Castro Upbringing

Angel father of Castro
Angel father and Angel, Fidel’s father was rich
Angel hired 15 year old maid, Lena, 28 years younger than Angel and go on to have 7 children from Angel; married after birth of 3rd child (Fidel)
Lessions taught by Fidel’s father to Fidel
- Laws being flexible
  - Father was slowly moving the posts month by month and extended them to enlarge his property
  - Exploitation of black plantation owners from Haiti
  - Buying politicians
- Paradoxically: Intense loathing of riches, capitalism
- Hatred of United States
Fidel was a troubled child, kicked from school, sent to boarding school
Angel fought in Cuban War of Independence against Spain
- Escalated into Spanish American War in 1898
- Fought by United States to defend Cuba from Spanish brutality while renouncing any claims on the island
Grateful Cubans watched with growing concern of Treaty of Paris
- Philippines to US
- Annex Hawaii
US was going through a brief period of yellow journalism and manifest destiny
- Short but destructive period of Empire building
- “Lost of Innocence” -Mark Twain
Fidel meaning “Truth”
In 1940, at age of 14, Castro wrote a letter to Roosevelt congratulating him on his reelection.
- “If you like, give me $10 bill, green American in the letter, because never I have not seen a $10 bill green American, and I would like to have one of them.”

Castro Take Over of Cuba

Left Mexico from self-imposed exile by sailing to Cuba with 81 armed communist revolutionaries
After crashing their crappy yacht in a mangrove and chased by Batista solders, only 9 remained
Recruited and raided small remote army outposts
1957: Attacked outpost at La Playa, provided medical care to Batista solders and executed Chicho Osorio—deeply hated local mayor
- Impressed Cuban people
Cubans began flocking to Castro in great numbers
American Frank Sturgis who smuggled guns for Castro
Operation Verano, large attack
- Cuban soldiers had no experience in gorilla warfare
- Severing rail and road connections
- Cutting island in half
1958—New Years Eve—Batista fled with $300 million
Just one month after declaring taking over the capital, Castro changed his title to Prime Minister, later to El Presidente
- Announced due to success of the revolution, elections would no longer be necessary. Castro called this form of dictatorship ‘direct democracy’ — Cuban people holding mass rallies could democratically express their wishes and complaints directly to Castro
While Batista became the poster boy for political corruption; Fidel Castro died with $900 million in his personal bank account