Fidel Castro

Fidel Castro

  • Birthday: 1926-08-13
  • Deathday: 2016-11-25
  • Place of birth: Birán, Cuba
  • Also know as: Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz

Biography

Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz (13 August 1926 – 25 November 2016) was a Cuban revolutionary and politician who served as Prime Minister of Cuba from 1959 to 1976 and President from 1976 to 2008. Ideologically a Marxist–Leninist and Cuban nationalist, he also served as the First Secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba from 1961 until 2011. Under his administration, Cuba became a one-party communist state; industry and business were nationalized, and state socialist reforms were implemented throughout society. Born in Birán, Oriente, the son of a wealthy Spanish farmer, Castro adopted leftist and anti-imperialist ideas while studying law at the University of Havana. After participating in rebellions against right-wing governments in the Dominican Republic and Colombia, he planned the overthrow of Cuban President Fulgencio Batista, launching a failed attack on the Moncada Barracks in 1953. After a year's imprisonment, Castro traveled to Mexico where he formed a revolutionary group, the 26th of July Movement, with his brother Raúl Castro and Ernesto "Che" Guevara. Returning to Cuba, Castro took a key role in the Cuban Revolution by leading the Movement in a guerrilla war against Batista's forces from the Sierra Maestra. After Batista's overthrow in 1959, Castro assumed military and political power as Cuba's Prime Minister. The United States came to oppose Castro's government and unsuccessfully attempted to remove him by assassination, economic blockade, and counter-revolution, including the Bay of Pigs Invasion of 1961. Countering these threats, Castro aligned with the Soviet Union and allowed the Soviets to place nuclear weapons in Cuba, resulting in the Cuban Missile Crisis – a defining incident of the Cold War – in 1962. Adopting a Marxist–Leninist model of development, Castro converted Cuba into a one-party, socialist state under Communist Party rule, the first in the Western Hemisphere. Policies introducing central economic planning and expanding healthcare and education were accompanied by state control of the press and the suppression of internal dissent. Abroad, Castro supported anti-imperialist revolutionary groups, backing the establishment of Marxist governments in Chile, Nicaragua, and Grenada, as well as sending troops to aid allies in the Yom Kippur, Ogaden, and Angolan Civil War. These actions, coupled with Castro's leadership of the Non-Aligned Movement from 1979 to 1983 and Cuba's medical internationalism, increased Cuba's profile on the world stage. Following the Soviet Union's dissolution in 1991, Castro led Cuba through the economic downturn of the "Special Period", embracing environmentalist and anti-globalization ideas. In the 2000s, Castro forged alliances in the Latin American "pink tide" – namely with Hugo Chávez's Venezuela – and formed the Bolivarian Alliance for the Americas. In 2006, Castro transferred his responsibilities to Vice President Raúl Castro, who was elected to the presidency by the National Assembly in 2008. Description above from the Wikipedia article Fidel Castro, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.

Filmography

Looking For Fidel

2004

As Himself

638 Ways to Kill Castro

2006

As Self (archive footage)

The Necessary War

1980

As Himself

My Brother, Fidel

1977

As Self

The Cuban Game

2001

As Himself (footage)

Fidel Racconta il Che

1987

As Himself

Un Giorno con Fidel

2007

As Himself

Cuba 30 Anni Dopo

1990

As Himself

Looking for Fidel

2006

As Himself

El Diálogo de América

1972

As Él mismo

Fidel Castro: America's Nemesis

2016

As Himself (Archive Footage)

General Assembly

1960

As Fidel Castro

Muerte al invasor

1962

As Himself (archive footage)

Castro: The World's Most Watched Man

2015

As Himself (archive footage)

Cuba, un aller et un retour

2018

As Himself (archive footage)

I Am a Son of America

1972

As Él mismo

Yanki No!

1960

As Himself

Fidel

1971

As Self

Cuba and Fidel

1974

As Self

Kubánske otázniky

2000

As archívne zábery

The Society of the Spectacle

1974

As Self (archive footage)

Rafters

2002

As Himself (archive footage)

General Idi Amin Dada

1974

As Himself (archive footage) (uncredited)

The Secret KGB JFK Assassination Files

1999

As Himself (archive footage)

Lejos de la isla

2007

As Himself (archive footage)

Waiting for Fidel

1975

As Self

Being Fidel Castro

2010

As Himself (archive footage)

Castro in Winter

2012

As Himself

Nobody

2017

As Himself

Chavismo: The Plague of the 21st Century

2018

As Self (archive footage)

American Expose: Who Murdered JFK?

1988

As Self (archive footage)

Dear Fidel: Marita's Story

2001

As Self (archive footage)

The Padilla Affair

2022

As Self (archive footage)

Chile, el gran desafío

1973

As Himself

Revolution's Daughter

0000

As Self (archive footage)

8A

1993

As Self

Comandante

2003

As Self

The Fog of War

2003

As Self (archive footage)

Angola: The War

2017

As Himself - President of Cuba (archive footage)

Elián

2017

As himself

Oswald's Ghost

2007

As Self (archive footage)

Salvador Allende

2004

As Self (archive footage)

A History of an Assignment

2021

As Self (archival footage)

Ethel

2012

As Self (archive footage)

Did the Mob Kill JFK?

2009

As Self (archive footage)

Salut les Cubains

1963

As Self (uncredited)

¡Cuba Sí!

1961

As Self - Cuban Politician (uncredited)

The Mayor

2012

As

Santiago Files

2011

As Self (archive footage)

Brascuba

1987

As Self (archive footage)

Anxiety. Thoughts of an Old Man

1984

As Self (archive footage)

Far from Vietnam

1967

As Himself (uncredited)

The Hour of the Furnaces

1968

As Himself (archive footage)

Improper Conduct

1984

As Self - Politician (archive footage)

On Company Business

1980

As Self - Prime Minister of Cuba (archive footage)

El Che

2017

As Self (archive footage)

Naqoyqatsi

2002

As Self (archive footage)

The Man Who Saved the World

2012

As Self (archive footage)

La Rabbia di Pasolini

2008

As Self (archive footage)

Cuban Rebel Girls

1959

As Himself (uncredited)

Soviet Union: The Rise and Fall - Part 2

1996

As Self (archive footage)

Amérique latine, l'année de tous les dangers

2019

As Self (archive footage)

A Grin Without a Cat

1977

As Self (archive footage) (uncredited)

The War on Democracy

2007

As Self (archive footage)

ReMastered: Massacre at the Stadium

2019

As Self (archive footage)

South of the Border

2009

As Self (archive footage)

The Kennedy Detail

2010

As Self (archive footage)

Another Day of Life

2018

As Himself (archive footage)

Beyond JFK: The Question of Conspiracy

1992

As Self (archive footage)

I Am Jackie O

2020

As Self (archive footage)

537 Votes

2020

As Self (archive footage)

Laissez-faire

2015

As Self (archive footage)

7 Days in Havana

2012

As Self (segment "Diary of a Beginner") (archive footage)

Karl Marx und seine Erben

2018

As Self (archive footage)

The Inconclusive Independence

2010

As Self (archive footage)

The Adventures of Errol Flynn

2005

As Self (archive footage)

The Boys from Brazil: Rise of the Bolsonaros

2022

As Self (archive footage)

Topaz

1969

As Self (archive footage)

Memória Cubana

2010

As Self (archive footage)

Rat Pack

2022

As Self (archive footage)

Scarface

1983

As Self (archive footage) (uncredited)

JFK

1991

As Self (archive footage)

Wasp Network

2020

As Self (archive footage)

Laboratory Greece

2019

As Self (archive footage)

The Irishman

2019

As Self (archive footage)

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