Three Main causes that produced the authoritarian state:
President Fulgencio Batista manipulated the Cuban commercial industry, worked heavily with America and specifically the Mob for his own corrupt gain. This was the main talking point of Fidel Castro who offered a solution to Batista and a new economic system, Marxism, which was appealing the overwhelming poverty experienced by the public. He used anti America rhetoric to help gain support as well as an anti-America/Nationalist propaganda project that blamed the current conditions on the United States and stated that Cuba should be self-reliant. This was important because this appealed to the public who associated their current conditions with United States intervention.
Specific Aims of Leader as they rose to power:
The first aim of Fidel was to overthrow Batista. This is what sparked the revolution, and most of the revolutionaries had not planned the steps that were to follow ie. Who was to take power, it was simply get Batista out of power. They wanted to get rid of the corruption and poverty that had come with Batista. Once this was complete, Fidel began forming his other aims, most importantly, he wanted to replace the capitalist system set up by Batista and replace with Marxist economic plan. Fidel was ironically enough, anticommunist during his revolutionary days, but after the Bay of Pigs and an alliance with Russia, Fidel transitioned into a socialist/communist state. Redistribution of wealth, especially land, was another main aim of Castro and a key aspect of setting up his Marxist economy. Prior to this, America had hundreds of thousands of acres in Cuba. Reducing or eliminating foreign influence, especially the United States was an extremely important aim of Castro as this is what he believed to have caused the corruption in the Batista regime.
Mains aspects describing ideology:
The most well-known aspects of Fidel Castro’s Ideology was his support for Marxism in Cuba. This, surprisingly enough did not reveal itself during the Cuban revolution and was a byproduct once he took power. He chose this system because it was in stark contrast to the U.S reliant capitalist system of years prior. Another main aspect of his Ideology was nationalism. Cubans experienced immense poverty and corruption at the hands of Batista and to a large extent the U.S mob. Former Us ambassador to cuba Earl Smith once stated in a public interview that, “Until Castro, the U.S. was so overwhelmingly influential in Cuba that the American ambassador was the second most important man, sometimes even more important than the Cuban president.” So to get rid of this power Castro focused heavily on self-reliance and reducing foreign influence
To what extent did the leader achieve totalitarian rule:
Totalitarian Rule is typically defined as a country that has a dictator who controlled his country through a military police force who suppressed opposition through, suppression of the arts and media with government regulated communication and a centrally directed economy. Castro fulfills many of these requirements. Castro heavily regulated communications and closed down all opposition newspapers, radio stations. He also purged countless teachers, politicians, and moderates. He is estimated to had 20,000 Cuban citizens help in prisons and tortured each year. He kicked out all opposition in the political spectrum and held complete control over Cuba. He nationalized business and controlled the economy through a socialist economy. I would consider Castro a Totalitarian leader because he fulfilled these requirements.
This is a propaganda poster used by Castro during the Bay of Pigs invasion. It portrays of group of heavily camouflaged and armed Batista soldiers aiming there guns. This was used to inform Cubans of the invasion.
