Fidel Castro, Che Guevara, and The Cuban Revolution

Because of economic inequality, Latin American leaders throughout the last 60+ years have had to struggle with the reality that many people in this region are poor. For whatever the reason, this inequality led Fidel Castro and Che Guevara to overthrow the United States backed government of Fulgencio Bautista in Cuba. Originally, Castro and Guevara only sought out to revolutionize the government for the best interests of the people, but when the revolution turned communist, this event then became a major incident in the history of the Cold War. 

Fidel Castro was a trained attorney. Being that Castro had an advantage with his education, he set upon a course of revolution for Latin American countries that he felt had been abused by colonial powers. After his first arrest, Fidel Castro met Che Guevara, a doctor from Argentina, in a Mexican jail. The two formed an alliance and planned to conspire against the leadership in Cuba. In the views of Castro and Guevara the Cuban government was not committed to advancing the cause for the people; but rather, according to Che and Fidel, the Cuban government was a puppet organization designed to keep sugar production available for American consumers. Eventually Castro, Guevara, and other revolutionaries entered the Sierra Maestra mountains in Souther Cuba to begin their revolution. Faced with difficult conditions, the revolutionaries displayed a caring attitude towards the poor, which as a consequence gained momentum for the revolutionary cause. Eventually, Castro and his supporters entered the capital city Havanna to overthrow Fulgencio Bautista. 

After the Revolution was complete, Castro declared that his new government would be socialist in nature, thus aligning his new government with the Soviet Union. Because of Cuba's close proximity to the United States, it was very troubling to the American government. After several failed assassination attempts and an invasion called the Bay of Pigs, supported by the United States Central Intelligence Agency (C.I.A.), Castro and the Soviet Union solidified command over Cuba and were able to withstand the constant pressure put on by the United States. By the early 1960's the Soviet Union placed medium range nuclear missiles in Cuba, thus threatening the stability of the Western Hemisphere. Or in simpler terms, the Soviet Union placed Nuclear missiles aimed at the United States in a country only 60 miles from Florida.

John F. Kennedy, the United States President at the time, ordered a naval quarantine of the Cuban nation. After some secret negotiations, the Soviets withdrew their nuclear missiles from Cuba, thus ending the Cuban Missile Crisis. This event symbolizes one of the most critical moments of the Cold War. To be more specific, this crisis was the nearest Humanity has ever come to a global thermonuclear war.

Today, the Cuban Revolution has failed to live up to its original promises. With economic sanctions in place since the fall of Fulgencio Bautista, the Cuban economy is a fraction of its potential. Cuba has obsolete or outdated equipment, little foreign investment, and a crumbling infrastructure. Fidel Castro, Che Guevara and the Revolutionaries had the best intentions for the peoples of Cuba, but events ongoing throughout the Cold War proved to be too much for Castro's vision of a productive socialist paradise.