Fidel Castro was born in Biran, Cuba, on August 13, 1926. He was born Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruiz. Castro had five siblings, two brothers and three sisters. His father, Angel, was a wealthy sugar plantation owner. His mother, Lina, was a maid to Angel's first wife. Fidel was the military president of Cuba. While incarcerated, he renamed his rebellion group "26th of July Movement." He continued to coordinate the group's activities while gone. Him and his compatriots were later released in 1955. Then, he traveled with Raul, his brother, to mexico. In Mexico, he continued to plan the revolution. While in Mexico he meet with other Cuban exiles, as well as the Argentinian rebel, Ernesto "Che" Guevara. Ernesto helped shape Castro's political beliefs. On December 2, 1956 Fidel returned to Cuba with eighty insurgents and a mass amount of weapons. When they arrived most were killed, but Castro, Guevara, and a few others escaped into the Sierra Maestra Mountain range. Two years after that his group waged war against Batista government. They end up overthrowing the government. Fidel Castro rising to power. …show more content…
He also tried to eliminate the influence of the Catholic church. Catholic schools were closed and many priest and nuns were exiled. Castro established an education system to instruct Marxist-Leninist principles and objectives. He also formed a domestic intelligence organization based on "defense committees."
Fidel repressed basically all civil and political rights. He used harsh punishments to keep the repressive system rooted firmly for decades. The security forces used abuse tactics such as surveillance, beatings, random detentions, and public acts of repudiation. These tactics are still used today in