The main leaders of the Cuban revolution — Fidel Castro, Raúl Castro, and Che Guevara — had different political leadership styles. Fidel Castro, by far the most important leader, was, until he retired for health reasons in 2006, a charismatic and tactically shrewd revolutionary politician, intent on consolidating his power, and initially averse to risking a loss of control of the island because of a premature implementation of ideological goals.

Second in command was Fidel’s younger brother, Raúl, who quickly acquired a reputation for his repressive activities as well as for his organizational discipline and skills. Raúl was a former member of the Socialist Youth, the youth group of the Cuban Popular Socialist Party (PSP), but was still sympathetic to the Soviet Union.

Then there was Che Guevara, whose iconic image has survived the collapse of the Soviet Union and the decline of Cuban Communism.