0.00 - 2.15

The opening scenes of the programme set out some of the key qualities of Castro. His charisma, his forcefulness, his speaking ability and his intellect have all made him a leading player on the world stage. Another key point is also raised which students need to grasp. As well as raising himself to prominence over the last 40 years, Castro has also given his own country a high profile.

2.15 - 10.20

This section of the programme charts Castro’s troubled early years as a revolutionary and his eventual rise to power. The harsh and brutal conditions for Cuba’s ordinary people in the pre Castro period are set out. It is important for students to grasp the extent of poverty and political corruption, and also the extent to which ordinary Cubans held the USA responsible for this. This helps to explain why Castro did not find it hard to generate support, despite frequent military setbacks as a result of inadequate resources and inexperience. It also helps to explain why Batista found himself completely lacking in support when it came to the crunch in 1959.

10.20 - 17.30

Castro’s efforts to build a new Cuba were even more spectacular than his rise to power as a revolutionary. To give students a sense of perspective, it might help to compare the education, health and housing programmes in Cuba with those of Britain. Britain’s welfare revolution had only come in the period 1945-51. Its National Health Service was relatively new as Cuba was setting up its programme. Also, Britain still did not have enough housing by the end of the 1950s. For a poor country like Cuba to embark on such a programme was an astonishing achievement. Again, it is easy to see why loyalty to Castro became so firmly fixed.

Since a key part of the new society Castro was building involved nationalising industries and confiscating some US assets, it is not surprising that there was the opposite reaction in the USA. The Cuban Missile Crisis was the highest point of tension over Cuba and its relations with the USA. However, a deeper element of this story lies in the relationship between Cuba and the USSR. Cuba relied on the USSR for financial and technical aid. The economic problems of the USSR had a knock-on effect in Cuba. The final moments of this section show Castro discussing with some building workers the problem of out-of-date equipment. Students might like to speculate as to whether this informal discussion was truly Castro’s style or whether this discussion was staged for the cameras.

17.30 - end

The final section looks at the devastating effect on Cuba of the fall of the Communist bloc in Eastern Europe. Whilst the population were not back to pre-revolution standards of living, they did have to do without commodities like petrol. The US trade embargo continued to bite. Despite this, Castro remained, and remains, immensely popular in Cuba. He also remains a figure of hate for many exiled Cubans, and many Americans who lost assets in the revolution.