Born in Oriente region of Cuba to a wealthy landowner, Fidel Castro was not an obvious candidate for leading a revolution–much less a Communist one–if judgement is based on his origin, but he quickly adopted leftist anti-imperialist ideas during his time as a law student in the University of Havana. During his time in college, he became involved with the Partido Ortodoxo led by Eduardo Chibás, a movement that endorsed reform in Cuba at all levels to fight corruption and establish economic and social independence from imperialist powers. This would radicalize Castro, as he would then go on to participate in armed movements against right-wing governments in the Dominican Republic and Colombia in subsequent years before planning his own invasion of Cuba to overthrow Fulgencio …show more content…
Throughout his life, Castro was known for his high level of charisma and ability to inspire a deep, personal loyalty to him from those around him. Ernesto “Che” Guevara, for example, was so inspired by Fidel and his commitment to the Revolution that he wrote a canto about Fidel while onboard the Granma towards Cuba. This, coupled with clever political acumen, led to him becoming the new face of Cuba. Now a cultural icon and a symbol for idealism and hope, Ernesto “Che” Guevara was an Argentine doctor and writer who would become arguably the most famous figure of the Cuban Revolution. Like Castro, Guevara came from a distinctly aristocratic-bourgeois family, but differed in that his family did not have the wealth that other Argentine aristocrats had and they maintained a Bohemian lifestyle all throughout Guevara’s upbringing . Because he spent a large part of his youth sick in bed as a result of chronic asthma and his parents’ progressive attitudes, Guevara was quickly exposed to an enormous variety of literature, philosophy, and political theory and he began to form the basis of the incredibly profound and rigid