P
ProfRem
Guest
Fidel Castro, Cuba's former president and leader of the Communist revolution, has died aged 90.
Fidel Castro ruled Cuba as a one-party state for almost half a century before handing over the powers to his brother Raul in 2008.
Here are eight things you need to know about the revoluntary leader
1. Fidel Castro was born on his family's sugar plantation near Biran, Cuba. His father was an immigrant laborer from the Galician region in Spain but eventually became a prosperous landowner. In a 1992 interview, Castro said that "it doesn't sound too good to say I am the son of a landowner, so let us rather say I am the grandson of exploited Galician peasants."
2. Castro became a political activist while in law school at the University of Havana.
3. Castro led Cuba for five decades and was the world's third longest-serving head of state, after Britain's Queen Elizabeth and the King of Thailand, who died earlier this year.
4. Holds the record for the longest speech ever delivered to the United Nations: 4 hours and 29 minutes, on Sept. 26, 1960. One of his longest speeches on record lasted 7 hours and 30 minutes on Feb. 24, 1998, after the national assembly re-elected him to a five-year term as president.
5. Claimed he survived 634 attempts or plots to assassinate him, mainly masterminded by the CIA and US-based exile organisations. They may have included poison pills, a toxic cigar, exploding molluscs, and a chemically tainted diving suit. Another alleged plan involved giving him powder that would make his beard fall out and so undermine his popularity.
6. Outlasted nine US presidents, from Dwight Eisenhower to George W Bush.
7. Used to chomp on Cuban cigars but gave them up in 1985. Years later he summed up the harm of smoking tobacco by saying: "The best thing you can do with this box of cigars is give them to your enemy."
8. Has nine children from five women. Daughter Alina Fernandez escaped from Cuba disguised as a tourist in 1993 and is a vocal critic.
Related: Cuba's Fidel Castro Dies At 90
Fidel Castro ruled Cuba as a one-party state for almost half a century before handing over the powers to his brother Raul in 2008.
Here are eight things you need to know about the revoluntary leader
1. Fidel Castro was born on his family's sugar plantation near Biran, Cuba. His father was an immigrant laborer from the Galician region in Spain but eventually became a prosperous landowner. In a 1992 interview, Castro said that "it doesn't sound too good to say I am the son of a landowner, so let us rather say I am the grandson of exploited Galician peasants."
2. Castro became a political activist while in law school at the University of Havana.
3. Castro led Cuba for five decades and was the world's third longest-serving head of state, after Britain's Queen Elizabeth and the King of Thailand, who died earlier this year.
4. Holds the record for the longest speech ever delivered to the United Nations: 4 hours and 29 minutes, on Sept. 26, 1960. One of his longest speeches on record lasted 7 hours and 30 minutes on Feb. 24, 1998, after the national assembly re-elected him to a five-year term as president.
5. Claimed he survived 634 attempts or plots to assassinate him, mainly masterminded by the CIA and US-based exile organisations. They may have included poison pills, a toxic cigar, exploding molluscs, and a chemically tainted diving suit. Another alleged plan involved giving him powder that would make his beard fall out and so undermine his popularity.
6. Outlasted nine US presidents, from Dwight Eisenhower to George W Bush.
7. Used to chomp on Cuban cigars but gave them up in 1985. Years later he summed up the harm of smoking tobacco by saying: "The best thing you can do with this box of cigars is give them to your enemy."
8. Has nine children from five women. Daughter Alina Fernandez escaped from Cuba disguised as a tourist in 1993 and is a vocal critic.
Related: Cuba's Fidel Castro Dies At 90
