 Castro founded a legal partnership with two fellow leftists , Jorge Azpiazu and Rafael Resende , focusing on helping poor Cubans assert their rights . A financial failure , its main client was a timber merchant who paid them in timber to furnish their office . Caring little for money or material goods , Castro failed to pay his bills ; his furniture was repossessed and electricity cut off , distressing his wife . He took part in a high @-@ school protest in Cienfuegos in November 1950 , fighting a four @-@ hour battle with police in protest at the Education Ministry ’ s ban on the founding of student associations . Arrested and charged for violent conduct , the magistrate dismissed the charges . He also became an active member of the Cuban Peace Committee , campaigning against western involvement in the Korean War . His hopes for Cuba still centered on Eduardo Chibás and the Partido Ortodoxo ; however Chibás had made a mistake when he accused Education Minister Aureliano Sánchez of purchasing a Guatemalan ranch with misappropriated funds , but was unable to substantiate his allegations . The government accused Chibás of being a liar , and in 1951 he shot himself during a radio broadcast , issuing a " last wake @-@ up call " to the Cuban people . Castro was present and accompanied him to the hospital where he died . 
