After Fulgencio Batista y Zaldivar seized control of the Cuban government in 1952, Fidel Castro became a leader of an underground antigovernment fraction. A Year later he was jailed for having led the 26th uprising against Batista. In 1955 he was released and went into exile in the United States and Mexico. He returned to Cuba in 1956 and led a rebellion of Oriente Province. Soon, Castro won steadily increasing popular support, with his rebel forces; known as the 26th of July Movement.
Few years later, Batista fled the country, and assuming power Castro took control on February 16th. Castro’s position as a dictator transformed Cuba into According to the Book of Knowledge, Castro came to power as a nationalist, but soon he began to move toward communism. He opposed that the United States had extensive business interests in Cuba. Castro nationalized foreign companies, and signed trade agreements with the Soviet Union. The United States ended any relations with Cuba in 1961. The United States also backed up a group of Cuban exiles on an unsuccessful attempt to overthrow Castro at the Bay of Pigs.
Cuba as a communist country resulted in serious economic problems. “…He has been less than successful as an economic policymaker: Cuba remains a poor country in debt whose livelihood depends on sugar production and soviet economic aid. He nonetheless holds the system in (Academic American Encyclopedia 192).
