![]() But Fidel Castro offered only lukewarm support, reluctant to back an end of hostilities with his most bitter enemy. 17, 2014, Raul Castro cut a deal to restore diplomatic ties with the United States. His famously long speeches gave way to silence, at least in public, and comfortable track suits replaced the stiff black boots and crisp military attire. ![]() In his final years, Castro wrote opinion columns for Cuba’s state media but was rarely seen. Instead, almost killed by a serious intestinal illness, he was forced to step aside in 2006 and he formally handed over to his younger brother, Raul Castro, in 2008. hostility even when Cuba reeled from the collapse of the Soviet Union in the early 1990s, showing the vigour of a man who intended to die in office. ![]() He managed to preserve his revolution despite constant U.S. Looking to bolster an ally just 90 miles (140 km) from Florida, Moscow helped him build socialism by giving him billions of dollars worth of aid and favourable trade, from oil to tractor parts.īut Castro also mined Cuban nationalism and Latin American pride, stirring resentment of U.S. He owed his prominence in part to geography. He was a global celebrity, his beard, military fatigues and big Cuban cigars making him instantly recognizable. His alliance with the Soviet Union put him at the centre of the Cold War, most notably when the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis took the world to the brink of nuclear war. Destiny produces the man for the moment,” he said in 1959.Ĭastro toppled the unpopular U.S.-backed dictator Fulgencio Batista by uniting a disparate opposition and outsmarting a bigger, better-equipped Cuban military. domination of Latin America, brought healthcare and education to the poor, and inspired socialist movements across the world.Įven before leading the 1959 revolution that propelled Cuba toward communism and onto the Cold War stage, Castro saw greatness in himself.įrom an early age, he admired history’s boldest figures, particularly Alexander the Great, and believed he and his rebels were part of that tradition. REUTERS/Prensa Latina/File PhotoĬastro, who has died at the age of 90, was at once idealistic and pragmatic, sharply intelligent and reckless, charismatic and intolerant.Ĭritics saw in him a stubborn bully who violated human rights, jailed his critics, banned opposition parties and wrecked Cuba’s economy.Īdmirers saw a visionary who stood up to U.S. Then Cuban President Fidel Castro addresses the audience as president of the Non-Aligned Movement at the United Nations in New York, in this Octofile photo.
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