Definition
Fidel Castro (1926–2016) is often seen as the “apostle” of anti-imperialism in Latin America. Due to his unrelenting spat with the United States, the leader of the Cuban Revolution appears as the most charismatic figure from the Latin American left. His legendary struggle in the Sierra Maestra, his unbending position with regard to “American imperialism,” and his apparent independence from Havana’s closest ally – the Soviet Union – have made Castro a beacon of resistance and independence in Latin America and beyond.
After meeting Fidel Castro in the Sierra Maestrain February 1957, 2 years prior to his revolutionary triumph, the American journalist Herbert Matthews sketched a revealing portrait of the insurgent leader: Castro was not a Marxist, and his political agenda, although “vague and couched in generalities,” amounted to a radical and democratic “new deal” for...
References
Anderson, J. (2000). Che Guevara: A revolutionary life. New York: Grove Press.
Blight, J., & Brenner, P. (2002). Sad and luminous days: Cuba’s struggle with the superpowers after the missile crisis. Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield.
Brown, J. (2017). Cuba’s revolutionary world. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Castro, R. (1961). Diario de Campaña. In E. Desnoes (Ed.), La Sierra y el Llano (pp. 203–258). La Habana: Casa de las Américas.
Castro, F. (1966). At the closing session of the tricontinental conference. Retrieved from https://www.marxists.org/history/cuba/archive/castro/1966/01/15.htm
Castro, F. (1967). Speech to the OLAS conference. Retrieved from https://www.marxists.org/history/cuba/archive/castro/1967/08/10.htm
Castro, F. (1968). Comments on Czechoslovakia. Retrieved from https://www.marxists.org/history/cuba/archive/castro/1968/08/24.htm
Castro, F. (1972). Conversación con los estudiantes de la Universidad de Concepción. In Cuba-Chile. La Habana: Ediciones Políticas, Comisión de Orientación Revolucionaria del Comité Central del Partido Comunista de Cuba.
Castro, F. (1973). La mano del Imperialismo está detrás de los acontecimientos de Chile. In Archivos del Ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores (MINREX). La Habana. Fondo Chile, Cajuela 1973.
Castro, F. (2000). Speech by Dr. Fidel Castro Ruz, President of the Republic of Cuba, at the mass rally called by the Cuban youths, students and workers on the occasion of the International Labor Day at the Revolution Square. May Day, 2000. Retrieved from http://www.cuba.cu/gobierno/discursos/2000/ing/f010500i.html
Castro, F. (2001). Resolution close Education Congress. Retrieved from http://lanic.utexas.edu/project/castro/db/1971/19710501.html
Castro, J. (2009). Fidel y Raúl, mis hermanos: la historia secreta. México: Santillana Ediciones Generales.
Castro, F. (2012, June 14). World peace hanging by a thread. Cubadebate. Retrieved from http://en.cubadebate.cu/reflections-fidel/2012/01/14/world-peace-hanging-by-theread/
Cushion, S. (2016). A hidden history of the Cuban revolution: How the working class shaped the guerrillas’ victory. New York: Monthly Review Press.
De la Cova, A. (2007). The Moncada attack: Birth of the Cuban revolution. Columbia: University of South Carolina Press.
DeYoung, K. (2016). Fidel Castro says Obama’s ‘syrupy words’ were enough to cause a heart attack. Washington Post. Retrieved from https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/fidel-castro-says-obamas-syrupy-words-were-enough-to-cause-a-heart-attack/2016/03/28/35bda23c-f4f2-11e5-8b23-538270a1ca31_story.html?noredirect=on&utm_term=.737d35823222
Draper, T. (1965). Castroism: Theory and practice. New York: F.A. Praeger.
Fagen, R. (1969). The transformation of political culture in Cuba. Stanford: Stanford University Press.
Fursenko, A., & Naftali, T. (1997). “One hell of gamble”: Khrushchev, Castro, and Kennedy (pp. 1958–1964). New York: Norton & Company.
Gleijeses, P. (2008). The view from Havana: Lessons from Cuba’s African journey, 1959–1976. In G. Joseph & D. Spencer (Eds.), In from the cold: Latin America’s new encounter with the cold war (pp. 112–133). Durham: Duke University Press.
Gott, R. (2004). Cuba: A new history. New Haven: Yale University Press.
Gott, R. (2011). Hugo Chávez and the Bolivarian Revolution. London/New York: Verso.
Hager, R., & Snyder, R. (2015). The United States and Nicaragua: Understanding the breakdown in relations. Journal of Cold War Studies, 17(2), 3–35.
Harmer, T. (2013). Two, three, many revolutions? Cuba and the prospects for revolutionary change in Latin America, 1967–1975. Journal of Latin American Studies, 45, 61–89.
Jatar-Hausmann, A. J. (1999). The Cuban way (Capitalism, communism and confrontation). West Hartford: Kumarian Press.
Jones, B. (2008). The Hugo Chávez story: From mud hut to perpetual revolution. London: Bodley Head.
Kapcia, A. (2009). Cuba in revolution: A history since the fifties. London: Reaktion Books.
Karol, K. S. (1970). Les guérilleros au pouvoir: l’itinéraire politique de la révolution cubaine. Paris: Robert Laffont.
Khrouchtchev, N. (1971). Souvenirs. Paris: Robert Laffont.
Lévesque, J. (1988). L’URSS et sa politique internationale de Lénine à Gorbatchev. Paris: Armand Colin.
Matthews, H. (1957, February 24). Cuban rebel is visited in hideout. New York Times. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/packages/html/books/matthews/matthews022457.pdf
Mencía, M. (2007). El Directorio Revolucionario y la FEU de José Antonio Echeverría. In E. Oltuski Ozacki, H. Rodríguez Llompart, & E. Torres-Cueva (Eds.), Memorias de la Revolución (pp. 166–193). La Habana: Imagen Contemporánea.
Mencía, M. (2013). El Moncada: la respuesta necesaria. La Habana: Oficina de Publicaciones del Consejo de Estado.
Merle, R. (1965). Moncada, premier combat de Fidel Castro: 26 juillet 1953. Paris: R. Laffont.
Miller, N. (2003). The absolution of history: Uses of the past in Castro’s Cuba. Journal of Contemporary History, 38, 147–162.
Minà, G. (1987). Un encuentro con Fidel. Havana: Oficina de Publicaciones del Consejo de Estado.
Pavlov, Y. (1994). Soviet-Cuban Alliance: 1959–1991. Miami: University of Miami.
Puñales-Alpízar, D. (2012). Escrito en cirílico: el ideal soviético en la cultura cubana posnoventa. Santiago: Cuarto Propio.
Quirk, R. (1993). Fidel Castro. Ney York: Norton.
Reid-Henry, S. (2009). Fidel and Che: A revolutionary friendship. London: Sceptre.
Skierka, V. (2004). Fidel Castro: A Biography. Cambridge: Polity Press.
Spencer, D. (2008). The Caribbean crisis. Catalyst for soviet projection in Latin America. In G. Joseph & D. Spencer (Eds.), In from the cold: Latin America’s new encounter with the cold war (pp. 77–111). Durham: Duke University Press.
Sweig, J. (2002). Inside the Cuban revolution: Fidel Castro and the urban underground. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Useem, B. (1977). Peasant involvement in the Cuban revolution. The Journal of Peasant Studies, 5(1), 99–111.
Vayssière, P. (2011). Fidel Castro L’éternel révolté. Paris: Payot.
Wickham-Crowley, T. (1992). Guerrillas and revolution in Latin America: A comparative study of insurgents and regimes since 1956. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
Zubok, V. (2007). A failed empire: The Soviet Union in the cold war from Stalin to Gorbachev. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2019 The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this entry
Cite this entry
Pedemonte, R. (2019). Castro, Fidel (1926–2016). In: Ness, I., Cope, Z. (eds) The Palgrave Encyclopedia of Imperialism and Anti-Imperialism. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-91206-6_5-1
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-91206-6_5-1
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-91206-6
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-91206-6
eBook Packages: Springer Reference HistoryReference Module Humanities and Social SciencesReference Module Humanities