On the night of Friday, November 25, 2016, Fidel Castro died. This event will mark one of the last stages of his life, after 90 years of history, particularly marked by the Revolution. His end came far from power, with a historical approach to relations between Cuba and the United States managed by Raúl Castro, who had taken the reins of the country in 2008.
Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz, better known as Fidel Castro, was born in Birán, Holguín province, on August 13, 1926.
He was a Cuban military man, revolutionary, statesman and politician. He served as Prime Minister (1959–1976) and President (1976–2008) of his country. He was also Commander-in-Chief of the Revolutionary Armed Forces (1956–2008) and was First Secretary of the Cuban Communist Party (PCC) from 1965 until 2011, when he definitively left office and transferred all powers to his brother, Raúl Castro.
Professionally, he was a lawyer, doctor of civil law and graduate in diplomatic law.
Fidel Castro began his public life as an opposition politician and particularly distinguished himself after the assault on the Moncada barracks in 1953, which earned him a prison sentence. Released thanks to public pressure, he went into exile in Mexico, where he planned the guerrilla invasion of 1956.
He came to power after leading the Cuban Revolution, which triumphed on January 1, 1959, overthrowing the dictatorship of Fulgencio Batista. He was appointed Prime Minister on February 27 of that year by President Manuel Urrutia.
In 1961 he led the revolutionary government's adoption of Marxism, establishing the first socialist state in America.
After the constitutional reform of 1976, he was elected President of the Council of State and the Council of Ministers. In 1965, he founded the Communist Party and was its first secretary until 2011.
On February 19, 2008, in a letter published in the newspaper Granma, he announced that he would not run or accept a new mandate at the meeting of the National Assembly of People's Power on February 24 of the same year.
On the international scene, he first tried to establish good relations with the United States, then developed close ties with the USSR. After a series of expropriations of American capital, disagreements with the United States led to an economic embargo against Cuba.
Since then, its relations with the superpower have become openly antagonistic, especially after the failed Bay of Pigs invasion in 1961.
Fidel Castro has received numerous national and international decorations.
On November 25, 2016, Raúl Castro announced his brother's death on television. His remains were cremated and his ashes traveled through Cuba in a four-day caravan before being finally buried in Santiago de Cuba.
Due to his long administration and the unique characteristics of his policies, he has sparked an intense debate between opponents and supporters of his government, oscillating between the qualification of dictatorship and the expression of the will of the Cuban people.
See you soon, Commander!
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