Fidel castro brief biography of mozart

Leader of Cuba from to

"El Comandante" redirects here. For the TV series, see El Comandante (TV series). For other uses, see Fidel Castro (disambiguation).

Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz^[a] (KASS-troh,^[1]Latin American Spanish:[fiˈðelaleˈxandɾoˈkastɾoˈrus]; 13 August – 25 November ) was a Cuban revolutionary and politician who was the leader of Cuba from to , serving as the prime minister of Cuba from to and president from to Ideologically a Marxist–Leninist and Cuban nationalist, he also served as the first secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba from until Under his administration, Cuba became a one-partycommunist state; industry and business were nationalized, and socialist reforms were implemented throughout society.

Born in Birán, the son of a wealthy Spanish farmer, Castro adopted leftist and anti-imperialist ideas while studying law at the University of Havana. After participating in rebellions against right-wing governments in the Dominican Republic and Colombia, he planned the overthrow of Cuban president Fulgencio Batista, launching a failed attack on the Moncada Barracks in After a year's imprisonment, Castro travelled to Mexico where he formed a revolutionary group, the 26th of July Movement, with his brother, Raúl Castro, and Ernesto "Che" Guevara.

Returning to Cuba, Castro took a key role in the Cuban Revolution by leading the Movement in a guerrilla war against Batista's forces from the Sierra Maestra. After Batista's overthrow in , Castro assumed military and political power as Cuba's prime minister. The United States came to oppose Castro's government and unsuccessfully attempted to remove him by assassination, economic embargo, and counter-revolution, including the Bay of Pigs Invasion of Countering these threats, Castro aligned with the Soviet Union and allowed the Soviets to place nuclear weapons in Cuba, resulting in the Cuban Missile Crisis—a defining incident of the Cold War—in

Adopting a Marxist–Leninist model of development, Castro converted Cuba into a one-party, socialist state under Communist Party rule, the first in the Western Hemisphere.

Fidel castro brief biography of mozart He then established a communist state in Cuba. The fall of the Soviet Union in left him in a marginal position at the head of one of the few surviving communist dictatorships. But, the attack on Moncada Barracks spectacularly failed, and Castro was jailed for a year for his participation. President Dwight Eisenhower supported and funded military training of over one thousand Cubans living in exile.

Policies introducing central economic planning and expanding healthcare and education were accompanied by state control of the press and the suppression of internal dissent. Abroad, Castro supported anti-imperialist revolutionary groups, backing the establishment of Marxist governments in Chile, Nicaragua, and Grenada, as well as sending troops to aid allies in the Yom Kippur, Ogaden, and Angolan Civil War.

These actions, coupled with Castro's leadership of the Non-Aligned Movement from to and Cuban medical internationalism, increased Cuba's profile on the world stage. Following the dissolution of the Soviet Union in , Castro led Cuba through the economic downturn of the "Special Period", embracing environmentalist and anti-globalization ideas.

In the s, Castro forged alliances in the Latin American "pink tide"—namely with Hugo Chávez's Venezuela—and formed the Bolivarian Alliance for the Americas.

Brief biography of beethoven

Fidel Castro: Biography, Guerrilla Warfare & Death - World ...

In , Castro transferred his responsibilities to Vice President Raúl Castro, who was elected to the presidency by the National Assembly in

The longest-serving non-royal head of state in the 20th and 21st centuries, Castro polarized world opinion. His supporters view him as a champion of socialism and anti-imperialism whose revolutionary government advanced economic and social justice while securing Cuba's independence from American hegemony.

His critics view him as a dictator whose administration oversaw human rights abuses, the exodus of many Cubans, and the impoverishment of the country's economy.

Early life and career

Main article: Early life of Fidel Castro

Youth: –

Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz was born out of wedlock at his father's farm on 13 August ^[2] His father, Ángel Castro y Argiz, a veteran of the Spanish–American War,^[3] was a migrant to Cuba from Galicia, in the northwest of Spain.^[4] He had become financially successful by growing sugarcane at Las Manacas farm in Birán, then in Oriente Province (now Holguín Province).^[5] After the collapse of his first marriage he took his household servant, Lina Ruz González&#; (–)—of Canarian ancestry—as his mistress and later second wife; together they had seven children, among them Fidel.^[6] At age six, Castro was sent to live with his teacher in Santiago de Cuba,^[7] before being baptized into the Roman Catholic Church at the age of eight.^[8] Being baptized enabled Castro to attend the La Salle boarding school in Santiago, where he regularly misbehaved; he was next sent to the privately funded, Jesuit-run Dolores School in Santiago.^[9]

In , Castro transferred to the Jesuit-run El Colegio de Belén in Havana.^[10] Although Castro took an interest in history, geography, and debate at Belén, he did not excel academically, instead devoting much of his time to playing sports.^[11] In , Castro began studying law at the University of Havana.^[12] Admitting he was "politically illiterate", Castro became embroiled in student activism^[13] and the violent gangsterismo culture within the university.^[14] After becoming passionate about anti-imperialism and opposing US intervention in the Caribbean,^[15] he unsuccessfully campaigned for the presidency of the Federation of University Students on a platform of "honesty, decency and justice".^[16] Castro became critical of the corruption and violence of President Ramón Grau's government, delivering a public speech on the subject in November that received coverage on the front page of several newspapers.^[17]

In , Castro joined the Party of the Cuban People (or Orthodox Party; Partido Ortodoxo), founded by veteran politician Eduardo Chibás.

A charismatic figure, Chibás advocated social justice, honest government, and political freedom, while his party exposed corruption and demanded reform.

Biography of beethoven How Did Adolf Hitler Die? A local doctor who escaped from Cuba revealed that the politician was also suffering from rectal cancer and underwent surgery in due to a cerebral hemorrhage. See also: Che Guevara. Francis I: Holy Roman Emperor.

Though Chibás came third in the general election, Castro remained committed to working on his behalf.^[18] Student violence escalated after Grau employed gang leaders as police officers, and Castro soon received a death threat urging him to leave the university. However, he refused to do so and began to carry a gun and surround himself with armed friends.^[19] In later years, anti-Castro dissidents accused him of committing gang-related assassinations at the time, but these accusations remain unproven.^[20] The American historian John Lewis Gaddis wrote that Castro "began his career as a revolutionary with no ideology at all: he was a student politician turned street fighter turned guerrilla, a voracious reader, an interminable speaker, and a pretty good baseball player".^[21]

Rebellion and Marxism: –

In June , Castro learned of a planned expedition to overthrow the right-wing government of Rafael Trujillo, a US ally, in the Dominican Republic.^[23] Being President of the University Committee for Democracy in the Dominican Republic, Castro joined the expedition.^[24] The military force consisted of around 1, troops, mostly Cubans and exiled Dominicans, and they intended to sail from Cuba in July Grau's government stopped the invasion under US pressure, although Castro and many of his comrades evaded arrest.

Returning to Havana, Castro took a leading role in student protests against the killing of a high school pupil by government bodyguards. The protests, accompanied by a crackdown on those considered communists, led to violent clashes between activists and police in February , in which Castro was badly beaten.

At this point, his public speeches took on a distinctly leftist slant by condemning social and economic inequality in Cuba. In contrast, his former public criticisms had centered on condemning corruption and US imperialism.

In April , Castro travelled to Bogotá, Colombia, leading a Cuban student group sponsored by President Juan Perón's Argentine government.

Biography of mozart In , due to his deteriorating health, Fidel Castro was forced to pass his powers to his younger brother, Raul, who became the full-fledged ruler of Cuba in , as Fidel Castro was physically unable to govern the country and lead the Cuban army. Castro once claimed there were over plots against him. Guevara became part of Fidel Castro's revolutionary government , serving in various positions such as President of the National Bank of Cuba, director of the Department of Industrialization of the National Agrarian Reform Institute, and Minister of Industry. That year, they were taken to Santa Clara, Cuba, where they rest in the Ernesto Guevara Memorial alongside other guerrilla leaders.

There, the assassination of popular leftist leader Jorge Eliécer Gaitán Ayala led to widespread rioting and clashes between the governing Conservatives—backed by the army—and leftist Liberals.^[28] Castro joined the Liberal cause by stealing guns from a police station, but subsequent police investigations concluded that he had not been involved in any killings.^[28] In April , the Organization of American States was founded at a summit in Bogotá, leading to protests, which Castro joined.^[29]

Returning to Cuba, Castro became a prominent figure in protests against government attempts to raise bus fares.^[30] That year, he married Mirta Díaz Balart, a student from a wealthy family, through whom he was exposed to the lifestyle of the Cuban elite.

The relationship was a love match, disapproved of by both families, but Díaz Balart's father gave them tens of thousands of dollars, along with Batista,^[31] to spend on a three-month New York City honeymoon.^[32]

That same year, Grau decided not to stand for re-election, which was instead won by his Partido Auténtico's new candidate, Carlos Prío Socarrás.^[34] Prío faced widespread protests when members of the MSR, now allied to the police force, assassinated Justo Fuentes, a socialist friend of Castro.

In response, Prío agreed to quell the gangs, but found them too powerful to control.^[35] Castro had moved further to the left, influenced by the Marxist writings of Karl Marx, Friedrich Engels, and Vladimir Lenin. He came to interpret Cuba's problems as an integral part of capitalist society, or the "dictatorship of the bourgeoisie", rather than the failings of corrupt politicians, and adopted the Marxist view that meaningful political change could only be brought about by proletariat revolution.

Visiting Havana's poorest neighbourhoods, he became active in the student anti-racist campaign.^[36]

In September , Mirta gave birth to a son, Fidelito, so the couple moved to a larger Havana flat.^[37] Castro continued to put himself at risk, staying active in the city's politics and joining the 30 September Movement, which contained within it both communists and members of the Partido Ortodoxo.

The group's purpose was to oppose the influence of the violent gangs within the university; despite his promises, Prío had failed to control the situation, instead offering many of their senior members jobs in government ministries.^[38] Castro volunteered to deliver a speech for the Movement on 13 November, exposing the government's secret deals with the gangs and identifying key members.

Attracting the attention of the national press, the speech angered the gangs and Castro fled into hiding, first in the countryside and then in the US.^[39] Returning to Havana several weeks later, Castro laid low and focused on his university studies, graduating as a Doctor of Law in September ^[40]

Career in law and politics: –

Castro co-founded a legal partnership that primarily catered to poor Cubans, albeit it proved a financial failure.^[41] Caring little for money or material goods, Castro failed to pay his bills; his furniture was repossessed and electricity cut off, distressing his wife.^[42] He took part in a high school protest in Cienfuegos in November , fighting with police to protest the Education Ministry's ban on student associations; he was arrested and charged for violent conduct, but the magistrate dismissed the charges.^[43] His hopes for Cuba still centered on Chibás and the Partido Ortodoxo, and he was present at Chibás' politically motivated suicide in ^[44] Seeing himself as Chibás' heir, Castro wanted to run for Congress in the June elections, though senior Ortodoxo members feared his radical reputation and refused to nominate him.

He was instead nominated as a candidate for the House of Representatives by party members in Havana's poorest districts and began campaigning. The Ortodoxo had considerable support and was predicted to do well in the election.^[46]

During his campaign, Castro met with General Fulgencio Batista, the former president who had returned to politics with the Unitary Action Party.

Batista offered him a place in his administration if he was successful; although both opposed Prío's administration, their meeting never got beyond polite generalities.^[47] On 10 March , Batista seized power in a military coup, with Prío fleeing to Mexico. Declaring himself president, Batista cancelled the planned presidential elections, describing his new system as "disciplined democracy"; Castro was deprived of being elected in his run for office by Batista's move, and like many others, considered it a one-man dictatorship.^[48] Batista moved to the right, solidifying ties with both the wealthy elite and the United States, severing diplomatic relations with the Soviet Union, suppressing trade unions and persecuting Cuban socialist groups.^[49] Intent on opposing Batista, Castro brought several legal cases against the government, but these came to nothing, and Castro began thinking of alternative ways to oust the regime.^[50]

Cuban Revolution

Main article: Fidel Castro in the Cuban Revolution

The Movement and the Moncada Barracks attack: –

Main articles: Attack on the Moncada Barracks and History Will Absolve Me

Castro formed a group called "The Movement" which operated along a clandestine cell system, publishing underground newspaper El Acusador (The Accuser), while arming and training anti-Batista recruits.^[51] From July they went on a recruitment drive, gaining around 1, members in a year, the majority from Havana's poorer districts.^[52] Although a revolutionary socialist, Castro avoided an alliance with the communist Popular Socialist Party (PSP), fearing it would frighten away political moderates, but kept in contact with PSP members like his brother Raúl.^[53] Castro stockpiled weapons for a planned attack on the Moncada Barracks, a military garrison outside Santiago de Cuba, Oriente.

Short biography of mozart However, the Cuban leader denies his income from state-owned enterprises but enjoys luxury, as evidenced by his numerous yachts, residences, and a thousand-strong security detail. His first wife, Mirta Diaz-Balart, was the daughter of a Cuban government minister during Batista's regime. Castro led Cuba in a Communist revolution which led to a profound change in the economic and political fortunes of the country. Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev was forced to order the withdrawal of the missiles , representing a major defeat for Castro, who was in favor of confronting the United States.

Castro's militants intended to dress in army uniforms and arrive at the base on 25 July, seizing control and raiding the armoury before reinforcements arrived.^[54] Supplied with new weaponry, Castro intended to spark a revolution among Oriente's impoverished cane cutters and promote further uprisings.^[55] Castro's plan emulated those of the 19th-century Cuban independence fighters who had raided Spanish barracks; Castro saw himself as the heir to independence leader José Martí.^[56]

Castro gathered revolutionaries for the mission,^[57] ordering his troops not to cause bloodshed unless they met armed resistance.^[58] The attack took place on 26 July , but ran into trouble; 3 of the 16 cars that had set out from Santiago failed to get there.

Reaching the barracks, the alarm was raised, with most of the rebels pinned down by machine gun fire. Four were killed before Castro ordered a retreat.^[59] The rebels suffered 6 fatalities and 15 other casualties, whilst the army suffered 19 dead and 27 wounded.^[60] Meanwhile, some rebels took over a civilian hospital; subsequently stormed by government soldiers, the rebels were rounded up, tortured and 22 were executed without trial.^[61] Accompanied by 19 comrades, Castro set out for Gran Piedra in the rugged Sierra Maestra mountains several kilometres to the north, where they could establish a guerrilla base.^[62] Responding to the attack, Batista's government proclaimed martial law, ordering a violent crackdown on dissent, and imposing strict media censorship.^[63] The government broadcast misinformation about the event, claiming that the rebels were communists who had killed hospital patients, although news and photographs of the army's use of torture and summary executions in Oriente soon spread, causing widespread public and some governmental disapproval.^[63]

Over the following days, the rebels were rounded up; some were executed and others—including Castro—transported to a prison north of Santiago.^[64] Believing Castro incapable of planning the attack alone, the government accused Ortodoxo and PSP politicians of involvement, putting defendants on trial on 21 September at the Palace of Justice, Santiago.^[65] Acting as his own defence counsel, Castro cited Martí as the intellectual author of the attack and convinced the three judges to overrule the army's decision to keep all defendants handcuffed in court, proceeding to argue that the charge with which they were accused—of "organizing an uprising of armed persons against the Constitutional Powers of the State"—was incorrect, for they had risen up against Batista, who had seized power in an unconstitutional manner.^[66] The trial embarrassed the army by revealing that they had tortured suspects, after which they tried unsuccessfully to prevent Castro from testifying any further, claiming he was too ill.^[67] The trial ended on 5 October, with the acquittal of most defendants; 55 were sentenced to prison terms of between 7 months and 13 years.

Castro was sentenced on 16 October, during which he delivered a speech that would be printed under the title of History Will Absolve Me.^[68] Castro was sentenced to 15 years' imprisonment in the hospital wing of the Model Prison (Presidio Modelo), a relatively comfortable and modern institution on the Isla de Pinos.^[69]

Imprisonment and 26 July Movement: –

Further information: 26 July Movement

Imprisoned with 25 comrades, Castro renamed his group the "26th of July Movement" (MR) in memory of the Moncada attack's date, and formed a school for prisoners.^[70] He read widely, enjoying the works of Marx, Lenin, and Martí but also reading books by Freud, Kant, Shakespeare, Munthe, Maugham, and Dostoyevsky, analysing them within a Marxist framework.^[71] Corresponding with supporters, he maintained control over the Movement and organized the publication of History Will Absolve Me.^[72] Initially permitted a relative amount of freedom within the prison, he was locked up in solitary confinement after inmates sang anti-Batista songs on a visit by the president in February ^[73] Meanwhile, Castro's wife Mirta gained employment in the Ministry of the Interior, something he discovered through a radio announcement.

Appalled, he raged that he would rather die "a thousand times" than "suffer impotently from such an insult".^[74] Both Fidel and Mirta initiated divorce proceedings, with Mirta taking custody of their son Fidelito; this angered Castro, who did not want his son growing up in a bourgeois environment.^[74]

In , Batista's government held presidential elections, but no politician stood against him; the election was widely considered fraudulent.

It had allowed some political opposition to be voiced, and Castro's supporters had agitated for an amnesty for the Moncada incident's perpetrators. Some politicians suggested an amnesty would be good publicity, and the Congress and Batista agreed. Backed by the US and major corporations, Batista believed Castro to be no threat, and on 15 May , the prisoners were released.^[75] Returning to Havana, Castro gave radio interviews and press conferences; the government closely monitored him, curtailing his activities.^[76] Now divorced, Castro had sexual affairs with two female supporters, Naty Revuelta and Maria Laborde, each conceiving him a child.^[77] Setting about strengthening the MR, he established an person National Directorate but retained autocratic control, with some dissenters labelling him a caudillo (dictator); he argued that a successful revolution could not be run by committee and required a strong leader.^[78]

In , bombings and violent demonstrations led to a crackdown on dissent, with Castro and Raúl fleeing the country to evade arrest.^[79] Castro sent a letter to the press, declaring that he was "leaving Cuba because all doors of peaceful struggle have been closed to me&#; As a follower of Martí, I believe the hour has come to take our rights and not beg for them, to fight instead of pleading for them."^[80] The Castros and several comrades travelled to Mexico,^[81] where Raúl befriended an Argentine doctor and Marxist–Leninist named Ernesto "Che" Guevara, who was working as a journalist and photographer for "Agencia Latina de Noticias".^[82] Fidel liked him, later describing him as "a more advanced revolutionary than I was".^[83] Castro also associated with the Spaniard Alberto Bayo, who agreed to teach Castro's rebels the necessary skills in guerrilla warfare.^[84] Requiring funding, Castro toured the US in search of wealthy sympathizers, there being monitored by Batista's agents, who allegedly orchestrated a failed assassination attempt against him.^[85] Castro kept in contact with the MR in Cuba, where they had gained a large support base in Oriente.^[86] Other militant anti-Batista groups had sprung up, primarily from the student movement; most notable was the Directorio Revolucionario Estudiantil (DRE), founded by José Antonio Echeverría.

Antonio met with Castro in Mexico City, but Castro opposed the student's support for indiscriminate assassination.^[87]

After purchasing the decrepit yacht Granma, on 25 November , Castro set sail from Tuxpan, Veracruz, with 81 armed revolutionaries.^[88] The 1,kilometre (1,&#;mi) crossing to Cuba was harsh, with food running low and many suffering seasickness.

At some points, they had to bail water caused by a leak, and at another, a man fell overboard, delaying their journey.^[89] The plan had been for the crossing to take five days, and on the Granma's scheduled day of arrival, 30 November, MR members under Frank País led an armed uprising in Santiago and Manzanillo.

However, the Granma's journey ultimately lasted seven days, and with Castro and his men unable to provide reinforcements, País and his militants dispersed after two days of intermittent attacks.^[90]

Guerrilla war: –

Main articles: Landing of the Granma, Operation Verano, and Triumph of the Revolution

The Granma ran aground in a mangrove swamp at Playa Las Coloradas, close to Los Cayuelos, on 2 December Fleeing inland, its crew headed for the forested mountain range of Oriente's Sierra Maestra, being repeatedly attacked by Batista's troops.^[92] Upon arrival, Castro discovered that only 19 rebels had made it to their destination, the rest having been killed or captured.^[93] Setting up an encampment, the survivors included the Castros, Che Guevara, and Camilo Cienfuegos.^[94] They began launching raids on small army posts to obtain weaponry, and in January they overran the outpost at La Plata, treating any soldiers that they wounded but executing Chicho Osorio, the local mayoral (land company overseer), who was despised by the local peasants and who boasted of killing one of Castro's rebels.^[95] Osorio's execution aided the rebels in gaining the trust of locals, although they largely remained unenthusiastic and suspicious of the revolutionaries.^[96] As trust grew, some locals joined the rebels, although most new recruits came from urban areas.^[97] With volunteers boosting the rebel forces to over , in July Castro divided his army into three columns, commanded by himself, his brother, and Guevara.^[98] The MR members operating in urban areas continued agitation, sending supplies to Castro, and on 16 February , he met with other senior members to discuss tactics; here he met Celia Sánchez, who would become a close friend.^[99]

Across Cuba, anti-Batista groups carried out bombings and sabotage; police responded with mass arrests, torture, and extrajudicial executions.^[] In March , the DRE launched a failed attack on the presidential palace, during which Antonio was shot dead.^[] Batista's government often resorted to brutal methods to keep Cuba's cities under control.

In the Sierra Maestra mountains, Castro was joined by Frank Sturgis who offered to train Castro's troops in guerrilla warfare. Castro accepted the offer, but he also had an immediate need for guns and ammunition, so Sturgis became a gunrunner. Sturgis purchased boatloads of weapons and ammunition from Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) weapons expert Samuel Cummings' International Armament Corporation in Alexandria, Virginia.

Brief biography of beethoven: In , the Cuban government started to forge closer ties with the Soviet Union, with which it signed a trade agreement. His father had fought in the Spanish-American War in Castro received economic help from the Soviet Union and in turn became an enthusiastic supporter of Communism. Fidel Castro took part in an attempted coup against the dictator of the Dominican Republic, Rafael Trujillo.

Sturgis opened a training camp in the Sierra Maestra mountains, where he taught Che Guevara and other 26 July Movement rebel soldiers guerrilla warfare.^[] Frank País was also killed, leaving Castro the MR's unchallenged leader.^[] Although Guevara and Raúl were well known for their Marxist–Leninist views, Castro hid his, hoping to gain the support of less radical revolutionaries.^[] In he met with leading members of the Partido Ortodoxo, Raúl Chibás and Felipe Pazos, authoring the Sierra Maestra Manifesto, in which they demanded that a provisional civilian government be set up to implement moderate agrarian reform, industrialization, and a literacy campaign before holding multiparty elections.^[] As Cuba's press was censored, Castro contacted foreign media to spread his message; he became a celebrity after being interviewed by Herbert Matthews, a journalist from The New York Times.^[] Reporters from CBS and Paris Match soon followed.^[]

Castro's guerrillas increased their attacks on military outposts, forcing the government to withdraw from the Sierra Maestra region, and by spring , the rebels controlled a hospital, schools, a printing press, slaughterhouse, land-mine factory and a cigar-making factory.^[] By , Batista was under increasing pressure, a result of his military failures coupled with increasing domestic and foreign criticism surrounding his administration's press censorship, torture, and extrajudicial executions.^[] Influenced by anti-Batista sentiment among their citizens, the US government ceased supplying him with weaponry.^[] The opposition called a general strike, accompanied by armed attacks from the MR Beginning on 9 April, it received strong support in central and eastern Cuba, but little elsewhere.^[]

Batista responded with an all-out-attack, Operation Verano, in which the army aerially bombarded forested areas and villages suspected of aiding the militants, while 10, soldiers commanded by General Eulogio Cantillo surrounded the Sierra Maestra, driving north to the rebel encampments.^[] Despite their numerical and technological superiority, the army had no experience with guerrilla warfare, and Castro halted their offensive using land mines and ambushes.^[] Many of Batista's soldiers defected to Castro's rebels, who also benefited from local popular support.^[] In the summer, the MR went on the offensive, pushing the army out of the mountains, with Castro using his columns in a pincer movement to surround the main army concentration in Santiago.

By November, Castro's forces controlled most of Oriente and Las Villas, and divided Cuba in two by closing major roads and rail lines, severely disadvantaging Batista.^[]

The US instructed Cantillo to oust Batista due to fears in Washington that Castro was a socialist,^[] which were exacerbated by the association between nationalist and communist movements in Latin America and the links between the Cold War and decolonization.^[] By this time the great majority of Cuban people had turned against the Batista regime.

Ambassador to Cuba, E. T. Smith, who felt the whole CIA mission had become too close to the MR movement,^[] personally went to Batista and informed him that the US would no longer support him and felt he no longer could control the situation in Cuba. General Cantillo secretly agreed to a ceasefire with Castro, promising that Batista would be tried as a war criminal;^[] however, Batista was warned, and fled into exile with over US$&#;million on 31 December ^[] Cantillo entered Havana's Presidential Palace, proclaimed the Supreme Court judge Carlos Piedra to be president, and began appointing the new government.^[] Furious, Castro ended the ceasefire,^[] and ordered Cantillo's arrest by sympathetic figures in the army.^[] Accompanying celebrations at news of Batista's downfall on 1 January , Castro ordered the MR to prevent widespread looting and vandalism.^[] Cienfuegos and Guevara led their columns into Havana on 2 January, while Castro entered Santiago and gave a speech invoking the wars of independence.^[] Heading toward Havana, he greeted cheering crowds at every town, giving press conferences and interviews.^[] Castro reached Havana on 9 January ^[]

Provisional government

Main article: Consolidation of the Cuban Revolution

Further information: Political career of Fidel Castro

Consolidating leadership:

Main articles: Agrarian reforms in Cuba and Revolution first, elections later

At Castro's command, the politically moderate lawyer Manuel Urrutia Lleó was proclaimed provisional president but Castro announced (falsely) that Urrutia had been selected by "popular election".

Item 1 of 3

Fidel Castro biography

Item 3 of 4

Item 2 of 5

Settings

Most of Urrutia's cabinet were MR members.^[] Entering Havana, Castro proclaimed himself Representative of the Rebel Armed Forces of the Presidency, setting up home and office in the penthouse of the Havana Hilton Hotel.^[] Castro exercised a great deal of influence over Urrutia's regime, which was now ruling by decree.

He ensured that the government implemented policies to cut corruption and fight illiteracy and that it attempted to remove Batistanos from positions of power by dismissing Congress and barring all those elected in the rigged elections of and from future office. He then pushed Urrutia to issue a temporary ban on political parties; he repeatedly said that they would eventually hold multiparty elections.^[] Although repeatedly denying that he was a communist to the press, he began clandestinely meeting members of the PSP to discuss the creation of a socialist state.^[]

In suppressing the revolution, Batista's government had killed thousands of Cubans; Castro and influential sectors of the press put the death toll at 20,, but a list of victims published shortly after the revolution contained only names—over half of them combatants.

More recent estimates place the death toll between 1, and 4,