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FIDEL CASTRO
Fidel Castro is the world’s longest serv-
ing political leader. He has governed
Cuba for the last 49 years. Cuba is one of
the few remaining communist countries.
On February 19, now aged 81, Mr. Cas-
tro announced that he had finally decided
to step down.
As a young man, Mr. Castro studied
law at university in Cuba. He planned
to run in an election that was due to be
held in 1952, but just before the election
General Batista seized control of Cuba.
The next year, Mr. Castro tried to start
an uprising against the General. It was
unsuccessful. Mr. Castro was caught and
sent to prison.
After he was released, Mr. Castro left
Cuba and went to live in Mexico. There
he met a number of other Cubans and
decided to start a revolution in Cuba. In
1956, he and a few others secretly landed
back in their homeland.
February 28, 2008
American English edition
Issue Number 61
FREE
COVER
STORY
Newspaper contents
Rebuilding an ancient boat
New aircraft fuel tested
Russia’s Amber Room
Noah’s Ark for seeds
Fidel Castro making a speech in 2004
Valuable medals recovered
STEPS DOWN
Secret American plane crash
Armenian elections
General Batista, who was supported Self-repairing rubber
by the U.S.A., was unpopular. A lot of Mountain gorilla project
Cubans began to join Mr. Castro’s small
Australia apologizes
army. After two years of fighting, Mr.
Kosovo breaks away from
Castro’s revolutionary army marched into
Serbia
Havana, the capital city. General Batista
fled and went to live in the U.S.A. China, Sudan and the
As soon as he was in control, Mr. Olympic Games
Castro announced that Cuba would be Submarine car
run under communist rules. Although Cockroach on television
General Batista was unpopular, not all Elections in Pakistan
Cubans were happy that Mr. Castro and US satellite destroyed
his revolutionary army had taken over.
Antarctic Ocean research
Thousands of people left the country.
New rules for saints
Most went to live in Florida, a part of the
U.S.A. Florida is less than 100 miles (160 Bringing pets back to life
kilometers) across the sea from Cuba. Book review
The American government was wor- Glossary and Sudoku prize
ried about Mr. Castro’s plans. At the competitions
time, the U.S.A. and communist Russia
were enemies. America feared Russia subscribe at
would attack it. It was unhappy to have www.newsademic.com
February 28, 2008 Newsademic.com – American English Cover Story edition
another communist country so close
to its coast.
The U.S.A. imposed a trade em-
bargo on Cuba. This meant Ameri-
can companies were not allowed to
sell goods to Cuba or buy any Cuban
exports. This embargo has never
been lifted and American compa-
nies are still not allowed to trade
with Cuba.
In 1961, the American government
secretly helped to organize an inva-
sion of Cuba. America supplied mon-
ey and weapons to some Cubans liv-
ing in the U.S.A. Their attack – called
the Bay of Pigs invasion – was easily
defeated by Mr. Castro’s forces.
ATLANTIC
U. S. A. OCEAN
Florida
Havana
CUBA
MEXICO
After this invasion, Mr. Castro
made a secret agreement with Rus-
sia. He allowed the Russians to be-
gin building sites in Cuba for nucle-
ar weapons. These weapons would
be aimed at the U.S.A. The Rus-
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sians arranged to send their nuclear
weapons to Cuba by ship in 1962.
The Americans discovered what
was happening. John F. Kennedy
was the American president at the
time. He warned Nikita Khrushchev,
the Russian president, that America
would attack the Russian ships car-
rying the weapons if the ships did
not turn back. Many people in the
U.S.A. and Europe were sure anoth-
er world war was about to start.
In the end, the ships turned back
and the Russian nuclear weapons
never arrived in Cuba. This inci-
dent became known as “The Cuban
Missile Crisis”.
After the missile crisis, Mr. Castro
received more help from Russia. It
supplied money, oil and other goods.
As a communist country, Cuba holds
no democratic elections. It has good
hospitals and schools but its people
are very poor. All factories and farms
are controlled by the government.
Many Cubans wanted to leave and
go to the U.S.A. Some risked their
lives in small boats. Many drowned.
When the Russian-led Soviet Un-
ion collapsed in 1990, Cuba ran out
of money. Mr. Castro decided that
hotels should be built close to some
of the country’s beautiful beaches to
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page 2
attract foreign tourists. The tourists
brought some money to the country.
Although, local people were not al-
lowed to visit these hotels, unless
they worked in them. Cuban people
were also not permitted to travel on
the busses the tourists used.
Recently, Mr. Castro has been of-
fered help by the Venezuelan presi-
dent Hugo Chávez. He too now gives
the country money and oil.
In July 2006, Mr. Castro became
ill and had a number of operations.
While he was sick he handed over
the running of the country to his
younger brother, Raúl Castro. Since
having the operations, Fidel Castro
has not been seen in public.
His formal resignation statement
was made in a government-owned
newspaper on February 19. Five
days later, Cuba’s National Assem-
bly officially announced that Raúl
Castro, aged 76, would take over
from his older brother.
Some experts predict that once
Fidel Castro dies Cuba’s communist
government will collapse. Many Cu-
bans living in the U.S.A. are begin-
ning to look forward to the possibil-
ity of going back to Cuba. However,
there is no sign that Raúl Castro is
willing to give up power.
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