Reply #202: Castro Not "Massively Supported" Before 1959

[VivaBatista]

Fidel came to power because the Eisenhower administration imposed an arms embargo on Batista and refused to recognize the outcome of the presidential elections of November 1958. Once Batista fled, the populace naturally flocked to Castro, who promised to restore the Constitution of 1940 and hold free elections.

But, as late as March 1958, the vast majority of Cubans had rejected Castro and his revolution. It was in March that Castro declared a a general strike in support of the rebels. The strike was a monumental failure: less than 10 percent of the Cuban population backed it.

Then, as late as Nov. 1958, 50 percent of Cubans voted in presidential elections which Castro repudiated.

No country is a "Garden of Eden," but few countries are the hell that Castro's Cuba is.