Chairman Mao is immortal. You led Chinese people to stand up and never be bullied again.
This is a sentence written in the guestbook by Raúl Castro, known as the "Cuban Deng Xiaoping," in his guestbook as he left chairman Mao's memorial hall in 2005.
In fact, Raúl Castro, like his brother Fidel Castro and his best friend Che Guevara, was the hero who led the Cuban people to their feet.
Together, they led the Cuban Revolution and rescued the Cuban people from the depths of the storm. Fidel Castro said: If Chairman Mao's books had been read earlier, the victory of the Cuban revolution would have been ahead of schedule.
What does this sentence mean? How did these three leaders liberate the Cuban people? What kind of relationship do they have with Chairman Mao?
Cuba was once known as the "back garden of the United States", but after a revolution, it successfully escaped the oppression of American capitalism and implemented a socialist system, becoming the only country in the Western Hemisphere that was rooted by the red socialist forces.
All this is inseparable from the efforts of the Castro brothers and Che Guevara. Unlike most revolutionaries who were born into poor families and were oppressed and chose to rebel, all three of them came from the upper class and were truly rich men. Their experience of choosing to devote themselves to the revolution that saved the toiling masses was called "the noblest betrayal."
The Castro brothers' father, a Spanish soldier, later made a fortune growing sugar cane in Cuba and became an extremely wealthy manor owner. Unlike their miserly father, who liked to harshly criticize the peasants, the two brothers liked to deal with civilians from an early age and dared to complain about the injustices they suffered.
The Cuban leaders at the time were very close to the United States. Under his rule, Cuba became a complete appendage of the United States, had no independent regime and could only accept its oppression.
Cuba is rich in natural resources and extremely cheap labor, and with the acquiescence of the Cuban government, the United States can occupy it all with dignity.
The poor families of Cuba at that time had always been a sight of men shedding blood and sweat in American factories and selling their labor, while their women and daughters sold their bodies to American prostitutes.
Fidel Castro is like a natural savior who is not accustomed to the injustices of the world to the people at the bottom, even if he belongs to the opposite class of them.
During college, Fidel began taking to the streets with classmates like him who wanted to change Cuba to protest government oppression. The more Fidel reached out to the people at the bottom, the more he felt helpless. He resolutely chose to become a lawyer, specifically for the civilians who have been wronged but cannot tell. Even if you often can't make ends meet, you have no complaints or regrets.
Raúl Castro had the same pursuit as his brother, so he chose to support his brother and follow him in a march to help the people.
What completely ignited the anger of the Castro brothers was the ascension of the Cuban dictator Batista, who, compared with previous leaders, put his favor with the United States directly on the surface. Not only was 100% of the right to develop resources given, but also armed suppression of the domestic anti-American uprising.
In order to oppose Batista's rule, the Castro brothers joined the Cuban People's Party, openly opposing Batista's regime and opposing U.S. interference in Cuban politics. The People's Party, which has won the support of many oppressed people, has expressed its intention to elect the People's Party as the leading party in Cuba.
Seeing that the BJP was about to win the 1952 elections, Batista suddenly turned his face and launched an armed coup, directly canceling the elections and continuing to govern himself.
Since peaceful liberation is impossible, it is only possible to take up arms and fight Batista!
Fidel went to great lengths to speak and raise money to raise weapons. Finally, in July 1953, a team belonging to the people was formed. To ensure a heavy blow to the Batista regime, Fidel chose the first location of the revolution at the Moncada Barracks, an important military stronghold in Cuba at the time.
If Fidel has a very strong armed force, then his strategy will not hit in one shot. However, the army he led had no combat experience and was opposed to the government army that had received formal training, and only had a heavy loss.
The revolution failed, and the Castro brothers, as important organizers of the revolution, were thrown into prison and held separately. Fidel, a thorn in Batista's eye, was imprisoned for 76 days, during which time even his defense lawyer could not visit.
In desperation, Fidel had to defend himself.
Never has there ever been a defence lawyer working under such difficult conditions; But in any case, he wanted everyone present to know that those who rebelled against the government were not guilty, and that the real fault was the dark regime!
The grief-stricken defense lasted more than four hours, but Fidel knew in his heart that no matter how he defended, he would be sentenced, so at the end of the defense, he said: "Judge me!" It does not matter. History will acquit me. ”
Eventually Fidel was sentenced to 15 years in prison and Raul to 13 years.
Their revolution came to an end for the time being, but it was not the end, and a year later, the Castro brothers, who had been freed by Batista's amnesty, soon ushered in a new journey and a like-minded revolutionary comrade-in-arms.
He's Che Guevara.
Che Guevara's family was wealthier than the Castro family and had some ties to the Mexican government. Unlike the Castro brothers, who had been school bullies since childhood, Che Guevara did not like to learn, but was adventurous.
In 1951, Che Guevara decided to suspend his studies and choose to travel around South America, get on a motorcycle, and take a walk-and-go trip.
On this motorcycle trip, Che Guevara suffered a lot.
He had slept in a cowshed, and he had eaten dry food that was harder than a stone; he had eaten birds that he had beaten with his own hands.
He felt that he was also a person who had suffered hardships, but when he met the people living in the bottom of Latin America, Che Guevara found that his hard life was already very happy for them.
At least he had a blanket to sleep with, and at least he could always find something to eat, and the people who really suffered had nothing. Faced with such a tragic situation, Che Guevara was determined to change the situation.
He ended his journey and returned to school to complete 14 courses in a year and earn a doctorate in medicine, but simply studying medicine did not change everything. He needs to go to the revolution, to find the ranks.
Probably by divine arrangement, in June 1955, Che Guevara met the Castro brothers, and the three of them hit it off and embarked on the revolutionary road to the liberation of Cuba.
Unfortunately, the three men with an expeditionary force of two years of training had just stepped into the coast of Cuba, and they were almost wiped out by the vigilant government forces, and only 12 people barely survived and hid in the deep forest.
12 men, 7 guns, that's their last strength. It seems impossible to rely on these reversals.
Life in the woods is not good, and the team of the Brothers Che Guevara and Castro has reached the point of exhaustion, what should be done to turn around?
Che Guevara suddenly remembered that he had read several of Chairman Mao's articles on guerrilla warfare.
Isn't guerrilla warfare, a flexible and small-loss tactic, suitable for them? Fidel immediately ordered the remaining to continue the revolution by means of guerrilla warfare. Since then, this small detachment has begun to establish revolutionary base areas, fight guerrilla warfare, and carry out agrarian revolution in the mountainous areas.
More and more oppressed people joined the uprising, and their armed forces slowly grew.
Fidel also learned advanced lessons from the books written by Chairman Mao, of which the preferential treatment of prisoners benefited him a lot. Preferential treatment of prisoners can disintegrate the enemy's strength from within the enemy and win the hearts and minds of the Cuban government forces, which is very beneficial to the revolutionary army.
With the guidance of Chairman Mao's thought, coupled with the continuous efforts of the revolutionary army. In early 1959, Fidel successfully defeated the Batista regime and won a comprehensive victory.
Although the new regime has been established, it is not unbreakable. Many forces in the country have come together because of the common interests of rebelling against the Batista regime, and now that Batista has been defeated, the various forces that were originally united have their own plans.
Faced with this situation, Fidel Castro began to look outward for forces that could be united. After all, Cuba is close to the United States, and if the United States can recognize the new regime in Cuba, then they can also be much easier.
But the United States has always liked gentle and obedient pawns, and revolutionaries like Fidel, who are naturally rebellious in temperament, are not recognized by them.
The United States did not want to support this new power, but its opponent, the Soviet Union, was very willing to lend a helping hand to Cuba, after all, it was of great strategic significance to the Soviet Union to be able to put a sharp dagger in the back of the United States. It can be said that the United States has personally pushed Cuba into the enemy camp.
After joining the socialist camp, Cuba and China officially became allies. For the sake of friendly exchanges between the two countries, Che Guevara visited China in 1960, and China also received this friend with high standards.
In the face of China's warm reception, Che Guevara was very touched, and after talking with some important cadres of the state, he solemnly made a request to Premier Zhou - he wanted to see Chairman Mao.
Premier Zhou reported his request to the chairman, who immediately agreed and received him at the Qinzheng Palace in Zhongnanhai.
The meeting was more like a large-scale star-chasing success scene for Che Guevara. According to the later recollections of those present at the time, Che Guevara could not say anything excited at that time, and it was Chairman Mao who took the initiative to greet him before proceeding with the topic.
Che Guevara knew that China had also experienced many hardships at the beginning of the founding of the People's Republic of China, so he could give Cuba a lot of experience today, so he humbly asked Chairman Mao for advice: How can we lead Cuba to develop better? Chairman Mao did not hide his secrets and passed on his experience to Che Che Guevara without reservation.
Che Guevara came with a sincere heart, and China naturally did not let him go back empty-handed, not only finalizing commercial trade with Cuba, giving a large interest-free loan, but also donating a lot of industrial machinery to Cuba free of charge. This deeply touched Che Guevara and all the Cuban people.
At this time, Cuba did not expect that the generous China would not only provide them with materials, but also give them unconditional trust and support in the near future.
The Cuban Missile Crisis was one of the few hottest battles after World War II, when many believed that the Cuban Missile Crisis would be the trigger for World War III. Only this fuse was half burned and it was snuffed out.
The two sides of the crisis game are the United States and the Soviet Union, which are in the middle of the Cold War, and Cuba and China seem to be only small players, but this crisis has had a huge impact on these two countries.
Fidel was very happy that the Soviet Union was willing to set up missile bases in Cuba, South America was oppressed by the United States, and if the establishment of missile bases were successful, it would be equivalent to a powerful reassurance for these suffering countries.
Aware of the intentions of the Soviet Union and Cuba, the United States immediately ordered a naval blockade against Cuba and dispatched a large number of troops and ships to prepare for nuclear warfare. Soviet leader Khrushchev felt that the United States was just playing a flower fight, and also chose to be tough and tough, and never compromised.
However, this hard gas did not last long, the United States only blocked a Soviet yacht, and Khrushchev immediately sent a euphemistic telegram to the United States to promise the dismantling of the missile base in Cuba.
The Cuban people were already ready for battle, and they did not expect the Soviet Union to compromise so quickly and did not consult with Cuba in any way.
In fact, the United States is unlikely to take the lead in launching a thermonuclear war, and the harm caused by nuclear weapons to the people of the world is very huge, and once it is quoted, it is a public outrage. Khrushchev did not realize this, the United States attitude is only a little tougher, he chose to surrender, retreat, and even at the expense of selling the interests of his allies. This made Cuba very disappointed in the Soviet Union.
In stark contrast to the Soviet Union, China has always supported the Cuban people in their struggle against the oppression of American imperialism. At that time, the leaders of many countries in the world, instigated by Khrushchev, were dissatisfied with China's attitude of supporting Cuba, and even many people openly stated that Chairman Mao was a radical and always thought of war.
In the face of such misunderstandings, Chairman Mao directly responded positively: Cuba is oppressed by the United States, and if they want to resist, we will certainly choose to support it. However, some people have forgotten this, and in the face of imperialism and the threat of weapons, they have not even fought and directly choose to surrender; this is a mistake of "capitulationism" and should be criticized.
Chairman Mao's irony without a dirty word discredited the Soviet Union and won the hearts of the Cuban people. Since then, the friendship between the Cuban people and the Chinese people has grown stronger and deeper.
The Castro brothers all had great admiration for Chairman Mao, and when they visited China, Chairman Mao had already died, and it was a great pity for them not to see Chairman Mao in person.
In 1955, Fidel Castro came to China with his trademark long beard and green army coat, and during this visit, he was most looking forward to visiting the Chairman Mao Memorial Hall, and Fidel loved the chairman's writings and always regarded Chairman Mao as his spiritual guide.
Facing the statue of Chairman Mao, he paid a deep salute and paid great respect to the leader who had always supported the rebellion of the backward countries. Next to Chairman Mao's crystal coffin, he stayed for a long time, and for him lying in the coffin was not a deceased former leader of China, but a real communist leader.
Fifty years later, Raul Castro also followed his brother's footsteps to visit China, and Raúl was very emotional to see the prosperity of China, such a China is simply the utopia of his dreams. The people are far away from war and hunger, the children grow up carefree, healthy and happy, all this is so beautiful...
Raul respected Chairman Mao so much because he knew that such a beautiful China was created under his leadership. Not only that, but the success of the Cuban revolution also has Chairman Mao's help.
In his lifetime, he was satisfied that he could come to China to pay homage to Chairman Mao's legacy and write a sentence in the guestbook of Chairman Mao's memorial hall.