Who is castro

Continue reading from the History Channel. The diplomatic relationship remained frozen well beyond the end of the Cold War but moved toward normalization during the administration of U. Continue reading from the Council on Foreign Relations. During his nearly five decades of rule in Cuba, Fidel Castro built a repressive system that punished virtually all forms of dissent, a dark legacy that lives on even after his death.

Cuba made improvements in health and education, though many of these gains were undermined by extended periods of economic hardship and by repressive policies. Continue reading from Human Rights Watch. Though the United States denied any involvement, it was revealed that the Cuban exiles had been trained by the Central Intelligence Agency and armed with American weapons.

Decades later, the National Security Archive revealed that the United States had begun planning an overthrow of the Castro government as early as March The invasion was conceived during the Eisenhower administration and inherited by President John F. Kennedy , who reluctantly approved its action but denied the invaders air support in the hopes of concealing a U.

Castro, in turn, was able to capitalize on the incident to consolidate his power and further promote his agenda. On May 1st he announced an end to democratic elections in Cuba and denounced American imperialism. Then at year's end, Castro declared himself a Marxist-Leninist and announced the Cuban government was adopting communist economic and political policies.

On February 7, , the United States imposed a full economic embargo on Cuba. In the wake of the Bay of Pigs incident, Castro intensified his relations with the Soviet Union by accepting further economic and military aid.

In October , his increasing reliance on Soviet support brought the world to the brink of nuclear war. Hoping to deter another U. Khrushchev justified the move as a response to U. Jupiter missiles that had been deployed in Turkey. However, an American U-2 reconnaissance plane discovered the base construction before the missiles were installed and President Kennedy responded by demanding the removal of the missiles, with orders for the U.

Navy to search any vessels headed for the island. Over 13 anxious days of secret communications between Khrushchev, Kennedy and their agents, the Soviets agreed to remove the missiles in exchange for the United States' public agreement not to invade Cuba. The Kennedy administration also agreed to secretly remove the Jupiter missiles from Turkey. Both leaders saved face and gained some admiration for restraint. Castro, on the other hand, was humiliated: Both superpowers had completely left him out of the negotiations.

Furthermore, the United States was able to persuade the Organization of American States to end diplomatic relations with Cuba, in response to Castro's "shameful" actions.

But Castro wasn't shamed for long. In , he merged Cuba's Communist Party with his revolutionary organizations, installing himself as head of the party. Within a few years, he began a campaign of supporting armed struggle against imperialism in Latin American and African countries. In January , Castro founded the Organization for Solidarity with the Peoples of Asia, Africa, and Latin America to promote revolution and communism on three continents.

In , he also formed the Latin American Solidarity Organization to foster revolution in select Latin American countries. In the s, Castro continued to promote himself as the leading spokesperson for Third World countries by providing military support to pro-Soviet forces in Angola, Ethiopia and Yemen.

Though Cuba was still heavily subsidized by the Soviet government during this period, those expeditions ultimately proved unsuccessful and put a strain on the Cuban economy. Meanwhile, the United States' agreement not to invade Cuba had not precluded attempting to topple the Castro regime in other ways.

Over the years, Castro was the target of numerous CIA assassination attempts an estimated in all, according to Cuban intelligence , ranging from exploding cigars to a fungus-infected scuba-diving suit to a mafia-style shooting. Castro took great delight in the fact that none of the attempts ever succeeded and was quoted as saying that if avoiding assassination attempts was an Olympic sport, he would have won gold medals.

Castro's regime has been credited with opening 10, new schools and increasing literacy to 98 percent. Cubans enjoy a universal healthcare system, which has decreased infant mortality to 11 deaths in 1, 1. But at the same time, civil liberties were whittled away, as labor unions lost the right to strike, independent newspapers were shut down and religious institutions were harassed. Castro removed opposition to his rule though executions and imprisonments, as well as through forced emigration.

Though there are no exact numbers, the Cuba Archive estimates that tens of thousands were murdered, with a documented 5, killed by firing squads alone. Even more Cubans were killed by state forces when they tried to flee the country, which occurred during the Canimar River Massacre and the Tugboat Massacre of During Castro's rule, hundreds of thousands of Cubans fled the country, many settling just across the Florida Straits in Miami.

The largest of these exoduses occurred in when Castro opened up the port of Mariel to allow exiled Cubans living in Miami to come claim their relatives.

Upon their arrival, Castro also loaded the ships with Cuban prison inmates and mentally ill people. In all, nearly , Cubans left their homeland in to find sanctuary in the United States. After the collapse of the Soviet Union sent Cuba's economy into a tailspin, Castro's revolution began to lose momentum.

Without cheap oil imports and an eager Soviet market for Cuban sugar and other goods, Cuban unemployment and inflation grew. The contraction of the Cuban economy resulted in 85 percent of its markets disappearing.

Yet Castro was very adept at keeping control of the government during dire economic times. He pressed the United States to lift the economic embargo, but it refused. Castro then adopted a quasi-free market economy and encouraged international investment. Ultimately, more than exiles were killed and nearly everyone else was captured. Castro publicly declared himself a Marxist - Leninist in late Ostracized by the United States, Cuba was becoming increasingly dependent on the Soviet Union for economic and military support.

After a day standoff, Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev agreed to remove the nukes against the wishes of Castro, who was left out of the negotiations. In return, U. President John F.

Kennedy publicly consented not to reinvade Cuba and privately consented to take American nuclear weapons out of Turkey. After taking power, Castro abolished legal discrimination, brought electricity to the countryside, provided for full employment and advanced the causes of education and health care, in part by building new schools and medical facilities.

But he also closed down opposition newspapers, jailed thousands of political opponents and made no move toward elections. Moreover, he limited the amount of land a person could own, abolished private business and presided over housing and consumer goods shortages.

With political and economic options so limited, hundreds of thousands of Cubans, including vast numbers of professionals and technicians, left Cuba, often for the United States. From the s to the s, Castro supplied military and financial aid to various leftist guerilla movements in Latin America and Africa.

Meanwhile, relations with many countries, with the notable exception of the United States, began to normalize. Two years later, in , he permanently resigned. In , U. Castro died on November 25, , at the age of But if you see something that doesn't look right, click here to contact us! Subscribe for fascinating stories connecting the past to the present. Fidel Castro had previously visited New York in April , just four months after he led his victorious guerilla army into Havana and took charge of Cuba.

For nearly 60 years, the Castro family controlled Cuba. But in April , it was announced that the island nation long dominated by the specter of its former dictator, Fidel Castro, and his family will get a new leader.