Fidel Castro, Cuba's
former president
and leader of the
Communist
revolution, has died
aged 90, his
brother has said.
"The commander in
chief of the Cuban
revolution died at
22:29 hours this
evening (03:29 GMT
Saturday)," President
Raul Castro said.
Fidel Castro ruled Cuba
as a one-party state
for almost 50 years
before Raul took over
in 2008.
His supporters said he
had given Cuba back
to the people. But he
was also accused of
suppressing
opposition.

Obituary: Fidel Castro

Fidel Castro: A life in
pictures
Ashen and grave,
President Castro told
the nation in an
unexpected late night
broadcast on state
television that Fidel
Castro had died and
would be cremated on
Saturday.
There would now be
several days of
national mourning on
the island.
Barring the occasional
newspaper column,
Fidel Castro had
essentially been
retired from political
life for some time,
the BBC's Will Grant in
Havana reports.
In April, Fidel Castro
gave a rare speech on
the final day of the
country's Communist
Party congress.
He acknowledged his
advanced age but said
Cuban communist
concepts were still
valid and the Cuban
people "will be
victorious".
"I'll soon be 90," the
former president said,
adding that this was
"something I'd never
imagined".
"Soon I'll be like all the
others, "to all our turn
must come," Fidel
Castro said.
Castro temporarily
handed over the
power to his brother
in 2006 as he was
recovering from an
acute intestinal
ailment.
Raul Castro officially
became president
two years later.
Fidel Castro's key
dates

1926: Born in the
south-eastern
Oriente Province
of Cuba

1953:
Imprisoned after
leading an
unsuccessful
rising against
Batista's regime

1955: Released
from prison
under an
amnesty deal

1956: With Che
Guevara, begins a
guerrilla war
against the
government

1959: Defeats
Batista, sworn in
as prime minister
of Cuba

1961: Fights off
CIA-sponsored
Bay of Pigs
invasion by Cuban
exiles

1962: Sparks
Cuban missile
crisis by agreeing
that USSR can
deploy nuclear
missiles in Cuba

1976: Elected
president by
Cuba's National
Assembly

1992: Reaches
an agreement
with US over
Cuban refugees

2008: Stands
down as
president of Cuba
due to health
issues.

Throughout the Cold
War, Fidel Castro was
Washington's bete
noire.
An accomplished
tactician on the
battlefield, he and his
small army of
guerrillas overthrew
the military leader
Fulgencio Batista in
1959 to widespread
popular support.
Within two years of
taking power, he
declared the
revolution to be
Marxist-Leninist in
nature and allied the
island nation firmly to
the Soviet Union.
Yet, despite the
constant threat of a
US invasion as well as
the long-standing
economic embargo on
the island, Castro
managed to maintain
a communist
revolution in a nation
just 90 miles off the
coast of Florida.
Despised by his critics
as much as he was
revered by his
followers, he
outlasted ten US
presidents and defied
scores of attempts
on his life by the CIA.

Source: www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-38114953