Fidel Castro of Cuba (1959-2008) Research Paper

Fidel Castro of Cuba (1959-2008) - Research Paper Example Fidel Castro is the former political leader of Cuba; he has served tenure of governance from 1959 to 2008. Fidel Castro is popularly known for the Cuban revolution which brought him to power largely by public support. As with all revolutions, two perceptions of Fidel Castro commonly exist in recollections – one portrays him as a heroic leader rescuing his people from the evils of social inequalities and another portrays him as a blood-thirsty lunatic hound shooting his people just to avenge the disagreement with or disobedience for his thoughts. â€Å"The seed of revolution is repression† (Wilson). When the public realizes that they are being oppressed by the laws formulated for their betterment, an uprising or rebellion is most sure to follow. However, more often revolutions are long drawn and tiring as governments refuse to let go of power and public refuses to be led into deterioration. â€Å"It is impossible to predict the time and progress of revolution. It is governed by its own more or less mysterious laws† (Lenin). It is needless to say those in power consider the uprising as evil while those in oppression consider the powerful as evil. Fidel Castro was the son of an illiterate sugar plantation owner. His parents wanted him to get education and eventually enrolled him in a boarding school. His teachers soon realized that Castro was an intelligent student and all-rounder athlete. He graduated in Law and initiated his practice as a lawyer in Havana, the capital of Cuba (Simkin). The conditions that led to his rule stemmed from his inclination to uptake court cases of poor and oppressed individuals who could not afford to pay him adequately. Consequently, Castro was financially unstable. However, this instability and the increasing numbers of cases with poor people involved made Castro realize the injustice prevalent against the Cuban nationals (Simkin). At the time, United States had a large holding in Cuba lands in the form of business properties. Most of those benefitting from these economic activities were foreign people while the vast majority of Cuban people were forced to live in poverty or difficult conditions. Castro saw this as an abuse of Cuban resources and people and set off on his political journey to rectify this error (Simkin). Castro was able to gain control of the governance through his political and rebellious course of action. Initially, he joined Cuban People’s Party in 1947 to put in his efforts in the social revival of Cuba. The party’s motives largely attracted Castro as these were consistent with his own goals. The party pressed for reforms whereby the corruption and injustice would be rectified, unemployment and poverty catered to and obnoxiously low wages looked on for improvements. His patriotism and passion quickly brought him to the forefront of the team. His interpersonal skills made him a hero in the eyes of numerous Cuban people who supported him in his motives till the very end (Simkin). In 1952 when the elections were scheduled to be held, Castro was a member of Congress for the Cuban People’s Party. This party was the most liable to be selected for the formation of the upcoming government. However, General Fulgencio Batista intervened in the elections with the help of armed forces and took over the control of the country’s affairs. This infuriated Castro and his fellow members. He was soon seen plotting against Batista’s make-do governance. Within a year in 1953, Cas tro attacked the Moncada Army Barracks with the help of 123 other individuals, both men and women (Nosotro, 2010). With a compliance of only 123 individuals, Castro did not stand a chance against the organized armed forces of Batista. Soon the rebellion was suppressed with eight killings during the battle and numerous killings after that. Castro repeatedly got lucky when those individuals in charge of him continually disobeyed orders of assassinating him. The news quickly