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Fidel Castro Fidel Castro This name uses Spanish naming customs: the first These actions, coupled with Castro’s leadership of the or paternal family name is Castro and the second or Non-Aligned Movement from 1979 to 1983 and Cuba’s maternal family name is Ruz. medical internationalism, increased Cuba’s profile on the world stage. Following the Soviet Union’s dissolution in 1991, Castro led Cuba into its "Special Period" and Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz (American Spanish: [fiˈðel aleˈhandɾo ˈkastɾo ˈrus] audio ; August 13, 1926 – embraced environmentalist and anti-globalization ideas. November 25, 2016) was a Cuban revolutionary and In the 2000s he forged alliances in the Latin American politician who governed the Republic of Cuba as Prime "pink tide"—namely with Hugo Chávez's Venezuela— Minister from 1959 to 1976 and then as President from and signed Cuba to the Bolivarian Alliance for the Amer- 1976 to 2008. Politically a Marxist–Leninist and Cuban icas. In 2006 he transferred his responsibilities to Vice- nationalist, he also served as the First Secretary of the President Raúl Castro, who was elected to the presidency Communist Party of Cuba from 1961 until 2011. Un- by the National Assembly in 2008. der his administration, Cuba became a one-party socialist Castro is a polarizing world figure. His supporters view state; industry and business were nationalized, and state him as a champion of socialism and anti-imperialism socialist reforms were implemented throughout society. whose revolutionary regime advanced economic and so- Born in Birán, Oriente as the son of a wealthy Span- cial justice while securing Cuba’s independence from ish farmer, Castro adopted leftist anti-imperialist politics American imperialism. Critics view him as a dictator while studying law at the University of Havana. After whose administration oversaw human-rights abuses, the participating in rebellions against right-wing governments exodus of a large number of Cubans, and the impoverish- in the Dominican Republic and Colombia, he planned the ment of the country’s economy. He was decorated with overthrow of Cuban President Fulgencio Batista, launch- various international awards and significantly influenced various individuals and groups across the world. ing a failed attack on the Moncada Barracks in 1953. Af- ter a year’s imprisonment, he traveled to Mexico where he formed a revolutionary group, the 26th of July Move- ment, with his brother Raúl Castro and Che Guevara. Re- 1 Biography turning to Cuba, Castro took a key role in the Cuban Rev- olution by leading the Movement in a guerrilla war against Main article: Early life of Fidel Castro 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 at- tempted to remove him by assassination, economic block- 1.1 Youth: 1926–1947 ade, and counter-revolution, including the Bay of Pigs In- vasion of 1961. Countering these threats, Castro formed Castro was born out of wedlock at his father’s farm on [1] an alliance with the Soviet Union and allowed the Soviets August 13, 1926. His father, Ángel Castro y Argiz, was [2] to place nuclear weapons on Cuba, sparking the Cuban a migrant to Cuba from Galicia, Northwest Spain. He Missile Crisis—a defining incident of the Cold War—in had become financially successful by growing sugar cane [3] 1962. at Las Manacas farm in Birán, Oriente Province, and after the collapse of his first marriage, he took his house- Adopting a Marxist–Leninist model of development, hold servant, Lina Ruz González - also of Spanish ori- Castro converted Cuba into a one-party, socialist state gin - as his mistress and later second wife; together they under Communist Party rule, the first in the Western had seven children, among them Fidel.[4] Aged six, Cas- Hemisphere. Policies introducing central economic plan- tro was sent to live with his teacher in Santiago de Cuba,[5] ning and expanding healthcare and education were ac- before being baptized into the Roman Catholic Church companied by state control of the press and the sup- at the age of eight.[6] Being baptized enabled Castro to pression of internal dissent. Abroad, Castro supported attend the La Salle boarding school in Santiago, where anti-imperialist revolutionary groups, backing the estab- he regularly misbehaved, so he was sent to the privately lishment of Marxist governments in Chile, Nicaragua, funded, Jesuit-run Dolores School in Santiago.[7] In 1945 and Grenada, and sending troops to aid allies in the he transferred to the more prestigious Jesuit-run El Cole- Yom Kippur War, Ogaden War, and Angolan Civil War. gio de Belén in Havana.[8] Although Castro took an inter- 1 2 1 BIOGRAPHY est in history, geography and debating at Belén, he did not and police in February 1948, in which Castro was badly excel academically, instead devoting much of his time to beaten.[24] At this point his public speeches took on a dis- playing sports.[9] tinctly leftist slant by condemning social and economic In 1945, Castro began studying law at the University of inequality in Cuba. In contrast, his former public criti- [10] cisms had centered on condemning corruption and U.S. Havana. Admitting he was “politically illiterate”, he [24] became embroiled in student activism,[11] and the violent imperialism. gangsterismo culture within the university.[12] Passionate In April 1948, Castro traveled to Bogotá, Colombia, about anti-imperialism and opposing U.S. intervention in with a Cuban student group sponsored by President Juan the Caribbean,[13] he unsuccessfully campaigned for the Perón's Argentine government. There, the assassina- presidency of the Federation of University Students on a tion of popular leftist leader Jorge Eliécer Gaitán Ayala platform of “honesty, decency and justice”.[14] Castro be- led to widespread rioting and clashes between the gov- came critical of the corruption and violence of President erning Conservatives – backed by the army – and left- Ramón Grau's government, delivering a public speech on ist Liberals.[25] Castro joined the Liberal cause by steal- the subject in November 1946 that received coverage on ing guns from a police station, but subsequent police the front page of several newspapers.[15] investigations concluded that he had not been involved [25] In 1947, Castro joined the Party of the Cuban Peo- in any killings. Returning to Cuba, Castro became a prominent figure in protests against government attempts ple (Partido Ortodoxo), founded by veteran politician [26] Eduardo Chibás. A charismatic figure, Chibás advocated to raise bus fares. That year, he married Mirta Díaz social justice, honest government, and political freedom, Balart, a student from a wealthy family through whom while his party exposed corruption and demanded re- he was exposed to the lifestyle of the Cuban elite. The form. Though Chibás came third in the 1948 general relationship was a love match, disapproved of by both election, Castro remained committed to working on his families, but Díaz Balart’s father gave them tens of thou- [16] sands of dollars to spend on a three-month New York City behalf. Student violence escalated after Grau em- [27] ployed gang leaders as police officers, and Castro soon honeymoon. received a death threat urging him to leave the univer- Marxism taught me what society was. I was like a blind- sity; refusing, he began carrying a gun and surrounding folded man in a forest, who doesn't even know where himself with armed friends.[17] In later years anti-Castro north or south is. If you don't eventually come to truly un- dissidents accused him of committing gang-related assas- derstand the history of the class struggle, or at least have a sinations at the time, but these remain unproven.[18] clear idea that society is divided between the rich and the poor, and that some people subjugate and exploit other people, you're lost in a forest, not knowing anything. 1.2 Rebellion and Marxism: 1947–1950 — Fidel Castro on discovering Marxism, 2009[28] I joined the people; I grabbed a rifle in a police station That same year, Grau decided not to stand for re-election, that collapsed when it was rushed by a crowd. I witnessed which was instead won by his Partido Auténtico's new can- the spectacle of a totally spontaneous revolution... [T]hat didate, Carlos Prío Socarrás.[29] Prío faced widespread experience led me to identify myself even more with the protests when members of the MSR, now allied to the po- cause of the people. My still incipient Marxist ideas had lice force, assassinated Justo Fuentes, a socialist friend of nothing to do with our conduct – it was a spontaneous Castro’s. In response, Prío agreed to quell the gangs, but reaction on our part, as young people with Martí-an, anti- found them too powerful to control.[30] Castro had moved imperialist, anti-colonialist and pro-democratic ideas. further to the left, influenced by the Marxist writings of Karl Marx, Friedrich Engels, and Vladimir Lenin. He — Fidel Castro on the Bogotazo, 2009[19] came to interpret Cuba’s problems as an integral part of In June 1947, Castro learned of a planned expedition to capitalist society, or the “dictatorship of the bourgeoisie”, overthrow the right-wing military junta of Rafael Tru- rather than the failings of corrupt politicians, and adopted jillo, a U.S. ally, in the Dominican Republic.[20] Be- the Marxist view that meaningful political change could ing President of the University Committee for Democ- only be brought about by proletariat revolution. Visiting racy in the Dominican Republic, Castro joined the Havana’s poorest neighborhoods, he became active in the expedition.[21] The military force consisted of around student anti-racist campaign.[31] 1,200 troops, mostly Cubans and exiled Dominicans, and In September 1949, Mirta gave birth to a son, Fidelito, so they intended to sail from Cuba in July 1947.
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