0:00:04 > 0:00:07Fidel Castro spent most of his life at war
0:00:07 > 0:00:09with the United States of America.
0:00:10 > 0:00:12He leaned forward
0:00:12 > 0:00:17and put his very long, thin, strong finger in my chest
0:00:17 > 0:00:21and said to me, "I know what US policy is.
0:00:21 > 0:00:25"I have people at the highest levels of your government.
0:00:25 > 0:00:27"Your policy is to wait for me to die,
0:00:27 > 0:00:29"and I don't intend to cooperate."
0:00:29 > 0:00:31IN SPANISH:
0:00:39 > 0:00:44His was a dictatorship that lasted more than 50 years.
0:00:44 > 0:00:47He crossed swords with 11 US presidents
0:00:47 > 0:00:51and survived hundreds of assassination attempts...
0:00:51 > 0:00:53and an invasion.
0:00:53 > 0:00:58For millions around the world, he was an inspiring revolutionary.
0:00:58 > 0:01:01Castro was an almost mythical figure.
0:01:01 > 0:01:04A figure worshipped by the left in general,
0:01:04 > 0:01:07although not without misgivings.
0:01:07 > 0:01:10To his critics, he was a brutal dictator,
0:01:10 > 0:01:14imprisoning and executing tens of thousands of opponents.
0:01:14 > 0:01:18As he famously said once,
0:01:18 > 0:01:21"Trust no-one", and he didn't.
0:01:21 > 0:01:24IN SPANISH:
0:01:30 > 0:01:32A giant of the Cold War,
0:01:32 > 0:01:37Castro took the world to the brink of nuclear Armageddon.
0:01:37 > 0:01:39When somebody asked him,
0:01:39 > 0:01:41"What do you think history are going to tell about you?"
0:01:41 > 0:01:48Fidel said, "When? In 100 years, in 500 years?
0:01:48 > 0:01:51"1,000 years? When?"
0:01:53 > 0:01:56Castro's death has now reignited the debate
0:01:56 > 0:01:59on one of the most divisive and controversial figures
0:01:59 > 0:02:01of the 20th century.
0:02:08 > 0:02:12It's hard to imagine today that Fidel Castro's relationship
0:02:12 > 0:02:17with the United States began in 1959 as something of a love affair.
0:02:18 > 0:02:21- CHANTING:- Fidel Castro! Fidel Castro! Fidel Castro!
0:02:21 > 0:02:24- NEWSREEL:- New York's Pennsylvania Station rarely
0:02:24 > 0:02:25has seen anything like it.
0:02:25 > 0:02:28Only the magnetism of a Castro could produce it.
0:02:30 > 0:02:32Just three months earlier,
0:02:32 > 0:02:35Castro had taken control of Cuba in a violent revolution.
0:02:38 > 0:02:40On his 11-day trip,
0:02:40 > 0:02:44he wowed America with the charisma that had helped propel him to power.
0:02:45 > 0:02:49Even a child appears dressed in Castro-like garb.
0:02:49 > 0:02:52I came for good relations.
0:02:52 > 0:02:54For good understanding.
0:02:54 > 0:02:57For good economical relations.
0:02:57 > 0:03:02Castro had burst onto the world stage at the height of the Cold War.
0:03:04 > 0:03:06When he met America's vice president,
0:03:06 > 0:03:11the big question for Richard Nixon was, whose side was Castro on?
0:03:12 > 0:03:13At the end of the conversation,
0:03:13 > 0:03:17Nixon wrote that Fidel was a great leader
0:03:17 > 0:03:19and it was clear that he was going to be a great leader,
0:03:19 > 0:03:24but that he didn't know whether Fidel was naive or was a communist.
0:03:24 > 0:03:28When I repeated that to Fidel, later on,
0:03:28 > 0:03:32after reading memorandum conversation, Fidel said,
0:03:32 > 0:03:35"Well, I was both or I was neither."
0:03:35 > 0:03:39Fidel was not clear in his own mind exactly what he was at that time.
0:03:39 > 0:03:41His views were just evolving.
0:03:42 > 0:03:46But the courtship between Castro and America didn't last long.
0:03:48 > 0:03:51Within months, relations turned hostile,
0:03:51 > 0:03:54and they remained hostile for the next 50 years.
0:03:56 > 0:04:00The story of why Cuba and America, just 90 miles apart,
0:04:00 > 0:04:04became implacable foes is a story of Castro's revolution
0:04:04 > 0:04:07and how it managed to survive for so long.
0:04:09 > 0:04:13Fidel Castro was born in 1926
0:04:13 > 0:04:16in Cuba's sugar cane heartlands.
0:04:16 > 0:04:18His father was a wealthy farmer.
0:04:20 > 0:04:23His mother was a servant on the estate.
0:04:23 > 0:04:27Castro was sent away to be schooled by Jesuits in Santiago.
0:04:30 > 0:04:32He's a smart guy, he works hard.
0:04:32 > 0:04:35He's a star basketball and baseball athlete,
0:04:35 > 0:04:39and he gets a car from his dad to ride to the University of Havana.
0:04:42 > 0:04:45As a law student in 1945,
0:04:45 > 0:04:48Fidel Castro joined the struggle for Cuba's future.
0:04:52 > 0:04:56Havana University was a cauldron of radical politics of all kinds.
0:04:56 > 0:04:58There were often violent protests.
0:05:04 > 0:05:07- TRANSLATION:- Fidel used to wear a pistol in his belt, and so did I.
0:05:07 > 0:05:09We all had to be armed if we wanted to exercise the right
0:05:09 > 0:05:12to give an opinion at the university square.
0:05:18 > 0:05:22In the 1950s, Cuba was the gambling and prostitution capital
0:05:22 > 0:05:23of the Caribbean.
0:05:23 > 0:05:28It was known as the whorehouse of America.
0:05:28 > 0:05:31Many of the casinos were owned by American mobsters.
0:05:33 > 0:05:38Politics was dominated by military strongman General Fulgencio Batista.
0:05:43 > 0:05:44HE SPEAKS IN SPANISH
0:05:46 > 0:05:50- TRANSLATION:- No-one could put up with those conditions of life.
0:05:53 > 0:05:57Prostitution was a big problem, and so were the casinos.
0:05:57 > 0:05:59Children couldn't go to school.
0:06:04 > 0:06:06We, the students, couldn't accept it.
0:06:10 > 0:06:14In 1948, Castro married the daughter of a wealthy family
0:06:14 > 0:06:17with political connections.
0:06:17 > 0:06:19The couple had a son, Fidelito.
0:06:21 > 0:06:24The ambitious young Castro ran for election to congress,
0:06:24 > 0:06:26vowing to clean up corruption.
0:06:32 > 0:06:37But in 1952, General Batista seized power in a military coup.
0:06:39 > 0:06:42His new regime was supported by America.
0:06:45 > 0:06:49Students took to the streets in protest, but were brushed aside.
0:06:53 > 0:06:55- TRANSLATION:- And now there's a government
0:06:55 > 0:06:58which is not even dressed in civilian clothes.
0:06:58 > 0:07:00It's a military government,
0:07:00 > 0:07:02where public freedoms are restricted,
0:07:02 > 0:07:05and where the only way to change the situation
0:07:05 > 0:07:07is through revolutionary action.
0:07:10 > 0:07:12Castro soon became central to the armed resistance
0:07:12 > 0:07:15against the dictatorship and the Cuban army.
0:07:20 > 0:07:24In 1953, he launched an audacious attack against Batista's regime,
0:07:24 > 0:07:28leading around 150 men in an assault
0:07:28 > 0:07:30on the Moncada Army Barracks in Santiago.
0:07:32 > 0:07:35IN SPANISH:
0:07:56 > 0:08:00But the Moncada attack was a disaster.
0:08:00 > 0:08:02Around 60 rebels were killed.
0:08:04 > 0:08:08Castro was captured and put on trial.
0:08:08 > 0:08:12The trial was a chance to promote his political vision.
0:08:12 > 0:08:16He was his own lawyer, he spoke on his own behalf,
0:08:16 > 0:08:19and his trial defence was then edited
0:08:19 > 0:08:22and published as a pamphlet
0:08:22 > 0:08:26that turned out to be effective as a way to describe
0:08:26 > 0:08:32the political plan for a movement that had never had a political plan.
0:08:32 > 0:08:36Castro's famous pamphlet was called History Will Absolve Me.
0:08:41 > 0:08:46- TRANSLATION:- History Will Absolve Me we used to say was our Bible.
0:08:46 > 0:08:48It became the country's first constitution
0:08:48 > 0:08:49for us in the opposition.
0:08:53 > 0:08:55History Will Absolve Me was where Fidel talked to the problem
0:08:55 > 0:08:58of the poor, the problem of the schools,
0:08:58 > 0:09:00the problem of land for the peasants,
0:09:00 > 0:09:02which was a very serious problem,
0:09:02 > 0:09:05housing, all those things, which were serious problems.
0:09:07 > 0:09:13Castro was sentenced to 15 years in one of Cuba's most notorious jails.
0:09:13 > 0:09:17Years later, he recalled his incarceration fondly.
0:09:17 > 0:09:19IN SPANISH:
0:09:41 > 0:09:43In prison, Castro decided to divorce his wife
0:09:43 > 0:09:46and wrote a letter to his sister
0:09:46 > 0:09:49revealing how hard he would fight for custody of his son.
0:09:49 > 0:09:53He says, "Look, I am going to wage a war
0:09:53 > 0:09:57"that is going to make the Hundred Year War
0:09:57 > 0:10:03"look like a walk at the beach. I will never give up.
0:10:03 > 0:10:09"I will do this even if the world shall be destroyed in the process."
0:10:11 > 0:10:17So we have here, very clearly, in the letters, he tells you,
0:10:17 > 0:10:23"I am a scorched-earth warrior, I will bluff until I win."
0:10:23 > 0:10:24- NEWSREEL:- 1955.
0:10:24 > 0:10:27In an attempt to cope with the serious unrest in Cuba,
0:10:27 > 0:10:29Batista tries appeasement.
0:10:29 > 0:10:32A general amnesty frees a beardless Fidel Castro.
0:10:32 > 0:10:35His brother Raul leaves with him.
0:10:35 > 0:10:37Released after nearly two years,
0:10:37 > 0:10:41Castro immediately set about taking on Batista again.
0:10:43 > 0:10:47He announces that he will leave the country to organise an invasion.
0:10:53 > 0:10:56Castro travelled to Miami to raise money...
0:10:59 > 0:11:02..and to Mexico to put together the nucleus of a new guerrilla force.
0:11:05 > 0:11:09Among Castro's recruits was a young Argentine doctor.
0:11:09 > 0:11:14Che Guevara would become a key figure in the revolution...
0:11:14 > 0:11:16and its global face.
0:11:16 > 0:11:20In-built into the Cuban revolution, right from the beginning,
0:11:20 > 0:11:23was the spirit of internationalism,
0:11:23 > 0:11:28that our leaders were Fidel and Che, an Argentinian,
0:11:28 > 0:11:33so it was a fight not just for Cuba, but the whole continent.
0:11:33 > 0:11:37Castro's revolutionaries called themselves the July 26th Movement,
0:11:37 > 0:11:41in memory of the Moncada Barracks assault.
0:11:41 > 0:11:43But alongside the armed struggle,
0:11:43 > 0:11:46Castro was also a master of propaganda,
0:11:46 > 0:11:51quickly latching on to the new marketing methods of 1950s America.
0:11:56 > 0:11:58- TRANSLATION:- He learned how effective
0:11:58 > 0:12:00advertising campaigns could be.
0:12:00 > 0:12:04You could sell soap through adverts, or any product,
0:12:04 > 0:12:06so in a country full of frustration
0:12:06 > 0:12:09and social problems, why not a political idea?
0:12:16 > 0:12:18The revolution began inauspiciously
0:12:18 > 0:12:21in a small cabin cruiser called Granma.
0:12:21 > 0:12:27Castro and around 80 men set sail from Mexico in November 1956.
0:12:27 > 0:12:30The boat was overloaded,
0:12:30 > 0:12:34and a 1,200-mile voyage took longer than expected.
0:12:34 > 0:12:38They missed their intended landing spot on Cuba's southeast tip,
0:12:38 > 0:12:44ending up in a mangrove swamp. They were ambushed by Batista's troops.
0:12:44 > 0:12:48Fewer than 20 of Castro's men escaped to the mountains with him.
0:12:53 > 0:12:54In the Sierra Maestra,
0:12:54 > 0:12:58Castro once again turned a setback to his advantage.
0:12:58 > 0:13:01He began building up his motley army.
0:13:01 > 0:13:05Among his most trusted comrades was his younger brother, Raul,
0:13:05 > 0:13:09who would be by his side for the next 50 years.
0:13:09 > 0:13:11Castro won over the peasants
0:13:11 > 0:13:13who came to support his campaign against Batista.
0:13:14 > 0:13:16- TRANSLATION:- He made a great impression
0:13:16 > 0:13:18on the people in the countryside.
0:13:18 > 0:13:22He got along very well with the poor people in the Sierra Maestra.
0:13:23 > 0:13:27They saw the commander as the person who had come
0:13:27 > 0:13:29to bring about agrarian reform.
0:13:32 > 0:13:36Che Guevara was one of Castro's key strategists.
0:13:37 > 0:13:41Facing a much stronger enemy, the rebels fought a guerrilla war.
0:13:43 > 0:13:46- NEWSREEL:- The Castro rebels plant bombs on buses, on railroad trains.
0:13:46 > 0:13:49They set fire to cars and trucks, oil tanks and factories.
0:13:52 > 0:13:56Castro also waged a cutting-edge war for hearts and minds.
0:13:58 > 0:14:01He invited journalists and film-makers to follow him.
0:14:03 > 0:14:05This is only the beginning.
0:14:05 > 0:14:08The last battle will be fought in the capital, you can be sure.
0:14:11 > 0:14:14But Batista also manipulated the media,
0:14:14 > 0:14:17telling a journalist Castro had been killed.
0:14:17 > 0:14:22The reason Batista did that was he knew that Fidel Castro
0:14:22 > 0:14:28needed celebrity and fame to exist and make his revolution happen.
0:14:28 > 0:14:30So what does Fidel Castro do? He's panicked.
0:14:30 > 0:14:34He's in the Sierra, he says, "Oh, my God, they're writing I'm dead",
0:14:34 > 0:14:37and that's when he summons Herbert Matthews of the New York Times,
0:14:37 > 0:14:41then the most influential reporter in the country,
0:14:41 > 0:14:45then he does this charade where he turns his 50 troops into...
0:14:45 > 0:14:48He keeps rotating them so they look like hundreds
0:14:48 > 0:14:49and hundreds and hundreds.
0:14:49 > 0:14:52Stagecraft, propaganda.
0:14:52 > 0:14:55No-one has ever been in his league in that regard.
0:14:59 > 0:15:01Castro's revolutionary message was left wing,
0:15:01 > 0:15:04but not, at that stage, communist.
0:15:04 > 0:15:10It is not communism or Marxism in our idea.
0:15:10 > 0:15:16Our political philosophy is representative democracy
0:15:16 > 0:15:22and social justice in a well-planned economy.
0:15:22 > 0:15:26Castro's vision struck a chord with many Cubans.
0:15:26 > 0:15:31That was a very exciting message for a young generation.
0:15:31 > 0:15:39So all of us, and certainly the rest of the Cuban people,
0:15:39 > 0:15:41followed that hope.
0:15:44 > 0:15:45- NEWSREEL:- Batista's henchmen have fled.
0:15:45 > 0:15:50Towards the end of 1958, Batista lost control of Havana.
0:15:50 > 0:15:53This was the scene of turmoil in the capital Havana
0:15:53 > 0:15:56as the climax of revolution was reached.
0:15:56 > 0:15:58Anyone suspected of sympathy for the Batista regime
0:15:58 > 0:16:01came in for a rough time.
0:16:04 > 0:16:07On New Year's Day, 1959, Batista fled,
0:16:07 > 0:16:10taking millions of dollars with him,
0:16:10 > 0:16:13but leaving behind the trappings of dictatorship.
0:16:19 > 0:16:23A week later, Castro made a triumphal arrival in the city.
0:16:30 > 0:16:35- TRANSLATION:- It was as if somebody had said a cyclone was coming.
0:16:35 > 0:16:37But it was a cyclone we had longed for,
0:16:37 > 0:16:40because it would sweep the rottenness away.
0:16:43 > 0:16:48Castro's first speech as Cuba's new leader was carefully staged.
0:16:50 > 0:16:55Before he spoke, they released a flock of white doves,
0:16:55 > 0:16:57but one of the doves floated up in the air and then came back
0:16:57 > 0:17:00and landed on Castro's shoulder,
0:17:00 > 0:17:03and remained there throughout the speech.
0:17:03 > 0:17:06People in the audience were gasping,
0:17:06 > 0:17:11because the white dove is the messenger of the gods in Santeria,
0:17:11 > 0:17:14which is the most powerful religion in Cuba.
0:17:14 > 0:17:19The messenger the gods sent to indicate the anointed one.
0:17:24 > 0:17:27One of the new Cuban leader's first priorities
0:17:27 > 0:17:30was mounting a charm offensive on American television.
0:17:30 > 0:17:34Just 30 days ago, Fidel Castro entered Havana to be greeted
0:17:34 > 0:17:38by cheering mobs as one the greatest heroes in Cuba's history.
0:17:38 > 0:17:41Good evening, Fidel Castro.
0:17:41 > 0:17:45At the age of 32, you now have in your hands
0:17:45 > 0:17:48a great deal of power and a great deal of responsibility.
0:17:48 > 0:17:51Aren't you a little frightened by this?
0:17:51 > 0:17:57Well, really, not frightened, because I have self-confidence.
0:17:57 > 0:18:01In pyjamas in his apartment in Havana's Hilton hotel,
0:18:01 > 0:18:04it was perhaps the most intimate interview ever given
0:18:04 > 0:18:05by a world leader.
0:18:05 > 0:18:09There was even discussion of Castro's famous beard.
0:18:09 > 0:18:14My beard means many things to my country.
0:18:14 > 0:18:18When we have fulfilled our promise of good government,
0:18:18 > 0:18:20I will cut my beard.
0:18:20 > 0:18:23Politics was not entirely off limits.
0:18:23 > 0:18:25The young Castro was asked about his tough treatment
0:18:25 > 0:18:27of Batista's henchman.
0:18:27 > 0:18:33Well, Fidel Castro, what about the trials of Batista's followers?
0:18:33 > 0:18:38Well, I think, myself, all our people, that they are just...
0:18:38 > 0:18:43because we are not living now in normal conditions.
0:18:44 > 0:18:47Behind the soft image Castro was keen to project,
0:18:47 > 0:18:49he was tightening his grip on power.
0:18:51 > 0:18:54There were show trials and public executions
0:18:54 > 0:18:57of those suspected of being part of Batista's regime,
0:18:57 > 0:18:59despite America's condemnation.
0:19:02 > 0:19:03GUNSHOTS
0:19:05 > 0:19:08Castro started breaking up large farms and plantations
0:19:08 > 0:19:11and handing the land over to Cuba's peasants,
0:19:11 > 0:19:14just as he said he would before the revolution.
0:19:22 > 0:19:25But Castro didn't deliver on another promise he had made.
0:19:28 > 0:19:30We expected him to call an election,
0:19:30 > 0:19:35and he said that he was going to call elections in six months.
0:19:36 > 0:19:43But then we heard him on TV in four or five months,
0:19:43 > 0:19:47the famous words, phrase,
0:19:47 > 0:19:51that he repeated, "Elecciones para que?"
0:19:51 > 0:19:54"Elections? For what?"
0:19:54 > 0:19:59So we started realising that all the things that this guy had promised
0:19:59 > 0:20:05when he was in the mountains, he was not going to really realise.
0:20:05 > 0:20:11Robin Day of the BBC asked Castro why he was breaking his promise.
0:20:11 > 0:20:13You obviously have a great deal of support
0:20:13 > 0:20:15among the people of Cuba, Dr Castro.
0:20:15 > 0:20:19Why, in that case, do you not hold elections on a democratic basis?
0:20:19 > 0:20:21We asked the people.
0:20:21 > 0:20:24The people said we don't want political now
0:20:24 > 0:20:25because we are working.
0:20:25 > 0:20:30Political was good only for robbers and for criminals.
0:20:30 > 0:20:37Fidel Castro genuinely believed that, in an important sense,
0:20:37 > 0:20:41he was always a democrat.
0:20:41 > 0:20:48He believed that he had the support of the majority of the Cuban people.
0:20:50 > 0:20:53But as the nature of Castro's revolution became clearer,
0:20:53 > 0:20:57many Cubans turned against him, particularly the middle classes.
0:21:02 > 0:21:05Hundreds of thousands of Cubans fled the country
0:21:05 > 0:21:09as Castro began seizing private businesses.
0:21:10 > 0:21:11Most ended up in Miami.
0:21:12 > 0:21:14What was your position, your job, in Cuba?
0:21:14 > 0:21:18- I was a manager in a sugar company. - And why did you leave?
0:21:18 > 0:21:21Well, because they took absolutely everything...
0:21:21 > 0:21:24of our company.
0:21:24 > 0:21:26Those exiles felt that things were worse
0:21:26 > 0:21:28than they had ever been under Batista.
0:21:28 > 0:21:33Miami became a haven for deeply, deeply embittered people
0:21:33 > 0:21:41who...had a lovely synergy with those in power in Washington.
0:21:44 > 0:21:47Relations between Cuba and America were deteriorating fast.
0:21:50 > 0:21:53Castro began seizing businesses owned by powerful Americans.
0:21:55 > 0:21:57In retaliation,
0:21:57 > 0:22:01the US refused to buy Cuba's sugar or supply the country with oil.
0:22:01 > 0:22:03It was a huge blow to Castro.
0:22:07 > 0:22:10Che Guevara was now head of Cuba's national bank,
0:22:10 > 0:22:14and, in 1960, he struck a crucial deal with America's Cold War rival,
0:22:14 > 0:22:16the Soviet Union.
0:22:16 > 0:22:22They would buy one million tonnes of sugar a year, a lifeline for Cuba.
0:22:22 > 0:22:25Economics as well as politics was propelling Castro
0:22:25 > 0:22:27towards the Soviets.
0:22:29 > 0:22:32Soon, Cuba had not just new Russian tractors...
0:22:33 > 0:22:36..but tanks and other weapons too.
0:22:48 > 0:22:51In March 1960, there was an explosion on an ammunition ship
0:22:51 > 0:22:53in Havana Docks.
0:22:54 > 0:23:00At least 75 people died. Castro blamed the Americans.
0:23:00 > 0:23:03- NEWSREEL:- Fidel Castro suggests it was sabotage,
0:23:03 > 0:23:07occurring with the knowledge and approval of the US government.
0:23:11 > 0:23:13Cuba was on a war footing.
0:23:17 > 0:23:19America's CIA began targeting Castro.
0:23:21 > 0:23:25There were plots to kill him using poisoned pens and pills.
0:23:25 > 0:23:31Even exploding cigars. Castro revelled in the CIA's bungling.
0:23:31 > 0:23:36And I do not worry at all. It's news.
0:23:36 > 0:23:39- TRANSLATION:- They never understood that the best way
0:23:39 > 0:23:41to fight Fidel Castro is not to confront him,
0:23:41 > 0:23:44because where can he go from there?
0:23:45 > 0:23:49He wouldn't have known what to do, because he needs the confrontation.
0:23:49 > 0:23:51That's what the United States were useful for.
0:23:51 > 0:23:55Fidel loves the US, they did everything he wanted.
0:23:56 > 0:24:00- IN ENGLISH:- He's the hero. He's David against Goliath.
0:24:03 > 0:24:06Deep in the Florida Everglades, the CIA was working with hundreds
0:24:06 > 0:24:10of Cuban exiles on a bold plan to invade Cuba.
0:24:14 > 0:24:17We felt that we had to do something.
0:24:17 > 0:24:21We had to do something to reclaim the nation.
0:24:21 > 0:24:24President Kennedy refused to commit American forces,
0:24:24 > 0:24:26but was happy for the exiles to go ahead.
0:24:31 > 0:24:34It would turn out to be a huge blunder that Castro would exploit.
0:24:38 > 0:24:41American bombers painted to look like Cuban planes
0:24:41 > 0:24:42and piloted by exiles
0:24:42 > 0:24:45set out from Nicaragua to destroy Castro's air force.
0:24:48 > 0:24:51But he feared an attack was coming, and had hidden most of his planes.
0:24:54 > 0:24:57The Cubans began preparing for a ground invasion.
0:25:01 > 0:25:05Two days later, 1,400 exiles landed on Cuba's south coast
0:25:05 > 0:25:08at the Bay of Pigs.
0:25:08 > 0:25:10Very little would go to plan.
0:25:10 > 0:25:14I landed in the first wave.
0:25:14 > 0:25:17The first thing that I heard was, "Viva Fidel Castro."
0:25:19 > 0:25:21Resistance was fiercer than expected.
0:25:21 > 0:25:25The Cuban air force sank two supply ships.
0:25:25 > 0:25:28Castro rushed to the Bay of Pigs to take command.
0:25:30 > 0:25:34Perhaps, that night, the most intense fight
0:25:34 > 0:25:41that has taken place in Cuba in the 20th century.
0:25:41 > 0:25:46Over two days, 70,000 Cuban troops using Soviet tanks
0:25:46 > 0:25:52overpowered the would-be liberators. 114 exiles were killed.
0:25:52 > 0:25:54Around 1,100 were captured.
0:25:54 > 0:25:57The invasion had achieved the opposite
0:25:57 > 0:26:00of what its participants had intended.
0:26:01 > 0:26:05The success of the invasion for Fidel Castro gave him
0:26:05 > 0:26:08a tremendous sense of invincibility
0:26:08 > 0:26:15and also proved to the Soviet Union that he was somebody that
0:26:15 > 0:26:21they could trust to maintain the fight
0:26:21 > 0:26:24against the US.
0:26:24 > 0:26:27As it turned out, they were right.
0:26:29 > 0:26:32In Cuba, the revolution was gathering support.
0:26:32 > 0:26:35Castro had a populist touch and was busy attacking the vestiges
0:26:35 > 0:26:38of privilege from the Batista days.
0:26:42 > 0:26:45This used to be the luxurious Biltmore Beach Club,
0:26:45 > 0:26:49with, they told me, an entrance fee of 2,000
0:26:49 > 0:26:51and an annual subscription of 200.
0:26:51 > 0:26:55Nowadays, anyone can come in for a few cents a time.
0:26:57 > 0:27:00With Castro cementing his power over Cuba,
0:27:00 > 0:27:04the Americans focused on a covert war of sabotage and subversion.
0:27:06 > 0:27:08Now he showed how pragmatic he could be.
0:27:14 > 0:27:17He had come to power vowing he was not a communist,
0:27:17 > 0:27:20but, in December 1961,
0:27:20 > 0:27:23Castro formally threw in his lot with the Soviets.
0:27:26 > 0:27:27IN SPANISH:
0:27:34 > 0:27:35APPLAUSE
0:27:37 > 0:27:41When he announces on national television that he had become
0:27:41 > 0:27:45a Marxist-Leninist and, quote, "I will be one till the day I die",
0:27:45 > 0:27:47he also said that he had not finished even the first book
0:27:47 > 0:27:50of Karl Marx's Capital.
0:27:50 > 0:27:57This is not book learning. This is saying, "You know, it looks good.
0:27:57 > 0:27:58"Good enough, at least.
0:27:58 > 0:28:00"If I'm going to be a Soviet ally,
0:28:00 > 0:28:03"I'd better say that I'm a communist."
0:28:03 > 0:28:08The Russians now had an ally just 90 miles from the coast of Florida.
0:28:08 > 0:28:11Castro became a communist hero.
0:28:14 > 0:28:16IN RUSSIAN:
0:28:21 > 0:28:24Cuba had become the first communist beachhead
0:28:24 > 0:28:27in the Western hemisphere.
0:28:27 > 0:28:31In response, America tightened its economic noose around Castro,
0:28:31 > 0:28:35putting in place a trade embargo that lasted more than 50 years.
0:28:37 > 0:28:41But as the Cold War deepened, Cuba and its newly communist
0:28:41 > 0:28:44leader would soon bring the world to the edge of destruction.
0:28:46 > 0:28:49We were this close to nuclear holocaust,
0:28:49 > 0:28:52and Fidel Castro was the main reason that we were that close.
0:28:55 > 0:29:00In June 1961, the United States had placed nuclear missiles
0:29:00 > 0:29:04in Turkey, capable of striking the Soviet Union.
0:29:04 > 0:29:07A year later, the Russian leader Khrushchev persuaded Castro
0:29:07 > 0:29:11to allow its nuclear missiles to be secretly sited in Cuba.
0:29:13 > 0:29:16That would put Washington in range of a Soviet strike.
0:29:20 > 0:29:23- TRANSLATION:- I worked in a factory that made missiles
0:29:23 > 0:29:28which were sent to Cuba on the orders of Khrushchev.
0:29:28 > 0:29:30It was a test to the Americans
0:29:30 > 0:29:34who had put rockets with nuclear warheads in Turkey,
0:29:34 > 0:29:35a nice little present.
0:29:37 > 0:29:41That could lead to a nuclear war.
0:29:41 > 0:29:44But if we put our missiles under their noses,
0:29:44 > 0:29:49maybe they would question whether it was worth it or not.
0:29:51 > 0:29:54The Soviets set about building missile sites in Cuba.
0:29:57 > 0:30:02But they could not be concealed from American spy planes.
0:30:02 > 0:30:06They were discovered in October 1962, bringing the two superpowers
0:30:06 > 0:30:09to the brink of nuclear war.
0:30:09 > 0:30:10Within the past week,
0:30:10 > 0:30:13unmistakable evidence has established
0:30:13 > 0:30:17the fact that a series of offensive missile sites
0:30:17 > 0:30:21is now in preparation on that imprisoned island.
0:30:21 > 0:30:24The purpose of these bases can be none other than to provide
0:30:24 > 0:30:29a nuclear strike capability against the Western hemisphere.
0:30:30 > 0:30:33US President John F Kennedy imposed a naval blockade
0:30:33 > 0:30:35against Soviet ships.
0:30:39 > 0:30:41Protests erupted around the world.
0:30:46 > 0:30:50The crisis peaked when an American spy plane was shot down over Cuba.
0:30:54 > 0:30:56The Cold War was turning white hot.
0:31:04 > 0:31:06- TRANSLATION:- We had no doubts
0:31:06 > 0:31:11that this could have turned into a third world catastrophe.
0:31:11 > 0:31:13This was a real possibility.
0:31:13 > 0:31:16A single careless step could spark an explosion.
0:31:20 > 0:31:24Years later, Castro recalled how high the stakes had been.
0:31:27 > 0:31:28IN SPANISH:
0:31:48 > 0:31:52After 13 days in which the world stared into the abyss,
0:31:52 > 0:31:55the two superpowers came to a deal.
0:31:55 > 0:31:58Khrushchev agreed to withdraw his missiles from Cuba.
0:31:58 > 0:32:03America withdrew theirs from Turkey. To his horror, Castro was sidelined.
0:32:10 > 0:32:13- TRANSLATION:- To a certain extent, at a basic level,
0:32:13 > 0:32:16you could say it was a betrayal.
0:32:18 > 0:32:21Castro took great offence at the lack of trust
0:32:21 > 0:32:25shown by the Soviet Union.
0:32:28 > 0:32:32Decades later, Castro revealed his own role in taking the world
0:32:32 > 0:32:33to the brink of Armageddon.
0:32:35 > 0:32:40When he told us, at the time it was really unbelievable.
0:32:40 > 0:32:44He had sent a message to Khrushchev, which he told us about,
0:32:44 > 0:32:46in which he said,
0:32:46 > 0:32:50"The things about these missiles is that you have to use them first."
0:32:50 > 0:32:52You know, a pre-emptive strike.
0:32:52 > 0:32:54That, ironically,
0:32:54 > 0:32:58proved to be one of the reasons why Khrushchev decided to withdraw them.
0:32:58 > 0:33:02He realised that he was losing control
0:33:02 > 0:33:04at a moment of grave crisis in the world,
0:33:04 > 0:33:08and that maybe Fidel did not have all of his marbles.
0:33:11 > 0:33:13He was right.
0:33:13 > 0:33:16Thank God that Khrushchev was wise enough to do that,
0:33:16 > 0:33:18because otherwise we would have had a nuclear holocaust.
0:33:23 > 0:33:27Away from the world stage, Castro was reforming Cuban society.
0:33:30 > 0:33:31Before the revolution,
0:33:31 > 0:33:35Cuba had been one of the wealthier countries in Latin America...
0:33:35 > 0:33:38but many of its six million citizens were poor,
0:33:38 > 0:33:41and around a quarter couldn't read.
0:33:41 > 0:33:43Castro encouraged thousands of young volunteers
0:33:43 > 0:33:48to travel to the countryside to teach literacy,
0:33:48 > 0:33:50and he began building a health service.
0:33:52 > 0:33:58The successes were enormous. First, the entire population was educated.
0:33:58 > 0:34:02Secondly, schools, universities,
0:34:02 > 0:34:05built to educate their children and grandchildren.
0:34:05 > 0:34:10Third, the creation of a medical system and a health service
0:34:10 > 0:34:13that is the envy of most of the world.
0:34:18 > 0:34:21Castro himself came to embody the revolution.
0:34:23 > 0:34:25He frequently appeared at mass rallies,
0:34:25 > 0:34:28making televised speeches of epic proportions,
0:34:28 > 0:34:30as his daughter Alina remembers.
0:34:32 > 0:34:34- TRANSLATION:- Imagine a child of eight just longing
0:34:34 > 0:34:36for six o'clock in the evening
0:34:36 > 0:34:39to be able to watch half an hour of cartoons.
0:34:40 > 0:34:43This man was talking, he had started at two o'clock,
0:34:43 > 0:34:47and the children were virtually praying for him to shut up.
0:34:51 > 0:34:53Behind the cult of personality,
0:34:53 > 0:34:56the Cuban leader jealously guarded his private life.
0:34:59 > 0:35:03- TRANSLATION:- Fidel Castro is a man who has been surrounded
0:35:03 > 0:35:06by people since the year he was in the Sierra Maestra.
0:35:07 > 0:35:09He needs solitude.
0:35:09 > 0:35:12He's a man who is very private in his personal life,
0:35:12 > 0:35:14very, very private.
0:35:17 > 0:35:19Castro's family was off limits.
0:35:21 > 0:35:25He's believed to have had ten children with several women.
0:35:25 > 0:35:28Including Fidelito, who he kept from his mother.
0:35:28 > 0:35:32His daughter, who later fled Cuba, recalls life with her father.
0:35:33 > 0:35:36- TRANSLATION:- To begin with, I was a very normal girl.
0:35:36 > 0:35:39When I had any questions, I would go along and ask my parents,
0:35:39 > 0:35:41my mother, my father.
0:35:41 > 0:35:45The answers were always very cryptic and strange.
0:35:45 > 0:35:48They never really explained anything to me.
0:35:48 > 0:35:51And so I would let him talk in a monologue
0:35:51 > 0:35:56about whatever subject he cared to at that particular moment.
0:35:56 > 0:35:59I didn't have a regular place in his world.
0:36:02 > 0:36:07Castro's regime persecuted political and social outsiders,
0:36:07 > 0:36:09including gays and lesbians.
0:36:09 > 0:36:12He constructed a powerful police state.
0:36:13 > 0:36:16Fidel was prepared to send people
0:36:16 > 0:36:19to prison by the tens of thousands
0:36:19 > 0:36:23and hold them in prison for years and years,
0:36:23 > 0:36:28simply because of the expression of political views
0:36:28 > 0:36:31or to try to associate to oppose him.
0:36:31 > 0:36:33This was a ruthless ruler
0:36:33 > 0:36:38in the way that he dealt with the domestic political opposition.
0:36:38 > 0:36:40CHEERING
0:36:40 > 0:36:43One former revolutionary spent 22 years
0:36:43 > 0:36:48as a political prisoner after he turned against Castro's regime.
0:36:48 > 0:36:50HE SPEAKS SPANISH
0:36:50 > 0:36:53- TRANSLATION:- Prison in Cuba was a violent shock for us,
0:36:53 > 0:36:56especially after we had fought Batista's dictatorship
0:36:56 > 0:37:01which had been very arbitrary and very cruel to political prisoners.
0:37:01 > 0:37:05We saw that the very same revolution we had fought for
0:37:05 > 0:37:09was using the same or worse methods against political prisoners.
0:37:12 > 0:37:16In one of three documentaries Oliver Stone made about him,
0:37:16 > 0:37:19Castro rejected criticism of his use of power.
0:37:21 > 0:37:23IN SPANISH:
0:37:48 > 0:37:51Dictator means strong man, yes, dictator, yes,
0:37:51 > 0:37:54in the 1960-'62 period some of them had met harsh
0:37:54 > 0:37:57fates, no question about it, but at the same time you have to allow
0:37:57 > 0:38:00that there were people who were not necessarily working
0:38:00 > 0:38:03in the Cuban peoples' interest. It was a very tricky time.
0:38:03 > 0:38:08So, a dictator, you can call him that. It's not a big deal.
0:38:08 > 0:38:11The US has supported dictators,
0:38:11 > 0:38:15dozens and dozens of dictators, in most of the countries of the world.
0:38:22 > 0:38:26The 1960s saw the Cold War expanding into conflicts
0:38:26 > 0:38:28around the world.
0:38:28 > 0:38:31The US became embroiled in a disastrous war
0:38:31 > 0:38:36against the communist backed forces of North Vietnam.
0:38:36 > 0:38:40The conflict influenced Fidel Castro and Che Guevara
0:38:40 > 0:38:44into internationalising the battle against American global power.
0:38:45 > 0:38:49The way to fight the United States is to tie it down.
0:38:49 > 0:38:51As Guevara articulately put it,
0:38:51 > 0:38:54"Let us create two, three more Vietnams."
0:38:54 > 0:38:56Wherever they may be, it doesn't matter.
0:38:56 > 0:38:58It might be in the Congo, Bolivia,
0:38:58 > 0:39:01it might be everywhere in Latin America or Africa.
0:39:01 > 0:39:06Cuba becomes involved in much of the world to try to multiply the impact
0:39:06 > 0:39:10of the strategy that the Vietnamese had developed -
0:39:10 > 0:39:12fight imperialism wherever it may be.
0:39:14 > 0:39:19Che Guevara went to the Congo where he tried to foment revolution,
0:39:19 > 0:39:22then he turned his attention to Latin America.
0:39:22 > 0:39:27In 1966, he went to Bolivia with a group of guerrillas.
0:39:27 > 0:39:31He was hunted down by government troops, helped by the CIA,
0:39:31 > 0:39:36and in October 1967, Guevara was captured, and shot the next day.
0:39:36 > 0:39:41That image of the dead Che was seen in many parts of South America
0:39:41 > 0:39:44and people said so, including people on the left,
0:39:44 > 0:39:46"My God, it's like Christ."
0:39:46 > 0:39:50Castro saw an opportunity in Che Guevara's death.
0:39:52 > 0:39:54HE ORATES IN SPANISH
0:40:15 > 0:40:19After Che died, suddenly his face is just everywhere.
0:40:19 > 0:40:23It's just on every wall, every placard -
0:40:23 > 0:40:26who has not seen the dashing,
0:40:26 > 0:40:29handsome face of Che Guevara on their coffee cup,
0:40:29 > 0:40:33on their T-shirt? That was all launched by Fidel Castro,
0:40:33 > 0:40:35that was taking a Korda picture
0:40:35 > 0:40:38and saying he's going to be our global ambassador
0:40:38 > 0:40:40for the noble revolution
0:40:40 > 0:40:44and the wicked US who must have been behind the Bolivians
0:40:44 > 0:40:48and his execution - which to some extent was quite true.
0:40:51 > 0:40:54As America's deepening involvement in Vietnam ignited protests
0:40:54 > 0:40:55in Britain and beyond,
0:40:55 > 0:40:59people on the left increasingly saw Castro as a figurehead.
0:41:01 > 0:41:05Castro was like a David and Goliath situation to America.
0:41:05 > 0:41:09Here was this tiny country, seeking to implement
0:41:09 > 0:41:12a version of socialism, a version of communism,
0:41:12 > 0:41:14whatever you want to call it,
0:41:14 > 0:41:17up against the might of American capitalism,
0:41:17 > 0:41:23which was doing everything it could to crush that - and he survived.
0:41:23 > 0:41:28Whatever his defects, and whatever the bad humans rights record
0:41:28 > 0:41:33of the island of Cuba, for which Castro was responsible as well,
0:41:33 > 0:41:37nevertheless, that status was something that inspired
0:41:37 > 0:41:38the rest of the left.
0:41:40 > 0:41:45America appeared be losing on two fronts, in Vietnam and Cuba.
0:41:48 > 0:41:49To some American diplomats,
0:41:49 > 0:41:52the Cold War was blinding the superpower
0:41:52 > 0:41:54to the true nature of its enemies.
0:41:56 > 0:42:00Our two biggest mistakes in history were in Vietnam,
0:42:00 > 0:42:04where we precisely confused communism and nationalism
0:42:04 > 0:42:08and in Cuba, where we did the same thing.
0:42:08 > 0:42:11The only way you could have dealt successfully
0:42:11 > 0:42:13in Vietnam and Cuba is to understand
0:42:13 > 0:42:16that nationalism is more important than communism,
0:42:16 > 0:42:18from where they're coming.
0:42:18 > 0:42:21Our ability to succeed would have depended on our ability
0:42:21 > 0:42:25to understand the war that they saw, not the war that we saw.
0:42:25 > 0:42:27Pull!
0:42:27 > 0:42:32In 1976, a new US president, Jimmy Carter,
0:42:32 > 0:42:35hoped for a new start with Cuba.
0:42:37 > 0:42:40He sent Robert Pastor as his envoy to meet Castro.
0:42:42 > 0:42:44As ever, the Cuban leader was defiant,
0:42:44 > 0:42:46bringing up a US government report on CIA plots
0:42:46 > 0:42:50to kill foreign leaders, including himself.
0:42:52 > 0:42:56He started the meeting by reminding us of the Church Committee Report
0:42:56 > 0:42:58on all of the political assassinations,
0:42:58 > 0:43:02and he ended a description of those assassinations in the report
0:43:02 > 0:43:06by then saying, "That's only about half of all of the attempts
0:43:06 > 0:43:07"to kill me by the United States,
0:43:07 > 0:43:09"let me tell you about the other half."
0:43:09 > 0:43:11And he did.
0:43:15 > 0:43:18But over time, the two countries did agreed
0:43:18 > 0:43:21to reopen limited diplomatic relations short of full ties.
0:43:21 > 0:43:25Carter relaxed the ban on Americans travelling to Cuba,
0:43:25 > 0:43:28and Castro released some political prisoners.
0:43:28 > 0:43:31He was always a tough negotiator.
0:43:35 > 0:43:38He was a powerful attorney, advocate,
0:43:38 > 0:43:40he could throw out five arguments
0:43:40 > 0:43:44and you'd get the feeling as if he was tying you in a knot,
0:43:44 > 0:43:45and then he'd pull it tight.
0:43:47 > 0:43:49Brilliant, just brilliant, at times.
0:43:51 > 0:43:55President Carter's effort to engage with Castro ultimately
0:43:55 > 0:43:58ran into the sand. In the end, for Castro,
0:43:58 > 0:44:01cooperation with America was more dangerous than conflict.
0:44:03 > 0:44:07Castro had much greater possibilities,
0:44:07 > 0:44:12in his eyes, to not normalise relations
0:44:12 > 0:44:15when the potential existed,
0:44:15 > 0:44:18because the risk of normalising relations
0:44:18 > 0:44:22with the United States is significant.
0:44:22 > 0:44:27Will they be able to control the country so tightly
0:44:27 > 0:44:31with the influx of American ideas and money?
0:44:31 > 0:44:35I think it would be very difficult.
0:44:35 > 0:44:41Therefore, Castro has other priorities.
0:44:41 > 0:44:44EXPLOSIONS
0:44:46 > 0:44:49Castro continued to impose himself on the international stage,
0:44:49 > 0:44:53this time thousands of miles away in south-west Africa.
0:44:53 > 0:44:56When apartheid South Africa tried to destabilise
0:44:56 > 0:45:01the left-wing government of Angola, Castro sent in Cuban troops.
0:45:04 > 0:45:05IN SPANISH:
0:45:19 > 0:45:24Around 10,000 Cuban soldiers are believed to have been killed
0:45:24 > 0:45:26in 14 years of fighting.
0:45:26 > 0:45:30In 1988, Castro took charge of the war from Havana
0:45:30 > 0:45:33for the decisive Battle of Cuito Cuanavale.
0:45:35 > 0:45:36IN SPANISH:
0:45:44 > 0:45:49Cuba's intervention helped defeat South Africa in Angola.
0:45:49 > 0:45:51It also hastened the end of the apartheid regime
0:45:51 > 0:45:54that had survived for 40 years.
0:45:54 > 0:45:55On his release,
0:45:55 > 0:46:00Nelson Mandela acknowledge the debt the new South Africa owed to Cuba.
0:46:00 > 0:46:04It's a very great moment for us to be visited by Fidel.
0:46:04 > 0:46:06WOMAN TRANSLATES INTO SPANISH
0:46:06 > 0:46:08Because what he has done for us...
0:46:08 > 0:46:11is difficult to put into words.
0:46:11 > 0:46:15Cuba's involvement in Angola was absolutely decisive
0:46:15 > 0:46:18because they defeated the apartheid war machine,
0:46:18 > 0:46:19which had never been...
0:46:19 > 0:46:23South African forces had never been defeated before.
0:46:23 > 0:46:28It became a major issue in the subsequent transformation
0:46:28 > 0:46:31from the tyranny of apartheid to the free democracy
0:46:31 > 0:46:34that we see in South Africa today.
0:46:35 > 0:46:39But there was little sign of democracy in Cuba.
0:46:39 > 0:46:43Even a popular hero of the Angolan War was not safe from persecution.
0:46:43 > 0:46:46'It was the show trial that shook Havana...'
0:46:46 > 0:46:49HE SPEAKS SPANISH
0:46:49 > 0:46:53In 1989, General Arnaldo Ochoa was controversially convicted
0:46:53 > 0:46:57of drug smuggling and corruption and was later executed.
0:47:00 > 0:47:04When General Ochoa, the hero of Angola,
0:47:04 > 0:47:09was condemned by Raul Castro at Fidel's behest,
0:47:09 > 0:47:12and put to death, we all figured he did it
0:47:12 > 0:47:15because he was a potential successor,
0:47:15 > 0:47:20because Fidel never, ever puts up with potential successors.
0:47:22 > 0:47:26Ochoa's death shattered the life of one of his friends,
0:47:26 > 0:47:29the Cuban writer, Norberto Fuentes.
0:47:29 > 0:47:32He had been part of Castro's inner circle for a decade.
0:47:32 > 0:47:36He recalls a fateful meeting with the Cuban leader
0:47:36 > 0:47:38after Ochoa's execution.
0:47:40 > 0:47:45He gave me his hand, "How are you?" "I'm well, Comandante, how are you?"
0:47:46 > 0:47:51"I'm well." He looked at me. He take my measure.
0:47:51 > 0:47:56He's taking my measure for my coffin. That's what I think.
0:47:58 > 0:48:00And I know that it was the end.
0:48:03 > 0:48:07Fuentes tried to flee Cuba, but he was caught and jailed.
0:48:07 > 0:48:10Castro let him leave the country after he went on hunger strike.
0:48:10 > 0:48:13Now living in America,
0:48:13 > 0:48:16his reflections on his life under the revolution
0:48:16 > 0:48:19reveal the extraordinary devotion Castro inspired.
0:48:21 > 0:48:23Fidel said something one day...
0:48:23 > 0:48:26I'm going to say it in Spanish,
0:48:26 > 0:48:30because I want to say it exact as he said...
0:48:36 > 0:48:41Despite everything, Fuentes still won't denounce Castro.
0:48:41 > 0:48:42Nada...
0:48:43 > 0:48:46- TRANSLATION:- Nothing personal, no suffering,
0:48:46 > 0:48:52no jail or dead friend has diminished my sense of history.
0:48:52 > 0:48:58I'm not an enemy of the revolution.
0:48:58 > 0:49:02How can you be an enemy of an earthquake?
0:49:07 > 0:49:10Now Cuba faced another seismic shock.
0:49:10 > 0:49:12For 30 years Castro's regime
0:49:12 > 0:49:15had been sustained by Soviet economic help,
0:49:15 > 0:49:18but under the new Russian leader, Mikhail Gorbachev,
0:49:18 > 0:49:20that began to change.
0:49:26 > 0:49:29Communism was collapsing across Eastern Europe.
0:49:29 > 0:49:34When the Soviet Union disappeared, so did Castro's lifeline.
0:49:36 > 0:49:39HE SPEAKS RUSSIAN
0:49:39 > 0:49:43- TRANSLATION:- The majority of industrial facilities in Cuba
0:49:43 > 0:49:48were financed by the Soviet Union, were manned by Soviet specialists,
0:49:48 > 0:49:51built with materials supplied from the Soviet Union -
0:49:51 > 0:49:54and suddenly all that stopped.
0:49:55 > 0:50:00Cuba, from an economic point of view, seemed to fall into the abyss.
0:50:00 > 0:50:03No support, no resources of its own.
0:50:07 > 0:50:10Cuba's economy collapsed.
0:50:11 > 0:50:13Without Russian economic support,
0:50:13 > 0:50:16ordinary Cubans were thrust into poverty.
0:50:16 > 0:50:18Castro blamed the ongoing US embargo
0:50:18 > 0:50:21for the country's desperate situation.
0:50:22 > 0:50:24HE SPEAKS SPANISH
0:50:47 > 0:50:49APPLAUSE
0:50:50 > 0:50:53Castro was forced to compromise with capitalism,
0:50:53 > 0:50:55allowing some private business
0:50:55 > 0:50:57and opening the country to tourism -
0:50:57 > 0:50:59but Cuba was on its way to becoming
0:50:59 > 0:51:02the third poorest country in Latin America.
0:51:08 > 0:51:11As the crisis worsened in 1994,
0:51:11 > 0:51:14thousands of desperate Cubans tried to flee,
0:51:14 > 0:51:19the latest in a long line to risk it all in the Florida Straits.
0:51:19 > 0:51:23Under Castro, around a sixth of Cuba's population went into exile.
0:51:27 > 0:51:29- TRANSLATION:- We really don't know how many deaths there have been
0:51:29 > 0:51:32of people who were trying to escape from Cuba.
0:51:32 > 0:51:34Imagine how desperate you'd have to be
0:51:34 > 0:51:37to get hold of an inner tube from some lorry,
0:51:37 > 0:51:38throw a sack over it
0:51:38 > 0:51:42and try to cross 90 miles of shark-infested water.
0:51:42 > 0:51:44But it's easier to do that than to rebel there.
0:51:46 > 0:51:48It's more likely that you'll survive that
0:51:48 > 0:51:51than taking part in an armed uprising.
0:51:54 > 0:51:58But Castro's international isolation began to ease in the late 1990s
0:51:58 > 0:52:03as a string of left-wing governments came to power in Latin America.
0:52:03 > 0:52:06The newly-elected leaders of Brazil and Venezuela
0:52:06 > 0:52:09were among those who paid their dues to Castro.
0:52:09 > 0:52:13Lula flew to Havana, met Fidel many times,
0:52:13 > 0:52:18likewise Chavez - and for the first time since the Cuban Revolution,
0:52:18 > 0:52:21the whole of South America recognised Cuba,
0:52:21 > 0:52:26so the Cubans were suddenly joyous.
0:52:28 > 0:52:33Venezuela's leader Hugo Chavez became Castro's closest ally.
0:52:33 > 0:52:37He gave the struggling Cuban economy a new lease of life
0:52:37 > 0:52:41by supplying cheap oil in return for help from Cuban medics.
0:52:42 > 0:52:46Castro found admirers among a new generation
0:52:46 > 0:52:47of Latin American leaders.
0:52:50 > 0:52:54All these regimes had come to power through democratic elections -
0:52:54 > 0:52:58none of them had come to power via an armed struggle,
0:52:58 > 0:53:02and Fidel understood that the continent was changing,
0:53:02 > 0:53:05so they were less isolated from 2000 onwards
0:53:05 > 0:53:09than they had been for the preceding 40 years.
0:53:12 > 0:53:15Castro never lost his eye for a powerful image
0:53:15 > 0:53:17to promote his regime.
0:53:17 > 0:53:19He invited Oliver Stone to film
0:53:19 > 0:53:22a visit to a Cuban medical school for his documentary.
0:53:24 > 0:53:28His message was clear - after 40 years in power,
0:53:28 > 0:53:31Castro was still father to the nation and to the continent.
0:53:32 > 0:53:35I don't know what picture people draw of Fidel Castro,
0:53:35 > 0:53:36but those people who met him
0:53:36 > 0:53:39would generally attribute warmth to him
0:53:39 > 0:53:42and curiosity about the human condition.
0:53:47 > 0:53:50He's a man who's truly interested in people,
0:53:50 > 0:53:53because he knows he lives in a bubble,
0:53:53 > 0:53:56so, in a way, he's trying to reach out of that bubble.
0:53:56 > 0:54:01Castro's health had always been treated as a state secret.
0:54:01 > 0:54:03The first sign he was not immortal
0:54:03 > 0:54:06came while making a speech in 2004.
0:54:09 > 0:54:12Those pictures were very damning to the image of Fidel -
0:54:12 > 0:54:14the eternal vigilant,
0:54:14 > 0:54:17ever healthy soldier, Comandante,
0:54:17 > 0:54:19looking after our country.
0:54:20 > 0:54:24In 2006, Castro had intestinal surgery.
0:54:24 > 0:54:27Power was gradually handed over to his younger brother Raul.
0:54:27 > 0:54:32Clearly Fidel did not want to do it, but he was forced to.
0:54:32 > 0:54:37He couldn't appear in public and he was really compelled to do it.
0:54:37 > 0:54:40But he didn't really want to do it.
0:54:42 > 0:54:47As Fidel Castro's influence waned, Raul sped up the economic reforms.
0:54:47 > 0:54:53In 2013, the visit of Barack Obama saw the easing of US sanctions
0:54:53 > 0:54:57and the restoration of diplomatic ties between the two countries.
0:54:59 > 0:55:03It remains to be seen whether Obama's successor, Donald Trump,
0:55:03 > 0:55:06will maintain this new relationship.
0:55:11 > 0:55:15Castro was rarely seen in recent years as his health declined.
0:55:15 > 0:55:18His death has now reawakened the controversy
0:55:18 > 0:55:21over the legacy of a popular revolution
0:55:21 > 0:55:24and more than 50 years of authoritarian rule.
0:55:25 > 0:55:28The world has rarely seen leaders like that.
0:55:28 > 0:55:32Think of individuals who shape their country as completely
0:55:32 > 0:55:34as Fidel Castro shaped Cuba,
0:55:34 > 0:55:38and there aren't many people like that in the history of the world.
0:55:38 > 0:55:42Castro was the last of the original Cold War warriors.
0:55:44 > 0:55:47Unlike many, he survived the collapse of the Soviet Union
0:55:47 > 0:55:52and remained an icon for left-wing movements around the world.
0:55:52 > 0:55:56What I would say is he's one of the giants of the 20th century.
0:55:56 > 0:56:02A major figure in South America and the rest of the world, too,
0:56:02 > 0:56:04and, within the continent itself,
0:56:04 > 0:56:08Fidel will be seen as a gigantic continental figure
0:56:08 > 0:56:12of the type that only South America can produce.
0:56:19 > 0:56:23He won, he definitely won, and he knows he won.
0:56:23 > 0:56:25They didn't kill him, they didn't intimidate him,
0:56:25 > 0:56:27he never bowed down. He fought on his...
0:56:27 > 0:56:31He stood up and died on his feet, he didn't live on his knees.
0:56:32 > 0:56:36Castro once claimed history would absolve him,
0:56:36 > 0:56:39but, for some, it is his human rights record
0:56:39 > 0:56:41that will also define his legacy.
0:56:44 > 0:56:48History will record that this is a ruler
0:56:48 > 0:56:53who did many good things to transform his country,
0:56:53 > 0:56:55but anyone who imprisoned so many,
0:56:55 > 0:57:00who caused the exile of a sixth of his population,
0:57:00 > 0:57:05who executed so many and who committed unspeakable crimes
0:57:05 > 0:57:08in the name of democracy and socialism,
0:57:08 > 0:57:10no, I would not absolve him,
0:57:10 > 0:57:12and I don't think history would.
0:57:12 > 0:57:17People remember what he did for health care and education in Cuba.
0:57:17 > 0:57:21And they'll also remember the completely self-destructive economy.
0:57:21 > 0:57:24They'll remember years of conflict with the United States.
0:57:24 > 0:57:30History absolved his desire to rid Cuba of the Batista dictatorship,
0:57:30 > 0:57:33but it did not absolve his own dictatorship.