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Fidel Castro, Cuba’s leader of revolution, dies at 90

Cuba's former president Fidel Castro, one of the world's longest-serving and most iconic leaders, has died aged 90. His younger brother and successor as president Raul Castro announced the news on state television. Castro toppled the government

Cuba’s former president Fidel Castro, one of the world’s longest-serving and most iconic leaders, has died aged 90.

His younger brother and successor as president Raul Castro announced the news on state television.

Castro toppled the government in 1959, introducing a Communist revolution. He defied the US for decades, surviving many assassination plots.

His supporters said he had given Cuba back to the people. Critics saw him as a dictator.

 

Ashen and grave, President Castro told the nation in an unexpected late night broadcast on state television that Fidel Castro had died and would be cremated later on Saturday.

“The commander in chief of the Cuban revolution died at 22:29 hours this evening (03:29 GMT Saturday),” he said. “Towards victory, always!” he added, using a revolutionary slogan.

A period of official mourning has been declared on the island until 4 December, when his ashes will be laid to rest in the south-eastern city of Santiago.

Barring the occasional newspaper column, Fidel Castro had essentially been retired from political life for several years.

In April, Fidel Castro gave a rare speech on the final day of the country’s Communist Party congress.

“I’ll soon be 90,” the former president said, adding that this was “something I’d never imagined”.

“Soon I’ll be like all the others, “to all our turn must come,” Fidel Castro said.

Castro was the longest serving non-royal leader of the 20th Century.

He temporarily handed over power to his brother in 2006 as he was recovering from an acute intestinal ailment. Raul Castro officially became president two years later.

News of his death left some in Havana stunned.

“I always said it couldn’t be,” said one woman, a government employee. “Even though they said it now, I say it can’t be.”

How he defied the US

Throughout the Cold War, Fidel Castro was a thorn in Washington’s side.

An accomplished tactician on the battlefield, he and his small army of guerrillas overthrew the military leader Fulgencio Batista in 1959 to widespread popular support.

Within two years of taking power, he declared the revolution to be Marxist-Leninist in nature and allied the island nation firmly to the Soviet Union.

Yet, despite the constant threat of a US invasion as well as the long-standing economic embargo on the island, Castro managed to maintain a communist revolution in a nation just 90 miles (145km) off the coast of Florida.

Despised by his critics as much as he was revered by his followers, he maintained his rule through 10 US presidents and survived scores of attempts on his life by the CIA.

He established a one-party state, with many political opponents executed or imprisoned. The independent media was suppressed. Thousands of Cubans fled into exile.

How has the world reacted?

Latin American leaders have been quick to pay tribute.

Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto said Castro was a “great friend” of Mexico, while to El Salvador’s President Salvador Sanchez Ceren he was an “eternal companion”.

Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro said “revolutionaries of the world must follow his legacy”.

The Soviet Union’s last leader Mikhail Gorbachev said: “Fidel stood up and strengthened his country during the harshest American blockade, when there was colossal pressure on him”.

Vladimir Putin described him as a “reliable and sincere friend” of Russia.

For French President Francois Hollande Castro embodied Cuba’s revolution in both its “hopes” and its later “disappointments”.

In Miami, where there is a large Cuban community, there have been celebrations in some parts of the city, with people banging pots and cheering.

A Cuban exile group, the Cuban Democratic Directorate, said Castro left “legacy of intolerance” and had set up a “vicious totalitarian regime”.

Fidel Castro’s key dates

  • 1926: Born in the south-eastern Oriente Province of Cuba
  • 1953: Imprisoned after leading an unsuccessful rising against Batista’s regime
  • 1955: Released from prison under an amnesty deal
  • 1956: With Che Guevara, begins a guerrilla war against the government
  • 1959: Defeats Batista, sworn in as prime minister of Cuba
  • 1961: Fights off CIA-sponsored Bay of Pigs invasion by Cuban exiles
  • 1962: Sparks Cuban missile crisis by agreeing that USSR can deploy nuclear missiles in Cuba
  • 1976: Elected president by Cuba’s National Assembly
  • 1992: Reaches an agreement with US over Cuban refugees
  • 2006: Hands over reins to brother Raul due to health issues, stands down as president two years later

BBC: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-38114953

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66 COMMENTS
  • sol November 26, 2016

    RIP Castro
    A man of principle who lead his country in the backyard of USA and succeeded to maintain the best quality of education and health care. Cuba faced sanctions for morethan 50 years but you can;t find people begging in the streets or eating from trash cans.

  • Teklit November 26, 2016

    President Issaias will attend Castro’s funeral. The Young PFDJ in Cuba are making some arrangements to meet and discuss with president Issaias on how to foster the relationship of Eritrea and Cuba.

    Teklit

  • Kidane R. November 26, 2016

    Our Eritrean president ‘El Presidente’ liver problem stayed UP for a long time and will continue to
    stay up for much much longer as well. Rest in peace the great revolutionary leader of the people of Cuba.
    My only regret about the great man Fidel Castro is that he has not left a son to continue his super legacy and
    development in Cuba but his brother is just doing great too. Wedi Afom is going to leave us his son though so
    not to worry about the future of Eritrea as it is quite in stable and safe hands with right people in place.

  • Gezae November 26, 2016

    Man of resilience and change depended on his own people and people only..

  • ተወልደመድኅን November 26, 2016

    ምንሽሮ ህዝቢ ኩባ ዓሪፉ፡እቲ ጸገም ሕማሙ ኣብ ሓው ገዲፉ ብምኻዱ’ዩ

    • Keren November 26, 2016

      With poor Eritreans not only on earth but they will take their menshiro/cancer
      to their graveyards and probably to another planet too.
      How is your own Eritrean ghedli menshiro, Ato T/medhin?
      Indeed, RIP champion of the poor of the world. Castro helped Africa in its fight against the
      whites colonialism and there should be a stature built in his wonderful name in Angola, Namibia, Mozambique, Zimbabwe and South Africa.
      Eritrea’s struggle was not against colonialism but an adventurous and alien loving mad civil war.

      • eyob tesfalem November 26, 2016

        Keren- Fidel Castro dea beali seb dictator neyru enebr. Mekalstu zibele seytan neyru. Fidel castor n communism or socialism eye teqalisu. Zidegifom zeneber n nay Africa hagereta socialism or communist kesafaheh deliyu enebr n Africa haliyu aykonen. Mknaytu Kalasi hizbi Eritrea Cuba kisab 1974 yhizgiwo neyrom eyom kabbu gin Mengstu socialist or communist mis bel nabu tegemtilom n Deregi hagazimo. Men eyu neyru wetsu beti gezie Hizbi Eritrea wela DERgI. Silzi Castor n socialist or communist tekalisu enebr n kal aykonenen. Nhadi beali hizbu kem gin kem Kudus gerkum ayteqribuwu. He was brutal dictator.

        • Keren November 26, 2016

          I smell something fishy here!! Eyobay in Moslem NefaHito disguise!!!!!
          Something like Saho’s dead rat trying hard to express/pose in its “native” Arabic language!
          Well, well “Eyobay Arkey”, F.Castro was a lot lot better than your brutal and barbarian moslem Arab dictators like Saddam Hussien, Gaddaaffi, Bashir, the Saudis royal family, Mubarek, Erdogan of Turkey, Hussien Habre of Chad and so many etc ……..
          Let’s give the super man F.Castro lots of credit and the highest respect for speeding up/expediting the fall of white man’s rule (apartheid) and other exploitation in Africa.
          Now Eyobay, our next fight for us the black Africans is against the exploitation and expansion of Islam, do you agree with me then Eyoba or as a “white African” you are not interested but if it is about Arabic language for Africa then you’d be very much interested??

          • eyob tesfalem December 1, 2016

            Keren- i am not muslim or saho and i am christian. We talk about Castor not about arabs brutal dictotor or muslim wolrd leaders. But I believe Fidel Castor was brutal dictotor and he helped Afirca countries not to be free to be coumminist or socialist. How can be Fidel castor freedom fight? He was not free for himself. He killed many people becuas they were just against him and his ideology. Fidel castor is a person who thinks Cuba as his own country och he has given the power to his brother like as an inheritance. He was brutal dicatartor.
            You mentioned many muslim or arabs leader i hate them more than you do and i hate all the people who against freedom, specially freedom of expression included Wedi medhen Berad. They are brutal dictators. Do not compare dicators all of them are evils.

  • Teclay November 26, 2016

    ጸሎት
    ዎ ጎይታ ነዚ ኣንዊሑ ዝጥምት ፣ሂወቱ ምሉእ ጸሊም ከይበለ ጻዕዳ ። ንኽብረት ደቅኻ ደቂ ኣዳም ዝተቓለሰ ሰብ፣ህውይወቱ ተቐበል።
    Some times ,i wonder the difference between human beings is so big …Look ,Fidel ,Che Guevara etc were such intelligent ,farsighted and selfless ppl .they fought everywhere and for everybody in this world ,and we all have have been benefiting from their determination.
    Now let us compare Our useful idiots VS Fidel and Che
    -Our useful idiots had been fighting against their own ppl to restore Italian colonial legacy;whereas, Fidel and Che had been fighting to throw away colonialism.
    -Our useful idiots did everything to show their loyalty to the Arabs and were ready to be enslaved,on the other hand Fidel,Che and their com-reds had worked hard and long to free the working class from international capitalists.
    ተዐዘብ ክቡር ኣንባቢ- ኣብ መንጎ ዓደ ቡኡ ዘፍርስ, ራኢ ዘይብሉ ሽፍታን፣ ንውጹዕ ህዝቢ ዓለም ነጻ ንምውጻእ ዝቓልስ ጅግናን ዘሎ ፍልልይ ።እንበኣር ብረት ተዓጢቑ ኣብ ጎቦን ጫካን ዝሰፈረ ኩሉ ተቓላሳይ ከም ዘይኮነ ተረዳእ።
    Keren ,thank you i agree .

  • AHMED SALEH !!! November 26, 2016

    Fidel Castro was a strong leader in communism era for fighting against western ideology . The answer if he was a dictator or a reformer depends on reaction from Cuban people who survived under his leadership . Africans did
    not learn any constructive lessons to build their future except to engage on armed conflicts . There is not good
    reason to make us praise authoritarian leaders because only God knows the number of victimized innocents .

  • andom November 26, 2016

    Higdefites are pathetic creatures. Look u are trying to adorn castro b/s he stood against the usa which in ur mind is the enemy of eritrea.
    Do u know what u did forget. U forgot cuba and castro were physically in ethiopia training and arming mengistu and ethiopians b/s he never believed eritrean struggle was for freedom. So is russia. Higdef riesen tebalshu marsho koinu. Ethiopiand should infact erect a monument in addis to respect and honor him.

  • Hadas November 26, 2016

    May the great Fidel Castro rest in peace. May the trumpets of justice, dignity and humanity praise his name.
    Fidel was a human being and has several failings, ups and downs in his history but Fidel never ever saw himself and his tiny Cuba as an indentured slave or Abeed or a servant of anybody else, including to the most richest and the most powerful neighboring nation – the United States of America.

    Fidel knows and understands the meaning and source of his national pride, identity, language, music, history and heritage. Many people seem to live in the so called “sovereign and liberated” nations or minds but many of them in reality suffer of mental slavery and the worst of the worst types live in the lowest forms of slavery also known as Abeedism. These lowest forms of human like creatures who suffer from mental Abeedism hate themselves, their own identity, their own languages and their own centuries old heritage but keep on bending and worshiping to others, and insist on renting more cheap alien identities by burning their own identities.

    May we all learn from the confidence, courage, pride, respect and dignity of the one and only, the great Fidel Castro.

  • ሞት ሕጹይ November 26, 2016

    “ኣይበልዕን እንጀራ__ ኣይተቕርቡለይ ግዓት
    ሰውራዊ ሞይቱ መጀመርያ ይቀበር ብስርዓት”

    ኣንታ ንሳንዳይዶ ከርድኣ__________ ንምዓሮ
    ነያይ ንኢስ ዶ__________ ነያይ ሓሻካ ክነግሮ
    ኣይርስዖምን____ ንሰብ ማለሊት ዓድዋ ውቕሮ
    ኣይርስዖምን ሻዕብያ__ ኣብ ሬሳ ዝገብሩ ኮቦሮ
    ንቓልሱን ታክቲኩን ኩሉ ______ copy ዝገበሮ
    ብሰብ ከይትሰምዕዎ ትማል ሞይቱ ብጻይ ካስትሮ !!!!

    ብሰንኪ ማርክሳዊ መምርሒኡ ዝሃደምኩ ካብ ዓደይ
    ብሰንኪ ሌኒናውያን______ ዝራሕራሕኩዋ ነደይ
    ክሳዕ ሕጂ_______ ትካዘን ሓዘንን ኮይኑ መገደይ
    መንግስቲ ሰማስይዶ ክትምነየሉ__ ሓቢኤ ናይ ከብደይ
    ኣይረግም ኣይምርቕ ___ቦቕቢቑን ሓሪሩንዩ ቲ ልበይ
    ደቂ ኤረይ ክቐብር እናነባዕኩ__ ንሱ እዩ ትዕድልተይ

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