Four Ways to Teach about Fidel Castro

WORLD

Fidel Castro, who defined Cuba on the international stage for more than half a century, has died. Why is the former leader of a small, developing nation so important to the most powerful country on Earth? (American Experience)

How will the U.S. relationship with Cuba change now that the diplomatic embargo that defined the Castro Era has ended?

Teachers, scroll down for a quick list of key resources in our Teachers Toolkit.

Discussion Ideas
The great American Experience lesson plan describes four ways to consider Fidel Castro’s influence on the U.S.: through the lenses of geography, history, economics, and civics.

GEOGRAPHY

• Take a look at the map above. What are some key places in Cuba that played a role in U.S. history?
  • Havana. The U.S. did not have an embassy in the Cuban capital from 1961-2015, when diplomatic relations were restored.
  • Guantanamo Bay. The U.S. has a naval base here, where it maintains a detention center for high-value prisoners (often those associated with terror-related charges). The Guantanamo Bay detention camp is probably the most controversial U.S. prison due to the fact that many inmates are held indefinitely without charges and sometimes tortured.
  • Bay of Pigs. Here, President John F. Kennedy and hundreds of Cuban freedom fighters suffered a humiliating defeat when trying to invade and overthrow the Castro regime.
  • San Juan Hills of Santiago de Cuba. Teddy Roosevelt established his reputation in battle at San Juan Hill during the Spanish-American War.

 

• How has Cuba’s physical geography impacted the U.S.?
  • Cuba is one of our closest neighbors, only 145 kilometers (90 miles) across the Straits of Florida from the island-city of Key West, Florida.

 

• How has Cuba’s human geography impacted the U.S.?
  • Millions of Cubans have immigrated to the U.S., most of them following Castro’s Cuban Revolution in 1959. The repressive Cuban government is within living memory for these immigrants and their families; anti-Castro animus has defined South Florida’s Cuban community for generations.

 

• Cuban immigrants and children of Cuban immigrants account for nearly 3% of the total immigrant population in the U.S. How have these immigrants shaped U.S. culture?
  • Cuban-American lawmakers help shape U.S. policy. For example:
    • Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Florida) were leading contenders for the Republican presidential nomination this year (2016).
    • Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart represents a district in Miami, and former Congressman Lincoln Diaz-Balart is the chairman of the Congressional Hispanic Leadership Institute. The Diaz-Balart brothers, both Republicans, are actually related (by marriage) to Fidel Castro: Their aunt was his first wife.
    • The last five mayors of Miami (including the incumbent, Republican Tomas Regalado) are Cuban immigrants or the children of immigrants.
    • Former Florida circuit court judge Marilyn Milian has presided over TV’s The People’s Court since 2001.
  • Cuban immigrants have led and influenced a wide array of cultural enterprises in the U.S.:
    • Musicians, from Desi Arnaz (who predated Castro) to Gloria Estefan to Pitbull regularly incorporate Cuban elements in their music, often performing in Spanish. The hit documentary The Buena Vista Social Club brought a new generation of fans to Cuba’s historic danzon music.
    • Athletes such as Olympic swimmer Dara Torres, sprinter and human rights activist Juan Carlos, and first baseman Rafael Palmeiro excelled in their sports.
    • Actors such as Eva Mendes, Raul Esparza, and Gina Torres are successful in films, theater, and television. Behind the scenes, writers and producers such as George A. Romero and Rene Echevarria have created the worlds of Night of the Living Dead and Star Trek.
    • Cuban American author Oscar Hijuelos was the first Latino to win a Pulitzer Prize for fiction.

 

HISTORY

• The New York Times obituary of Fidel Castro describes him as “bedeviling 11 U.S. presidents.” What presidents did Castro irritate and, in most cases, outlive? Read through this article for some help.
  • Dwight D. Eisenhower, who ended diplomatic relations with Cuba in 1961.
  • John F. Kennedy, who suffered a defeat at the Bay of Pigs just three months later. The Kennedy administration successfully prevented Soviet missiles from being deployed in Cuba in 1962.
  • Lyndon B. Johnson, who had the U.S. Navy supply its own freshwater when Castro tried to shut down the Guantanamo Bay naval base.
  • Richard Nixon, who ended all overt U.S. attempts to overthrow Castro. Here is a great article on those failed Castro assassination attempts.
  • Gerald Ford, who considered air strikes against Cuba for Cuba’s support of the Communist state in Angola.
  • Jimmy Carter, whose administration accepted more than 100,000 immigrants in the famous “Mariel Boatlift.”
  • Ronald Reagan, who sent troops to nearby Grenada to prevent Cuba from building an airport there.
  • George H.W. Bush, who tightened trade and travel restrictions to Cuba even more.
  • Bill Clinton, under whose administration Cuban relations were strained as American and Cuban family members fought bitterly over custody of 5-year-old immigrant Elian Gonzalez.
  • George W. Bush, who installed new barriers to money transfers to Cuba.
  • Barack Obama, who restored diplomatic relations with Cuba.

 

• What other 20th-century elected leaders governed as long as Fidel Castro? Take a look at this list for some help.
  • Castro had the longest leadership of any non-royal during the 20th century, at 52 years.
  • Chiang Kai-shek split his leadership between mainland China (22 years) and Taiwan (25 years).
  • Kim Il-sung helped found the nation of North Korea and led it for 45 years.
  • The longest-serving incumbent is President Paul Biya, who has led Cameroon for 41 years.

 

• Other long-serving political leaders include Moammar Gadaffi, who led Libya for 41 years; Omar Bongo, who led Gabon for 41 years; and Francisco Franco, who led Spain for 39 years.
  • What do these leaders and their administrations have in common?
  • Do you think one person or one party can successfully lead a nation for so long? Why or why not?

 

• In what ways did Fidel Castro help define 20th-century politics?
  • Major Cold War machinations took place in Cuba, a Soviet-supported Communist country within the U.S. sphere of geographic influence. The tense Cuban Missile Crisis, played out more between Soviets and Americans more than Cubans, is often regarded as the closest the world has come to nuclear war.
  • Castro’s independence, appeal to the poor, and open defiance of Western politics influenced a generation of Latin American leaders seeking to distance themselves from their colonial past: Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega, Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa, and Bolivian President Evo Morales are all influenced by Castro’s leadership. The late Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez used to end his wildly popular weekly show with a salute and “Adios, Fidel!”

 

ECONOMICS

• How did the 50-year diplomatic and trade embargo impact Cuba?
  • The U.S. is the world’s biggest supplier of humanitarian and economic aid. This aid could support the construction of agricultural facilities, hospitals, schools, infrastructure, and small businesses in Cuba.
  • Lack of U.S. food aid contributed to food rationing.
  • The lack of aid forced the Cuban population to invest in ingenuity and self-sufficiency. (Critics often point to the beautifully maintained 1950s-era cars that pop up in so many Cuban snapshots as an example of this.)

 

• How has the embargo impacted the U.S.?
  • Many U.S. industries (travel and tourism, banking, telecommunications, machinery, agriculture) have lost a major North American market for their goods and services.

 

• How has the embargo impacted both Cuba and the U.S.?
  • Families and friends have been kept apart for generations.
  • Prior to the embargo, the U.S. imported about a third of its sugar cane from Cuba. Cuba had to find another market (the Soviet Union and China, mostly) and the U.S. had to find another supplier (domestic and Brazil, mostly).
  • Scientific and technological collaboration has been limited.

 

• Castro’s economic policy was established with a huge program of nationalization. What is nationalization?
  • Nationalization is the process of transferring ownership of a company, factory, or piece of land from private owners to the government.

 

• Why do you think nationalization was such a crucial part of Castro’s economic policy?
  • Castro was a socialist (later, a Communist). He appealed to the Cuban poor and pursued equity for the working classes. He sought to “redirect the profits of industry to the public purse and establish some form of workers’ self-management.” Nationalization—putting profits from the hands of the few to the hands of the many (through public ownership)—is a key part of socialist strategy.

 

• What are some other examples of nationalization or nationalized industries?
  • Mexico nationalized its entire petroleum industry in 1938. Today, Pemex remains the largest company in Mexico.
  • The Ordnance Survey of the United Kingdom is a state-owned enterprise that is one of the world’s largest producers of maps.
  • China’s Sinopec Group is Asia’s largest oil company.
  • South African Airways is a government-owned enterprise.
  • Many public transportation agencies, such as Chile’s EFE, are nationalized.

 

CIVICS

• Consider what Castro’s Cuban Revolution attempted to accomplish: to overthrow an authoritarian regime and establish a more equitable state. In what ways may the revolution be considered a success?
  • Cuba has an impressive health care and education system, vastly improved from what was available to most Cubans in the 1950s.
    • greater life expectancy
    • lower infant mortality
    • greater access to quality care
    • greater literacy
    • greater participation in government
    • scientific and technological advancement
    • greatly improved gender equality
    • radically improved social mobility

 

• In what ways may the Cuban Revolution be considered a failure?
  • Castro himself became a dictator, and his brother, Raul, continues to lead Cuba in the same authoritarian manner.
  • Cubans endure massive human rights violations:
    • imprisonment for dissent
    • forced labor
    • torture and abuse of prisoners
    • severe limitations on freedom of expression, freedom of religion, freedom of speech, and freedom of assembly
  • Censorship of all forms of media continues to be an issue.
  • Economic repression makes it difficult for Cuban entrepreneurs to profit from their work, and discourages innovation.
  • Cuba imposes strict limitations on travel both within and outside the country.
  • Always a marginalized group, black Cubans continue to endure covert discrimination and are underrepresented in government and leadership positions.
  • Historically, groups such as gays and lesbians and Jehovah’s Witnesses were forced into “re-education” camps.

 

• The U.S. opposed Fidel Castro’s authoritarian government for more than 50 years. During that time, however, the U.S. lent financial, military, and propaganda support to authoritarian regimes in places such as Iran, Chile, and the Philippines. Today, many critics question the position of the U.S. opposing Cuba while continuing to support similarly dictatorial regimes in Saudi Arabia, Rwanda, and Turkmenistan. What factors do you think have influenced these political decisions?
  • Think about impacts and relationships through the lenses discussed above: geography, history, economics, civics.

 

TEACHERS TOOLKIT

American Experience: Fidel Castro—Teachers Guide

Nat Geo: How America’s Relationship with Cuba Will Change study guide

New York Times: Fidel Castro obituary

Miami Herald: Fidel Castro obituary

NPR: Fidel Castro obituary

Independent: All the US Presidents Fidel Castro outlasted, and how they dealt with the Cuban Leader

UN Development Programme: Cuba—Human Development Indicators