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Fidel Castro

Cuban politician, author and revolutionary (1926-2016) · Cuba · Politicians · Died at 90

Fidel Castro is read about 8,293 times a day, in 157 languages.

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Led Cuba for nearly five decades as a Marxist revolutionary who turned the island into a one-party communist state ninety miles from the United States, survived assassination attempts and an economic embargo, and placed Soviet nuclear weapons on Cuban soil in 1962.

PoliticiansPoliticianPoliticsLawJournalismFoundersMovies20th Century

A life in dates

2016Died25 November 20162014Confucius Peace PrizeAward2009Order of the QuetzalAward2006Secretary General of the Non-Aligned MovementOffice2006-20082001Order of the Crown of the RealmAward2000Order of Prince Yaroslav the Wise, 1st classAward1998Order of Merit of Duarte, Sanchez and MellaAward1992Order of Agostinho NetoAward1988Grand Cross of the Order of the Aztec EagleAward1986Order of LeninAward1979Secretary General of the Non-Aligned MovementOffice1979-19831977Order of MeritAward1976President of CubaOffice1976-20081975Jubilee Medal "Thirty Years of Victory in the Great Patriotic War 1941-1945"Award1972Grand Star of People's FriendshipAwardOrder of LeninAward1963Hero of the Soviet UnionAward1961“A revolution is not a trail of roses.... A revolution is a fight to the death between the future and the past.”In their words2 January 1961Speech on the second anniversary of the triumph of the revolution (2 January 1961)

First Secretary of the Communist Party of CubaOffice1961-20111959“I am not a dictator, and I do not think I will become one. I will not maintain power with a machine gun.”In their words24 May 1959I Won't Be a Dictator, interview with Ruth Lloyd (January 1959), printed in The Spokesman-Review (24 May 1959)

“Weapons for what? (¿Armas, para qué?) To fight against whom? Against the revolutionary government, that has the support of the whole people? ... Weapons for what?”In their words8 January 1959Speech in Havana (8 January 1959)

“The American people, I think, is good people.”In their wordsFidel Castro after visiting the United Nations in New York (1959)

“I am not a communist and neither is the revolutionary movement, but we do not have to say that we are anticommunists just to fawn on foreign powers.”In their words17 July 1959Resignation announcement (17 July 1959)

Order of the NileAwardPrime Minister of CubaOffice1959-20081953“I feel my belief in sacrifice and struggle getting stronger. I despise the kind of existence that clings to the miserly trifles of comfort and self-interest.”In their words19 December 1953Letter from prison (19 December 1953)

1926Born13 August 1926

Also in Deutsch

Photos 12

Fidel's parents, Ángel Castro y Argiz and Lina Ruz GonzálezFidel's parents, Ángel Castro y Argiz and Lina Ruz GonzálezCastro, second from left, at Colegio de Belén, Havana, 1943Castro, second from left, at Colegio de Belén, Havana, 1943Castro intended to overthrow the presidency of General Fulgencio Batista, left, with US Army Chief of Staff Malin Craig, in 1938.Castro intended to overthrow the presidency of General Fulgencio Batista, left, with US Army Chief of Staff Malin Craig, in 1938.Castro under arrest after the Moncada attack, 1953Castro under arrest after the Moncada attack, 1953Fidel Castro and his men in the Sierra Maestra, 2 December 1956Fidel Castro and his men in the Sierra Maestra, 2 December 1956The thickly forested mountain range of the Sierra Maestra, from where Castro and his revolutionaries led guerrilla attacks against Batista's forces for two years. Castro biographer Robert E. Quirk noted that there was "no better place to hide" in all the island.[85]The thickly forested mountain range of the Sierra Maestra, from where Castro and his revolutionaries led guerrilla attacks against Batista's forces for two years. Castro biographer Robert E. Quirk noted that there was "no better place to hide" in all the island.[85]

In their own words 10

,
Fidel Castro
,
10 statements, newest first

  1. A revolution is not a trail of roses.... A revolution is a fight to the death between the future and the past.

    Jan 2, 1961, Speech on the second anniversary of the triumph of the revolution (2 January 1961), Own words

  2. I am not a dictator, and I do not think I will become one. I will not maintain power with a machine gun.

    May 24, 1959, I Won't Be a Dictator, interview with Ruth Lloyd (January 1959), printed in The Spokesman-Review (24 May 1959), Own words

  3. Weapons for what? (¿Armas, para qué?) To fight against whom? Against the revolutionary government, that has the support of the whole people? ... Weapons for what?

    Jan 8, 1959, Speech in Havana (8 January 1959), Own words

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Awards

Confucius Peace Prize2014
Order of Merit, 1st class2010
Order of Timor-Leste2010
Order of the Quetzal2009
Order of the Companions of O. R. Tambo2009
Order of Omar Torrijos Herrera2009
Order of the Crown of the Realm2001
Order of Prince Yaroslav the Wise, 1st class2000
Order of the Liberator2000
Emblem of the Republic2000
Order of Belize1999
Order of Merit of Duarte, Sanchez and Mella1998
Grand Collar of the Order of Good Hope1998
Grand Cross of the National Order of Mali1998
Order of Agostinho Neto1992
Order of Hồ Chí Minh1989
Grand Cross of the Order of the Aztec Eagle1988
Order of Eduardo Mondlane, 1st class1988
Order of Karl Marx1986
Order of Klement Gottwald1986
Order of Lenin1986
Order of the Yugoslavian Great Star1986
Order of Jamaica1977
Order of Merit1977
Order of the October Revolution1976
Jubilee Medal "Thirty Years of Victory in the Great Patriotic War 1941-1945"1975
Grand Cross of the Order of Polonia Restituta1973
Order of Lenin1972
Collar of the Order of the White Lion1972
Star of the Socialist Republic of Romania1972
Order of Georgi Dimitrov1972
Grand Star of People's Friendship1972
Order of Lenin1963
Hero of the Soviet Union1963
Lenin Peace Prize1961
Bintang Mahaputera Adipurna1960
Order of the Nile1959
Al-Gaddafi International Prize for Human Rights
Honorary Doctorate of the National University of San Marcos
Order of José Martí

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Fidel Castro

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About this person

Born in 1926 to a wealthy Spanish farmer in Birán, Castro studied law at the University of Havana and adopted leftist anti-imperialist ideas. After a failed 1953 attack on the Moncada Barracks and imprisonment, he went to Mexico and formed the 26th of July Movement with his brother Raúl and Che Guevara. The group waged guerrilla war from the Sierra Maestra and overthrew Fulgencio Batista in 1959. As prime minister and later president, Castro nationalized industry, expanded healthcare and education, suppressed internal dissent, and aligned with the Soviet Union through the Cuban Missile Crisis and Cold War. He backed Marxist governments abroad and sent troops to conflicts in Angola, Ethiopia, and the Middle East. After the Soviet collapse in 1991, he navigated Cuba through economic hardship and later allied with Hugo Chávez's Venezuela. Castro transferred power to Raúl in 2006 and died in November 2016 at ninety, leaving a polarized legacy as either champion of anti-imperialism or authoritarian ruler.

Country
Cuba
Category
Politicians
Type
Politician
Status
deceased
Dates
Lived 1926 to 2016 · aged 90

In common with Fidel

Hillary ClintonAlso in Nixon (1995)George H. W. BushAlso in Nixon (1995)Idi AminAlso in General Idi Amin Dada (1974)Ronald ReaganAlso in Nixon (1995)Larry HagmanAlso in Nixon (1995)Barbet SchroederAlso in General Idi Amin Dada (1974)

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