Events in the life of Fidel Castro
AUG. 13, 1926: Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz is born in the village of Biran in eastern Cuba. 1948: Castro marries philosophy student Mirta Diaz-Balart.
1950-1952: Castro earns his law degree from the University of Havana and practices law with a college friend for two years before deciding to run for a parliamentary seat as an Orthodox Party candidate.
MARCH 10, 1952: Fulgencio Batista, a former president and presidential candidate in the 1952 election, overthrows President Carlos Prio Socarras, sets up a provisional government and announces the cancellation of the presidential election set for June 1.
JULY 26, 1953: In response to Batista’s unpopularity, Castro organizes a revolutionary movement and leads more than 100 followers in a failed attack. He is captured later in a nearby mountain area and imprisoned.
DEC. 2, 1956: Castro returns from exile in Mexico to again attempt a takeover, landing in Oriente Province with 81 followers. Most are captured or killed by the Cuban army, but Castro and others escape.
MARCH 29, 1957: Sympathy for Castro builds among university students and some professional, business and political leaders.
JULY 27, 1957: One hundred rebels, led by Castro, attack and capture an army station. APRIL 24, 1958:
After months of failed attacks, Oriente residents grow weary of the rebels’ presence. Castro makes a plea for more arms and ammunition.
NOV. 4, 1958: Despite attempts by rebels to thwart elections, Batista-backed presidential candidate Andres Rivero Agureo wins. He pledges to strive for peace.
Dec. 26, 1958: Rebel forces encircle Santa Clara and smaller towns in central Cuba. Ernesto “Che” Guevara boasts in a radio broadcast that “Havana will fall.”
JAN 1, 1959: Batista flees to the Dominican Republic as Castro takes power.
JAN. 8, 1959: Hundreds of thousands of supporters cheer Castro’s arrival in Havana.
JAN. 15, 1959: Saying he wants good relations with the United States, Castro also warns that “gringos will die” if U.S. forces are sent to the island. FEB. 16, 1959: Castro is sworn in as Cuba’s prime minister.
APRIL 19, 1959: In a visit to the U.S., Castro appears on “Meet the Press” and meets privately with Vice President Richard Nixon. He claims that his provisional Cuban government “does not want to stay in power one minute longer than is necessary before having free elections.” The Cuban leader also denies that there are any Communists in his government.
MAY 24, 1959: Castro issues a signed statement pledging not to become a dictator. “When the people decide they do not want me, I will step down,” the statement says.
JULY 19, 1959: Castro briefly resigns as prime minister amid rumors that the U.S. is planning an attack on Cuba from the Dominican Republic.
FEB. 1, 1960: A Cuban-Soviet trade agreement is signed, and soon after Cuba establishes diplomatic relations with the Soviet Union and most other Communist countries.
JAN. 3, 1961: President Dwight D. Eisenhower breaks U.S. relations with Cuba. APRIL 1, 1961: Bay of Pigs invasion. OCTOBER 1962: Cuban missile crisis: Castro allows the Soviet Union to install in Cuba medium-range nuclear missiles aimed at the United States, ostensibly for the defense of Cuba. President John F. Kennedy negotiates the missiles’ removal directly with Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev. Castro is humiliated.
APRIL 19, 2011: Castro is formally removed from the leadership of the Cuban Communist Party for the first time since its formation nearly 50 years earlier.
DEC. 27, 2014: President Barack Obama announces plans to restore U.S. diplomatic relations with Cuba. NOV. 25, 2016: Castro dies at age 90.