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Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz [a] (/ ˈ k æ s t r oʊ / KASS-troh, [1] Latin American Spanish: [fiˈðel aleˈxandɾo ˈkastɾo ˈrus]; 13 August 1926 – 25 November 2016) was a Cuban revolutionary and politician who was the leader of Cuba from 1959 to 2008, serving as the prime minister of Cuba from 1959 to 1976 and president from 1976 to 2008.
In the months following the March 10, 1952 coup d'état, Fidel Castro, then a young lawyer and activist, put into motion a lawsuit against Batista, whom he accused of corruption and tyranny. However, Castro's constitutional arguments were rejected by the Cuban courts, as the coup was perceived as being a "de facto, revolutionary overturn of the ...
1959–2000 assassination attempts on Fidel Castro; 1959 Cambodia, Bangkok Plot; 1960 Congo coup d'état; 1961 Cuba, Bay of Pigs Invasion; 1961 Cuba, Operation Mongoose; 1961 Dominican Republic; 1963 South Vietnamese coup d'état; 1964 Brazilian coup d'état; 1965–66 Indonesia, Transition to the New Order; 1966 Ghanaian coup d'état; 1971 ...
In March 1952, Cuban military general Fulgencio Batista seized power in a military coup, with the elected President Carlos Prío Socarrás fleeing to Mexico. Declaring himself president, Batista cancelled the planned presidential elections, describing his new system as "disciplined democracy"; Castro, like many others, considered it a one-man dictatorship. [1]
After the Cuban Revolution and Fidel Castro's rise to power, American relations with Cuba became increasingly hostile. American forces trained, supplied, and supported the Cuban exiles who attempted to overthrow Castro in the Bay of Pigs Invasion of 1961, but the invasion was defeated and Castro retained control.
When Castro travelled abroad, the CIA cooperated with Cuban exiles for some of the more serious assassination attempts. The last documented attempt on Castro's life was in 2000, and involved placing 90 kg of explosives under a podium in Panama where he would give a talk. Castro’s personal security team discovered the explosives before he arrived.
The beliefs of Fidel Castro during the revolution have been the subject of much historical debate. Fidel Castro was openly ambiguous about his beliefs at the time. Some orthodox historians argue Castro was a communist from the beginning with a long-term plan; however, others have argued he had no strong ideological loyalties.
Already, Fidel Castro was known as, and addressed as, the commander-in-chief of Cuban Armed Forces, with a nominal base at "Point One" in Havana. In early April 1961, his brother Raúl Castro was assigned command of forces in the east, based in Santiago de Cuba. Che Guevara commanded western forces, based in Pinar del Río.