On January 8, 1959, a man in an olive-green military uniform and carrying a scope rifle walked up to the balcony of the Cuban presidential palace to address the cheering crowd. He was Fidel Castro.
At this time, no one expected that he would escape 638 assassinations in the United States in the future, send away 11 presidents of the United States, and make Cuba the only red flag flying in the Western Hemisphere. Whether in the history of the world revolution or in the history of the United States abroad, he is a legendary figure that is difficult to surpass.
Around his beard, cigar and military uniform, history has precipitated unimaginable stories, and also reflects a dazzling heroic aura. The friendship between him and the Chinese leaders is even more commendable as the window of time brought by China's self-defense counterattack against India.
Fidel castro
In 1960, the Cold War was in full swing. Cuba's land reform and nationalization movement was vigorous, and a large number of Assets of American capitalists were confiscated. The beautiful backyard that Americans once prided themselves on is now a truly socialist country. And all this is the revolution under Castro's leadership.
The United States was enraged and imposed an embargo on Cuba, which began to draw closer and closer to the Eastern bloc.
In September 1960, Castro set a record for a Speech at the United Nations, where he scolded the United States, Kennedy, and Nixon from a United Nations podium that lasted four and a half hours and was recorded in the Guinness Book of World Records.
How can the United States endure such criticism? Over the next four decades, the CIA carried out more than six hundred assassinations of Castro, none of them successful. In 1961, the United States also planned the Bay of Pigs incident in a vain attempt to invade Cuba, which was also completely smashed.
Bay of Pigs Incident
During these difficult years, Castro brought good luck to China.
At the outset, my country considered that Cuba's political line was unclear and that relations between the two sides needed to be further defined. By 1960, China and Cuba had officially understood each other, and relations quickly narrowed. China has provided a lot of support to Cuba and sent many experts. Shen Jian, who was sent to Cuba as an ambassador, was once the "three masters of Longtan Hou" in the intelligence circles before liberation, and was a typical intelligence cadre. The content and nature of his work in Cuba also have a rather unique meaning.
In 1962, a missile crisis broke out in Cuba, and the Soviet Union, with Castro's consent, secretly deployed missile bases that could reach every city in the United States.
On October 22, President Kennedy began a full-scale air and sea blockade against Cuba. The war between the United States and the Soviet Union is on the verge of breaking out, and Cuba is likely to bear the brunt of it.
It was this time that China began a self-defense counterattack against India, fighting respect with a knife cutting butter. On 24 October, my country made its armistice. On October 28, the Soviet Union stopped construction of missile positions and began to retreat.
As a result, Castro became embarrassed.
At the critical moment, China immediately issued a statement supporting Cuba, condemning the United States, and making it clear that U.S. nuclear weapons were blackmail and only paper tigers used to scare people. Castro, dissatisfied with the Soviet Union and hearing the voice of China supporting him, suddenly gained the courage to put forward a series of conditions to the United States and refused to allow UN observers to enter Cuba.
On November 20, under the watchful eyes of the world, Kennedy announced that the United States would lift the sea blockade against Cuba and the Cuban Missile Crisis would end.
Kennedy
The next day, our army completely ceased fire on the Indian border.
Obviously, the self-defense counterattack against India and the Cuban missile crisis are almost simultaneous. Once the Cuban Missile Crisis is resolved, the United States is likely to support India. At the same time, the Soviet Union did not support China, but instead hooked up with India behind the scenes. Obviously, the outbreak and settlement of the Cuban missile crisis has given our country the best window for resolving the Sino-Indian border issue. Similarly, China has provided Strong Support to Castro.
Because of this, two distant countries have forged a deep fighting friendship.
Although Castro had never met Chairman Mao in his lifetime, he admired him very much. In his Chinese autobiography, he wrote the preface to "To the Chinese People" with illness. He said he regretted that he had never met the Chairman. He believes that the chairman is the organizer and agitator of the Chinese revolution, who created the greatest revolution of the 20th century, and that the chairman is a political and military genius and the writer of the most glorious chapter.
Castro, smoking a cigar and wearing a military uniform, confronted the United States, joined forces with the Soviet Union, and was able to support each other with China, not as a Cuban leader alone, but with his own unique abilities.
Fidel Castro was born on 13 August 1926 on the outskirts of Majali, Orente, Cuba. His father was a large sugar cane plantation owner, and he was full of shrewdness, miserliness, and greed typical of upstarts. But one of the advantages of my father was the importance he attached to Castro's education.
From an early age, Castro was sent to prestigious local schools, including La Salle College, Dolores College, and later Belém College, the most famous Jesuit school in the capital, Havana.
During his academic career, Castro had a strong memory and athletic ability. He was very fond of the great men of history, from Lenin, José Antonio, Prio Rivera, to Hitler, Mussolini... He is familiar with the deeds of these people. He became increasingly famous because he could recite large passages of the writings of these celebrities and enjoyed showing them on stage.
In 1940, Castro was only 14 years old. As an ordinary middle school student, he wrote to the newly elected President of the United States, Roosevelt, to congratulate him. In the letter, he also asked the president for $20 as a memorial. The U.S. State Department replied to him, but declined the request for money.
Roosevelt
Castro's hometown, Oriente, has a unique social environment. Here, the people live in poverty, the rich are greedy, the American power is everywhere, people are deceitful, guns and money are the only laws. All this made Castro hate and hope to change reality. By the age of 18, he had shown a dislike for his father and his family, and he even scolded his father to his face for stealing power and wealth by cheating people. Eventually, he broke with his family.
In October 1945, Castro entered the Faculty of Law of the University of Havana. From then on, he devoted himself to political activities. In order to establish a personal image, he likes to perform everywhere, he duels with the president of the university student union, and he even rides his bicycle to hit the brick wall, showing his unique will and courage. Later, he said, it was because the political air at the University of Havana had been polluted, and the impulsiveness and triumphalism inspired his fighting character.
Since his sophomore year, Castro has been in contact with Cuban revolutionary organizations, including revolutionary socialist activities and revolutionary insurrection leagues. In 1947, he participated in the armed infiltration of the Dominican Republic, which failed and many people were arrested, but Castro escaped back to Cuba by swimming, relying on good physique. The following year, Castro once again participated in the infiltration of Colombia, was again wanted, and returned home under the protection of the Cuban ambassador.
Castro graduated from the University of Havana in 1950. He began to devote himself wholeheartedly to the revolution against batista, the Cuban dictator of the time. On July 26, 1953, he attacked the barracks in Santiago de Orente, with more than 150 men including his brother Raul Castro. Due to the disparity in strength, the uprising failed. This time, Castro was not so lucky, and both brothers were arrested. Castro himself was sentenced to 15 years in prison, and Raul Castro was also imprisoned for 13 years. In court, Castro delivered his famous speech, "History Will Acquit Me."
In 1954, Batista became president again. As a result of the amnesty, the Castro brothers were released from prison in 1955. In Cuba at this time, they no longer see hope. So Castro came to Mexico to organize a new revolutionary group and train the backbone of the guerrillas.
On December 2, 1956, after more than a year of meticulous preparation, 82 revolutionaries, including the Castro brothers and Che Guevara, boarded a yacht and after seven days and nights of fierce fighting at sea, finally landed again on a beach called Belik in Oriente Province.
The landing was on the verge of failure. After 3 days and nights of fierce fighting, only 15 of them remained, and they were forced to retreat to the Maestella mountains to engage in guerrilla warfare. Thanks to the support of the peasants, after more than a year of hard work, they finally established their own revolutionary base areas and began to establish contacts with the revolutionary forces in the cities.
The military struggle gradually became smoother and the political influence expanded. Castro continued to write letters to various cuban revolutionary organizations, calling on them to join hands with his "July 26 Movement" to jointly carry out the revolutionary struggle of the Cuban people.
Castro's literary attack did work. With a gun in one hand and a pen in the other, he stirred up chaos in the Cuban world. The revolutionaries who originally liked to strike in the city instantly found him in the mountains and immediately came to defect.
In 1958, Castro's partisans again defeated the encirclement of Batista's army and began a counter-offensive. Seeing that the time was getting better and better, Castro ordered the national rebel army to march to Havana!
Chinese New Year's Eve Night of that year, the day Batista left Cuba in disgrace, and his regime was overthrown.
On the night of 1 January 1959, the Castro rebels, led by Che Guevara, first entered Havana and took over state power. On the 5th, Castro, escorted by a convoy, approached the Cuban Presidential Palace with his head held high. The Cuban revolution was declared victorious.
At this time, the new Cuban government was a coalition government with the unified goal of opposing Batista, and its membership was quite complex. But Castro was confident, he said, "The train knows where it's going." ”
In April of that year, he made a quick visit to the United States and expressed his willingness to maintain good relations with the United States. The American masses were captivated by his style. However, the U.S. government is different, and they still ask Cuba to maintain its previous status quo and continue to be a vassal.
Castro was a tough guy, and he couldn't accept this condition and chose to roll up his sleeves and go away. Since then, relations between Cuba and the United States have deteriorated. Because of this, Castro chose the Communist Party of Cuba and firmly embarked on a revolutionary road against the United States and against his own estate owners.
Today, the Castro brothers are gone, Cuba's construction and reform are still deepening, and relations with the United States have improved. As the only socialist country in the Western Hemisphere, their path was once tortuous but full of heroism, and their future is under pressure, but it exudes a unique and independent light.
Although Castro is no longer there, his spirit is with this country, and it also inspires each of us ordinary people to pluck up courage and face difficulties to make ourselves stronger and make the country stronger. The great revolution will also succeed!