Some even trained in the Florida swamps for the disastrous Bay of Pigs invasion. Over the years, he expanded his influence by sending Cuban troops into faraway wars, including , to fight in Africa. They provided critical support to a left-wing government in Angola and contributed to the independence of Namibia in a war that helped end apartheid in South Africa.
Castro also won friends by sending tens of thousands of Cuban doctors abroad to treat the poor and bringing young people from developing countries to train them as physicians. Born on Aug. He was sentenced to 15 years in prison but was released in after a pardon that would come back to haunt Batista. On Nov. Only 12, including Fidel, Raul and Guevara, escaped a government ambush when they landed in eastern Cuba. Early on, at the height of the Cold War, Castro allied Cuba to the Soviet Union, which protected the Caribbean island and was its principal benefactor for three decades.
Convinced that the United States was about to invade Cuba, Castro urged the Soviets to launch a nuclear attack. Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev and U. President John F. Kennedy agreed the Soviets would withdraw the missiles in return for a U. The contraction of the Cuban economy resulted in 85 percent of its markets disappearing.
Yet Castro was very adept at keeping control of the government during dire economic times. He pressed the United States to lift the economic embargo, but it refused. Castro then adopted a quasi-free market economy and encouraged international investment. He also legalized the U. In , after massive damage was caused by Hurricane Michelle, Castro declined U.
President George W. Bush 's administration assented and authorized the shipment. With the fuel supply running dangerously low, Castro ordered factories to be closed and sent thousands of Cuban doctors to Venezuela in exchange for oil imports. In the late s, speculation began to arise over Castro's age and well-being. Numerous health problems had been reported over the years, the most significant occurring in , when Castro underwent surgery for gastrointestinal bleeding.
Following Castro's surgery, his only appearances were in photographs and video recordings of meetings. On February 19, , year-old Castro permanently gave up the Cuban presidency due to his deteriorating physical condition. In April , news broke that Castro officially stepped down from his role within Cuba's Communist Party.
Castro claimed that he had actually resigned the post five years earlier. In his retirement, Castro began writing a column about his experiences and opinions, called "Reflections of Fidel," and in his autobiography My Life was published.
From mid-November to early January , however, Castro failed to publish any columns. This sudden silence sparked rumors that Castro had taken a turn for the worse. But these stories soon proved to be unfounded, as Castro put out a flurry of articles later that January.
Though not involved in the day-to-day affairs of running Cuba, Castro still maintained a certain degree of political influence both at home and abroad. He continued to meet with foreign leaders, such as Iran's Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in , during their visits to Cuba.
Pope Benedict arranged a special audience with Castro at the end of his trip in March , seeking to obtain greater religious freedom for Catholics living in the communist nation, and in September Pope Francis met privately with Castro as well. However, when Barack Obama became the first sitting American president to visit Cuba in almost 90 years, he did not meet with Castro, who later denounced the goodwill mission in his column, citing mistrust of U.
Castro died on November 25, , at the age of Although there is no official count, Castro is believed to have fathered at least nine children. With his first wife Martina, he had a son Fidel "Fidelito" , who reportedly committed suicide in February after a battle with depression.
Castro and his second wife, Dalia Sota del Valle, had five more sons. He also had three other children two daughters and one son from three separate women. While there was mourning in Havana, Cuban exiles around the world celebrated the death of the man they believed was a tyrant, who was responsible for killing and imprisoning thousands of Cubans and separating generations of families.
We strive for accuracy and fairness. If you see something that doesn't look right, contact us! Subscribe to the Biography newsletter to receive stories about the people who shaped our world and the stories that shaped their lives. Previously, he served as the country's defense minister and head of armed forces. Ariel Castro received a prison sentence of life plus an additional 1, years for kidnapping, torturing and imprisoning three young women in Cleveland, Ohio. The German engineer Felix Wankel, inventor of a rotary engine that will be used in race cars, is born on August 13, , in Lahr, Germany.
Wankel reportedly came up with the basic idea for a new type of internal combustion gasoline engine when he was only 17 years old. In , Live TV. This Day In History. History Vault. Art, Literature, and Film History. Ancient Americas. This Day in History. Sign Up. Fidel Castro had previously visited New York in April , just four months after he led his victorious guerilla army into Havana and took charge of Cuba.
For nearly 60 years, the Castro family controlled Cuba. But in April , it was announced that the island nation long dominated by the specter of its former dictator, Fidel Castro, and his family will get a new leader. On January 1, , a young Cuban nationalist named Fidel Castro drove his guerilla army into Havana and Elected in as the 35th president of the United States, year-old John F.
Kennedy became one of the youngest U. The U-2 aerial photographs were analyzed inside a secret office above a used car dealership. The critical photographs snapped by U-2 reconnaissance planes over Cuba were shipped for analysis to a top-secret CIA facility in a most unlikely location: a building above the Steuart However, the relationship between the two nations was a tense one.
Nikita Khrushchev led the Soviet Union during the height of the Cold War, serving as premier from to Though he largely pursued a policy of peaceful coexistence with the West, the Cuban Missile Crisis began after he positioned nuclear weapons 90 miles from An arms race occurs when two or more countries increase the size and quality of military resources to gain military and political superiority over one another.
On October 27, , Rudolf Anderson Jr. Thirteen days before, the Air Force major had flown one of the first top-secret reconnaissance missions over Cuba that confirmed the existence of Soviet missile Live TV. This Day In History.
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