Fidel Castro who stepped down as the Cuban President at the age of 81 has the unique distinction of fighting 9 U.S.Presidents, from Eisenhower to George W. Bush. He holds the world record for longevity of office all due to his self-confidence and an ability in his own words ‘to forge victory from defeat’. He has survived everything, assassination attempts, U.S.backed invasion bids and one of the longest and toughest economic embargo by U.S.A. in full force since 1962;but his retirement announcement came as a surprise if not a shock to his followers as he had number of times said that he would never retire from politics.
The initial ambition of young Castro was to become a baseball player and be a member in the U.S. Big League;but as destiny would have it, he turned into politics with the forming of guerrilla based opposition against the U.S.backed Fulgercio Barrista who came into power in a 1952 coup. For plotting against Barrista, he was sentenced to two years imprisonment subsequent to which he went into exile in Southeastern Cuba, where the seeds of revolution were sown in. After a fight for 25 months, he ousted Barrista and became the Prime Minister. Thus instead of becoming a Player for U.S., he became a player against the U.S.A. in a totally different capacity.
Ever since he came into power, he aligned with the Soviet Union and East Bloc and maintained a stiff opposition to U.S.A. He forged himself into the world stage as a communist Leader when the Cold War was at its height. He had backed Soviet Union in the Angolan War by sending the troops in 1975 and also did a similar thing by sending troops to Ethiopia in 1977. His ties with the Soviet Union kept the world at tender hooks with a looming large of a MISSLE CRISIS IN 1962. The crisis took a serious turn when Soviet Union sought to position its nuclear tipped warheads on the island within a radius of 144 k.ms from Florida,but due to the better sense that prevailed in Moscow, the it blew over and the world heaved a sigh of relief.
To conclude this write-up, by being steadfast in his opposition against the U.S.A. ,Fidel Castro had achieved the unique distinction of clashing with nine U.S. Presidents, a feat unlikely to be achieved by anybody else.
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