What is fidelismo?
- LatamSinFiltro
- Sep 15
- 6 min read
Definition
Fidelismo or castrismo (Fidelism or castroism in English) is a Cuban school of thought and refers to the beliefs of the former president of Cuba, Fidel Castro, who was an anti-imperialist and nationalist revolutionary.
Fidelismo is a political and social movement known worldwide that has influenced other schools of thought in Latin America and even in Africa. However, Castroism only exists in Cuba. It is deeply linked to its history and in particular, to the Cuban revolution led against Fulgencio Batista in the 1950s (1953-1959).
Castroism should be understood as an ideology but also a series of actions defined by Fidel Castro. It can be said that Castroism ceased to exist when Fidel died, because he was indeed the protagonist of this ideology.
The charismatic figure of Fidel, the “Lider Maximo”, is essential to the upholding of the Castro regime (1959-2008). It is a dictatorship based on a personality cult and the personification of an entire people and an entire revolutionary process in a single individual (Sotelo, 1997). Under Castro, the concept of political opposition does not exist and should not exist: trade unionists, authors and intellectuals – many of them were arrested or executed by the regime. Until 1976, the Castro regime had no Constitution, Fidel did more or less what he wanted with the country.
According to the new Constitution of 1976, the socialist character of the Cuban republic is inalienable. There are few political bodies and they have very little power; all powers are concentrated in the Lider Maximo, it is a power vertical.
From 1961 on, Fidel had been declaring that his ideology was Marxist-Leninist, nevertheless, most of the Marxist principles of equality or classless society have been repeatedly violated by the regime (Faure, 2010). In reality, Fidel would have done anything to stay at the head of Cuba, even if that meant contradicting himself. After the revolution, he used Soviet communist doctrine to obtain the favors of the Soviet Union. Later on, particularly in the 1970s, he criticized the USSR and Stalin and largely preferred the Chinese socialist model, especially in matters of foreign policy.
The Castro regime resisted more than 600 plots (Skierka, 2006). On top of that, the U.S were never able to take control of Cuba as they did in several Latin American countries during the Cold War. Fidel was able to restore Cuba's national pride.
A real imaginary world was created around Castroism: an exotic communism, defended by guerrillas dressed in soldiers' uniforms, smoking cigars in the Cuban rainforest.
Fidel frequently quotes the Cuban revolutionary José Martí as a source of inspiration. In Castro’s speeches, he refers to Martí as his “master” or as an “apostle” (Bénat-Tachot, 2010). Fidel calls himself his disciple and his legitimate heir. He compares José Martí to Jesus Christ. All of this contributes to the Castroist imaginary world.
“Our thoughts turn to that happy day for our country, in 1853, when the apostle Martí was born.”
-Speech by Fidel Castro, January 28, 1960
“For it is well to remember that when Christ sought men to preach his doctrine, he did not seek twelve landowners from Palestine, but rather twelve ignorant and humble fishermen.[...]Those in the Rebel Army were also humble men.”
-Fidel Castro's speech at the University of Havana, November 27, 1959
To sum up, we can say that the Castro "doctrine" is based on the taking up of power through a revolution by creating “guerrilla hotbeds”. Castro developed a “revolutionary consciousness” in people by calling the masses to an active participation. The concept of justice is preeminent in Castro's ideology. The victorious revolution is the result of the fight for justice. The ideas of nationalism and anti-imperialism are central. Some authors consider that it is not even relevant to link Fidelismo to Marxist-Leninist doctrine.
Who was Fidel Castro?
Fidel Castro was born in 1926 on his father's farm in Birán, in the former province of Oriente. His father, Ángel Castro Argiz, was a Spanish émigré. Fidel was fortunate enough to be able to attend school and, in 1945, entered the University of Havana to study law. He became truly interested in politics during his third year, during which he studied law, diplomatic law, and sociology.
In college he had access to various political books. Influenced by José Martí’s works and ideas, Fidel started to present himself as an anti-imperialist. At the age of 21, he ran for president of the University Student Federation (FEA) and gave his first public speech in which he denounced the corruption and violence of the Grau San Martín regime.
He then began to sympathize with Eduardo Chibas, the founder of the Orthodox Party, and undertook militant actions to denounce the regime.
In 1948, Castro married Mirta Diaz-Balart, a student in philosophy who came from a wealthy family. During the 1952 presidential elections, General Fulgencio Batista organized a coup. This is when Fidel decided to organize a revolution.
With his brother Raul and other opponents of Batista, Fidel prepared an assault on the Moncada Barracks, an army facility in the province of Oriente, on July 26, 1953. Many opponents of Batista's government were located in this province. Fidel's goal was to provoke a popular uprising and call for a general strike. Castro and his brothers in arms hoped to take advantage of the geography to gain the upper hand over Batista's troops as the barracks were located in the mountains, near the sea. However, Fidel and Raúl were arrested and spent nearly two years in prison (they were originally sentenced to 15 years in prison but were granted an amnesty). The Castro Revolution (or Cuban Revolution) is considered to have begun on this day, July 26 1953.
In 1955, the brothers were released and decided to travel to the United States, then to Mexico to reorganize the movement. They met the Argentine revolutionary Ernesto “Che” Guevara. Fidel and Guevara quickly became very close.
With the help of other brothers-in-arms from the assault of July 53 and Che Guevara, the Castro brothers organized a new attack to overthrow Batista. However, when they landed in Cuba, Batista's troops were already waiting for them. The Castro brothers and Che Guevara managed to escape and hide in the Sierra Maestra. For his part, Fulgencio Batista claimed to have killed the Castro brothers, and a few years later, the world had forgotten about the Castro brothers.
However, in 1957, Fidel Castro accepted an interview with a journalist from the New York Times so that everyone knew he was still alive. This interview renewed the revolutionary cause: Castro attracted and recruited many young people from urban areas. He created the July 26 Movement, the M-26-7, a revolutionary political organization that aimed to overthrow the Batista government. The revolution continued.
In January 1959, Fidel and his troops finally managed to overthrow Fulgencio Batista and he became Prime Minister of the Republic of Cuba until 1976, before officially becoming President of the Republic. He governed the island until 2008 and died eight years later, in 2016.
After the death of Fidel
Opinions differ on the survival of Castroism after Fidel's death: in the press, article headlines assert that even after Fidel's death, and even that of Raúl, Castroism continues to exist.
In academic literature, many authors claim that Castroism disappeared with Fidel, because Fidel embodied the regime. He didn't attach much importance to the future of his regime after his death. He was a rather self-centered character. Raúl had to reform the institutions and adapt them hoping to keep the regime strong after Fidel’s death, because without the Lider Maximo, the regime lost its legitimacy (Habel, 2009). Other authors claim that Fidelismo had already begun to run out of steam even before the death of Fidel.
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Bibliography:
Bénat-Tachot, & Louise. (2010). De l’évocation à l’incantation, de l’incantation à la preuve. Les usages de la mention de José Martí par Fidel Castro (1953-1962). Http://Journals.Openedition.Org/Mots, 93, 9–26. https://doi.org/10.4000/MOTS.19827
Discurso pronunciado por el comandante Fidel Castro Ruz, en el parque Céspedes de Santiago de Cuba (n.d.). September 10, 2025, from http://www.cuba.cu/gobierno/discursos/1959/esp/f010159e.html
Faure, M. (2018). Cuba en 100 questions (Tallandier).
Geoffray, M. L. (2024). Castrisme. Dictionnaire Politique de l’Amérique Latine. https://doi.org/10.4000/12TKC
Habel, J. (2009). Raúl Castro a la hora de las decisiones. América Latina Hoy , 52. https://doi.org/10.14201/ALH.5677
Ruiz Galbete, & Marta. (2018). ¿“Fidelismo sin Fidel”? El Congreso por la Libertad de la Cultura y la Revolución Cubana. Http://Journals.Openedition.Org/Histcrit, 2018(67), 111–132. https://doi.org/10.7440/HISTCRIT67.2018.06
Skierka, Volker "Cuba: escenarios después de Castro." Papeles de cuestiones internacionales 95 (2006): 61-67.
Sotelo, I. (1997). Vista de Para una definición del castrismo. https://revistas.comillas.edu/index.php/razonyfe/article/view/20033/17714
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