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Fidel Castro, By Nick Caistor

1505 Words7 Pages

Biography review: Fidel Castro

Introduction: Fidel Castro is one of the most influential figures of the 20th century, especially in the context of the Cold War and Latin America. A divisive figure, Castro is remembered as a brutal dictator by his opponents and as a revolutionary leader by supporters. The biography Fidel Castro written by Nick Caistor explores Castro’s life from its humble beginning in Biran to the end of his rule in 2006, going beyond simple history to show how he became the man so well known by history. The biography does a fantastic job of showing Castro’s progression from a politically active college student, to a bold revolutionary, and ultimately a leader within Latin American politics. Caistor’s reflection on the life of Castro shows the Cuban leader as a champion of his people but as an ineffective leader when it came to running the country. Despite showing where Castro was successful, the author does not sugarcoat his shortcomings. Caistor balances his respect for Castro’s idealism by including the many flaws of his rule, especially when it came to the Cuban economy and his hostile relationship with the United States. Caistor portrays Fidel as a revolutionary figure that has the best interests of his people at heart, and worked to build up Cuba, …show more content…

His father owned a successful sugar farm in Biran and was fairly influential within the community. Fidel Castro came from a middle class background which is often different from the typical dictator’s backstory. From the time he was little, Castro was educated in catholic schools run by Jesuits which he says had a profound impact on him as a young boy, instilling a sense of personal pride, honor, hard work, and courage. Castro also admired his teacher’s strict organization and discipline, as well as their ability to make sacrifices, an influence that can be seen easily later on in his

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Castro set up policies to improve education which was “regarded as the key to the future” Source E, he created teacher-training institutes and the number of schools quintupled, illiteracy virtually disappeared during Castro’s Dictatorship, and education was made free from nursery school through to university as made evident in source E. This improvement of education can be argued to have resulted in the mass exile and dissatisfaction with Fidel Castro’s policies, as the Cuban people were now educated enough to see past the good healthcare and cultural improvements and were able to see the personal freedoms and the economic issues Castro’s dictatorship caused. It can be argued that Fidel Castro may have benefitted his people in some ways but, to a large extent, his policies didn’t benefit them. He jailed everyone who opposed him, ruined the economy by making Cuba a communist country and relying heavily on the Soviet Union, and led hundreds of thousands of Cuban people to flee the country, a quarter million out of a six million population left after the first 3 years after the revolution, many of them being the educated such as professionals like doctors, lawyers, and technicians as evident in source C, this supports the argument that Castro’s educational advances opened the public’s eyes and caused them to leave as his policies did not benefit the people to a large extent as he took away many personal, and political

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