Fidel Castro

Castro, Fidel (1927- ), Cuban revolutionary, who took control of Cuba in 1959 and established a Communist dictatorship.

Castro was born in Mayari on August 13, 1927. He received a degree in law from the University of Havana in 1950. After Fulgencio Batista y Zaldívar seized control of the Cuban government in 1952, Castro became the leader of an underground, antigovernment faction. In 1953 he was jailed for having led the July 26th uprising against Batista. Released in 1955, he went into exile in the United States and Mexico. In 1956 he returned to Cuba and led a rebellion from the Sierra Maestra region of Oriente Province. His rebel forces, known as the 26th of July movement, won steadily increasing popular support. Batista fled from the country on January 1, 1959, and Castro assumed power. He became premier on February 16.

At first Castro seemed to be a moderate leftist, but once in power he became increasingly radical, executing and imprisoning thousands of political opponents, nationalizing industry, collectivizing agriculture, and establishing a one-party socialist state that drove large numbers of middle- and upper-class Cubans into exile. He was especially hostile to the United States, which had been friendly to Batista and had frequently intervened in Cuban affairs. The United States in turn was angered by Castro’s seizure of American-owned companies and backed an unsuccessful attempt by Cuban exiles to overthrow him in 1961 (see Bay of Pigs Invasion).

In the early 1960s Castro openly embraced communism and formed close ties with the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR), relying increasingly on Soviet economic and military aid. The bearded, cigar-smoking Cuban leader, invariably dressed in army fatigue uniform, soon became a familiar figure to millions of people all over the world. Offering the Cuban revolution as an example to other developing countries, he gave active support to revolutionary movements in Latin America and, during the 1970s and 1980s, in Africa as well.

Cuba’s economic problems worsened following the collapse of the USSR in the early 1990s. In 1993, in a move toward allowing a mixed economy, Castro approved limited economic reforms that legalized some free enterprise.