MIAMI – Fidel Castro was raised Catholic, educated at Jesuit prep schools and earned a law degree at the University of Havana, devoting his practice to helping the poor.
He intended to run for parliament in the election of 1952, but before he could, Gen. Fulgencio Batista took over in a coup and canceled the election.
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Under Batista, Cuba would become the great playground of the western world. It was glamorous and prosperous, with some residents earning the highest personal incomes in Latin America.
But there was another side to Cuba -- a third of the nation lived in hunger and poverty and discontentment.
There was also a middle class that became sick of crime and corruption and who felt that Batista had stolen Cuba's chance for democracy.