http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z-YMYvn47pk

Writer Nancy Stout talks about Celia Sánchez and her impact on the Cuban Revolution. Sánchez played a large role behind the scenes during the revolution and Stout claims that is why not many people outside of Cuba even know who she is. Sánchez was a close friend of Fidel Castro and not only did she make sure his uniform was clean and perform other trivial tasks, but she also played a more important role in the revolution. She was one of the first women to lead a combat squad and was responsible for organizing reinforcements for her squad. She also helped to supply other leaders of the revolution, like Che Guevara, with weapons, food and medical supplies. During the 1960s, Castro named Sánchez the Secretary to the Presidency of the Council of Ministers, a position she held until her death in 1980.

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Celia Sánchez: One of the Most Important Women Behind the Cuban Revolution appeared first on Witnify.

“I don’t know very English, but I know as much as write to you…”

Read an amazing letter from a 12-Year-Old Fidel Castro to just recently re-elected President Franklin D. Roosevelt. Castro writes “My very good friend Roosevelt: I don’t know very English, but I know as much to write you.” The future leader of the Cuban Revolution, goes on to casually request a ten spot from the U.S. President:
“If you like, give me a ten dollar bill green american (sic), in the letter, because never, I have not seen a ten dollars green american and I would like to have one them…”
The young Castro goes on to give the President his address and highlight that he may not know English that well, but the President probably doesn’t speak Spanish all that great either. Unclear if Roosevelt ever responded, but have to give the young Cuban some credit. No harm in asking.

Castro developed a famously fraught relationship with the United States during his 52-year period in political office between 1959 and 2011–the Bay of Pigs invasion, the Cuban Missile Crisis, and Castro’s nationalization of United States owned businesses were among the catalysts for the long term antagonism between the two nations. However, the letter to Roosevelt in 1940 reveals that Castro once idolized a leader of the country he grew to detest. In broken english, he even writes that he is “very happy” that Roosevelt “will be President”:

“Santiago de Cuba.
Nov 6 1940.
Mr. Franklin Roosvelt,
President of the United States. 

My good Roosvelt
I don’t know very English, but I know as much as write to you.
I like to hear the radio, and I am very happy, because I heard in it, that you will be President a new (periodo)
I am twelve years old.
I am a boy but I think very much, but I do not think that I am writting to the President of the United States.

If you like, give me a ten dollars bill green american, in the letter, because never, I have not seen a ten dollars bill green american and I would like to have one of them.
My address is:
Sr. Fidel Castro
Colegio de Dolores
Santiago de Cuba
Oriente.  Cuba.
I don’t know very English but I know very much Spanish and I suppose you don’t know very Spanish but you know very English because you are American but I am not American.

(Thank you very much)
Good by.  Your friend,
Fidel Castro

If you want iron to make your sheaps ships I will show to you the bigest (minar) of iron of the land.  They are in Mayarí.  Oriente Cuba.”

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Young Fidel Castro Wrote Fan Mail to FDR appeared first on Witnify.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pLiWN8Hpnoo

In this footage, Fidel Castro gives a speech to the Cuban people just days after his forces overthrew the government of Fulgencio Batista. He calls the overthrow “the most beautiful victory of our people” and tells the people of Cuba to remember their fallen heroes. Soon after ousting Batista’s regime, Castro made Cuba into a socialist state, which by 1965 became full blown communism. This change of government to communism strained Cuba’s relations with the United States resulting in an embargo against Cuba which still exists to this day.

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Fidel Castro Gives Speech Days After Cuban Revolution Ends appeared first on Witnify.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0F068mOrMD0

Soldiers who fought in the Cuban Revolution are interviewed about what happened during the revolution. They talk about witnessing the many deaths of their fellow soldiers and one soldier recalls the kind of food they were given. He describes sharing one tin can of condensed milk with his whole squad–taking turns with his fellow soldiers on dipping their fingers into the can and licking the milk off their fingers. The Cuban Revolution began in July of 1953, but it took Fidel Castro and his army almost six years to overthrow the Cuban government of Fulgencio Batista. Castro recruited thousands of unhappy working class people from Havana to join “the movement” to overthrow Batista. When Castro finally took power, he turned Cuba into a socialist state, and by 1965, Cuba became completely communist as it remains today.

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Soldiers Remember Their Life During the Cuban Revolution appeared first on Witnify.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f3UwlmQn0ks

Experts discuss the life and legacy of Cuban revolutionary figure, Ernesto “Che” Guevara. After touring throughout Central and South America, Guevara witnessed the millions of people living in poverty and decided that he wanted to do something about it. The solution to the poverty in his mind was communism. He later became Fidel Castro’s second-in-command when he joined him in overthrowing Cuban dictator, Fulgencio Batista, in 1959. After spurring the Cuban Revolution, Guevara wanted to spread revolution to other parts of the world. He first went to the Congo where he was unsuccessful, and then made his way to Bolivia, where he was eventually captured by Bolivian forces backed by the CIA and executed on October 9, 1967.

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The Life of Che Guevara appeared first on Witnify.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kjpnfDwWd7Y

Ed Sullivan interviews Fidel Castro on January 11, 1959 in Cuba shortly after the Batista regime is overthrown during the Cuban Revolution.

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Fidel Castro Interviewed By Ed Sullivan in 1959 appeared first on Witnify.