Source A: Guardian newspaper, New York, January 2nd, 1959

Question 1: Outline the perspective of the source:

Source A: Source A written by Alistair Cooke, gives us insight into an extreme American nationalist’s perspective on Fidel Castro. The source aims to inform readers about Castro’s new-found leadership role.

However, the publish date of Source A was “January 2nd 1959”. The day after Fulgencio Batista (Castro’s predecessor) fled Cuba for the Dominican Republic. America comprehensively supported Batista’s regime and alarm bells were certainly ringing throughout their country. The fact that the ‘Guardian newspaper’ origin is American, the reliability of the source may be in question. America’s alliance with Batista may be a significant
This is evident in the following extract: “Batista’s domain could be conquered by an angry, though wealthy young man, whose first putsch against the island on December 1, 1956, left him with only twelve of the original force of 93 men”. The Guardian uses this statistic to show his inability to protect those under his control. Insinuating that, if he is unable to protect his troops in battle it is definite that he will be unable to protect an entire country.

Additionally, the following excerpt evidences that Castro has manipulated Cuban society, whilst “hiding in the scrub hills of Oriente Province.” This description tells the reader that Fidel Castro wasn’t serving in the best interest of the country. In fact, he was doing the opposite.

From Source A’s perspective Castro remained hidden through adversity and yet, he was still able to become leader of the country through manipulating the public to support
When the source illustrates the substantial backing, Castro had “Castro’s supporters moved quickly to establish their power” Without supporters, no public figure can be successful no matter how talented they are in their field. If Castro was not supported, it is very unlikely he would have been able to overthrow Batista and even if he managed to, it wouldn’t have been long before he would have been overthrown himself. Due to Castro’s comprehensive following, he was able to enter Havana just over a month after he gained