The Cuban Revolution at 50

If Obama embraces his popularity in Cuba and abandons the embargo, the Castros will lose an enemy, the region will embrace us—and it will ruin the place.

Hulton Archive/Getty Images

galleries/2008/12/30/the-cuban-revolution-at-50/castro-1_estr62 — Fidel Castro lights his cigar while Che Guevara looks on in the early days of their guerrilla campaign in the Sierra Maestra Mountains of Cuba, mid 1950s.
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galleries/2008/12/30/the-cuban-revolution-at-50/castro-2_ym7pjz — Fidel with his brother, Raul, and Camilo Cienfuegos, right, while operating in the mountains of eastern Cuba, 1957.
Andrew St. George/AP

galleries/2008/12/30/the-cuban-revolution-at-50/castro-3_ibpm6t — Reading while at his rebel base in Cuba's Sierra Maestra Mountains, 1957.
Andrew St. George/AP Photo

galleries/2008/12/30/the-cuban-revolution-at-50/castro-4_fl0pxf — Greeted by a village crowd on his victorious march to Havana, 1959.
Grey Villet/Time Life Pictures/Getty Images

galleries/2008/12/30/the-cuban-revolution-at-50/castro-5_xuhioy — Speaking to supporters at the Batista military base "Columbia," now known as Ciudad Libertad, 1959.

galleries/2008/12/30/the-cuban-revolution-at-50/castro-5b_n6ffv7 — Children wear Castro caps and beards, 1959.
Ralph Morse/Time Life Pictures/Getty Images

galleries/2008/12/30/the-cuban-revolution-at-50/castro-6_lmqnwa — Answering a question from a panel on "Meet the Press," in Washington April 19, 1959. At left is Ned Brooks, the moderator.
AP Photo

galleries/2008/12/30/the-cuban-revolution-at-50/castro-7_ndpei4 — Presented with an invitation to the New York Press Photographer's Ball, New York City, 1959.
Hulton Archive/Getty Images

galleries/2008/12/30/the-cuban-revolution-at-50/castro-8_hgvqcl — Speaking at a tobacco worker's rally, 1960.
AP Photo

galleries/2008/12/30/the-cuban-revolution-at-50/castro-9_mr5zuu — Jumping from a tank as he arrives at Giron, Cuba, near the Bay Of Pigs, 1961.
Bohemia Magazine/AP Photo

galleries/2008/12/30/the-cuban-revolution-at-50/castro-10_si14yo — Playing table tennis with visiting U.S. students at Varadaro, Cuba, when students who defied the U.S. State Department ban on travel to Cuba visited there, 1963.
John Salter/AP Photo

galleries/2008/12/30/the-cuban-revolution-at-50/castro-11_ylxxj4 — Responding to a question from NBC reporter Barbara Walters during a news conference granted to members of the U.S. press covering Senator George McGovern's trip to Cuba, 1975.
AP Photo

galleries/2008/12/30/the-cuban-revolution-at-50/castro-12_bkn6mz — Smoking a cigar duringing a March, 1985 interview at his presidential palace in Havana.
Charles Tasnadi/AP Photo

galleries/2008/12/30/the-cuban-revolution-at-50/castro-13_t9shat — Leaving Havana via raft in 1994. A string of boat hijackings, unprecedented rioting and the killing of a Cuban navy lieutenant prompted Castro to suggest that those wanting to leave Cuba could.
Jose Goitia/AP Photo

galleries/2008/12/30/the-cuban-revolution-at-50/castro-14_a8rfgd — Talking with Elian Gonzalez in Cuba in 2001.
Adalberto Roque, AFP/Getty Images

galleries/2008/12/30/the-cuban-revolution-at-50/castro-16_qrwa5s — Conferring with Raul in 1999 photo during a meeting of the Cuban National Assembly in Havana.
Jose Goitia/AP Photo

galleries/2008/12/30/the-cuban-revolution-at-50/castro-15_glrv23 — Jimmy Carter, accompanied by Castro, warms up before throwing the first pitch in an all-star baseball game at the Latinamerican Stadium in Havana, 2002.
Cristobal Herrera/AP Photo

galleries/2008/12/30/the-cuban-revolution-at-50/castro-17_wx2w05 — Speaking at a ceremony granting Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez UNESCO's 2005 Jose Marti International Prize at the Revolution Plaza in Havana.
Javier Galeano/AP

galleries/2008/12/30/the-cuban-revolution-at-50/castro-18_ub2cwe — A Cuban woman and her son watch Castro on TV on in Havana, 2008.
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