For most of us, New Year's is a day for resolutions. But for Fidel Castro, it marked the culmination of a long-awaited revolution. Fifty years ago on Jan. 1, Castro's Communist revolution swept aside the hated Batista regime. The change was bad news for the U.S.; Castro's regime (and American attempts to eliminated it) prompted the Bay of Pigs debacle, closed off a beautiful country with a vibrant music culture, and — possibly worst of all — triggered a 46-year-old trade embargo that has deprived Americans of Cuba's most prized export: its vaunted cigars.
