Fidel Castro

Fidel Castro
Castro visiting the United States in 1959
17th President of Cuba
In office December 2, 1976 – February 24, 2008 (on medical leave from July 31, 2006)
Prime Minister	Himself
Vice President	Raúl Castro
Preceded by	Osvaldo Dorticós Torrado
Succeeded by	Raúl Castro
First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Cuba
In office June 24, 1961 – April 19, 2011
Deputy	Raúl Castro
Preceded by	Blas Roca Calderio
Succeeded by	Raúl Castro
President of the Council of Ministers of Cuba
In office December 2, 1976 – February 24, 2008 (Medical leave starting July 31, 2006)
President	Himself
Preceded by	Himself (as Prime Minister)
Succeeded by	Raúl Castro
16th Prime Minister of Cuba
In office February 16, 1959 – December 2, 1976
President	Manuel Urrutia Lleó Osvaldo Dorticós Torrado
Preceded by	José Miró Cardona
Succeeded by	Himself (as President of Council of Ministers)
7th & 23rd Secretary-General of the Non-Aligned Movement
In office September 16, 2006 – February 24, 2008
Preceded by	Abdullah Ahmad Badawi
Succeeded by	Raúl Castro
In office September 10, 1979 – March 6, 1983
Preceded by	Junius Richard Jayawardene
Succeeded by	Neelam Sanjiva Reddy
Personal details
Born	Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz August 13, 1926 Birán, Holguin Province, Cuba
Died	November 25, 2016(2016-11-25) (aged 90) Havana, Cuba
Resting place	Santa Ifigenia Cemetery, Santiago de Cuba
Political party	Orthodox Party (1946–52) 26th of July Movement (1953–65) Communist Party of Cuba (1965–2016)
Spouse(s)	Mirta Diaz-Balart (1948–55) Dalia Soto del Valle (1980–2016; his death)
Relations	Raúl, Ramon, Juanita
Children	11, including Alina Fernández
Residence	Santiago de Cuba
Alma mater	University of Havana
Profession	Lawyer
Signature
Presidential powers were transferred to Raúl Castro from July 31, 2006.

Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz (American Spanish: [fiˈðel aleˈhandɾo ˈkastɾo ˈrus]  audio ; August 13, 1926 – November 25, 2016) was a Cuban revolutionary and politician 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 were implemented throughout society.

Born in Birán, Oriente as the son of a wealthy Spanish 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 came to oppose Castro's government, 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 Soviet Union and allowed the Soviets to place nuclear weapons in Cuba, sparking the Cuban Missile Crisis—a defining incident of the Cold War—in 1962.