Overview
Viva Revolution! It is the end of an era in Cuba. Fidel Castro has stepped down as leader of the island. Fidel Castro had ruled the island since he led a Socialist revolution to overthrow the dictator Fulgencio Batista in 1959. Batista had opened the island to US business – especially casinos. However, when Castro took power, he forced the companies to sell their assets to the government at extremely low prices. The companies saw this as theft, though the pries they were offered were the values they had set on their businesses to avoid Cuban taxes. Castro originally denied any ties to Communism and set up a meeting with president Eisenhower. However, when the US snubbed his diplomatic envoy – mainly because the country had lost a fortune when he took over, Castro turned to the Soviet Union to support his new government. Considering his status as a Socialist and ally to the USSR has led to an US embargo on the island since 1962. On February 24, 2008, he handed the presidency to his brother Raul. Considering this change will affect Cuba, US foreign policy, and international leftist politics, it is certainly worthy of a little extemp examination.