Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz (American Spanish:
[fiˈðel aleˈxandɾo ˈkastɾo ˈrus] 
audio (
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info); August 13, 1926 – November 25, 2016), commonly known as Fidel Castro, was a
Cuban politician and
revolutionary who governed the
Republic of Cuba as
Prime Minister from 1959 to 1976 and then as
President from 1976 to 2008. Politically a
Marxist–Leninist and Cuban
nationalist, he also served as the
First Secretary of the
Communist Party of Cuba from 1961 until 2011. Under his administration Cuba became a
one-party socialist state; industry and business were
nationalized, and
state socialist reforms implemented throughout society.
Born in
Birán as the son of a wealthy farmer, Castro adopted
leftist anti-imperialist politics 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, he traveled to Mexico where he formed a revolutionary group, the
26th of July Movement, with his brother
Raúl Castro and
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 was alarmed by Castro's friendly relations with the
Soviet Union, and unsuccessfully attempted to remove him by
assassination,
economic blockade, and counter-revolution, including the
Bay of Pigs invasion of 1961. Countering these threats, Castro formed an alliance with the Soviets and allowed them to place nuclear weapons on the island, sparking 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. Reforms 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, and sending troops to aid allies in the
Yom Kippur War,
Ethio-Somali War, and
Angolan Civil War. These actions, coupled with Castro's leadership of the
Non-Aligned Movement from 1979–83 and
Cuba's medical internationalism, increased Cuba's profile on the world stage and earned its leader great respect in the
developing world. Following the
Soviet Union's dissolution in 1991, Castro led Cuba into its "
Special Period" and embraced
environmentalist and
anti-globalization ideas. In the 2000s he forged alliances in the Latin American "
pink tide"—namely with
Hugo Chávez's Venezuela—and signed Cuba to the
Bolivarian Alliance for the Americas. In 2006 he
transferred his responsibilities to Vice-President Raúl Castro, who formally assumed the presidency in 2008.
Castro was a controversial and divisive world figure. He was decorated with
various international awards, and his supporters laud him as a champion of socialism, anti-imperialism, and
humanitarianism, whose revolutionary regime secured Cuba's independence from
American imperialism. Conversely, critics view him as a
totalitarian dictator whose administration oversaw
multiple human-rights abuses, an
exodus of more than one million Cubans, and the impoverishment of the country's economy. Through his actions and his writings, he significantly influenced the politics of various individuals and groups across the world.
Cuban Revolution
The Movement and the Moncada Barracks attack: 1952–53
In a few hours you will be victorious or defeated, but regardless of the outcome – listen well, friends – this Movement will triumph. If you win tomorrow, the aspirations of Martí will be fulfilled sooner. If we fail, our action will nevertheless set an example for the Cuban people, and from the people will arise fresh new men willing to die for Cuba. They will pick up our banner and move forward... The people will back us in Oriente and in the whole island. As in '68 and '92, here in Oriente we will give the first cry of Liberty or Death!
— Fidel Castro's speech to the Movement just before the Moncada Attack, 1953
[46] Castro formed a group called "The Movement" which operated along a
clandestine cell system, publishing underground newspaper El Acusador (The Accuser), while arming and training anti-Batista recruits.
[47] From July 1952 they went on a recruitment drive, gaining around 1,200 members in a year, the majority from Havana's poorer districts.
[48] Although a
revolutionary socialist, Castro avoided an alliance with the communist PSP, fearing it would frighten away political moderates, but kept in contact with PSP members like his brother Raúl.
[49] Castro stockpiled weapons for a planned attack on the
Moncada Barracks, a military garrison outside
Santiago de Cuba,
Oriente. Castro's militants intended to dress in army uniforms and arrive at the base on July 25, seizing control and raiding the armory before reinforcements arrived.
[50] Supplied with new weaponry, Castro intended to spark a revolution among Oriente's impoverished cane cutters and promote further uprisings.
[51] Castro's plan emulated those of the 19th century Cuban independence fighters who had raided Spanish barracks; Castro saw himself as the heir to independence leader
José Martí.
[52] 
Fidel Castro under arrest after the Moncada attack, 1953 Castro gathered 165 revolutionaries for the mission,
[53] ordering his troops not to cause bloodshed unless they met armed resistance.
[54] The attack took place on July 26, 1953, but ran into trouble; 3 of the 16 cars that had set out from Santiago failed to get there. Reaching the barracks, the alarm was raised, with most of the rebels pinned down by machine gun fire. 4 were killed before Castro ordered a retreat.
[55] The rebels suffered 6 fatalities and 15 other casualties, whilst the army suffered 19 dead and 27 wounded.
[56] Meanwhile, some rebels took over a civilian hospital; subsequently stormed by government soldiers, the rebels were rounded up, tortured and 22 were executed without trial.
[57] Accompanied by 19 comrades, Castro set out for Gran Piedra in therugged
Sierra Maestra mountains several miles to the north, where they could establish a guerrilla base.
[58] Responding to the attack, Batista's government proclaimed
martial law, ordering a violent crackdown on dissent, and imposing strict media censorship.
[59] 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.
[59] Over the following days, the rebels were rounded up; some were executed and others – including Castro – transported to a prison north of Santiago.
[60] Believing Castro incapable of planning the attack alone, the government accused Ortodoxo and PSP politicians of involvement, putting 122 defendants on trial on September 21 at the Palace of Justice, Santiago.
[61] Acting as his own defense counsel, Castro cited Martí as the intellectual author of the attack and convinced the 3 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.
[62] The trial embarrassed the army by revealing that they had tortured suspects, after which they tried unsuccessfully to prevent Castro from testifying any further, claiming he was too ill.
[63] The trial ended on October 5, with the acquittal of most defendants; 55 were sentenced to prison terms of between 7 months and 13 years. Castro was sentenced on October 16, during which he delivered a speech that would be printed under the title of
History Will Absolve Me.
[64] 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.
[65] Imprisonment and the 26th of July Movement: 1953–55
I would honestly love to revolutionize this country from one end to the other! I am sure this would bring happiness to the Cuban people. 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
— Fidel Castro, 1954.
[66] Imprisoned with 25 comrades, Castro renamed his group the "
26th of July Movement" (MR-26-7) in memory of the Moncada attack's date, and formed a school for prisoners.
[67] He read widely, enjoying the works of Marx, Lenin, and Martí but also reading books by
Freud,
Kant,
Shakespeare,
Munthe,
Maugham and
Dostoyevsky, analyzing them within a Marxist framework.
[68] Corresponding with supporters, he maintained control over the Movement and organized the publication of History Will Absolve Me.
[69] Initially permitted a relative amount of freedom within the prison, he was locked up in
solitary confinement after inmates sang anti-Batista songs on a visit by the President in February 1954.
[70] Meanwhile, Castro's wife Mirta gained employment in the Ministry of the Interior, something he discovered through a radio announcement. Appalled, he raged that he would rather die "a thousand times" than "suffer impotently from such an insult".
[71] 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.
[71] 
