Wikipedia

Fidel Castro

Infobox President
name = Fidel Castro

caption = At the "José Martí Memorial"
office = First Secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba
term_start = 1965
term_end =
order1 = 22nd
office1 = President of Cuba
term_start1 = December 2, 1976
term_end1 = February 24, 2008
De facto until July 31, 2006
vicepresident1 ="First Vice President:"
Raúl Castro
(Acting President, from Jul. 31, 2006 to Feb. 24, 2008)
"Other Vice Presidents:"
Juan Almeida Bosque, Abelardo Colome Ibarra, Carlos Lage Davila, Esteban Lazo Hernández, José Machado Ventura
predecessor1 = Osvaldo Dorticós Torrado
successor1 = Raúl Castro
office2 = Prime Minister of Cuba
term_start2 = February 16, 1959
term_end2 = December 2, 1976
predecessor2 = José Miró Cardona
successor2 = Office abolished
office3 = 7th Secretary General of Non-Aligned Movement
22nd Secretary General of Non-Aligned Movement
term_start3 = September 9, 1979 – March 7, 1983
September 15, 2006
term_end3 = February 24, 2008
predecessor3 = Junius Richard Jayawardene (1st term)
Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi (2nd term)
successor3 = Neelam Sanjiva Reddy (1st term)
Raúl Castro (2nd term)
birth_date = birth date and age|1926|8|13
birth_place = Birán, Holguín Province, Cuba
death_date =
death_place =
nationality = Cuban
religion =
party = Communist Party of Cuba
otherparty =
spouse = (1) Mirta Díaz-Balart Gutierrez (divorced 1955)
(2) Dalia Soto del Valle
relations =Natalia Revuelta y Clews
children =Fidel Angel Castro Diaz-Balart
Alina Fernandez-Revuelta
Alexis Castro-Soto
Alejandro Castro-Soto
Antonio Castro-Soto
Angel Castro-Soto
Alain Castro-Soto
Jorge Angel Castro [http://www.canf.org/es/ENSAYOS/2003-dic-09-vida_secreta_del_tirano_castro.htm]
Francisca Pupo [http://www.canf.org/es/ENSAYOS/2003-dic-09-vida_secreta_del_tirano_castro.htm]
residence =
alma_mater =Colegio de Belen
University of Havana
occupation =
profession =Lawyer
religion =

website =
footnotes =

Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz (born August 13, 1926) is a Cuban revolutionary leader who was prime minister of Cuba from December 1959 to December 1976 and then president until his resignation from the office in February 2008.

Castro came to power as a result of the Cuban revolution that overthrew the dictator Fulgencio Batista, and shortly thereafter became Prime Minister of Cuba.cite web
url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/february/16/newsid_2544000/2544431.stm
title=1959: Castro sworn in as Cuban PM
publisher= BBC News
accessdate=2006-06-06] In 1965 he became First Secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba and led the transformation of Cuba into a one-party socialist republic. In 1976 he became President of the Council of State as well as of the Council of Ministers. He also held the supreme military rank of "Comandante en Jefe" ("Commander in Chief") of the Cuban armed forces.

Following intestinal surgery from an undisclosed digestive illness believed to have been diverticulitis,cite web
url=http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/americas/01/17/castro.condition/index.html
title= Spanish newspaper gives more details on Castro condition
publisher= CNN
accessdate=2007-01-17] Castro transferred his responsibilities to the First Vice-President, his younger brother Raúl Castro, on July 31, 2006. On February 19, 2008, five days before his mandate was to expire, he announced he would neither seek nor accept a new term as either president or commander-in-chief. [cite news
first = Fidel
last = Castro
url = http://www.granma.cubaweb.cu/pdf/pagina1.pdf
title = Mensaje del Comandante en Jefe
work = Granma
date = February 19, 2008
accessdate = 2008-02-19
language = Spanish
format=PDF] [cite news
first = Fidel
last = Castro
url = http://granma.cu/ingles/2008/febrero/mar19/mensaje-i.html
title = Message from the Commander in Chief
work = Granma
date = February 19, 2008
accessdate = 2008-02-24] On February 24, 2008, the National Assembly elected Raúl Castro to succeed him as the President of Cuba.cite news
title = Raul Castro named Cuban president
url = http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7261204.stm
work = BBC
date = 2008-02-24
accessdate = 2008-02-24
quote = Raul, 76, has in effect been president since and the National Assembly vote was seen as formalising his position.] Fidel Castro remains First Secretary of the Communist Party.

Childhood and education

Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz was born on a sugar plantation in Birán, near Mayarí, in the modern-day province of Holguín – then a part of the now-defunct Oriente province. He was the third child born to Ángel Castro y Argiz, a Galician immigrant from the impoverished northwest of Spain who became relatively prosperous through work in the sugar industry and successful investing. [ [http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/features/article2160566.ece?A=2160566 The Castropedia: Fidel's Cuba in facts and figures] , Belfast Telegraph] His mother, Lina Ruz González, who was a household servant, was also of Galician background. Angel Castro was married to another woman, Maria Luisa Argota, Bardach, Ann Louise : Cuba Confidential. p57-59] until Fidel was 17, and thus Fidel as a child had to deal both with his illegitimacy and the challenge of being raised in various foster homes away from his father's house.

Castro has two brothers, Ramón and Raúl, and four sisters, Angelita, Juanita, Enma, and Agustina, all of whom were born out of wedlock. He also has two half siblings, Lidia and Pedro Emilio who were raised by Ángel Castro's first wife.

Fidel was not baptized until he was 8, also very uncommon, bringing embarrassment and ridicule from other children.Raffy, Serge. 2004 Castro el Desleal. Santillana Ediciones Generales, S.L. Madrid. ISBN 84-03-09508-2] Fuentes, Norberto 2005 La Autobiografia de Fidel Castro. Destino Ediciones. ISBN 970-749-001-2] Ángel Castro finally dissolved his first marriage when Fidel was 15 and married Fidel’s mother. Castro was formally recognized by his father when he was 17, when his surname was legally changed to Castro from Ruz, his mother’s name.Although accounts of his education differ, most sources agree that he was an intellectually gifted student, more interested in sports than in academics, and spent many years in private Catholic boarding schools, finishing high school at El Colegio de Belén, a Jesuit school in Havana in 1945.cite web | last = | first = |date= | year = | month = | url = http://www.history.ca/content/ContentDetail.aspx?ContentId=41 | title = Fidel Castro: From Student to Revolutionary|work = History Television|publisher = Alliance Atlantis Communications Inc. | accessdate = 2006-05-11 ] While at Belén, the 21-year-old Castro pitched on the school's baseball team. There are persistent rumors that Castro was scouted for variousU.S. baseball teams, [cite web
url=http://www.jamescampion.com/chekcuba.html
title=CASTRO, BASEBALL, AND THE GREAT DIVIDE ] but there is no evidence that this ever actually happened. [cite web
url=http://www.snopes.com/sports/baseball/castro.asp
title=Fidel Castro ]

Political beginnings

In late 1945, Castro entered law school at the University of Havana. He became immediately embroiled in the political culture at the University, which was a reflection of the volatile politics in Cuba during that era. : Cuba the Pursuit of Freedom p.523-524 ] Rivalries were so intense that Castro apparently collaborated in an attempt on Masferrer's life during this period, while Masferrer, whose paramilitary group "Les Tigres" later became an instrument of state violence under Batista, [wikiref |id=Sweig-2002 |text=Sweig, p.27] perennially hunted the younger student seeking violent retribution. [Bardach, Ann Louise : Cuba Confidential. p.40]

In 1947, growing increasingly passionate about social justice, Castro joined the Partido Ortodoxo which had been newly formed by Eduardo Chibás. A charismatic figure, Chibás was running for president against the incumbent Ramón Grau San Martín who had allowed rampant corruption to flourish during his term. Fact|date=November 2007 The Partido Ortodoxo publicly exposed corruption and demanded government and social reform. It aimed to instill a strong sense of national identity among Cubans, establish Cuban economic independence and freedom from the United States, and dismantle the power of the elite over Cuban politics. Though Chibás lost the election, Castro, considering Chibás his mentor, remained committed to his cause, working fervently on his behalf. In 1951, while running for president again, Chibás shot himself in the stomach during a radio broadcast. Castro was present and accompanied him to the hospital where he died.

Bogotazo incident

Castro's role in the circumstances surrounding the assassination of Jorge Eliécer Gaitán in Bogota, Colombia on April 9, 1948--and the massive riots that followed--has been the object of speculation by James M. Roberts of The Heritage Foundation.cite web
title = Big Labor Can't Handle the Truth About Colombia
author = James M. Roberts
publisher = The Heritage Foundation
date = February 19, 2008
url = http://www.heritage.org/Research/LatinAmerica/wm1821.cfm
accessdate=2008-02-25
quote = Colombia has a tragic history of violence dating back to 1948, when a ruthless Cuban sociopath named Fidel Castro joined other Latin leftists in fomenting urban riots and rural violence that became known as the Bogatazo and La Violencia, respectively. ] However, the following account seems to be generally agreed upon: In early April, Castro traveled to Bogotá for a political conference of Latin American students that coincided with the ninth meeting of the Pan-American Union Conference.Bogota EL SIGLO in Spanish 11 Apr 82 pp 6-7 [http://www.icdc.com/~paulwolf/gaitan/elsiglo11apr1982.htm] "Excerpts" of undated interview with Cuban President Fidel Castro, byjournalist and writer Arturo Alape, broadcast over Colombian Cadena CaracolRadio on April 9, 1982] cite web
title = The Cuban Delegation
url = http://www.icdc.com/~paulwolf/gaitan/gaitancastro.htm
accessdate = 2008-02-25 ] The students had planned to use this opportunity to distribute pamphlets protesting United States dominance of the Western Hemisphere and to foment discontent. A few days after the conference began, the populist Colombian Liberal Party leader and presidential candidate Gaitán was shot by an unknown young man with a .32 caliber handgun, triggering massive riots in the streets in which many (mostly poor workers) were injured or killed. Fact|date=November 2007 Rioting and looting spread to other cities in Colombia, beginning an era of turbulence that became known as "La Violencia". The students were caught up in the violence and chaos rocking the city, picking up rifles and roaming the streets distributing anti-United States material and stirring a revolt. When Castro was pursued by the Colombian authorities for his role in the riots, he took refuge in the Cuban Embassy and was flown back to Havana. [cite web | last = Castro | first = Fidel|date= 1982-04-11 | url = http://lanic.utexas.edu/la/cb/cuba/castro/1982/19820411 | title = Fidel Castro reveals role in April 9, 1948 Colombian uprising | work = Bogota el Siglo | publisher = | accessdate = 2006-05-11 ] [cite web | last = Suchlicki | first = James |month=February | year=2003 | url = http://www.cubacenter.org/media/news_articles/fidel_us.php3 | title = Fidel Castro on the United States - Forward | work = | publisher = Center for a Free Cuba | accessdate = 2006-05-11 ]

Decision for revolution

Castro returned to Cuba and married Mirta Díaz Balart, a student from a wealthy Cuban family through which he was exposed to the lifestyle of the Cuban elite. In 1950 he graduated from law school with a Doctor of Laws degree and began practicing law in a small partnership in Havana. By now he had become well known for his passionately nationalistic views and his intense opposition to the influence of the United States on Cuban internal affairs. Increasingly interested in a career in politics, Castro had become a candidate for a seat in the Cuban parliament when General Fulgencio Batista led a coup d'état in 1952, successfully overthrowing the government of President Carlos Prío Socarrás and canceling the election.

Batista established himself as de facto leader with the support of establishment elements of Cuban society and powerful Cuban agencies. His government was formally recognized by the United States, buttressing his power. Castro, nearing thirty, was now a politician without a legitimate platform and thus he broke away from the Partido Ortodoxo to marshal legal arguments based on the Constitution of 1940 to formally charge Batista with violating the constitution. His petition, entitled "Zarpazo", was denied by the Court of Constitutional Guarantees and he was not allowed a hearing. [ Hugh Thomas. "Cuba : The Pursuit of Freedom" p532.] This experience formed the foundation for Castro's opposition to the Batista government and convinced him that revolution was the only way to depose Batista. [ cite book | first= Jules | last= Duboise | authorlink= | coauthors= | year= 1959 | title= Fidel Castro: Rebel-Liberator or Dictator? | edition= | publisher= Bobbs-Merrill Company, Inc | location= Indianapolis | id= ]

Cuban Revolution

Attack on Moncada Barracks

As discontent over the Batista coup grew, Castro abandoned his law practice and formed an underground organization of supporters, including his brother, Raúl, and Mario Chanes de Armas. Together they actively plotted to overthrow Batista. They collected guns and ammunition and finalized their plans for an armed attack on Moncada Barracks, Batista's largest garrison outside Santiago de Cuba. On the 26th of July, 1953, they attacked Moncada Barracks. The Céspedes garrison in Bayamo was also attacked as a diversion. The attack proved disastrous and more than sixty of the one-hundred and thirty-five militants involved were killed.

Castro and other surviving members of his group managed to escape to a part of the rugged Sierra Maestra [cite web | last = Sierra | first = J. A. | authorlink = | coauthors = |date= | year = | month = | url = http://www.historyofcuba.com/history/funfacts/maestra.htm | title = The Sierra Maestra | format = | work = | pages = | publisher = historyofcuba.com | language =|accessdate = 2006-05-19|accessyear = ] mountains east of Santiago where they were eventually discovered and captured. Although there is disagreement over why Castro and his brother, Raúl, were not executed on capture as many of their fellow militants were, there is evidence that an officer recognized Castro from his university days and treated the captured rebels compassionately, despite the 'illegal' unofficial order to have the leader executed. Others, such as Angel Prado, military commander of the 26th of July Movement, say that on the night of the attack Castro's driver got lost and he never reached the barracks. That night was the night of “El Carnaval de Santiago” and the streets of Santiago de Cuba were filled with party goers.

While he was being held at the prison for political activists on Isla de Pinos, he continued to plot Batista's overthrow, planning upon release to reorganize and train in Mexico. After having served less than two years, he was released in May 1955 due to a general amnesty from Batista who was under political pressure, and went as planned to Mexico.

26th of July Movement

Once in Mexico, Castro reunited with other Cuban exiles and founded the 26th of July Movement, named after the date of the failed attack on the Moncada Barracks. The goal remained the overthrow of Fulgencio Batista. Castro had learned from the Moncada experience that new tactics were needed if Batista's forces were to be defeated. This time, the plan was to use underground guerrilla tactics, which were used by the Cubans the last time they attempted a populist overthrow of what they considered an imperialistic regime. The Cuban war of Independence against the Spanish was Cuba's introduction to guerrilla warfare, about which they read once the Cuban campaign ended but was taken up by Emilio Aguinaldo in the Philippines. Once again, it would be guerrilla warfare to bring down a government.

In Mexico Castro met Ernesto "Che" Guevara, a proponent of guerrilla warfare. Guevara joined the group of rebels and became an important force in shaping Castro's evolving political beliefs. Guevara's observations of the misery of the poor in Latin America had already convinced him that the only solution lay in violent revolution.

Since regular contacts with a KGB agent named Nikolai Sergeevich Leonov in Mexico City had not resulted in the hoped for weapon supply, they decided to go to the United States to gather personnel and funds from Cubans living there, including Carlos Prío Socarrás, the elected Cuban president deposed by Batista in 1952. Back in Mexico, the group trained under a Spanish Civil War Veteran, Cuban-born Alberto Bayo who had fled to Mexico after Francisco Franco's victory in Spain. On November 26, 1956, Castro and his group of 81 followers, mostly Cuban exiles, set out from Tuxpan, Veracruz, aboard the yacht "Granma" for the purpose of starting a rebellion in Cuba.cite web | last = Sierra | first = J. A. | authorlink = | coauthors = |date= | year = | month = | url = http://www.historyofcuba.com/history/granma.htm | title = The Landing of the Granma | format = | work = | pages = | publisher = historyofcuba.com | language = | accessdate = 2006-05-15]

The rebels landed at Playa Las Coloradas close to Los Cayuelos near the eastern city of Manzanillo on December 2, 1956. In short order, most of Castro's men were killed, dispersed, or taken prisoner by Batista's forces. While the exact number is in dispute, it is agreed that no more than twenty of the original eighty-two men survived the bloody encounters with the Cuban army and succeeded in fleeing to the Sierra Maestra mountains. [cite book | last = Thomas | first = Hugh | authorlink = | coauthors = | year = 1998 | title = Cuba or The Pursuit of Freedom (Updated Edition) | publisher = Da Capo Press|location = New York|id = ISBN 0-306-80827-7] The group of survivors included Fidel Castro, Che Guevara, Raúl Castro, and Camilo Cienfuegos. Those who survived were aided by people in the countryside. They regrouped in the Sierra Maestra in Oriente province and organized a column under Fidel Castro's command.

In the summer of 1957, País’s organization merged with the 26th of July Movement of Castro. As Castro's movement gained popular support in the cities and countryside, it grew to over eight hundred men. In mid-1957 Castro gave Che Guevara command of a second column. A journalist, Herbert Matthews from the "New York Times", came to interview him in the Sierra Maestra, attracting interest to Castro's cause in the United States. The "New York Times" front page stories by Matthews presented Castro as a romantic and appealing revolutionary, bearded and dressed in rumpled fatigues. [cite web | last = Alter | first = James | authorlink = | coauthors = |date= | year = 2006 | month = April | url = http://www.iht.com/articles/2006/04/21/arts/idbriefs22d.php | title = Review: The Man Who Invented Fidel | format = | work = | pages = | publisher = The International Herald Tribune | language = | accessdate = 2006-05-14 ] [cite web | last = De Palma | first = Anthony | authorlink = | coauthors = |date= | year = | month = | url = http://www.historyofcuba.com/history/havana/Fidel-1.htm | title = Book Excerpt: The Man Who Invented Fidel: Castro, Cuba, and Herbert L. Matthews of the New York Times | format = | work = | pages = | publisher = historyofcuba.com | language = | accessdate = 2006-05-16] Castro and Matthews were followed by the TV crew of Andrew Saint George, said to be a CIA contact person. [cite web | last = St George | first = Andrew |date= 1963-04-12 | url = http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/JFKstgeorge.htm | title = Biography: Andrew St George|publisher = Spartacus Educational|accessdate = 2006-05-11 ] Through television, Castro's rudimentary command of the English language and charismatic presence enabled him to appeal directly to a U.S. audience.

In 1957, Castro also signed the Manifesto of the Sierra Maestra [ [http://www.chibas.org/raul_chibas_manifiesto.php Familia Chibás > Raul Antonio Chibás > Manifiesto Sierra Maestra ] ] in which he agreed to call elections under the Electoral Code of 1943 within the first 18 months of his time in power and to restore all of the provisions of the Constitution of 1940 that had been suspended under Batista. While he took steps to implement some of the measures in the Manifesto upon coming into power, Cuba failed to have elections, the most important part of the program, within the allotted time.

Operation Verano

In May 1958, Batista launched "Operation Verano" aiming to crush Castro and other anti-government groups. It was called "La Ofensiva" ("The Offensive") by the rebels (Alarcón Ramírez,1997). Although on paper heavily outnumbered, Castro's guerrilla forces scored a series of victories, largely aided by mass desertions from Batista's army of poorly trained and uncommitted young conscripts. During the Battle of La Plata, Castro's forces defeated an entire battalion. While pro-Castro Cuban sources later emphasized the role of Castro's guerrilla forces in these battles, other groups and leaders were also involved, such as escopeteros (poorly-armed irregulars). During the "Battle of Las Mercedes", Castro's small army came close to defeat but he managed to pull his troops out by opening up negotiations with General Cantillo while secretly slipping his soldiers out of a trap.

When "Operation Verano" ended, Castro ordered three columns commanded by Guevara, Jaime Vega and Camilo Cienfuegos to invade central Cuba where they were strongly supported by rebellious elements who had long been operating in the area. One of Castro's columns moved out onto the Cauto Plains. Here, they were supported by Huber Matos, Raúl Castro and others who were operating in the eastern-most part of the province. On the plains, Castro's forces first surrounded the town of Guisa in Granma Province and drove out their enemies, then proceeded to take most of the towns that had been taken by Calixto García in the 1895-1898 Cuban War of Independence.

Battle of Yaguajay

In December 1958, the columns of Che Guevara and Camilo Cienfuegos continued their advance through Las Villas province. They succeeded in occupying several towns, and then began preparations for an attack on Santa Clara, the provincial capital. Guevara's fighters launched a fierce assault on the Cuban army surrounding Santa Clara, and a vicious house-to-house battle ensued. They also derailed an armored train which Batista had sent to aid his troops in the city while Cienfuegos won the Battle of Yaguajay. Defeated on all sides, Batista's forces crumbled. The provincial capital was captured after less than a day of fighting on December 31, 1958.

After the loss of Santa Clara and expecting betrayal by his own army, Batista (accompanied by president-elect Andrés Rivero Agüero) fled to the Dominican Republic in the early hours of January 1, 1959. They left behind a junta headed by Gen. Eulogio Cantillo, recently the commander in Oriente province, the center of the Castro revolt. The junta immediately selected Dr. Carlos Piedra, the oldest judge of the Supreme Court, as provisional President of Cuba as specified in the Constitution of 1940. Castro refused to accept the selection of Justice Piedra as provisional President and the Supreme Court refused to administer the oath of office to the Justice.cite web | last = | first = | authorlink =| coauthors = |date= | year = 1959 | month = January 2 | url = http://www.cubanow.net/global/loader.php?secc=5&cont=stories/num8/3cHnyt59.htm | title = How the NYT presented day-one of the Cuban Revolution | format = | work = | pages = | publisher = CubaNow.net | language = | accessdate = 2006-05-16]

The rebel forces of Fidel Castro moved swiftly to seize power throughout the island. At the age of 32, Castro had successfully masterminded a classic guerrilla campaign from his headquarters in the Sierra Maestra and ousted Batista.

Assumption of power

On January 8, 1959, Castro's army rolled victoriously into Havana.cite web |date= | year = 2000 | month = October | url = http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/244974.stm | title = Castro: The Great Survivor | format = | work = | pages = | publisher = BBC News | language = | accessdate = 2006-05-15] As news of the fall of Batista's government spread through Havana, "The New York Times" described the scene as one of jubilant crowds pouring into the streets and automobile horns honking. The black and red flag of the 26th of July Movement waved on automobiles and buildings. The atmosphere was chaotic.Castro called a general strike in protest of the Piedra government. He demanded that Dr. Urrutia, former judge of the Urgency Court of Santiago de Cuba, be installed as the provisional President instead. The Cane Planters Association of Cuba, speaking on behalf of the island's crucial sugar industry, issued a statement of support for Castro and his movement.cite web |date= | year = | month = | url = http://www.biologydaily.com/biology/Fidel_Castro#Cuban_Missile_Crisis | title = Fidel Castro| format = | work = | pages = | publisher = Biological Daily | language = | accessdate = 2006-05-06]

Law professor José Miró Cardona created a new government with himself as prime minister and Manuel Urrutia Lleó as president on January 5. The United States officially recognized the new government two days later. [cite web |date= | year = | month = | url = http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/bayofpigs/chron.html | title = Chronology | format = | work = | pages = | publisher = The National Security Archive | language =|accessdate = 2006-05-19|accessyear = ] Castro himself arrived in Havana to cheering crowds and assumed the post of Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces on January 8.

In February Miró suddenly resigned and on February 16, 1959, Castro was sworn in as Prime Minister of Cuba.

Friction with the U.S. developed as the new government began expropriating property owned by major U.S. corporations (United Fruit in particular) and announced plans to base the compensation on the artificially low property valuations that the companies themselves had kept to a fraction of their true value so that their taxes would be negligible.

During this period Castro repeatedly denied being a communist. [Irving Louis Horowitz and Jaime Suchlicki "Cuban Communism "Transaction Publishers, 1998, p. 725.] [ [http://www.trivia-library.com/c/biography-of-famous-cuban-leader-fidel-castro-part-3.htm David Wallechinsky & Irving Wallace Biography of Famous Cuban Leader Fidel Castro Part 3] ] [ [http://www.latinamericanstudies.org/cuban-rebels/voices.htm Russell J. Hampsey "Voices from the Sierra Maestra: Fidel Castro's Revolutionary Propaganda"] ] [ [http://msgboard.snopes.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=36;t=000785;p=1 snopes.com: Che Guevara, economist ] ] [A videotape of Fidel Castro denying his support of communism was re-aired on NBC "Meet the Press" on November 25, 2007.] For example in New York on April 25 he said, communist "influence is nothing. I don't agree with communism. We are democracy. We are against all kinds of dictators.... That is why we oppose communism." [ [http://select.nytimes.com/mem/archive/pdf?res=FA0E10F8355C1A7B93C4AB178FD85F4D8585F9 "Castro's Whirl." New York Times, April 26, 1959.] ]

Between April 15 and April 26, Castro and a delegation of industrial and international representatives visited the U.S. as guests of the Press Club. Castro hired one of the best public relations firms in the United States for a charm offensive visit by Castro and his recently initiated government. Castro answered impertinent questions jokingly and ate hotdogs and hamburgers. His rumpled fatigues and scruffy beard cut a popular figure easily promoted as an authentic hero. [cite web | last = Franqui | first = Carlos | authorlink = | coauthors = |date= | year = | month = | url = http://www.historyofcuba.com/history/franqui3.htm | title = Fidel Castro's Trip to the United States | format = | work = | pages = | publisher = historyof Cuba.com | language = | accessdate = 2006-05-16] He was refused a meeting with President Eisenhower. After his visit to the United States, he would go on to join forces with the Soviet leader, Nikita Khrushchev.

Years in power

As early as July 1959, Castro's intelligence chief Ramiro Valdés contacted the KGB in Mexico City.cite book |last=Andrew |first=Christopher |coauthors=Gordievsky, Oleg |year=1991 |title=Instructions from the Centre: Top Secret Files from the KGB's Foreign Operations |publisher=Hodder & Stoughton General Division |isbn=0-340-56650-7] Subsequently, the USSR sent over one hundred mostly Spanish speaking advisors, including Enrique Líster Forján, to organize the Committees for the Defense of the Revolution.

In February 1960, Cuba signed an agreement to buy oil from the USSR. When the U.S.-owned refineries in Cuba refused to process the oil, they were expropriated, and the United States broke off diplomatic relations with the Castro government soon afterward. To the concern of the Eisenhower administration, Cuba began to establish closer ties with the Soviet Union. A variety of pacts were signed between Castro and Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev, allowing Cuba to receive large amounts of economic and military aid from the USSR. The mould was set. U.S. disappointment with their lack of power in Cuban decision making fueled Castro's fears leading to increasing Cuban dependence on USSR support.

In June 1960, Eisenhower reduced Cuba's sugar import quota by 7,000,000 tons, and in response, Cuba nationalized some $850 million worth of U.S. property and businesses. The revolutionary government grabbed control of the nation by nationalizing industry, expropriating property owned by Cubans and non-Cubans alike, collectivizing agriculture, and enacting policies which Castro claimed would benefit the economically dispossessed. While popular among the poor, these policies alienated many former supporters of the revolution among the Cuban middle and upper-classes. Over one million Cubans later migrated to the U.S., forming a vocal anti-Castro community in Miami, Florida, actively supported and funded by successive U.S. administrations.

In April 1961, the U.S. government unsuccessfully attempted to depose Castro from power by supporting an armed force of Cuban exiles to retake the island. This attempt is known as the Bay of Pigs invasion.

Bay of Pigs

A timeline released by the National Security Archives shows the U.S. began planning to overthrow the government of Cuba in October 1959. [cite web |date= | year = | month = | url = http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/bayofpigs/chron.html | title = Bay of Pigs Chronology | format = | work = | pages = | publisher = The National Security Archives | language = | accessdate = 2006-05-18] On April 17, 1961, approximately 1,400 members of a CIA-trained Cuban exile force landed at the Bay of Pigs, while the U.S. publicly denied any involvement.

Documents released by the National Security Archive show that the CIA expected the Cuban people to welcome a U.S.-sponsored invasion, spontaneously rising up against the Castro regime. It expected Cuban military and police forces to refuse to fight against the CIA's 1,400-man mercenary invasion force. [cite web |date= | year = 2001 | month = March 23 | url = http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/bayofpigs/press3.html | title = Bay of Pigs documents show CIA expected uprising against Castro, or military support | format = | work = | pages = | publisher = The National Security Archive | language = | accessdate = 2006-05-18
accessyear = ] President Kennedy cancelled several planned bombing sorties designed to cripple the entire Cuban Air Force. [cite book |last= Thomas |first= Hugh |title= Cuba; the Pursuit of Freedom |year= 1971 | publisher=Harper & Row |location=New York|month= March |isbn= 0060142596 | authorlink=Hugh Thomas, Baron Thomas of Swynnerton| pages=p921]

The Cuban armed forces repelled the invaders, killing many and capturing a thousand. On May 1, 1961, Castro announced to the hundreds of thousands in the audience that:

Many theories are offered for the failure of the U.S. operation. Some argue that the Americans misjudged Cuban support for Castro. [cite web | url = http://www.zeenews.com/znnew/articles.asp?aid=313069&sid=ZNS | accessdate = 2006-05-12 | title = ? ] They had believed the testimonies of the Cuban exiles, who told them that Castro was not well supported by the Cuban people. In the weeks prior to the invasion, the Cuban government had rounded up tens of thousands of Cubans suspected of opposing the government, detaining them in sports stadiums across the island in order to prevent them from joining exile forces. No Cuban uprising against Castro ever materialized. In addition, the covert placement of dozens of Cuban intelligence officials in the invasion force gave the Cuban government detailed information on the operation. [cite book | last = Andrew | first = Christopher | coauthors = Vasili Mitrokhin |date=2005-09-20 | title = The World Was Going Our Way: The KGB and the Battle for the Third World | publisher = Basic Books]

Cuban Missile Crisis

Tensions between Cuba and the U.S. heightened during the 1962 missile crisis, which nearly brought the US and the USSR into nuclear conflict. Khrushchev conceived the idea of placing missiles in Cuba as a deterrent to a possible U.S. invasion and justified the move in response to US missile deployment in Turkey. After consultations with his military advisors, he met with a Cuban delegation led by Raúl Castro in July in order to work out the specifics. It was agreed to deploy Soviet R-12 MRBMs on Cuban soil; however, American Lockheed U-2 reconnaissance discovered the construction of the missile installations on October 15, 1962 before the weapons had actually been deployed. The US government viewed the installation of Soviet nuclear weapons convert|90|mi|km|0 south of Key West as an aggressive act and a threat to US security. As a result, the US publicly announced its discovery on October 22, 1962, and implemented a quarantine around Cuba that would actively intercept and search any vessels heading for the island. Nikolai Sergevich Leonov, who would become a General in the KGB Intelligence Directorate [cite paper |author= |date= 1995 -1998 |url= http://www.kcl.ac.uk/lhcma/cats/coldwar/xc70-28-.htm |title= The Cold War, television documentary archive |publisher= King's College London, Liddell Hart Centre for Military Archives |version= | accessdate = 2006-05-11 ] and the Soviet KGB deputy station chief in Warsaw, was the translator Castro used for contact with the Russians during this period.

In a personal letter to Khrushchev dated October 27, 1962, Castro urged him to launch a nuclear first strike against the United States if Cuba were invaded, but Khrushchev rejected any first strike response. [cite web | last = Khrushchev | first = Nikita Sergeyevich |date= 1962-10-27 | url = http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/nsa/cuba_mis_cri/621030%20Letter%20to%20Castro.pdf | title = Letter to Castro | format = PDF|publisher = The George Washington University|accessdate = 2006-05-11 ] Soviet field commanders in Cuba were, however, authorized to use tactical nuclear weapons if attacked by the United States. Khrushchev agreed to remove the missiles in exchange for a US commitment not to invade Cuba and an understanding that the US would secretly remove American MRBMs targeting the Soviet Union from Turkey and Italy, a measure that the US implemented a few months later. The missile swap was never publicized because the Kennedy Administration demanded secrecy in order to preserve NATO relations and protect Democratic candidates in the upcoming elections.

Assassination attempts

Fabian Escalante, who was long tasked with protecting the life of Castro, has calculated the exact number of assassination schemes and/or attempts by the CIA to be 638. Some such attempts have included an exploding cigar, a fungal-infected scuba-diving suit, and a mafia-style shooting. Some of these plots are depicted in a documentary entitled "638 Ways to Kill Castro". [cite web
year = 2006
month = April 3
url =http://www.guardian.co.uk/cuba/story/0,,1835930,00.html
title =638 ways to kill Castro
publisher =The Guardian Unlimited
accessdate =2006-08-16] One of these attempts was by his ex-lover Marita Lorenz whom he met in 1959. She subsequently agreed to aid the CIA and attempted to smuggle a jar of cold cream containing poison pills into his room. When Castro realized, he reportedly gave her a gun and told her to kill him but her nerve failed. [cite news
first = Martin
last = Aston
title = The Man Who Wouldn't Die
work = Radio Times
date= 25 November - 1 December 2006] Castro once said in regards to the numerous attempts on his life, "If surviving assassination attempts were an Olympic event, I would win the gold medal."

According to the Family Jewels documents declassified by the CIA in 2007, one such assassination attempt before the Bay of Pigs invasion involved Johnny Roselli and Al Capone's successor in the Chicago Outfit, Salvatore Giancana and his right-hand man Santos Trafficante. It was personally authorized by then US attorney general Robert Kennedy [ [http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB222/family_jewels_wh2.pdf January 4, 1975 memorandum of conversation] between President Gerald Ford and Henry Kissinger, made available by the National Security Archive, June 2007 ] .

Giancana and Miami Syndicate leader Santos Trafficante were contacted in September 1960 about the possibility of an assassination attempt by a go-between from the CIA, Robert Maheu, after Maheu had contacted Johnny Roselli, a member of the Las Vegas Syndicate and Giancana's number-two man. Maheu had presented himself as a representative of numerous international business firms in Cuba that were being expropriated by Castro. He offered $150,000 for the "removal" of Castro through this operation (the documents suggest that neither Roselli nor Giancana and Trafficante accepted any sort of payments for the job). According to the files, it was Giancana who suggested using a series of poison pills that could be used to doctor Castro's food and drink. These pills were given by the CIA to Giancana's nominee Juan Orta, whom Giancana presented as being an official in the Cuban government who was also in the pay of gambling interests, and who did have access to Castro. After a series of six attempts to introduce the poison into Castro's food, Orta abruptly demanded to be let out of the mission, handing over the job to another, unnamed participant. Later, a second attempt was mounted through Giancana and Trafficante using Dr. Anthony Verona, the leader of the Cuban Exile Junta, who had, according to Trafficante, become "disaffected with the apparent ineffectual progress of the Junta". Verona requested $10,000 in expenses and $1,000 worth of communications equipment. However, it is unknown how far the second attempt went, as the entire program was cancelled shortly thereafter due to the launching of the Bay of Pigs invasion. [ [http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070626/us_nm/cia_secrets_dc_4] Holland, Steve and Andy Sullivan. "CIA Tried to get Mafia to kill Castro: documents". Reuters News Service, June 26, 2007.] [ [http://www.foia.cia.gov] "Family Jewels" Archive, pages 12-19 ] [ [http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19438161/page/2/] Johnson, Alex. "CIA opens the book on a shady past." MSNBC, June 26, 2007 ]

Resulting from these numerous assassination attempts, Castro sent out warnings to the US government to stop the attempts or face retaliatory actions. This resulted in a theory stating that Cuba was behind the Kennedy assassination.

United States embargo

Jose Maria Aznar, former Spanish Prime Minister, wrote that the embargo was Castro's greatest ally, and that Castro would lose his presidency within three months if the embargo was lifted. [cite web |date= | year = 2005 | month = April 21 | url = http://www.caribbeannetnews.com/2005/04/21/embargo.shtml | title = US embargo of Cuba is Castro's 'great ally', says former Spanish PM | format = | work = | pages = | publisher = Caribbean Net News | language = | accessdate = 2006-05-20] Castro retained control after Cuba became bankrupt and isolated following the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. The synergic contraction of Cuban economy resulted in eighty-five percent of its markets disappearing, along with subsidies and trade agreements that had supported it, causing extended gas and water outages, severe power shortages, and dwindling food supplies. [cite web | last = Brandford| first = Becky| authorlink =| coauthors =|date= | year = 2003| month = June 8| url = http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/2961320.stm| title = Cuba's hardships fuel discontent| format =| work =| pages =| publisher = BBC News| language =| accessdate = 2006-05-20| accessyear = ] In 1994, the island's economy plunged into what was called the "Special Period"; teetering on the brink of collapse. Cuba legalized the US dollar, turned to tourism, and encouraged the transfer of remittances in US dollars from Cubans living in the USA to their relatives on the Island.After massive damage caused by Hurricane Michelle in 2001, Castro proposed a one-time cash purchase of food from the U.S. while declining a U.S. offer of humanitarian aid. [cite web |date=2001-11-17 |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/1662346.stm | title = Castro welcomes one-off US trade | publisher = BBC News | accessdate = 2006-05-19] The U.S. authorized the shipment of food in 2001, the first since the embargo was imposed. [cite web |date=2001-12-16 | url = http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/1714776.stm | title = US food arrives in Cuba |publisher = BBC News | accessdate = 2006-05-19] During 2004, Castro shut down 118 factories, including steel plants, sugar mills and paper processors to compensate for the crisis due to fuel shortages. [cite web |date=2004-09-30 |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/3702784.stm |title=Cuba to shut plants to save power |publisher=BBC News |accessdate=2006-05-20] , and in 2005 directed thousands of Cuban doctors to Venezuela in exchange for oil imports. [cite news | last = Morris
first = Ruth
year = 2005
month = December 18
url = http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/sun_sentinel/access/943180711.html?dids=943180711:943180711&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&date=Dec+18%2C+2005&author=Ruth+Morris+Havana+Bureau&pub=South+Florida+Sun+-+Sentinel&edition=&startpage=1.A&desc=CUBA%27S+DOCTORS+RESUSCITATE+ECONOMY+AID+MISSIONS+MAKE+MONEY%2C+NOT+JUST+ALLIES
title = Cuba's Doctors Resuscitate Economy Aid Missions Make Money, Not Just Allies
publisher = Sun-Sentinel.com
accessdate=2006-12-28]

Foreign relations

oviet Union

Following the establishment of diplomatic ties to the Soviet Union, and after the Cuban Missile Crisis, Cuba became increasingly dependent on Soviet markets and military and economic aid. Castro was able to build a formidable military force with the help of Soviet equipment and military advisors. The KGB kept in close touch with Havana, and Castro tightened Communist Party control over all levels of government, the media, and the educational system, while developing a Soviet-style internal police force.

Castro's alliance with the Soviet Union caused something of a split between him and Guevara. In 1966, Guevara left for Bolivia in an ill-fated attempt to stir up revolution against the country's government.

On August 23, 1968, Castro made a public gesture to the USSR that caused the Soviet leadership to reaffirm their support for him. Two days after the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia to repress the Prague Spring, Castro took to the airwaves and publicly denounced the Czech rebellion. Castro warned the Cuban people about the Czechoslovakian 'counterrevolutionaries', who "were moving Czechoslovakia towards capitalism and into the arms of imperialists". He called the leaders of the rebellion "the agents of West Germany and fascist reactionary rabble." [cite web | last = Castro | first = Fidel | authorlink = | coauthors = |date= | year = 1968 | month = August | url = http://lanic.utexas.edu/la/cb/cuba/castro/1968/19680824 | title = Castro comments on Czechoslovakia crisis | format = | work = | pages = | publisher = FBIS| accessdate = ] In return for his public backing of the invasion, at a time when many Soviet allies were deeming the invasion an infringement of Czechoslovakia's sovereignty, the Soviets bailed out the Cuban economy with extra loans and an immediate increase in oil exports.

In 1971, despite an Organization of American States convention that no nation in the Western Hemisphere would have a relationship with Cuba (the only exception being Mexico, which had refused to adopt that convention), Castro took a month-long visit to Chile, following the re-establishment of diplomatic relations with Cuba. The visit, in which Castro participated actively in the internal politics of the country, holding massive rallies and giving public advice to Salvador Allende, was seen by those on the political right as proof to support their view that "The Chilean Way to Socialism" was an effort to put Chile on the same path as Cuba. [cite book | last = Quirk | first = Robert | authorlink = | coauthors = |date= | year = 1995 | month = August | url = | title = Fidel Castro | work = | pages = | publisher = W. W. Norton & Company ]

When Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev visited Cuba in 1989, the comradely relationship between Havana and Moscow was strained by Gorbachev's implementation of economic and political reforms in the USSR. "We are witnessing sad things in other socialist countries, very sad things," lamented Castro in November 1989, in reference to the changes that were sweeping such communist allies as the Soviet Union, East Germany, Hungary, and Poland. [cite web |date=1989-11-09 | url = http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?r101:S17NO9-1592: | title = Castro Laments 'Very Sad Things' in Bloc |publisher = Washington Post |accessdate = 2006-05-22 ] The subsequent collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 had an immediate and devastating effect on Cuba.

Other countries

On November 4, 1975, Castro ordered the deployment of Cuban troops to Angola in order to aid the Marxist MPLA-ruled government against the South African-backed UNITA opposition forces. Moscow aided the Cuban initiative with the USSR engaging in a massive airlift of Cuban forces into Angola. On Cuba's role in Angola, Nelson Mandela is said to have remarked "Cuban internationalists have done so much for African independence, freedom, and justice." [cite web | last = Mandela | first = Nelson | url = http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Nelson_Mandela | title = Attributed quotes of Nelson Mandela | publisher = Wikiquote.org | accessdate = 2006-05-11 ] Cuban troops were also sent to Marxist Ethiopia to assist Ethiopian forces in the Ogaden War with Somalia in 1977. In addition, Castro extended support to Marxist Revolutionary movements throughout Latin America, such as aiding the Sandinistas in overthrowing the Somoza government in Nicaragua in 1979. It has been claimed by the Carthage Foundation-funded Center for a Free Cuba [cite web |date=2006-08-25 | url = http://www.mediatransparency.org/recipientgrants.php?recipientID=1892 | title = Recipient Grants: Center for a Free Cuba | accessdate = 2006-08-25 ] that an estimated 14,000 Cubans were killed in Cuban military actions abroad. [cite web |last=O'Grady |first=Mary Anastasia |date=2005-10-30 |url=http://www.cubacenter.org/media/news_articles/countingcastrosvictims.php |title=Counting Castro's Victims |publisher = Wallstreet Journal, Center for a Free Cuba |accessdate=2006-05-11]

Cuba and Panama restored diplomatic ties in 2005 after breaking them off a year prior when Panama's former president pardoned four Cuban exiles accused of attempting to assassinate Cuban President Fidel Castro in 2000. The foreign minister of each country re-established official diplomatic relations in Havana by signing a document describing a spirit of fraternity that has long linked both nations.cite web |date=2005-08-21 |url = http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/4170374.stm | title = Cuba and Panama restore relations | publisher = BBC News | accessdate = 2006-05-21] Cuba, once shunned by many of its Latin American neighbours, now has full diplomatic relations with all but Costa Rica and El Salvador.

Although the relationship between Cuba and Mexico remains strained, each side appears to make attempts to improve it. In 1998, Fidel Castro apologized for remarks he made about Mickey Mouse which led Mexico to recall its ambassador from Havana. He said he intended no offense when he said earlier that Mexican children would find it easier to name Disney characters than to recount key figures in Mexican history. Rather, he said, his words were meant to underscore the cultural dominance of the US. [cite web |date=1998-12-19 |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/238827.stm | title = Castro says sorry to Mexico | publisher = BBC News | accessdate = 2006-05-21] Mexican president Vicente Fox apologized to Fidel Castro in 2002 over statements by Castro, who had taped their telephone conversation, to the effect that Fox forced him to leave a United Nations summit in Mexico so that he would not be in the presence of President Bush, who also attended. [cite web |date=2002-04-25 | url = http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/1946089.stm | title = Mexico's Fox apologises to Castro | publisher = BBC News | accessdate = 2006-05-21]

At a summit meeting of sixteen Caribbean countries in 1998, Castro called for regional unity, saying that only strengthened cooperation between Caribbean countries would prevent their domination by rich nations in a global economy. [cite web |date=1998-08-21 | url = http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/156312.stm | title = Castro calls for Caribbean unity | publisher = BBC News | accessdate = 2006-05-21] Caribbean nations have embraced Cuba's Fidel Castro while accusing the US of breaking trade promises. Castro, until recently a regional outcast, has been increasing grants and scholarships to the Caribbean countries, while US aid has dropped 25% over the past five years. [cite web |date= | year = 1998 | month = August 25 | url = http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/156756.stm | title = Castro finds new friends | format = | work = | pages = | publisher = BBC News | language = | accessdate = 2006-05-21] Cuba has opened four additional embassies in the Caribbean Community including: Antigua and Barbuda, Dominica, Suriname, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines. This development makes Cuba the only country to have embassies in all independent countries of the Caribbean Community. [cite news | last = | first = |month= March | year= 2006 | url = http://www.caribbeannetnews.com/cgi-script/csArticles/articles/000008/000823.htm | title = Cuba opens more Caribbean embassies | format = HTML | publisher = Caribbean Net News | accessdate = 2006-05-11 ]

Castro was known to be a friend of former Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau and was an honorary pall bearer at Trudeau's funeral in October 2000. They had continued their friendship after Trudeau left office until his death. Canada became one of the first American allies to openly trade with Cuba. Cuba still has a good relationship with Canada. In 1998, Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chrétien arrived in Cuba to meet President Castro and highlight their close ties. He is the first Canadian government leader to visit the island since Pierre Trudeau was in Havana in 1976. [cite web | last = | first = | authorlink =| coauthors = |date= | year = 1998 | month = April 20 | url = http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/80546.stm | title = Canadian PM visits Fidel in April | format = | work = | pages = | publisher = BBC News | language = | accessdate = 2006-05-21]

In December 2001, European Union representatives described their political dialogue with Cuba as back on track after a weekend of talks in Havana. The EU praised Cuba's willingness to discuss questions of human rights. Cuba is the only Latin American country without an economic co-operation agreement with the EU. However, trade with individual European countries remains strong since the US trade embargo on Cuba leaves the market free from American rivals. [cite web |date=2001-12-03 | url = http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/1689710.stm | title = EU and Cuba bury the hatchet | format = | work = | pages = | publisher = BBC News | language = | accessdate = 2000-05-21] In 2005, EU Development Commissioner Louis Michel ended his visit to Cuba optimistic that relations with the communist state will become stronger. The EU is Cuba's largest trading partner. Cuba's imprisonment of 75 dissidents and the execution of three hijackers have strained diplomatic relations. However, the EU commissioner was impressed with Fidel Castro's willingness to discuss these concerns, although he received no commitments from Castro. Cuba does not admit to holding political prisoners, seeing them rather as mercenaries in the pay of the United States. [cite web | last = Gibbs | first = Stephen | authorlink = | coauthors = |date=2005-03-28 | url = http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/4385657.stm | title = EU 'optimistic' after Cuba visit | publisher = BBC News | accessdate = 2006-05-21]

uccession issues

According to Article 94 of the Cuban Constitution, the First Vice President of the Council of State assumes presidential duties upon the illness or death of the president. Raúl Castro was the person in that position for the last 32 years of Fidel Castro's presidency.

In January 2004, Luis Eduardo Garzón, the mayor of Bogotá, said that Castro "seemed very sick to me" following a meeting with him during a vacation in Cuba. [cite web | last = | first = |date= 2004-01-14 | url = http://www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/americas/01/14/castro.health.ap | title = Bogota mayor: Castro health deteriorating | publisher = CNN.com | accessdate = 2006-05-11 ] In May 2004, Castro's physician denied that his health was failing, and speculated that he would live to be 140 years old. Dr. Eugenio Selman Housein said that the "press is always speculating about something, that he had a heart attack once, that he had cancer, some neurological problem", but maintained that Castro was in good health. [cite news | last =|first =|date= 2004-09-24 | url = http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2004/05/18/1084783511071.html | title = Fidel Castro can live to 140, doctor says | format = HTML | publisher = The Sydney Morning Herald | accessdate = 2006-05-11 ]

Illness and transfer of duties

On July 31, 2006, Castro delegated his duties as President of the Council of state, President of the Council of Ministers, First Secretary of the Cuban Communist Party and the post of commander in chief of the armed forces to his brother Raúl Castro. This transfer of duties was described at the time as temporary while Fidel recovered from surgery he underwent due to an "acute intestinal crisis with sustained bleeding". [http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060801/ts_nm/cuba_dc_2] Fidel Castro was too ill to attend the nationwide commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the Granma boat landing on December 2, 2006, which also became his belated 80th birthday celebrations. Castro's non-appearance fueled reports that he had terminal pancreatic cancer and was refusing treatment, [cite news|url=http://news.sky.com/skynews/article/0,,30200-1243432,00.html|title=Casto in Cancer Battle|publisher=Sky News|date=December 8, 2006] but on December 17, 2006 Cuban officials stated that Castro had no terminal illness and would eventually return to his public duties. [cite news|=url=http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/americas/12/17/castro.ap/index.html?eref=rss_topstories|publisher=CNN|date=December 17, 2006|title=Castro has no terminal illness, officials tell congressman] [cite news|=url=http://today.reuters.com/news/articlenews.aspx?type=topNews&storyid=2006-12-17T222317Z_01_N18357550_RTRUKOC_0_US-CUBA-CASTRO.xml&src=rss.|publisher=Reuters|date=December 17, 2006|title=U.S. lawmakers told Castro not dying, no cancer]

Rumors of Castro's health

While Cuba continues to deny claims that Castro is suffering from a terminal cancer, on December 24, 2006, Spanish newspaper "El Periódico de Catalunya" reported that Spanish surgeon José Luis García Sabrido has been flown to Cuba on a plane charted by the Cuban government. Dr. García Sabrido is an intestinal expert who further specializes in the treatment of cancer. The plane that Dr. García Sabrido's traveled in also was reported to be carrying a large quantity of advanced medical equipment. [cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/6208451.stm|publisher=BBC|date=December 25, 2006|title=Surgeon 'flew in to treat Castro'] [cite news|url=http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/25/world/americas/25cuba.html?ref=americas|publisher=The New York Times|date=December 25, 2006|title=Spanish Doctor is Said to Be Aiding Castro] On December 26, 2006, shortly after returning to Madrid, Dr. García Sabrido held a news conference in which he answered questions about Castro's health. He stated that "He does not have cancer, he has a problem with his digestive system," and added, "His condition is stable. He is recovering from a very serious operation. It is not planned that he will undergo another operation for the moment." [cite web |url = http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,11069-2519372,00.html | title = Castro does not have cancer, says Spanish doctor | format = | work = | pages = | publisher = Times Online | language = | accessdate = 2006-12-26] Although most Cubans acknowledge that they are aware Castro is seriously ill, most also seem worried about a future without Castro. [cite web
last =Gonzalez-Torres
first =Fernan
year =2006
month =December 30
url =http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/6215229.stm
title =Cubans look to future with trepidation
publisher =BBC News
accessdate =2007-01-01]

On January 16, 2007, the Spanish newspaper, "El País", citing two unnamed sources from the Gregorio Marañón hospital —who employs Dr. García Sabrido— in Madrid, reported Castro was in "very grave" condition, having trouble cicatrizing, after three failed operations and complications from an intestinal infection caused by a severe case of diverticulitis. However, Dr. García Sibrido told CNN that he was not the source of the report and that "any statement that doesn't come directly from [Castro's] medical team is without foundation." [cite web
year =2007
month =January 16
url =http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/americas/01/15/castro.condition/index.html
title =Spanish newspaper: Castro prognosis 'very grave'
publisher =CNN
accessdate =2007-01-16] Also, a Cuban diplomat in Madrid said the reports were lies and declined to comment, while White House press secretary Tony Snow said the report appeared to be "just sort of a roundup of previous health reports. We've got nothing new." [cite web
last =Roman
first =Mar
year =2007
month =January 16
url =http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/S/SPAIN_CUBA_CASTRO?SITE=FLROC&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT
title =Castro reportedly in 'grave' condition
publisher =Associated Press
accessdate =2007-01-16] [cite web
year =2007
month =January 16
url =http://www.elpais.com/articulo/internacional/cadena/actuaciones/medicas/fallidas/agravo/estado/Castro/elpepuint/20070116elpepiint_16/Tes
title =Una cadena de actuaciones médicas fallidas agravó el estado de Castro
publisher =El Pais
accessdate =2007-01-16] [cite web
last =Boadle
first =Anthony
year =2007
month =January 16
url =http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070116/wl_nm/cuba_castro_monday_dc_5
title =Castro had 3 failed surgeries, paper says
publisher =Reuters
accessdate =2007-01-16] On January 30, 2007, Cuban television and the paper "Juventud Rebelde" showed fresh video and photos from a meeting between Castro and Hugo Chavez said to have taken place the previous day. [ [http://www.juventudrebelde.cu/cuba/2007-01-30/fidel-y-chavez-se-abrazan-de-nuevo-en-la-habana/ Report from Juventud Rebelde (in Spanish)] ] [ [http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/16584601.htm Miami Herald - Weak Castro in new video] ]

In mid-February 2007, it was reported by the Associated Press that Acting President Raul Castro had said that Fidel Castro's health was improving and he was taking part in all important issues facing the government. "He's consulted on the most important questions," Raul Castro said of Fidel. "He doesn't interfere, but he knows about everything."" [http://newsmax.com/archives/articles/2007/2/9/220202.shtml Raul Castro Thinks Fidel Improving] ". Associated Press, February 10, 2007.] On February 27, 2007, Reuters reported that Fidel Castro had called into "Aló Presidente", a live radio talk show hosted by Hugo Chávez, and chatted with him for thirty minutes during which time he sounded "much healthier and more lucid" than he had on any of the audio and video tapes released since his surgery in July. Castro reportedly told Chávez, "I am gaining ground. I feel I have more energy, more strength, more time to study," adding with a chuckle, "I have become a student again." Later in the conversation ( [http://www.granma.cu/espanol/2007/febrero/mier28/conversa.html transcript in Spanish] ; [http://www.juventudrebelde.cu/cuba/2007-02-27/conversacion-telefonica-entre-fidel-castro-y-hugo-chavez-audio/ audio] ), he made reference to the fall of the world stock markets that had occurred earlier in the day and remarked that it was proof of his contention that the world capitalist system is in crisis. [cite web
last =Pretel
first =Enrique Andres
year =2007
month =February 28
url =http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N27428997.htm
title =Cuba's Castro says recovering, sounds stronger
publisher =Reuters AlertNet
accessdate =2007-02-28]

Reports of improvements in his condition continued to circulate throughout March and early April. On April 13, 2007, Chávez was quoted by the Associated Press as saying that Castro has "almost totally recovered" from his illness. That same day, Cuban Foreign Minister Felipe Roque confirmed during a press conference in Vietnam that Castro had improved steadily and had resumed some of his leadership responsibilities. [cite web
last =Pearson
first =Natalie Obiko
year =2007
month =April 13
url =http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D8OFU0O80&show_article=1
title =Venezuela: Ally Castro Recovering
publisher =Associated Press
accessdate =2007-04-13] On April 21, 2007, the official newspaper "Granma" reported that Castro had met for over an hour with Wu Guanzheng, a member of the Politburo of the Chinese Communist Party who was visiting Havana. Photographs of their meeting showed the Cuban president looking healthier than he had in any previously released since his surgery. [cite web
year =2007
month =April 21
url =http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/6578539.stm
title =Castro resumes official business
publisher =BBC News
accessdate =2007-04-21]

As a comment on Castro’s recovery, U.S. President George W. Bush said: "One day the good Lord will take Fidel Castro away," Hearing about this, Castro, who is an atheist, ironically replied: "Now I understand why I survived Bush's plans and the plans of other presidents who ordered my assassination: the good Lord protected me." [cite web
last =
first =
year =2007
month =June 28
url =http://www.reuters.com/article/topNews/idUSN2834938420070629
title =Bush wishes Cuba's Castro would disappear
publisher =Reuters
accessdate =2007-07-01]

Retirement

In a letter dated February 18, 2008, Castro announced that he would not accept the positions of president and commander in chief at the February 24, 2008 National Assembly meetings, saying "I will not aspire nor accept—I repeat I will not aspire or accept—the post of President of the Council of State and Commander in Chief," [cite news|author=Castro, Fidel|title=Message from the Commander in Chief|url=http://www.granma.cubaweb.cu/2008/02/19/nacional/artic10.html|work=Diario Granma|publisher=Comité Central del Partido Comunista de Cuba|date=February 18, 2008|accessdate=2008-02-19] effectively announcing his retirement from official public life. [cite web | date= 2008-02-18 | url = http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7252109.stm | title = Fidel Castro announces retirement | publisher = BBC News | accessdate = 2008-02-18] [cite web | date= 2008-02-18 | url = http://africa.reuters.com/top/news/usnBAN929511.html | title = Fidel Castro stepping down as Cuba's leader | publisher = Reuters | accessdate = 2008-02-18] [cite web |date =2008-02-19 |url= http://www.miamiherald.com/news/americas/story/424291.html|title = Fidel Castro will step down after 50 years at Cuba's helm |publisher= miamiherald.com|accessdate=2008-02-19] The letter was published online by the official Communist Party newspaper "Granma". In it, Castro stated that his health was a primary reason for his decision, stating that "It would betray my conscience to take up a responsibility that requires mobility and total devotion, that I am not in a physical condition to offer". [cite web |date =2008-02-19 |url= http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/7252109.stm|title = Fidel Castro announces retirement |publisher=BBC News|accessdate=2008-02-19]

uccession

On February 24, 2008, the National Assembly of People's Power unanimously chose his brother, Raúl Castro, as Fidel's successor as President of Cuba. In his first speech as Fidel’s successor, he proposed to the National Assembly of People's Power that Fidel continue to be consulted on matters of great importance, such as defence, foreign policy and "the socioeconomic development of the country". The proposal was immediately and unanimously approved by the 597 members of the National Assembly. Raúl described Fidel as "not substitutable". [ [http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=41321 CUBA: Raúl Shares His Seat with Fidel] ] Fidel also remains the First Secretary of the Communist Party. [cite web|date=2008-02-24|url=http://www.voanews.com/english/2008-02-24-voa16.cfm|title=Raul Castro Chosen to Lead Cuba|publisher=Voice of America|accessdate=2008-02-24]

Religious beliefs

Castro was raised a Roman Catholic as a child but did not practice as one. In Oliver Stone's documentary "Comandante", Castro states "I have never been a believer", and has total conviction that there is only one life. [YouTube|WLUcOqeoKck|Comandante - Fidel Castro & Oliver Stone] Pope John XXIII excommunicated Castro in 1962 on the basis of a 1949 decree by Pope Pius XII forbidding Catholics from supporting communist governments.

In 1992, Castro agreed to loosen restrictions on religion and even permitted church-going Catholics to join the Cuban Communist Party. He began describing his country as "secular" rather than "atheist". [ cite web | author= | title= Pope John Paul II's visit to Cuba | journal= The New York Times -on the Web | year= | volume= | issue= | pages= | url= http://www.nytimes.com/library/world/cuba-pope-index.html ] Pope John Paul II visited Cuba in 1998, the first visit by a reigning pontiff to the island. Castro and the Pope appeared side by side in public on several occasions during the visit. Castro wore a dark blue business suit (in contrast to his fatigues) in his public meetings with the Pope and treated him with reverence and respect.cite web | first= Larry | last= Rother | authorlink= | coauthors= | date= January 28, 1998 | title= Pope Condemns Embargo; Castro Attends Mass | edition= | publisher= The New York Times | url = http://www.nytimes.com/library/world/012698pope-cuba-rdp.html | id= ] With Castro and other senior Cuban officials in the front row at a mid-morning Mass, the pope delivered a ringing call for pluralism in Cuba. He rejected the materialist, one-party ideology of the Cuban state. And he said that true liberation "cannot be reduced to its social and political aspects," but must also include "the exercise of freedom of conscience — the basis and foundation of all other human rights." Later in the day, though, the pope also made his most critical reference yet to the American economic embargo of Cuba. At a departure ceremony at José Martí International Airport that evening, he said that Cuba's "material and moral poverty" arises not only from "limitations to fundamental freedoms" and "discouragement of the individual," but also from "restrictive economic measures — unjust and ethically unacceptable — imposed from outside the country." He also criticized widespread abortion [cite web | last = | first = |date= January 1, 1998 | url = http://www.cnn.com/WORLD/9801/22/pope/ | title = Pope attacks Cuban abortion policy|publisher = CNN.com|accessdate = 2006-05-11 ] in Cuban hospitals and urged Castro to end the government's monopoly on education to allow the return of Catholic schools. A month later Castro condemned the use of abortion as a form of birth control. [cite web |date= | year = 1998 | month = February 28 | url = http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/59998.stm | title = Castro condemns abortion | format = | work = | pages = | publisher = BBC News | language = | accessdate = 2006-05-20]

The senior spiritual leader of the Orthodox Christian faith arrived in Cuba in 2004, the first time any Orthodox Patriarch has visited Latin America in the Church's history. Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I consecrated a cathedral in Havana and bestowed an honor on Fidel Castro. His aides said that he was responding to the decision of the Cuban Government to build and donate to the Orthodox Christians a tiny Orthodox cathedral in the heart of old Havana. [cite web | last = Gibbs | first = Stephen | authorlink = | coauthors = |date= | year = 2004 | month = January 22 | url = http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/3418733.stm | title = Castro greets Orthodox patriarch | format = | work = | pages = | publisher = BBC News | language = | accessdate = 2006-05-20]

After Pope John Paul II's death in April 2005, an emotional Castro attended a mass in his honor in Havana's cathedral and signed the Pope's condolence book at the Vatican Embassy. [cite web | last = Newman | first = Lucia |date=April 6, 2005 | url = http://www.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/americas/04/04/pope.castro/ | title = Castro signs pope's condolence book | publisher = CNN.com ] He had last visited the cathedral in 1959, 46 years earlier, for the wedding of one of his sisters. Cardinal Jaime Lucas Ortega y Alamino led the mass and welcomed Castro, who was dressed in a black suit, expressing his gratitude for the "heartfelt way the death of our Holy Father John Paul II was received (in Cuba)." [cite web | last = Batista|first = Carlos|date= 2005-04-05 | url = http://www.caribbeannetnews.com/2005/04/05/mourns.shtml | title = Fidel Castro mourns pope at Havana cathedral | publisher = Caribbean Net News | accessdate = 2006-05-11 ]

=Public

By wearing military-style uniforms and leading mass demonstrations, Castro projects an image of a perpetual revolutionary. He is mostly seen in military attire, but his personal tailor, Merel Van 't Wout, convinced him to occasionally change to a business suit. [cite web|url=http://secure-wildcat.arizona.edu//papers/old-wildcats/spring95/February/February10,1995/01_5_m.html |title=In brief |accessdate=2006-08-12 |accessmonthday= |accessyear= |author= |last= |first= |authorlink= |coauthors= |date=1995-02-10 |publisher=Arizona Daily Wildcat] Castro is often referred to as "Comandante", but is also nicknamed "El Caballo", meaning "The Horse", a label that was first attributed to Cuban entertainer Benny Moré, who on hearing Castro passing in the Havana night with his entourage, shouted out "Here comes the horse!" [Richard Gott, "Cuba : A new history". p. 175. Yale press.] During the revolutionary campaign, fellow rebels knew Castro as "The Giant". [Jon Lee Anderson. Che Guevara : A revolutionary life. p. 317.] Large throngs of people gather to cheer at Castro's fiery speeches, which typically last for hours. Many details of Castro's private life, particularly involving his family members, are scarce as the media is forbidden to mention them. [ [http://www.latinamericanstudies.org/fidel/castro-family.htm Fidel Castro's Family ] ] Castro insists that he does not promote a cult of personality. [" [http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/latin_america/cuba/castro_2-12-85.html Fidel Castro] " "PBS Online Newshour" February 12, 1985.]

Family

By his first wife Mirta Díaz-Balart, whom he married on October 11, 1948, Castro has a son named Fidel Ángel "Fidelito" Castro Díaz-Balart, born on September 1, 1949. Díaz-Balart and Castro were divorced in 1955, and she remarried Emilio Núñez Blanco. After a spell in Madrid, Díaz-Balart reportedly returned to Havana to live with Fidelito and his family. [Ann Louise Bardach : "Cuba Confidential". p. 67. "One knowledgable source claims that Mirta returned to Cuba in early 2002 and is now living with Fidelito and his family."] Fidelito grew up in Cuba; for a time, he ran Cuba's atomic-energy commission before being removed from the post by his father.Jon Lee Anderson, "Castro's Last Battle: Can the revolution outlive its leader?" The New Yorker, July 31, 2006. 51.] Díaz-Balart's nephews are Republican U.S. Congressmen Lincoln Diaz-Balart and Mario Diaz-Balart, vocal critics of the Castro government.

Fidel has five other sons by his second wife, Dalia Soto del Valle: Antonio, Alejandro, Alexis, Alexander "Alex" and Ángel Castro Soto del Valle.

By an unnamed woman he had another son, Jorge Ángel Castro.

Criticism

Human rights record

Castro's human rights record remains controversial. It is alleged that some political opponents to his regime were killed, primarily during the first decade of his leadership. [cite web | last = White | first = Matthew | date = 2005-06 | url = http://users.erols.com/mwhite28/warstat6.htm#Cuba59 | title = Minor Atrocities of the Twentieth Century | publisher = | accessdate = 2006-06-01 ] [ [http://www.cubaarchive.org/downloads/CA03.pdf December 27, 2005 Update on Non-Combatant Victims of the Castro Regime] taken from Armando M. Lago, Ph.D.'s "Cuba: the Human Cost of Social Revolution"] Persons found to be "counterrevolutionaries", "fascists", or "CIA operatives" were said to be imprisoned in poor conditions without trial. [cite book | last = Volkman | first = Ernest | year = 1995 | title = Espionage: The Greatest Spy Operations of the Twentieth Century | chapter= Our man in Havana. Cuban double agents 1961–1987 | publisher = Wiley | location = New York | id = ISBN 0-471-16157-8] [ [http://www.cubaarchive.org/downloads/CA12.pdf Truth Recovery Archive on Cuba: Victims of the Cuban Communist Regime. Selected cases of individuals in detention or serving prison sentences for political offenses are proven in Armando M. Lago, Ph.D.'s "Cuba: the Human Cost of Social Revolution"] . Military Units to Aid Production, or UMAPs, were labor camps established in 1965 to confine "social deviants" (including homosexuals and Jehovah's Witnesses), with the goal of working "counter-revolutionary" influences out of certain segments of the population. [cite book | last = Bunck | first = Julie | year = 1994 | title = Fidel Castro and the Quest for a Revolutionary Culture in Cuba | pages = 256 | location = Pennsylvania State University Press | id = ISBN 0-271-01087-8 ] The camps were closed in 1967. [ [http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&se=gglsc&d=5000586571&er=deny Manuel Fernandez: Sexual Politics in Cuba: Machismo, Homosexuality, and AIDS] ]

Castro acknowledged that Cuba holds political prisoners, but argued that Cuba is justified because these prisoners are not jailed for their political beliefs, but have been convicted of "counter-revolutionary" crimes, including bombings. Castro has often portrayed opposition to the Cuban government as illegitimate, and has alleged that most such opposition is the result of an ongoing cooperation between Cuban exiles and the CIA. [PBS. [http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/latin_america/cuba/castro_2-12-85.html Online NewsHour: Fidel Castro] February 12, 1985]

Allegations regarding wealth

In 2005, American business and financial magazine "Forbes" listed Castro among the world's richest people, with an estimated net worth of $550 million. The estimates, which the magazine admitted was "more art than science", [http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/05/16/world/main1622957.shtml Castro: I am not rich.] CBS News. Assessed April 24, 2007.] claimed that the Cuban leader's personal wealth was nearly double that of Britain's Queen Elizabeth II, despite anecdotal evidence from diplomats and businessmen that the Cuban leader's personal life was notably austere. [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/4985510.stm Castro denies huge fortune claim] . BBC News.] This assessment was drawn by making economic estimates of the net worth of Cuba's state-owned companies, and used the assumption that Castro had personal economic control. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12807201/ Castro blasts Forbes over wealth report. Associated Press. Accessed December 13. 2006] Forbes Magazine later increased the estimates to $900 million, adding rumors of large cash stashes in Switzerland. The magazine offered no proof of this information, and according to CBS news, Castro's entry on the rich list was notably brief compared to the amount of information provided on other figures.

Castro, who had considered suing the magazine, responded that the claims were "lies and slander", and that they were part of a US campaign to discredit him. He declared: "If they can prove that I have a bank account abroad, with $900m, with $1m, $500,000, $100,000 or $1 in it, I will resign." President of Cuba's Central Bank, Francisco Soberón, called the claims a "grotesque slander", asserting that money made from various state owned companies is pumped back into the island's economy, "in sectors including health, education, science, internal security, national defense and solidarity projects with other countries."

Authored works

Fully or partially by Fidel Castro
*"Capitalism in Crisis: Globalization and World Politics Today", Ocean Press, 2000, ISBN 1876175184
*"Che: A Memoir", Ocean Press, 2005, ISBN 192088825X
*"Cuba at the Crossroads", Ocean Press, 1997, ISBN 187528494X
*"Fidel Castro: My Life: A Spoken Autobiography", Scribner, 2008, ISBN 1416553282
*"Fidel Castro Reader", Ocean Press, 2007, ISBN 1920888888
*"Fidel My Early Years", Ocean Press, 2004, ISBN 1920888098
*"Fidel & Religion: Conversations with Frei Betto on Marxism & Liberation Theology", Ocean Press, 2006, ISBN 1920888454
*"Playa Giron: Bay of Pigs : Washington's First Military Defeat in the Americas", Pathfinder Press, 2001, ISBN 087348925X
*"Political Portraits: Fidel Castro reflects on famous figures in history", Ocean Press, 2008, ISBN 1920888942
*"The Declarations of Havana", Verso, 2008, ISBN 1844671569
*"The Prison Letters of Fidel Castro", Nation Books, 2007, ISBN 1560259833
*"War, Racism and Economic Justice: The Global Ravages of Capitalism", Ocean Press, 2002, ISBN 1876175478

ee also

*26th of July Movement
*Agrarian Reform Laws of Cuba
*Politics of Cuba
*Opposition to Fidel Castro
*2006–2008 Cuban transfer of presidential duties

*Comandante
*Fidel (film)
*Fidel (2001 documentary)
*My Life (Fidel Castro autobiography)
*638 Ways to Kill Castro

References and footnotes

External links

;By Fidel Castro
* [http://www.cuba.cu/gobierno/discursos/ Archive of Fidel Castro's speeches in 6 languages]
* [http://www.marxists.org/history/cuba/archive/castro/ Fidel Castro History Archive] at Marxists Internet Archive.
* [http://lanic.utexas.edu/la/cb/cuba/castro.html Collection of Castro's speeches]
* [http://www.counterpunch.org/castro09042007.html "We Don't Hope for Favors from the Worst of Empires"]
* [http://www.counterpunch.org/castro04072007.html "Where Have All the Bees Gone?"]
* [http://www.counterpunch.org/castro07312007.html "In Spite of Everything: Reflections on the Pan-American Games"]
* [http://www.counterpunch.org/castro08062007.html "Time for an Alliance of Civlizations Against Empire"]

;About Fidel Castro
*Arthur Miller: [http://www.thenation.com/doc/20040112/miller A Visit With Castro] ("The Nation") – description of their encounter on December 24, 2003
*BBC: [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_pictures/4392634.stm Fidel Castro: A Life in Pictures]
*BBC Video: [http://news.bbc.co.uk/player/nol/newsid_5200000/newsid_5207200/5207264.stm?bw=nb&mp=rm&news=1&nol_storyid=5207264&bbcws=1 Fidel Castro Visits Boyhood Home of Che Guevara]
* [http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/castro/ PBS American Experience] Interactive site on Fidel Castro with a teacher's guide
* [http://mssa.library.yale.edu/findaids/eadHTML/mssa.ms.0650.html Guide to the Cuban Revolution Collection, Manuscripts and Archives] , Yale University Library
*imdb name|0004242|Fidel Castro
*"New York Times" --- Interactive Feature: [http://www.nytimes.com/packages/html/world/20060802_CUBA_FEATURE/index.html Focus on Cuba]
*"New York Times" --- Interactive Feature: [http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2008/02/24/weekinreview/20080224_CASTRO_FEATURE.html#section1 Three Days With Fidel]
*"New York Times" --- Slideshow: [http://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2008/02/19/world/0219-CASTRO_index.html Fidel Castro Resigns as President]
*"Washington Post:" [http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/02/21/AR2008022102788.html Fidel Castro Will Always Lead Cuba, Locals Say] February 22, 2008

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Persondata
NAME=Castro, Fidel
ALTERNATIVE NAMES=Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz
SHORT DESCRIPTION=President of Cuba
DATE OF BIRTH=August 13, 1926
PLACE OF BIRTH=Birán, Holguín Province, Cuba
DATE OF DEATH=
PLACE OF DEATH=

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Fidel Castro — Pour les articles homonymes, voir Castro. Fidel Castro … Wikipédia en Français

Fidel Castro — (Redirigido desde Castrista) Saltar a navegación, búsqueda Existen desacuerdos sobre la neutralidad en el punto de vista de la versión actual de este artículo o sección. En la página de discusión puedes consultar el debate al respecto … Wikipedia Español

Fidel Castro — Máximo Líder Fidel Castro (2003) Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz [fiˈðɛl ˈkastɾɔ ˈrus] (* offiziell 13. August 1926[1] in Birán bei Mayarí in der damaligen kubanischen Provinz Oriente) führte von 1959 bis 2008 … Deutsch Wikipedia
Fidel Castro — Historia La historia me absolverá. Opresión Ni los muertos pueden descansar en paz en un país oprimido … Diccionario de citas
Opposition to Fidel Castro — The opposition to Fidel Castro s Marxist government is largely unofficial and illegal within Cuba itself. Outside the country groups in the United States and elsewhere have pursued various means, both peaceful and violent, to challenge the Cuban… … Wikipedia

Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz — Fidel Castro Pour les articles homonymes, voir Castro. Fidel Castro … Wikipédia en Français
Castro (surname) — Castro is a Romance (Italian, Portuguese, Spanish and Galician) word coming from Latin castrum , a fortification (cf: Greek: kastron; Proto Celtic: *Kassrik; Breton: kaer, *kastro). It may refer to:PeopleEuropeans*Aureo Castro (1917 1993),… … Wikipedia
Castro — Saltar a navegación, búsqueda Castro puede referirse a: Contenido 1 Toponimia 1.1 de Chile 1.2 de EE. UU. 1.3 de España … Wikipedia Español
Castro — Cette page d’homonymie répertorie les différents sujets et articles partageant un même nom. Castro peut être : Un nom d origine portugaise ou espagnole : Américo Castro, philologue et historien de la culture hispanique, né au… … Wikipédia en Français
Fidel — is a given name, most associated with Fidel Castro.Persons*Fidel Castaño, Colombian drug lord *Fidel V. Ramos, 12th President of Philippines *Fidel Negrete, Mexican long distance runner *Fidel Velázquez Sánchez, Mexican union leader *Fidel Dávila … Wikipedia

Фильмы

Our Nikita Sergeevich, 1961 — Annotation: A biographic film about Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev. Film description: The film used the documents of the Central State Archive of Cinema and Photo Documents (RGAKFD) and materials…
Fidel Castro-the Guest Of the city of Volgograd., 1963 — Annotation: The visit of the first Secretary and Prime Minister of the Revolutionary Government of the Republic of Cuba Fidel Castro Ruz to the Hero-City Volgograd. History: In May 1963 in Volgograd…
Our Guest Is Fidel Castro., 1972 — Annotation: About the visit of Fidel Castro to the Soviet Union. Film description: Castro's stay in the USSR. Meeting at the airport, travel on the streets of Moscow. Fidel Castro at the mausoleum of…

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