In 2006, Castro transferred his responsibilities to Vice President Raúl Castro, who was elected to the presidency by the National Assembly in 2008. Castro died at the age of 90 from natural causes in November 2016. Castro was the longest-serving non-royal head of state in the 20th and 21st centuries and polarized world opinion about his rule.
Fidel Castro, Cuban political leader (1959–2008) who transformed his country into the first communist state in the Western Hemisphere. Castro became a symbol of communist revolution in Latin America.
Fidel Castro | Biography, Cause of Death, Brother, & Facts - Britannica
Castro’s regime was successful in reducing illiteracy, stamping out racism and improving public health care, but was widely criticized for stifling economic and political freedoms.
- Castro and approximately 150 others attack the Moncada military barracks in Santiago de Cuba in an unsuccessful attempt to overthrow the Batista regime.
The Castro brothers faced many challenges to their rule, including C.I.A. assassination plots, a decades-long U.S. embargo and the collapse of the Soviet Union, once Cuba’s main benefactor.
Although Castro took an interest in history, geography and debating at Belén, he did not excel academically, instead devoting much of his time to playing sport. Castro's first wife was Mirta Díaz-Balart, whom he married in October 1948. She was a student from a wealthy family through which he was exposed to the lifestyle of the Cuban elite.
Fidel Castro, the long-time Cuban leader who has died at 90, defined decades for his homeland—and, though he wasn’t always a man of such power, his charisma and drive were obvious from the ...