When most people think about Cuba, Fidel Castro is a prominent figure who always springs to mind. Who is he? Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz was born on 13 August 1926 and is a Cuban Political Leader and former Socialist Revolutionary. He was the primary leader of the Cuban Revolution where he served as the Prime Minister of Cuba between February 1959 to December 1976 and then went on to be the President of the Council of State of Cuba and finally, onto the President of Council of Ministers of Cuba and he resigned from office in February 2008.
From 1961 he served as First Secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba until December 2010 and due to health reasons, he delegated his responsibilities.
His younger brother, Raul Castro is currently Second Secretary of the Communist Party.
Fidel studied law at the University of Havana and it is here where he began his political career and soon became a recognised figure in Cuban politics. He is the world’s third longest-serving Head of State after the Queen of Britain and the King of Thailand. He was Cuba’s longest-serving Government Leader.
Castro holds the Guinness Book of Records title for the longest speech ever delivered at the United Nations: 4 hours and 29 minutes, on Sept. 29, 1960!! His longest speech on record in Cuba was 7 hours and 10 minutes in 1986 at the III Communist Party Congress in Havana.
Castro has at least eight children. His eldest son Fidel Castro Diaz-Balart is image of his father and known as Fidelito and he is a Soviet-trained nuclear scientist. His daughter, Alina Fernandez, the result of an affair with a Havana socialite when he was underground in the 1950s, escaped from Cuba disguised as a tourist in 1993 and is a vocal critic of Castro on her radio program in Miami. Castro has five sons with his second wife Dalia Soto. Their names all begin with A. The youngest, Antonio, is the national baseball team’s doctor.
There have been many attempts made on Castro’s life since he came to power in 1959 - 638 according to Fabian Escalante, former Cuban security chief).
Castro has a number of trademark olive-green military fatigue uniforms and has rarely been seen wearing anything else.
Castro used to end all his speeches with “Patriotism or death! Socialism or death! We shall overcome!”