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Fifty Years After the Castro Revolution
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by Rob Walker | January 1, 2009 at 01:04 pm
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Fifty years ago, Fidel Castro took control of Cuba. Today, few are celebrating in the streets of Havana. While many Cubans say the Castro regime has helped the Health and Education of Latin America, others are concerned about poverty and the lack of freedom.
On January 1, 1959, Fidel Castro toppled the 'strongman' Fulgencio Batista, which brought about an almost immediate United states economic embargo.
It is a quiet afternoon in Havana. December 31, and there are no sounds of fireworks, no extra police on the streets.The shops are closed. A group of children play baseball at a park in the old part of Havana, while dozens of people stand by waiting for the bus to take them home.
Cuba marked the 50th anniversary of its revolution on Thursday amid somber assessments of a struggling economy, even as its Communist leaders exalted the resilience of a political system that has endured 10 United States administrations.
Cuba on Thursday celebrated the 50th anniversary of a 1959 revolution whose leader Fidel Castro transformed the island into a communist state that has survived despite long years of opposition from the nearby United States and the collapse of its Cold War benefactors.
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Most RecentMost Recommended Comments (4)
at 23:49 on January 1st, 2009
It is actually remarkable what Cuba has endured and survived. Right or wrong would be another question all together.
at 01:50 on January 2nd, 2009
Cuban President Fidel Castro speaks at Teatro Karl Marx in Havana, Cuba on July 26, 2005 to observe the 26 De Julio national holiday. The annual July 26th celebrations mark the anniversary of the 1953 attack on the Moncada Barracks, which began the Cuban Revolution.
Photo by Jay Davis / Workshop Visuals Media
Jay Davis has contributed a photo to this story.
at 09:17 on January 4th, 2009
In Santa Clara - the city of Che Guevara,on the 50th anniversary of the revolution, the school children were forced to celebrate, sing and dance for the whole day. Exactly the same way the school children in Poland were forced every year to celebrate the 1st of May during the communist times. If someone didn't show enough "joy" and "happiness", could be fired from school.
Magdalena Krukowska has contributed a photo to this story.
at 12:30 on January 11th, 2009
I just returned from two weeks in Cuba, staying in Casas particulares and meeting many warm and wonderfully hospitable Cubans. I spoke to many of them about their hopes and aspirations for themselves and Cuba as a country after 50 years of revolution. Their responses were varied, but a universal theme was their wish for more personal freedom and the opportunity to travel to other countries. A correlary to that was their hope that with Obama as president, US policies toward Cuba would change. There is a lot of hope riding on that man's shoulders, and and I suspect not just by Cubans, but by many others worldwide.
jinolke has contributed a photo to this story.