Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz was a revolutionary & politician who was Prime Minister of Cuba (1959-76) & President (1976-2008). He also served as the Commander in Chief of the Cuban Revolutionary Armed Forces (1959-2008) & as the First Secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba (1961-2011). Politically a Marxist-Leninist, under his administration the Republic of Cuba became a one-party socialist state. Industry & businesses were nationalized, & socialist reforms implemented in all areas of society. Internationally, Castro was also Secretary-General of the Non-Aligned Movement (1979-83 & 2006-08). Illegitimate son of a wealthy 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 & Colombia, he planned the overthrow of the USA-backed military junta of Cuban president Fulgencio Batista, & served a year's imprisonment in 1953 after a failed attack on the Moncada Barracks. On release he went to Mexico, where he formed a revolutionary group with his brother Raúl & friend Dr. Che Guevara, the 26th of July Movement. Returning to Cuba, he led the revolution which ousted Batista in 1959, & brought his own assumption of military & political power. Alarmed by his revolutionary credentials & cordial relations with the USSR, the Eisenhower & Kennedy administrations unsuccessfully attempted to remove him by economic blockade, assassination & counter-revolution, including the Bay of Pigs invasion of 1961. Countering these threats, Castro formed an economic & military alliance with the Soviets, & allowed them to place nuclear weapons on the island, sparking the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962. In 1961 Castro proclaimed the socialist nature of his administration, with Cuba becoming a one-party state under Communist Party rule; the first of its kind in the western hemisphere. Socialist reforms introducing central economic planning & expanding healthcare & education were accompanied by state control of the press & suppression of internal dissent. Abroad, Castro supported foreign revolutionary groups in the hope of toppling world capitalism, sending Cuban troops to fight in the Yom Kippur War, Ogaden War & Angolan Civil War. Following the USSR's dissolution in 1991, Castro led Cuba into its economic "Special Period", before forging alliances in the Latin American Pink Tide–-namely with Hugo Chávez' Venezuela–-& joining the Bolivarian Alliance for the Americas in 2006. Due to failing health, in 2006 he transferred his responsibilities to Vice-President Raúl Castro, who assumed the presidency in 2008. Castro was a controversial & divisive world figure, lauded by his supporters as a champion of socialism, anti-imperialism, humanitarianism & environmentalism, viewed by his critics as a dictator who's overseen multiple human-rights abuses, an exodus of over a million Cubans & the impoverishment of the country's economy. Thrugh his actions & writings he significantly influenced the politics of various individuals & groups across the world.
Prime Minister of Cuba from 1959 to 1976 and President of Cuba since 1976.
Rarely sleeps more than three or four hours a day.
Hobbies are fishing, hunting and reading.
Fluent in English, but refuses to speak it anymore, even in public or private interviews because he considers it to be "the language of his enemies."
Lived with Celia Sanchez, an upper-class Cuban woman and devoted guerrilla leader for almost 30 years. Sanchez, the love of his life, was also the only one who could disagree with him. Her death from cancer in 1980 was said to hurt him very hard.
According to some reports, Castro was born in 1927, however due to the fact that he was too young to enroll at a school, he changed his year of birth to 1926 so that he could enter the school. 26 also happens to be his lucky number.
His brother Raul Castro is next in line to rule if he were to die. Raul has ruled Cuba as regent since Castro became ill in July 2006.
Was a good friend of the late Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau and late author Ernest Hemingway.
Famous admirers include Ted Turner , Jack Nicholson , Danny Glover , Harry Belafonte , Steven Spielberg , Chevy Chase , Leonardo DiCaprio , Vanessa Redgrave , Robert Redford , Dan Rather , Peter Jennings and Oliver Stone.
Enterting law school at the University of Havana, he became involved in the political culture there.
Was impersonated by Jackie Wright on "The Benny Hill Show"
Quit smoking cigars in 1986.
On 20 October 2004, he fell off a stage following a speech he gave at a rally. The fall fractured his knee and arm. He underwent three hours and 15 minutes of surgery to repair his left kneecap, which was fractured into eight pieces.
Underwent major surgery for an intestinal illness in July 2006. His brother Raul has temporarily ruled the country since then to this date. The illness is widely believed to be cancer, though he has denied this.
Born to ngel Mara Bautista Castro y Argiz (5 December 1875-1821 October 1956), a Galician immigrant who became a prosperous farmer, and his later wife Lina Ruz Gonzlez, a household servant, he had five older siblings from his fathers first marriage with Mara Argota Reyes: Manuel (1913-1914), Mara Lila Perfidia (born in 1913), Pedro Emilio (born in 1914), Antonia Mara Dolores (born in 1915) and Georgina de la Caridad (born in 1918) Castro Argota. From his parents marriage, he had two older and four younger siblings: ngela Mara (born on 2 April 1923 died in 2012), Ramn Eusebio (born on 14 October 1924-23 February 2016), Ral Modesto (born on 3 June 1931), Juana de la Caridad (born on 6 May 1933) (aka Juanita Castro ), Emma Concepcin (born on 2 January 1935) and Agustina del Carmen (born on 28 August 1938-26 March 2017 Cuba) Castro Ruz, all born before wedlock.
Has one son from his first marriage, Fidel ngel Castro Daz-Balart (born on 1 September 1949), and an illegitimate daughter from his relationship with Natalia Revuelta Clews, wife of Orlando Fernndez: Alina Fernndez Revuelta (born on 19 March 1956). From his second marriage to Dalia Soto del Valle, he has five sons called Antonio, Alejandro, Alexis, Alex e Angel Castro Soto del Valle as well as a son by an unknown mother, Jorge Angel Castro.
A close friend and ally of Hugo Chvez and Evo Morales.
Announced that he would resign as president and commander-in-chief (19 February 2008).
Has an estimated net worth of $ 900 million, according to Forbes magazine.
Is portrayed by Jack Palance in Che! and Anthony LaPaglia in Company Man .
Brother of Ral Castro.
Loved to play baseball, and while living in the United States, was invited to try out for the Washington Senators. He failed to make the cut, however, and went to law school instead.
While attending The University of Havana in 1946, he worked as an extra in several Hollywood Films including "Holiday Inn Mexico" and "Easy To Wed both starring Esther Williams.
He is broached in Billy Joels "We Didnt Start The Fire.".
[from a 1957 NY Times interview] Power does not interest me. After,victory I want to go back to my village and just be a lawyer again.
[text from a famous 1953 speech. The last line is considered his most,famous quote ever] "I know that imprisonment will be harder for me than,it has ever been for anyone, filled with cowardly threats and hideous,cruelty. But I do not fear prison, as I do not fear the fury of the,miserable tyrant who took the lives of 70 of my comrades. Condemn me.
I am not a communist and neither is the revolutionary movement.
The revenues of Cuban state-run companies are used exclusively for the,benefit of the people, to whom they belong.
There is nothing that compares to the Holocaust.
A revolution is not a bed of roses.
I am Fidel Castro and we have come to liberate Cuba.
The universities are available only to those who share my revolutionary,beliefs.
I am a Marxist Leninist and I will be one until the last day of my life.
I think that a man should not live beyond the age when he begins to,deteriorate, when the flame that lighted the brightest moment of his,life has weakened.
Capitalism is using its money; we socialists throw it away.
I neither will aspire to nor will I accept, the position of president of,the council of state and commander in chief.
A revolution is a struggle to the death between the future and the past.
I find capitalism repugnant. It is filthy, it is gross, it is,alienating. . . because it causes war, hypocrisy and competition.
There is not Communism or Marxism, but representative democracy and,social justice in a well-planned economy.
I began revolution with 82 men. If I had to do it again, I do it with 10,or 15 and absolute faith. It does not matter how small you are if you,have faith and plan of action.
They talk about the failure of socialism but where is the success of,capitalism in Africa, Asia and Latin America?,I never saw a contradiction between the ideas that sustain me and the,ideas of that symbol, of that extraordinary figure, Jesus Christ.
The revolution is a dictatorship of the exploited against the,exploiters.
Men do not shape destiny, Destiny produces the man for the hour.
No thieves, no traitors, no interventionists! This time the revolution,is for real!,More than 820 million people in the world suffer from hunger; and 790,million of them live in the Third World.
Propaganda is vital--propaganda is the heart of our struggle.
. . . . Kebenaran tidak perlu di iklankan. . .
Ignorance is the root of many ills. Knowledge must be the fundamental ally of nations that aspire, despite all their tragedies and problems, to become truly emancipated, to build a better world.
A revolution is not a bed of roses. A revolution is a struggle between the future and the past.
The ever more sophisticated weapons piling up in the arsenals of the wealthiest and the mightiest can kill the illiterate, the ill, the poor and the hungry, but they cannot kill ignorance, illness, poverty or hunger.
The fact is, when men carry the same ideals in their hearts, nothing can isolate them - neither prison walls nor the sod of cemeteries. For single memory, a single spirit, a single idea, a single conscience, a single dignity will sustain them all.
If people call me Christian, not from the standpoint of religion but from the standpoint of social vision, I declare that I am a Christian.
I know that imprisonment will be harder for me than it has ever been for anyone, filled with cowardly threats and hideous cruelty. But I do not fear prison, as I do not fear the fury of the miserable tyrant who took the lives of 70 of my comrades. Condemn me. It does not matter. History will absolve me.
There is often talk of human rights, but it is also necessary to talk of the rights of humanity. Why should some people walk barefoot, so that others can travel in luxurious cars? Why should some live for thirty-five years, so that others can live for seventy years? Why should some be miserably poor, so that others can be hugely rich? I speak on behalf of the children in the world who do not have a piece of bread. I speak on the behalf of the sick who have no medicine, of those whose rights to life and human dignity have been denied.
. . . quality of life lies in knowledge, in culture. Values are what constitute true quality of life, the supreme quality of life, even above food, shelter and clothing.
The people respect and believe in men who fulfill their duty.
We have always been prepared to negotiate with the U. S. government everything that has to do with bilateral relations, on a basis of the strictest mutual respect for the sovereign rights of each country. We will never try to ask the government of the United States to change its economic and political system.
The equal right of all citizens to health, education, work, food, security, culture, science, and wellbeing - that is, the same rights we proclaimed when we began our struggle, in addition to those which emerge from our dreams of justice and equality for all inhabitants of our world - is what I wish for all.
I find capitalism repugnant. It is filthy, it is gross, it is alienating. . . because it causes war, hypocrisy and competition.
They talk about the failure of socialism but where is the success of capitalism in Africa, Asia and Latin America?,At the age of 6, a teacher full of ambitions, who taught in the small public school of Biran, convinced my family that I should travel to Santiago de Cuba to accompany my older sister who would enter a highly prestigious convent school. Including me was a skill of that very teacher from the little school in Biran.
A revolution is a struggle to the death between the future and the past.
Chinese combatants, men and women, inheritors of a millennial culture, are people of uncommon intelligence and an invincible spirit of struggle.
Our position is that we do not accept conditions of any kind which may affect the independence and sovereignty of our country just with the view to solve economic problems existing between the United States and Cuba.
The people of Egypt are an intelligent people with a glorious history who left their mark on civilization.
Condemn me. It does not matter. History will absolve me.
I began revolution with 82 men. If I had to do it again, I do it with 10 or 15 and absolute faith. It does not matter how small you are if you have faith and plan of action.
Religious faith, like political belief, should be based on reasoning, on the development of thought and feelings. The two things are inseparable.
The revolution is a dictatorship of the exploited against the exploiters.
The revenues of Cuban state-run companies are used exclusively for the benefit of the people, to whom they belong.
Men do not shape destiny, Destiny produces the man for the hour.
The fact is, when men carry the same ideals in their hearts, nothing can isolate them - neither prison walls nor the sod of cemeteries. For a single memory, a single spirit, a single idea, a single conscience, a single dignity will sustain them all. .
