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
all 207
Movies 190
self 189
TV Shows 17
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Soundtrack to a Coup d'État (2024)
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Leap of Faith: William Friedkin on The Exorcist (2023)
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Le Siècle des icônes (2022)
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The Padilla Affair (2022)
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The Boys from Brazil: Rise of the Bolsonaros (2022)
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Rat Pack (2022)
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Becoming Cousteau (2021)
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A History of an Assignment (2021)
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How to Become a Tyrant (2021)
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Summer of Soul (...Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised) (2021)
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I Am Jackie O (2020)
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537 Votes (2020)
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Wasp Network (2020)
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Amérique latine, l'année de tous les dangers (2019)
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ReMastered: Massacre at the Stadium (2019)
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Another Day of Life (2018)
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Minnesota Experience (2018)
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Chavismo: The Plague of the 21st Century (2018)
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Explained (2018)
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Bobby Kennedy for President (2018)
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El Che (2017)
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Angola: The War (2017)
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Elián (2017)
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Fidel Castro: America's Nemesis (2016)
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Castro: The World's Most Watched Man (2015)
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Guerilleros (2015)
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Laissez-faire (2015)
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Killing Jimmy Hoffa (2014)
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Momo: The Sam Giancana Story (2013)
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The Man Who Saved the World (2012)
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The Day That Lasted 21 Years (2012)
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7 Days in Havana (2012)
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Mentiras verdaderas (2011)
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The Kennedy Detail (2010)
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Memória Cubana (2010)
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La Case du siècle (2010)
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The Inconclusive Independence (2010)
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Did the Mob Kill JFK? (2009)
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Tasmanian Devil: The Fast and Furious Life of Errol Flynn (2007)
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Oswald's Ghost (2007)
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The War on Democracy (2007)
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Cuba, el valor de una utopía (2006)
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638 Ways to Kill Castro (2006)
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Looking for Fidel (2006)
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Kordavision: The man who shot Che Guevara (2005)
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The Adventures of Errol Flynn (2005)
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Salvador Allende (2004)
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Kung Fu 2003 (2004)
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Naqoyqatsi (2002)
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Cuban Rafters (2002)
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The Cuban Game (2001)
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Kubánske otázniky (2000)
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Faith of the Century: A History of Communism (1999)
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Soviet Union: The Rise and Fall - Part 2 (1996)
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Beyond JFK: The Question of Conspiracy (1993)
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8A (1993)
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JFK (1991)
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American Expose: Who Murdered JFK? (1988)
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Brascuba (1987)
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Informe especial (1984)
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Improper Conduct (1984)
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Anxiety. Thoughts of an Old Man (1984)
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On Company Business (1980)
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Mission Mind Control (1979)
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A Grin Without a Cat (1977)
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Waiting for Fidel (1975)
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General Idi Amin Dada (1974)
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The Society of the Spectacle (1974)
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Venceremos, solidaridad (1973)
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Topaz (1969)
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Far from Vietnam (1967)
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Hello Cubans (1963)
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Guest from the Island of Freedom (1963)
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¡Cuba Sí! (1961)
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Island Ablazed (1961)
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Cuban Rebel Girls (1959)
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The Ed Sullivan Show (1948)
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Cuba: Caminos de Revolución
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Teofilo
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Revolution's Daughter
Information
Known ForActing
GenderMale
Birthday1926-08-13
Deathday2016-11-25 (90 years old)
Birth NameFidel Alejandro Castro Ruz
Birth PlaceBirán, Cuba
Religionagnosticism
RelationshipsMirta Díaz-Balart (1948 - 1955), Dalia Soto del Valle (1980 - 2016), Natalia Revuelta Clews (1950 - 1950)
ChildrenFidel Ángel Castro Diaz-Balart, Alina Fernández, Ángel Castro-Soto, Alejandro Castro-Soto, Alexis Castro-Soto, Alex Castro -Soto, Antonio Castro- Soto del Vale, Fransiska Pupo, Jorge Ángel Castro
FatherÁngel Castro y Arguíz
MotherLina Ruz González
SiblingsRaúl Castro, Ramón Castro Ruz, Juanita Castro, Emma Castro, Lidia Castro Argota
CitizenshipsCuba
ResidencesSantiago de Cuba, Cuba
Also Known AsFidel Alejandro Castro Ruz
AwardsAl-Gaddafi International Prize for Human Rights, Confucius Peace Prize, Order of Belize, Order of Merit, Order of José Martí, Order of the Quetzal, Order of the Nile, Lenin Peace Prize, Order of the October Revolution, Order of the Companions of O. R. Tambo, Order of Karl Marx, Jubilee Medal "Thirty Years of Victory in the Great Patriotic War 1941–1945", Star of People's Friendship, Hero of the Soviet Union, Order of the Crown of the Realm, Order of Merit of Duarte, Sanchez and Mella, Order of Lenin, Order of Hồ Chí Minh, Order of the Liberator, Order of Klement Gottwald, Order of Georgi Dimitrov, Order of Jamaica, Order of Timor-Leste, Order of Agostinho Neto, Order of Omar Torrijos Herrera, Collar of the Order of the White Lion, Emblem of the Republic, Order of Prince Yaroslav the Wise, 1st class, Star of the Socialist Republic of Romania, Bintang Mahaputera Adipurna, Grand Collar of the Order of Good Hope, Grand Cross of the National Order of Mali, Grand Cross of the Order of Polonia Restituta, Order of Eduardo Mondlane, 1st class, Order of Merit, 1st class, Grand Cross of the Order of the Aztec Eagle, honorary doctorate of the National University of San Marcos, Order of the Yugoslavian Great Star
This article uses material from Wikipedia.
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