Cuban leader, Fidel Castro (Ruz) was born in either 1926 or 1927.
In his younger days Fidel Castro was a lawyer in Havana fighting cases for the poor and against the corruption prevalent under President Fulgencio Batista.
In 1953 the revolutionary Castro led a failed uprising and was sentenced to 15 years, but was soon released under an amnesty and he fled to the USA and then to Mexico.
In 1956 Castro secretly went to Cuba again with a small group but was ambushed and escaped to the Sierra Maestra mountains.
Third time lucky, in 1958 Castro made another attack and this time Batista was forced to flee and in February 1959, Fidel Castro became prime minister of Cuba.
Under Castro, Cuba underwent a period of reform assuming a Marxist-Leninist programme, but meanwhile elections were cancelled and repressive measures introduced against anti-communists.
In the early 60s, in particular, Fidel Castro had run-ins with the USA. In particular, the failed invasion and assassination attempts of the CIA-backed Bay of Pigs fiasco in 1961 and the 1962 Cuban Missile crisis, after the Soviet Union had introduced ballistic missiles into Cuba during the height of the cold war Castro is also famous for his beard and his cigars. The CIA even tried to assasinate him with an exploding cigar!
Fidel Castro is a founder member of Non Align Movement along with Nerhu and Nasser.
Recently, he is suffering from an unknown serious disease and handed over the command of Cuba to his younger brother.
There were rumours about his death, particularly in Western countries. But defied them all he appeared live on radio in a talk with Venezuela President Hugo Shavez in the last week of Feb., 2007.
