WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.020 Welcome to the Deep Dive. Today we are taking 00:00:02.020 --> 00:00:05.780 on a, well, a truly monumental figure from the 00:00:05.780 --> 00:00:08.220 20th century, someone whose name is known all 00:00:08.220 --> 00:00:11.330 over the world. Fidel Castro Ruz. He's one of 00:00:11.330 --> 00:00:13.349 those figures who just completely defined an 00:00:13.349 --> 00:00:15.550 era. His shadow, I mean, it stretches across 00:00:15.550 --> 00:00:18.429 nearly 50 years of Cuban history and really global 00:00:18.429 --> 00:00:21.170 history, too. 50 years. That's an astonishing 00:00:21.170 --> 00:00:23.670 amount of time to hold power. It really is. We're 00:00:23.670 --> 00:00:25.010 talking about someone who was prime minister 00:00:25.010 --> 00:00:27.649 right from the revolution in 1959 all the way 00:00:27.649 --> 00:00:31.690 to 76, then president until 2008. And even after 00:00:31.690 --> 00:00:35.070 that, he held the real institutional power as 00:00:35.070 --> 00:00:37.450 first secretary of the Communist Party until 00:00:37.450 --> 00:00:40.679 2011. It's an entire political lifetime. That 00:00:40.679 --> 00:00:42.880 kind of influence, it just demands a serious 00:00:42.880 --> 00:00:45.700 look. So our mission in this deep dive is for 00:00:45.700 --> 00:00:48.280 you, the learner, to get a really comprehensive 00:00:48.280 --> 00:00:51.079 fact based handle on his total impact. And you 00:00:51.079 --> 00:00:52.920 have to start with the central paradox of the 00:00:52.920 --> 00:00:55.700 man. Exactly. On one hand, he's revered by many 00:00:55.700 --> 00:00:58.299 as this champion of anti -imperialism, of social 00:00:58.299 --> 00:01:01.460 justice. But on the other, he's reviled as a 00:01:01.460 --> 00:01:04.579 brutal dictator who overthought terrible human 00:01:04.579 --> 00:01:07.319 rights abuses and economic ruin. And the source 00:01:07.319 --> 00:01:10.590 materials really lay this duality out. in stark 00:01:10.590 --> 00:01:13.150 terms. Supporters will point to him securing 00:01:13.150 --> 00:01:15.930 Cuba's genuine sovereignty from the U .S., which 00:01:15.930 --> 00:01:18.909 is a huge deal. And they'll highlight these incredible 00:01:18.909 --> 00:01:22.269 social reforms, literacy, health care, education. 00:01:22.609 --> 00:01:27.280 The metrics are, frankly... But the critics and 00:01:27.280 --> 00:01:29.719 the sources are just as clear on this. They document 00:01:29.719 --> 00:01:33.700 this pervasive state censorship, the ruthless 00:01:33.700 --> 00:01:36.340 suppression of any dissent, and the huge human 00:01:36.340 --> 00:01:38.379 cost, which you can see in the sheer number of 00:01:38.379 --> 00:01:40.299 Cubans who fled the country. It's an incredibly 00:01:40.299 --> 00:01:42.819 complex picture. It is. So let's try to unpack 00:01:42.819 --> 00:01:45.379 it. We're going to trace his path from a surprisingly 00:01:45.379 --> 00:01:49.879 wealthy youth into the chaos of university activism. 00:01:50.159 --> 00:01:52.519 We'll hit the revolution, the Cold War crises 00:01:52.519 --> 00:01:55.019 that nearly ended the world. Wait, missile. crisis. 00:01:55.239 --> 00:01:56.900 Then the brutal survival of what they call the 00:01:56.900 --> 00:01:59.099 special period. And finally, we'll try to assess 00:01:59.099 --> 00:02:02.459 his political ideas and his very secretive personal 00:02:02.459 --> 00:02:04.900 life. So let's jump right in. Let's do it. When 00:02:04.900 --> 00:02:07.299 you think of a communist revolutionary, the image 00:02:07.299 --> 00:02:10.280 that comes to mind is usually someone from, you 00:02:10.280 --> 00:02:12.599 know, a background of poverty and struggle. But 00:02:12.599 --> 00:02:14.860 that wasn't Fidel Castro at all. Not even close. 00:02:15.099 --> 00:02:18.219 His early life really sets the stage for a lot 00:02:18.219 --> 00:02:20.379 of the contradictions to come. He was born in 00:02:20.379 --> 00:02:24.330 1926 in Buran and his father. Angel Castro was 00:02:24.330 --> 00:02:27.310 a wealthy Spanish immigrant, a big landowner, 00:02:27.409 --> 00:02:30.110 a latifundista, who'd done very, very well for 00:02:30.110 --> 00:02:32.830 himself. And his mother. His mother, Lina Ruz 00:02:32.830 --> 00:02:35.409 Gonzalez, actually started out as a servant in 00:02:35.409 --> 00:02:37.729 the household and later became his father's second 00:02:37.729 --> 00:02:40.550 wife. So this upbringing, it was one of privilege, 00:02:40.669 --> 00:02:43.270 of wealth, and it gave him access to an education 00:02:43.270 --> 00:02:45.150 that most Cubans at the time could only dream 00:02:45.150 --> 00:02:47.780 of. And that education began in some very prestigious 00:02:47.780 --> 00:02:50.560 schools, right? Jesuit -run schools, including 00:02:50.560 --> 00:02:53.280 El Calaver de Belén in Havana. Yes, and that 00:02:53.280 --> 00:02:55.219 Jesuit influence is important. It gave him the 00:02:55.219 --> 00:02:57.400 sense of discipline, a kind of rigorous, high 00:02:57.400 --> 00:03:00.039 -minded commitment to ideas, often with an emphasis 00:03:00.039 --> 00:03:03.979 on social duty. But the real radicalization that 00:03:03.979 --> 00:03:05.379 really kicked in when he went to the University 00:03:05.379 --> 00:03:09.159 of Havana in 1945 to study law. And the atmosphere 00:03:09.159 --> 00:03:11.860 there was, well, it wasn't exactly quiet and 00:03:11.860 --> 00:03:14.699 academic. Not at all. It was all about... Raw, 00:03:15.000 --> 00:03:19.060 often violent politics. The sources talk about 00:03:19.060 --> 00:03:22.000 this culture of gangsterismo. Gangsterismo. What 00:03:22.000 --> 00:03:24.139 was that exactly? And how did Castro get involved? 00:03:24.479 --> 00:03:27.259 I mean, it was basically endemic political violence 00:03:27.259 --> 00:03:29.639 that had taken over the university. You had different 00:03:29.639 --> 00:03:31.620 political factions, a lot of them linked to organized 00:03:31.620 --> 00:03:34.099 crime or political bosses, and they had their 00:03:34.099 --> 00:03:37.159 own armed gangs. They used violence, intimidation, 00:03:37.159 --> 00:03:40.319 even murder to control student groups, get jobs, 00:03:40.460 --> 00:03:42.520 and influence the government. So he wasn't just 00:03:42.520 --> 00:03:44.590 in the library studying. He was in the middle 00:03:44.590 --> 00:03:47.169 of this violent political world learning how 00:03:47.169 --> 00:03:49.750 to organize and, well, how to fight. Exactly. 00:03:49.770 --> 00:03:51.810 And that's where he really doubles down on his 00:03:51.810 --> 00:03:54.870 leftist and fiercely anti -imperialist ideas. 00:03:55.150 --> 00:03:57.389 His main targets were the corruption that was 00:03:57.389 --> 00:04:00.449 just rampant in Cuba and maybe even more importantly, 00:04:00.650 --> 00:04:02.710 U .S. intervention in the Caribbean. He felt 00:04:02.710 --> 00:04:05.580 Cuba wasn't really a sovereign nation. He was 00:04:05.580 --> 00:04:08.259 convinced of it. And this anti -dictator instinct, 00:04:08.500 --> 00:04:11.900 it showed up really early. In 1947, this is years 00:04:11.900 --> 00:04:14.979 before his own revolution, he joins this failed 00:04:14.979 --> 00:04:17.079 expedition to try and overthrow the dictator 00:04:17.079 --> 00:04:20.019 in the Dominican Republic, Rafael Trujillo. He 00:04:20.019 --> 00:04:22.800 was always drawn to direct action. He also got 00:04:22.800 --> 00:04:24.819 involved with the party of the Cuban people, 00:04:25.000 --> 00:04:27.899 the Partido Ortodoxo. And the story around its 00:04:27.899 --> 00:04:30.860 leader, Eduardo Chubas, seems like a really key 00:04:30.860 --> 00:04:32.959 moment for him. Oh, it was hugely significant. 00:04:33.139 --> 00:04:34.870 The Ortodoxos were all about fighting. corruption 00:04:34.870 --> 00:04:37.310 and pushing for social justice, but they wanted 00:04:37.310 --> 00:04:38.949 to do it through the democratic process. Through 00:04:38.949 --> 00:04:41.970 elections. Right. But then in 1951, Chibas just 00:04:41.970 --> 00:04:43.970 completely frustrated that he couldn't beat the 00:04:43.970 --> 00:04:46.689 corruption politically. He commits suicide. And 00:04:46.689 --> 00:04:49.089 for Castro, that was like a symbolic failure 00:04:49.089 --> 00:04:51.110 of the whole system of nonviolent democratic 00:04:51.110 --> 00:04:54.910 opposition. He saw himself as Chibas's heir and 00:04:54.910 --> 00:04:56.670 was actually planning to run for office himself 00:04:56.670 --> 00:04:59.769 in the 52 elections. Which brings us to another 00:04:59.769 --> 00:05:02.709 huge turning point, his trip to Bogota, Colombia 00:05:02.709 --> 00:05:06.769 in 1940. 8. Was he a fully formed Marxist by 00:05:06.769 --> 00:05:09.050 then? The sources say his Marxist ideas were 00:05:09.050 --> 00:05:11.470 still incipient, you know, just starting to form. 00:05:11.589 --> 00:05:14.810 But that trip, it cemented everything. He was 00:05:14.810 --> 00:05:18.170 in Bogota when a very popular leftist leader, 00:05:18.389 --> 00:05:21.110 Jorge Eliezer Gaitan, was assassinated. And the 00:05:21.110 --> 00:05:24.170 city just exploded. It triggered massive spontaneous 00:05:24.170 --> 00:05:27.209 riots. They called it the Bogotazo. And Castro, 00:05:27.269 --> 00:05:29.410 he dives right in. He joins the leftist liberals 00:05:29.410 --> 00:05:31.750 fighting in the streets, reportedly even steals 00:05:31.750 --> 00:05:34.199 guns from a police station. So what? What was 00:05:34.199 --> 00:05:36.500 it about the Bogataza that changed him so much? 00:05:36.720 --> 00:05:39.980 It was his first real taste of a mass popular 00:05:39.980 --> 00:05:43.959 uprising. I mean, pure revolutionary chaos, raw 00:05:43.959 --> 00:05:46.480 class conflict in the streets. He said later 00:05:46.480 --> 00:05:48.279 that it made him identify completely with the 00:05:48.279 --> 00:05:51.300 cause of the people. He realized it wasn't enough 00:05:51.300 --> 00:05:53.759 to just fight corruption. The whole system, what 00:05:53.759 --> 00:05:56.220 he started calling the dictatorship of the bourgeoisie, 00:05:56.240 --> 00:05:59.000 was a real problem. He needed a systemic fix, 00:05:59.139 --> 00:06:02.680 not just a cleanup job. Precisely. He even said, 00:06:03.079 --> 00:06:04.699 That without understanding that history is a 00:06:04.699 --> 00:06:07.100 class struggle between the rich and poor, you 00:06:07.100 --> 00:06:09.759 are, and this is his quote, lost in a forest. 00:06:10.160 --> 00:06:12.579 That experience was the bridge that led him to 00:06:12.579 --> 00:06:15.399 combine his Cuban nationalism with Marxist theory. 00:06:15.759 --> 00:06:18.160 It's where El Comandante starts to emerge. And 00:06:18.160 --> 00:06:21.319 then comes the final catalyst, Fulgencio Batista. 00:06:21.500 --> 00:06:25.139 Batista stages a military coup in March 1952. 00:06:25.620 --> 00:06:28.420 He cancels the very elections Castro was planning 00:06:28.420 --> 00:06:31.110 to run in. For Castro, this was it. This is an 00:06:31.110 --> 00:06:33.870 unconstitutional dictatorship, plain and simple. 00:06:33.970 --> 00:06:35.610 He tried legal channels first, though, right? 00:06:35.670 --> 00:06:38.050 He did. He filed a petition in court accusing 00:06:38.050 --> 00:06:40.750 Batista of violating the Constitution. But the 00:06:40.750 --> 00:06:43.089 courts just threw it out. And for him, that was 00:06:43.089 --> 00:06:45.129 the final proof that force was the only option 00:06:45.129 --> 00:06:48.170 left. And this leads to the movement. What was 00:06:48.170 --> 00:06:49.850 his strategy here, especially with the established 00:06:49.850 --> 00:06:52.110 Communist Party? He was very strategic, very 00:06:52.110 --> 00:06:55.019 pragmatic. He builds this secret. cell -based 00:06:55.019 --> 00:06:57.860 group of about 1 ,200 members, mostly from poor 00:06:57.860 --> 00:07:00.980 areas of Havana. But, and this is crucial, he 00:07:00.980 --> 00:07:03.199 deliberately avoids a formal alliance with the 00:07:03.199 --> 00:07:05.759 old guard communist party, the PSP. Why was that? 00:07:05.920 --> 00:07:08.180 Because he knew he needed to attract moderate 00:07:08.180 --> 00:07:11.839 Cubans. People who hated Batista but were also 00:07:11.839 --> 00:07:14.620 really wary of communism, especially with the 00:07:14.620 --> 00:07:17.220 Cold War heating up and U .S. anti -communist 00:07:17.220 --> 00:07:19.680 feeling being so strong. So he's leading this 00:07:19.680 --> 00:07:22.800 nationalist, anti -dictator movement, but it's 00:07:22.800 --> 00:07:25.699 kind of ideologically vague on purpose? Exactly. 00:07:25.860 --> 00:07:28.279 And that movement's first big action is the attack 00:07:28.279 --> 00:07:30.860 on the Mankata Barracks. And it was, I mean, 00:07:30.920 --> 00:07:33.339 just a catastrophic failure. Tell us about that. 00:07:33.740 --> 00:07:37.300 July 26th, 1953. What went so wrong? It was a 00:07:37.300 --> 00:07:39.540 tactical disaster, just born of inexperience. 00:07:40.500 --> 00:07:42.980 165 revolutionaries dressed in army uniforms 00:07:42.980 --> 00:07:45.300 to try and cause confusion. They launched this 00:07:45.300 --> 00:07:47.139 attack on the barracks near Santiago de Cuba. 00:07:47.300 --> 00:07:49.879 The goal was to seize weapons and spark a nationwide 00:07:49.879 --> 00:07:51.920 uprising. Right, but it fell apart immediately. 00:07:52.220 --> 00:07:54.100 Communication just broke down. Some of the cars 00:07:54.100 --> 00:07:56.420 got lost. They never even got inside the main 00:07:56.420 --> 00:07:58.660 barracks, and machine gun fire just pinned them 00:07:58.660 --> 00:08:00.939 down instantly. I read that the initial order 00:08:00.939 --> 00:08:03.660 was to avoid bloodshed, if possible. That's right. 00:08:03.740 --> 00:08:06.060 But in the chaos, four rebels were killed almost 00:08:06.060 --> 00:08:08.759 right away, and Castro had to order a retreat. 00:08:08.959 --> 00:08:11.839 The aftermath, though, was even worse. Only six 00:08:11.839 --> 00:08:14.899 rebels died in the actual fighting. But Batista's 00:08:14.899 --> 00:08:17.779 army responded with incredible brutality. They 00:08:17.779 --> 00:08:20.519 captured dozens of the rebels and tortured and 00:08:20.519 --> 00:08:23.769 executed at least 22 of them. This brutality, 00:08:23.889 --> 00:08:27.069 though, it kind of backfired on Batista. As news 00:08:27.069 --> 00:08:29.009 of the torture and the killing started to leak 00:08:29.009 --> 00:08:31.910 out, public opinion swung hard against the regime. 00:08:32.090 --> 00:08:34.830 And Castro was eventually captured. But he used 00:08:34.830 --> 00:08:37.129 his trial as a political platform. Oh, he absolutely 00:08:37.129 --> 00:08:39.230 did. He's sentenced to 15 years, but he acts 00:08:39.230 --> 00:08:41.509 as his own lawyer. And he gives this powerful 00:08:41.509 --> 00:08:43.590 speech arguing that he wasn't rising up against 00:08:43.590 --> 00:08:45.330 the state. He was rising up against Papista, 00:08:45.470 --> 00:08:47.690 who had illegally overthrown the Constitution. 00:08:48.110 --> 00:08:50.789 He even called Jose Martí the national hero, 00:08:50.889 --> 00:08:53.250 the intellectual author of the attack, wrapping 00:08:53.250 --> 00:08:55.610 himself in the flag of Cuban history. And that's 00:08:55.610 --> 00:08:57.529 where the famous line comes from. History will 00:08:57.529 --> 00:08:59.629 absolve me. Right. It was a four -hour speech 00:08:59.629 --> 00:09:01.490 that was smuggled out of prison and became the 00:09:01.490 --> 00:09:03.970 movement's manifesto. And that's the moment the 00:09:03.970 --> 00:09:06.690 narrative shifts. The failed raid becomes a heroic 00:09:06.690 --> 00:09:10.190 sacrifice. And the date, July 26th, becomes the 00:09:10.190 --> 00:09:12.690 symbol of the revolution. He even renames his 00:09:12.690 --> 00:09:16.909 group the 26th of July Movement, or MR267. So 00:09:16.909 --> 00:09:18.669 how does he get out of prison after only two 00:09:18.669 --> 00:09:21.850 years of a 15 -year sentence? It was a huge political 00:09:21.850 --> 00:09:24.970 miscalculation by Batista. He held these sham 00:09:24.970 --> 00:09:28.029 elections in 1954 to try and look legitimate, 00:09:28.210 --> 00:09:31.320 and he allowed some political opposition. There 00:09:31.320 --> 00:09:34.000 was a lot of public pressure for an amnesty for 00:09:34.000 --> 00:09:36.340 the Moncada prisoners, and Batista thought releasing 00:09:36.340 --> 00:09:38.659 them would sort of diffuse the tension. He just 00:09:38.659 --> 00:09:41.019 didn't see Castro as a serious threat. A major 00:09:41.019 --> 00:09:44.000 mistake. Castro gets out and pretty quickly has 00:09:44.000 --> 00:09:46.440 to flee Cuba. Right. He's being monitored. He 00:09:46.440 --> 00:09:49.100 can't operate. So he goes to Mexico, and that's 00:09:49.100 --> 00:09:51.220 where the next crucial phase begins. The movement 00:09:51.220 --> 00:09:53.840 becomes a focused guerrilla organization. And, 00:09:53.879 --> 00:09:55.460 of course, it's in Mexico where he meets the 00:09:55.460 --> 00:09:58.639 man who would become the revolution's ideological 00:09:58.639 --> 00:10:01.860 conscience, Ernesto Che Guevara. Tell us about 00:10:01.860 --> 00:10:04.450 that first meeting. Raul Castro introduced them. 00:10:04.549 --> 00:10:06.549 Che was an Argentine doctor, but he was already 00:10:06.549 --> 00:10:09.490 a deeply committed doctrinaire Marxist -Leninist. 00:10:09.590 --> 00:10:12.269 And Fidel, he said he recognized right away that 00:10:12.269 --> 00:10:14.370 Che was, quote, a more advanced revolutionary 00:10:14.370 --> 00:10:17.350 than I was. Che brought that deep theoretical 00:10:17.350 --> 00:10:21.169 Marxist rigor to Fidel's nationalism. They needed 00:10:21.169 --> 00:10:23.769 money, though, and weapons. Castro actually came 00:10:23.769 --> 00:10:26.610 to the U .S. to fundraise. It was a high -stakes 00:10:26.610 --> 00:10:30.009 tour. Batista's agents were apparently all over 00:10:30.009 --> 00:10:32.649 him, even in the U .S., allegedly plotting to 00:10:32.649 --> 00:10:35.409 assassinate him. But they raised money? They 00:10:35.409 --> 00:10:37.610 got military training from a Spanish Civil War 00:10:37.610 --> 00:10:39.809 veteran, and they started buying weapons. And 00:10:39.809 --> 00:10:42.570 he was picky about his allies. Very. He refused 00:10:42.570 --> 00:10:44.710 to ally with other anti -Batista groups, like 00:10:44.710 --> 00:10:47.669 a student group called the DRE, because he didn't 00:10:47.669 --> 00:10:50.330 agree with their tactics of indiscriminate assassinations. 00:10:50.370 --> 00:10:53.269 He wanted targeted, military -style action. Which 00:10:53.269 --> 00:10:55.330 all leads to the journey back to Cuba on that 00:10:55.330 --> 00:10:58.350 infamous yacht, the Grandma. A testament to their 00:10:58.350 --> 00:11:00.649 desperation, really. The yacht was decrepit, 00:11:00.809 --> 00:11:04.440 overloaded, barely seaworthy. 81 revolutionaries 00:11:04.440 --> 00:11:07.679 set sail in November 1956. The crossing was just 00:11:07.679 --> 00:11:10.899 hellish. Seven days of seasickness, leaks, and 00:11:10.899 --> 00:11:12.759 they were delayed, which meant a coordinated 00:11:12.759 --> 00:11:14.679 uprising that was supposed to happen in Santiago 00:11:14.679 --> 00:11:17.259 failed. And the landing itself was a disaster. 00:11:17.559 --> 00:11:20.679 A total disaster. They ran aground in a swamp 00:11:20.679 --> 00:11:22.960 and were immediately attacked by Batista's army. 00:11:23.159 --> 00:11:26.340 The invasion force was just shattered. In the 00:11:26.340 --> 00:11:29.639 end, only 19 of them, including Fidel, Raul, 00:11:30.059 --> 00:11:32.820 Che and Camila Sinafuegos managed to escape into 00:11:32.820 --> 00:11:35.360 the Sierra Maestra Mountains. Just 19. Think 00:11:35.360 --> 00:11:38.500 about that. A handful of survivors isolated their 00:11:38.500 --> 00:11:40.879 whole plan in ruins. The revolution was alive, 00:11:41.100 --> 00:11:44.139 but just barely. So this is the big question. 00:11:44.399 --> 00:11:47.879 How do 19 exhausted, beaten men hiding in the 00:11:47.879 --> 00:11:50.700 mountains manage to become the force that topples 00:11:50.700 --> 00:11:53.940 a U .S.-backed dictator with an army of 30 ,000? 00:11:54.120 --> 00:11:56.429 Well, they started small. Classic guerrilla tactics. 00:11:56.730 --> 00:11:59.730 Hit and run raids on small army outposts, mostly 00:11:59.730 --> 00:12:01.669 just to get weapons, which they desperately needed. 00:12:01.870 --> 00:12:04.470 But the real key, the game changer, was winning 00:12:04.470 --> 00:12:06.690 over the local population. The peasants in the 00:12:06.690 --> 00:12:08.750 mountains. Exactly. They worked hard to gain 00:12:08.750 --> 00:12:10.289 their trust. One of the first things they did 00:12:10.289 --> 00:12:12.889 was execute a local official, a guy named Chicho 00:12:12.889 --> 00:12:15.450 Osorio, who was hated by the peasants for exploiting 00:12:15.450 --> 00:12:18.570 them. That sent a powerful message. And even 00:12:18.570 --> 00:12:20.009 though their first recruits were mostly from 00:12:20.009 --> 00:12:21.929 the cities, their support in the countryside 00:12:21.929 --> 00:12:24.730 just grew and grew. But the real battle, it seems, 00:12:25.009 --> 00:12:27.970 was one in the media. Castro was a genius at 00:12:27.970 --> 00:12:32.370 PR. A master of political theater. In 1957, he 00:12:32.370 --> 00:12:35.070 pulls off this incredible coup. He arranges for 00:12:35.070 --> 00:12:38.029 a reporter from the New York Times, Herbert Matthews, 00:12:38.029 --> 00:12:40.090 to come deep into the mountains for an interview. 00:12:40.309 --> 00:12:43.169 And Matthews' report was a sensation. It portrayed 00:12:43.169 --> 00:12:46.610 Castro as this heroic, almost mythical freedom 00:12:46.610 --> 00:12:49.789 fighter. It completely refuted Batista's claims 00:12:49.789 --> 00:12:52.429 that the rebellion was crushed. That one interview 00:12:52.429 --> 00:12:55.590 turned Castro from a local Cuban insurgent into 00:12:55.590 --> 00:12:58.210 an international celebrity overnight. And what 00:12:58.210 --> 00:13:00.330 was he promising at this stage? Was he talking 00:13:00.330 --> 00:13:02.490 about socialism? Not at all. He was very careful. 00:13:02.549 --> 00:13:05.129 He published the Sierra Maestra Manifesto, which 00:13:05.129 --> 00:13:07.889 promised really moderate reforms, land reform, 00:13:08.049 --> 00:13:10.990 industrialization, a big literacy campaign. It 00:13:10.990 --> 00:13:12.950 was all designed to appeal to the broadest possible 00:13:12.950 --> 00:13:16.580 anti -Batista coalition. He presented this nationalist, 00:13:16.700 --> 00:13:18.980 democratic face to the world. So Batista decides 00:13:18.980 --> 00:13:22.039 he has to crush them once and for all. He launches 00:13:22.039 --> 00:13:24.659 Operation Verano. Right. A massive counteroffensive. 00:13:24.740 --> 00:13:26.960 He sends 10 ,000 soldiers into the mountains 00:13:26.960 --> 00:13:29.580 against what was maybe 300 rebels. And it failed. 00:13:30.580 --> 00:13:33.620 Spectacularly. A few reasons. Batista's army. 00:13:34.080 --> 00:13:36.080 It was a conventional force. They were totally 00:13:36.080 --> 00:13:38.240 unprepared for guerrilla warfare in the mountains. 00:13:38.460 --> 00:13:40.799 Their morale was terrible. Defection rates were 00:13:40.799 --> 00:13:43.779 incredibly high. And Castro's rebels just used 00:13:43.779 --> 00:13:46.399 their local knowledge, ambushes, landmines to 00:13:46.399 --> 00:13:48.480 completely halt the offensive. And that's when 00:13:48.480 --> 00:13:50.960 the U .S. pulls its support for Batista. That 00:13:50.960 --> 00:13:53.289 was the final nail in the coffin. The U .S. was 00:13:53.289 --> 00:13:55.649 getting fed up with Batista's brutality and his 00:13:55.649 --> 00:13:58.509 obvious inability to win. Once they withdrew 00:13:58.509 --> 00:14:01.470 military aid, the regime just crumbled from within. 00:14:01.669 --> 00:14:05.029 Batista flees on New Year's Eve 1958. He does. 00:14:05.169 --> 00:14:07.870 He takes over $300 million with him and leaves 00:14:07.870 --> 00:14:10.590 the power vacuum. Castro is furious at this. 00:14:10.690 --> 00:14:12.990 He sees it as a trick to install a different 00:14:12.990 --> 00:14:15.850 government. So he orders his columns, led by 00:14:15.850 --> 00:14:19.100 Guevara and Cienfuegos, to march on Havana. Castro 00:14:19.100 --> 00:14:22.320 himself enters the city in January 1959 to these 00:14:22.320 --> 00:14:24.899 massive euphoric crowds. So the revolution has 00:14:24.899 --> 00:14:28.000 won, but now he has to govern. He starts by appointing 00:14:28.000 --> 00:14:31.259 a moderate, Manuel Urrutia, as president. Right, 00:14:31.360 --> 00:14:33.700 but that was mostly for show. Castro quickly 00:14:33.700 --> 00:14:35.840 took the real power for himself. He's sworn in 00:14:35.840 --> 00:14:37.840 as prime minister in February and immediately 00:14:37.840 --> 00:14:40.559 starts ruling by decree. And one of the first 00:14:40.559 --> 00:14:44.409 things he does is incredibly controversial. The 00:14:44.409 --> 00:14:47.289 mass trials. Yes. There was this overwhelming 00:14:47.289 --> 00:14:51.809 popular demand for revenge against the Baristanos. 00:14:51.909 --> 00:14:54.289 So they held these public trials that resulted 00:14:54.289 --> 00:14:57.000 in hundreds of executions. How did he justify 00:14:57.000 --> 00:14:59.080 that, especially with the world watching? He 00:14:59.080 --> 00:15:02.259 called it revolutionary justice. He said it wasn't 00:15:02.259 --> 00:15:06.220 based on old legal rules, but on moral conviction. 00:15:06.559 --> 00:15:08.940 The argument was that the old system was corrupt, 00:15:09.080 --> 00:15:11.399 so the revolution itself had to be the judge. 00:15:11.559 --> 00:15:13.720 But critics, of course, pointed to it as setting 00:15:13.720 --> 00:15:15.759 a really dangerous precedent for bypassing the 00:15:15.759 --> 00:15:18.049 rule of law. At the same time, though, the social 00:15:18.049 --> 00:15:20.389 reforms he promised were happening and happening 00:15:20.389 --> 00:15:22.690 fast. They were profound and people could feel 00:15:22.690 --> 00:15:25.009 them immediately. Rents for the poor were cut 00:15:25.009 --> 00:15:27.029 in half. High level government salaries were 00:15:27.029 --> 00:15:29.970 slashed. And they launched these massive projects 00:15:29.970 --> 00:15:32.690 in education and health care. The sources say 00:15:32.690 --> 00:15:34.909 they opened more classrooms in the first 30 months 00:15:34.909 --> 00:15:37.110 than had been opened in the previous 30 years. 00:15:37.250 --> 00:15:39.889 An incredible statistic. But the political signs 00:15:39.889 --> 00:15:42.639 were already pointing away from democracy. Oh, 00:15:42.639 --> 00:15:44.840 absolutely. The clearest signal was when he postponed 00:15:44.840 --> 00:15:48.659 elections. The slogan was Revolution First, Elections 00:15:48.659 --> 00:15:50.840 Later. That pretty much told you everything you 00:15:50.840 --> 00:15:52.980 needed to know. And when he visited the U .S. 00:15:52.980 --> 00:15:55.720 in April 59, he met with Vice President Nixon. 00:15:56.080 --> 00:15:59.299 Right. Eisenhower refused to meet him. And Nixon's 00:15:59.299 --> 00:16:00.980 assessment from that meeting is fascinating. 00:16:01.320 --> 00:16:04.220 What did he think? Nixon was conflicted. He saw 00:16:04.220 --> 00:16:06.480 that Castro was this incredibly charismatic, 00:16:06.840 --> 00:16:09.840 powerful leader, but he also said he was either 00:16:09.840 --> 00:16:13.080 incredibly naive about communism or under communist 00:16:13.080 --> 00:16:16.139 discipline. Nixon sensed that there was a deeper 00:16:16.139 --> 00:16:18.919 ideology at play than just simple nationalism. 00:16:19.399 --> 00:16:21.440 And the breaking point with the U .S. really 00:16:21.440 --> 00:16:23.879 comes with the agrarian reforms in May 1959. 00:16:24.399 --> 00:16:26.720 That was the point of no return. The new law 00:16:26.720 --> 00:16:29.379 put caps on how much land anyone could own and 00:16:29.379 --> 00:16:32.289 crucially banned foreign ownership of land. This 00:16:32.289 --> 00:16:34.429 was a direct attack on the massive U .S. corporations 00:16:34.429 --> 00:16:36.870 that owned huge parts of Cuba. It was a massive 00:16:36.870 --> 00:16:39.750 transfer of wealth. It was. About 15 % of the 00:16:39.750 --> 00:16:42.049 nation's wealth changed hands, taken from the 00:16:42.049 --> 00:16:44.289 elite, including Castro's own mother, and given 00:16:44.289 --> 00:16:46.889 to the state. Castro called it the dictatorship 00:16:46.889 --> 00:16:49.590 of the exploited against the exploiters. This 00:16:49.590 --> 00:16:52.070 shift also led to a purge of moderates within 00:16:52.070 --> 00:16:54.470 his own government, right? The Hubert Matos affair. 00:16:54.850 --> 00:16:57.649 That was the litmus test. Hubert Matos was a 00:16:57.649 --> 00:17:00.750 respected revolutionary commander. He resigned 00:17:00.750 --> 00:17:03.490 in October 59, saying he was worried about the 00:17:03.490 --> 00:17:05.509 growing communist influence in the government. 00:17:05.630 --> 00:17:08.109 And Castro's reaction? He had him arrested immediately. 00:17:08.410 --> 00:17:11.230 Yeah. The message was clear. Disagreeing with 00:17:11.230 --> 00:17:13.549 the ideological direction of the revolution is 00:17:13.549 --> 00:17:16.910 a form of treason. Around the same time, the 00:17:16.910 --> 00:17:18.910 moderate head of the National Bank resigned and 00:17:18.910 --> 00:17:21.450 was replaced by Che Guevara. It was a clear signal 00:17:21.450 --> 00:17:23.410 of where things were headed. So the U .S. starts 00:17:23.410 --> 00:17:25.970 to move from disapproval to actively trying to 00:17:25.970 --> 00:17:28.990 get rid of him. By March 1960, yes. Eisenhower 00:17:28.990 --> 00:17:31.490 gives the CIA the green light to overthrow Castro. 00:17:31.670 --> 00:17:34.369 They get a $13 million budget. The CIA even started 00:17:34.369 --> 00:17:36.589 working with the mafia, who were furious that 00:17:36.589 --> 00:17:39.250 Castro had shut down all their casinos and brothels 00:17:39.250 --> 00:17:41.430 in Havana. So Castro needs a powerful friend. 00:17:41.630 --> 00:17:43.869 And he finds one in the Soviet Union. He signs 00:17:43.869 --> 00:17:46.970 a huge trade deal, swapping Cuban sugar for Soviet 00:17:46.970 --> 00:17:49.970 oil. The real escalation came when the U .S.-owned 00:17:49.970 --> 00:17:53.049 oil refineries in Cuba refused to process the 00:17:53.049 --> 00:17:55.970 Soviet crude. So Castro nationalized them. Instantly. 00:17:56.400 --> 00:17:59.000 And that's what triggered the U .S. to impose 00:17:59.000 --> 00:18:01.779 the economic embargo that would define their 00:18:01.779 --> 00:18:04.299 relationship for the next 60 years. During this 00:18:04.299 --> 00:18:06.799 time, he also creates this powerful tool for 00:18:06.799 --> 00:18:09.220 social control, the Committees for the Defense 00:18:09.220 --> 00:18:12.380 of the Revolution, the CDRs. Right. On the surface, 00:18:12.619 --> 00:18:15.099 they were neighborhood watch groups for public 00:18:15.099 --> 00:18:17.440 health campaigns and things like that. But in 00:18:17.440 --> 00:18:19.940 reality, they became this vast network of neighborhood 00:18:19.940 --> 00:18:23.420 spies designed to report any counter -revolutionary 00:18:23.420 --> 00:18:26.309 activity. By 1970, some... something like 80 00:18:26.309 --> 00:18:28.970 % of the population were members. It gave the 00:18:28.970 --> 00:18:31.470 state incredible control right down to the block 00:18:31.470 --> 00:18:33.789 level. And all of this tension builds and builds 00:18:33.789 --> 00:18:36.349 until it explodes with the Bay of Pigs invasion. 00:18:36.769 --> 00:18:39.549 The U .S. cuts diplomatic ties in January 1961. 00:18:40.400 --> 00:18:42.880 Then in April, the CIA -backed brigade of Cuban 00:18:42.880 --> 00:18:45.819 exiles invades at the Bay of Pigs. Castro personally 00:18:45.819 --> 00:18:48.000 takes command of the defense, and the invasion 00:18:48.000 --> 00:18:50.700 is a complete spectacular failure within days. 00:18:50.960 --> 00:18:53.819 It was a huge military victory for Castro and 00:18:53.819 --> 00:18:56.099 an even bigger propaganda victory. And he used 00:18:56.099 --> 00:18:58.519 that victory to make his big announcement. He 00:18:58.519 --> 00:19:01.099 did. Standing in front of cheering crowds right 00:19:01.099 --> 00:19:03.299 after the invasion was defeated, he declares, 00:19:03.400 --> 00:19:05.940 What the imperialists cannot forgive us is that 00:19:05.940 --> 00:19:08.099 we have made a socialist revolution under their 00:19:08.099 --> 00:19:12.079 noses. That was it. That was the moment he officially 00:19:12.079 --> 00:19:14.980 defined Cuba as a socialist state. The pretense 00:19:14.980 --> 00:19:17.640 of a multi -party system was over. He then starts 00:19:17.640 --> 00:19:20.799 to consolidate all political power under a Leninist 00:19:20.799 --> 00:19:23.500 model. Right. He merges all the different revolutionary 00:19:23.500 --> 00:19:26.220 groups into one organization based on the principle 00:19:26.220 --> 00:19:28.980 of democratic centralism, which basically means 00:19:28.980 --> 00:19:31.359 the party, and therefore Castro controls everything. 00:19:31.819 --> 00:19:34.220 And this control extends into culture and social 00:19:34.220 --> 00:19:36.619 life, leading to some pretty harsh repression. 00:19:36.779 --> 00:19:39.140 Absolutely. There was a famous case where a film 00:19:39.140 --> 00:19:42.420 called PM was censored that led to his big words 00:19:42.420 --> 00:19:44.839 to the intellectual speech where he laid down 00:19:44.839 --> 00:19:47.079 the law. Within the revolution, everything goes. 00:19:47.180 --> 00:19:50.099 Against the revolution, nothing. This is also 00:19:50.099 --> 00:19:52.460 the period when they began persecuting homosexuals 00:19:52.460 --> 00:19:55.019 and others they saw as social deviants, calling 00:19:55.019 --> 00:19:57.599 them bourgeois traits. And economically, things 00:19:57.599 --> 00:20:00.259 were not going well. Not at all. The economy 00:20:00.259 --> 00:20:03.940 was in a terrible state by 1962. The state planning 00:20:03.940 --> 00:20:06.720 commission had promised 10 % growth, but bad 00:20:06.720 --> 00:20:09.119 management and the U .S. embargo led to a steep 00:20:09.119 --> 00:20:12.140 decline. There were food shortages, rationing. 00:20:12.460 --> 00:20:15.279 It got so bad that Castro actually purged some 00:20:15.279 --> 00:20:17.859 of the old communists, blaming them for the failures, 00:20:17.859 --> 00:20:20.279 calling them sectarian, which was also a way 00:20:20.279 --> 00:20:22.400 of asserting his own total control over the Moscow 00:20:22.400 --> 00:20:24.720 loyalists. Which takes us right up to the doorstep 00:20:24.720 --> 00:20:27.259 of the Cuban Missile Crisis, probably the single 00:20:27.259 --> 00:20:29.519 most dangerous moment of the entire Cold War. 00:20:29.640 --> 00:20:31.859 And Castro's right at the heart of it. What was 00:20:31.859 --> 00:20:34.480 his thinking in agreeing to let the Soviets put 00:20:34.480 --> 00:20:37.859 nuclear missiles in Cuba? Two things. Security 00:20:37.859 --> 00:20:41.269 and ideology. Khrushchev wanted to put missiles 00:20:41.269 --> 00:20:43.430 there to balance out the U .S. missiles he had 00:20:43.430 --> 00:20:46.930 in Turkey. For Castro, he saw it as an absolute 00:20:46.930 --> 00:20:49.390 guarantee against another U .S. invasion like 00:20:49.390 --> 00:20:52.089 the Bay of Pigs. He also saw it as a way to advance 00:20:52.089 --> 00:20:54.549 the cause of global socialism. And it was all 00:20:54.549 --> 00:20:56.990 done in complete secrecy. Until they were discovered. 00:20:57.109 --> 00:20:58.549 And this is where it gets really terrifying. 00:20:59.450 --> 00:21:01.670 Castro's position was even more extreme than 00:21:01.670 --> 00:21:05.130 Khrushchev's. It really was. Once the U .S. blockaded 00:21:05.130 --> 00:21:07.220 the island. The tension was just unbelievable. 00:21:07.720 --> 00:21:09.779 Castro, genuinely believing a U .S. invasion 00:21:09.779 --> 00:21:12.640 was imminent, sent a message to Khrushchev urging 00:21:12.640 --> 00:21:14.839 him to launch a nuclear first strike against 00:21:14.839 --> 00:21:17.119 the United States if Cuba was invaded. He was 00:21:17.119 --> 00:21:19.759 willing to risk nuclear Armageddon. For the survival 00:21:19.759 --> 00:21:22.500 of his revolution, yes. It was a shocking request. 00:21:22.900 --> 00:21:25.299 Thankfully, Khrushchev ignored him and negotiated 00:21:25.299 --> 00:21:27.859 directly with the U .S. But that left Castro 00:21:27.859 --> 00:21:29.980 feeling betrayed. He was absolutely furious. 00:21:30.200 --> 00:21:32.859 The deal was the Soviets pull the missiles. The 00:21:32.859 --> 00:21:35.640 U .S. promises not to invade and secretly removes 00:21:35.640 --> 00:21:38.099 its missiles from Turkey. Castro felt like a 00:21:38.099 --> 00:21:40.130 pawn. They had decided the fate of his country 00:21:40.130 --> 00:21:42.470 over his head. In response, he refused to allow 00:21:42.470 --> 00:21:44.890 UN inspections of the missile sites. It showed 00:21:44.890 --> 00:21:47.670 his deep distrust of both superpowers. But he 00:21:47.670 --> 00:21:49.769 couldn't afford to stay angry. He needed the 00:21:49.769 --> 00:21:52.170 Soviets. He had to mend fences. He visited the 00:21:52.170 --> 00:21:55.410 USSR in 1963, got the Order of Lenin, even sent 00:21:55.410 --> 00:21:58.289 his son Fidelito to school in Moscow. The Soviet 00:21:58.289 --> 00:22:01.029 economic lifeline was just too important to lose. 00:22:01.410 --> 00:22:03.490 Let's talk about his foreign policy in the mid 00:22:03.490 --> 00:22:06.390 -60s. The Soviets were talking about... peaceful 00:22:06.390 --> 00:22:09.750 coexistence. But Castro was all about exporting 00:22:09.750 --> 00:22:12.269 revolution. This was the peak of his revolutionary 00:22:12.269 --> 00:22:16.170 ambition. He saw Cuba as the vanguard, proof 00:22:16.170 --> 00:22:18.750 that small nations could stand up to imperialism. 00:22:19.049 --> 00:22:21.529 So he started training and supporting militant 00:22:21.529 --> 00:22:23.970 groups from all over the world, the Viet Cong, 00:22:24.210 --> 00:22:27.150 the Black Panthers. He supported Marxist governments 00:22:27.150 --> 00:22:29.880 in Chile and Congo. And he formalized this with 00:22:29.880 --> 00:22:32.839 the Tri -Continental Conference in 1966. Yes, 00:22:32.880 --> 00:22:35.119 that's where they set up the Latin American Solidarity 00:22:35.119 --> 00:22:37.839 Organization, OLSS, with that famous slogan, 00:22:38.039 --> 00:22:40.480 the duty of a revolution is to make revolution. 00:22:41.440 --> 00:22:43.539 He was positioning Havana as the headquarters 00:22:43.539 --> 00:22:46.059 for global guerrilla movements, often in direct 00:22:46.059 --> 00:22:48.220 opposition to Soviet policy. And this is the 00:22:48.220 --> 00:22:50.299 period that ends with the death of Che Guevara. 00:22:50.809 --> 00:22:53.470 Che was in Bolivia trying to start his Andean 00:22:53.470 --> 00:22:55.630 project, this continental revolution, when he 00:22:55.630 --> 00:22:58.349 was captured and killed in 1967. The sources 00:22:58.349 --> 00:23:01.069 say Castro was personally devastated. The loss 00:23:01.069 --> 00:23:03.490 of his closest comrade was a huge blow, and it 00:23:03.490 --> 00:23:05.690 made him rethink his strategy for exporting revolution. 00:23:06.089 --> 00:23:08.910 Back in Cuba, the economy was struggling, and 00:23:08.910 --> 00:23:12.089 he responded with even more ideology, the great 00:23:12.089 --> 00:23:15.750 revolutionary offensive of 1968. He was inspired 00:23:15.750 --> 00:23:18.430 by the fervor of the Chinese Cultural Revolution. 00:23:18.890 --> 00:23:21.650 So he decides to wipe out the last vestiges of 00:23:21.650 --> 00:23:24.869 private enterprise. He shut down all 55 ,000 00:23:24.869 --> 00:23:27.529 remaining private businesses, from small shops 00:23:27.529 --> 00:23:29.769 to street stalls, calling the owners parasites 00:23:29.769 --> 00:23:32.410 and counterrevolutionaries. And the result? An 00:23:32.410 --> 00:23:35.430 economic disaster. Productivity just plummeted. 00:23:35.430 --> 00:23:37.650 It was impossible to get basic consumer goods. 00:23:37.990 --> 00:23:40.599 This ushered in a period they called... the gray 00:23:40.599 --> 00:23:42.779 years. And this is when he's forced to align 00:23:42.779 --> 00:23:44.940 more closely with the Soviet economic model. 00:23:45.119 --> 00:23:47.579 She had no choice. The economy was in shambles. 00:23:47.680 --> 00:23:51.579 From 1970 to 72, Soviet economists came in and 00:23:51.579 --> 00:23:53.900 basically restructured the entire system. In 00:23:53.900 --> 00:23:57.519 1972, Cuba formally joined ComCon, the Soviet 00:23:57.519 --> 00:23:59.900 economic bloc. This locked them into being a 00:23:59.900 --> 00:24:01.859 producer of sugar for the Soviets in exchange 00:24:01.859 --> 00:24:04.019 for oil and subsidies. The dream of independent 00:24:04.019 --> 00:24:06.460 industrialization was over. But while he's becoming 00:24:06.460 --> 00:24:09.119 more dependent on Moscow economically, he starts 00:24:09.119 --> 00:24:11.500 projecting Cuban military power in a way no one 00:24:11.500 --> 00:24:14.859 expected, especially in Africa. Right. He saw 00:24:14.859 --> 00:24:17.839 Africa as the weakest link in the imperialist 00:24:17.839 --> 00:24:20.400 chain, a place where Cuba could really make a 00:24:20.400 --> 00:24:23.559 mark fighting colonialism and apartheid. It started 00:24:23.559 --> 00:24:25.900 with sending about 4 ,000 troops to help Syria 00:24:25.900 --> 00:24:29.539 in the 1973 Yom Kippur War. But the really huge 00:24:29.539 --> 00:24:32.779 commitment was in Angola in 1975. That was a 00:24:32.779 --> 00:24:35.829 massive undertaking. He sent 18 ,000 troops to 00:24:35.829 --> 00:24:38.450 support the Marxist MPLA in the Angolan Civil 00:24:38.450 --> 00:24:41.089 War against factions backed by the U .S. and 00:24:41.089 --> 00:24:43.450 apartheid South Africa. Yeah. The logistics of 00:24:43.450 --> 00:24:45.329 moving that many soldiers across the Atlantic 00:24:45.329 --> 00:24:48.250 were staggering. And Castro always insisted it 00:24:48.250 --> 00:24:51.069 was his decision, not a Soviet order. It was 00:24:51.069 --> 00:24:53.849 about taking a moral stand against apartheid. 00:24:53.849 --> 00:24:55.569 And he didn't stop there. He got involved in 00:24:55.569 --> 00:24:57.650 the Horn of Africa, too. He did in the Ogaden 00:24:57.650 --> 00:25:01.269 War in 1977. He sided with Marxist Ethiopia against 00:25:01.269 --> 00:25:04.769 Somalia. He sent 17 ,000 Cuban troops, and they 00:25:04.769 --> 00:25:06.890 were the decisive factor in Ethiopia's victory. 00:25:07.130 --> 00:25:09.569 This period really cemented Cuba's reputation 00:25:09.569 --> 00:25:12.049 as a serious military player on the world stage, 00:25:12.289 --> 00:25:15.109 an indispensable ally for anti -colonial movements. 00:25:15.430 --> 00:25:17.170 And while all this is happening abroad, he's 00:25:17.170 --> 00:25:19.569 finally formalizing his power at home with the 00:25:19.569 --> 00:25:23.549 1976 Constitution. Right. After 16 years of just 00:25:23.549 --> 00:25:27.230 ruling by decree. This new constitution, which 00:25:27.230 --> 00:25:30.670 was heavily based on the 1936 Soviet one, officially 00:25:30.670 --> 00:25:33.710 created the single -party socialist state. It 00:25:33.710 --> 00:25:35.769 made Castro both head of state and head of government, 00:25:35.910 --> 00:25:38.670 concentrating all legal power in his hands. But 00:25:38.670 --> 00:25:41.609 the system included a national assembly? Castro 00:25:41.609 --> 00:25:44.329 claimed this was a form of direct democracy. 00:25:44.849 --> 00:25:47.140 That's the core contradiction. He would argue 00:25:47.140 --> 00:25:49.700 it was more democratic than Western systems because 00:25:49.700 --> 00:25:51.619 people participated through mass assemblies. 00:25:51.759 --> 00:25:54.660 But the reality was it was all based on Leninist 00:25:54.660 --> 00:25:56.759 democratic centralism. All candidates were vetted 00:25:56.759 --> 00:25:59.720 by the party and the CDRs, so no real opposition 00:25:59.720 --> 00:26:02.779 could ever emerge. The power was completely centralized 00:26:02.779 --> 00:26:04.859 in the party, which meant it was completely invested 00:26:04.859 --> 00:26:07.059 in the personality of Fidel and his brother Raul. 00:26:07.299 --> 00:26:09.619 By the end of the 70s, he's also a major figure 00:26:09.619 --> 00:26:11.960 in global diplomacy, leading the non -aligned 00:26:11.960 --> 00:26:14.279 movement. Yes, he was president of the NNM from 00:26:14.279 --> 00:26:17.769 79 to 83. He used that platform, especially at 00:26:17.769 --> 00:26:19.910 the U .N., to rail against global inequality, 00:26:20.349 --> 00:26:22.349 becoming a really powerful voice for the developing 00:26:22.349 --> 00:26:24.930 world. Even if his standing was a bit damaged 00:26:24.930 --> 00:26:26.910 when he refused to condemn the Soviet invasion 00:26:26.910 --> 00:26:29.710 of Afghanistan. As we move into the 1980s, all 00:26:29.710 --> 00:26:31.609 the economic pressure that's been building up 00:26:31.609 --> 00:26:35.049 in Cuba just bursts into view with the Mariel 00:26:35.049 --> 00:26:38.009 boatlift. What happened there? It was a perfect 00:26:38.009 --> 00:26:40.470 storm of economic hardship and political frustration. 00:26:41.470 --> 00:26:44.609 In April 1980, thousands of Cubans stormed the 00:26:44.609 --> 00:26:47.109 Peruvian embassy in Havana, demanding asylum. 00:26:47.789 --> 00:26:50.589 Castro's response was quite something. He just 00:26:50.589 --> 00:26:52.049 announced that anyone who wanted to leave could 00:26:52.049 --> 00:26:54.630 go from the port of Mariel. But the way the government 00:26:54.630 --> 00:26:57.470 managed it was incredibly cynical. It was. It 00:26:57.470 --> 00:26:59.470 was a political move to weaponize the exodus. 00:26:59.609 --> 00:27:03.319 About 120 ,000 refugees left for Florida. But 00:27:03.319 --> 00:27:05.200 the Cuban government used the opportunity to 00:27:05.200 --> 00:27:07.700 empty its prisons and mental hospitals, deliberately 00:27:07.700 --> 00:27:09.680 loading people they considered undesirables, 00:27:09.819 --> 00:27:12.359 criminals, the mentally ill, and homosexuals 00:27:12.359 --> 00:27:15.119 onto the boats. Castro publicly called them scum. 00:27:15.200 --> 00:27:17.039 And throughout the 80s, the only thing keeping 00:27:17.039 --> 00:27:19.599 Cuba afloat was Soviet money. The dependency 00:27:19.599 --> 00:27:23.299 was just staggering. By the late 80s, the USSR 00:27:23.299 --> 00:27:27.500 was pumping in $4 to $5 billion a year in subsidies. 00:27:27.880 --> 00:27:30.700 That's between 30 and 40 percent of Cuba's entire 00:27:30.700 --> 00:27:34.309 GDP. But the problem was, this money didn't encourage 00:27:34.309 --> 00:27:36.769 efficiency or diversification. It just propped 00:27:36.769 --> 00:27:39.109 up a failing system. The Reagan years brought 00:27:39.109 --> 00:27:41.549 more hostility from the U .S., but Castro was 00:27:41.549 --> 00:27:43.750 still fighting his wars abroad, especially in 00:27:43.750 --> 00:27:47.009 Angola. Yes, the final big push in Angola came 00:27:47.009 --> 00:27:50.390 in 1987. Castro saw a victory there as being 00:27:50.390 --> 00:27:52.630 essential to breaking the back of apartheid in 00:27:52.630 --> 00:27:55.910 South Africa. He sent 12 ,000 more troops and 00:27:55.910 --> 00:27:58.049 was personally involved in the strategy for the 00:27:58.049 --> 00:28:00.549 key battle of Cuito Cuanavale. The peace talks 00:28:00.549 --> 00:28:02.910 that followed led to the withdrawal of all foreign 00:28:02.910 --> 00:28:05.349 troops, and Castro claimed it as a huge victory 00:28:05.349 --> 00:28:07.369 against apartheid, which really cemented his 00:28:07.369 --> 00:28:09.650 legacy in Africa. But just as he's winning military 00:28:09.650 --> 00:28:11.769 victories, the ground is shifting under his feet 00:28:11.769 --> 00:28:14.690 in Moscow. Gorbachev's reforms must have terrified 00:28:14.690 --> 00:28:18.430 him. He saw Glasnost and Perestroika as an ideological 00:28:18.430 --> 00:28:20.789 betrayal, something that would weaken socialism 00:28:20.789 --> 00:28:24.910 everywhere. And the end came quickly. In 1989, 00:28:25.269 --> 00:28:27.509 Gorbachev told him the subsidies were ending. 00:28:27.880 --> 00:28:30.339 When the Soviet Union finally collapsed in 1991, 00:28:30.880 --> 00:28:33.319 Cuba's economy was essentially decapitated overnight. 00:28:33.700 --> 00:28:36.680 Which plunged the country into this special period 00:28:36.680 --> 00:28:39.619 in time of peace. It's hard to overstate how 00:28:39.619 --> 00:28:42.339 devastating this was. It was horrific. The GDP 00:28:42.339 --> 00:28:44.619 dropped by more than 40 percent in two years. 00:28:44.839 --> 00:28:47.299 There were massive food shortages, widespread 00:28:47.299 --> 00:28:50.740 malnutrition. The country ground to a halt. Petrol 00:28:50.740 --> 00:28:52.579 was so scarce they had to bring in hundreds of 00:28:52.579 --> 00:28:54.579 thousands of Chinese bicycles and start using 00:28:54.579 --> 00:28:57.390 oxen to plow fields again. There were blackouts 00:28:57.390 --> 00:29:00.349 that lasted 16 hours a day. So how did Castro, 00:29:00.549 --> 00:29:03.190 this rigid ideologue, justify the capitalist 00:29:03.190 --> 00:29:05.509 -style reforms he had to make to survive? Well, 00:29:05.589 --> 00:29:08.349 survival came first. At a party congress in 1991, 00:29:08.730 --> 00:29:11.089 they reluctantly announced these major changes. 00:29:11.250 --> 00:29:13.250 They legalized farmers' markets, allowed for 00:29:13.250 --> 00:29:16.029 small private businesses, and most shocking of 00:29:16.029 --> 00:29:18.829 all, they legalized the U .S. dollar. Dollarization. 00:29:18.869 --> 00:29:21.069 What did that mean for the average person? It 00:29:21.069 --> 00:29:24.299 created a two -tiered society overnight. If you 00:29:24.299 --> 00:29:27.500 had access to dollars from tourism or family 00:29:27.500 --> 00:29:30.700 abroad, you could shop in special, well -stocked 00:29:30.700 --> 00:29:33.460 stores. If you didn't, you were stuck with the 00:29:33.460 --> 00:29:36.920 failing state system. It created massive, visible 00:29:36.920 --> 00:29:39.160 inequality, which went against everything the 00:29:39.160 --> 00:29:42.079 revolution supposedly stood for. And the state 00:29:42.079 --> 00:29:45.319 had to find new sources of income. They pivoted 00:29:45.319 --> 00:29:49.769 hard to tourism and biotechnology. By 1995, tourism 00:29:49.769 --> 00:29:51.849 brought in more money than sugar for the first 00:29:51.849 --> 00:29:53.730 time in Cuban history. There are some social 00:29:53.730 --> 00:29:55.789 shifts during this time, too, right? A bit of 00:29:55.789 --> 00:29:57.789 a loosening up. A noticeable softening, yes. 00:29:58.250 --> 00:30:01.750 They eased emigration restrictions. Castro softened 00:30:01.750 --> 00:30:03.970 his stance on religion, even allowing religious 00:30:03.970 --> 00:30:06.630 believers to join the Communist Party. The Pope's 00:30:06.630 --> 00:30:09.650 visit in 1998 was a huge moment. Castro also 00:30:09.650 --> 00:30:11.869 started talking about environmentalism, trying 00:30:11.869 --> 00:30:13.710 to find a new way to be relevant on the world 00:30:13.710 --> 00:30:16.089 stage. And then an economic savior appeared in 00:30:16.089 --> 00:30:18.950 the form of Hugo Chavez in Venezuela. That alliance, 00:30:19.210 --> 00:30:23.259 forged in 1999, was Cuba's salvation. Chavez 00:30:23.259 --> 00:30:25.819 saw Castro as a mentor. They created a trade 00:30:25.819 --> 00:30:29.000 agreement called ALBA, which was classic socialist 00:30:29.000 --> 00:30:32.480 barter. Cuba sent tens of thousands of doctors 00:30:32.480 --> 00:30:35.180 and teachers to Venezuela in exchange for cheap 00:30:35.180 --> 00:30:38.579 oil up to 90 ,000 barrels a day. It stabilized 00:30:38.579 --> 00:30:41.900 the Cuban economy. By 2006, his health finally 00:30:41.900 --> 00:30:44.400 gives out. Right. He had to undergo intestinal 00:30:44.400 --> 00:30:46.720 surgery, and he provisionally transferred power 00:30:46.720 --> 00:30:50.039 to his brother Raul. Then in February 2008, he 00:30:50.039 --> 00:30:51.500 made it official. He announced he was retiring 00:30:51.500 --> 00:30:54.059 as president and commander in chief. Roel was 00:30:54.059 --> 00:30:56.039 then elected to take his place. But he didn't 00:30:56.039 --> 00:30:58.480 disappear. He remained this elder statesman figure. 00:30:58.579 --> 00:31:01.359 And he made a really remarkable public apology. 00:31:01.680 --> 00:31:04.460 He did. In 2010, he was being interviewed and 00:31:04.460 --> 00:31:06.480 he publicly took responsibility for the persecution 00:31:06.480 --> 00:31:09.240 of gay men back in the 60s and 70s when they 00:31:09.240 --> 00:31:11.380 were sent to labor camps. He called it a great 00:31:11.380 --> 00:31:14.000 injustice. It was stunning and very rare admission 00:31:14.000 --> 00:31:16.180 of a mistake from him. He also kept working behind 00:31:16.180 --> 00:31:18.839 the scenes on the world stage. Yes. We later 00:31:18.839 --> 00:31:21.140 found out he played a key role in orchestrating 00:31:21.140 --> 00:31:22.900 the peace talks between the Colombian government 00:31:22.900 --> 00:31:25.500 and the FARC rebels, using Cuba as a neutral 00:31:25.500 --> 00:31:28.160 ground. His last big political statement was 00:31:28.160 --> 00:31:30.279 during the Cuban thaw with the Obama administration. 00:31:30.759 --> 00:31:33.059 Right. While he sort of supported the idea of 00:31:33.059 --> 00:31:35.640 normalizing relations, his deep -seated anti 00:31:35.640 --> 00:31:37.420 -imperialism just wouldn't let him trust the 00:31:37.420 --> 00:31:41.509 U .S. When President Obama visited in 2016, Castro 00:31:41.509 --> 00:31:44.529 refused to meet him. Instead, he wrote this scathing 00:31:44.529 --> 00:31:47.430 letter saying Cuba has no need of gifts from 00:31:47.430 --> 00:31:50.329 the empire. It was his final, unwavering statement 00:31:50.329 --> 00:31:52.990 of national sovereignty. Fidel Castro died on 00:31:52.990 --> 00:31:56.859 November 25, 2016 at age 90. his ashes were taken 00:31:56.859 --> 00:31:58.940 on a journey that reversed the route of his victory 00:31:58.940 --> 00:32:02.240 caravan in 1959. A symbolic end to an incredibly 00:32:02.240 --> 00:32:04.680 long and complex life. Okay, so we've gone through 00:32:04.680 --> 00:32:07.200 the timeline. Let's try to distill his core ideology. 00:32:07.579 --> 00:32:10.259 What was the engine driving Fidelismo? Well, 00:32:10.279 --> 00:32:12.200 he always said he was a socialist, a Marxist, 00:32:12.200 --> 00:32:15.000 and a Leninist. But if you dig deeper, the most 00:32:15.000 --> 00:32:17.420 fundamental layer was just this intense Cuban 00:32:17.420 --> 00:32:20.690 nationalism. The sources suggest that the 19th 00:32:20.690 --> 00:32:23.369 century independence hero, José Martí, was probably 00:32:23.369 --> 00:32:25.410 more important to his core beliefs than Karl 00:32:25.410 --> 00:32:28.690 Marx was. So it was this unique blend of Martí's 00:32:28.690 --> 00:32:31.730 anti -colonialism and Lenin's centralized power 00:32:31.730 --> 00:32:34.519 structure. Exactly. He defined socialism less 00:32:34.519 --> 00:32:36.900 by political theory and more by state control 00:32:36.900 --> 00:32:40.059 of production and, crucially, distribution, making 00:32:40.059 --> 00:32:42.539 sure everyone had access to health, education, 00:32:42.779 --> 00:32:45.299 and resources. It was a very Latin American brand 00:32:45.299 --> 00:32:47.359 of revolutionary socialism. And within that, 00:32:47.400 --> 00:32:49.279 there were some surprising social views. For 00:32:49.279 --> 00:32:51.160 a global revolutionary, he was pretty socially 00:32:51.160 --> 00:32:54.440 conservative. He hated drugs, gambling, prostitution. 00:32:54.640 --> 00:32:57.039 He saw them as moral poisons left over from the 00:32:57.039 --> 00:32:59.180 Batista days. He talked a lot about integrity, 00:32:59.420 --> 00:33:01.640 hard work, and discipline. Now, what about the 00:33:01.640 --> 00:33:03.960 private man? For someone who was on the world 00:33:03.960 --> 00:33:06.359 stage for so long, his personal life was incredibly 00:33:06.359 --> 00:33:09.779 secret. Almost a total black box. The state never 00:33:09.779 --> 00:33:12.039 released any official information about his family. 00:33:12.359 --> 00:33:15.299 Everything we know comes from defectors or biographies 00:33:15.299 --> 00:33:17.940 written much later. He never had an official 00:33:17.940 --> 00:33:20.359 first lady, for example. His family life was 00:33:20.359 --> 00:33:23.119 very complicated. Very. He had his first marriage 00:33:23.119 --> 00:33:25.859 to Myrta Diaz -Balart, which produced his eldest 00:33:25.859 --> 00:33:28.920 son, Fidelito. But he had relationships with 00:33:28.920 --> 00:33:31.690 multiple women and at least 11 children. His 00:33:31.690 --> 00:33:34.630 longest marriage was to a woman named Dalia Soto 00:33:34.630 --> 00:33:38.210 Del Valle. They had five sons together, but their 00:33:38.210 --> 00:33:40.630 entire existence was kept a secret from the Cuban 00:33:40.630 --> 00:33:44.650 public until around 2006. And then there's the 00:33:44.650 --> 00:33:47.029 controversy over his personal wealth. This is 00:33:47.029 --> 00:33:48.950 one of the biggest points of attack for his critics. 00:33:49.329 --> 00:33:52.710 Forbes magazine back in 2006 estimated his personal 00:33:52.710 --> 00:33:55.670 fortune at $900 million. How did they get to 00:33:55.670 --> 00:33:58.059 that number? It was an assumption. They argued 00:33:58.059 --> 00:33:59.660 that because he had total control over state 00:33:59.660 --> 00:34:01.960 -owned companies, he must be skimming a percentage 00:34:01.960 --> 00:34:04.299 of their profits for himself. And Castro's response? 00:34:04.559 --> 00:34:06.779 He denied it completely, called it a ridiculous 00:34:06.779 --> 00:34:09.960 lie meant to discredit him. But, you know, former 00:34:09.960 --> 00:34:12.440 bodyguards who defected claimed he had private 00:34:12.440 --> 00:34:15.400 islands, yachts, multiple homes. So it remains 00:34:15.400 --> 00:34:18.639 this unresolved paradox. The leader who preached 00:34:18.639 --> 00:34:21.500 austerity. while allegedly controlling immense 00:34:21.500 --> 00:34:24.000 personal wealth. So let's pull all this together 00:34:24.000 --> 00:34:26.159 and look at the legacy first. The criticism, 00:34:26.320 --> 00:34:29.099 the brutal dictator label. The criticism is very 00:34:29.099 --> 00:34:32.039 clear. People like Donald Trump, Marco Rubio, 00:34:32.079 --> 00:34:33.960 they consistently called him a brutal dictator. 00:34:34.440 --> 00:34:37.119 Human Rights Watch documented what they called 00:34:37.119 --> 00:34:40.219 his repressive machinery. The systematic human 00:34:40.219 --> 00:34:42.920 rights abuses, the total censorship, the suppression 00:34:42.920 --> 00:34:45.239 of all political dissent, and of course the fact 00:34:45.239 --> 00:34:47.019 that hundreds of thousands of Cubans chose to 00:34:47.019 --> 00:34:49.639 flee. But the defense, the champion label, is 00:34:49.639 --> 00:34:51.780 just as passionate, especially from the global 00:34:51.780 --> 00:34:54.760 south. Absolutely. His supporters see him as 00:34:54.760 --> 00:34:57.099 the man who finally gave Cuba true independence 00:34:57.099 --> 00:34:59.760 from the United States. And you cannot deny the 00:34:59.760 --> 00:35:01.989 achievements in social welfare. The improvements 00:35:01.989 --> 00:35:04.289 in health care and education were so substantial 00:35:04.289 --> 00:35:08.309 that by 2006, the UN said Cuba had achieved sustainable 00:35:08.309 --> 00:35:10.969 development, which is just extraordinary for 00:35:10.969 --> 00:35:13.650 a small, blockaded island nation. The reactions 00:35:13.650 --> 00:35:16.210 to his death really showed that global split. 00:35:16.409 --> 00:35:19.449 Perfectly. U .S. leaders and Cuban exiles condemned 00:35:19.449 --> 00:35:21.849 him, but leaders from allied nations praised 00:35:21.849 --> 00:35:24.590 him. Justin Trudeau called him a remarkable leader. 00:35:24.809 --> 00:35:27.329 Putin called him a sincere and reliable friend. 00:35:27.739 --> 00:35:30.820 And maybe most powerfully, Nelson Mandela always 00:35:30.820 --> 00:35:33.920 credited Cuba's role in helping to end apartheid. 00:35:33.920 --> 00:35:36.119 And how do historians tend to view his consolidation 00:35:36.119 --> 00:35:38.699 of power? They often talk about his moral and 00:35:38.699 --> 00:35:41.099 political hegemony. Meaning no matter what the 00:35:41.099 --> 00:35:43.559 Constitution said, all power was completely invested 00:35:43.559 --> 00:35:46.539 in his personality. That level of personal control 00:35:46.539 --> 00:35:49.059 for five decades is what leads to the comparisons 00:35:49.059 --> 00:35:51.780 with other major 20th century authoritarian leaders. 00:35:51.940 --> 00:35:54.159 The bottom line is he built and ran a one party 00:35:54.159 --> 00:35:56.699 state where political opposition was simply not 00:35:56.699 --> 00:35:59.420 allowed. So as we wrap up this deep dive, let's 00:35:59.420 --> 00:36:02.099 just quickly recap. We've seen how a failed military 00:36:02.099 --> 00:36:04.619 attack at Mankato was brilliantly turned into 00:36:04.619 --> 00:36:07.039 the political force of the 26th of July movement. 00:36:07.380 --> 00:36:10.699 He navigated the. absolute peak of Cold War tension 00:36:10.699 --> 00:36:13.420 in the missile crisis and projected Cuban power 00:36:13.420 --> 00:36:15.940 all over the world, especially in Africa. And 00:36:15.940 --> 00:36:18.679 maybe most impressively, he was the force that 00:36:18.679 --> 00:36:20.360 held the country together through the economic 00:36:20.360 --> 00:36:23.360 trauma of the special period, surviving by mixing 00:36:23.360 --> 00:36:26.380 his fierce nationalist ideology with some very 00:36:26.380 --> 00:36:29.539 pragmatic capitalist style reforms. His ability 00:36:29.539 --> 00:36:31.800 to adapt while never giving up ultimate control 00:36:31.800 --> 00:36:34.119 is, well, it's a testament to his political skill. 00:36:34.440 --> 00:36:36.280 And that central paradox, that's really the heart 00:36:36.280 --> 00:36:38.760 of it all. He delivered on his promises of national 00:36:38.760 --> 00:36:41.019 sovereignty and expanded social rights, health 00:36:41.019 --> 00:36:43.539 care, education for the collective. But the price 00:36:43.539 --> 00:36:45.480 for that was the total suppression of individual 00:36:45.480 --> 00:36:48.800 political freedoms and the creation of this centralized 00:36:48.800 --> 00:36:52.300 one man state. A fascinating and for many, a 00:36:52.300 --> 00:36:55.699 devastating figure. His life is a perfect encapsulation 00:36:55.699 --> 00:36:58.320 of the triumphs, the contradictions and the immense 00:36:58.320 --> 00:37:02.000 cost of 20th century revolution. Indeed. Which 00:37:02.000 --> 00:37:04.099 brings us to our final provocative thought for 00:37:04.099 --> 00:37:06.059 you, the learner, to consider. Think back to 00:37:06.059 --> 00:37:08.559 the beginning. Castro initially promised multi 00:37:08.559 --> 00:37:10.320 -party elections, but then he cancelled them, 00:37:10.440 --> 00:37:13.119 claiming his government was a direct democracy 00:37:13.119 --> 00:37:16.420 of mass assemblies. So here's the question. To 00:37:16.420 --> 00:37:18.400 what extent can a revolution that starts with 00:37:18.400 --> 00:37:21.380 democratic and anti -colonial ideals justify 00:37:21.380 --> 00:37:23.840 eventually rejecting electoral democracy for 00:37:23.840 --> 00:37:26.460 a one -party, one -man state? What happens when 00:37:26.460 --> 00:37:28.179 a leader's commitment to national sovereignty 00:37:28.179 --> 00:37:30.639 which he delivered starts to fundamentally conflict 00:37:30.639 --> 00:37:32.780 with the promise of political liberty which he 00:37:32.780 --> 00:37:34.460 suppressed? That's something to mull over.