Fidel Castro

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El Comandante Fidel Castro
Castro c. 1959
First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Cuba
In office 3 October 1965 – 19 April 2011
Deputy	Raúl Castro
Preceded by	Blas Roca Calderio
Succeeded by	Raúl Castro
15th President of the Council of State of Cuba
In office 2 December 1976 – 24 February 2008[a]
Vice President	Raúl Castro
Preceded by	Osvaldo Dorticós Torrado
Succeeded by	Raúl Castro
15th President of the Council of Ministers of Cuba
In office 2 December 1976 – 24 February 2008[a]
Vice President	Raúl Castro
Preceded by	Himself (as prime minister)
Succeeded by	Raúl Castro
15th Prime Minister of Cuba
In office 16 February 1959 – 2 December 1976
President	Manuel Urrutia Lleó Osvaldo Dorticós Torrado
Preceded by	José Miró Cardona
Succeeded by	Himself (as president of the Council of Ministers)
7th and 23rd Secretary-General of the Non-Aligned Movement
In office 16 September 2006 – 24 February 2008
Preceded by	Abdullah Ahmad Badawi
Succeeded by	Raúl Castro
In office 10 September 1979 – 6 March 1983
Preceded by	J. R. Jayewardene
Succeeded by	Neelam Sanjiva Reddy
Personal details
Born	Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz (1926-08-13)13 August 1926 Birán, Oriente, Cuba
Died	25 November 2016(2016-11-25) (aged 90) Havana, Cuba
Resting place	Santa Ifigenia Cemetery, Santiago de Cuba
Political party	PCC (from 1965)
Other political affiliations	PPC-O (1947–1952) M-26-7 (1955–1962) PURSC (1962–1965)
Spouses	Mirta Díaz-Balart ​ ​ (m. 1948; div. 1955)​ Dalia Soto del Valle ​ ​ (m. 1980)​
Domestic partner	Natalia Revuelta Clews (1955–1959)
Children	11, including Fidelito and Alina
Parent	Ángel Castro y Argiz (father)
Relatives	5 brothers, including Raúl and Ramón 7 sisters, including Juanita
Alma mater	University of Havana
Occupation	Lawyer politician
Awards	Full list
Signature
Nicknames	Bola de Churre El Caballo El Comandante El guajiro El loco Fifo Pistolita
Military service
Allegiance	Republic of Cuba
Branch/service	Revolutionary Armed Forces
Years of service	1953–2016
Rank	Comandante en Jefe
Unit	26th of July Movement
Battles/wars	Cuban Revolution Escambray rebellion Bay of Pigs Invasion Cuban Missile Crisis Machurucuto incident Angolan Civil War Ogaden War US invasion of Grenada
a. ^ For medical reasons, presidential powers were transferred to the Vice President from 31 July 2006.

This article is part of a series about Fidel Castro
Personal Early life Politics Religious views Dairy My Life: A Spoken Autobiography Death and state funeral Participation in Cuban Revolution Attack on the Moncada Barracks History Will Absolve Me 26th of July Movement Landing of the Granma Triumph of the Revolution Provisional government Consolidation of the Cuban Revolution Revolution first, elections later Agrarian reforms Huber Matos affair CIA assassination attempts P.M. affair Bay of Pigs Invasion Escalante affair Cuban Missile Crisis Revolutionary Offensive State visit to Chile Constitutional government Rectification process Cuban intervention in Angola Presidential duties transfer Legacy Awards and honours Eponymous things Cuban dissident movement
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Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz^[a] (/ˈkæstroʊ/ KASS-troh,^[1] Latin American Spanish: [fiˈðel aleˈxandɾo ˈkastɾo ˈrus]; 13 August 1926 – 25 November 2016) was a Cuban revolutionary and politician who was the leader of Cuba from 1959 to 2008, serving as the prime minister of Cuba from 1959 to 1976 and president from 1976 to 2008. Ideologically a Marxist–Leninist and Cuban nationalist, he also served as the first secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba from 1965 until 2011. Under his administration, Cuba became a one-party communist state; industry and business were nationalized, and socialist reforms were implemented throughout society.

Born in Birán, the son of a wealthy Spanish farmer, Castro adopted leftist and anti-imperialist ideas while studying law at the University of Havana. 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. After a year's imprisonment, Castro travelled to Mexico where he formed a revolutionary group, the 26th of July Movement, with his brother Raúl Castro and Ernesto "Che" Guevara. Returning to Cuba, Castro took a key role in the Cuban Revolution by leading the Movement in a guerrilla war against Batista's forces from the Sierra Maestra. After Batista's overthrow in 1959, Castro assumed military and political power as Cuba's prime minister. The United States came to oppose Castro's government and unsuccessfully attempted to remove him by assassination, economic embargo, and counter-revolution, including the Bay of Pigs Invasion of 1961. Countering these threats, Castro aligned with the Soviet Union and allowed the Soviets to place nuclear weapons in Cuba, resulting in the Cuban Missile Crisis—a defining incident of the Cold War—in 1962.

Adopting a Marxist–Leninist model of development, Castro converted Cuba into a one-party, socialist state under Communist Party rule, the first in the Western Hemisphere. Policies introducing central economic planning and expanding healthcare and education were accompanied by state control of the press and the suppression of internal dissent. Abroad, Castro supported anti-imperialist revolutionary groups, backing the establishment of Marxist governments in Chile, Nicaragua, and Grenada, as well as sending troops to aid allies in the Yom Kippur, Ogaden, and Angolan Civil War. These actions, coupled with Castro's leadership of the Non-Aligned Movement from 1979 to 1983 and Cuban medical internationalism, increased Cuba's profile on the world stage. Following the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, Castro led Cuba through the economic downturn of the "Special Period", embracing environmentalist and anti-globalization ideas. In the 2000s, Castro forged alliances in the Latin American "pink tide"—namely with Hugo Chávez's Venezuela—and formed the Bolivarian Alliance for the Americas. In 2006, Castro transferred his responsibilities to Vice President Raúl Castro, who was elected to the presidency by the National Assembly in 2008.

The longest-serving non-royal head of state in the 20th and 21st centuries, Castro polarized world opinion. His supporters view him as a champion of socialism and anti-imperialism whose revolutionary government advanced economic and social justice while securing Cuba's independence from American hegemony. His critics view him as a dictator whose administration oversaw human rights abuses, the exodus of many Cubans, and the impoverishment of the country's economy.

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