[272] Conversely, his relationship with China declined, as he accused Deng Xiaoping's Chinese government of betraying their revolutionary principles by initiating trade links with the U.S. and attacking Vietnam. Castro would step down as head of government, to be replaced by the much younger Carlos Lage, although Castro would remain the head of the Communist Party and Commander-in-Chief of the armed forces. [40], Castro co-founded a legal partnership that primarily catered to poor Cubans, although it proved a financial failure. [155] Health care was nationalized and expanded, with rural health centers and urban polyclinics opening up across the island to offer free medical aid. [398] Castro took a relatively socially conservative stance on many issues, opposing drug use, gambling, and prostitution, which he viewed as moral evils. His announcement that he was stepping down was made through a letter that was addressed to the country and posted on the Web site of the official Communist Party newspaper, Granma. World Leader #6. [95] Setting up an encampment, the survivors included the Castros, Che Guevara, and Camilo Cienfuegos. [277] Desperate for money, Cuba's government secretly sold off paintings from national collections and illicitly traded for U.S. electronic goods through Panama. He is lauded by many for promoting education, social values, egalitarianism and […] US President. Castro's improving relations across Latin America were accompanied by continuing animosity towards the U.S. [421][422], For 37 years publicly, Castro only wore olive-green military fatigues, emphasizing his role as the perpetual revolutionary, but in the mid-1990s began wearing dark civilian suits and guayabera in public. There, the assassination of popular leftist leader Jorge Eliécer Gaitán Ayala led to widespread rioting and clashes between the governing Conservatives – backed by the army – and leftist Liberals. [73] Corresponding with supporters, he maintained control over the Movement and organized the publication of History Will Absolve Me. Why should some live for thirty-five years, so that others can live for seventy years? Fidel Castro’s year of birth is officially listed as 1926, but some scholars believe that he was born in 1927. After a trial in which he conducted an impassioned defense, he was sentenced by the government to 15 years’ imprisonment. Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree.... Get exclusive access to content from our 1768 First Edition with your subscription. [297] Tensions were increased with the Cubans advancing close to the border of Namibia, which led to warnings from the South African government that they considered this an extremely unfriendly act, causing South Africa to mobilize and call up its reserves. Fidel Castro turned Cuba into the first communist state in the Western Hemisphere. On February 24, 2008, he gave the presidency of Cuba over to his brother, Raul. In contrast, his former public criticisms had centered on condemning corruption and U.S. [205] Upon discovering it through aerial reconnaissance, in October the U.S. implemented an island-wide quarantine to search vessels headed to Cuba, sparking the Cuban Missile Crisis. He was the third son in a family of six children including two brothers, Ramon and Raul, and three sisters, Augustina, Emma, and Angelita. After fighting for the liberation of Cuba from foreign domination, the revolutionary leader died Nov. 25, 2016, from natural causes at the age of 90. A larger pro-Castro crowd confronted them, who were joined by Castro; he informed media that the men were anti-socials misled by the U.S. [294] The cost of Cuba's wars in Africa were paid for with Soviet subsidies at a time when the Soviet economy was badly hurt by low oil prices while the white supremacist government of South Africa had by the 1980s became a very awkward American ally as much of the American population, especially black Americans, objected to apartheid. In 1948, Fidel Castro got married to Mirta Diaz-Balart. Together they had seven children; Fidel was one of them, and Raúl, who later became his brother’s chief associate in Cuban affairs, was another. In 1993 a daughter he had had out of wedlock while he was a young revolutionary sought asylum in the United States and publicly denounced her father’s government. Castro responded by expropriating and nationalizing the refineries. Cuban soldiers died in the conflict, with Castro denouncing the invasion and comparing the U.S. to Nazi Germany. Arguing that it affected the sugar harvest, Fidel Castro eliminated Christmas as a federal holiday in 1969. After the fall of the Soviet Union, Castro had no choice but to begin accepting some economically liberal policies as a means to keep Cuba’s economy afloat. He was the son of Angel Castro y Argiz, … It means that we have to adopt to the reality of that world. [127] Although repeatedly denying that he was a communist to the press, he began clandestinely meeting members of the PSP to discuss the creation of a socialist state. [325], Mired in economic problems, Cuba was aided by the election of socialist and anti-imperialist Hugo Chávez to the Venezuelan Presidency in 1999. The protesters held up signs that read, "Mr. Kennedy, Cuba is Not For Sale. [364] On 7 August 2010, Castro gave his first speech to the National Assembly in four years, urging the U.S. not to take military actions against those nations and warning of a nuclear holocaust. film. He became active in Cuban politics after graduating in 1950, and he prepared to run for legislative office in the 1952 elections. After participating in rebellions against right-wing governments in the Dominican Republic and Colombia, he planned the overthrow of Cuban President Fulgencio Batista, launching a failed attack on the Moncada Barracks in 1953. [128], – Castro's response to his critics regarding the mass executions, 1959[129], In suppressing the revolution, Batista's government had killed thousands of Cubans; Castro and influential sectors of the press put the death toll at 20,000, but a list of victims published shortly after the revolution contained only 898 names—over half of them combatants. [294] The low oil prices of the 1980s had also changed the Angolan attitude about subsidizing the Cuban economy as dos Santos found the promises made in the 1970s when oil prices were high to be a serious drain upon Angola's economy in the 1980s. [230] In turn, the Soviet-loyalist Aníbal Escalante began organizing a government network of opposition to Castro, though in January 1968, he and his supporters were arrested for allegedly passing state secrets to Moscow. Birthday August Aug 13, 1926. His trade agreement with the Soviet Union in February 1960 further deepened American distrust. In the letter, titled “Brother Obama,” he recapped the aggressive U.S. policy toward Cuba during the Cold War and castigated Obama, the first sitting U.S. president to visit the island in nearly 80 years, for not acknowledging the accomplishments of the Cuban Revolution, including its efforts to eradicate racism. In 1978 Cuban troops assisted Ethiopia in repelling an invasion by Somalia. I would not be stopped by the hatred and ill will of a few thousand people, including some of my relatives, half the people I know, two-thirds of my fellow professionals, and four-fifths of my ex-schoolmates. Those elections were canceled when Fulgencio Batista forcibly seized power. On December 2, 1956, Castro and an armed expedition of 81 men landed on the eastern coast of Cuba from the yacht Granma. [99] With volunteers boosting the rebel forces to over 200, in July 1957 Castro divided his army into three columns, commanded by himself, his brother, and Guevara. [156] His regime remained popular with workers, peasants, and students, who constituted the majority of the country's population,[157] while opposition came primarily from the middle class; thousands of doctors, engineers and other professionals emigrated to Florida in the U.S., causing an economic brain drain. Born in Birán, Oriente as the son of a wealthy Spanish farmer, Castro adopted leftist and anti-imperialist ideas while studying law at the University of Havana. [2] His father, Ángel Castro y Argiz, a veteran of the Spanish–American War,[3] was a migrant to Cuba from Galicia, in the northwest of Spain. [445] Despite its small size and limited economic weight, Castro's Cuba gained a large role in world affairs. Omissions? Fidel Castro Wiki Biography Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz was born on 13 August 1926, in Birán, Holguin Province, Cuba, into a wealthy farming family. He then took control of Cuba installing a communist Marxist government. [173] Castro delivered the longest speech ever held before the United Nations General Assembly, speaking for four and a half hours in a speech mostly given over to denouncing American policies towards Latin America. [120] Accompanying celebrations at news of Batista's downfall on 1 January 1959, Castro ordered the MR-26-7 to prevent widespread looting and vandalism. Even prior to that, the staunchly anti-communist U.S. government had suspicions about Castro’s political leanings based on the content of his fiery oration—suspicions that would be confirmed in the first year of the new Cuba, as it aligned itself more and more with the Soviet Union. When Bishop was executed in a Soviet-backed coup by hard-line Marxist Bernard Coard in October 1983, Castro condemned the killing but cautiously retained support for Grenada's government. In the years directly prior to Fidel Castro’s retirement, Cuba was undergoing immense changes. [294] Cuban propaganda turned the siege of Cuito Cuanavle into a decisive victory that changed the course of African history and Castro awarded 82 soldiers medals of the newly created Medal of Merit for the Defense of Cuito Cuanavle on 1 April 1988. Oxen began to replace tractors, firewood began being used for cooking and electricity cuts were introduced that lasted 16 hours a day. Barack Obama and Raúl Castro agreed to reopen diplomatic relations and halt the trade embargo, both of which had been in effect for over five decades. Other Famous People Born On Same Day- August 13 Yeltsin despised Castro and developed links with the Miami-based Cuban American National Foundation. [253] Cuba's government underwent a restructuring along Soviet lines, claiming that this would further democratization and decentralize power away from Castro. [53] Although a revolutionary socialist, Castro avoided an alliance with the communist Popular Socialist Party (PSP), fearing it would frighten away political moderates, but kept in contact with PSP members like his brother Raúl. [230] The Cuban Revolution nevertheless did not meet the Marxist assumption that socialism would be achieved through proletariat revolution, for most of the forces involved in Batista's overthrow were led by members of the Cuban middle-class. Some Americans disagreed with President John F. Kennedy's decision to ban trade with Cuba, and outwardly supported his nationalist revolutionary tactics. However, Fidel Castro was quick to qualify his remarks in a speech that followed a few days later. Indeed, Castro’s philosophy gravitated toward a Leninist strain of Marxism as his rule progressed, although his beliefs differentiated themselves in some key ways, such as his identification with nonaligned countries and his celebration of guerrilla-style revolution. During that year the Cuban government arrested dozens of independent journalists and activists in a renewed government crackdown on dissidents, and some 75 activists were convicted for conspiring with the United States to subvert the revolution. [229] Diverting from Soviet Marxist doctrine, he suggested that Cuban society could evolve straight to pure communism rather than gradually progress through various stages of socialism. The Cuban economy, however, failed to achieve significant growth or to reduce its dependence on the country’s chief export, cane sugar. [388] In this it drew upon a longstanding tradition of Cuban nationalism. [25] Returning to Havana, Castro took a leading role in student protests against the killing of a high school pupil by government bodyguards. [237] The 1969 crop was heavily damaged by a hurricane, and to meet its export quota, the government drafted in the army, implemented a seven-day working week, and postponed public holidays to lengthen the harvest. DEATH DATE Nov 25, 2016 (age 90) Popularity . He also seized property previously held by wealthy Cubans who had fled. But once established as Cuba’s leader he began to pursue more radical policies: Cuba’s private commerce and industry were nationalized; sweeping land reforms were instituted; and American businesses and agricultural estates were expropriated. [198] Gay men were forced into the Military Units to Aid Production (Unidades Militares de Ayuda a la Producción – UMAP); after many revolutionary intellectuals decried this move, the UMAP camps were closed in 1967, although gay men continued to be imprisoned. [11], In 1945, Castro began studying law at the University of Havana. In March 2011, Castro condemned the NATO-led military intervention in Libya. Officially announcing Cuba's identity as a socialist state, the first National Congress of the Cuban Communist Party was held, and a new constitution drafted that abolished the position of President and Prime Minister. He was the central figure in the Cuban Revolution (1956-1959), which removed dictator Fulgencio Batista from power and replaced him with a communist regime friendly to the Soviet Union. [434], Castro often engaged in one-night stands with women,[435] some of whom were specially selected for him while visiting foreign allies. [23] Being President of the University Committee for Democracy in the Dominican Republic, Castro joined the expedition. "[82] The Castros and several comrades traveled to Mexico,[83] where Raúl befriended an Argentine doctor and Marxist–Leninist named Ernesto "Che" Guevara, who was working as a journalist and photographer for "Agencia Latina de Noticias". He joined Colegio Dolores in Santiago de Cuba before joining El Colegio de Belen in Havana. Castro’s brother Raúl, minister of the armed forces, ranked second to him in all government and party posts. [286] Castro supported the leftist New Jewel Movement that seized power in Grenada in 1979, befriending Grenadine President Maurice Bishop and sending doctors, teachers, and technicians to aid the country's development. Castro was born out of wedlock at his father's farm on 13 August 1926. Fidel Castro died in 2016 at the age of 90. [217] In 1963, Castro's mother died. [474] The biographer Volka Skierka stated that "he will go down in history as one of the few revolutionaries who remained true to his principles". [218] In January 1964, Castro returned to Moscow, officially to sign a new five-year sugar trade agreement, but also to discuss the ramifications of the assassination of John F. Kennedy. Crowds regularly shouted "Fidel! However, after massive damage caused by Hurricane Michelle in 2001, Castro successfully proposed a one-time cash purchase of food from the U.S. while declining its government's offer of humanitarian aid. [84] Fidel liked him, later describing him as "a more advanced revolutionary than I was". In 2011 Fidel stepped down as secretary-general of the Communist Party of Cuba and was succeeded by Raúl. [292] 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. His big battle is international affairs. 10 Cuban leader Castro died in 2016 at the age of 90 Credit: AFP [69] Castro was sentenced to 15 years' imprisonment in the hospital wing of the Model Prison (Presidio Modelo), a relatively comfortable and modern institution on the Isla de Pinos. [55] Supplied with new weaponry, Castro intended to spark a revolution among Oriente's impoverished cane cutters and promote further uprisings. However, scholarship that emerged in the early 21st century made clear that Cuba had acted at its own behest in Africa as Castro sought to spread the Cuban Revolution internationally and to bolster his standing among nonaligned countries and in the less-developed world. [339] Castro had also been calling for greater Caribbean integration since the late 1990s, saying that only strengthened cooperation between Caribbean countries would prevent their domination by rich nations in a global economy. After the collapse of his first marriage he took his household servant, Lina Ruz González – of Canarianorigin – as his mistress and later second wife; together they had seven children, among them Fidel. [42] He took part in a high school protest in Cienfuegos in November 1950, fighting with police to protest the Education Ministry's ban on student associations; he was arrested and charged for violent conduct, but the magistrate dismissed the charges. [132] In response to popular uproar, which demanded that those responsible be brought to justice, Castro helped to set up many trials, resulting in hundreds of executions. [358] On 24 February 2008, the National Assembly of People's Power unanimously voted Raúl as president. Donald Trump restored some of the commercial and diplomatic restrictions that had been lifted under Obama. There was ... no doubt about who the victors were. Fidel Castro, in full Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz, (born August 13, 1926, near Birán, Cuba—died November 25, 2016, Cuba), political leader of Cuba (1959–2008) who transformed his country into the first communist state in the Western Hemisphere. Around 200 policemen were on the scene, but the protesters continued to chant slogans and throw pennies in support of Fidel Castro's socialist movement. [176], Back in Cuba, Castro feared a U.S.-backed coup; in 1959 his regime spent $120 million on Soviet, French, and Belgian weaponry and by early 1960 had doubled the size of Cuba's armed forces. Unlike a number of other Soviet-era communist leaders, Castro's government did not intentionally construct a cult of personality around him, although his popularity among segments of the Cuban populace nevertheless led to one developing in the early years of his administration. Castro, who took power in the Cuban Revolution … [287] In a July 1983 speech marking the 30th anniversary of the Cuban Revolution, Castro condemned Reagan's administration as a "reactionary, extremist clique" who were waging an "openly warmongering and fascist foreign policy". [281] In late 1981, Castro publicly accused the U.S. of biological warfare against Cuba by orchestrating a dengue fever epidemic. Sturgis opened a training camp in the Sierra Maestra mountains, where he taught Che Guevara and other 26 July Movement rebel soldiers guerrilla warfare. This article was most recently revised and updated by, https://www.britannica.com/biography/Fidel-Castro, PBS - American Experience - Biography of Fidel Castro, National Public Radio - Fidel Castro: From Rebel to El Presidente, Alpha History - Biography of Fidel Castro, Spartacus Educational - Biography Of Fidel Castro, Fidel Castro - Children's Encyclopedia (Ages 8-11), Fidel Castro - Student Encyclopedia (Ages 11 and up), Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola, Ethiopia in repelling an invasion by Somalia. [91] The plan had been for the crossing to take five days, and on the Granma's scheduled day of arrival, 30 November, MR-26-7 members under Frank País led an armed uprising in Santiago and Manzanillo. Fidel Casto died on 26th November 2016 at the age of 90. Fidel Castro professed to be Marxist after assuming leadership of Cuba. But the economic realities, despite rapid dramatic growth in the gross national product, severely limit what Cuba can buy on the world market. However, the U.S. used the coup as a basis for invading the island. On July 31, 2006, Fidel Castro passed power on a provisional basis to his brother Raúl in order to recover from surgery for a serious intestinal illness. [345] Castro criticized the 2003 invasion of Iraq, saying that the U.S.-led war had imposed an international "law of the jungle". [472] Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi termed him "one of the most iconic personalities of the 20th century" and a "great friend", while South African President Jacob Zuma praised Castro for aiding black South Africans in "our struggle against apartheid". In April of that year the U.S. government secretly equipped thousands of Cuban exiles to overthrow Castro’s government; their landing at the Bay of Pigs in April 1961, however, was crushed by Castro’s armed forces. [110], Batista responded with an all-out-attack, Operation Verano, in which the army aerially bombarded forested areas and villages suspected of aiding the militants, while 10,000 soldiers commanded by General Eulogio Cantillo surrounded the Sierra Maestra, driving north to the rebel encampments. [333][334] That same year, Castro initiated Misión Milagro, a joint medical project which aimed to provide free eye operations on 300,000 individuals from each nation. Castro's militants intended to dress in army uniforms and arrive at the base on 25 July, seizing control and raiding the armory before reinforcements arrived. For decades, he defied the United States, which tried to assassinate or replace him countless times. [188] He ordered the 1189 captured rebels to be interrogated by a panel of journalists on live television, personally taking over the questioning on 25 April. He recognized that the attacks would make U.S. foreign policy more aggressive, which he believed was counter-productive. [9], In 1945, Castro transferred to the more prestigious Jesuit-run El Colegio de Belén in Havana. [236], Castro publicly celebrated his administration's 10th anniversary in January 1969; in his celebratory speech he warned of sugar rations, reflecting the nation's economic problems. [294] In the spring of 1988, the intensity of South African-Cuban fighting drastically increased with both sides taking heavy losses. "[471] Russian President Vladimir Putin described Castro as both "a sincere and reliable friend of Russia" and a "symbol of an era", while Chinese Communist Party general secretary Xi Jinping similarly referred to him as "a close comrade and a sincere friend" to China. Castro remained the dominant figure in governance, taking the presidency of the newly created Council of State and Council of Ministers, making him both head of state and head of government. [126] Castro exercised a great deal of influence over Urrutia's regime, which was now ruling by decree. [354] That month, the Non-Aligned Movement held its 14th Summit in Havana, there agreeing to appoint Castro as the organisation's president for a year's term. Barack Obama’s historic visit to Cuba with a 1,600-word letter in Granma. However, his father recognized him when he was 17 years old. [59] The attack took place on 26 July 1953, but ran into trouble; 3 of the 16 cars that had set out from Santiago failed to get there. [204] Undertaken in secrecy, only the Castro brothers, Guevara, Dorticós and security chief Ramiro Valdés knew the full plan. Beginning on 9 April, it received strong support in central and eastern Cuba, but little elsewhere. [146] The Cuban government also began to expropriate the casinos and properties from mafia leaders and taking millions in cash. He is either incredibly naive about Communism or under Communist discipline-my guess is the former...His ideas as to how to run a government or an economy are less developed than those of almost any world figure I have met in fifty countries. [467] Castro defended his government's record on human rights, stating that the state was forced to limit the freedoms of individuals and imprison those involved in counter-revolutionary activities in order to protect the rights of the collective populace, such as the right to employment, education, and health care. [190], Consolidating "Socialist Cuba", Castro united the MR-26-7, PSP and Revolutionary Directorate into a governing party based on the Leninist principle of democratic centralism: the Integrated Revolutionary Organizations (Organizaciones Revolucionarias Integradas – ORI), renamed the United Party of the Cuban Socialist Revolution (PURSC) in 1962. [170] He also met Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev, with the two publicly condemning the poverty and racism faced by Americans in areas like Harlem. [457] Nevertheless, critics claim that Castro wielded significant unofficial influence aside from his official duties. [425] He was also nicknamed "El Comandante" (the commander). [447] The Daily Telegraph noted that across the world he was "either praised as a brave champion of the people, or derided as a power-mad dictator. [265], After forcing back the Somalis, Mengistu then ordered the Ethiopians to suppress the Eritrean People's Liberation Front, a measure Castro refused to support. "The making of a revolutionary: A Fidel Castro bibliography" , CS1 maint: BOT: original-url status unknown (, Central Committee of the Communist Party of Cuba, Committees for the Defense of the Revolution, revolutionaries against the Western-backed government, Tri-Continental Conference of Africa, Asia and Latin America, Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, Fidel Ángel "Fidelito" Castro Díaz-Balart, List of awards and honours bestowed upon Fidel Castro, United States Interests Section in Havana, wide variety of awards and honors from foreign governments, Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, "Por vez primera en México se exhibe el testimonio fotográfico del Che Guevara", "Raul Antonio Chibás: Manifiesto Sierra Maestra", "Setting Up the Scapegoat Who Will Be Blamed for Cuba? [76] Both Fidel and Mirta initiated divorce proceedings, with Mirta taking custody of their son Fidelito; this angered Castro, who did not want his son growing up in a bourgeois environment. The 125,000 immigrants, including some criminals, strained the capacity of U.S. immigration and resettlement facilities. [453] Similarly, Wayne S. Smith – the former Chief of the United States Interests Section in Havana – noted that Castro's opposition to U.S. dominance and transformation of Cuba into a significant world player resulted in him receiving "warm applause" throughout the Western Hemisphere. [451] According to Balfour, Castro's domestic popularity stemmed from the fact that he symbolised "a long-cherished hope of national liberation and social justice" for much of the population. Castro countered the resulting economic decline and shortages of consumer goods by allowing some economic liberalization and free-market activities while retaining tight controls over the country’s political life. [469] Balfour stated that Castro's story had "few parallels in contemporary history", for there existed no other "Third World leader" in the second half of the twentieth century who held "such a prominent and restless part on the international stage" or remained head of state for such a long period. Certain restrictions on emigration were eased, allowing more discontented Cuban citizens to move to the United States. [165], Relations between Cuba and the U.S. were further strained following the explosion of a French vessel, the La Coubre, in Havana harbor in March 1960. [182], – Peter Bourne, Castro biographer, 1986[183], In January 1961, Castro ordered Havana's U.S. Embassy to reduce its 300-member staff, suspecting that many of them were spies. [226], In 1966, Castro staged a Tri-Continental Conference of Africa, Asia and Latin America in Havana, further establishing himself as a significant player on the world stage. Fidel Castro Ruz was born on August 13, 1926, on his family's successful sugar plantation near Birán, Oriente Province, Cuba. [66] Acting as his own defense counsel, Castro cited Martí as the intellectual author of the attack and convinced the three judges to overrule the army's decision to keep all defendants handcuffed in court, proceeding to argue that the charge with which they were accused – of "organizing an uprising of armed persons against the Constitutional Powers of the State" – was incorrect, for they had risen up against Batista, who had seized power in an unconstitutional manner. [64] The government broadcast misinformation about the event, claiming that the rebels were communists who had killed hospital patients, although news and photographs of the army's use of torture and summary executions in Oriente soon spread, causing widespread public and some governmental disapproval. 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