexico where he met with Argentine Marxist Ernesto “Che” Guevara. Both men played key parts in the Cuban Revolution that needed retaliation. Che was a communist figure head that shared a similar goal to Castro in the creation of the 26^th of July Movement. The plan was to overthrow the current Cuban dictator Fulgencio Batista. As discussed in lecture, Che, Fidel and his brother Raul Castro led the guerilla actions from the mountains. Soon enough Batista fled on New Year’s Eve, 1958.

The taste of freedom came to the people of Cuba when dictator Batista and his government fled the country in the face of the revolution led by Fidel Castro. The capital of Havana went wild w

ith excitement when the news hit the streets. Crowds of Cuban’s celebrated liberation from 6 years of ruthless dictatorship. Then the excitement got out of hand, with Batista no longer in control, rioting broke out. Shops were broken into and destroyed, parking meters were smashed, casinos were looted, and anything connected with the Batista regime was shattered. The rioters even set out to free political prisoners. It is said 50 people died in the rioting. Took Castro a lot of hard work to clean up the mess that was left of Havana.

Out goes Batista, in goes Castro. Cuba went from dictatorship to…dictatorship? Castro told the people of Cuba that he would free them from Batista, but Castro himself turned himself to a new dictator. His strong leadership frightened the citizens but made them respect him as well. He was like the big bully in the playground and was not afraid of anyone or anything. “In 1962 in an effort to cripple the Cuban economy, U.S had imposed a near total embargo of trade with Cuba where their products were no longer legal to obtain in the United States, U.S companies could no longer do business with Cuba, and American citizens were prohibited from visiting Cuba (http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/fidel-castro-champion-of-the-people-or-cruel-dicta.html)”. Americans hated Castro for this specific reason. Not because they couldn’t vacation at Cuba any more, but because he stood up for what he believed in. Because of this, Cuba’s economy actually increased positively and became more self-dependent. Even though he was a dictator striking fear to his people, he was still a great leader and Cuba is doing better because of him. 

http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0101.html

http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/fidel-castro-champion-of-the-people-or-cruel-dicta.html