Fidel Castro!!!

F-I-D-E-L C-A-S-T-R-O!!!

One of the few "Dictators" quite a lot of people liked(forget abt US..for the record according to Cuban Intelligence ,The US tried to assassinate him 638 times...n all failed attempts!!)including his country men (n women ..??- i have always felt there shd b be a term called Country women or rather call in general Country-people???-do i sound very feminist???)

I Liked reading abt him a lot rather saying i liked him a lot!!( and all these info are compiled for what i read abt Castro thru various sites)

What tempted me to blog on Fidel Castro?The news that 81 year old Castro resigned after 5 decades of his rule as Cuban President (citing medical reasons)Successfully coming thru the economic embargo Imposed on Cuba until now..

But he did open 10,000 new schools, erasing illiteracy and building a universal health care system.

But liberties like right to strike by labour unions were taken away,independent newspapers were shut down and religious institutions harassed. Hundreds of thousands of Cubans have fled Castro's rule, many settling just across the Florida Straits in Miami.
But Still Cuba survived as a Socialist State which he declared on April 16,1961.

And i shd say he has Accomplished what he wanted for Cuba,being born n brought up in a rich family amid poverty surrounding most of the Cuban Families in twenties''
He went on to Study Law at the University of Havana n offered free legal services For the poor ..n then he was involved as one of the 150 warriors in Throwing out Batista...But the attempt resulted in a failure..then he as tried and jailed for 15 years..then he came out on amnesty after serving jus two years!!

Then he went to Mexico..as he had planned to train n group his men to throw Batista out of power.He met "Che" Guevara.. ,( My another admiration - reading abt him..will blog a lil later..may b next??)from where there was no turning back.. very interestingly he is not only a revolutionary icon but also a President who was always linked to some or the other controversies!

To cite a few..

1.I have read that he used to open up the borders to let Cuban people cross over the waters mostly to Florida..like in 1980 he let 125,000 people flee to Florida by boat through the Mariel port, west of Havana,when Soviet Union split n sent Cuban economy in to bad shape he again opened up the Borders!

2. He also ran a rough run with the Catholic church until recently in 1998 Castro Invited Pope John Paul II to Cuba..

3.In 1999, Castro launched an anti-U.S. campaign for the return of Elian Gonzalez, a six-year-old Cuban boy rescued at sea after surviving a shipwreck that killed his mother. Gonzalez then returned to Cuba in 2000 after his father flew to the U.S. to claim his son.
so But I have always have had an admiration for this Cuban President who smoked cigars in public,had 8 children with four women!!

Resource for Reading: http://biography.com/

Fidel's Letter of Resignation

http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/americas/02/19/castro.letter/?iref=mpstoryview

All ABOUT Castro

http://history1900s.about.com/od/fidelcastro/Fidel_Castro.htm