Castro: Profiles in Power

A decent book, good content. I had to read this for a College level course and found it pretty interesting. I would even recommend for light reading.

Although Fidel Castro has been constantly reviled by a large part of the political establishment in the United States, and the list of actions against his regime is extensive, only his death or physical incapacitation will remove him from power. That list of actions includes the following: *) An invasion of Cuba, we know it as the Bay of Pigs action. *) A very tough economic embargo that has lasted almost fifty years. *) Several attempts to have him assassinated. *) An attempt to have his beard fall out. *) Repeated attempts by the CIA to destabilize his government. And yet, Castro remains in power, almost completely unchallenged inside Cuba. This is a tribute to his political skills. When the Soviet block collapsed, the Cuban economy suddenly lost all of the former subsidies, yet he survived. Whether you agree with his politics or not, it must be admitted that he is one of the greatest political manipulators of the last several centuries. While Balfour makes no attempt to write a definitive work on Castro, he more than manages to capture the essence of the Castro leadership and how he has managed to survive. However, he fails to answer what continues to be the major question regarding Castro. Was he a secret communist before he took power, or did he turn to communism because he was convinced that it was the only alternative to the American domination of Cuba? To understand that, one must have knowledge about the history of American involvement in Cuba and the rest of Latin America. In many ways, it is a story of economic exploitation and often-direct occupation by the U. S. military. Castro had many reasons to believe that he would be removed from power by (c)overt U. S. military action, so it is plausible that his appeal to communism was based on necessity. I was very impressed with the balanced approach that Balfour takes regarding Castro. He is free with his praise for the elimination of illiteracy and how the rural population of Cuba was provided with basic services, including quality medical care. It is very impressive when compared to the rest of the Western Hemisphere south of the Rio Grande. He is also quite candid in pointing out Castro's failings; some of his foreign political and military ventures have been relatively unsuccessful. It will be decades before a definitive version of Fidel Castro's political career can be written and I am sure historians of that time will have significant disagreements about the degree of his success. However, there is one feature that all will agree on, he was a political survivor, probably the best of the last several centuries. There is no question that Balfour explains most of the reasons for Castro's survival.

Balfour's book is very good at charting the political waters through which Castro had to navigate. He understands the complex nature of the pre- and post- revolutionary political structure in Cuba, and the way Cuban history has been determinined (to some degree) by American and Russian policies. If this is what you're after, this book is for you. If you want to understand the psychology of Castro, or elements of his private life ("what makes Fidel tick?"), there are glimpses here and there, but that's not the kind of book this is.

The author describes how the U.S. had an agreement with its puppet governments in Cuba until 1959 to purchase annually half of Cuba's sugar produce. He shows how this quota could be lowered or threatened to be lowered if Cuba for instance, built flower mills that would compete with U.S. flour exports to the island or if the amount and quality of the rest of its sugar, that which it did not sell to the U.S. under the quota, competed with U.S. growers. The 1934 "reciprocal trade agreement" allowed U.S. exports to flood the island.The U.S. backed dictatorship of Gerardo Machado was overthrown in 1933 and Fulgencio Bautista emerged to crush the movements of workers who had overthrown Machado, while at the same time instituting through his subsequent puppet governments slight social reforms. The communist party declared Bautista to be a swell democrat and several communists assumed cabinet positions once he took direct control of the government himself in 1940. Bautista governed mainly by dispersing state funds to journalists, businessmen and others to win their favor. Castro entered Havana University in 1945 in the midst of a much worse political climate. The government of Ramon Grau San Martin, bribed remnant groups from the 1933 uprising to take over many government functions and serve as death squads against the regime's opponents. Castro entered the University of Havana in 1945 and developed a political philosophy heavily influenced by the social reform and anti-imperialism of Cuba's independence leader Jose Marti. He apparently read Marx but wasn't much interested in it, contrary to his own assertions after he became dependent on the Soviet Union that he had always been a commie. The author gives an excellent analysis of Castro's economic policies once in power. He writes that the U.S. campaign of terror and sabotage and hostility to Cuba's economic nationalism made Castro's turn to the Soviet Union inevitable. He observes subtly that the United States had decided to fund paramilitary activities against Castro in March 1959 when the anti-Bautista liberals that it favored where still, formally at least, in control of the government. The initial policy of Castro and Che Guevara until 1963 or so was providing basic necessities for the population while working them hard to produce initial industrialization and then use the wealth from the latter for further economic expansion and further social benefits. Agriculture was neglected in this process and the resources necessary for the industrialization drive were severely lacking. Soviet advisors then compelled a program where the workplaces would be governed by capitalist notions of material incentives for workers, from and to each according to his ability, etc. The indigenous communists were greatly irritated by the chaotic, one-man direction of the economy, which Castro engaged in. In March 1962, Castro attacked a faction of the communists led by Anibal Escalante for undermining the Cuban revolution

good book and easy to read.