Fidel Castro was born on Aug. 13, 1926, on a farm in Mayari. He went to Catholic schools in Santiago de Cuba and Havana. In 1945 he enrolled at the University of Havana, graduating in 1950 with a law degree. He married Mirta Diaz-Balart in 1948, but they were divorced in 1954. His son, Fidel Castro Diaz-Balart is now serving as head of Cuba's atomic energy commission. A member of the social-democratic Ortodoxo party in the late 1940s, Castro was an early and publical opponent of the dictatorship of Fulgencio Batista. In July 26, 1953, Castro led an attack on the Moncada army barracks that failed but brought him national recognition. When his political ideas were nationalistic, anti-imperialist, and reformist, he was not a member of the Communist party. After the attack on Moncada, Fidel Castro was tried and sentenced to 15 years in prison but was let out in 1955. He then went into exile in Mexico. In Mexico he founded the 26th of July Movement, vowing to return to Cuba in order to fight against Batista. In December 1956, he and 81 others fighters, including Che G

Political organization outside the government structure is strictly banned. Fidel Castro controls the press and discourages independent political gatherings. The amount of oppression is difficult to determine because Cuba restricts outside access to prisons. Political executions take place but are very rare. Cubans hold back their opinions because they fear that their rebellious views might be reported to the government. Without freedom of speech Cubans have no opportunity to reach political agreement on issues or to choose leaders. Only random outbreaks of stress display the tension inside the Cuban people.

The Cuban Revolution brought down the republic on January 1, 1959, and by 1961 the government had been centralized under the Partido Comunista Cubano and its prime minister, Fidel Castro. Until the 1970s, Cuba's revolutionary government ran on casual legal agreements that ignored the requirements of the 1940 constitution. The executive branch begin decree laws. These were laws drawn up and passed by the executive branch. They were put into action and enforced unless the legislative branch rejected them, but that never happened.

In 1976 the Cuban government introduced a new constitution that formalized a Communist system of government. Under the new constitution numerous committees, councils, and organizations controll

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