Fidel Castro came to power after defeating the corrupt and despotic regimen of Fulgencio Batista in 1959. Upon arriving triumphantly in Havana he reassured the population in a historic speech that this was a nationalist revolution, that he personally did not want any position of power and would hold elections in six months. His first cabinet was made of prestigious personalities who soon began to resign when they discovered the real “nature of the beast”. His government began with a large number of executions without due trial, among them many young men who died before the firing squad shouting “Long live Christ the King” (¡Viva Cristo Rey!). Soon it was decided to “nationalize” (read seize) the assets of foreign companies, mainly American, without offering any compensation. Later on all Cuban enterprises and businesses, large, medium and small were “nationalized”. Instead of a nationalist revolution as promised, this turned out to be a State seizing all the wealth and resources of the nation to the detriment of the vast Cuban enterprise class, who had spent a lifetime working hard to create their own businesses and a better future for their families. The majority of these businesses went under when the revolution placed them in the hands of incompetent comrades (“compañeros”). Thus a very productive system was destroyed and the nation was impoverished. The exodus of Cubans began. The revolution far from taking from the rich to give to the poor equalized the entire population to a level of poverty, with the exception of the ruling class, who lives with all the luxuries and privileges. This is the most important legacy Castro left after his death: one of betrayal of his own people and a dramatic destruction of the nation’s productive system.
The Bay of Pigs invasion occurred subsequently. The invaders were idealistic young Cubans of middle and upper-middle class supported by the US government, and not mercenaries as the regimen has taught the children in Cuba. In addition to those who died in combat, others died when moved to Havana in a closed vehicle without ventilation dying of asphyxiation. After the overthrow of the invading brigade, Castro decided it was time to take off the mask and declare the revolution to be communist. Up to that moment, when asked if the revolution was communist, he will deny it emphatically saying that the revolution was green as the palm trees. The Cuban people, with their characteristic tendency to mockery, said the revolution was like a watermelon, green outside and red inside. In short, Castro had lied and deceived the Cuban people and this is an important part of his legacy of betrayal.
The system abolished all individual human rights: no one could comment, much less act, against the revolution. The crime of “dangerousness” was created so that citizens can be prosecuted—if these trials of predetermined end can be called prosecutions—and sentenced to jail only on a suspicion that they may incur in counter-revolutionary activities. There is no free press. The dictatorship choses which news citizens can receive and which not. Disinformation is an important tool employed to remain in power. The inability to express opinions freely for fear of retribution leads to a double standard: one thinks one thing and says another. Otherwise people may lose their jobs, end up in jail and make their children second class citizens in the school.
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