A look back at local, national and world events through Deseret News archives.
The front page of the Deseret News on July 26, 1953, offered some hope.
“Guns silent, death finally halts on battle-weary Korean front,” read the top of the page headline, with no fewer than six stories devoted to hope for a peaceful future in the world.
But on that same newspaper page, a wire story told how a young Fidel Castro began his revolt against Fulgencio Batista with an unsuccessful attack on an army barracks in eastern Cuba.
The Day of Revolution, as it is called in Cuba today, took six years to complete before the 32-year-old Castro toppled the anti-Communist Batista government and took control.
In the island country less than 100 miles from the coast of the U.S. coast, the 26th of July is celebrated as a day of liberation. Whether Cubans have enjoyed a life of liberty is debatable.
According to his obituary, Castro battled with 10 U.S. presidents during his tenure and survived perhaps hundreds of assassination attempts. He died in 2016 at age 90, defiant to the end.
Here are some stories from Deseret News archives that try to put Castro’s influence on the world and his nation in perspective:
“Cuba hails 50th anniversary of revolution”
“Fidel Castro, who defied US for 50 years, dies at 90 in Cuba”
“This week in history: The Batista government falls in Cuba”
“Castro’s Cuba crumbling as country confronts calamitous change”
“Fidel Castro clung to socialism, mentored new leftists”
“Adulation of Fidel Castro runs deepest in rural eastern Cuba”
“Fidel Castro’s death should be celebrated, Utahns say”
“Elian Gonzalez returns to public eye to praise Fidel Castro”
“Cubans looking beyond Castro”
Early in his regime, Castro and Russian leader Nikita Khrushchev faced off against U.S. President John F. Kennedy in a series of confrontations. Here are some stories and analysis of the 1961 Bay of Pigs invasion and the 1962 Cuban missile crisis:
“Opinion: 60 years later, we can still learn from the Cuban missile crisis”