Fidel Castro
The Cuban leader who led the Cuban Revolution and governed for nearly half a century.
Life
Law student
Castro came from a family of estancieros (landowners) in eastern Cuba and studied law at the University of Havana. After Batista staged a coup in 1952, on July 26, 1953 he led a group that attacked the Moncada Barracks; after the attack failed he was arrested, and he was later amnestied and went into exile in Mexico.
Guerrilla warfare
In 1956 he, Che Guevara and others landed in Cuba aboard the yacht Granma and waged guerrilla warfare in the Sierra Maestra, overthrowing the Batista regime in January 1959. Cuba then carried out land reform and nationalization and broke off relations with the United States. In 1961 it repelled the Bay of Pigs landing, and in 1962 the Soviet deployment of missiles in Cuba triggered the Cuban Missile Crisis; Cuba subsequently declared that it was taking the socialist road.
Long rule
He served as Cuba's supreme leader for nearly fifty years. In 2006 illness led him to hand his duties to his younger brother Raúl; he formally left office in 2008 and died in 2016.
Legacy
Castro was one of the most influential Third World leaders of the Cold War, and international opinion of him is extremely divided.
Did you know? He once delivered a speech of more than four hours at the UN General Assembly, setting a record.
Key dates
- 1953Attacked the Moncada Barracks
- 1956Landed aboard the Granma
- 1959Victory of the Cuban Revolution
- 1961Bay of Pigs invasion
- 1962Cuban Missile Crisis
- 2008Formally left office
- 2016Died