Castro was convinced that he was right, and that his system was for the good of the people. Never was a family more ideologically split than the Castro Diaz-Balarts. [396] Castro took a relatively socially conservative stance on many issues, opposing drug use, gambling, and prostitution, which he viewed as moral evils. [220] Castro was deeply concerned by the assassination, believing that a far-right conspiracy was behind it but that the Cubans would be blamed. He was infuriated that the government had left thousands unemployed by closing down casinos and brothels. [444] He arrived here from his inaccessible private marina located near the Bay of Pigs, La Caleta del Rosario, which also housed another residence and guesthouse. [63] Responding to the attack, Batista's government proclaimed martial law, ordering a violent crackdown on dissent, and imposing strict media censorship. Born in Birn, Oriente Province, Castro was the illegitimate son of ngel Castro y Argiz, a wealthy farmer and landowner, and his mistress Lina Ruz Gonzlez. [19] In later years, anti-Castro dissidents accused him of committing gang-related assassinations at the time, but these accusations remain unproven. [123] Castro reached Havana on 9 January 1959. Carter continued criticizing Cuba's human rights abuses, but adopted a respectful approach which gained Castro's attention. [293] On medical advice given him in October 1985, Castro gave up regularly smoking Cuban cigars, helping to set an example for the rest of the populace. A number of senior military officers, including Ochoa and Tony de la Guardia, were investigated for corruption and complicity in cocaine smuggling, tried, and executed in 1989, despite calls for leniency. [169] On 13 October 1960, the US prohibited the majority of exports to Cuba, initiating an economic embargo. He came to interpret Cuba's problems as an integral part of capitalist society, or the "dictatorship of the bourgeoisie", rather than the failings of corrupt politicians, and adopted the Marxist view that meaningful political change could only be brought about by proletariat revolution. In April of that year the U.S. government secretly equipped thousands of Cuban exiles to overthrow Castros government; their landing at the Bay of Pigs in April 1961, however, was crushed by Castros armed forces. Whenever he would leave Havana, a fifth Mercedes would join the procession carrying his doctor, nurse, and photographer. Shortly thereafter Castro lifted restrictions on those wanting to leave the country, and thousands headed for the United States in the largest exodus since the 1980 Mariel freedom flotilla. In 1998 Castro allowed Pope John Paul II to visit Cuba for the first time. By 1970, a third of the population would be involved in the CDR, and this would eventually rise to 80%. [35] Castro had moved further to the left, influenced by the Marxist writings of Karl Marx, Friedrich Engels, and Vladimir Lenin. Fidel Castro explaining the reforms of the Special Period[320], Castro believed in the need for reform if Cuban socialism was to survive in a world now dominated by capitalist free markets. [405] In private though, Castro was actually skilled at keeping his anger in check and not allowing it to affect his judgement, simply becoming cold and withdrawn; Snchez stated that in 17 years he had only seen Castro explode in anger twice, one upon being informed of his daughter Alina's defection in 1993. Around 1990, he wrote software that allowed Russian programs to be run on Japanese ones; the product was purchased by, Antonio Castro Del Valle, born in 1971.