Who was Fidel Castro?

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Fidel Castro (1926-2016) was a Cuban revolutionary and communist leader.

President of the Council of State of the Republic of Cuba (1976-2008), First Secretary of the Committee Central of the Communist Party of Cuba and dictator of the country since 1959, Fidel was in power for 49 years old.

Named "Doctor Honoris Causa" by several European and Latin American universities, Fidel Castro had his speeches and ideologies recorded in numerous articles, interviews, books and films.

Fidel Castro Biography

Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz was born in the Cuban village of Birán, located in the province of Holguin, on August 13, 1926.

Bastard son of his father, Ángel Castro y Argiz, wealthy farmer, with his lover (and second wife) Lina Ruz González.

In 1932, Fidel is sent to Santiago de Cuba to study at La Salle College and, later, at the Jesuit Dolores School.

In 1945, he went to study at the Colegio de Belén in Havana. In the same year, he entered the law course at the University of Havana, where he will do his doctorate in 1950.

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He became involved in student activism when he joined the Cuban People's Socialist Party (1947). In practical terms, his activism involved publishing the mimeographed journal El Acusador, of which he was co-editor.

With his first wife, Mirta Díaz Balart, Fidel Castro has a son named Fidel, “Fidelito”. Mirta and Fidel divorced in 1955.

With his second wife, Dalia Soto del Valle, he will have children Alexis, Alexander, Alejandro, Antonio and Ángel and, with his lover Naty Revuelta, another daughter, Alina Fernández-Revuelta.

After graduating, Fidel will devote himself to militancy. Through the Diário Alerta and the radio stations Radio Álvarez and COCO, he harshly criticized the coup d'état perpetrated by Fulgêncio Batista on March 10, 1952.

Later, Fidel Castro goes into exile in Mexico, where he will plan the first revolutionary onslaught.

Fidel Castro

The ill-fated coup attempt would come on July 26, 1953. Leading a group of revolutionaries, Fidel attacks the Moncada Barracks in Santiago de Cuba.

Fidel Castro and the attackers were arrested and sentenced to years in prison. From this defeat, the 26th of July Revolutionary Movement emerged. Fidel Castro is amnesty in May 1955.

In freedom, the revolutionary will dedicate himself to the daily La Calle for a few months. He leaves Cuba and goes into exile in Mexico, from where he travels across the United States. He gathers Cuban emigres faithful to his cause and prepares a new attack, this time under the matrix of a rural guerrilla.

Thus, in 1956, Fidel leaves the Mexican port of Tuxpan commanding dozens of guerrillas (about 80 armed men), including Ernesto Che Guevara.

They will settle in Sierra Maestra, a mountainous region with difficult access, where the Cuban Rebel Army continued for about three years. Fidel Castro led his men in several victorious battles.

During this period, revolutionary ideas of a nationalist and socialist nature were disseminated through the periodical El Cubano Libre and the radio station Radio Rebelde.

With the occupation of Santiago in 1958 by the Revolutionary Army, President Fulgêncio Batista fled on January 1, 1959. This escape facilitates the revolutionary march to Havana a few days later.

Fidel Castro is appointed minister of the Cuban republic, a position in which he remains until 1976.

With the move away from the US, the new Cuban regime draws closer to the USSR, which offered economic and military support to Cuba's new government.

With this, Fidel Castro declares a Socialist state and introduces the planned economy model along the Soviet lines.

The American response came with the President of the Organization of American States (OAS) in 1960.

The following year, a group of mercenaries financed by the US government try to invade the Bay of Pigs, but are defeated by Fidel's men.

In response, Fidel Castro allows the installation of Soviet missiles in Cuba the following year (1962) triggering the “1962 Missile Crisis”. The missiles were withdrawn after the US government pledged to no longer invade Cuba.

In December 1976, Fidel Castro is named president of the Council of State (head of state) and president of the Council of Ministers (head of government) of Cuba.

In 1977, Castro was appointed by the National Assembly of Popular Power to occupy the position of President of the Councils of State and Ministers.

Finally, with the collapse of the USSR in 1991, Cuba faces serious difficulties without Soviet investments, forcing it to ration foodstuffs and industrialized goods. So, to restore the Cuban economy, Fidel opens the country to foreign capital.

As a result of this rapprochement, in March 1995, Fidel visited France, marking the rapprochement with the capitalist powers. This year, Fidel Castro receives the Mijail Sholojov Prize from the Union of Russian Writers in 1995. In 1998, he receives Pope John Paul II in Cuba.

In July 2006, due to a serious illness in the intestines, Fidel Castro hands over the post of president on a provisional basis to his brother Raúl Castro.

In August, Raúl becomes the commander of the Armed Forces, secretary general of the Communist Party of Cuba and president of the Council of State.

In February 2008, Fidel announced that he would not re-candidate for the presidency of Cuba, passing power definitively to his brother, Raúl Castro.

However, Fidel Castro remained a member of parliament as one of the 31 members of the Council of State and retained the post of first secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba.

Fidel Castro died on November 25, 2016, in Havana, aged 90 years.

Main characteristics of the government of Fidel Castro

At the outset, it is worth mentioning that Fidel Castro was never elected through direct elections. His government characterized itself as one of the world dictatorships that most limited freedom of expression.

However, during his administration, Cuba achieved enviable levels of human and social development.

With Fidel, the Agrarian Reform Law (1959), the nationalization of foreign companies and the promotion of national industry took place.

In addition, there was the eradication of Cuban illiteracy through the nationalization of free public education. Finally, the nationalization of health guaranteed Cuba one of the best public health systems in the world.

Phrases by Fidel Castro

  • Enough of this illusion that the world's problems can be solved with nuclear weapons! Bombs can even kill the hungry, the sick and the ignorant, but they cannot kill hunger, disease and ignorance..”
  • He (Jesus Christ) was the first communist. He broke the bread, he broke the fish and turned the water into wine.”
  • It is preferable to die by fire, in combat, than to die at home, by hunger.”
  • I came to the conclusion, maybe a little late, that speeches should be short.”
  • Ideas don't need guns if they can convince the broad masses.”
  • A revolution is not a bed of roses. It's a fight to the death between the future and the past.”
  • Condemn me, it doesn't matter. history will absolve me.”
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