Fidel Castro 's Courtroom Defense Speech

The Cuban government was not ideal for its people at the time, so they decided to initiate a change. Before Castro’s revolution, Cuba’s economy was highly based on tropical fruits, sugar, and tobacco. During this time, the government of Cuba mainly consisted of wealthy land-owning conservatives. Fidel Castro, a strong liberal who thought the Cuban government was corrupt, decided to bring together a band of two-hundred revolutionaries (Carey, Jr. 15). These revolutionaries attacked the Moncada Military barracks on July 26th, 1953 resulting in a failure that earned both Castro and the revolutionaries a ten-year prison sentence. Two years into his sentence, Castro was exiled to Mexico and began to plot another attempt in Mexico City. After many battles with Cuba’s National Army, Castro’s rebels were able to keep Cuba in a state of turmoil while other rebel groups were able to gain control. Through his actions, he was able to gain the support of the Cuban people who thought he was the logical choice for the new leader (Carey, Jr. 15).

In 1959, Fidel Castro led a group of rebel forces to end and overthrow Fulgencio Batista’s regime in an effort to free the Cuban people from his tyrannous rule. For very many different political reasons this has been portrayed as an act of great injustice and hypocrisy in the modern world. A lot of this has of course been advocated primarily by the US due to the high level of political tension between the two nations that developed in the mid 1950s. Believing this conventional wisdom that Castro was simply an evil communist who oppressed his people and stripped them of their human rights is very dangerous because it

Fidel Castro was a man who had a target on his head. Lots of people from all over the world wanted him dead. Fidel Castro wasn’t a capitalist person, he was a Communist.

In the article I have found that throughout the rule of Fidel Castro he has proven to be a very poor leader that turned many of his citizens away from him. During his rule in Cuba he did many controversy actions that caused Cubans to flee to America, his family to leave him, and blockades to be put on him.

Fulgencio Batista was elected President of Cuba between 1940 and 1940. In 1952 Batista declared that constitutional guarantees and the right to strike will be suspended. He became a dictator with absolute power over Cuba. Batista turned the Cuban capital of Havana into one of the largest gambling cities in the world. Batista reorganised the Cuba’s treasury so that political representatives and himself can take freely from the riches. Under Batista’s rule, education and health care wasn’t free to the general public. The Cuban public were not satisfied with Batista and how he was ruling Cuba, the people didn’t have a say in decisions in government, were treated unfairly with high taxes, selling/giving the peoples land to American business owners.

Ernesto Guevara has earned the praise of many who claim him as the champion of freedom against tyranny and the standard-bearer for the “just revolution”. But Che has also been condemned for his violent and cruel nature, which is prevalent the many executions that he carried out during his active years in revolutionary activity. Che personally executed his own soldiers if they were suspected of anti-revolutionary sentiment. According to Che’s personal diary, the first execution that he carried out was that of Eutímio Guerra. “Che inspected the entry and exit wounds, very much the doctor, writing down that he had slept fine with what he had done.” (The True Story 22:50) Che had no remorse for executing someone who he had been close to for the past two years. Given the circumstances, an execution of a suspected spy may not be cause for remorse, but the executions that follow the fall of the Batista regime were anything but just. The trials conjured up by Fidel and Che in order to appease the masses were for show, much like the Moscow trials of Stalin’s great purge. If deemed guilty by the judges, who did not deliberate at great lengths to decide one’s guilt or innocence, the accused would be pushed up against one of the firing squad walls and shot on the spot. There were no appeals and no arguments. When asked if there was proof to

On January 8th, 1959, Fidel Castro and his rebel army marched triumphantly into Havana, Cuba, having overthrown corrupt dictator Fulgencio Batista the week earlier. It was the fruition of the Cuban Revolution, and the dramatic shift in power was about to radically alter the country’s political, social and economic course forever. The positive and negative effects of the revolution on the Cuban people, however, as well as the condition of Cuba’s economy pre and post-revolution, is subject to heated debate. Castro’s iron-fisted regime was the introduction of communism into the western hemisphere, and now, over fifty years later, the Cuban Revolution continues to be one of the most controversial events of the twentieth century. Despite the criticism levelled at Fidel Castro and his communist regime, however, the Cuban Revolution was necessary in improving the quality of life for the majority of Cuban citizens. The four fundamental categories on which to assess this are healthcare, education, economy and governance. By comparing the country’s overall performance under Fulgencio Batista versus under Fidel Castro in these areas crucial to a fully-functioning nation, it can be shown that the Cuban Revolution was a necessary and positive change in Cuban society which benefitted the majority of citizens.

“This will be a pretty detested statement, no doubt. The rightists will surely forever vilipend me for this. Yet, I have not the slightest care for that. I’ll say it, and I’ll say it loud and proud. Rest In Peace, Fidel Castro! You brought forth a many of good to the people of Cuba. Aye, he may of been a dictator, but he wasn’t Hitler-bad, nor Stalin-bad. The estimates for the men he had killed were around 2,000 and 5,000, many of those dead were themselves murderers and torturers under Batista. Cubans are in some ways better off, more salubrious, more edified, and more prosperous than most other nations. Their healthcare and their education is plenarily free, most, if not, all Cubans own houses, and all utilities are frugal. Most Cubans can

Children are blunt in their thinking. Adults like to call this bluntness, "being a matter of factly", blunt or literal. When these children are put to the task of picking teams they will pick by who they like, who will help the team win, or who they have a crush on. Inevitably there will be that dreaded one who is picked last. This is North Cyprus the last to be picked but better yet they were only picked by one country and that is Turkey.

This article, written by Yaiza Santos is about painter/writer Juan Abreu who has taken upon himself the job of painting everyone executed by the Castro regime. As said by Abreu, “I was doing some paintings that had to do with shootings in Cuba, because I was struck by the character… I approached the subject and then when I started researching, and suddenly the faces of all these people began to appear… suddenly I realized that I was going to have to paint this… because it seems to me that I have a certain moral responsibility.” The article pointed out many flaws in the justice system, especially the death penalty, which needed to be looked over. It compared the Cuban justice system to that of the Soviets, which in my opinion was unfair. The

This was about the revolutionary ideas that these individuals believed and died for. It is for this reason that all of Castro’s policies, speeches, and initiatives were essentially empty gestures. The revolutionaries only attempted these things because they saw it as a way to retain the power of revolution in all of its

The most popular of Fidel Castro’s documents is La Historia Me Absolvera also known as History Will Absolve Me. This was a speech given by Castro at his trial for leading an attack on the Moncada Barracks. Castro’s speech discussed many of his ideas and beliefs that justified his reasoning to form his revolutionary movement against Fulgencio Batista. History Will Absolve Me, shows the revolutionary ideologies of Castro and how he later revolts to power. Although, his speech was about his thought on the revolutionary movement, it also was to show the foundation of his Moncada attack and what he was trying to achieve. Castro mentions in

Fulgencio Batista was president of Cuba from 1940 to 1944. During his time in office he expanded the educational system, sponsored a huge program of public works, and brought up the growth of the economy (Britannica). In 1952 he ran for president again but this time put together a coup because he believed he wouldn’t win. The coup overthrew the current president, Carlos Prio Socarras, and made Batista dictator. As Fulgencio Batista gained more power he became more corrupt, forgetting his roots, and negatively impacting the poor of Cuba.

Meanwhile, as supplies and morale diminished, and with an allergy to mosquito bites which resulted in agonizing cysts on his body, Guevara considered these "the most painful days of the war" (“Che: Part One”).

In 1940 to 1944, communist Fulgencio Batista withheld power as the president of Cuba and then from 1952 to 1959, United States backed dictator until fleeing Cuba because of Fidel Castro’s 26th of July Movement. Socialist Fidel Castro governed the Republic of Cuba as Prime Minister from 1959 to 1976 and then as President from 1976 to 2008. Fidel Castro’s intent was to provide Cuba with an honest democratic government by diminishing the corrupt way in which the country was run, the large role the United States played in the running of Cuba as well as the poor treatment & the living conditions of the lower class.