Fidel Castro Young

Castro was born out of wedlock at his father’s farm on 13 August 1926. His father, Ángel Castro y Argiz, a veteran of the Spanish–American War, was a migrant to Cuba from Galicia, Northwest Spain.

Soon he had become financially successful by growing sugar cane at Las Manacas farm in Birán, Oriente Province.

After the collapse of his first marriage he took his household servant, Lina Ruz González – of Canarian origin – as his mistress and later second wife; together they had seven children, among them Fidel.

At age six, his parents sent Castro to live with his teacher in Santiago de Cuba. His parents baptized him into the Roman Catholic Church at the age of eight.

Being baptized enabled Castro to attend the La Salle boarding school in Santiago, where he regularly misbehaved. Later his parents next sent him to the privately funded, Jesuit-run Dolores School in Santiago.

In 1945, Castro transferred to the more prestigious Jesuit-run El Colegio de Belén in Havana. Although Castro took an interest in history, geography and debating at Belén, he did not excel academically, instead devoting much of his time to playing sports.

Fidel Castro Brother

Raúl Modesto Castro Ruz was born in Birán, Cuba, the son of a Spanish immigrant father, Ángel Castro. His mother was Cuban-born mother of Canarian parentage, Lina Ruz.

Raúl is the youngest of three brothers: Ramón, Fidel and himself.

Fidel excelled as a student, Raul turned in mostly mediocre performances. Later Raul became a committed socialist and joined the Socialist Youth, an affiliate of the Soviet-oriented Cuban Communist Party, Partido Socialista Popular (PSP).

As Fidel’s brother and trusted right-hand man, Fidel gave him progressively bigger commands.

On 27 February 1958, he made Raul a comandante.  He assigned him a mission to cross the old province of Oriente leading a column of guerrillas.

After Batista’s fall, Raul had the task of overseeing trials and execution of scores (between 30 and 70) of soldiers loyal to deposed president Batista convicted of war crimes.

Some people considered Raul as less charismatic than his brother Fidel Castro, who remained largely out of public view during the transfer-of-duty period.

He has also been a member of the Politburo of the Communist Party of Cuba since 1975. Later in February 2008, Party appointed him as the President of the Council of State and Council of Ministers.

Later he stepped down as President on 19 April 2018, but remains the first secretary of the Communist Party, holding ultimate power and authority over state and government.

Fidel Castro Biography

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.

Returning to Cuba, Castro took a key role in the Cuban Revolution by leading the Movement in a guerrilla war against Batista’s forces from the Sierra Maestra.

After Batista’s overthrow in 1959, Castro assumed military and political power as Cuba’s Prime Minister.

The United States came to oppose Castro’s government and unsuccessfully attempted to remove him by assassination, economic blockade and counter-revolution, including the Bay of Pigs Invasion of 1961.

Soon countering these threats, Castro aligned with the Soviet Union and allowed the Soviets to place nuclear weapons in Cuba, sparking the Cuban Missile Crisis – a defining incident of the Cold War – in 1962.

The longest-serving non-royal head of state in the 20th and 21st centuries, Castro polarized world opinion.

His supporters view him as a champion of socialism and anti-imperialism whose revolutionary regime advanced economic and social justice while securing Cuba’s independence from American imperialism.

Fidel Castro Diaz-Balart

He was the eldest son of Cuban leader Fidel Castro and his first wife, Mirta Diaz-Balart.

Castro Díaz-Balart’s parents divorced in 1955, prior to the Cuban Revolution in which his father seized power in that country.

His mother moved to Miami, United States, with the Diaz-Balart family, taking her son with her.

Later Castro Díaz-Balart returned to Cuba as a child to visit his father, and remained there for the rest of his childhood.

In 1959, he appeared as a 9-year-old during an interview with his father on U.S. television.

Later Castro Díaz-Balart moved to Moscow (in what was then the Soviet Union), where he enrolled at Voronezh State University in 1968.

Soon he graduated from Lomonosov Moscow State University, and went on to work at the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research in Dubna. Later he receive his first doctorate from Lomonosov, in 1978.

Castro Díaz-Balart then returned to further his studies in Moscow. Soon he received his second doctorate at the Kurchatov Institute of Atomic Energy in 1999.

Castro Díaz-Balart had three children — Mirta María, Fidel Antonio and José Raúl — with Natasha Smirnova, whom he met in Russia. Castro Díaz-Balart killed himself in Havana on 1 February 2018, aged 68.

He had previously received outpatient care for depression. The report of his suicide by the Cuban government was described as “unusually”

Fidel Castro Death

Cuban state television announced that Castro had died on the night of 25 November 2016. The cause of death was not disclosed.

His brother, President Raúl Castro, confirmed the news in a brief speech: “The commander in chief of the Cuban revolution died at 22:29 [EST] this evening.”

His death came 9 months after his older brother Ramón died at the age of 91 in February. Later Fidel Castro was cremated on 26 November 2016.

Fidel Castro Children

Castro’s first wife was Mirta Díaz-Balart, whom he married in October 1948. Together they had a son, Fidel Ángel “Fidelito” Castro Díaz-Balart, born in September 1949. Díaz-Balart and Castro divorced in 1955.

Fidel Castro Height

He is 1.91 meter of 6’2” feet tall.

Fidel Castro Facts

Castro was well known for throwing tantrums, and could make “snap judgements” which he refused to back down from.

Castro was known for his busy working hours, often only going to bed at 3 or 4 am. He preferred to meet foreign diplomats in early hours. Fidel Castro believe that they would be tired and he could gain the upper hand in negotiations.

He described Ernest Hemingway as his favorite writer. He enjoyed reading but didn’t like music. A sports fan, he also spent much of his time trying to keep fit, undertaking regular exercise.

He took a great interest in gastronomy, as well as wine and whisky. Later he used to wander into his kitchen to discuss cookery with his chefs.

Under Castro’s leadership, Cuba became one of the best-educated and healthiest societies in the Third World as well as one of the most militarised states in Latin America.

Fidel Castro Book

Geyer, Georgie Anne (1991). Guerrilla Prince: The Untold Story of Fidel Castro. New York City: Little, Brown and Company

Kozloff, Nicholas (2008). Revolution!: South America and the Rise of the New Left. New York: Palgrave Macmillan

Mallin, Jay (1994). Covering Castro: Rise and Decline of Cuba’s Communist Dictator. Piscataway: Transaction Publishers