Global Leadership

CASTRO’S CUBAN LEADERRSHIP

Trent Prather

AIU

ABSTRACT

When we hear the name Castro all our ears go sharp and we get interested. In their view, Draper and Theodore, (1965) say that Fidel Castro was a renowned world-class leader who fought vehemently for his country’s independence from American imperialism. His political leadership steered his country through a number of revolutions both political and economic and he is seen by most third world countries as a hero because he helped most of them through economic crisis and fight for independence.

Fidel was born in 13th of August 1926 in a wealthy famer’s home in Cuba. He was an average student who loved sport but later embarked in studying law and politics and hence his political life commenced when he was a student. The party that he revolutionized his country with was called Partido Ortodoxo. He is thus one of the most influential and dedicated leaders that history will ever live to remember (Draper & Theodore, 1965).

POLITICAL ACHIEVEMENTS

According to Franqui & Carlos (1984), the first and foremost important achievement was that Fidel led his country to independence by and liberated it even though it was through a military coup. His love for the peasants who got humiliated by imperialist leaders gave him the passion to fight for Cuba’s liberation.

Von & Alex (2011), are of the fact that Cuba was under imperialism by the United States and as a result since Castrol was more of a Marxist Leninist, he was strongly opposed to the way the government treated the poor and the way the foreign interventions saw an economic crisis in his country rise even more. One of the major achievements that we can enlist is that he united his country and liberated it from imperialism.

He also made serious social reforms that were effected through a society system hence ensuring that the rich did not entirely oppress the peasants in governance and in sharing of resources and hence he embraced communism whereby resources could be shared equally. He also expanded the healthcare and the education centre that were failing due to the constant warfare in the island (Franqui & Carlos, 1984).

He also helped the third world countries to liberate themselves from colonialism by providing military and financial support for instance he supported the imperialist insurgence in Nicaragua, Chile and Grenada too. In order to save his country from more coups he made an alliance with the Soviet Union since the United States through the CIA tried to remove him from power, this gave him and his country some political leverage (Draper & Theodore, 1965).

In a similar opinion, Guerra & Lillian (2012), depict that this is a man who was also a nature lover and he embraced environmentalists and he supported the conservation of nature and forests. He also advocated for human rights which was the initial trigger for him to try and force reforms in his country. The expansion of the education sector under his rule was also a great achievement that saw him come up as one of the most respected leaders in Cuba.

CHALLENGES

The main challenge that Castro faced was lack of enough resources to politically revolutionize a movement that could peacefully remove the government that was oppressing its people and as a result he opted for the guerrilla tactics so as to fight the government. There was also the issue of the CIA who funded rebels to destabilize his government and as a result there was an economic embargo (Franqui & Carlos, 1984).

Constant coup attempts also made his government so unstable and hard to govern but he did not give up since he knew that he had fought so hard. There was also the trade sanction between him and the United States whereby the market for the Cuban sugar was sabotaged by the U.S government and this led to economic dilemma and is solution was to turn to the Soviets (Guerra & Lillian, 2012).

Since most of the people who opposed Castro were the elite and the economic-average, most of them exiled to U.S and this group was mostly composed of businessmen, engineers, tycoons and doctors. This resulted to an economic brain drain thus retardation of the economy of Cuba and hence many people lost faith in him since the promise for more employment was diminishing and industries were failing (Von & Alex, 2011).

In their suggestion, Draper & Theodore, (1965), insist that the nationalization of most of the private sector was a problem brought about by the fact that there was no more room for foreign investors in Cuba due to the trade bans and political instability.

WEAKENESSES

Some of the mistakes that could have been avoided was the for instance the fact that he made his country a one party state hence bringing out the aspect of dictatorship and as a result leading to rise of many rebellions. He used to quell his opponents through military means and hence this made him a little less popular to the capitalists (Marcano, Barrera & Alberto, 2007).

In their view, Guerra & Lillian (2012), suggest that Castro embraced anti-globalization ideas and hence this made his country fail economically since there was no expansion in market for the products that Cuba produced. He was more into capitalism and he did not entertain other ideologies. Globalization could have helped his country in terms of trade.

His approach in claiming power as well as his Marxism led to many of his well-educated economy-supporters desert the country and leave it in a crisis and as a result lo a brain drain. These people went to add economic value to another country while Cuba needed them (Von & Alex, 2011).

In accordance to the views of Franqui & Carlos, (1984), Fidel was also viewed as a dictator since he came to power through a coup and he also enough a forced his rule through a military system. He could have had allowed for a multiparty state whereby the people with better ideas could be voted in for leadership. Dictatorship was also a sign of weakness in his reign.

References

Draper, Theodore, (1965). Castroism

Franqui, Carlos (1984). Family Portrait with Fidel.

Marcano, C., Barrera T., Alberto, (2007). Hugo Chávez: The Definitive Biography of Venezuela’s Controversial President.

Von T., Alex (2011). Red Heat: Conspiracy, Murder, and the Cold War in the Caribbean.

Guerra, Lillian (2012). Visions of Power in Cuba: Revolution, Redemption, and Resistance.