Violent Techniques Used by Fidel Castro to Consolidate His Power Plan of Investigation - Essay Example

Violent Techniques Used by Fidel Castro to Consoli his Power Plan of Investigation A ruler who assumes power solely and absolutely is referred to as a dictator. In modern times, the term dictator is used to refer to a leader who abuses power by making laws without consulting the legislature. In short, the leader rules as he or she likes (Doswell 25). Fidel Castro can be used as an example to understand dictators and how they rule. It is essential to understand how Fidel Castro came into power in order to understand his dictatorship. To further understand how dictator ship works is crucial to investigate the techniques used by Fidel Castro to make sure that people followed to what he said and to control the opposition. Finally, it is vital to identify the impact Fidel Castro dictatorship had on the people of Cuba. Summary of Evidence Fidel Castro a military general came into power 1959 after staging a coup de tat to over throw the then president of Cuba Fulgencio Batista (Thomas 16). Since then, Fidel Castro ruled Cuba for almost 50 years until he handed power to his brother in 2006. The fact that Fidel Castro held on to power for close to 50 years is evidence enough that he was a dictator (Thomas 19). One characteristic of a dictator is that he or she refuses to give up power for others to rule despite the fact that the county, which they rule is not a monarch system. Monarchies are the only form of government that rulers are allowed to rule for such a long time since power is mostly passed on to others only after death. Even after death power is left upon heirs or close members of the family. Evidence that Fidel Castro’s rule was dictatorship is the fact that his leadership was based on autocracy. This is a characteristic of dictator ship where rulers declare themselves sole rulers of a nation without any formal body to check on their power. This means that they can make decisions that affect the nation as they wish without consulting anybody especially the legislature. Another characteristic of dictators is that they have totalitarian governments. This is where they have firm control of the media controlling on what they broad cast. For example, Fidel Castro controlled the media to make sure that nothing negative about him was announced. The use of secret police and military units to spy on citizen is another form of a totalitarian government which is used by all dictators (Thomas 58). For example, Fidel Castro’s rule was characterized by such units to the point that people were even scared to discuss negative aspects of his government due to the fear of being arrested by these secret police and military units. A dictator is characterized by the fact that his or her leadership is based on cults of personality. This is where in the country where the leader rules, there is some form of hero/heroism worship. Here, the ruler is idolized as a hero and his name is praised a lot. Often the hero/heroism image is created by the spreading of propaganda by the leader of how good he or she is. For example, Fidel Castro spread propaganda that communism was to being an end to poverty among Cuban citizens. This made his people idolize him as their liberator from poverty hence the cult of personality presenting its self. Finally, dictators are characterized by the fact that they use the military as their own personal force. These rulers use the military as if it were their personal dogs that follow all their masters’ orders. Dictators often use the military to control the country by meeting opposition efforts with a lot of violence. The military always supports the decision of the ruler irrespective of the consequences of the dictator’s decisions. Fidel Castro had all the above characteristics in his rule. This is proof that he was a dictator. Fidel Castro’s rule was characterized by enactment of laws that did not follow the protocols of a democracy in his book “Fidels ethics of violence: the moral dimension of the political thought of Fidel Castro”. Jayatilleka describes Fidel as a leader who would make according to his liking. (Jayatilleka 245). By this, he means that Fidel Castro would make laws as if he was a king in a monarch system and what he felt was right to him was supposed to be okay with the citizens of Cuba without any questions asked. Evaluation of Sources Various authors consider Fidel Castro as one of the wicked Dictators the world has seen. In her book “Dictatorship: Forms of Government” Fandel describes Fidel Castro as one of the most tyrant dictators in of the 20th century (Fandel 59). She compares Fidel Castro to dictators like Stalin of The former United Social Soviet Republic (USSR). Although he did not contribute in any world war, he was as oppressive to his people as Stalin was. Markel blames the economic situation that Cuba is in his book “Fidel Castros Cuba Dictatorships Series” on Fidel Castro’s dictatorship (Markel 89). He attributes the failing economy that Cuba has on the economic sanctions on Cuba that were put in place by the international community as a result of Fidel Castro’s Dictatorship. He also attributes the failed economy on the fact that many people away to exile to other countries like the United Sates of America (USA). He points out that theses people would have provided the necessary work force that would have generated the economy. He also blames the dictatorship of Castro for scaring away investors hence affecting the economy. This is in line with the negative effects dictatorships have on respective countries as illustrated by Tames Richard in his book “Dictatorship”, which states that a country normally surfers from economic downfall when it is being ruled by a dictator ( Tames 185). This is because foreign investors fear investing in the country since they feel that their investments will be hijacked by leaders. A country also suffers economically from dictatorship because many people flee from their countries as in the case of Cuba. This is because they are afraid of political persecution. Analysis Fidel Castro used various tactics to ensure that he consolidated his power. These tactics include violence, intimidation, unlawful detention, amendments in the constitution and finally military rule. Among these tactics violence was the most used means by Fidel Castro to consolidate his power. Firstly, any protest by the public was met by a lot of violence by both the police and the military. Fidel Castro first used violence to ensure his grip on power after overthrowing the previous government. In fact, this is the time that violence was widely used by the government to crack down on people who were said to be opposing the government. These people were either found dead or missing Torture was another tactic used by Fidel Castro to make sure he controlled Cuba. Most of the people detained were either tortured or killed while in detention (Morgan 120). His government used violent methods to torture detainees who often succumbed to injuries sustained while being tortured. Many torture methods were used. They included physical beating of detainees, pulling of finger nails, whipping while naked, and castration among others. According to the Human Rights watch Fidel Castro widely tortured citizens especially politicians to the point which some died in the process (Adam 59). This ensured that politicians were controlled since they feared being tortured. He also forcefully hospitalized political activists into psychiatric institutions to silence them Fidel Castro also used violence when it came to political demonstration. Irrespective of whether the demonstrations were peaceful or not, Fidel Castro’s government met it with a lot of violence. Fidel Castro also used violence against politicians intimidating them to the point that they remained silent despite all the injustices the dictator did. They also feared assassinations which were done by the government. Politicians who were very vocal against Fidel Castro rule often disappeared or found dead. The government would then rule their deaths as robberies which turned violent hence the death of the politicians. Violence as a tactic had worked for Fidel Castro hence he was able to hold on to power for all those years (Woog 153). After the Cuban revolution, not all the people in Cuba supported Fidel Castro. As a result, a group of people formed an anti Fidel Castro rebel militia which ran into the province of Las Villas. This group was known as the anti- Batista rebels. These Rebels tried to over throw Fidel Castro in 1961 with the support of the United States of America (Woog 154). Fidel Castro met this attempt to stage a Coup de tat with a lot of force that no other attempt to over throw him was ever made again. Many rebels were killed by Fidel Castro’s Armed forces. This event is commonly known as the Bay of Pigs because of the fact that many rebels were killed. Conclusion Dictatorship indeed is a major problem in many developing countries in the world. These countries usually suffer from economic turmoil as a result of dictatorship. One might ask why citizens agree to be ruled by selfish and power oriented dictators. It is important to note that dictators use methods to ensure their rule is neither opposed nor questioned. As it was the case in Fidel Castro, they use tactics such as violence to make sure that nobody questions their actions. This tactic is very effective since politicians, human rights activists, and citizens are afraid of what might happen to them if they try to question the dictator’s action. The fleeing into exile of almost one million Cubans is proof enough for this. They fled to avoid the violence which was declared upon by Fidel Castro against those who opposed him. In order for a rulers leadership to be effective, it is important for him or her to be respected not feared by the public. Despite all this, the time for dictators is up in today’s world. Very few countries nowadays are being ruled by dictators. This can be attributed by efforts by the international community to ascertain that dictators give up power to democratic government. A good example is Cuba. Were it not for the international community, Fidel Castro would not have handed power at the time he did. However, the international community should take more precautions to ensure that no leader dictates his or her people. International community takes measures very late when the damage to the country is already done, and the effects of dictatorship have already taken place (Tames 198). Works Cited Thomas M. Leonard. Fidel Castro: A Biography. Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Publishing Group, 2004. Fandel Jennifer. Dictatorship: Forms of Government: Minessota: The Creative Company, 2007. Tames Richard. Dictatorship: Political and Economic Systems Series: London: Heinemann Library, 2007. Markel Rita. Fidel Castros Cuba. Dictatorships Series. New York: Twenty-First Century Books, 2007. Jayatilleka Dayan. Fidels ethics of violence: the moral dimension of the political thought of Fidel Castro. London: Pluto Press, 2007. Woog Adam . Fidel Castro Importance of. San Diego: Lucent Books, 2003. Doswell Paul. Dictatorship. Systems of Government Series. London: Evans Brothers, 2005. Morgan Earl. Collective Political Violence: An Introduction to the Theories and Cases of Violent Conflicts. London: Routledge, 2004. 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