The names José, José Francisco. I’m a middle-class construction worker from Havana, Cuba, and I helped save Cuba. I was a construction worker until 1953, when I decided to help the M-26-7 rebels and attack the Moncada Barracks. I originally supported Batista yet after seeing how poorly he treated the country decided enough was enough, and fought back. This is my story. 

Many things stayed the same after the revolution. It was a different life after Castro took over, I went back to my job as a construction worker, and Cuba went back to an ever-confusing nation. As I said before, many things stayed the same, one of which was our main crop, sugar. Many people still had their jobs in the sugar industry, whether they were a grower, a worker, or a buyer. It still is the main economy of Cuba and it truly is amazing seeing the comparison between sugar workers in prime harvesting time, and in the winter. Another thing that stayed the same was conflict. Castro’s rule definitely didn’t come unopposed. There were many other organizations that wanted to rule, all with different goals in mind. Yet that wasn’t the main problem, the real problem was the USA. Its president, Dwight D. Eisenhower, really didn’t like that Cuba was becoming more of a communist nation. Thus, Castro suffered many assassination attempts and even fought US troops.

However, some things changed as well, such as the government. Cuba before the revolution was more of a capitalist country, however, that all changed when Castro took over. He decided it would be best for the country if it became communist, as he himself understood the struggles of the poor. A heavy influence on this was the USSR. Their leader, Nikita Khrushchev, was very helpful to Cuba. When Castro took over Cuba was without many resources, a country torn by war. Due to this, Castro accepted the help and Nikita proposed an idea to him, if Castro decided to make Cuba communist, he would lend USSR’s resources to Cuba, and Castro said yes. Last but not least, there was another change, education. Cuba was never a “stupid’ country, however, due to poverty and it being a developing nation, there wasn’t much education happening in the country. That all changed when Castro took over. He made it his goal to increase the quality of life in Cuba, and one of those changes was the literacy rate. It went up astronomically after Castro took over, something that cannot be viewed as bad in any way. At the end of the day, many things changed, and many things stayed the same. I, myself, am quite glad I got to live through this changing time, and I hope you will understand why.