Word: fidel
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Dates: during 1950-1959
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...only man who could have silenced the firing squads was Fidel Castro Ruz, the 32-year-old lawyer, fighter and visionary who led the rebellion. And Castro was in no mood for mercy. "They are criminals," he said. "Everybody knows that. We give them a fair trial. Mothers come in and say, 'This man killed my son.' " To demonstrate, Castro offered to stage the courts-martial in Havana's Central Park-an unlikely spot for cool justice but perfect for a modern-day Madame Defarge...
...trials rebels acted as prosecutor, defender and judge. Verdicts, quickly reached, were as quickly carried out. In Santiago the show was under the personal command of Fidel's brother Raul, 28, a slit-eyed man who had already executed 30 "informers" during two years of guerrilla war. Raul's firing squads worked in relays, and they worked hour after hour. Said Raul: "There's always a priest on hand to hear the last confession...
Living on Euphoria. Fidel Castro himself is egotistic, impulsive, immature, disorganized. A spellbinding romantic, he can talk spontaneously for as much as five hours without strain. He hates desks-behind which he may have to sit to run Cuba. He sleeps irregularly or forgets to sleep, living on euphoria. He has always been late for everything, whether leading a combat patrol or speaking last week to the Havana Rotary Club, where a blue-ribbon audience waited 4¾ hours for his arrival. Wildly, he blasted U.S. arms aid to Batista, but he paid a friendly call...
...born in Oriente province. That's like Texas for Americans," says Fidel Castro, in explanation of his feats. "It is the biggest province in Cuba. We do the most work, we make the most rum and sugar, we make the most money too. We hate dictators...
...Planter's Son. Castro's father, Angel Castro, a penniless immigrant from the Spanish region of Galicia, had already worked hard and made plenty of money by the time Fidel was born in 1926. Fidel Castro grew up as the planter's son on a $500,000 sugar plantation at Mayari, 50 miles from Santiago. He was in love with guns from the time he fired his first .22, hunting in the mountains where he would one day return, an outlaw. From the age of eight he spent most of his time at a Roman Catholic boarding...