Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz (Spanish: [fiˈðel ˈkastro]; born August
13, 1926) is a Cuban revolutionary and politician, having held the position of
Prime Minister of Cuba from 1959 to 1976, and then President from 1976 to 2008.
He also served as the First Secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba from the
party's foundation in 1961 until 2011. Politically a Marxist-Leninist, under
his administration the Republic of Cuba was converted into a one-party
socialist state, with industry and business being nationalised under state
ownership and socialist reforms implemented in all areas of society.
Born the illegitimate son of a wealthy farmer, Castro became
involved in leftist anti-imperialist politics whilst studying law at the
University of Havana. Subsequently involving himself in armed rebellions
against right wing governments in the Dominican Republic and Colombia, he went
on to conclude that the U.S.-backed Cuban President Fulgencio Batista, who was
widely seen as a dictator, had to be overthrown; to this end he led a failed
armed attack on the Moncada Barracks in 1953. Imprisoned for a year, he then
traveled to Mexico, and with the aid of his brother Raúl Castro and friend Che
Guevara, he assembled together a group of Cuban revolutionaries, the July 26
Movement. Returning with them to Cuba, he took a key role in the Cuban
Revolution, leading a successful guerrilla war against Batista's forces, with
Batista himself fleeing into exile in 1959.
Castro subsequently became Commander in Chief of the armed forces
and shortly thereafter became Prime Minister. His involvement in the overthrow
of Batista, as well as a suspected relationship with Soviet Premier Nikita
Khrushchev, alarmed the United States, who through the CIA organised the failed
Bay of Pigs invasion in 1961 to overthrow his government, before proceeding to
orchestrate repeated assassination attempts against him and implement an
economic blockade of Cuba. To counter this threat, Castro forged an alliance
with the Soviet Union and allowed them to store nuclear weapons on the island,
leading to the events of the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962. Adopting
Marxism-Leninism as his guiding ideology, in 1961 Castro proclaimed the
socialist nature of the Cuban revolution, and in 1965 became First Secretary of
the newly founded Communist Party, with all other parties being abolished. He
then led the transformation of Cuba into a socialist republic, nationalising
industry and introducing free universal healthcare and education, as well as
suppressing internal opposition. A keen internationalist, Castro then
introduced Cuban medical brigades who worked throughout the developing world,
and aided a number of foreign revolutionary socialist groups in the hope of
toppling world capitalism.
In 1976 he became President of the Council of State as well as of
the Council of Ministers. On the international stage, he held the post of
Secretary-General of the Non-Aligned Movement from 1979 to 1983. Following the
collapse of key ally the Soviet Union in 1991, Castro led Cuba into its economic
"Special Period", before then taking the country into the Bolivarian
Alliance for the Americas in 2006 and forging economic and political alliances
with other nations in the Latin American "Pink Tide". Amidst failing
health, in 2006 Castro transferred his responsibilities to Vice-President Raúl
Castro, who was then elected President when Fidel stepped down in 2008.
Castro is a controversial and highly divisive world figure, being
lauded as a champion of anti-imperialism, humanitarianism, environmentalism and
the world's poor by his supporters, but alternately his critics have accused
him of being a dictator whose authoritarian administration has overseen
multiple human rights abuses. Nonetheless, he has had a significant influence
on the politics of a number of other world leaders, namely Nelson Mandela, Hugo
Chávez and Evo Morales, and he is widely idolised by many leftists, socialists
and anti-imperialists across the world.
quoted from: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XTmdjugaevI
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