Fidel Castro Biography Quotes 21 Report mistakes

Early Life and Education
Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz was born on August 13, 1926, in Biran, then part of Oriente Province, Cuba, the son of Angel Castro y Argiz, a Galician-born landowner, and Lina Ruz Gonzalez. Raised on his father's sugar estate, he grew up amid the inequalities of rural Cuba. He attended Jesuit schools, including Colegio Dolores in Santiago de Cuba and Colegio de Belen in Havana, where he was known for discipline and competitive spirit. Castro studied law at the University of Havana, graduating in 1950. The campus exposed him to sharp debates about nationalism, social justice, and anti-imperialism, and he became active in student politics. In 1948 he married Mirta Diaz-Balart; their son, Fidel Castro Diaz-Balart, nicknamed Fidelito, was born in 1949. The marriage ended in separation amid mounting political turbulence.

Entering Politics and the Moncada Assault
By the early 1950s, Cuba had fallen under the rule of Fulgencio Batista, whose 1952 coup ended constitutional government. Castro, a young attorney and activist, sought to challenge the regime. On July 26, 1953, he led an attack on the Moncada Barracks in Santiago de Cuba, an audacious but failed attempt to spark an uprising. Captured and tried, he delivered his self-defense, known as the "History Will Absolve Me" speech, outlining a program of reform and national sovereignty. Sentenced to prison on the Isle of Pines, he was released in 1955 under an amnesty, then left for exile in Mexico. There he organized a guerrilla expedition and met key collaborators, including Ernesto Che Guevara, who would become one of the most emblematic figures of the Cuban Revolution, and Alberto Bayo, a mentor in guerrilla tactics. Castro's brother Raul Castro was among his closest confidants from the start.

Guerrilla War and the Triumph of 1959
In December 1956, Castro and a small band of rebels sailed from Mexico aboard the yacht Granma and landed in eastern Cuba, suffering heavy losses before regrouping in the Sierra Maestra. With the support of rural networks and an urban underground led in part by figures such as Frank Pais, Celia Sanchez, and Haydee Santamaria, the July 26 Movement waged a protracted insurgency. New York Times reporter Herbert Matthews's 1957 profile helped project the rebels' presence. As the guerrillas gained momentum, leaders like Camilo Cienfuegos and Che Guevara captured towns and supply routes. Batista fled Cuba on January 1, 1959, and the revolutionaries entered Havana soon after, greeted by massive crowds.

Consolidation of Power and U.S.-Cuba Confrontation
In the first months of the new government, Castro emerged as the central figure, replacing Prime Minister Jose Miro Cardona in February 1959. President Manuel Urrutia Lleo soon resigned amid disputes over the direction of reforms, and Osvaldo Dorticos assumed the presidency as Castro consolidated authority. The government implemented agrarian reform in 1959 and nationalized key industries. Relations with the United States deteriorated under President Dwight D. Eisenhower and later John F. Kennedy, culminating in an embargo and covert programs against the new regime. In April 1961, Cuban exiles trained by the CIA landed at the Bay of Pigs and were quickly defeated by Cuban forces, a pivotal victory that Castro framed as a defense of national sovereignty. Shortly before the invasion, he proclaimed the socialist character of the revolution. The 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis brought the world to the brink of nuclear war, as Nikita Khrushchev's Soviet Union placed missiles on the island and Kennedy demanded their removal. The crisis ended with a U.S.-Soviet deal; Castro, not included in the negotiations, remained aligned with the USSR but wary of superpower maneuvering.

Domestic Transformation and Political Control
Over the 1960s and 1970s, Cuba built a one-party system led by the Communist Party, with Castro as First Secretary from 1965. Committees for the Defense of the Revolution extended vigilance into neighborhoods. Major campaigns reshaped society: a nationwide literacy drive in 1961, an expansion of universal health care and education, and mass mobilizations for agriculture, including the ill-fated 1970 "ten-million-ton" sugar harvest. Policies also brought repression of dissent; opponents were imprisoned, independent media shuttered, and some groups, including religious believers and sexual minorities, faced discrimination and forced labor in the 1960s, notably in the UMAP camps, later dismantled. Emigration became a recurring outlet and pressure valve, from the 1965 Camarioca boatlift to the Mariel exodus of 1980. The 1976 constitution created the Council of State and Council of Ministers; Castro became President and Prime Minister under the new structure, further centralizing decision-making.

Internationalism and Cold War Engagements
Castro cast Cuba as a champion of anti-colonial and socialist movements abroad. Cuban troops and advisers supported allies in Africa, most prominently in Angola beginning in 1975, and in Ethiopia during the late 1970s, actions aligned with Soviet strategy but also couched in ideological solidarity. Che Guevara left Cuba in 1965 to pursue revolutionary efforts overseas and was killed in Bolivia in 1967, becoming a martyr to the cause. At home, the Ochoa affair of 1989, involving General Arnaldo Ochoa, ended with trials and executions, shocking many supporters and signaling the strain of a system confronting corruption and geopolitical uncertainty. Cuba hosted the Non-Aligned Movement summit in 1979, and Castro became a prominent voice in debates about global inequality, courting ties across the developing world while depending on Soviet trade and subsidies.

Economic Strains and the Special Period
The collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 plunged Cuba into its "Special Period", a profound economic crisis marked by fuel shortages, declining production, and austerity. Castro's government adopted limited market-oriented measures without abandoning its core model: legalizing the U.S. dollar, opening sectors to tourism and foreign investment, allowing small-scale self-employment, and encouraging remittances. The crisis triggered fresh waves of migration, including the 1994 "balsero" exodus, and a U.S.-Cuba confrontation that produced migration accords. Civil society voices, including dissidents and later digital-era bloggers, pressed for freedoms, while supporters credited the system with maintaining health and education through hardship. Relations with Washington fluctuated; interactions with figures such as former U.S. President Jimmy Carter in 2002 and Pope John Paul II's 1998 visit signaled periods of limited opening. In Latin America, Castro cultivated alliances with leaders like Hugo Chavez, shaping regional initiatives and discourse on sovereignty and social policy.

Withdrawal from Power and Final Years
In July 2006, Fidel Castro underwent emergency intestinal surgery and provisionally transferred executive duties to Raul Castro, along with responsibilities within the party and military. In February 2008, he resigned the presidency, and Raul was formally elected to succeed him. Fidel later stepped down as First Secretary of the Communist Party in 2011. From semi-retirement, he wrote "Reflections", commentaries on international affairs, science, and Cuban policy, and occasionally met foreign dignitaries, including Pope Benedict XVI in 2012 and Pope Francis in 2015. As Raul introduced cautious economic reforms and eventually agreed to a diplomatic thaw with U.S. President Barack Obama in 2014, Fidel's presence receded into that of an elder statesman, still symbolic but no longer the decision-maker. Fidel Castro died in Havana on November 25, 2016, at age 90.

Family, Associates, and Personal Imprint
Family was intertwined with the revolution. Raul Castro, a lifelong ally, served as defense minister and later President, while Vilma Espin, a prominent revolutionary and Raul's spouse, led the Federation of Cuban Women. Close collaborators included Celia Sanchez, a key organizer and confidante, and Camilo Cienfuegos, whose charisma and mysterious 1959 disappearance left a lasting imprint on revolutionary lore. Figures once within the revolutionary ranks, such as Huber Matos, later became critics and prisoners. International interlocutors spanned adversaries and allies alike: John F. Kennedy and Nikita Khrushchev in crisis, Leonid Brezhnev in partnership, Mikhail Gorbachev amid change, and Latin American counterparts from Salvador Allende to Hugo Chavez. These relationships reflected Castro's dual identity as both Cuban leader and Cold War protagonist.

Legacy
Fidel Castro's legacy remains polarizing. Admirers credit him with asserting national independence, expanding access to education and health care, and providing steadfast support to anti-colonial causes. Critics emphasize the absence of political pluralism, restrictions on civil liberties, economic inefficiencies, and the human cost of emigration and repression. Across decades, his leadership was marked by oratory, personalist mobilization, and a capacity to endure crises, from the Bay of Pigs to the Special Period. Whether celebrated as a revolutionary statesman or condemned as an authoritarian ruler, Castro shaped the trajectory of Cuba and influenced global debates on power, social justice, and sovereignty well beyond his lifetime.

Our collection contains 21 quotes who is written by Fidel, under the main topics: Witty One-Liners - Motivational - Ethics & Morality - Justice - Leadership.

Other people realated to Fidel: Nelson Mandela (Statesman), Dan Rather (Journalist), Oliver Stone (Director), E. Howard Hunt (Criminal), Jon Lee Anderson (Journalist), Guillermo Cabrera Infante (Novelist), Lincoln Diaz-Balart (Politician), U Thant (Statesman)