Saturday, January 7, 2017

PDP8-Second Declaration of Havana

Author Bio: "The Second Declaration of Havana", was presented by Fidel Castro on February 4, 1962. Fidel Castro was the communist leader of Cuba from the time he took over in 1959, until the early 2000s. He hated the U.S., and enforced both marxism and communism in Cuba.

Date/Context: Castro released "The Second Declaration of Havana," on February 4, 1962. The document was released soon after he took over Cuba and got rid of Fulgencio Batista. As the U.S. and the Soviet Union continued to weaken their relationship during the Cold War, Castro released this document, which placed Cuba entirely in favor of the Soviet Union, and threatened U.S. security. The U.S. had already ended formal relations with Cuba and soon after the document was released, they tightened the trade embargo.

Summary: Castro discusses how several capitalist nations including the U.S. are responsible for the increased difference between developed and developing nations. He goes on to explain how the U.S. and similar nations have used wealth and industrial power to exploit developing nations, and how this is unacceptable. He discusses how the Cuban Revolution, must and will occur in order to change the poor conditions that millions of Latin Americans live in. Also, he explains how the revolution will have to revolve around the people because without the people the revolution will fail. He discusses how democracy actually limits people and how the people in power always remain in power, and they control all aspects of life when they use democracy to rule (U.S.). Castro ends the declaration by stating that without the people, the revolution will fail, but if the people go out and take action the revolution will impact the world.

Key Quotation:"Even though the Yankee imperialists are preparing a bloodbath for America they will not succeed in drowning the peoples' struggle. They will evoke universal hatred against themselves. This will be the last act of their rapacious and cave-man sytsem."

1 comment:

  1. In contrast to your date/context, your author bio is not very specific. Even a few more details about Fidel Castro and his personal relations with the U.S. can do a lot of good for that portion of your post. Similarly, the summary portion of your post does a good job of telling us what is going on in general, but feels too vague; I don't feel like I should be able to substitute Fidel Castro's name and Cuba in your post to make it sound exactly like any other communist speech. Despite my criticism here, I feel that your choice for a key quotation is perfect, and easily puts most of what you summarized into three short sentences. Overall, good job, but it feels like I've already read it in other units throughout the course.

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