biography
| name: |
Castro (Ruz), Fidel
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| sex:
| male
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| lived:
| (1927– )
|
| biography:
| Cuban revolutionary, prime minister (1959– ), and president (1976– ), born near Birán, S Cuba. He studied law in Havana. In 1953 he was imprisoned after an unsuccessful rising against Batista, but released under an amnesty. He fled to the USA and Mexico, then in 1956 landed in Cuba with a small band of insurgents. In 1958 he mounted a full-scale attack and Batista was forced to flee. As prime minister he proclaimed a ‘Marxist–Leninist programme’, and set about far-reaching reforms. His overthrow of US economic dominance, and the routing of the US-connived emigré invasion at the Bay of Pigs (1961), was balanced by his dependence on Russian aid. |
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