He made two ardent communists, Raul and Che, his de facto second and third in command way before it was clear to the US that he was a communist, and while the guerrilla war was still dangerous enough that he could have died at any moment. This would be comically incompetent if he was some kind of liberal reformist.
Raul and Che likely would have been willing to limit their ambitions to liberal reformism if it meant that they could accomplish the goals of the revolution while allowing Cuba to maintain a good relationship with the US.
I mean 67 out of the 82 he landed with were killed within 3 days. That plays havoc with the chain of command. Che was only meant to be the doctor for the party and had to step up.
Regardless you’re also forgetting Camilo Cienfuegos who was the official second in command of Fidel’s faction. His politics were pretty opaque, presumably some sort of leftist but how radical unclear. He died in a plane crash towards the end of the revolution.
He made two ardent communists, Raul and Che, his de facto second and third in command way before it was clear to the US that he was a communist, and while the guerrilla war was still dangerous enough that he could have died at any moment. This would be comically incompetent if he was some kind of liberal reformist.
Raul and Che likely would have been willing to limit their ambitions to liberal reformism if it meant that they could accomplish the goals of the revolution while allowing Cuba to maintain a good relationship with the US.
I mean 67 out of the 82 he landed with were killed within 3 days. That plays havoc with the chain of command. Che was only meant to be the doctor for the party and had to step up.
Regardless you’re also forgetting Camilo Cienfuegos who was the official second in command of Fidel’s faction. His politics were pretty opaque, presumably some sort of leftist but how radical unclear. He died in a plane crash towards the end of the revolution.