Causes and Consequences of Cuban Revolution and Its Wider Significance in the Latin American Context - Essay Example

Examine the causes and consequences of Cuban Revolution and its wider significance in the Latin American context Table of Contents Introduction 3 Causes of the Revolution 4 Consequences 6 Latin American context 9 Conclusion 11 References 12 Introduction The Cuban Revolution emerged between 1953 and 1959, under the leadership of Fidel Castro. The Revolution was conducted against the administration of the Cuban President, Fulgencio Batista. The Cuban Revolution started on the 26th July 1953 and the movements continued periodically until the rebels overthrew Batista on the 1st January 1959. After the Spanish-American War and the independence of Cuba the economy and politics of the country have been under the influence and control of the United States of America. Fulgencio Batista organised an oppressive and brutal dictatorship. Batista had remained a dictator until 1940, and then he became the President of Cuba by conducting an unfair election process. In the year 1944, Batista was defeated by other political members of Cuba, which resulted in the transfer of administrative power to his opponents (Lorimer, 2000, p.8). However, Batista entered the presidential race again in 1951, wherein he did not get any success. Finally Batista conducted a second coup in the year 1952 and seized power of the entire nation because he had immense back-up from the United States of America. Seize of power and unfair election methods led to the emergence of massive public disapproval in the nation. Finally, the Cuban Revolution flourished under the leadership of Fidel Castro. The movement was initially crushed. However, the civil disobedience resulted in the occurrence of revolts sporadically. Several studies illustrate that the economy of Cuba was all-time low after the Revolution was over (Nieto, 2011, p.22). It was believed that Batista misused the country’s resources in order to establish good trade relationships with the American elites. This essay highlights the major causes of Cuban Revolution and their consequences. Causes of the Revolution The Cuban Revolution is regarded as one of the greatest historical movements against the government by the civilians under violent circumstances in Latin America. The Cuban Revolution was an armed movement that included the participation of the majority of population. The Revolution started after the assault on the Moncada Barracks on the 26th July 1953 (Pedraza, 2007, p.17). The Revolution ended on the 1st January 1959, after Batista was driven from Cuba. In the early stages of the Revolution the Cuban society experienced high unemployment and limited water resources. Batista allowed the American companies to dominate the economy of Cuba. During the first term of the presidential election, Batista was supported by the Communist Party of Cuba. However, the second round of the election had significant differences in the election procedures. Batista became an anti-communist and received military and political support from the United States (Rushton, 2011, p.19). In order to silence the political opponents, Batista developed a powerful security infrastructure. The attempts made by Batista in order to seize the power of opponents in the country and the unfair election methods used by him caused the civil movements against him (Peterson, 1995, p.98). Fidel Castro, a young activist and lawyer, developed a strong case against Batista related to dictatorship and corruption. Castro’s constitutional arguments were not regarded as valid, and the Cuban courts rejected the trial of Batista. Finally, Castro decided to create an armed Revolution in order to overthrow Batista from his power and post. Castro realised that the Cuban government could not be replaced by legal means. He formed a group of rebels, who would assist him during the armed Revolution on Moncada Barracks (Stable, 2012, p.23). Fidel Castro and his rebels lost the war against the military forces of Batista government. Castro was tried in the court of Cuba, and was sentenced against the attack on the President of Cuba. There was strong civil disobedience in the Cuban society due to which the political prisoners had to be freed by the government, including Castro in the year 1955 (Leonard, 1999, p.95). Several attacks were launched by the rebels after 1955, during which many of them were killed by the military forces of Batista. The law and order of the entire country was under great trouble. Fidel and Raul Castro regrouped with the rebels, after they were released from prison. In the year 1954, Batista became the President of Cuba for the second time because he was the only candidate during the presidential elections (Benjamin, 1992, p.28). The periodic attacks led by the rebels had a great impact on the ruling government. Apart from the wrongful dictatorship of the Batista’s government, there was another factor that motivated the Cuban citizens to initiate Revolutionary movements. The American companies showed great level of interest on the resources of Cuba. The Cuban society was struggling drastically for better position and opportunities in the society. The formation of Batista’s government led to rapid consumption of Cuban resources, by the American companies with low contribution towards the Cuban society (Chomsky, 2015, p.55). Furthermore, the American companies had greatly dominated the economy of Cuba after initialising military interventions. The United States of America made direct investments in Cuba, in order to enhance the business relations. The United States government supported Batista because the companies would be able to gain maximum profit and pay less revenue to the government (Wright, 2001, p.36). The local population of Cuba was terrorized, because of the developments in the society and they feared that their country would become dependent on the economy of United States completely (Farber, 2007, p.78). The Revolutionary movements conducted by Castro were supported by people all over the country and the movements ended in 1959, after Batista flew from Cuba. Weak administration and poor military power of Cuba had a significant effect on the emergence of Cuban revolution. Since its independence, Cuba has been experiencing poverty and inequality in the civil society. Batista’s corrupted dictatorship ignited the revolution; however the social causes have driven people towards the revolutionary movements. The Catholic Church of Cuba experienced significant challenges due to Batista’s dictatorship between 1952 and 1959. The strategy of the Church, against the ongoing social and political problems was not up to the mark. Prior to Cuban revolution, the political factions of Cuba had narrow vision towards the betterment of the society. Economic development of Cuba was extremely slow and the political upheavals were unable to meet the requirement of the people (Ratiff, 1987, p.28). Cuba has been referred as a splintered society due to its fragile associations. The Latin American society had been facing several revolutionary movements during the 20th century. Therefore, social concerns in Cuba inspired the revolutionary movements and the possibility of imitating the strategy of guerrilla campaigns. Consequences Cuba faced several international hurdles with Fidel Castro, who fought for the final independence of Cuba. The Revolution of Cuba changed the face of the society dramatically. Some people believed that the effects of the Revolution were positive while others did not believe so. After the dictatorship of Fulfencio Batista was overthrown by Fidel Castro, some significant changes were incorporated in the Cuban society; especially with respect to women roles (Sweig, 2009, p.82). The Revolution had a positive effect on the lives of the women in the society. The women were allowed to participate in economic and political decisions of the country and some of the rebels believed that women should have greater role in the society compared to that of men. After the Revolution, some people supported the change in the gender roles but most of them refused to accept the changes. Before the Cuban Revolution, the women of the society were treated inferior to that of men (Olivares, 2012, p.33). However, after the Revolution the women were given important places in the government jobs and they were allowed to study and support their family economically. According to a Cuban socialist, Ofelia Navarro; “the daughters and the mothers of the Cuban society had to tolerate male dominance widely” (Welch, 1985, p.54) After the ending of the Cuban Revolution, several changes were implemented by the Castro’s government for the betterment of the society. A wide range of social reforms were introduced by the Castro’s administration. Several laws were introduced including equality for black Cubans and greater rights for the females of the society. Castro’s government also emphasized greatly for the betterment of health, education, housing and medical facilities. Apart from the basic issues, the government also developed cinemas, theatres, concerts etc. The entertainment features were developed by Castro in order to create a culturally rich and distinct Cuban society. The first impact of the Cuban Revolution was the implementation of new laws and strategies for people. Immediately after coming to power, the Castro’s government introduced policies related to elimination of illiteracy and implementation of land reforms. During the progression of the Cuban Revolution, it had been significant that most of the land properties were owned by the American individuals especially businessmen (Oltuski, 2002, p.33). Therefore, the Castro’s government had incorporated laws to disown American capitalists from acquiring excessive property in Cuba. The Castro’s government followed the Marx’s communist ideology. Therefore; they made significant attempts to eliminate the non-Marxist rebel leaders from the Cuban society. The Cuban Revolution became very important event from the point of U.S.A. and Cuban relationships. Initially the American government wanted to support the Castro’s government in Cuba in order to maintain international trade relations. However, the American government started to believe that the communist insurgency was likely to spread in the Latin-American nations. Castro resented the Americans because they supported the Batista’s government during the Revolution. This factor led to the occurrence of cold-war situations between the American government and the Cuban government. The Cuban government nationalized every U.S. property in Cuba during the year 1960. Following the actions, the American Eisenhower government seized all Cuban assets in United States. In the year 1961, the government of United States started counter Revolutionary armed movements against the Castro’s government. However, the Cuban military forces defeated the American forces swiftly. The military war between United States of America and Cuba resulted in the occurrence of political turbulence. The U.S.-Cuban relationships have not been very healthy after the Cuban Revolution. In the year 2014, some efforts have been made by United States to normalize the relationships between the two countries (Nichols, 2005, p.44). The post-Revolutionary foreign policy and Castro’s victory had pivotal global repercussions. With the expansion of Soviet Union, Castro sought to extend his Revolution to several other countries in the Caribbean. Castro’s government participated in the events of exporting weapons to Algerian rebels in 1960. The primary objective of Castro’s government was to expand communist insurgencies. Castro became greatly involved in the Revolutions of other countries such as Yemen, Angola, Ghana and Nicaragua. Sending military aid and supporting the communist behaviour of the rebels of other countries became a very common practice under Castro’s administration. During the 1970s and 1980s, Castro intervened in the Angolan Civil War. Castro’s administration sent 60,000 Cuban soldiers to support the causes of the Angolan rebels (Cova, 2007, p.71). Several scholarly articles have criticized the actions of Castro’s administration because of their direct participation in international Revolutions. Castro’s motive was clear with respect to the support that he provided to the communist rebels. First of all, Castro aimed to extend the communist parties of other countries in order to spread his views and motives. Secondly, Castro believed that providing military aid to other countries would strengthen their foreign military support. Castro’s government had allied with the Soviet Union after being influenced by the expansion of the Soviet military. This became a crucial factor behind the existence of the Castro’s government because they were assured that the American forces would not conduct any military counter Revolutions. Latin American context By most economic and social indicators, Cuba became one of the most highly developed countries among the Latin American nations. In the year 1952, a corrupt political set up led to the decline of the social and economic developments of Cuba. The emergence of the guerrilla wars under the influence of Fidel Castro brought several changes in the development of the country (Ward, 1997, p.72). During the Cuban Revolution, the interest of United States towards the sugar industry along with other economic sectors was steadily declining. Castro overthrew Batista’s government in the beginning of 1959 and turned the country as the first communist state along with close alliance of the Soviet United (Haynes, 1996, p.39). Castro’s Cuba became a model nation throughout Latin America, due to establishment of communist parties and disaffected intellectuals and students of mainly middle class (Skidmore, 2004, p.15). Latin America experienced an increased urban terrorism and rural guerrilla conflict that emerged due to political repression and social inequality. Castro’s government majorly emphasized on the land reform policies of Cuba and they tried to eliminate the basic causes of insurgency. The actions that Castro’s administration took after the Revolution signifies that the establishment of leftist administration in Latin America was preferred desperately. Castro believed that expansion of the communist parties over Latin America would help them to extend their trade relations in other countries and it would finally benefit Cuba economically. The social conditions of Cuba after the Revolutions were not up to mark apart from a few positive changes related to women rights and education (McCaughan, 2004, p.6). The Cuban government lacked in resources and they had to establish friendly relations with the rest part of the world. Entire Latin American society experienced some significant changes related to the political reforms originated by the Castro’s Revolution in Cuba (Kamarva, 2000, p.91). The social reformism in the Latin American countries was superficial; the counter Revolutionary thrust became successful. In 1970, Salvador Allende became the president of Chile. He was a Marxist and the ideology was initially brought forward by Castro in the year 1953 (Munck, 2003, p.109). Castro believed that the democratic government would be appropriate for the Latin American countries because the society was suffering from economic crunch during the period. Salvador Allende came to power by democratic election but soon he was overthrown from his administration. In the twentieth century, the only country that was able to follow the Cuban pattern in Latin America was Nicaragua (Gwynne and Kay, 1999, p.28). The Sandinista Revolutionary government brought several changes in the society that was influenced by the Cuba initially. The political set-up of Nicaragua did-not last for a very long period because foreign and domestic foes against the type of government. After 1950s, there was a tremendous craze of people to adopt leftist administration system in their society however the lack of foreign support suppressed the movements (Kirby, 2003, p.42). The Cuban government was able to establish a communist rule initially but the collapse of Soviet Union affected Cuba widely. Since Soviet Union became the chief foreign ally for Cuba, the Castro’s government experienced huge political thrust after the collapse (Green, 1997, p.29). Several Latin American countries such as, Mexico followed varying political paths after the Cuban Revolution ended. On the other hand, other Latin American countries chose to create National Front wherein they shared equal powers and stopped minority parties from growing. This kind of formal dictatorship went through the 1980s in Colombia and other some other countries. Finally, the trend of communist parties was over and democratic political governance was established across Latin American countries (Gilbert, 1990, p.8). Conclusion Based on the above discussion, it is possible to state that the Latin American society experienced several social, political and economic thrust between 1950s and 1990s. In Latin America, the practice of democratic election was sporadic, however regular elections that took place widely involved enlarged electorate. The Cuban Revolution started in the year 1953 as a result of corrupt political election conducted by the presidential candidate Fulgencio Batista. The major movements of the Cuban Revolution were conducted by a communist Fidel Castro. Batista’s government had the support from United States due to which the Revolutionary movements continued for a prolonged time. The Cuban Revolution finished in the year 1959, after Batista was overthrown from the presidential position. Castro came into power in the year 1959 and implemented several policies for the development of Cuba (Luis, 2001, p.82). The Cuban resources were greatly affected during the Revolution and the society experienced urban terrorism along with rural guerrilla conflicts. The Latin American countries went through civil disobedience after the emergence of the Cuban Revolution. The Castro’s government was able to rule Cuba successfully until the collapse of their major foreign ally, Soviet United. The president of United States wanted to establish positive relationships between the America and Cuba but the gap in the political motives of the countries led to the occurrence of cold war between the countries. Mexico and Columbia did not consider the Cuban model for varied political paths but the Latin American society desired the changes to be implemented which resulted in social disturbance. Therefore, it is significant that the Cuban Revolution played a crucial role in shaping the social and political insurgency of entire Latin America. References Benjamin, J., 1992. Cuban Revolution. 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