Che Guevara

When Castro took control of Cuba, one of his first steps was to revitalize the Cuban economy. Under Fulgencio Batista, the economy had stagnated under the control of U.S. and European capitalists, and it produced very little that was of value to the average Cuban. Castro set out to rectify this situation by building factories to produce the basic industrial products, such as cement and ammonia, that were needed to industrialize the economy. He also set out to educate the Cuban people so they could serve as technicians in Cuba's new industrial establishments. After several years of attempting to impose socialism on the economy, in 1962 Cuba's first economic plan went into effect.

Ernesto "Che" Guevara was an Argentine doctor and one of Castro's earliest recruits. He fought in Cuba as a guerrilla and eventually became...