Che Guevara and Fidel Castro: The Cuban Revolution

Che Guevara and Fidel Castro:
The Cuban Revolution

Che Guevara was an Argentinian medical student who was a Marxist revolutionary and considered himself a “soldier of America”. Guevara traveled around South America observing people and conditions that encouraged his Marxist beliefs. During his travels, Guevara witnessed poverty firsthand. He believed that in order to overthrow the international imperialist economic system, Latin American countries needed to band together.  While in Guatemala, Guevara witnessed the reforms of Arbenz, a Guatemalan military officer and politician. Eventually, Guevara fled to Mexico, where he met Fidel Castro, after Arbenz was overthrown.

Fidel Castro was a Cuban nationalist revolutionary born into a wealthy, sugar-growing family. Castro was inspired by Cuban nationalist student movements who had strong anti-imperialist beliefs. Like Guevara, Castro also traveled in South America. While in Bogota Colombia, Castro protested against U.S. imperialism at Organization of American States (OAS) meetings. Fidel Castro launched an attack on the Cuban military after he was exiled from Cuba along with his brother Raul Castro. Castro was later freed from prison by Fulgencio Batista, before fleeing to Mexico.

 In 1956, Castro launched an attack by boat on Cuba from Mexico. He invaded Cuba with eighty-two young, middle-class idealists. These idealists were attacked upn their arrival leaving only a handful of survivors. Eventually Castro and Guevara changed their military tactics and began using guerilla warfare attacking the Cuban military from the mountains. In 1958, Batista fled Cuba and guerrillas began to fill and take over Cuban cities. Castro began to televise long, public speeches where he mapped out his vision for Cuba, which raised concerns to U.S. officials.

After U.S. raised concerns over Castro and his beliefs, Cuba began trading sugar and oil with Russia, which, at the time, was under Soviet rule. The U.S. responded by refusing to process the Soviet oil causing Castro to seize oil refineries. The United States response was to stop purchasing sugar from Cuba leading to Castro seizing U.S. sugar mills, mines, and telephone and power companies. In 1960, the United States declared a trading embargo on Cuba, which crippled Cuban trade. In 1961, the United States invaded Cuba but was quickly defeated due to the Cuban alliance with Soviet Union. This invasion is better known as the Bay of Pigs. Furthermore, in 1962, U.S. spy planes flying over Cuba photographed Soviet Union nuclear missile installations in Cuba. The United States threated Cuba and Soviet Union to remove the nuclear missiles or they will declare war. An agreement was reached with Russia agreeing to remove all of the nuclear missiles as long as the United States does not invade Cuba.

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