History Essay

How significant were Castro’s leadership skills in his path to power?

One has to ask herself, how is it possible that a middle-class lawyer, with no prior military or economic experience whatsoever, ended up being the leader of a country, even one as small as Cuba. Fidel Castro was born in 1927 and thirty two years later, in January 1959, he became the Commander-in-chief of the Cuban armed forces. A month later, Cuba’s President. The aim of this essay is to examine how significant were Castro’s leadership skills in his rise to power. In order to do so I will analyze whether it was only his skills that helped him come to power or whether there were other factors involved; like Cuba’s dependence on the USA or the incompetence of Batista’s government.

First, we should define leadership skills, as one’s abilities to inspire people towards a common aim. Therefore, within his leadership skills we are going to consider, the use of media, his oratory skills, his ability to attract widespread support, his effective tactics to topple Batista’s regime, his ability to exploit the context in which his rise for power was going on and of course his assertiveness.

On the one hand, it can be said that Castro’s leadership skills were of great importance in his path to power. In the first place, it can be said that he rose as a strong opposition leader thanks to his excellent use of mass media. In 1953, the M-26-7 movement initiated an attack on the Moncada Barracks, led by Fidel Castro. Although the attack was a complete failure, it gave Castro the perfect opportunity to become known by the people. He was immediately accused of betraying Batista’s government (1952-1959) and put into trial. Castro used this publicity to deliver his famous speech “History will absolve me”, ratifying his rebellious actions and boldly proclaiming his political views. He conveyed the idea that all he was doing was defending his country and for that he needed people’s support. He used the media attention he was getting, to sell an image in which he was the victim and the true fighter for Cuba’s interests. The trial was regarded as a sensation. Another example where we can clearly see his ability to use mass media to transmit his ideas and increase his popularity was when he let the American Journalist, Herbert Matthews, interview him for the New York Times; while in Sierra Maestra in 1957. He cleverly used the opportunity to again, spread his ideas among the Cuban community. After this, he quickly became a national symbol of opposition to Batista. In this way, it can be said that his ability to use the media to project an image of a fighter for Cuba and Cuban’s interests, to transmit his ideas and plans definitely helped him become more popular, hence, gain more supporters and little by little go increasing the possibilities to rise to power.

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Furthermore, we can mention as a significant skill to rise to power, his ability to attract widespread support with his ideas and actions. In his “History will absolve me” speech, Castro denounced Batista’s regime, and blamed Batista for the problems of the Cuban society. By speaking of him as a “despicable tyrant”, Castro gave an appearance of strength and determination, something key to become leader. By saying he will deal with problems such as land distribution, putting an end to the corruption and ruthlessness of Batista’s government he slowly started growing more and more supporters from the agrarian portion of the ...

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