War and Crisis in the Americas

Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz was born on August 13, 1926 in province of Oriente, Cuba. He entered the University of Havana's law school in 1945 and became involved in radical politics. After receiving his law degree, Castro briefly represented the poor, often bartering his services for food. In 1952, he ran for Congress as a candidate for the opposition Orthodox Party. However, the election was rushed because of a coup staged by Fulgencio Batista. Castro's initial response to the Batista government was to challenge it with a legal appeal, claiming that Batista's actions had violated the Constitution. The attempt failed. On July 26, 1953, Castro led a group of radical students in an attack on the Moncada barracks in Santiago de Cuba. Many of the rebels were killed. He was arrested and sentenced to 15 years in prison. To show the people that he was not a dictator, Batista released Castro and his followers in an amnesty after the 1954 presidential election.

Once Castro returned to Cuba after an exile in Mexico, he began a campaign of harassment and guerrilla warfare against Batista. Batista fled Cuba on January 1, 1959. Under Castro's rule, more than 500 Batista-era officials were brought before courts-martial and special tribunals, convicted, and shot to death. Castro cut ties with the United States after President Dwight D. Eisenhower cut the American sugar quota and turned to the Soviet Union for assistance, eventually becoming a Communist. The Escambray Revolt, led by peasants and anti-Communist insurgents against the Castro government, lasted from 1959 to 1965, before it was crushed by Castro's army. Cuban exiles arrived in the United States by the thousands. The Central Intelligence Agency helped train an exile army to retake Cuba by force. On April 17, 1961, 1,500 Cuban fighters landed at the Bay of Pigs. Castro was waiting for them and most of the invaders were either captured or killed. Castro was the leader of Cuba until stepping down in 2006 due to diver