Cuba’s former President Fidel Castro passes away

In Obituary
November 26, 2016

Cuba’s former president Fidel Castro, one of the world’s longest-serving and most iconic leaders, has died aged 90. Castro toppled the government in 1959, introducing a Communist revolution. He defied the US for decades, surviving many assassination plots.

ABout Fidel Alejandro Castro

Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz was a Cuban politician and revolutionary who governed the Republic of Cuba as Prime Minister from 1959 to 1976 and then as President from 1976 to 2008.

Born in Birán as the son of a wealthy farmer, Castro adopted leftist anti-imperialist politics while studying law at the University of Havana. After participating in rebellions against right-wing governments in the Dominican Republic and Colombia, he planned the overthrow of Cuban President Fulgencio Batista, launching a failed attack on the Moncada Barracks in 1953.

Cuba:

Cuba is a Caribbean island nation under communist rule. It has sugar-white beaches and is dotted with tobacco fields, which play a part in the production of the country’s legendary cigars. The capital, Havana, is lined with pastel houses, 1950s-era cars and Spanish-colonial architecture in the 16th-century core, Old Havana. Salsa music plays in the dance clubs and cabaret shows are performed at the famed Tropicana.

Capital: Havana

President: Raúl Castro

Currencies: Cuban peso, Cuban convertible peso

Official language: Spanish