Fidel Castro

Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz was a Cuban revolutionary and statesman who governed Cuba from 1959 to 2008. Serving first as prime minister and later as president, Castro oversaw the transformation of Cuba into a one-party socialist state governed by the Communist Party. A central figure of the Cold War, he became one of the most influential and controversial leaders of the twentieth century, admired by supporters as a champion of anti-imperialism and social equality, and criticised by opponents as an authoritarian leader whose policies curtailed political freedoms.
Born into a prosperous farming family, Castro developed radical political convictions during his university years. He became involved in student activism, anti-imperialist movements, and armed resistance to dictatorships in Latin America. His leadership of the 26th of July Movement and subsequent victory in the Cuban Revolution turned him into a global icon of revolutionary politics.

Early Life and Education

Castro was born on 13 August 1926 at his father’s sugar plantation near Birán in eastern Cuba. His father, Ángel Castro y Argiz, had emigrated from Galicia in Spain and became a successful landowner. Fidel was one of seven children born to Ángel Castro and Lina Ruz González, whom Ángel later married after his first marriage ended.
At the age of six he was sent to Santiago de Cuba to live with a teacher before being baptised Roman Catholic at eight, enabling him to attend Catholic schools. His early education took place at the La Salle boarding school and later at the Jesuit-run Dolores School in Santiago. In 1942 he transferred to the prestigious Colegio de Belén in Havana, where he showed interest in history, debate, and sport, though his academic performance was unremarkable.
In 1945 he entered the University of Havana to study law. The campus was a centre of political turmoil, and Castro became heavily involved in student activism, confronting corruption and violence in national politics. He criticised the administration of President Ramón Grau and unsuccessfully ran for student-union office on a platform advocating honesty and reform. During this time he carried a gun for protection as clashes between rival groups increased, though accusations that he participated in gang murders remain unproven.

Early Revolutionary Activities, 1947–1952

Castro’s political outlook shifted further to the left during his university years. Influenced by anti-imperialist sentiment and the writings of Marx, Engels, and Lenin, he viewed Cuba’s social problems as rooted in capitalist structures. His involvement in extra-national political struggles began in 1947 when he joined the Cayo Confites expedition, which aimed unsuccessfully to overthrow Rafael Trujillo in the Dominican Republic.
Returning to Havana, Castro continued involvement in protests, including demonstrations against police violence and student fare increases. In 1948 he travelled to Bogotá, Colombia, at the time of intense political unrest. The assassination of Jorge Eliécer Gaitán sparked the Bogotazo riots, during which Castro briefly affiliated with Colombian Liberal activists. After returning to Cuba he married Mirta Díaz-Balart, whose affluent family exposed him to the lifestyle of the Cuban elite, although the union was opposed by both families.
During the late 1940s political violence in Cuba escalated as gang influence spread within the state. Castro remained active in the Orthodox Party, which sought social justice and political transparency. The party’s founder, Eduardo Chibás, inspired a generation of reform-oriented students, including Castro, whose early speeches increasingly emphasised socioeconomic inequality. By the end of the decade, Castro saw revolutionary action as the necessary path to political change.

Emergence as a Revolutionary Leader

In the early 1950s, Cuba came under the increasingly authoritarian rule of Fulgencio Batista. Castro regarded legal and institutional avenues for reform as blocked and began organising armed resistance. In 1953 he led a group of revolutionaries in an attack on the Moncada Barracks in Santiago de Cuba. Although the assault failed and many participants were killed or captured, the event cemented Castro’s status as a revolutionary figure. His subsequent trial speech, later published as History Will Absolve Me, articulated his political vision and helped gain public sympathy.
After serving a year in prison, Castro went into exile in Mexico. There he formed the 26th of July Movement with his brother Raúl Castro and the Argentine revolutionary Ernesto “Che” Guevara. In late 1956 the group sailed to Cuba and launched a guerrilla campaign from the Sierra Maestra mountains. Over the next two years Castro’s forces gained popular support, expanded their operations, and weakened Batista’s regime.

Leader of Revolutionary Cuba, 1959–2008

Batista fled Cuba on 1 January 1959, and Castro quickly assumed military and political control, becoming prime minister. His government nationalised industries, redistributed land, and implemented widespread social reforms. By 1965 Cuba had formally adopted a Marxist–Leninist political structure with Castro as First Secretary of the Communist Party.
Relations with the United States deteriorated rapidly due to nationalisation policies and ideological conflict. The failed Bay of Pigs invasion in 1961 and numerous covert operations heightened tensions. In 1962 Castro permitted the Soviet Union to deploy nuclear missiles in Cuba, triggering the Cuban Missile Crisis, one of the most perilous moments of the Cold War.
Domestically, Cuba pursued universal access to healthcare and education, achieving notable gains in literacy and medical provision. However, these policies were paired with restrictions on press freedom, political opposition, and civil liberties.

International Influence and Cold War Involvement

Castro actively supported global anti-imperialist and socialist movements. Cuba provided material, military, and medical assistance to revolutionary groups and left-leaning governments in Latin America, Africa, and the Middle East. Cuban forces participated in conflicts including the Angolan Civil War, the Ogaden War, and the Yom Kippur War.
From 1979 to 1983 Castro chaired the Non-Aligned Movement, helping elevate Cuba’s international standing. Medical missions and education exchanges further enhanced Cuba’s global profile.

Later Years and the Special Period

The collapse of the Soviet Union deprived Cuba of its primary economic partner and plunged the country into severe hardship during the Special Period of the 1990s. Castro’s government adopted elements of environmentalism and limited market reforms while maintaining its socialist framework.
In the 2000s he cultivated alliances with the left-wing governments of the Latin American “pink tide,” including Hugo Chávez’s Venezuela. In 2006 he transferred presidential duties to his brother Raúl Castro due to ill health. Raúl formally succeeded him in 2008.
Fidel Castro died on 25 November 2016, having served longer than any other non-royal head of state in the twentieth and early twenty-first centuries.
Castro remains a polarising figure. To admirers he advanced social justice, national independence, and global solidarity; to critics he embodied authoritarianism, economic mismanagement, and suppression of dissent. His influence on Cuba and international politics continues to shape historical and political discourse.