Fidel Castro in Power

In January 1959, Fidel Castro took power in Cuba. In the podcast there is an interview in English with Fidel Castro which was broadcast on American television. Fidel Castro would not hold elections, Communists would play an important role in Cuban politics. Many of the Liberals who supported and fought with Fidel Castro to overthrow the old regime, became disillusioned, the fate of many of them would be exile, imprisonment or execution.

To be published on Saturday 2nd December.

The fall of Batista

During 1958, attempts by the Cuban Army to crush Fidel Castro’s guerrilla army in Operation Summer failed. The scale of the revolt grew during the year but the final fall of the Batista regime in January 1959, happened due to a collapse in resistance of the Cuban army and pressure from the American Government. A biography of an American William Morgan (pictured below) who served as a guerrilla commander during the Cuban revolution.

To be published on Saturday 25th November

1957, the Guerrilla War

A biography of Raul Castro, the brother of Fidel, who was in his own right a key figure within the Cuban Revolution. In 1958, Fidel Castro would his establish his small guerrilla army in the wild hill country of Cuba, he prove a master of public relations. Yet his small number of guerrilla would be vastly outnumbered by the Cuban military but that force would for several reason perform badly. A young Raul Castro is pictured below.

To be published on Saturday 18th November

Granma

While in exile in Mexico, he meet with a doctor form Argentina, Che Guevara, they would form a revolutionary power couple, Che Guevara biography is given. Cuban rebels were trained in Mexico, to return and fight in Cuba. Just over eighty would in a not very seaworthy small boat called ‘Granma. Yet within a few days, most would be dead following an attack by the Cuban Army.

The Movement

A biography of Fidel Castro, he set up an group to oppose the Cuban dictator, known as the Movement. He organised an armed attack against an army barracks but it was a failure. Fidel Castro was put on trial and sentenced to fifteen years in prison but instead he served less than two years in prison before he was freed, a bad decision by the Cuban Government because Fidel Castro would go back to the business of overthrowing that Government. Fidel Castro and brother Raul went into exile in Mexico.