Fidel Castro (13 August 1926 – 25 November 2016) was the President of Cuba from 2 January 1959 to 24 February 2008, succeeding Fulgencio Batista and preceding Raul Castro. Castro led the Cuban Revolution in 1953-1959 and overthrew the Batista dictatorship, and he established a communist state to replace the pro-United States government, nationalizing the US cigar and fruit industries and creating an isolated leftist island republic. He resigned from office in 2008 after almost 50 years in power, and his younger brother Raul Castro assumed power.
Biography[]
Castro and his followers in the jungle
Fidel Castro was born on 13 August 1926 in Biran, Cuba, the son of a wealthy farmer. He was the brother of Raul Castro. While studying law at the University of Havana, he became a communist, and in 1947 he took part in a planned coup against Rafael Trujillo and traveled to Colombia in the late 1940s to assist in another communist coup. Castro was inspired by revolutions against dictatorships, and in 1953 he decided to lead an attack on the Moncada Barracks against Fulgencio Batista's dictatorship. The attack failed, and he was imprisoned by Batista's dictatorship for his failed coup. Batista later had him released in an amnesty, and Castro famously stated, "History will absolve me." Castro lived abroad in Mexico for five years, where he met several other communists. Founding the 26th of July Movement - named for the date of the Moncada Barracks attack - Castro began another uprising against the Cuban Army in 1958 alongside Argentine guerrilla Che Guevara and other communist fighters, and he began the Cuban Revolution against Batista. After the Battle of Santa Clara in 1959, Castro was able to overwhelm Batista's forces, and on 1 January 1959 the communists entered the capital of Havana and forced Batista to resign. Castro and his forces assumed power in Cuba, exiling or imprisoning the wealthy people and bringing the poor peasants to power. Castro nationalized American industries in the country, including the cigar and fruit companies, and he purchased oil from the USSR - this led to the US president John F. Kennedy authorizing several assassination attempts against Castro. Exploding cigars, syphilis-infected prostitutes, assassins disguised as servants, and a Mafia plan all failed, and the Escambray Rebellion of anti-communists was crushed. The 1960 Bay of Pigs invasion by CIA-trained Cuban exiles was also defeated, and Castro consolidated his control over Cuba.
Castro established closer relations with the USSR in the 1960s, allowing the Soviets to place Medium-range ballistic missiles in Cuba, which was only 90 miles away from the United States state of Florida. This led to the tense Cuban Missile Crisis, and it was feared that a nuclear third world war would break out between the USA and USSR following airstrikes against the Soviet missiles in Cuba. The missile crisis was brought to an end after a US blockade and the agreement of the Americans and Soviets to remove their missiles from Turkey and Cuba, respectively, and Castro was granted a promise by President John F. Kennedy that the United States would not invade Cuba again. Castro's Cuba quickly became the symbol of communism in Latin America, as it funded several revolutionary movements in nearby countries to overthrow pro-US dictatorships. In addition, Cuban troops were sent to Africa in the Congo Crisis of the early 1960s, as well as fighting in the Angolan Civil War and the Ogaden War. Under Castro, Cuba was involved in supporting many revolutions overseas, but the revolution did not go so well back at home. The United States' economic sanctions led to an embargo against Cuba that lasted until 2014, and the Cuban people suffered. Crime rates went up as Cubans became very poor, and many of them attempted to flee to Florida on refugee rafts, with some drowning in the process. Poorly-made Russian shoes and cars were the only vehicles that Cubans could rely on, and the embargo took its toll.
Castro's rule would come to an end in 2008 with his resignation as President, passing power to his younger brother Raul. His old age was a major factor in his resignation, and Cuba was liberalized under his brother, who re-established relations with the United States in 2014 in the "Cuban Thaw with President Barack Obama. Despite Raul being the leader of Cuba, Fidel was still respected by his people; on the other hand, the Cuban diaspora, typically very conservative and very religious, despised Castro, with some Cuban exiles forming terrorist groups that bombed Cuban planes and embassies. Castro died on 25 November 2016 at the age of 90, and most countries around the world offered their condolences and praise. However, US president Donald Trump insulted Castro with his statement, and many Cuban-Americans celebrated his death, claiming that he was a thief, murderer, and dictator.
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