Title: former president, Cuba
Served: 1959-2008
Succeeded: Fulgencio Batista
Previous Positions: Lawyer
Date of Birth: August 13, 1926
Place of Birth: Oriente Province, Cuba
Education: University of Havana Law School
Military Service: Military leader of revolutionary forces which gained control of Cuba in 1959.
Family Status: Divorced. He has one son and one daughter.
Quote: "The truth is that after several decades of neoliberalism, the rich are becoming increasingly richer while the poor are both more numerous and increasingly poorer." --Fidel Castro, 2000
Relationship with the United States: U.S. President John F. Kennedy severed diplomatic ties with Cuba, including an embargo on trade, shortly after Castro took power in 1959. In 1961, Cuban exiles with tacit support from the United States attempted to overthrow Castro in an episode known as "The Bay of Pigs." Castro and his relationship with the Soviet Union led to a nuclear showdown with the United States in the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis. In 2005, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice described Castro's Cuba as an "outpost of tyranny."
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