History Will Absolve Me Fidel Castro: Life and Legacy

One of Fidel Castro\u27s most memorable quotes came in 1953. On trial for leading an assault on Havana\u27s Moncaeda garrison he is quoted as saying It does not matter. History will absolve me. Despite his leadership resulting in the loss of life and impoverishing of Cuba, Castro never wavered in his certainty that his life\u27s work would be vindicated. His death on November 25, 2016 prompted conflicting reactions ranging from supreme grief to outright joy. As many observers noted: the time for history\u27s judgment has come. Few people know Fidel Castro\u27s life and career as well as CIA analyst Dr. Brian Latell who was assigned to Fidel Castro in the 1960s and tracked the leader for well over 35 years. In this book he reveals the mind and motivations of one of the most dominating leaders of the twentieth century based on his decades-long learning of Castro\u27s habits, fears and passions. Asa Latin American specialist for the CIA and the National Intelligence Council for over four decades, Dr. Latell has served seven presidents and won the CIA\u27s Distinguished Intelligence medal. He currently serves as Senior Research Associate and Adjunct Professor at the Jack D. Gordon Institute. He is the author of After Fidel: Raul Castro and the Future of Cuba\u27s Revolution, which has been published in eight languages, as well as Castro\u27s Secret\u27s: Cuban Intelligence, the CIA, and the Assassination of John F. Kennedy.https://digitalcommons.fiu.edu/cri_events/1323/thumbnail.jp

Cuban Military Culture

The Revolutionary Armed forces (Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias—FAR) have traditionally been the most powerful official institution in Cuba and the central pillar sustaining the communist regime. Beginning with the stunning victory against an American sponsored exile invasion at the Bay of Pigs, the Cuban military became one of the best and most experienced fighting forces of any small nation. This report examines how traditional FAR culture has been characterized by exalted status, confidence, high morale, strict discipline, belief in the leadership of the Castro brothers, and an assertive nationalism antagonistic towards the United States. However, today, it is about a tenth of its previous maximum strength and faces an uncertain future.https://digitalcommons.fiu.edu/jgi_research/1020/thumbnail.jp

Why Raul Castro is happy Fidel is gone

What will the newly liberated Raul Castro look like as a leader? He remains as poorly understood today as at any time in his more than 60 years in public life, in large part because he has existed in the shadow of his more charismatic brother. For decades there have been contradictory images of the dogmatic enforcer and the overly sensitive patsy, but the strongest clue as to what kind of leader Raul would be emerged when he took nominal control of the country after Fidel’s illness in 2006. It has been a challenging decade for Raul who often found that his boldest reform initiatives were undermined by his weakened but still meddlesome brother who demanded until the end fidelity to his decades-long revolution. But the economic and social pressures facing Cuba give Raul little choice except to make the dramatic changes that he has long wanted to enact.https://digitalcommons.fiu.edu/jgi_research/1011/thumbnail.jp