The Cuban Revolution brought Fidel Castro, as a head of the 26th of July Movement (M-26-7), which initiated and lead the Revolution, to the position of the leader of Cuba, along with the communist government he was part of.
The members are chosen by the people.
During the war, lot of men were sent to fight. This resulted in lack of labor force. In order for the economy to continue to run and develop, as well as provide the soldiers with the necessary equipment, new labor force had to be acquired. The discrimination against the women and the minority groups quickly went away, as they were the ones that were free to fill in the gap. While the economy benefited from this, the women and the minority groups benefited a lot as well, as they got much better and secure job opportunities, and that gradually opened up lot of doors to them in life, especially financial security.