In Biran, Cuba’s eastern Oriente Province, Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz was born on August 13, 1926. The third of six children, Fidel’s brothers are Raul and Ramon and his three sisters; Angela, Emma, and Augustina.
His father was a Spanish soldier who arrived to Cuba during the American-Spanish war. In Cuba, he became a wealthy sugar plantation owner who conducted his business with the US. Lina Ruz Gonzalez, Fidel’s mother, was the servant of the house in Alejandro’s previous marriage. Alejandro later married Lina by the time Fidel was 15 years old.
For tourists in the late 50s, Cuba was the center of luxury. It was the playground for Americans. However for Cubans, poverty dominated their lives. Both education and health care systems were poor. Living conditions were even worse than any of the …show more content…
This is where the guerrilla war began. The initial group was able to survive and grow. Che was the group’s strategist and was the first commander appointed by Fidel. Later Raul, his brother, was made a commander along with others.
Much of the support for the guerilla came from farmers of the Sierra Meastra Mountains. There, Castro organized resistance groups and tried to expand his reach. New people joined the guerilla and became commanders later. Both men and women were joining Fidel’s group.
Batista forced were trained by the United States and were supported with tanks and aircrafts. They threw all this force against the guerilla in a war that lasted from 1957 till 1959. Batista’s government did not leave any suspect in being a revolutionary sympathizer and immediately killed them and left them on the sides of the roads or jailed them. This turned the public opinion against Batista. In 1959, an estimated 20,000 people were murdered by the government during Batista’s dictatorship. In the meantime, Castro and his forces were conducting several successful military campaigns to capture more areas in