The Real Fidel Castro

by Leycester Coltman; With a Foreword by Julia E. Sweig

• ISBN13: 9780300107609
• ISBN10: 0300107609
• Format: Trade Paper
• Copyright: 2005-03-08
• Publisher: Yale University Press

Summary

Rhetoric during and after the Cold War years has painted starkly contrasting portraits of Cuba's Fidel Castro: an unblemished idealist on the one hand, a ruthless dictator on the other. This insightful book, the most intimate and dispassionate biography of the revolutionary leader to date, shows that neither assessment is true. Leycester Coltman, British ambassador to Cuba in the early 1990s, came as close to personal friendship with Castro as any foreigner was permitted. With frequent contact and regular conversations, Coltman was in a unique position to observe the dictator's personality in both public and private situations. Here he presents a close-up view of the man who for half a century has been loved, admired, feared, and hated, but seldom really understood. Coltman chronicles the events of the Cuban leader's extraordinary life from the political activism of his university days in Havana to periods of exile, imprisonment, and guerilla warfare alongside Che Guevara, to the uncertainties of his old age. Drawing on personal observation and archival sources in Cuba and abroad, Coltman explores the contradiction between the private character and the public reputation, and highlights the complexities of the consummate actor who continues to play a crucial role on the international stage.

Author Biography

The late Sir Leycester Coltman was head of the Latin American Department of the British Foreign Office in the late 1980s and was British Ambassador to Cuba from 1991–94.

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations	vi
Foreword by Julia E. Sweig	vii
Preface	ix
Map	xi
1 Rebel in Search of a Cause	1	(15)
2 Alone on the Beach	16	(14)
3 Lessons in Revolution	30	(16)
4 Part-time Husband and Lawyer	46	(13)
5 The Movement	59	(21)
6 Moncada Lives!	80	(13)
7 Prison and Exile	93	(20)
8 In the Sierra	113	(27)
9 Power	140	(27)
10 Invasion	167	(20)
11 The Missile Crisis	187	(16)
12 Revolution and More Revolution	203	(16)
13 The Private Man	219	(8)
14 The Economy, a Poet and Chile	227	(10)
15 Leader of the Third World	237	(10)
16 The Old Order Changes	247	(20)
17 Hard Times	267	(15)
18 The Final Hour?	282	(19)
19 Second Wind	301	(13)
20 End Game	314	(9)
Select Bibliography	323	(2)
Index	325