Fidel Castro: biography and obituary. "History will vindicate me"

Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz (Spanish: Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz). Born August 13, 1926 in Biran (Oriente province, Cuba) - died November 25, 2016 in Havana. Cuban statesman, politician, party leader and revolutionary, was Chairman of the Council of Ministers and Chairman of the Council of State of Cuba (President) in 1959-2008 and 1976-2008 and First Secretary of the Central Committee of the ruling Communist Party of Cuba in 1961-2011.

Under his leadership, Cuba was transformed into a one-party socialist state, industry and private property were nationalized, and large-scale reforms were carried out throughout society.

He was the Secretary General of the Non-Aligned Movement in 1979-1983 and 2006-2009.

The son of a wealthy farmer, Castro acquired left-wing, anti-imperialist views while attending law school at the University of Havana. After participating in revolts against the right-wing governments of the Dominican Republic and Colombia, he attempted to overthrow the military junta of President Batista with a failed attack on the Moncada barracks in 1953. A year after his release, he headed to Mexico, where, together with Che Guevara and his brother Raul, he organized the revolutionary July 26 Movement. Returning to Cuba, he led a guerrilla war against the Batista regime, beginning with the landings in the Sierra Maestra. As the government's fortunes deteriorated, Castro gradually assumed a central role in the Cuban Revolution, which successfully overthrew Batista in 1959, giving the revolutionaries control of Cuba.

The US administration, alarmed friendly relations Castro with the USSR, organized a number of unsuccessful attempts to assassinate him and imposed an economic embargo against Cuba. The peak of the confrontation was the unsuccessful military operation organized by the CIA to overthrow him in 1961. In an effort to counter these threats, Castro formed a military and economic alliance with the USSR, allowing the latter to place nuclear missiles in Cuba, which, according to the American version, provoked the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962 (according to the Soviet version, the crisis was provoked by the previous deployment of American missiles medium range in Turkey).

In 1961, Castro proclaimed the socialist nature of the Cuban revolution. Cuba became a one-party state under the leadership of the Communist Party, the first of its kind in the Western Hemisphere. The Marxist-Leninist model of development was adopted, socialist reforms were carried out, the economy was placed under centralized control, measures were taken to develop education and health care, which, at the same time, were accompanied by the establishment of state control over the press and the suppression of dissent.

Hoping to overthrow global capitalism, Castro supported foreign revolutionary organizations and Marxist governments in Chile, Nicaragua and Grenada, sending Cuban troops to support the Allied left in the war doomsday, Ethiopian-Somali war and civil war in Angola. These measures, combined with the activities of the Non-Aligned Movement, led to Cuba gaining prestige among developing countries.

After the collapse of the USSR and CMEA, a “special period” was introduced in Cuba, accompanied by a limited introduction of market mechanisms into the economy, and strong relations were established in the international arena with a number of left-wing Latin American leaders, such as Hugo Chavez. Cuba, along with Venezuela, became a co-founding country of ALBA.

On July 31, 2006, due to health reasons, Castro transferred all of his key positions to his brother Raul.

On February 24, 2008, he left all government positions, and on April 19, 2011, he resigned from the post of head of the ruling party.

Castro is a controversial figure. His supporters highly appreciated his socialist, anti-imperialist and humanistic policies, commitment to protecting environment and Cuba's independence from American influence. At the same time, he is viewed by critics as a dictator whose regime violated the human rights of Cubans and whose policies led to the departure of more than a million people from Cuba and the impoverishment of the country's economy. Through his actions and works he significantly influenced various organizations and politicians around the world.

Biography

Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz was born on August 13, 1926 in Cuba in the town of Biran (Oriente province) in the family of a native of the Spanish province of Galicia, Angel Castro.

According to many available sources, Fidel Castro was actually born on August 13, 1927 - this is supported by both the church record created at Fidel's baptism, which lists August 13, 1927 as his date of birth, and public confirmation in the late 1950s Fidel's mother and three sisters of this date of birth. And the date of birth, August 13, 1926, appeared due to the fact that when placing him in an elementary boarding school, his parents assigned Fidel one more year, since he was then 5 years old, and he was accepted into school only from the age of 6.

When agreeing on his biography prepared for Soviet newspapers, Fidel Castro himself asked to leave 1926 as his birthday, since this date appeared in all the documents he used.

His father is Angel Castro Argis (1875-1956), an emigrant from Spain, a former poor farmer who became rich and became the owner of a large sugar plantation. Mother - Lina Rus Gonzalez (1903-1963), was a cook on her father's estate. She bore Angel Castro five children before he married her. Remembering his childhood, Fidel said this: “I was born into the family of a landowner. What does it mean? My father was a Spanish peasant from a very poor family. He came to Cuba as a Spanish immigrant at the beginning of the century and began to work in very difficult conditions. Being an enterprising man, he soon attracted attention and took certain leadership positions at construction sites that were carried out at the beginning of the century.

Fidel Castro as a child

He managed to accumulate some capital, which he invested in the purchase of land. In other words, how business man, he became successful and became a land owner... Such things were not so difficult in the early years of the republic. Then he rented additional land. And when I was born, I was really born into a family that could be called landowning.

On the other hand, my mother was a simple, poor peasant woman. Therefore, in our family there was no what could be called oligarchic traditions. However, objectively speaking, our social position at that moment was such that we belonged to families with relatively high economic incomes. Our family was the owner of the lands and enjoyed all the advantages and, one might say, privileges inherent in landowners in our country.”

Although Castro's parents were illiterate, they tried to provide a good education for their children. At school, Fidel was one of the best students thanks to his truly phenomenal memory. At the same time, Fidel's revolutionary character manifested itself - at the age of 13, he participated in a workers' uprising on his father's plantation. Max Ladder, school friend Castro recalled: “He had great courage. They said who would follow Fidel, die or win.”.

In 1940, he wrote a letter to then American President Franklin Roosevelt. In the letter, the boy congratulates the president on his re-election to a second term and asks: “ If you don't mind, please send me an American 10 dollar bill. I've never seen it, but I'd really like to have it. Your friend". In the return address line - he indicated the coordinates of the school where he studied. The Comandante himself once mentioned this act: “I was very proud when I received a response from a member of the presidential administration. The message was even posted on the school bulletin board. Only there was no banknote in it.”. In 2004, a letter from young Fidel was found by employees of the National Archives Office in Washington.

In 1941, Fidel Castro entered the privileged Jesuit College Bethlehem. His mentor was the Jesuit Father Lorento, who noted determination and vanity in the boy. In college, Fidel got into many fights and often carried a gun. I once bet with a friend that I would crash into a wall while riding a bicycle at full speed. And crashed. I had to stay in the hospital later, but Castro won the bet.

In 1945, Fidel brilliantly graduated from college and entered the University of Havana to study law. IN student years he lived modestly. His room at the boarding house was in chaos; the only thing that was in order were the books of the revolutionary José Martí on the shelves. In those years, Fidel Castro read a lot of Mussolini, Lenin, Stalin, Trotsky, and General Primo de Rivera. He had no sympathy for communists, but once joked: “I am ready to become a communist immediately if they make me Stalin.”

In 1945 he entered the Faculty of Law of the University of Havana, from which he graduated in 1950 with the degrees of Bachelor of Laws and Doctor of Civil Law. After graduating from university, he entered into private legal practice in Havana; in particular, he handled the affairs of the poor for free. At this time, he joined the Party of the Cuban People (Orthodox), and was considered for parliamentary nomination from the same party in the 1952 elections. March 10, however, party leadership did not approve Castro’s candidacy as a candidate for deputy, citing his radicalism.

On March 11, a military coup took place, as a result of which Fulgencio Batista seized power. The Cuban Congress was dissolved, and legislative power passed to the Council of Ministers, constitutional guarantees were suspended for a month and a half, and the 1940 Constitution was soon abolished. Fidel Castro was at the forefront of the fight against the dictatorship, and on March 24 he presented to the Havana Court of Particularly Important and Urgent Cases a lawsuit accompanied by evidence to prosecute Batista for violating constitutional norms and seizing power. He demanded that Batista be tried and punished, while posing the following question with great subtext: “Otherwise, how can this tribunal judge an ordinary citizen who takes up arms against this illegal regime that came to power as a result of betrayal? It is absolutely clear that the conviction of such a citizen would be an absurdity, incompatible with the most elementary principles of justice.”.

In conclusion, Fidel, addressing the judges, said that if they do not find the strength to fulfill their professional and patriotic duty, then it would be better to take off their judicial robes and resign, so that it would be clear to everyone that in Cuba there are the same people exercise legislative, executive, and judicial power.

During the struggle against the Batista government, the Orthodox Party gradually disintegrated. Castro managed to unite a small group former members this party, which began preparations for the struggle to overthrow the Batista dictatorship. Fidel Castro and his comrades decided to seize the Moncada military barracks in Santiago de Cuba and the barracks in the city of Bayamo. Preparations for the assault took about a year. On July 25, 1953, 165 people gathered in the Siboney estate, located near Santiago de Cuba, under conditions of strict secrecy. Their main slogan was the words: “Freedom or death!” .

After the failure of the assault on the Moncada barracks, many of the attackers fled. Raul Castro was arrested on July 29, and Fidel went into hiding until August 1. The next day he was transported to the provincial prison of the city of Boniata, where Fidel was placed in solitary confinement, prohibited from using books and the right of correspondence was limited. The military tribunal began on September 21 and took place in the building of the Palace of Justice, from where Raul Castro’s group once fired at the barracks. At one of the court hearings, Fidel made a famous speech “History will justify me!”, in which he sharply condemned the Batista regime and called on the Cuban people to take up armed struggle against tyranny.

On September 21, the court sentenced Castro to 15 years in prison. In mid-February 1954, Batista visited the Presidio Modelo prison, where the participants in the assault on the Moncada barracks were serving their sentences. Fidel organized a noisy protest and, as punishment, was placed in solitary confinement, located opposite the prison morgue.

On May 15, 1955, Castro was released under a general amnesty, having served about 22 months for organizing an armed rebellion. That same year, Castro emigrated to Mexico.

On July 7, 1955, Fidel flew to Mexico, where Raul and other comrades were waiting for him. Fidel Castro flew from Havana to Merida, the capital of Yucatan, from there he took a local company's plane to the port city of Vera Cruz, and from there he boarded a bus and went to Mexico City. The revolutionaries settled in the house of a woman named Maria Antonia Gonzalez Rodriguez, who had been living in exile for several years. Maria Antonia recalled: “Fidel arrived with one suitcase full of books, and under his arm he held another bundle of books. There was no other luggage".

Here they began to prepare an uprising. Fidel founded the “26 July Movement” and began preparing to overthrow Batista. On August 26, 1956, the most popular Cuban magazine, Bohemia, published his letter in which he warned the dictator: “...in 1956 we will either be free or victims. I solemnly confirm this statement, being in full consciousness and considering that there are 4 months and 6 days left until December 31st.".

On November 25, 1956, on the motor yacht Granma, Cuban revolutionaries, led by Fidel Castro, went to Cuba, among them was the Argentine doctor Ernesto Guevara (Che Guevara), who described this picture as follows: “The whole ship was a living tragedy: the men were holding their stomachs with sadness on their faces; some simply plunged their faces into buckets, others sat motionless in strange positions with clothes covered in vomit.".

A detachment of revolutionaries created in Mexico was supposed to land in the Sierra Maestra mountains, in the southeast of Cuba. The landing was unsuccessful. Soon after landing, the revolutionaries were attacked by troops, many were killed or captured. Two small groups survived, meeting by chance in the forests a few days later. At first, they did not have sufficient strength and did not pose a threat to the Batista regime, although they carried out individual operations attacking police stations.

A decisive turn of events was caused by the proclamation of land reform and the distribution of land to peasants; this ensured massive support of the people, the movement increased its strength, Fidel’s troops numbered several hundred fighters. At this time, Batista sent several thousand soldiers to suppress the revolution. The unexpected happened - the troops entered the mountains and did not return. Most fled, but several thousand went over to the side of the revolutionaries, after which the revolution developed rapidly.

During the period 1957-1958. Armed rebel groups, conducting guerrilla warfare tactics, carried out several large and dozens of small operations. At the same time, the partisan detachments were transformed into the Rebel Army, whose commander-in-chief was Fidel Castro. In all the battles in the Sierra Maestra mountains, Fidel was always in the first line of attack. Often, with his shot from a sniper rifle, he gave the signal for the start of the battle. This was the case until the partisans wrote a collective letter asking Fidel to refrain from direct personal participation in hostilities in the future.

In the summer of 1958, Batista's army launched a major offensive against the revolutionary forces, after which events began to develop rapidly. Castro's armed forces were joined by units of the Student Federation, which opened the so-called Second Front in the Sierra del Escambray mountains in the central part of the island. In the west, in Pinar del Rio, the Third Front operated, under the control of the Revolutionary Movement of July 26.

On January 1, 1959, the Rebel Army entered Havana. The population of the capital rejoiced over the overthrow of Batista. On the same day, Batista's political opponents gathered at a meeting where a new government was formed. Manuel Urrutia, known for his honesty, became interim president, and liberal lawyer Miro Cardona became prime minister.

On January 8, Fidel Castro, appointed Minister of War, arrived in the capital and immediately expressed claims to leadership role in government. Back in 1957, Castro, giving an interview in the Sierra Maestra with journalist Herbert Matthews of the New York Times, said: “Power doesn’t interest me. After the victory, I will return to my village and practice law.” The famous revolutionary Ernesto Che Guevara said then: “He possesses the qualities of a great leader, which, combined with his courage, with his energy and with his rare ability to recognize the will of the people again and again, have raised him to the place of honor that he now occupies.”.

However, in reality everything happens differently. After Prime Minister Miro Cardona resigns on February 15, Fidel Castro becomes the new head of government. In June, he cancels previously planned free elections, suspends the 1940 Constitution, which guaranteed fundamental rights, and begins to govern the country exclusively through decrees.

On May 17, 1959, the Council of Ministers of Cuba adopted an agrarian reform law; in accordance with it, land plots with an area of ​​more than 400 hectares were planned to be confiscated from the owners and divided among the peasants. This law, as well as Castro's rapprochement with the communists, caused discontent in the United States. Thousands of counter-revolutionaries were arrested. A militia of thousands was created to protect the revolution. Fidel then announced the nationalization of large enterprises and banks, mostly owned by Americans.

October 10 by the Minister armed forces Raul Castro was appointed. This caused great dissatisfaction with the commander of the troops in Camagüey, Uber Matos. On the same day, he, along with fourteen other officers, resigned and accused Fidel of becoming a communist. This point of view was held by the Cuban leadership, and later by Cuban and Soviet historians. From their point of view, Major Matos and the officers who supported him were about to announce their collective resignation, with the goal of starting a mutiny throughout the Rebel Army. This would entail the resignation of some members of the Revolutionary Government and cause a crisis of the entire revolutionary power. At night, Fidel received a telephone message that Uber Matos’s speech was scheduled for the morning of October 21. He ordered Camilo Cienfuegos to go to Camagüey, disarm and apprehend Matos and his men.

After some time, Fidel himself arrived in Camagüey. A message was broadcast on the radio that Fidel Castro had arrived to investigate an emergency case and all citizens speaking in defense of the revolution should come to the square.

In the square, the commandant addressed them with a short speech, saying that a conspiracy was brewing in the province, led by Uber Matos, who was currently holed up in the regimental barracks, and that he had arrived to thwart the counter-revolutionary plot. Fidel invited everyone who cares about the fate of the revolution to follow him.

Fidel Castro moved unarmed in front of the crowd following him, personally broke the lock on the barracks gate, disarmed the sentry and arrested the conspirators. “The process lasted 5 days, if, of course, you could call it that. It was more like a tribunal. Before the start, I was shown a stack of papers, and for the first time I saw that I was accused of treason and incitement of rebellion.", Matos recalls.

Uber Matos was sentenced to 20 years in prison, and after serving his sentence he was deported to Venezuela, after which he joined the militant emigration; his son also became a prominent figure in emigrant circles.

Repressions against figures of the Batista regime and opposition to the Castro regime (including former anti-Batista fighters) began in Cuba shortly after the revolution and continued thereafter. Particularly massive arrests were carried out in 1961, when stadiums and other similar places were converted to hold those arrested.

In January 1961, John Kennedy took office as President of the United States, who received from the previous administration plans for an operation to overthrow the revolutionary government in Cuba.

On April 15, eight B-26 Invaders (with Cuban markings and piloted by Cuban exiles) bomb airfields Cuban Air Force. The next day, during the funeral of the victims of the bombing, Fidel calls the accomplished revolution socialist and, before the upcoming invasion, declares: “They cannot forgive us for the fact that we are under their noses, and that we carried out the Socialist Revolution under the nose of the United States!”

Until this point, Castro's political views were unknown to American intelligence. During testimony before Congress in December 1959, the Deputy Director of the CIA stated: “We know that the communists consider Castro to be a representative of the bourgeoisie.”. Castro himself never renounced Marxism, and while studying at the university he was strongly influenced by the ideas of Marx, Engels and Lenin; his closest ally in the fight against capitalism in Latin America was Che Guevara, who repeatedly emphasized his commitment to communist ideas.

At dawn On April 17, 1961, about 1,500 people from the so-called “Brigade 2506” landed in the Bay of Pigs area.. Most were Cubans trained in Nicaragua. The “brigade” headed to the shores of Cuba from Guatemala, which allowed the United States to deny its involvement in the incident at the UN. Although Kennedy later admitted his government's participation in preparing the operation.

From the very beginning, the attackers encountered desperate resistance from members of the people's militia and units of the Insurgent Army, command of which was assumed by Fidel Castro. The paratroopers managed to seize a bridgehead and even advance several kilometers into the interior of the island. But they failed to gain a foothold at the achieved levels. Over the next three days, the fighters of brigade 2506 were defeated first at Playa Larga, and then in the Playa Giron area. 1,173 people were captured, 82 (according to other sources 115) paratroopers were killed. The government army lost 173 soldiers killed, and according to some reports, several thousand militias were also injured.

Many versions of the failure of the operation have been put forward. The most popular of them is the version about the Americans’ refusal of previously promised military assistance to the landing of emigrants; version of an incorrect assessment of the strength of the Cuban army and the support of Castro by the population; version about poor preparation of the operation as such.

After attempting to overthrow the revolutionary government of Cuba, Fidel Castro announced his country's transition to a socialist path of development.

In 1962, the United States imposed an embargo on trade with Cuba and achieved its expulsion from the Organization of American States. The Castro government was accused of assisting revolutionaries in Venezuela, after which the OAS imposed diplomatic and trade sanctions against Cuba in 1964.

Assassination attempts on Fidel Castro

Fidel Castro survived many assassination attempts during his life. He was one of the leaders whose life was under constant threat.

Behind the 638 planned and carried out attempts on his life were the American government, Cuban opponents of Castro and American mafia groups, who were dissatisfied with the fact that after the victory of the revolution, Castro took over the famous Havana casinos and brothels.

During Eisenhower's presidency, 38 assassination attempts were made on Castro, Kennedy - 42, Johnson - 72, Nixon - 184, Carter - 64, Reagan - 197, Bush Sr. - 16, Clinton - 21. For the United States, the destruction of Castro became a kind of obsession. “Everything else is less important, do not spare money, time, human resources and effort”- said one of the White House notes.

The most famous and original attempts to assassinate Fidel Castro include:

On November 22, 1963, a CIA officer gave a poisoned ballpoint pen to a Cuban for use against Fidel Castro during a meeting between President Kennedy's emissary and Castro to explore the possibility of improving relations between the two countries. The attempt failed.

In 1963, American lawyer Donovan went to see Castro. He was supposed to give the commandant a gift of scuba gear, in the cylinders of which CIA agents had brought a tuberculosis bacillus. The lawyer, unaware of this, decided that the scuba gear was too simple for a gift, and bought another, more expensive one, and kept this one for himself. He soon died, but Castro remained alive.

In the 1960s, CIA intelligence agencies made another attempt on the commander's life. An exploding cigar was prepared as a gift for the Cuban leader. But the “gift” was not missed by the security service. Knowing about Castro’s passion for diving, American intelligence distributed information in the area of ​​​​the Cuban coast a large number of shellfish CIA agents planned to hide explosives in a large shell and paint the shellfish in bright colors to attract Fidel's attention. However, a storm foiled the attempt.

The Americans also tried to remove the commander with the help of women. One of former lovers Fidel was tasked with killing him using poison pills. She hid the pills in a tube of cream, but they dissolved in it. It is said that Castro, who uncovered the plot, offered her a gun so that she could shoot him, but the woman refused to do so.

In 1971, during Fidel Castro's trip to Chile, two snipers were supposed to shoot at him, but just before the assassination attempt, one of them was hit by a car, and the other was struck down by an acute attack of appendicitis.

In 2000, during the visit of the Cuban leader to Panama, 90 kg of explosives were planted under the podium from which he was supposed to speak. But it didn't work.

In 2000, a document was declassified that outlined the CIA's plans to destroy Fidel Castro. Among them there was a plan to use thallium salts.

Despite the fact that small Cuba successfully resisted its giant neighbor, it also participated in many wars around the world. Fidel Castro did not limit himself to fighting the United States; he actively helped the revolutionary forces of many third world countries. His army at one time consisted of 145 thousand people, not counting 110 thousand people in reserve and about one million men and women in the militia of the territorial troops; 57 thousand were sent to Angola, 5 thousand to Ethiopia, hundreds to South Yemen, Libya, Nicaragua, Grenada, Syria, Mozambique, Guinea, Tanzania, North Korea, Algeria, Uganda, Laos, Afghanistan, Sierra Leone.

On July 11, 2014, during his visit to Latin America President of the Russian Federation V.V. Putin met with Fidel Castro.

On July 12, 2014, Vladimir Putin met with the Chairman of the Council of Ministers of Cuba, Raul Castro. Before this, he wrote off 90% of Cuba's debts to the USSR, and the remaining 10% ($3.5 billion) is supposed to be invested in the Cuban economy by repaying it in equal semi-annual payments over 10 years. The foreign ministers of Russia and Cuba signed an intergovernmental agreement on cooperation in international information security, as well as a Russian-Cuban statement on not being the first to deploy weapons in space.

On January 27, 2015, the now former leader of Cuba, Fidel Castro, said that although he does not trust the United States, he nevertheless welcomes the possibility of negotiations with Washington. In his written address, read out on Cuban central television, 88-year-old Castro stressed that any negotiations aimed at solving existing problems are accepted by Havana in accordance with international laws.

In February 2016, during a meeting between Patriarch Kirill of the Russian Orthodox Church and Pope Francis of the Russian Orthodox Church, the Patriarch attended a reception with Fidel, after which 6 photographs and a video without sound were published.

In April 2016, Fidel Castro appeared in public - Cuban national television broadcast a meeting of 89-year-old Fidel Castro with schoolchildren at the educational complex named after. V. Espin.

Fidel Castro's height: 191 centimeters.

Personal life of Fidel Castro

Fidel's personal life has always been surrounded by an aura of legends and numerous rumors. He himself always did not like to dwell on this topic.

Retired KGB Lieutenant General Nikolai Sergeevich Leonov, author of books and close friend of the Castro brothers, when he was about to write about Fidel, received the following order from him: “Write everything that concerns my political activities. I have no secrets here. But leave your personal life, my emotional attachments to me - this is my only asset.".

Fidel Castro's official wife is Mirta Díaz-Balart, from whom he has his only legitimate son, Fidel Félix Castro Díaz-Balart, who was born in 1949 (he studied at Moscow State University at Faculty of Physics under the name Jose Raul Fernandez and interned at the Soviet Kurchatov Institute; was married twice, the first time to a Russian, the second to a Cuban). After his divorce from his wife, Castro did not enter into a legal marriage. Mirta never talked about her marriage anywhere.

Fidel Castro and Mirta Diaz-Balart

A book by Serge Raffy was published in France, the original title of which (Castro l’infidèle) contains a pun on the name of Fidel. In this half-biographical, half-fantasy novel, “The Unfaithful Castro.” It says that Fidel has about twenty illegitimate children. In particular, Francisca Pupo, nicknamed “Paquita” (Pajita - “straw”), lives in Miami: “She was born after Castro met a young girl from Santa Clara in 1953.”.

The daughter of Spanish immigrants who fled to Mexico after General Franco's rise to power, Isabel Custodio met Fidel in Mexico City while he was serving a short prison sentence after raiding revolutionary bases while preparing for the Granma expedition. In the book “Love will absolve me of my sins” (El amor me absolverá), published in Mexico, she claims that after leaving captivity, Fidel himself found her, spoke about his plans to rid Cuba of the Batista dictatorship and asked her to marry him.

A native of Bremen, Germany, Marita Lorenz claims that she became the mistress of 33-year-old Fidel immediately after the victory of the Cuban revolution. Marita was born on August 18, 1939 in the family of German sea captain Heinrich Lorenz and American dancer Alice June Lorenz, née Lofland. Her mother was arrested by the Gestapo on charges of spying for the United States. Together with Marita, they were in the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp until 1945. On February 28, 1959, Marita met Castro on board the passenger ship Berlin, captained by her father. While her father was enjoying his afternoon nap, the 19-year-old girl invited the tall “Barbudos” onto the ship.

Fidel invited Marita Lorenz to become his translator and personal secretary. She dropped out of her studies at an American university and flew to Havana. The affair with Fidel ended in the fall of 1959, when Marita was five months pregnant. Their child died. It is unclear whether there was a miscarriage or whether Lorenz was forced to have an abortion. The girl's mother filed a lawsuit against Fidel Castro for $11 million. She wrote an angry letter to Fidel Castro, copies of which she was not too lazy to send to the Pope and US President Dwight Eisenhower.

Fidel Castro and Marita Lorenz

The first lady of Cuba, according to reporters from Western agencies, could be considered a tall, blonde woman with green eyes named Dalia Soto del Valle, to whom Fidel Castro has allegedly been married since 1980. She has five children with Fidel. There is currently no confirmation of this information.

Lázaro Asensio, a journalist and former revolutionary commander, recalled: “In October 1959, a plane sank near Casilda Bay in Trinidad. Comandante Peña suggested that we use his niece by wife, a girl named Dalia Soto del Valle, as a diver. She was very young, beautiful, thin, with very white skin. We took her on the boat, she dived, but didn’t find the plane. When Fidel came to Trinidad, he was introduced to Dalia, fell in love with her and took her with him. No one ever saw her again.".

Fidel Castro and Dalia Soto del Valle at a meeting with Pope Francis

Interesting facts about Fidel Castro

In 1962, Castro was excommunicated by Pope John XXIII on the basis of the Decree against Communism of Pope Pius XII for organizing the communist revolution in Cuba.

His sister Juanita Castro fled Cuba in 1964 and settled in Florida upon arriving in the United States; even before that, in the early sixties, she began collaborating with the US Central Intelligence Agency.

During the revolutionary years, Fidel often added two more zeros to the amount of the reward announced for his head.

Fidel Castro entered the Guinness Book of Records as the most fiery speaker - his speech to the UN on September 29, 1960 lasted 4 hours 29 minutes. According to Reuters: Castro's longest speech was delivered at the Third Congress of the Cuban Communist Party in 1986 and lasted 7 hours and 10 minutes. However, according to AN Cuba-vision, this speech lasted 27 hours.

Fidel Castro played in at least two American films, including the quite famous one at the time, “School for Mermaids.”

Castro has always been a fan of Rolex watches. In many photographs he can be seen with two Rolex Submariners on his wrist.

The NBO company, which ordered Stone's film Comandante, considered it a propaganda film praising Cuba and its leader. The film was banned from showing in the United States, and Oliver Stone again went to Cuba to investigate the situation with human rights on Liberty Island. Ironically, in 2006, American authorities fined the Finding Fidel film crew for “violating the economic embargo” against Cuba.

At the end of April 2010, Fidel started a microblog on Twitter, intending to surpass Barack Obama, Sebastian Piñera and Benjamin Netanyahu in the number of readers, but in the first weeks their number only grew to a couple of tens of thousands, and during the same time Hugo Chavez received 10 times more "voices".

At the beginning of August 2010, the first part of Fidel's memoirs, La Victoria Estratégica, was published for the first time in Cuba.

Fidel Castro has been an Arsenal fan since the Gunners' double gold in the 1970/71 season.

In the computer games "Call of Duty: Black Ops" and "The Godfather 2" there is an operation to eliminate Castro. Both operations end in failure, which again hints at his “invulnerability.”

Fidel Castro entered the Guinness Book of Records surviving 638 different assassination attempts, which included poison in cigars and a bomb in a baseball.

Permanent leader of Cuba from 1959 to 2008. Prime Minister (1959–1976) and then Chairman of the Council of State of Cuba (1976–2008). A lawyer by training, in 1953 he led an unsuccessful coup attempt against Cuban dictator Fulgencio Batista, after which he spent two years in prison. Came to power after the overthrow of Batista in 1959. Acted as an enemy of the United States and established allied relations with the USSR. In 2006, he was hospitalized and temporarily handed over power to his brother Raul Castro. In February 2008, he announced his resignation from the posts of Chairman of the Council of State and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Cuba, after which Raul Castro was elected as the new Chairman of the Council of State of the country.

Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz was born on August 13, 1926 in the town of Biran, Cuba, into the family of a sugar plantation owner. Since 1945 he studied at the Faculty of Law of the University of Havana. After graduating in 1950, he began private legal practice. As a student, Castro was a political activist who joined the reformist Party of the Cuban People (Partido del Pueblo Cubano), also known as the Orthodox Party (Partido Ortodoxo). Participated in an unsuccessful attempt to overthrow the dictator of the Dominican Republic, Rafael Trujillo. Castro's plans included winning a seat in the Cuban parliament, but in 1952, dictator Fulgencio Batista returned to power after an eight-year break. The elections were canceled and Castro took up revolutionary activities.

On July 26, 1953, Castro led an attack by one hundred and fifty young revolutionaries on the Moncada barracks near Santiago, Batista's largest military garrison. The uprising was unsuccessful, many of Castro's associates died, he himself was arrested and in October 1953 sentenced to 15 years in prison. At the trial, he made a speech that became known as “History Will Acquit Me” and contained accusations against the Batista regime and a call for democratic reforms. In May 1955, under pressure public opinion Cuban authorities granted amnesty to Castro, and he emigrated to Mexico, where he organized the 26th of July Movement (Movimiento 26 de Julio), named in memory of the 1953 uprising. In 1956, a group of revolutionaries, including Fidel, his brother Raul Castro and Argentine Ernesto Che Guevara, arrived in Cuba on the yacht Granma. Only a few managed to escape the persecution of Batista's forces, but the guerrilla movement they started in the Sierra Maestra mountains quickly grew and gained popularity. At first, the United States helped Batista's forces in the fight against the partisans, but in 1958, American military assistance to the dictator ceased. On January 1, 1959, Castro's rebel forces occupied Havana and Batista fled to Dominican Republic. In the following week, a new government was formed. Castro became commander-in-chief of the armed forces and took over as prime minister in February. Later, in 1976, a new Cuban constitution was adopted, and Fidel took over as chairman of the Council of State.

Beginning in May 1959, Castro's government began expropriating American property in Cuba. In June 1960, after US President Dwight Eisenhower set a quota on Cuban sugar imports, Cuban authorities nationalized the property of American enterprises worth about $850 million. Tensions in relations with the United States pushed Fidel towards rapprochement with the USSR. On April 14, 1961, Castro proclaimed the Cuban revolution socialist (previously it was only about moderate politics, national representative democracy and a well-organized economy).

On April 15, 1961, the United States bombed Cuban airfields, and on April 17, about 1,400 Cuban exiles, trained and organized by the CIA, landed in Playa Giron (Bay of Pigs, Playa Giron). Their goal was to initiate a mass uprising against Castro's government. US President John F. Kennedy only at the last moment abandoned the idea of ​​supporting this enterprise with the help of the US military. On April 21, 1961, Castro's troops successfully repelled the attack and captured about a thousand prisoners. On February 7, 1962, due to the ongoing nationalization of American property in Cuba, the United States imposed a trade embargo against the country.

In October 1962, the Cuban Missile Crisis occurred, bringing the world to the brink of nuclear war. On October 14, a US reconnaissance aircraft discovered Soviet intercontinental missiles in Cuba. ballistic missiles. On October 22, Kennedy announced this in a public speech. On October 27, an American U-2 spy plane was shot down over Cuba. On October 28, after tense negotiations, Kennedy and Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev were able to reach a resolution to the crisis: the USSR removed missiles from Cuba, and the United States responded by abandoning plans for a military invasion of the island and removing nuclear weapons from Turkey.

In November 1966, US President Lyndon Johnson declared an amnesty for illegal immigrants from Cuba who left the country after the 1959 revolution. About 125 thousand people took advantage of the amnesty. In addition, from December 1965 to April 1973, the United States carried out air evacuation of Cubans wishing to leave the country: their number was more than 260 thousand people.

On November 11, 1975, rebels from People's movement The Liberation of Angola (Movimento Popular de Libertacao de Angola, MPLA), with intensive support from Cuba, captured the Angolan capital Luanda and declared their country's independence from Portugal. Cuba's military presence in Angola remained until 1988. In addition, the Cubans provided assistance to rebels in other countries - Ghana, Algeria, Mozambique, Nicaragua and El Salvador. At the same time, under Castro's leadership, Cuba became a key participant international movement non-alignment.

On November 20, 1975, the United States released information about eight unsuccessful attempts on Castro's life undertaken by the CIA from 1960 to 1965. According to Cuban authorities, during the years of Fidel's rule, the CIA made more than 600 attempts to kill him.

Under Fidel's leadership, Cuba achieved significant success in the social sphere. Cubans enjoy free health care, literacy rates reach 98 percent, and Cuba's infant mortality rate is lower than many Western countries. At the same time, the Cuban economy became dependent on the country's alliance with the USSR. During the Cold War Soviet Union bought most of the sugar produced by Cuba and supplied various goods to the island, which helped overcome the consequences of the American blockade. With the beginning of Soviet “perestroika,” sugar purchases stopped, and after the collapse of the USSR in 1991, Soviet advisers working in Cuba left the island. The end of Soviet economic assistance led to a decline in the Cuban economy, increasing shortages of food and consumer goods and, as a result, a flourishing black market. Castro's government was forced to make significant concessions, allowing foreign investment in some sectors of the economy, particularly tourism, and then allowing the circulation of foreign currencies in the country.

Economic difficulties caused an increase in the number of refugees, many of whom died trying to reach the shores of the United States on boats and other available watercraft. On September 9, 1994, Cuba and the United States entered into an agreement under which the number of Cuban emigrants accepted by the States was limited to 20 thousand people per year. In January 1996, the Miami-based organization of Cuban dissidents Hermanos al Rescate dropped leaflets over Havana calling for the overthrow of Castro. One of the two American aircraft used for this was shot down by Cuban air defense, after which on February 24 the United States made the trade embargo against Cuba permanent.

In January 1998, Pope John Paul II visited Cuba and met with Fidel, who had been excommunicated in 1962 by Pope John XXIII. Since the revolution, the Cuban authorities have emphasized the atheistic nature of their state, but in the mid-1990s they began to rapprochement with Catholic Church, hoping with its help to gain international support and persuade the United States to lift the economic embargo against the country. Dad served in different areas islands, several masses, each of which attracted several hundred thousand people, and during the last and largest of them, held on January 25 at the Plaza of the Revolution in Havana (Castro was personally present at it), John Paul II called on the United States to ease economic pressure on Cuba .

In October 2000, the US House of Representatives revised the trade embargo against Cuba and allowed limited supplies of food and medicine to that country. Castro condemned the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 in the United States. At the same time, he opposed the war launched by the United States in Afghanistan. Against this background, there was a rapprochement between Cuba and Venezuela, which was headed by anti-globalist President Hugo Chavez in 1998.

In April 2004, the UN Commission on Human Rights condemned the Cuban authorities for human rights violations, including the detention of 78 representatives of the political opposition.

In 2005, Forbes magazine named Castro one of the richest people on the planet and estimated his personal fortune at $550 million. In 2006 it was already about 900 million. Castro was outraged by these reports and categorically denied that he received income from state-owned enterprises.

IN last years The world closely monitored Castro's deteriorating health. In 2004, he fell during a public speech, injuring his leg and arm. On March 30, 2006, the Spanish-language press erroneously reported Castro's death. On July 31, 2006, an official statement from Cuban authorities was released, announcing that Castro had undergone surgery for gastrointestinal bleeding. He temporarily transferred power to the Minister of Defense and Vice President - his brother Raul. After this, Fidel did not participate in any public events. Although official Cuban sources claimed that the leader was recovering, many observers questioned this information.

On January 16, 2007, the Spanish newspaper El Pais reported that Fidel had suffered at least three unsuccessful operations and was in serious condition. Official representatives The Cubans called this message false. In March, official Cuban sources reported that Castro would certainly return to office ahead of general elections scheduled for April 2008.

On February 18, 2008, Fidel announced that he was going to resign as Chairman of the Council of State and Commander-in-Chief of the Cuban Armed Forces. On February 24, his brother Raul Castro was elected as the new Chairman of the State Council.

On October 20, Fidel was awarded the Order of the Russian Orthodox Church "Glory and Honor" for huge contribution in the development of religious cooperation and in honor of the opening of an Orthodox church in Havana.

The leader of the Cuban revolution, Comandante, the permanent leader of Cuba for more than fifty years - all this is about the great and terrible Fidel Castro. Everyone probably knows about this person. Countless books have been written about him and a huge number of films have been filmed. documentaries. Some called him the people's leader of Cuba, and others called him one of the most famous dictators in human history.

He was idolized and hated, extolled and despised. The life path of Fidel Castro can hardly be called unambiguous. And, sometimes, in this turmoil, it is extremely difficult to distinguish truth from lies. However, difficult does not mean impossible. AND life path Fidel Castro is a vivid example of the correctness of these words.

The Early Years of Fidel Castro

The future politician was born in a small town called Biran, in the province of Oriente. His family grew sugar cane and owned a small plantation. In 1941, Castro entered college, graduating with honors. As noted by former classmates and teachers political leader, from his earliest years, Fidel was distinguished by his ambition and determination.

After graduating from college, Fidel decides to continue his studies and goes to Havana, where he enters the law faculty of the local university. Having received a law degree, in 1950 the future politician opened a private practice, but the revolutionary sentiments in the soul of Fidel Castro still turned out to be stronger.

Together with other figures of the Party of the Cuban People, of which he became a member while still studying at the university, he often participates in various political actions, and in 1953 he took part in an adventurous attack on one of the largest garrisons of the then head of Cuba, Fulgencio Batista. .

Such an enterprise turns out to be unsuccessful. A significant part of the conspirators die. The rest receive long-term prison sentences. Among them is Fidel Castro himself, who receives fifteen years in prison for his participation in the rebellion. However, he will only stay behind bars for two years: in 1955, under public pressure, Batista decides to release the conspirators, and Fidel Castro, among others, will be deported to Mexico.

Cuban Revolution

Looking ahead, we note that Fidel never abandoned his revolutionary sentiments. In 1958, Castro returns from South America with his future ally Ernest Che Guevara and a group of armed rebels. This episode played a huge role not only in the life and fate of the future politician, but also in the fate of the entire Cuban people.

The guerrilla movement initiated by Castro and Che Guevara would soon gain strength, and already in 1959 rebel troops would capture Havana. Some time later, the Batista regime will be overthrown, and one dictator will be replaced by another. Fidel Castro became the commander-in-chief of the Cuban forces, as well as the head of the country's government. In the first years after the revolution, the United States of America provided active assistance to the new head. But soon relations between the states went wrong. Cuba has set a course towards building socialism. On this basis, all large and medium-sized landowners lost their lands, the property of private companies was nationalized, and Cubans began to leave the country en masse.

However, this was just the beginning. In 1962, based on a preliminary agreement with Moscow, Cuba deployed Soviet ballistic missiles on its territory. In response, the US leads to increased readiness own army. The whole world is frozen on the brink of nuclear war. The collision is avoided, but after this moment Cuba was never the same. In 1965, Fidel Castro declared himself the first secretary of the Central Committee of Cuba.

Fidel Castro: politician

The period of the reign of the great comandante can hardly be called unambiguous. In the 60-70s, Cuba experienced an unprecedented economic recovery, but this fact was not a consequence of the political actions of the country's leadership, but of gratuitous assistance from the Soviet Union. Free healthcare is appearing in the country, the literacy rate of the population is growing, and the tourism industry is flourishing. However, opposition sentiments among the Cuban population remain strong. Even some of his former supporters are becoming Fidel's opponents. Many Cubans are fleeing the country.

Problematic moments in the life of Cuba become even more obvious when a political crisis begins in the USSR. Since the mid-80s, the Soviet Union has ceased to provide economic assistance Cuba, and the country's economy is going into a steep decline. The once developed state is becoming one of the poorest in the region.

Fidel Castro becomes the target of countless assassination attempts, but still remains at the head of the country. Rumors about the death of the dictator appear in the press with varying frequency. Last messages this kind of thing began to appear in the media in 2012. However, according to official information, the leader of Cuba is still alive. Due to poor health in 2006, Fidel Castro stepped down from power and handed over the reins of power to his younger brother, Raul Castro.

Fidel Castro: the man

Information about the personal life of the ruler of Cuba is ambiguous, like his life itself. IN official biography Castro states that he was in love three times, but popular rumor attributes him to countless affairs.

Fidel's first wife was the charming blonde (which is a huge rarity for Cuba) Mirta Diaz Ballart. It is quite remarkable that her father was a prominent minister in the Batista government. However, despite all the obstacles, in 1948 the lovers got married and went on a honeymoon to... the USA. The honeymoon was paid for by the parents of the newlyweds.

Fidel Castro. Outstanding Leader

Soon the politician’s first son, Fidelito, was born (in the future he will head the ministry nuclear power Cubes). Fidel's marriage to Mirta Diaz proceeded decorously and peacefully. But their love will be broken by Fidel’s other passion - the passion for political revolution.

In the fifties, when Fidel was in full swing preparing a revolutionary coup, the two spouses began to move away from each other. Soon another woman will appear in Castro's life - Nati Revuelta, the wife of a Havana doctor and an active supporter of the revolution. Some time later, the couple will have a daughter, Alina. Fidel Castro officially recognizes her only 20 years later, but after his daughter escapes to the United States, he will forbid even mentioning her name in his presence. Alina’s memories will allow us to assert that Fidel Castro has at least five more children born from his common-law wife Deliv Soto. It is quite remarkable that all their names begin with the letter “A” - Antonio, Alex, Alexander, Angelita, Alejandro.

How Moscow greeted Fidel in 1963

The Comandante's last wife was his secretary Celia Sanchos. She helped Fidel in all matters, but later her fate was tragic. In 1985, she committed suicide.

Death of Fidel Castro

Castro's health problems became known in July 2006, when in July the Cuban leader was hospitalized with bleeding in the intestinal area. For several months he was on the verge of life and death. De facto, the reins of power passed to his younger brother Raul Castro.

Since then, rumors about the death of the Cuban leader appeared in the press regularly, but Fidel invariably denied them when appearing in public. The VII Congress of the Cuban Communist Party was not complete without his presence, and celebrations of his 90th birthday in August 2016 were held on a grand scale.

Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz was born on August 13, 1927 on the island of Cuba, Oriente province, in the town of Biran. However, the date August 13, 1926 can be found in most sources. This is due to the fact that the parents attributed the boy a year of life, since otherwise he would not have been accepted into the boarding school. Biography of Fidel Castro, years of life, year of death, activities, personal life - all this will be highlighted in our article.

Childhood

His father is a native of the Spanish province of Galicia - Angel Castro Argis. Being a poor landowner, Angel Castro emigrated from Spain. And already in Cuba he became rich and acquired a large sugar plantation. Here he met the future mother of his children. Lina Rus Gonzalez worked as a cook at the estate of Angel Castro. The couple got married after they had five children.

The parents were not literate people, but they tried to give their children an excellent education. Training was easy for Fidel, as he was different from his peers phenomenal memory. Already at the age of 13, the boy showed his rebellious character. Teaming up with the workers of his parents' plantation, he participated in a workers' rally.

Education

As the biography testifies, Fidel Castro Ruz has studied at a prestigious college called “Belen” since 1941. His mentor, Father Lorento, saw great potential in the boy, although he was not distinguished by diligent behavior. Fidel fought often. He had a pistol with which the boy went everywhere. Once, on a dare, Castro crashed into a wall while accelerating on his bicycle. He remained in the hospital for a long time, but the argument was won.

Interesting fact: at the age of 13, Fidel writes a letter to American President Franklin Roosevelt. The boy congratulates the head of state on his re-election to a third term and asks the president to send him a ten-dollar bill. Castro explains the request by saying that he has never seen such a banknote and would love to look at it. After some time, a response came from an employee of the presidential administration. This letter was even hung on the school board. However, the boy’s request was not granted, and he never received the bill.

In 1945, Fidel Castro, whose brief biography is described in the article, successfully graduated from college and became a student at the Faculty of Law at the University of Havana. During his student years he read a lot. He was fond of the works of Lenin and Stalin, Trotsky, Mussolini, Primo de Rivera. In 1950, Fidel and excellent results graduates from university with a law degree. After a short private practice as a lawyer, Castro entered politics.

The beginning of the revolutionary movement

The biography of the patriot Fidel Castro is very difficult. As a student, he became involved in the Cuban People's Party. And already in 1952 they intended to nominate his candidacy to parliament, but approval never took place. Within the party, Castro took part in various revolutionary movements.

One of these movements is the attempt to overthrow the dictatorial power of Fulgencio Batista. Castro and his party supporters, and there were 165 of them, spent a whole year preparing for the assault on the two largest barracks: in Santiago de Cuba and in the city of Bayamo. The action failed. As a result, many people died. Almost all of the survivors were arrested. Castro managed to escape, but a day later he was also arrested. Castro was sentenced to 15 years in prison. After 22 months in prison, on May 15, 1955, Fidel was released under an amnesty along with the rest of the conspirators. Immediately after his release, he emigrated to Mexico.

Emigration

But in Mexico, Fidel’s revolutionary spirit did not fade. Here, with his associates, he again began to draw up a plan to overthrow the dictator, founding the July 26 Movement. In his letter, published in one of the most popular Cuban magazines, Castro convincingly states that the government will be overthrown before the end of 1956. Either this will happen, or the revolutionaries will fall in battle. It is noteworthy that Ernesto Guevara, an Argentine doctor, was present on the motor yacht on which the rebels went to Cuba.

The landing was unsuccessful. A short time later, government troops attacked the revolutionaries. Many were killed. A small number of survivors managed to escape into the forests. There, united, they continued to attack police stations for some time. A sharp turn in the confrontation was the announcement of land reform. The peasants did not like this innovation, and they began to join the revolutionaries. Trying to suppress the rebellion, Batista sent a detachment of soldiers into the mountains where the rebels were hiding. But they never came back. Some fled, and some joined the rebels. Now the advantage was on the side of the revolutionaries.

For two years the rebels waged a guerrilla struggle. Castro himself took direct part in all battles. He became the commander-in-chief of the partisan detachments, which he renamed the Rebel Army. The revolutionary movement was growing and victory was near.

Interesting fact: in clashes between partisans and government troops, Castro was always in the first line. From his rifle, which he always kept with him, the commander-in-chief gave his army a sign to begin the offensive. And so it would have continued, but the rebels wrote a letter to Fidel demanding not to engage in direct combat and to stay away from the war zone.

Coup

In early 1959, Castro's army arrived in Havana. The people rejoiced at the overthrow of the old government. An interim president and prime minister were appointed. Castro once mentioned in an interview that he does not plan to hold the position of president, and after the revolution is over, he will return to his law practice. But in reality everything turned out differently. As the biography testifies, Fidel Castro (life years: 1926-2016) already on February 15 takes the post of the new head of government.

First years of reign

Castro's management strategy is considered controversial. After coming to power, the new president abolishes free elections and also abolishes the current Constitution. At first, Cuba received enormous support from the American government. But such relations did not last long - having begun to establish close relations with the Soviet Union, Cuba lost such patronage.

Land reform played a role, according to which the property of large and medium-sized landowners was divided in favor of the poor population. Banks, telephone and electricity companies, as well as various large enterprises, including sugar factories, were also nationalized. Since they were mostly owned by American entrepreneurs, it goes without saying that this decision affected relations between the two countries. America, in response to such actions, stopped supplying oil to Cuba and stopped buying Cuban sugar. People began to leave the country en masse. Fidel appointed his younger brother Raul Castro as the country's Minister of Armed Forces.

The Rise of Uber Matos

Not everyone agreed with the chosen vector of the country's development. Uber Matos, the commander of the troops in Camagüey, accused Castro of trying to build a communist country and was against it. He wrote a letter to the president announcing his resignation. He also received support from more than a dozen supporters. Castro regarded such a step as betrayal and conspiracy. Arriving in person in Camagüey, he arrested Matos. The court sentenced the defendant to 20 years in prison. Uber Matos served his entire sentence.

Repression

The repressions carried out during the reign of Fidel Castro were on a terrifying scale. The execution victims and prisoners numbered in the thousands. Moreover, the sentence was often passed without trial or investigation. And the executions were demonstrative and often massive. Any manifestation of discontent among the people was suppressed by force. The commandant of La Cabaña prison was Che Guevara himself. He also ordered the executions.

Caribbean crisis

Castro's rule also saw the severe Cuban Missile Crisis. The main opponents of this crisis were the USSR and America. The Cold War was gaining momentum. The aggravation became stronger every day. America had an undeniable advantage in the field of military technology. By installing 15 missiles in Turkey, they forced the Soviet Union to take retaliatory measures - to place its missiles in Cuba. At that time, the USSR very strongly supported the Cuban economy, so it was not necessary to wait long for permission to deploy its missiles on the country’s territory. The crisis was avoided without casualties. But never before has the world been so close to nuclear war.

Assassination attempts

During the years of his reign, Castro was assassinated several hundred times. But none of these attempts came to fruition, and as a result, the Cuban leader died at the age of 90 from natural causes. The leader in the number of attempts on Castro's life is America. Although at UN meetings US representatives denied their involvement in such actions, the Church Commission presented evidence in favor of the opposite. During the first years of his reign alone, CIA agents organized an attempt to eliminate the Cuban leader 8 times. The US presidential administration was also actively involved in the struggle to overthrow Castro. This does not include contract killings and revolutionary uprisings. According to preliminary estimates former head The country's counterintelligence service, one of Castro's guards, America made about 600 attempts to overthrow the national leader of Cuba.

Similarly, attempts were made to assassinate Castro by the mafia. There are at least two known cases in which representatives of the Cuban mafia, bribed by CIA agents, tried to kill the president by adding poison to his food. The attempts were also unsuccessful.

Personal life

Now we know the political biography of Fidel Castro. What can you say about his personal life? Castro is credited with many love affairs. His first wife, Mirta Diaz Ballart, gave birth to Fidel's son Fidelito. The couple separated due to the husband's passion for politics. The result of love attraction for the married Naty Revuelta was the daughter Alina. The father recognized the child only 20 years later. But after his daughter fled to America, Castro forbade mentioning her anywhere. According to his daughter, Castro has at least five children with his common-law wife, Deliv Soto. His last wife was his secretary, who shared his political views and hobbies. However, in 1985, the girl committed suicide.

Death

Beginning in 2006, Castro's health began to deteriorate. Many more times he will be falsely declared dead, but every time, until November 25, 2016, Castro will refute the rumors by appearing in public. The death of the leader of the people of Cuba was reported by his brother, who became his successor. The causes of death were not disclosed. The body of Fidel Castro, biography, whose years of life you already know, was cremated.

Autobiography

Fidel Castro left behind many autobiographical books. The first autobiography is “Fidel Castro. My life. Biography in two voices" - is frank interview, amounting to 100 hours. Here the Cuban leader for the first time talks about his family, about the difficult revolutionary path, about the Cuban crisis, about his friend and like-minded person Che Guevara. Having familiarized yourself with his works, you can realize how little we know about the personal life of such a bright person.

Maxim Makarychev, "Fidel Castro"

The biography of this politician was described by many, including journalist Maxim Makarychev. In his book, the author tried to explore such a unique personality and find answers to many questions. How did such a small group manage to start an uprising? What helped Castro stay in power for so long, despite the difficult and unstable political situation? Citing the biography of Fidel Castro in the book, the author also tries to analyze what awaits the country in the 21st century.

Castro spent a year in Mexico, and in 1956, on the boat Granma, together with a group of supporters, among whom was Ernesto Che Guevara, he landed in eastern Cuba. A guerrilla war began against the Batista regime, which ended with the rebels occupying the capital of Cuba, Havana, on January 1, 1959.

Castro headed the country's government, and his brother Raul headed the Cuban Armed Forces.

Castro announced Cuba's transition to a socialist model. In 1961, the United States attempted to overthrow Castro, but the Bay of Pigs landing ended in the destruction of the landing force. The Americans responded by organizing an economic blockade of the island.

Under Castro, Cuba actively developed relations with the USSR, which economically supported Liberty Island.

In 2006, Castro, who was experiencing serious health problems, left the post of head of the Council of State of Cuba, giving it up to his brother Raul. For the past five years, he has been writing memoirs and periodically giving speeches, commenting on major events in the world.

World and Russian politicians expressed their condolences over Castro's death.

“Gone into immortality”: politicians’ reaction to Castro’s death

Russian President Vladimir Putin:

“The free and independent Cuba built by him and his comrades has become an influential member of the international community and has served as an inspiring example for many countries and peoples. Fidel Castro was a sincere and reliable friend of Russia. He made a huge personal contribution to the formation and development of Russian-Cuban relations and close strategic cooperation in all areas."

Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev:

“Fidel Castro lived a great life, full of events and challenges. He was not just a politician and leader. First of all, he was a bright person, a leader. Friendly and allied relations between our country and Cuba were built thanks to his personal participation. The last time we spoke by phone was in August of this year, when Fidel Castro celebrated his 90th birthday. He was keenly interested in what was happening in the world, in Russia, until the last moment he retained a sharp mind and kept a lot of information in his head. Without exaggeration, an entire historical era passed away with Fidel Castro. I will always remember meeting this an outstanding person. My deepest condolences to the family and friends, to the entire Cuban people."

“For us he was a great man”: Cubans’ reaction to Castro’s death

After Castro's death, mourning was declared in Cuba. At the same time, the Cuban diaspora in Florida (USA) greeted the news of the death of the leader of the Cuban revolution with jubilation, chanting “Fidel is a tyrant.” Dozens of people who took to the streets consider the incident a chance to change the situation in Cuba.

Cuban community in Miami celebrates death of Fidel Castro (Photo: Reuters/Pixstream)

What do they think about Castro's death:

Milaida Ramos del Pino, manager of the Aruba restaurant in Moscow:

“The departure of Fidel Castro is a huge loss for Cuba and all the people. After his death, nothing will change for the island - relations with the United States will remain the same, and communication with relatives will also not be affected by Fidel’s death. At least that's what we hope. Many people from home have already called me and expressed their condolences.”

Roberto Jacomino, brand chef of the Pub Lo Picasso restaurant in Moscow:

“What Fidel did for Cuba is unique. Changes began when Fidel handed over the reins of power to his brother. [But] it won’t happen that we wake up tomorrow and Cuba is already different. This process will be slow and perhaps difficult, but I expect that the people of Cuba will feel a change in better side. Both in relations between Havana and Washington, and in relations between relatives, everything should be even better. Wherever a person lives, he should be able to live where he is more comfortable. Cubans maintain contact with their relatives abroad mainly through telephone communications, and there is also the Internet, although not everywhere.”

Antonio Rondon Garcia, correspondent for Prensa Latina:

“For us [Fidel Castro] was a great man. Not only for Cuba, but for all of humanity, all the transformations that we had in Cuba, they generally had an impact not only on the course of our country, but also on history in general. Now they are preparing an appeal from the Cubans who live here permanently and will speak out about this loss, the loss of our people.”