Short History Of... - Introducing: Fidel Castro - Real Dictators

Episode Date: June 25, 2025

This is a taster episode of the Fidel Castro story. To hear episodes 2-10, head over to Real Dictators and hit follow. Fidel Castro - a revolutionary turned strongman dictator, beloved by his supporters and loathed by his enemies. The bête noire of the United States who pushed the world to the brink of annihilation. The ultimate political survivor who evaded hundreds of barely believable assassination attempts. We scroll back to the early years of the one they would call El Loco. It all begins on a farm in the east of Cuba - an island paradise with dark undercurrents swirling beneath the surface… Real Dictators is a Noiser podcast production, narrated by Paul McGann. Find the rest of the Fidel Castro story on the Real Dictators feed. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hi, listeners. Today we wanted to bring you a taster episode from our sister show, Real Dictators. The hit podcast recently returned with a new season. This is part one of the Fidel Castro story. If you enjoy it and want to hear the rest of the episodes, head over to Real Dictators and hit follow. It's July 26, 2006, sunrise in the city of Bayamu, Cuba. In the Plaza de la Patria, something's special is stirring. At this early hour, it would normally be all but empty. This morning, it's full to bursting. One hundred thousand people fill every inch of the plaza and the surrounding streets.

Many are dressed in patriotic red t-shirts. Almost all are holding tiny Cuban flags. They're here to commemorate events that took place on this very day fifty-three years earlier, when a gang of rebels attacked the Moncada army barracks. I remember eight events that took place on this very day 53 years earlier, when a gang of rebels attacked the Moncada army barracks. To many in the country this is a cherished event, the opening sally of the Cuban Revolution. It was also the first time that most Cubans had ever heard the name of the rebel's leader, a name they would never forget.

Fidel Castro. As the song fills the plaza with daylight, an elderly man with a patchy grey beard, dressed in military green, shuffles onto a stage. It's the headline act, the one they're all here to see. It's Fidel himself. There's a roar from the crowd, chanting of his name. Then Fidel begins his speech, a lightning-quick one by his standards, just two and a half hours. It's very much a greatest hit set. The evil of Yankee imperialism, the eternal truth of the revolution, Cuba as a beacon

of hope in a world benighted by capitalism. There isn't a person in the crowd who's not heard all this before, but still, they applaud and bellow as their leader reaches his denouement before he slopes off stage. And yet, things are not quite as they used to be. Nobody here dares say it, but Fidel is no longer Fidel. He's sallow, listless, ailing, and suddenly very old. In the days following this public appearance, Fidel, the ubiquitous presence in Cuban life, becomes conspicuous by his absence.

Hushed rumors swirl, but in a country where nothing is official until Fidel says so, nobody knows what's truly going on. Then, on July the 31st, earth-shattering news arrives. At 9pm, a young writer and photographer, Orlando Luis Pardolaso, is at home in Havana, Cuba's bustling capital city. Orlando sits in his apartment with the TV on. Suddenly, a middle-aged man in glasses, dressed in white shirt sleeves, appears on screen, sat in front of a Cuban flag, Orlando leans forward. Head down in a flat monotone voice, the man on the TV begins to read from a piece of paper. Fidel is exhausted and seriously ill. Surgery

is required. There will be a temporary transfer of power. Orlando can barely believe his ears. I called many friends and many friends called me like, how are you? How are you? Because we thought Fidel was going to die. Fidel was kind of immortal. It was not conceivable. And I noticed probably for the first time of my life, a feeling of collective fear.

I felt in my body, that fear. Is the military going to raid the city? Are they going to be chasing people that are well known to be dissidents? What are they going to do? After 50 years of revolution, war, bravado and brinkmanship, not to mention hundreds of assassination attempts, it is Fidel's own body that has brought him low. It's the beginning of the end. And what the people of Cuba are asking themselves is, what comes after the end?

Fidel Castro came to power with the Cuban revolution of 1959, ousting the dictator Fulgencio Batista. In so doing, he constructed his own dictatorship, one quite unlike any other before or since. For the next 50 years, Castro was constant, immovable, omnipresent. He occupied every square inch of the island over which he ruled. He saturates the public discourse with his own voice, and that's one means by which he becomes the revolution, a one-face, one one man kind of a revolution through Fidel. His great foe, the United States, dreamed up innumerable ways to eliminate him.

There were poison cigars, poison diving suits with fungal spores that would create a skin disorder and kill him, a poison aqualung that would squirt contaminants straight into his mouth. None of them succeeded. He was the ultimate political survivor. Debate still rages as to whether Castro's dictatorship was communist, nationalist, or something else entirely. I don't think that Fidel was a communist from day one. I do think he was an authoritarian from day one. To cling to power he was ruthless and brutal, especially to those he deemed a threat to

his own supremacy. There was a lot of physical violence. No, you don't have the right to live a life without worshipping the supreme leader. For decades, Castro commanded global attention. He transformed a moderate sized Caribbean nation into a world player. But in so many ways, Fidel Castro remains profoundly unknowable, both to those who admire him and those who curse his very name. I was denounced by my own neighbors.

Fidel's word is gospel. The cruelty was psychological more than anything. Fidel was a person that changed my life. For me he was a teacher. He taught us how to think. I remember seeing phones that displayed a poster, Fidel esta es tu casa. Fidel this is your house. They didn't know he was going to take that literally. From the Noiza podcast network, this is part one of the Fidel Castro story. And this is Real Dictatus. is real dictators. The island nation of Cuba sits in the Caribbean Sea, roughly 90 miles from Florida. Its natural beauty and all-year-round sunshine have shaped the culture of the island and its people.

Cuban writer, Orlando Luis Pardo Lazo. Cuba is a very like a solar nation. We like light. We like music. We like food. We like dancing. We like speaking very loud. So we are very open extrovert. It's a stereotype, yes, but it constitutes part of our nature as a country. Indeed, to many outsiders, Cuba has seemed like a paradise. When Christopher Columbus arrives here in 1492, he's dazzled. Glittering beaches, towering mountains, lush tropical plant life. He declares the island the most beautiful that eyes have seen, and immediately claims it for the Spanish crown.

Columbus is convinced that it's the gateway to Asia. It won't be the last time a great foreign power fails to understand Cuba. The Spanish transform the island. They introduce enslaved people from Africa. Christianity, sugar cane, and disease. According to some estimates, violence, exploitation, and illnesses such as measles and the flu kill off an extraordinary 90% of Cuba's native population in the first few decades of colonial settlement. Professor Carlos Ayer of Yale University grew up in 1950s Cuba. At school, he was taught the familiar tales of Spanish rule.

At school, he was taught the familiar tales of Spanish rule. I was taught that Cuba could have been the Garden of Eden. And we were told the story of colonization that all North Americans were also taught. Europeans had come and tamed these natives who were uncivilized and improved their lives. But at the very same time, we were taught about the cruelty of the European colonial takeover. In 1511, a leader of the native Cuban population named Atwe leads an uprising against the colonizers.

As punishment, he's captured and burned at the stake. So the legend goes, Atwe resists Spanish authority to the stake. So the legend goes, Atwe resists Spanish authority to the end. And before the fire was lit, a priest was trying to get him to convert. He said, don't you want to go to heaven? If you don't convert, you can't go to heaven. He asked, do the Spanish go to heaven? The priest said, of course they do. He says, well, then I'd rather not go to heaven.

For four centuries, Cuba is under foreign rule. Then, in the late 19th century, a formidable independence movement emerges. The emblem of the struggle is the writer Jose Marti. Lillian Guerra is professor of Cuban and Caribbean history at the University of Florida and the author of The Myth of Jose Marti. So Jose Marti is something of a unique figure, not just for Cubans, but for all of Latin America. He was, from a very early age, an opponent of Spanish rule of Cuba. He was this extremely energetic, extremely committed activist,

and he succeeded in fusing together what was by then a very large, exile community of pro-independence Cubans in the United States with the military on the island. In February, 1895, Cuban rebels begin a war of independence. Martí joins the fight and is martyred in his first battle. But Cuba's thirst for independence cannot be killed. The war is attritional. With grim irony, it's now Spanish soldiers who are ravaged by disease. Among them is Angel Castro, a 19-year-old peasant from Galicia, northern Spain.

Angel falls ill repeatedly, typhus, malaria, rheumatism. Somehow, the boy survives. Conflict grinds on until 1898, at which point the United States intervenes, tipping the balance in the rebels' favor. After 400 years of colonial rule, Cuba is free at last. Well, sort of. After assisting Cuba in defeating Spain, the U.S. is keen to assert itself as a regional power and to protect the financial interests of American landowners, such as the United

Fruit Company, who possess vast swathes of the island and its wealth. The U.S. occupies Cuba for several years and medals in Cuban affairs for decades afterwards. The United States, it had a kind of standing self-authorized right to intervene whenever U.S. investments were jeopardized or as U.S. officials would have put it, when Cubans jeopardize their own democracy. For ordinary Cubans, this is naked imperialism and a source of enormous resentment. But the Spanish at least have been sent packing. Among them, young soldier Angel Castro. Though it won't be long before he's back.

Strangely for Angel, the island that very nearly finished him off turns out to be the making of him. Jonathan Hanson is senior lecturer at Harvard University and the author of Young Castro, the making of a revolutionary. He was from a dirt poor family. Things were so bad for his family in Spain that he took his chances and returned to Cuba thinking that there would be a lot of opportunity to make a life for himself amid all the rebuilding that would have to be done after the war. First, he worked as a contractor, cutting down forests, carting sugar cane, working for the big planters in Eastern Cuba. He made a business for himself,

he bought an inn for himself, and then eventually was able to buy a sugar plantation and then expand it so that eventually he commanded a sugar plantation of 42 square miles in some of Cuba's most valuable cane growing farmland. So it's an unusual story of literal rights to riches. Squinting through bright days? That's a no.

Struggling with glare? Also no. What about sunglasses over regular glasses? Big no. But prescription sunglasses from Pearl Vision? That's a huge yes! They're a must-have for enjoying the signage style. Choose from designer frames like Ralph Lerim, Coach, Michael Kors, and more! Arrange an eye exam at pearlvision.ca and get 40%

off lenses. Some restrictions and exclusions may apply. See participating stores for details. At 35, Angel marries Maria Luisa Agotorreis. They have five children, two of whom die in infancy. Angel lives to work. As the years pass, he spends more and more time at the Castro farmstead. Maria Luisa doesn't care for country life. The marriage breaks down. Angel's eye now turns towards his 17 year old housemaid, Lina Rous Gonzalez. Estranged from his first wife, though still married to her, Angel fathers seven children with Lina. Another child, Angel's 13th in total, is born from a liaison with a local woman.

The third child he has with Lena, a son they call Fidel, is born on August 13, 1926. The boy's childhood is fraught with illness and incident. A bout of sepsis nearly kills him. At the age of four he comes close to drowning. These are the first of the many near-death experiences that will form a crucial part of the castro legend of indestructibility. Privilege and luck is how Fidel himself characterized the circumstances of his upbringing. Privilege because of his father's wealth. Luck because the wealth had been earned, not inherited. Being a rich man's grandson would have made him spoiled, so Fidel reckoned,

unable to be a man of the people as he claimed to be. as he claimed to be. His early days were on his parents' vast plantation, and he hung out with the local kids who worked for his father in the sugar industry. He was ecumenical in his friendships. There were a lot of poor Latin peasants on his father's farm, as well as black Haitian laborers and their kids on his father's farm, as well as Black Haitian laborers and their kids on his father's farm, and Castro just didn't see color or class as a boundary. But any nascent sense of the future revolutionary isn't encouraged by Fidel's parents.

The only thing that matters to his father is getting on in the world. Fidel didn't grow up very ideological. His dad wasn't even much of a nationalist. Fidel became an ardent nationalist, but his dad didn't talk a lot about politics. This guy was strict. He wasn't fun. He didn't play with his children. The ideology was work hard, be disciplined, just get out of poverty.

Money provides the Castro children with things their parents never had, including expensive educations in Cuba's big cities. Fidel is dispatched to a Jesuit boarding school in Santiago. Here he excels academically and on the sports field. He is precocious and impudent. When Franklin D. Roosevelt wins a historic third term as U.S. President in 1940, a 14-year-old Fidel writes a letter to congratulate him and asks the President to send him a $10 bill. To his annoyance, the cash is not forthcoming.

The boy cannot stay out of trouble. He's a risk taker, the class rebel, a magnet for conflict. There are stories of fistfights with other classmates and reckless displays of adolescent machismo. Michael Bustamante is associate professor and director of Cuban studies at the University of Miami. Castro was kind of an outsider. There's this sense of a guy with a chip on his shoulder. His father had done quite well for himself, but he wasn't from the city either, so I think because of that he always wanted to impress everybody around him. Such as the time when Fidel claims he can fly.

He went up to the second floor and jumped to prove that he could fly and came crashing down. So that says something about kind of him being willing to, one had lie, but on the other hand, sort of go to the mat to try to prove a point, right? Somebody who took sort of go to the mat to try to prove a point, right? Somebody who took sort of disputes personally. At 16, Fidel enters the Collegio de Belen in Havana, the most prestigious school in the land. The building is stunning, a jewel of neoclassical architecture.

Walking the marble corridors of the sons of oligarchs. Eduardo Sáez Basan was a first-year pupil at Belén when Fidel was in his final year. I suppose my family would be described as a member of old oligarchy in Cuba. I come from a family of politicians. I have two grandparents that were senators and my father was a senator also. Fidel is nine years older than I am. But I remember while playing on the campus of Belen,

seeing a lot of the senior athletes practicing and what have you. And I know that Fidel Castro was one of them. A dear friend of mine remembers hunting with Fidel Castro with a shotgun full of salt and hitting some of the Haitians that were working at his father's plantation. I mean, they were 12 years old kids, do that type of thing, but he had a wild streak all of his life. His teachers tried to stamp out this wild streak. Order, discipline, and mission, these are the Jesuit values. A slither of

Fidel Castro will forever bear the mark of his schooling. Alex von Tunselmann is the author of Red Heat, Conspiracy, Murder, and the Cold War in the Caribbean. One of the real keys to understanding Fidel is that he was deeply Jesuit at some level. Now, of course, when he became a communist, he of course became an atheist, like all good communists would. But I think those Jesuit principles of simplicity, self-denial, and very strong dedication to his beliefs. That was something that sort of really helps explain some of his psychology, this kind of deep commitment to his causes and so on. And much as his particular ideas could flex,

I don't think he ever lost this incredible tenacity. Fidel arrives at Berlin in 1942, halfway through the presidency of Fulgencio Batista. A sly, pugnacious army veteran, Batista has been a dominant force in Cuban politics for a decade. The muscle propping up a series of presidents, always with the approval of Washington, who see him as a man they can do business with, a check against Cuba's far left. In 1940, the U.S.-backed Batista comes to power, the first man to win the presidency under a new liberal constitution.

It's the promise of a new dawn. But any high hopes are soon dispelled. Corruption infests Batista's government. The Constitution forbids back-to-back presidential terms. So in 1944, Batista leaves office. For now. Things aren't any better under the man who replaces him. Ramon Grau.

Corruption continues to soar. Havana is becoming a playground for the rich and high rolling, especially Americans wanting to hide from either the law or morality. Frequently both. The capital's nightclubs, casinos, and brothels do a roaring trade and give the US mafia somewhere to launder their ill-gotten gains. Organized crime stretches into every part of public life,

as Fidel, a freshman law student in 1945, now discovers. As Fidel, a freshman law student in 1945, now discovers. Arriving at Javelin University, he was treated as a hick. Even though he'd been to some pretty superior schools, he thought at first that his athleticism would sort of carry him into the important social circles, but he learned very quickly that in fact, he wasn't a truly world-class athlete, and there were many in Cuba. And so he would have to try his hand in politics.

And politics was really the game at Havana University and anybody who was anybody in Cuba had come through Havana University and played the political game and it was a rough and tumble game, It was a lethal game. Violent gangs dominate student politics and even infect university administration. With links to police and government, gangs can manipulate grades and influence recruitment. When university staff displease them, the gangs exact the ultimate punishment.

In the 1940s, numerous university employees are murdered for simply doing their jobs. There are no safe spaces on this campus. There were one group of students allied against other group of students, some of them conservatives, some of them liberal, some of them tied to the military, some tied to the government, all tied to power. And Castro was trying to figure out a way to sort of use this to propel himself. He was interested in power himself, figuring out how to propel himself into influence

among these people who had parents and grandparents and aunts and uncles were all involved in the power politics of Cuba. Ambitious, rambunctious Fidel takes to gang life like a Dr. Water, and he's not shy in showing his worth as a man of arms. As Fidel enters his second year, a new student begins to ruffle feathers. Leonel Gomez is a young man in a hurry. He boasts about his intention of seizing the top student jobs in Havana. Positions Fidel and his allies fancy for themselves.

Verbal warnings are given. Gomez is told to keep humble, don't start conflicts you cannot finish. The kid rolls his eyes. He has no intention of coming to heal. So Fidel decides to send him a message he can't ignore. It's December 10, 1946. The start of Cuba's dry season, when Havana is at its most beautiful. The strains of Son Cubano music tumble from open windows. The streets buzz with young people,

enjoying the fresh, brilliant sunshine. Among them is Leonel Gomez, off to attend a football game on the outskirts of his campus. He doesn't know it, but he's being hunted. Lainel makes his way into the stadium to enjoy the match. Meanwhile, Fidel and his fellow gang members prowl the area armed with guns. About two hours later, the final whistle blows.

The crowd begins to file out, and as Gomez leaves the stadium, Fidel pulls the trigger. He's an excellent shot. He's had years of practice hunting on the family estate. The bullet finds its target. Gomez is shot in the back, though his wounds are not fatal. Fidel flees the scene. He rushes to the home of a friend and comes straight out with it. I just shot Leno. It's a brazen act, committed in broad daylight. But Fidel faces no repercussions from the law.

The cancer of corruption and conspiracy sees to that. Fidel was often accused of shooting this person or that person in this period of his life, but because of the power politics and the way that the student university gangs were connected to the government gangs and the government was connected to the police, nobody ever investigated that shooting. It's been suggested by his son that Fidel is intending a warning rather than an assassination attempt. But if he's just trying to put the frighteners on Gomez, it's a hell of a risky way to go

about it. What makes the shooting of Leonel Gomez even more remarkable is that it occurs at the very point that Fidel is attempting to make a name for himself as an anti-corruption activist. In speeches and manifestos, he rails against the influence of gangs, government corruption, and U.S. imperialism. Like many young Cubans, Castro sees America's gigantic business interests on the island as the root of his country's ills.

In making his arguments, he constantly invokes the lodestar of Cuban nationalism, the sainted Jose Marti. Without Marti, we don't have a Fidel Castro, and we don't really have any politician who would have been worth his weight in sugar, because there was no other figure in the Cuban political landscape as important, even though he was dead. And Fidel steps very much into an imitation of Marzit. To his delight he begins to receive press coverage. Fidel Castro is suddenly

a rising star. He is an impressive orator, stern, self-righteous, yet passionate and charismatic. He's a striking figure too, tall, handsome and powerfully built. But Fidel's burgeoning identity as a moral crusader turns old friends into enemies. friends into enemies. In order to then make a name for himself as a politician, he had to break away from some of the more corrupt, more violent, more self-serving student leaders slash gang leaders in Havana University. And not everybody liked the direction in which he was headed. Often his very life was in peril, whether from the Cuban government or from the gangs themselves.

On numerous occasions in the coming years, he's hauled in by the police in connection with other crimes, including the murder of an officer. When Manolo Castro, a senior figure in a prominent gang, is gunned down upon leaving a cinema, his namesake Fidel is the prime suspect. Whatever the truth behind these allegations, the twin interests of idealism and violence are becoming the central pillars of the Castro brand. Roughly 150 miles southeast of Cuba lies the Dominican Republic, ruled by its president, Rafael Trujillo. Trujillo is seen by many Cubans as a Yankee-made monster.

He was originally trained by the Marines during an American occupation of the Dominican Republic in the 1920s. When he tortured and murdered his way to power in 1930, Washington chose to recognize his U.S. friendly government. Ever since, he's been a lightning rod for anti-American sentiment throughout Latin America. Rafael Trujillo ran an incredibly repressive, violent, horrific regime. He was very good at manipulating American diplomats and presenting himself opportunistically as a great anti-communist.

At one point he actually set up a fake communist party, had it run against him in an election, and then executed and got rid of the people he had paid to run it. He was really seen as this completely horrendous figure who was working with the worst of American power and the most corrupt, violent, appalling dictator in the region. So young people like Fidel Castro in the 40s were violently against him. Hi, listeners. were violently against him. Hi listeners, I hope you're enjoying this taste of the Fidel Castro story. To hear more after you've finished this episode, search Real Dictators in your podcast app and hit follow.

Episodes 2 to 10 are waiting for you now. In the summer of 1947, Fidel hears about a force being put together in Cuba, a brigade known as the Caribbean Legion. Its goal is to invade the Dominican Republic, overthrow Trujillo, and strike a blow against U.S. influence. The Legion is an eclectic bunch. Dominicans, Cubans, Venezuelans and Costa Ricans. Officially this is a renegade operation. Behind the scenes, it's secretly funded by members of the Cuban government. The whole thing is a mishmash of righteous cause and naked self-interest. The perfect fit for a young Fidel Castro.

In July, Fidel makes his way to a training camp set up in the city of Holguin, 1,500 men thrown together, preparing for an invasion. In addition to boots on the ground, the brigade has a small fleet of military aircraft at its disposal, as well as naval vessels needed to carry the invaders. Before long, Fidel and his new campaneros set up on Cayo Confites, a sandy barren patch of land where they prepare for their attack. As clandestine operations go, it's a bit of a joke. By early August it seems half of Latin America, including Rafael Trujillo, knows about the expedition. Back on the Castro family farm, even Fidel's parents get wind of it, and that their thrill-seeking

boy is joined up. Fidel's mother, Lina, is distraught when she hears the news. If those gangsters don't kill her son, then Trujillo surely will. Lina sets off for Caio Confites. She'll drag the boy back by the ears if she has to. When she arrives, Fidel is astonished to see her. His dear old mother in her daydress and smart shoes, rubbing shoulders with hardened revolutionaries. Lena lays it on thick. She appeals to his heart, think of your family, and to his head, it's madness, it won't even work.

But Fidel is unmoved, only dead will I desist in my plan to go. Lena departs, almost certain that she will never see her son again. But as the weeks pass, pressure grows on the Cuban government to stop the expedition. The White House is concerned that if Trujillo is toppled, he might be replaced with a communist, a prospect Washington cannot countenance. In September, the Cuban government buckles. It's all too messy and risky. The invasion party is ordered to disband immediately.

Fidel urges that they ignore this and press ahead. Yet it would be folly to continue, especially as the Cuban navy has been sent to intercept their ships. The game is up. Now Fidel senses danger. If the whole thing's off, he had best disappear. Making his escape, he has no choice but to swim ashore, with a machine gun strapped to his back. Soon the story will be wildly embellished, that the swim was nine miles, sharks nibbling at his toes, Fidel the Action Man.

The expedition is a washout, but a formative part of the castromythology is taking shape. A formative part of the Castro mythology is taking shape. I think you have to understand Fidel Castro within a Cuban culture that's very much centered around machismo and masculinity. Fidel had great physical prowess and also kind of this machismo to an almost ludicrous extent. There's a story that he once rode a bicycle full face on into a wall just to prove he could. He was someone who was not at all afraid to put himself in situations of grave danger. What's extraordinary is that he survived all of these. He was already beginning to build his legend as this kind of Superman. It's a similar story a few months later in the city of Bogotá.

In April 1948, Fidel travels to the Colombian capital as part of a student delegation for the Pan-American Conference. But the event is subsumed in violence and chaos. The liberal candidate in Colombia's upcoming presidential election is gunned down in the street. A crime that shocks the nation and instigates ten days of furious rioting. Fidel is keen to state his own role in the frenzy. I joined the people.

I grabbed a rifle in a police station when it was rushed by the crowd. That experience led me to identify myself even more with the cause of the people. If this sounds like deliberate myth-making, perhaps it is. I think there's a pretty huge amount of myth-making around the Bogotazo generally. There were stories later that he'd killed six priests during the Bogotazo and all this, well no priests were killed during the Bogotazo so that didn't happen. But what did seem to happen very consistently was that wherever trouble was, there was Fidel in it, somehow mixed up.

Back in Havana, Fidel finds a new vehicle for his populist zeal. He joins an emerging political party, the Autodoxos, founded and led by a charismatic liberal Democrat by the name of Eddie Chivas. Eddie Chivas was most famous for having a radio program on Sunday nights and everybody tuned in. The Chubas was most famous for having a radio program on Sunday nights and everybody tuned in and he was an incredible speaker, always taking these morally righteous positions. And Fidel is becoming something of a radio personality himself. Jennifer Lamb is associate professor of history at Brown University and the author of the

subject of revolution between political and popular culture in Cuba. As we head into the late 40s and 50s, there are some very famous radio politicians, including Eddie Chivas, who is kind of running on an anti-corruption platform. Castro becomes a kind of acolyte of Chivas. And that combination of media savvy and lawyerly persuasion is very much a characteristic of Castro's media personality as well. Fidel was kind of a carbon copy of Edi Chivas. Literally his radio program followed Edi Chivas' program every Sunday night. And it's effectively censored.

I mean, I tried to get copies. And it's effectively censored. I mean, I tried to get copies, but it's very unlikely that the Cuban government would ever approve your ability to hear him from those years, because of course, he was in favor of democracy elections and sounded very much like he was imitating his mentor, Eddie Chivas. In the 1948 presidential election, Chivas performed strongly. But the victor is Carlos Priyo, the

candidate of the Authenticos, the party of the departing president, Ramon Grau. For the next two years, corruption rolls on unabated, as does Chibas' appeal to the masses and Fidel Castro's commitment to Chibas' cause. Fidel makes a first run as an orthodoxo-delegate in his home province of Oriente. At party events, Fidel does what Fidel does. He's bombastic, self-important, self-righteous, and captivating in preaching the gospel according to Jose Marti. Chivas can't fail to take note.

That is, until August 1951, when Eddie Chivas's career comes to a shocking end. Chibis' career comes to a shocking end. These radio appearances that he made often took the form of indictments. So he would come, present an accusation that someone in the government was guilty of corruption in some capacity. There's obviously a dramatic and a theatrical quality to all of this. But one day he presented such an accusation that it turned out he could not defend, and ended up kind of theatrically shooting himself in the course of that broadcast, a wound from which he eventually died.

I think most scholars today believe that he did not intend that to be the end point of that broadcast, that it was accidental, that this was designed to kind of bring a dramatic flourish, but obviously, of course, one that went tragically wrong. Whether Chibas' death is a wildly romantic political gesture or simply a terrible accident, its effect on the public is huge. There was a massive, massive funeral procession.

Fidel Castro was a pallbearer. My mother lived very close by, and so she went to the funeral of Edi Chivas. And there were a million people there. The photographs are extraordinary. The death of Chivas is a disaster for his supporters. But for any ambitious up-and-comers, it also provides impetus. There is now a vacancy for an idealistic Cuban nationalist

prepared to pick up the mantle of Marti and Chimas. Cometh the hour, cometh Fidel. A lot of his power came largely from the historical context in which he lived, which he exploited to his advantage. Great expectations that had been building for decades for Cuba to be the kind of democracy that children had grown up thinking that it should have been. And so a lot of what got invested in Fidel Castro was Cubanidad, you know, Cuban identity, Cuban aspirations. Amid the chaos of the last few years,

Castro has made some concessions to ordinary life. At long last, he's got his degree and can start earning a crust as a practicing lawyer and wean himself off a very generous stipend from his parents. He's also got hitched. The lucky lady is Mirta Diaz-Balart, a beautiful polished young woman from a prominent conservative family who also happens to have first-rate political connections. On the surface, the young couple are a picture of Cuban bourgeois happiness. They even have a luxurious honeymoon in the United States.

In 1949, a son is born, Fidelito, little Fidel. It's all a very long way from Castro Castro the gangster and gun-toting revolutionary. In fact, even Fulgencio Batista, former president and symbol of government corruption, demonstrates his approval of Fidel's union. Mita's father was a kind of pro-Batista guy, and Battista sends them a wedding gift. He gave them a beautiful set of alabaster vases, one of which Fidel smashed when he told Mirta at one point that they were not going to go live in Paris, which was a promise, something that they must have talked about

when they were, you know, in love and on the beach. But then, in fact, Castro was going to dedicate himself to becoming a politician, run for office and rise through Cuban politics to become a leader. And Mirta collapsed in tears, oh Fidel, you promised us we would go to Paris. And Fidel said, Cognum, sinrieta, and smashed one of the Batista vases on the floor. Batista invades us on the floor. Since leaving office in 1944, Batista has largely been out of the picture, twiddling his thumbs in Daytona Beach, Florida, ruminating on his own dashed hopes. Elections are scheduled for June 1st, 1952. With just weeks to go until polling day, Batista's campaign for the presidency is

floundering. Democracy isn't giving him what he craves, so he tosses it aside. Exploiting his army connections, Batista takes control of the military. He claims that the corruption and incompetence of the current president, Carlos Priyo, is steering Cuba into a national emergency. Only he, Batista, can pull the country clear of disaster. And anyone who dares to disagree is met with violent repression. days to disagree is met with violent repression. In large part, I would argue that he was bored sitting in Daytona Beach. He was out of power. Then, Bo, he is back with a military coup in 1952. There are a thousand officers who are arrested, thousands of opponents flee into exile, and he rules through his own 183-person

faint council. As Prio is forced out of office, Batista cancels the upcoming elections and suspends various constitutional guarantees. Democrats across the island are appalled. Conservatives, liberals, socialists united in revulsion for Batista. A school teacher named Ube Matos is in the classroom when a colleague brings the news to him.

Speaking many years later, Matos recalls his response. I went out into the streets with the young people of different schools. We felt we'd been slapped in the face. Nearly 6 million Cubans had been slapped in the face. We had to say no, because it made no sense. With less than three months to the general elections, a candidate who the polls were predicting had no chance of winning uses military force to cancel the elections and pronounce himself as president by force. I said, Cuba has sunk, Cuba is finished. I also thought that this fight would take over my life.

For Fivel too, the Batista coup is the moment everything changes. Castro ran around the city of Havana and elsewhere saying, who's going to stand up to this guy? At first he thought he was alone, but he wasn't alone. And so he began to conceive of the idea of a violent revolution while others, many of his friends, were insisting that the nonviolence was the way to go. So that became a real divide in the groups of his peers who were all committed to change. Fidel's resolve is only increased when the U.S. recognizes Batista's government, proof in his mind that Cuba is a plaything of US imperialism.

The men and women who sign up for Fidel's secret scheme are drawn from what is dubbed the movement, a disparate group of young people, angry, impatient, and intent on toppling Batista. The rhetoric is unmistakably Cuban. Martí's dream of Cuba libre, free Cuba, as yet unfulfilled. Fidel decides that the revolution will begin in the east of the island, with an attack on the Moncada military barracks in Santiago. Soon training gets underway, though as it is often the way with Fidel, revolutionary zeal outweighs thorough preparation. Clay pigeon shooting at a Havana firing range

is about the limit for most of Castro's brothers-in-arms. Some don't even get that. They're taught how to handle guns, but not actually shoot them. Information about the plans is strictly rationed. Beyond Fidel and his brother Raoul, barely a soul knows any of the details. One of those chosen few is Natira Vuelta, a striking, sophisticated young woman from the top drawer of Havana society. If Fidel's wife Myrta is staid and dependable, Nati is instinctual and adventurous, a rebel

by nature. Nati is infatuated with Fidel. In time she becomes his lover and his financier. Ill-conceived as it is, the insurrection plan is not cheap. Fidel's father may have deep pockets but there's no chance he'll pick up the tab for a harebrained suicide mission. Nati, however, is swept up in revolutionary fervour. She's only too pleased to bankroll Fidel's fantastical ambitions. By pawning pieces of her jewellery, she raises six thousand dollars. Nati has put her money where her mouth is, and so Fidel entrusts her with a special mission. It will be her job to deliver Fidel's manifesto to reporters, diplomats and politicians.

The key players in Havana whom Fidel expects to rally to his cause. The manifesto is light on practicalities, heavy on stirring nationalistic rhetoric. The revolution is born in the soul of the Cuban people, of young men seeking a new Cuba. There's nothing close to a mention of the likes of Marx or Lenin. On that front, Fidel keeps his powder dry and his options open. in his options open. The date for the Moncada attack is set, July 26, 1953. The timing is symbolic. The year is the 100th anniversary of Jose Mati's birth. Plus, the day before the attack, it's Carnival in

Santiago, the perfect cover for a load of young visitors to arrive in the city. Fidel also concludes that the soldiers at the barracks will either be on leave, partying, or hungover, and in no condition to repel an attack. In mid-July a small chicken farm is rented a few miles outside Santiago. In dry wells and outbuildings Fidel's deputies hired a huge cache of weapons and army uniforms. With a few days to go the rebels convene. Fidel himself leaves late on the 24th, less than two days before the action begins. It's a long drive from Havana, 550 miles. Halfway through, Fidel identifies a problem. He's left his glasses at home.

In the town of Santa Clara, he finds an optician's and buys a new pair. Fingers crossed they're the right prescription. It's late in the evening of the 25th by the time he reaches the farm. It's late in the evening of the 25th by the time he reaches the farm. The attack is scheduled for dawn. Most of the others are there waiting for him, on edge and still in the dark, metaphorically and literally.

To keep a low profile the lights are switched off. By 4 a.m. everyone is present. Uniforms and weapons are handed out. But still, Fidel doesn't divulge the plan. Suddenly a shot rings out. Gun flash briefly illuminates the pitch black room. A nervous rebel has accidentally squeezed the trigger of his rifle. When Fidel at last reveals the plan, it's a classic Castro performance. If everything goes well, he says, they'll be in and out in ten minutes. Those hungover soldiers won't know what's hit them.

Fidel's chest-beating self-confidence is intoxicating, though not everyone is swayed. Two small groups of rebels are alarmed. To them, this sounds like a kamikaze mission. With trepidation they voice their concerns. One of them reveals that he had no idea they would be asked to do anything illegal. Castro is appalled. Such negativity. Such spinelessness. The men are placed under armed guard and taken to a back room. Once the others have departed, they'll be free to go. There'll be no retribution from Fidel. Presumably, a life spent mired in the shame of their cowardice is considered punishment

enough. For everyone else, it's full steam ahead to the Moncada barracks. He thought of Moncada as a way to wake the nation up. He planned what is really a harebrained scheme, but I think that he hoped it would send a message, show the world that Cubans were not passive, that they were not sort of intellectually morally dead. Before sunrise, Fidel makes his final speech. He attempts to channel his childhood heroes, Caesar, Napoleon, Alexander the Great, and of course, José Martí. If you win, the aspirations of Martí will be delivered, he vows.

It is we who will give the first cry of liberty or death. Outside, the sky is still dark. A field of black, dotted with shining stars. Fidel's 150 men clamber into 16 vehicles. Headlights switch on. Engines growl into life. A kinetic energy charges the morning air. For this happy few, destiny awaits. Very soon, however, problems arise. One car suffers a puncture, two others take wrong turns and get lost. This is more wacky races than the Normandy landings.

At around 5.20am the convoy reaches the barracks. The rebels inside the lead car jump out, disarm the guards, and open the gate for the others to drive through. But the lead car is now sat blocking the entrance to the barracks. Two nearby soldiers see what's happening and reach for their machine guns. In the car behind, Fidel puts his foot down and plows into the curb. Behind, Fidel puts his foot down and plows into the curb. The engine stalls. All around there is smoke, screaming, a deafening hail of bullets. Fidel has got it all wrong. Rather than there being only a few men with sore heads, the barracks is teeming with alert armed soldiers. It's carnage.

Within moments numerous rebels lie dead on the ground. Others are injured. With the insurrection in tatters there's a scramble to the cars. Fidel makes it into the back of one as it screeches away. Other rebels positioned a sniper cover in a nearby hospital run into the wards pretending to be patients. The ruse doesn't keep them safe for long. Government soldiers turf them out of their beds. They're beaten mercilessly, interrogated,

and eventually shot. It's hard to imagine that Fidel's master plan could have gone any worse. By the afternoon, Fidel himself is back on the chicken farm, exhausted, but alive. He's joined by a few dozen others. He appeals to them to keep going. This is just a momentary setback, he assures. It doesn't wash. Shell-shocked, many of the rebels decide to head back to Havana, hoping to evade detection,

or await whatever Batista decides to do with them. Suit yourselves, says Fidel. With nineteen fellow survivors he begins a trudge deep into the Oriente countryside that he knows so well. He has the mountains in his sights. For him, the fight has only just begun. In the next episode… The hunt for Fidel is on. Castro wrestles with Marxism and begins another affair.

Attempting to reignite the revolution, he swims naked across the US border. And while in exile in Mexico, he'll strike up a rapport with a scruffy Argentine known as Che. That's next time. Get every episode of Real Dictators a week early and ad free by subscribing to Noiza Plus. Hit the link in the episode description to find out more.