Pedro Hernández was a sugarcane cutter who grew up in a loving family in Cuba. Because Batista poorly ruled the country, at the age of 24, he decided to join Fidel Castro to fight Batista’s regime. He joined the M-26-7, and with their fearless, hard-working, and dedicated spirit, they were able to fight against Batista and his army, 672 kilometers, from the Sierra Maestra Mountains to Havana, the capital of Cuba. This is Pedro’s story from 1952 to 1961, fighting for a better life for himself and all citizens in Cuba.

The Cuban Revolution was the fight between Batista, a dictator that only helped the wealthy, and Fidel Castro leading the M-26-7 Revolutionary Group for liberty and freedom. The Cuban Revolution successfully pushed Batista out of the Cuban Government and Castro took power. Cuba also broke all relations with the United States after Batista fled Cuba, and established a great relationship with the Soviet Union. Along with Castro’s takeover, he establishes many policies and laws that benefitted the poor, not the wealthy. This included establishing universal healthcare, universal education, redistributing land to the peasants…… Life in Cuba was improving for the citizens. While many things changed, many things still stayed the same. Cuba continued to stay very dependent on other countries to import their sugar. This changed from the United States to the Soviet Union. Without other countries importing their sugar, it could devastate their economy, just like when the United States decided to stop meeting the sugar quota in 1960. Adding on, both Batista and Castro heavily controlled their citizens. Both of them would arrest and execute anyone who didn’t support their ideas or the government. It still seemed like the country was under the rule of dictators. Concluding, the revolution took away many lives of citizens and took many years until there was a positive change, but it brought the change in life for the poor that they wanted. Their life quality has been improving since Castro’s takeover. But throughout and after the revolution, many embargoes that were created still exist today and continue to create a negative impact on the Cuban economy. The revolution was quite successful, bringing better lives for the citizens who had terrible lives while Batista ruled, but also taking away many lives of revolutionaries, citizens, soldiers……