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Speaker 1: Welcome to this day in History class, where we bring

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Speaker 1: you a new tipbit from history every day. Today is

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Speaker 1: February twenty nineteen. The day was February nineteen fifty nine.

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Speaker 1: Communist revolutionary Fidel Castro was torn in as the Prime

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Speaker 1: Minister of Cuba in the Cabinet room of the Presidential

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Speaker 1: Palace in Havana. At thirty two years old, Castro had

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Speaker 1: become the country's youngest ever prime minister. Castro was born

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Speaker 1: in southeastern Cuba, the son of a domestic servant and

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Speaker 1: wealthy sugarcane farmer. Castro got involved in politics early. While

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Speaker 1: he was attending law school at the University of Havana.

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Speaker 1: He joined a group of Dominican exiles and Cubans who

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Speaker 1: tried unsuccessfully to invade the Dominican Republic and overthrow its dictator,

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Speaker 1: Raphael Trujillo. In April of nineteen forty eight, Castro joint

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Speaker 1: riots that started in Bogota, Colombia, after a populist Colombian

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Speaker 1: presidential candidate was shot dead. After Cashtro graduated from law

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Speaker 1: school in nineteen fifty he started practicing law, and he

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Speaker 1: joined the reformist Cuban People's Party, also known as the

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Speaker 1: Orthodox Party, a party that was anti corruption and anti imperialism.

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Speaker 1: Castro identified with the party's campaign, and in nineteen fifty

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Speaker 1: two he became a candidate for a seat in the

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Speaker 1: Cuban House of Representatives for the Cuban People's Party. The

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Speaker 1: party was expected to win the election, but in March,

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Speaker 1: former Cuban President General Fulhincio Bautista seized control of Cuba

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Speaker 1: in a coup during the campaign, so in Ninete Castro

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Speaker 1: decided to lead his own uprising to bring the Cuban

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Speaker 1: People's Party to power. On July, he and a group

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Speaker 1: of more than one people attacked the Mankata Army barracks

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Speaker 1: in Santiago to Cuba. The plan was to get weapons

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Speaker 1: and announced the revolution, but the offensive failed. More than

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Speaker 1: half of the rebels were captured and killed, and Castro

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Speaker 1: was arrested and sentenced to fifteen years in prison. But

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Speaker 1: Castro's popularity was rising and his revolution was gaining support.

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Speaker 1: Bautista ordered Castro and his brother Raoul to be released

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Speaker 1: from prison in nineteen as part of a general amnesty,

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Speaker 1: but Fidel and Raoul soon left for Mexico, where they

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Speaker 1: linked up with Marxist revolutionary and guerilla leader J. Gvara.

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Speaker 1: There they began planning another attempt to overthrow the Cuban

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Speaker 1: government and enlisting recruits to organize what became known as

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Speaker 1: the twenty six of July Movement. The movement promised land reform,

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Speaker 1: nationalization of public services, and honest elections, among other reforms.

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Speaker 1: But when Castro and nearly a hundred people landed on

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Speaker 1: the coast of Cuba in December of nineteen fifty six,

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Speaker 1: government forces killed or captured nearly everyone. Less than twenty

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Speaker 1: people survived, but those who did fled to the the Sierra

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Speaker 1: Maestra mountains with barely any supplies. But they soon built

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Speaker 1: up their weapons stock pile and were attracting volunteers who

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Speaker 1: supported Castro and opposed Bautista's United States supported regime. A

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Speaker 1: guerrilla war had begun. As Bautista's forces committed more and

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Speaker 1: more violent acts to get info about the guerrillas in

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Speaker 1: high profile groups began to back Castro, Castro's movement grew stronger.

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Speaker 1: His army won a series of victories over Bautista's government,

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Speaker 1: even though they were outnumbered. Even after the US sent

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Speaker 1: Bautista playing ships and tanks, the guerrillas held their ground.

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Speaker 1: Some military units even joined the guerrillas, so Bautista tried,

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Speaker 1: in desperation to hold an election, but people didn't show

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Speaker 1: up to vote. Castro was charismatic and his propaganda proved effective.

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Speaker 1: Castro's forces moved in on the cities and Bautista fled

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Speaker 1: to the Dominican Republic on January one, nineteen fifty nine.

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Speaker 1: Castro became commander in chief of Cuba's armed forces. Once

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Speaker 1: Castro took over as prime minister, replacing Jose Moreau Cardona.

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Speaker 1: He persecuted people in Bautista's old regime for war crimes, experience,

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Speaker 1: did social services, redistributed land among peasants, and abolished race

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Speaker 1: based segregation and facilities. He also suppressed oppositional press, arrested

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Speaker 1: counter revolutionaries, crackdown on what he considered moral wrongs, and

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Speaker 1: adopted a one party state. Castro, who died in would

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Speaker 1: go on to become a controversial political figure who was

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Speaker 1: a hero to many and a vile dictator to many others.

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Speaker 1: I'm eaves, Jeffcote, and hopefully you know a little more

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Speaker 1: about history today than you did yesterday. Tune in tomorrow

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Speaker 1: for another day in history.