- Born
- Died
- Birth nameFidel Alejandro Castro Ruz
- Nicknames
- El Comandante
- El Caballo
- El Jefe Maximo
- Height1.91 m
- Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz was born in Birán, Holguin Province, Cuba, the fifth of nine children of Ángel María Bautista Castro y Argiz, a plantation owner originally from Galicia, Spain, who operated a plantation in Cuba's Oriente Province. His mother, Lina Ruz González, was a servant in his father's home who bore Fidel out of wedlock (they later were married several years after Angel's first wife died). Known as a rebellious, loud, and troublesome child, Fidel was sent to a Jesuit boarding school in Santiago de Cuba, where he was often teased by his wealthier classmates who called him a "peasant." He later attended Belen College before enrolling at the University of Havana, where he earned a law degree. After graduating from the university, Castro briefly practiced law, before he went on to marry Mirta Diaz-Balart, a wealthy philosophy student with family ties to Cuban dictator Fulgencio Batista. They had a son, Fidelito, but after 5 years, the couple divorce and went their separate ways. After several years in prison and exile (he lived in Mexico and New York City before starting the revolution) Castro led an attack on the Moncada barracks on July 26, 1953. The attack, which was a major attack on Batista's hold of Cuba, found Castro once again imprisoned before he was released. After his release he went to the Yucatan, where he organized a rebel force that landed in Cuba in 1958 and after many successful battles, Castro rode triumphantly into Havana on January 8, 1959.- IMDb mini biography by: Luis32789@aol.com
- Fidel Castro was a Cuban communist revolutionary and politician who governed the Republic of Cuba as Prime Minister from 1959 to 1976 and then as President of the Council of State and Council of Ministers from 1976 to 2008. Castro served as the First Secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba from 1961 until 2011. Under his administration, Cuba became a one-party communist state, while industry and business were nationalized and state socialist policies were implemented throughout society.- IMDb mini biography by: Tango Papa
- SpousesDalia Soto del Valle(1980 - November 25, 2016) (his death, 5 children)Mirta Díaz-Balart(October 12, 1948 - 1954) (divorced, 1 child)
- Children
- RelativesRaúl Castro(Sibling)Juanita Castro(Sibling)
- His long beard
- Almost always appears in public in solid green military fatigues
- Known for often smoking cigars before he quit in 1986
- Towering height
- Fluent in English, but refused to speak it anymore, even in public or private interviews because he considered it to be "the language of his enemies.".
- Rarely slept more than three or four hours a day.
- Quit smoking cigars in 1986.
- Hobbies were fishing, hunting and reading.
- Famous admirers include Ted Turner, Jack Nicholson, Danny Glover, Harry Belafonte, Steven Spielberg, Chevy Chase, Leonardo DiCaprio, Vanessa Redgrave, Robert Redford, Dan Rather, Peter Jennings and Oliver Stone.
- [from a 1957 "New York Times" interview] Power does not interest me. After victory I want to go back to my village and just be a lawyer again.
- [text from a 1953 speech. The last line is considered his most famous quote ever] I know that imprisonment will be harder for me than it has ever been for anyone, filled with cowardly threats and hideous cruelty. But I do not fear prison, as I do not fear the fury of the miserable tyrant who took the lives of 70 of my comrades. Condemn me. It does not matter. History will absolve me.
- I don't think anyone has been slandered more than the Jews.
- I would not vote for the mayor. It's not just because he didn't invite me to dinner, but because on my way into town from the airport there were such enormous potholes.
- I am not a communist and neither is the revolutionary movement.
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