Fidel Castro was born August 13,
1926 in Oriente province, in eastern Cuba, to a prosperous landowning family.
Showing independence early, he was educated in private Catholic schools, where
he was greatly influence by Spanish priests who instilled in him a sense of
discipline, dedication and assertiveness. The Jesuits, under whom he studied
from sixth to twelfth grade, preached a conservative, Counter-Reformation type
critique of capitalism. As a student his
best subjects were history and geography.
In 1943 he became the best secondary school athlete in the country.
Castro arrived at the University of
Havana in 1945 when the campus was run by armed thugs (another sign of the
corruption and gang warfare that then had a marked influence on Havana). He has
often noted that attending the university was more dangerous than waging
guerrilla war. He kept busy. Though he studied little, he excelled due to a
remarkable memory. His major academic interests were politics, sociology,
history, and agriculture, but he received a law degree, which would later aid his political career. His main
intellectual influences were the works of 19th century Independence leader José
Martí, whose speeches he memorized. Immersed in the polemical climate of Cuban
politics, nationalism, anti-imperialism, and socialism became his standard
themes.
Soon after entering college,
Castro's political activism took shape. In 1947 he participated in a failed
expeditionary force against the dictator of the Dominican Republic, Rafael Leónidas
Trujillo. In 1948 he was elected president of the Law Students Association,
which he represented at a Latin American University Students Congress in
Colombia; the congress, openly anti-imperialist, coincided with a major civil
war breaking out in Bogotá, in which Castro participated in skirmishes before
leaving the country.
In October of 1948 Castro was
married to Mirta Díaz Balart, though her wealthy family disapproved. The
following year their son (Fidel Jr.)
was born. The marriage ended bitterly in 1955, first with divorce, and then
with Fidel having his son kidnapped and taken to Mexico. The son now heads
Cuba's nuclear program.
By the late 1940's Castro knew the
methods, images, and stakes of Cuban politics. In 1951 he was a leader in the
growing populist political movement led by the Partido del Pueblo Cubano (known
in Cuba as Ortodoxos), an anti-Communist nationalist group promising major
social, economic and political reforms, and expecting to gain the presidency
through electoral politics. Castro planned to run for Congress, but on March
10, 1952, Fulgencio Batista, military strongman in Cuba since 1933, overthrew
the constitutional government.
Fidel Castro, and many Ortodoxos
who had expected to win in the thwarted elections, began to organize an
insurrection. Castro led a civilian armed attack of mostly young Ortodoxos
against the Moncada military barracks on July 26, 1953. The attack failed and
Castro landed in prison; but the movement he organized captured the
opposition's imagination. While imprisoned from 1953 to 1955, Castro's time was
used to write, study, and further organize.
Granted political amnesty in May,
1955, Castro went into exile in Mexico and began to train an expeditionary
force. In late 1956 he landed with 82 in southern Oriente to initiate guerrilla
war. The movement grew, and from the Sierra Maestra mountains Fidel organized a
parallel government, carried out a mini-agrarian reform, established controlled
territories with agricultural and manufacturing production, set up a radio
station, and even created a small air force.
Castro's was the first guerrilla
movement in Latin America to defeat the military. Castro proved to be a skillful
political and military strategist. On January 1, 1959, the Cuban revolution
began under his leadership with the largest popular support of any political
movement in the history of the country.
With a multi-class base, the
populist nature of the revolution meant that the Cuban bourgeoisie identified
Fidel Castro with a return to constitutional rule, and the reaffirmation of
civil and political rights. But for the majority, who envisioned a major
re-structuring of the society, the issue was social justice.
Once in power, Castro proved to be
a persuasive and moving speaker, and a man who had the affection and support of
the population. He was the critical factor in defining the future direction of
the revolution. The very popularity of the revolutionary regime unleashed a
process of social radicalization, of which Castro became the major spokesman.
For the last 33 years he has remained
in the limelight. Scholars, analysts, supporters
and enemies agree on at least one feature of the Cuban Revolution: Fidel Castro
has been the unquestioned political and ideological leader. It is true that
important policies usually depend on what he decides. He appears to be at the center of politics and economy but he has
to work within a certain context.
Assuming this to be the case, it is
necessary to know something more about the qualities of the man as political
player. What are the features of Fidel Castro's "charisma"?
Personal Qualities:
Fidel Castro is action oriented,
even if the action is dangerous. This characteristic is traceable to his
childhood, has remained with him to the present, and is closely tied to a
strong character, determination, and persistence. He claims the basic feature
of a revolutionary is struggle.
Castro is dedicated, and enjoys
being challenged. A Jesuit priest who taught him in school once referred to
this personality trait as "indomitable impetuosity." He conveys the image of the strong willed
who refuses to give up.
He has an iron discipline, which he
cultivates, and expects others to have. Discipline has been accompanied by an
inordinate self-assurance. Only on two occasions he has shown doubts: on the
first day he arrived to Havana
Self assurance, strong will, are
all accompanied by keen intelligence. Even opponents concede that Castro is
bright, insightful, well-read. Like any
effective strategist or actor he has an
uncanny sense of timing. His loyal and devoted
His public speaking is the work of
a craftsman who understands and uses well the psychology of Cubans. One author
has called his ability a "rare oratorical virtuosity." He educates, instructs, explains, criticizes,
persuades, attacks. His oratory attempts to inspire confidence, to stir to
action, to move. There are two
dimensions to his speeches: style and content.
Gabriel García Márquez, a close friend of Castro's has described his
style as a devotion to the spoken word bordering on the magical. As he spends
time speaking, his message gains clarity; but has a tendency to turn
repetitive. The spoken word is clearly one of the most important instruments
Castro has at his command, as demonstrated
A dedicated student of Cuban
history, he uses it as a weapon and a guide. He relies on historical symbol and
parallel. He is the only Cuban politician in this century who works with
historical categories, examples, and models. He has
Domestic Influence:
Analysts see Fidel Castro as a
leader who sacrifices anything in order to stay in power. He, on the other
hand, claims that neither wealth, lust for glory, fame, nor prestige motivates him.
He claims ideas, not power, motivate him.
Strangely, even though Fidel Castro
has personified and elucidated the revolution's features there is no systematic
study of his philosophy or political thought. There are certain predominant
core values and ideas and policies in his speeches and the policies he
sponsors. He is certainly nationalist.
Fidel's unique contribution linked the defense of national independence
with the necessity of socialism (done by 1961). This twofold integration has
meant that the revolution and the nation have become inseparable in his view.
Revolutionary survival, thus, requires revolutionary unity, which may be
translated into national unity. If
persuasion does not work, then the law, and the mass mobilization of
intolerance assures unity through imposed public uniformity. In such a milieu neither political
diversity, nor authenticity or honesty can flourish. Consequently, to question,
dissent or oppose revolutionary policies inexorably lead to the charge of
treason.
This revolutionary philosophy can
be summed up as: collective needs rank higher than individual rights,
revolutionary consciousness should motivate not money, selflessness is a
positive value greed is not, the state can make rational choices the market is
irrational, an underdeveloped country should be more concerned with production
rather than consumerism, political needs precede economic rationality, mass
political participation is more important than political choice, unity is
necessary and superior to a plurality of views, central control is preferable
to administrative autonomy, mass mobilization is more important than
administrative methods, direct contact with the population by the political
leadership is a true measure of democracy, equality and justice takes
precedence over individual civil and political rights. It is on the basis of
such ranking that decisions have been made, and a new society created.
The Cuban political system set up
by Castro is an uneasy balance of formal institutions and charismatic
authority. His leadership is based not on constitutional rule but on the
permanent reaffirmation of his authority he receives from the mobilization of
the population. His contact with the population is his very claim to power. He
earned popular esteem in this fashion in 1959, and has continued that mode
since. From the mid 1970s to 1986, he allowed a process of institutionalization
to gain ground, while his own very personal touch diminished. But as changes in
the USSR threatened the stability of his regime, he went back to the
charismatic model.
Castro is able to organize, even to
delegate authority (on those he trusts rather than those who may be competent).
He also has a unique quality: he integrates disparate views within
revolutionary ranks, unifying diverse views and discovering common grounds. It
is on that basis that he also leads, while providing all other revolutionaries
the essential link they lack with the population. It is through his consensus
building that a line is established -- although if the consensus is not joined,
he then is intolerant of the dissenter. He then makes public the synthesis. In
that sense Fidel Castro is the Great Synthesizer and the Great Communicator.
Just as the charismatic leader goes
directly to the population, the people reciprocate by calling on him. Letters
are received, in the thousands, from all over the island. Each and every letter
is answered, by a special team that answers to Fidel. When everything else
fails, there is Fidel. Charismatic authority
is a demanding task.
Yet, a charismatic leader does not
make decisions entirely on his own. He has
at his command a "support group", an inner circle, made up of
specialists who are there, first because Fidel trusts them, secondly because of
their special knowledge. They are charged, among other things, with keeping him
well informed. They are expected to be
hard working and multi-purpose. Over the years, the support group has changed.
The older guerrillas have been supplanted
Fidel Castro holds a number of
formal titles: Maximum Leader of the Revolution, Commander in Chief of the
Cuban Armed Forces, President of the Republic, Chairman of the Council of
State, Chairman of the Council of Ministers,
First Secretary of the Communist Party, and is also a member of the National
Assembly.
His greatest accomplishment is to
have remained in power longer than any other Cuban ruler, despite the
opposition of the United States. In the domestic arena he led the radical
transformation of Cuban politics, economy and society, including the
introduction of a socialist system. His legitimacy cannot be separated from the
benefits that the population received through the distributionist policies of
the regime.
He led the process of establishing
new institutions. He introduced the method of mass mobilization, whatever the task may be. He also defined
the pattern of concentrating resources
away from the urban areas, and instilled in the population the belief that they have an inherent right to a job,
to proper health care and education.
Under his direction the revolution
dared to nationalize foreign property (never
done before on such a scale in Latin America), and then challenged the Soviet Union on the proper way of building
socialism.
Among Castro's shortcomings can be
noted Cuba's failure to become more economically
self-sufficient, the inefficiency of the island's economy, and the remaining
reliance on the export of sugar. From a political standpoint shortcomings have been: the
association of dissent with counter-revolutionary activities, the repression of
alternative political groups; and the failure to create institutions that would
replace the charismatic type of political system.
Fidel Castro certainly has shown
daring and initiative in his exercise of power, and has been willing to take great risks when he was
convinced that there will be significant gains in the gamble.
Foreign Policy:
In foreign policy, from the very
onset, Castro's relations with the United States were strained. By 1960 the
United States supported the overthrow of Fidel Castro, and in 1961 a U.S.
organized and led force of exiles was defeated by
Castro also defined the need for a
global foreign policy in order to escape the U.S. imposed isolation in the
western hemisphere. For the first time, Cuba established ties with Africa and
Asia. Moreover, Castro began to play a major
From 1961 Cuba developed a special
relationship with the USSR. Fidel Castro played a critical role in linking the
two countries and in obtaining unusually beneficial terms of trade from the
Soviets, a tie which further contributed to
Fidel Castro will have a special
place in this century because of his role in Cuban, Latin America, and Third
World history. He represented a wave of revolutionary experiments, and tried to
integrate a Cuban historical tradition with European revolutionary theory. He
has made important contributions to revolutionary strategy and tactics, while
elucidating a Third World perspective of world affairs. He, like his guerrilla
fighters, have aged. The elan and magic of earlier heroism no longer touches
those who have been born since 1959, as it did their parents. It is doubtful
that Fidel
Castro will relinquish power; if he
does not, then it remains an open question whether he succeeded in creating the
means by which the nation and the revolution will survive his death.
By: Nelson P. Valdés (1993)