Fidel Castro Part 4: Havana’s TV Star

Summary

Real Dictators: Fidel Castro Part 4 – Havana’s TV Star

Host: NOISER | Episode Release Date: May 20, 2025

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Introduction to a New Havana

The episode opens on a transformative moment in Cuban history. On January 8, 1959 ([00:31]), in a luxurious Miramar living room, young Alina witnesses a dramatic shift in Cuban media as her father, Fidel Castro, appears on her television for the first time. This moment symbolizes the arrival of the revolution's new reality, introducing Castro as an omnipresent figure whose influence quickly permeates every facet of Cuban life.

Fall of Batista and Rise of Castro

The narrative swiftly moves back a few weeks to late December 1958, detailing General Batista's desperate attempts to cling to power. On New Year’s Eve, Batista unexpectedly flees Cuba, leaving the country in chaos. Fidel Castro’s 26th of July Movement seizes the opportunity, mobilizing urban underground members who don black and red armbands to enforce new order and eliminate Batista’s secret police ([07:33]).

Fidel remains in Oriente Province, urging a general strike over the radio, and marches into Havana on January 1, 1959 ([07:36]). His journey by foot, accompanied by widespread public adulation, culminates in a triumphant entry into Havana alongside key figures like Camilo Cienfuegos and Uber Matos ([08:21]). Historian Jonathan Hansen remarks, “In the eight days that it took him to go from Oriente province to Havana, he was saying all of the right things” ([10:24]).

Establishing Control and Public Perception

Upon entering Havana, Castro appoints Manuel Uruccia as president and forms a cabinet of moderates, emphasizing that the revolution is not a communist takeover but a restoration of democracy and Cuban sovereignty ([11:00]). However, behind the scenes, Castro begins to integrate Communists into the government, dissolving all political parties except for the PSP (Cuba's Communist Party), highlighting a strategic shift towards authoritarianism ([12:37]).

Historian Alex von Tunzelman discusses Castro's dual persona: “He formed very few very deep relationships… for him to speak to a crowd was itself a sort of form of intimacy” ([14:18]). This charisma is crucial as Castro leverages public appearances to solidify his image as the revolution's steadfast leader.

Revolutionary Justice and Consolidation of Power

The episode delves into Castro’s campaign of revolutionary justice, characterized by the swift arrest and trial of former Batista supporters. Public executions broadcasted on live television instill both fear and a sense of righteous retribution among Cubans ([18:40]). Professor Lillian Guerra notes the chilling impact of these events: “Executions were on television live… It was very, very disturbing” ([18:59]).

Despite international criticism labeling these actions as evidence of a dictatorship, Castro escalates his control by inviting over 300 foreign journalists to witness the trials, orchestrated to demonstrate popular support for his policies ([19:07]). A pivotal moment occurs when Fidel asks for a vote of support from the crowd, capturing an iconic image where Fidel appears almost divine ([21:00]).

Mastery of Media and Public Manipulation

Castro's adept use of media becomes a cornerstone of his consolidation of power. Historian Hansen explains, “Castro turned to television… to make things happen” ([37:52]). In a groundbreaking move, Castro utilizes television as a tool for political manipulation and public engagement, blending governance with entertainment. An illustrative event involves Castro publicly dismissing the Spanish ambassador on live TV, turning the incident into a spectacle that reinforces his authority and control over the narrative ([38:21], [38:47]).

Internal Struggles and Authoritarian Shift

The episode highlights internal conflicts within the revolutionary government. In July 1959, President Uruccia expresses concerns over the increasing Communist influence, leading to his public resignation announcement on July 17 ([34:25]). Fidel responds by orchestrating a televised denunciation, effectively removing Uruccia and asserting his unchallenged dominance ([35:26]).

Historian Jennifer Lamb discusses Castro's suppression of dissent: “He was increasingly policing declarations of anti-communist sentiment” ([31:20]). This period marks the erosion of any semblance of democratic processes, as Fidel intensifies his grip on power, eliminating opposition and reinforcing the revolution's authoritarian trajectory.

Strengthening Ties with the Soviet Union

As Castro solidifies his power domestically, he simultaneously seeks international alliances. A state visit from Soviet Vice Premier Anastas Mikoyan fosters strong ties between Cuba and the Soviet Union, culminating in formal diplomatic relations and the arrival of the first Soviet ambassador in Havana ([46:21]). This alliance heightens tensions with the United States, setting the stage for future conflicts.

Escalating Tensions and Economic Nationalization

By 1960, Castro's government aggressively nationalizes Cuban industries, including those owned by American businessmen. This move incites panic among American landowners and leads to widespread anti-US sentiment in Cuba. A catastrophic explosion at the La Cobra shipyard, suspected to be an act of sabotage by the CIA, further deteriorates US-Cuba relations ([47:52], [48:06]).

In retaliation, Castro's regime stages mock funeral processions for American corporations and enacts a trade embargo, severing economic ties and exacerbating the island's isolation ([49:04]).

Emergence of Underground Resistance

Faced with increasing authoritarianism, resistance against Castro's regime intensifies. Individuals like Eduardo Saeis Bessan and his wife Elena become active in underground movements, distributing propaganda and resisting the government's oppressive measures ([50:53], [51:16]). Their eventual flight to Miami underscores the deepening divide and the peril faced by dissenters ([52:25]).

Conclusion and Looking Ahead

As 1960 unfolds, Fidel Castro's Cuba transforms into an authoritarian state with deep ties to the Soviet Union and a fraught relationship with the United States. The episode concludes by setting the stage for the upcoming Bay of Pigs invasion, promising a detailed account of one of history's most infamous military failures in the next installment.

Notable Quotes

• Jonathan Hansen ([10:24]): “In the eight days that it took him to go from Oriente province to Havana, he was saying all of the right things.”

• Historian and Author Alex von Tunzelman ([14:18]): “For him to speak to a crowd was itself a sort of form of intimacy… People loved to hear him speak.”

• Professor Lillian Guerra ([18:59]): “It was very, very disturbing.”

• Historian Jennifer Lamb ([31:20]): “He was increasingly policing declarations of anti-communist sentiment…"

• Historian Ryan Reynolds ([26:15]): [Note: This appears to be an advertisement and likely not relevant to the content summary]

Key Takeaways

• Media as a Tool of Power: Castro's strategic use of television and public appearances was pivotal in crafting his image and consolidating power.

• Shift to Authoritarianism: Initial promises of democracy gave way to authoritarian control as Castro eliminated opposition and integrated Communist elements into governance.

• International Alliances and Tensions: Strengthening ties with the Soviet Union and antagonistic relations with the United States set the foundation for future geopolitical conflicts.

• Emergence of Resistance: Authoritarian measures spurred underground resistance movements, highlighting the deep societal divisions within Cuba.

Next Episode Preview: The impending Bay of Pigs invasion—exploring the failed military assault, Kennedy’s fluctuating support, and the resulting repercussions for both Cuba and the United States.

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Transcript

[Narrator]

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[Historian]

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[Narrator]

It's January 8, 1959. About 9am we're in the living room of a luxurious house in Miramar, a well to do district of Havana. A little girl is sat on the floor in front of the tv. This is Alina. She's two years old, very nearly three. Her wide brown eyes are clamped on a flickering screen. A hyperventilating Donald Duck spits feathers. Alina grins and giggles. Suddenly the cartoon disappears. In its place is some strange program she's never seen before. To Alina, it appears that huge hairy beasts with beaming smiles now fill the screen. They wave guns above their heads. They shout, viva Cuba Libre. Long live. Free Cuba. Melina is confused and a little bit frightened. She hopes the cartoons will come back soon. They don't. She is too young to understand. But Cuba exists in a new reality. The long haired creatures on the tv adults call them barbudos, the bearded ones. For most of Alina's life, they've been hidden high up in the mountains. Today they're on the streets of the capital city. Several days later, a visitor arrives at Alina's house. It's one of the barbudos, dressed all in green with big black boots. He bends over to give Alina a kiss. His beard is scratchy. He stinks of tobacco. Only years later will Alina learn that this is her father. His name is Fidel Castro. Alina is the daughter of Natira Vuelta, one of Castro's discarded lovers. It's the first time Fidel has ever clapped eyes on his daughter. He hands her a present. Alina opens the box. It's a dollar of Fidel. Since he toppled the old dictator Batista, Castro is everywhere in Cuba, his influence trickling into every facet of life on the island. With his unchanging appearance, he is as instantly recognizable as Mickey Mouse. But Cubans are beginning to wonder. Has Fidel's revolution simply swapped one authoritarian nightmare for another? From the Noiser Podcast Network, this is part four of the Fidel Castro Story. And this is real dictators let's go back a few weeks. In late December 1958, General Batista is hemorrhaging support from all quarters. Facing ignominious defeat, he decides to jump before he's pushed. On New Year's Eve, he stuns everyone by quietly fleeing the island, never to return. On hearing the news, Fidel Castro's revolutionaries, the 26th of July Movement, spring into action. Members of the urban underground take to the streets of the capital. Wearing distinctive black and red armbands emblazoned with 26 July, they enforce law and order. Members of Batista's notorious secret police are hunted down and thrown in jail. The jackboot is now on the other foot. Fidel himself is hundreds of miles from Havana, in Oriente Province on the east of the island. Over the radio, he urges a general strike in defiance of the establishment and in support of the revolution. Later that day, New Year's Day, 1959, he emerges into the main square of the city of Santiago. A crowd of 200,000 awaits. The revolution begins now, he proclaims. He promises that mistakes of previous revolutions will not be repeated. Unlike at the turn of the century, when Cuba gained its independence from the Spanish Empire, this time the United States will not be allowed to assert itself over Cuban affairs. He also tells his audience that Santiago is to be the capital of the new Cuba. The decision isn't in his gift, and it never actually comes to pass. Havana remains the capital city, but it's a sign of what Castro assumes is within his grasp to define the meaning of the revolution and to reshape Cuba as he sees fit. Castro's deputies race to Havana, but he stays back. His guerrillas have strong backing in Oriente. For the past two years, that's where he and his followers have been building support. Yet Cubans elsewhere are not all sold. Many had backed the war against Batista. But let these young radicals, many of whom are communists, take over the government, that's something else altogether. Castro's biographer, Jonathan Hansen.

[Historian]

What's the state of the revolution? The answer is it is up for grabs. The military battle was fairly won by the end of 1958, but the revolution was hardly consolidated. In fact, it wasn't consolidated, and you could argue that it's still not consolidated.

[Narrator]

But Fidel has a plan.

[Historian]

So it's January 1st. He makes a big speech in Santiago, and then he heads to Havana. How does he go? Does he go by plane? It takes 45 minutes. No, he basically walks and he takes the entire country with him, and they just greet him Yard by yard. It starts in Oriente province and people come out and they get all of this adulation and they take those people literally and they go by foot to Havana, just building, building, building the enthusiasm and the uproar, so that however many days later, when they arrive in the capital, the people are with him, at least for the time being.

[Narrator]

As he goes, Fidel stops for interviews with pretty much anyone who wants one. He is unswervingly on message. He is a Cuban nationalist, not a communist. The aim of the revolution is to restore democracy, the liberal Constitution of 1940 and Cuban sovereignty. On January 8, Fidel's Caravan of revolutionary fervor eventually reaches Havana. He rides into the city atop a tank. Alongside him are Camilo Cienfuegos, a trusted comrade, and Uber Matos, the guerrilla commander who delighted Fidel a few months earlier by flying a plane load of weapons from Costa Rica directly to their camp in the mountains. Matos will never forget the moment he entered the city alongside Castro. The parade going into Havana was huge.

[Historian]

The whole of Cuba watched it.

[Narrator]

The people were delirious. They looked at Fidel as if he was a God. They were all clapping because everyone took part. Not just the guerrillas of the 26th of July Movement, but students, Catholics, Protestants, everyone played their. Among the crowds is Eduardo Saez Bassan, a former schoolmate of Fidel's. We last heard from Eduardo in episode two. He described how good life had been for him in 1950's Havana. His grandfather had once been a senior figure in the Batista government. For that reason, Eduardo is extremely anxious when he hears that Batista has fled. Being associated with the old regime is not at all desirable. Yet on 8th January 1959, even he is excited to see Fidel's tank grinding its way through the heart of Havana.

[Historian]

It was magnificent. I had an apartment where Castro and his men passed by and it was unbelievable. Everybody was a problem. The streets were full of people, happy people. In the eight days that it took him to go from Oriente province to Havana, he was saying all of the right things. I would say 95% of the people were sympathetic to the Cuban revolution.

[Narrator]

Without any formal position himself, Castro appoints a president, Manuel Uroutia, a liberal Democrat. Uroutia forms a cabinet, moderate centrist, committed to honest government, Cuban sovereignty and the alleviation of poverty. Fidel points to this as proof that the revolution is not a communist takeover. To anyone who listens, he reminds them that it was the old dictator Batista who gave succor to the far left, not him. He has a point. Many years earlier, the wily general had legalized Cuba's Communist Party. In return, they delivered him a block of working class support. Even in the darkest depths of Batista's time in power, it seemed the Communists were in his pocket. But Batista is gone, and Fidel's finding startling ways of bringing Communists into the revolutionary fold. In the name of national unity, every political party is dissolved. All except for the psp, Cuba's Communist Party. It's only fair, says Red to the core Che Guevara. The PSP fought fearsomely for the revolution, he claims, though that's not how many other revolutionaries remember it. To them, the struggle had always been about ousting Batista, not elevating Karl Marx.

[Historian]

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[Historian]

He formed very few very deep relationships with people through his life. Incredibly private person, and I think in a sense you can see a manifestation of that in his relationship with the crowd. For him to speak to a crowd was itself a sort of form of intimacy. He obviously got this kind of energy from it. People loved to hear him speak. They did turn out in huge numbers for him to do so. He saw this crowd as the kind of embodiment of what he wanted Cuba.

[Narrator]

To be, this kind of, you know.

[Historian]

Nationalistic, powerful, virile force. And then he would get off stage.

[Narrator]

And be this very shy man for a new headquarters. He requisitions the 23rd floor of the luxurious Hilton hotel, swiftly renamed the Havana Libre. The hotel becomes a madly eclectic scene, a microcosm of this singular time and place. Castro's guerrillas rub shoulders with American tourists, grizzled foreign journalists and senior diplomats. Watching these interactions each day is Ileana Yaza. In time, Ileana will work for the revolutionary government, a passionate follower of Castro's rule. But in 1959, she's an 18 year old working in a gift shop on the ground floor of the Havana Libre.

[Historian]

Every morning, Fidel would come down and talk to the American tourists in order to explain to them why the revolution came with the support of the people and everybody wanted to meet him. So all the American tourists surrounded him just as if we were something out of space. And Fidel has a very strong personality, I would say. He would electrify the tourists.

[Narrator]

Ileana is electrified too. Day after day, she watches him hold court to his captive hotel audience. He decries U.S. dominance in Cuban affairs.

[Historian]

Every one of these speeches was a lesson of history, of my country, and it was opening my brain, actually. I realized that I had been brainwashed. My first 19 years, or 18 years, I had been brainwashed by the American culture, by the American ideology, all that.

[Narrator]

One day, Iliane even manages to strike up a conversation with him. He responds warmly, referring to her as Rubita, meaning blondie. It's a flash of the personal charisma that is Fidel's trademark there I was.

[Historian]

An 18 year old girl and I just said Fidel. And he looked towards the voice and he turned to me and I will never forget, he said, yes, Rovita, what do you want from me? Meeting him changed my whole life because I said, this is what I need to know. This is the man that I need to follow.

[Narrator]

In the hotel lobby, Fidel is all twinkling charm. Elsewhere, he's a different animal altogether. In a campaign of what he calls revolutionary justice, a tsunami of vengeance is brought down upon Batistianos, those deemed to be complicit in the crimes of the old dictator, General Batista. Hundreds of Batistianos are arrested for crimes against the people. Righteous zeal sweeps the island. Many ordinary Cubans are fuelled by an anger towards not just the Batista regime, but the long years of corruption, injustice and Abuses of power. They thirst for retribution. They look to Fidel as the strongman to deliver it. Trials are held, some in front of thousands of spectators, at Havana Sports Stadium. Guilty verdicts tumble forth. Carlos Eyre, 8 years old at the time, watches the sentences being carried out.

[Historian]

Executions were on television live, and you could hear the crowd shouting, parlon, Parlon. To the wall, to the wall. Put them against the wall. Shoot them all. Sometimes they'd be replayed, so I saw plenty of images of people being shot. It's amazing how quickly the human body crumbles. That's what childhood memory is.

[Narrator]

Oh, my.

[Historian]

When you get shot full of bullets, your body falls down really fast. It was very, very disturbing.

[Narrator]

Professor Lillian Guerra of the University of Florida.

[Historian]

And so these trials are happening and people are getting shot. And there were lots of critics abroad who argued that this was evidence that it was already a dictatorship. And Fidel called the government to pay for the trips of more than 300 foreign journalists to come to Cuba for a week and to witness the trials themselves. And during that process, which is called Operation Truth, he called on the Cuban people to all show up one day right before the Presidential palace, and that he will address them from the balcony and it will show to the world just how popular these policies are. And about a million, maybe million and a half people showed up.

[Narrator]

Among the multitudes that late January day is the American photographer Andrew St. George. He spent eight months in the mountains capturing Castro's rule of his guerrilla kingdom in Oriente province. Today he's here to document the emergence of fidelity, the preeminent figure in the new Cuba, the face and voice of the revolution. Fidel takes to the balcony. The crowd roars. On the adjoining balcony, Andrew St. George teeters precariously on the ledge. He contorts himself to capture the full scene before him. Fidel is flanked by his key support, his brother Raul Che Guevara, Camilo Cienfuegos. Below sways a sea of the Cuban people. St. George takes photo after photo. One of them captures a moment that Lilian Guerra believes to be pivotal to Fidel Castro's story and, by extension, to millions of his fellow Cubans.

[Historian]

Fidel says, I'm going to take a vote. Who's with me? And he raises his hand, and all these people raise their hands, and Fidel looks back at his supporters. And that's when Andrew St. George takes this picture. And, you know, you see on Fidel's face like, oh, my God, I've become a God.

[Narrator]

Over the next few weeks, Castro strives for omnipresence. In February, he appoints himself Prime Minister. Soon he has a grip on every branch of government.

[Historian]

So that's my response to how does Fidel become the revolution? First, he's inescapable, because no matter where you were, you're walking down the street, you're listening to Fidel Castro's voice, you're seeing him on tv, people are talking about him. So he saturates the public discourse in the public space with his own voice. The second thing is that he creates for himself a number of positions. By May of 1959, literally, the man is the head of 16 different state agencies. So, yeah, institutionally, and then discursively, the revolution doesn't really exist without him.

[Narrator]

With his finger in every pie, Fidel unfurls the revolutionary agenda. Rents for low cost properties are slashed. Wages for the lowest paid jobs are increased. Public utilities suppliers are ordered to reduce their prices. Perhaps most significantly, land reform begins. Cuba's biggest landowners are forced to hand tranches of their property to the state. Though they are compensated for this via government bonds, the land is then dished out to peasants. American landowners in Cuba are panicked. They stand to lose many millions of dollars. They brand the new laws as the communist edicts of a tyrannical regiment. Other landowners affected by the reforms include the owners of Castro's family plantation. The eldest Castro brother, Ramon, never part of the revolutionary movement, publicly castigates his little brother's policy. Ramon, however, is in the minority. Land reform is enormously popular. Even staunch capitalists seem to be in favour. Private fundraising campaigns amass millions of dollars to pay for farming equipment to help peasants cultivate their new land. Seizing property is also employed as a method of retribution against Batista and his former allies. Great public auctions of art, furnishings and homeware take place. Even Batista's solid gold phone, a gift from the US Ambassador, goes under the hammer. Racial prejudice is identified as detrimental to change. Fidel urges the people to cast racism out. The revolution, he tells them, must take place not only in the law books, but in every Cuban heart. But the hearts of many Cubans are filled with fear. Eduardo Saeis Bessan, so hopeful in January by spring, is fatally disillusioned. For him, Fidel shows his true colors during a trial of 45 members of the Cuban Air Force. Each man stands accused of war crimes, involvement in a total of 600 bombing raids against the Cuban people. On Batista's orders, the trial takes place in a military tribunal in Oriente Province, Castro's home turf. The three presiding judges are all Fidel's men. It seems a foregone conclusion. The evidence is compelling. So when the defendants are acquitted, nobody can quite believe it, especially Fidel. As Eduardo explains, when Castro heard that.

[Historian]

They had been declared innocent, he went into television and said that that could not be, that there had to be a second trial. And then in that second trial, they were sentenced to 20 to 30 years in prison. Fidel Castro was a lawyer. He knew perfectly well that under Cuban law, a man cannot be charged twice for the same crime. So he was breaking the law. That's when I realized this guy doesn't respect the law. This guy is going to be a disaster for the Cuban people. Ryan Reynolds here from Mint Mobile. I don't know if you knew this, but anyone can get the same Premium Wireless for $15 a month plan that I've been enjoying. It's not just for celebrities. So do like I did and have one of your assistant's assistants switch you to Mint Mobile today. I'm told it's super easy to [e-mail] Switch upfront payment of $45 for 3 month plan equivalent to $15 per month required intro rate first 3 months only, then full price plan options available, taxes and fees extra fee full [e-mail] T Mobile's network is more expansive than your favorite fictional universe because T Mobile helps keep you connected from the heart of Portland to right where you are on America's largest 5G network switch. Now keep your phone and T Mobile will pay it off up to $800 per line via prepaid card. Visit your local T Mobile location or learn more@t mobile.com keepandswitch up to 4 lines of your virtual prepaid card. Allow 15 days qualifying unlock device, credit service port in 90 plus days device ineligible carrier and timely redemption required. Card has no cash access and expires in six months.

[Narrator]

The US Government watches with concern. To them, it looks like Cuba is sliding towards communist dictatorship as tensions with the Soviets ratchet even higher. Having a possible Marxist threat so close to home would be most unwelcome. So when news comes through that Castro's coming to town, Washington is perturbed. The invitation comes not from the White House, but from the American Society of Newspaper Editors. US Journalists are as keen as ever to get their fix of Fidel. Everywhere he goes, he's interviewed and photographed newspapers, radio, television. They all want a piece of him. The public seems to love him too. People flock to hear him speak. He's hailed as the young voice of freedom for the whole of Latin America. When it comes to the suits in Washington, the response is notably cooler. Dwight Eisenhower is washing his hair when Castro comes to town, or the presidential equivalent, an important round of golf suddenly appears in his diary. Rather than an invitation to the White House, Fidel is palmed off onto Vice President Richard Nixon. On April 19, Castro, in his trademark olive green uniform, arrives at Nixon's office in the Capitol building in Washington, D.C. the venue is loaded with unsubtle symbolism. The fount of American democracy. Its chambers are stuffed with elected representatives, and it's democratic elections that Nixon wants to talk about. The meeting is predictably stilted. Nixon is half man, half desk, a charisma, free zone, business like and formal. He can appear offhand and unsympathetic at the best of times. When confronted with an ego as large and sensitive as Castro's, there's no chance of any personal chemistry developing. Fidel finds Nixon condescending and pompous. The VP lectures him on the art of politics. He talks down to him like a father to his errant son. After two and a half hours, the meeting comes to an end. Fidel couldn't be more relieved. He moans that when Nixon started to talk, nothing could stop him. It's a rare example of Fidel being given a dose of his own medicine. After the meeting, Nixon describes Castro as a person of substance. He has those indefinable qualities that make him a leader of men, says the vice president. But he also believes Castro to be incredibly naive with regard to the communist threat. Nevertheless, Nixon isn't overly worried. He concludes that it should be possible to keep this Cuban novice in line, to nudge and cajole him into playing by Washington's rules. In public, Fidel continues to dismiss the notion that the revolution is communist in character. He says it's not ideological purity he's interested in, but revolutionary unity. The Communists certainly give him that. His rhetoric of social and economic transformation dovetails with their own, as does his critique of US power in Latin America. As the months roll by, Communist Party members become more and more prominent in public life. Yet by the middle of 1959, Castro is still strident in denying that the ideology is hijacking the revolution. In fact, he says that any talk of that sort is doing the Americans dirty work for them. Jennifer Lamb, associate professor of history at.

[Historian]

Brown University Castro certainly was not openly citing any socialist or communist beliefs or policies, but he was increasingly policing declarations of anti communist sentiment, arguing that too openly critique the revolution for potentially communist sympathies. Was effectively tantamount to treason. It was inviting US intervention. Not unreasonable thing to say. I mean, effectively it was. But of course, this also became a way of silencing criticism of his rapprochement with the Cuban Communists.

[Narrator]

Castro's true leanings are still hotly debated. Some believe he was always a Communist at heart. Others suggest that his drift leftwards is born of necessity or expediency.

[Historian]

He won this war too quickly. They were too successful up in the mountains. Doesn't mean he wasn't surrounded by Communists. He was Che Raul many, many others, but he was not a Communist. He became a communist because after winning that battle, they had no political platform because they won too fast. I think he was quite astonished at how quickly he was able to gather to himself the popular support that he was in the first few days of January 1959. So I don't think that Fidel was a Communist from day one. I do think he was an authoritarian from day one. And when I say day one, I mean I think from the moment that he really tasted the possibility of his power.

[Narrator]

President Uruccia knows only too well what Fidel can do with that power. In July 1959, the president is getting twitchy. He's seeing Prime Minister Castro replace experienced liberals in his government with Fidel loyalists and Communist sympathisers. Urucia goes public with his concerns. The revolution is in danger of veering off course, he warned. Nobody asked for the Communist Party to take over. Union leaders declare themselves incensed by Urucci's remarks. They demand his resignation. But Fidel steps into the middle of the argument and wrong foots everyone. On July 17, he announces, quite out of the blue, that he, Fidel, is to resign with immediate effect. Such stinging criticism for the President, he says, has made his position untenable. The nation is stunned. The revolution no longer has its leader. And without Fidel at the helm, who knows what band of pirates could plunder the ship, Perhaps even the Yankee imperialists. Borucha is blindsided and terrified.

[Historian]

This was all happening in the lead up to what was called the concentration campesina, during which peasants from all over Cuba had been invited to come to Havana. This was supposed to be a kind of historic meeting of urban residents and Cuban peasants. In the spirit of kind of bridging over those differences, revolutionary unity, et cetera.

[Narrator]

There'S fat chance of revolutionary unity. Now. Havana is filling up with Videl's most ardent supporters. Many of them are carrying machetes, proud symbols of their rural roots. But in the right Circumstances also deadly weapons. The news that their heroes being usurped by Urrutia, a middle class, city dwelling capitalist, is enraging. In such situations, Fidel invariably makes the same tactical choice. He gets himself on TV.

[Historian]

There's a period in time in 59 and 60 61, where he would go on TV for hours, long stretches, sometimes into the wee hours of the morning talking. But the content of those appearances was also reprinted in Revolucion, the main outlet of the revolutionary government the next day. And many others could access it over radio as well. So there is a way in which he's filling up, consuming all of the media bandwidth in Cuba with these appearances, even before the government takes over the media.

[Narrator]

Tonight, July 17, 1959, he walks into a Havana TV studio, ostensibly a marginalized figure forced out by the political elite. In reality, he has immense power and he unleashes every ounce of it against President Urutia. For three hours. He plunges the dagger, tightens the noose. This isn't about politics, he says, not about who's a democrat and who's a communist. It's about the revolution. Are you for it or against it? Warming to his theme, Fidel insinuates that Erutia is just the same as every other ruling politician from the bad old days. He's milking the public purse for all he can get. Fidel makes no mention of his suite at the Havana Hilton, nor of his other residences, nor the government cars at his disposal. When he pauses to draw breath, the presenter steps in. They read aloud messages they've received from viewers, all backing Fidel to the hilt. At the Presidential Palace, Uroutia watches, aghast. The crowd outside the front gates grows larger and more louder. The sound of Cuba's new catchphrase fills the air. Paradon. Paradon. Boruch has no choice but to flee before he's put to the wall. In such ways, Castro demonstrates a mastery of the dark arts of modern.

[Historian]

Castro turned to television not only to kind of recount or reflect what was happening, but actually to make things happen. One of the things I was also trying to understand in thinking about this as reality TV was the experience of watching it as a viewer and what it would have been like to, for example, in the case of one broadcast, watch the Spanish ambassador to Cuba dismissed from the country on live television.

[Narrator]

In this instance, Castro is on air condemning the Spanish embassy for, so he claims, undermining the revolution. Aggrieved, the ambassador rushes to the studio where he confronts Castro live on air. It's like 60 Minutes meets Jerry Springer. The producers pull the plug Momentarily, TV screens across the island go black.

[Historian]

The picture comes back up. He's being escorted out. Everybody's applauding for Castro, who's announcing that he's just dismissed the Spanish ambassador from Cuba. And all of these telegrams start raining in from all over the island, basically celebrating that decision. It becomes a way to make spectatorship itself a political act at a time when the traditional outlets of political participation, traditional electoral democracy, are being dismantled. It's easy to look back and think, well, we've seen this before. But I would argue Castro is one of the first, if not the first, to do it in this way.

[Narrator]

Fidel's great political acts double as primetime entertainment. Even those who loathe him, who spit his name, were morbidly drawn to him.

[Historian]

It's this kind of, you know, drama that everybody is participating. You felt like you were part of this government, even though you never voted for it and you had no power really over it. But you felt like for the first time this government is responding to us and Fidel more than the government is responding to us.

[Narrator]

Summer turns to autumn. Many revolutionaries who'd once been close to Castro had their fill. The executions, the absence of democratic elections, Fidel's ubiquity and unchecked power, it's all a long way from the vision that Castro has been selling over the last six years. At the start of 1959, Uber Matos had stood alongside Fidel as they entered Havana to rapturous acclaim. By October, he's thoroughly disillusioned. He tells Castro he cannot tolerate the growing Communist makeup of the regime. He is to resign his post. By Matos recollection, Fidel dismisses the idea out of hand. Nikkei, he insisted, you cannot leave.

[Historian]

You are the only capable commander from.

[Narrator]

The mountains, and also the people love you.

[Historian]

You would cause a lot of damage.

[Narrator]

To the revolution if you leave. We need your loyalty to the revolution. But Matos mind is made up. On October 20, he submits his formal letter of resignation. This revolution, he reminds Castro, is intended to be olive green, the color of Cuban palm trees, not Communist Red. Within 24 hours, he's under arrest for crimes against the revolution.

[Historian]

I was arrested on the 21st. On the evening of the 22nd, Fidel goes on the television and says that.

[Narrator]

Matos will be executed.

[Historian]

They send Emilio Aragones in the early.

[Narrator]

Morning to tell me that if I.

[Historian]

Have accepted all they have said about me, that I am a traitor and so on, they won't kill Me, I can go home and relax. I replied, tell Fidel I am more.

[Narrator]

Interested in honor than life.

[Historian]

He can kill me. Even if he kills me a hundred times, he won't buy my silence. The man tried to dissuade me, but.

[Narrator]

I said, you have my answer. For nearly three months, Matos sits in prison. His trial commences on December 11th. On the 14th, Fidel stands to give evidence. Seven hours of exhausting denunciation later, he retakes his seat. The next day, Matos is found guilty. He spared execution. Fidel has no desire to make a martyr of a former ally. The judges sentence him to two decades behind bars.

[Historian]

It didn't serve their purposes to kill me. They thought they could soften me with.

[Narrator]

20 years in prison.

[Historian]

In 20 years they broke my bones. They punished me. I protested, I went on hunger strikes. But God wanted me to live and.

[Narrator]

To keep the strength that my parents had taught me to have. A week after the arrest, another Castro stalwart, Camelio Cienfuegos, boards a flight headed to Havana in mysterious circumstances. The plane crashes. Cienfuegos is killed. To this day, there are those convinced that the accident was orchestrated by either Fidel or Raul Castro. The argument runs that Cienfuegos, hugely popular within the July 26th Movement and the wider population, had made himself Persona non grata by being an outspoken anti communist. Hard evidence of the Castro's involvement and the plane crash is scant. But there's no question that by the end of the first year of the revolution, Fidel is clinging ferociously to the reins of power. As 1960 unfolds, his regime becomes increasingly authoritarian. As always, he starts with the media. On Christmas Eve 1959, members of the Women's Revolutionary Union, headed by Raul Castro's wife, hold a public burning of various newspapers deemed to be peddling anti revolutionary fake news. A few weeks later, Castro gives his backing to an astonishing initiative from the typographers. Trade union typographers will now add their own rebuttals at the end of press articles that they consider inaccurate, by which they mean critical of Fidel's government.

[Historian]

When I did my research, I was fully happy to believe that really the Communists were just beneficiaries of Fidel Castro's largesse and his pragmatism in needing people who would be loyal unconditionally to him. What I was unprepared to see was the degree to which even the press was in large part nationalized, that is taken over by typographers unions. Through efforts and Background strategies that were carried out by militants of the Communist Party.

[Narrator]

Technically, freedom of the press still exists in Cuba. But this is the first step towards state monopoly. And it's not only the media's independence.

[Historian]

That swiftly eroded when you get to the summer of 1960, by then you already have virtually the elimination of independent spaces for participation and for critique. You have eliminated the autonomy even of the university. There is a vote in the faculty. Were you with the revolutionary policies? Were you against them? I think it's 87% of the faculty resign and they were all denounced in the press because by then the press is in the hands of the government as counter revolutionaries.

[Narrator]

Fidel's links to card carrying communists are not restricted to the island of Cuba. Close bonds are also being formed with the Soviet Union. Soviet Vice Premier Anastas Mikoyan makes a state visit. Fidel and Raul, now the head of Cuba's armed forces, entertain their guest at a hunting lodge. Mikoyan loves every second fishing in the island's crystal clear waters and cooking their catch on campfires, puffing on cigars and sipping rum late into the night. The trip concludes with a trade deal. Shortly after Cuba and the Soviet Union establish formal diplomatic relations, the first Soviet ambassador arrives in Havana. Across the Florida Straits, the United States government looks on alarmed. In Cuba, the US is likewise generating anger and suspicion. Fidel is convinced that the Americans are up to their old tricks. A series of unidentified planes bomb sugar mills in Oriente. They appear to have taken off from Florida when one crashes. The dead pilot is identified as a US citizen. Then a shocking event accelerates the direction of uneasy travel.

[Historian]

So 4th of March 1960, a French owned vessel called La Cobra was moored in Havana harbor and it was unloading its cargo, which was weapons that Fidel Castro had bought from Belgium. And as this was being unloaded, there.

[Narrator]

Was this massive explosion. 76 tons of artillery ammunition tears through Havana harbor. The pier is blown to pieces. Human bodies are tossed into the air. The blast is felt right across the city. Windows smash, Buildings shake. Around 100 people are killed. Twice as many are injured. On hearing the explosion, Fidel rushes to the site. He's apoplectic with rage.

[Historian]

Fidel absolutely assumed that the CIA had.

[Narrator]

Blown this ship up.

[Historian]

It's unclear, actually. It's not conclusive evidence either way, exactly what happened.

[Narrator]

However, it was a massive, massive incident.

[Historian]

And at that time when tensions were really building up, it did nothing to help the relationship between Cuba and the United States.

[Narrator]

Castro's government prints news sheets explicitly blaming the USA for the Incident later in the year, Fidel's revolutionary government nationalizes swathes of Cuban industries. By the end of 1960, the government controls around 80% of the island's economy. This includes all foreign businesses, most of which are American owned. A week of public celebration follows. A mock funeral procession is staged in Havana. Coffins bearing the names of US Corporations are paraded through the streets of the capital. Local people dress up as widows on their way to bury American power. In retaliation, the US institutes a trade embargo. Nothing but food and medicine will now be exported to Cuba. And so it begins. Cuba is at loggerheads with the superpower next door. The essential dynamics for the ensuing half century of Cuban public life are set.

[Historian]

I always say Castro wanted three things. He wanted respect, he wanted reciprocity, and he wanted recognition from the United States, but also from the world. So when Castro needed a political group able to counter the US undermining of the revolution, all he had was one. There was one big political group that had the influence and the stature capable of helping him resist the United States, and it was the Communist Party.

[Narrator]

Pragmatism, ideological conviction, or a simple thirst for power. Whatever his motivation, Fidel is reshaping Cuba in ways that are utterly intolerable for a great many thousands join underground resistance movements. Eduardo Sayas Bessan is among them.

[Historian]

I began to conspire against the government. I became part of the underground. It was the MRR moving into the Recuperacion Revolucionaria. I did not do anything with any bomb or anything like that. It was just publicity and trying to recruit fellows to become part of our movement.

[Narrator]

Eduardo spends his time distributing propaganda materials, but he isn't working alone. His wife, Elena, pregnant with their first child, also participates in subversive activities. She hides anti Castro leaflets under her maternity clothes to evade detection.

[Historian]

A friend of mine who was an officer of the Castro police approached me and said, I'm going to do you a favor. I want you to know that we know that you're conspiring against the government. So be careful because you're going to be in prison if you change your ways. So I went to Havana.

[Narrator]

In the capital, Eduardo goes to see his old priest. He tells him that many young people are fleeing the island. Most are headed for the United States, where secret plots are taking shape. Eduardo and Elena decide that they too must leave. Their destination is just over the water in Miami. Eduardo heads off first. Elena follows a few days later.

[Historian]

I left September 26, 1960 for Miami in a tourist visa, and the moment that I arrived in Miami I asked for political asylum.

[Narrator]

He has with him one suitcase of clothes, $25, two boxes of Cuban cigars and a plan to return home very soon. In fact, there are thousands of angry young Cubans in Florida with precisely the same design and the US government is welcoming them with open arms. Inside the corridors of power, Washington is plotting the fall of Fidel Castro. These top secret plans are stranger than fiction and more outlandish than anything Castro himself has ever attempted. In the next episode with first hand testimony we tell the story of one of history's most notorious military failures. A botched assault featuring Cubans attacking their own island, John F. Kennedy giving and then rolling back US support and terrible retribution for those who came at King Castro and missed the Bay of Pigs invasion. That's next time get every episode of Real Dictators a week early and ad free by subscribing to Noiser plus hit the link in the episode description to find out more.