CENTRAL NEWS
Castro was born on August 13, 1926, in Birán, a small town in eastern Cuba. In 1950, Castro graduated from the University of Havana and opened a law office. Two years later, he ran for election to the Cuban House of Representatives. The election never happened, however, because Batista seized power that March. Castro responded by planning a popular uprising.
In July 1953, Castro led about 120 men in an attack on the Moncada army barracks in Santiago de Cuba. The assault failed, Castro was captured and sentenced to 15 years in prison, and many of his men were killed. The U.S.-backed Batista, looking to counter his authoritarian image, subsequently released Castro in 1955 as part of a general amnesty. Castro ended up in Mexico, where he met fellow revolutionary Ernesto “Che” Guevara and plotted his return.
The following year, Castro and 81 other men sailed on the yacht “Granma” to the eastern coast of Cuba, where government forces immediately ambushed them. The estimated 19 survivors, including Castro, his brother Raúl and Guevara, fled deep into the Sierra Maestra Mountains in southeastern Cuba with virtually no weapons or supplies.
The small band of survivors rearmed itself by first launching raids on small army posts and then using the weaponry acquired there to attack larger posts. By early 1957 they were already attracting recruits and winning small battles against Rural Guard patrols.
“We’d take out the men in front, attack the center, and then ambush the rear when it started retreating, in the terrain we’d chosen,” Castro said in his spoken autobiography. In 1958, Batista tried to snuff out the uprising with a massive offensive, complete with air force bombers and naval offshore units. The guerrillas held their ground, launched a counterattack and wrested control from Batista on January 1, 1959. Castro arrived in Havana a week later and soon took over as prime minister. At the same time, revolutionary tribunals began trying and executing members of the old regime for alleged war crimes.
As the country’s new leader in 1960, Castro nationalized all U.S.-owned businesses, including oil refineries, factories and casinos. This prompted the United States to end diplomatic relations and impose a trade embargo that still stands today. Meanwhile, in April 1961, about 1,400 Cuban exiles trained and funded by the CIA landed near the Bay of Pigs with the intent of overthrowing Castro. Their plans ended in disaster, however, partially because a first wave of bombers missed their targets and a second air strike was called off. Ultimately, more than 100 exiles were killed and nearly everyone else was captured. In December 1962, Castro freed them in exchange for medical supplies and baby food worth about $52 million.
Castro implemented communist domestic policies and initiated military and economic relations with the Soviet Union that led to strained relations with the United States. The tension between the United States and Cuba culminated in the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis. According to a former agent of the CIA, Fidel survived 638 assassination attempts.
