On August 13, 1926, near Birán, Mayarí, Cuba, Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz was born. From a young age Fidel showed a great interest in history and military affairs. Due to his exceptional intelligence, his parents decided to send him to Santiago de Cuba, at the age of six, along with his sister, Angelita. In Santiago and then in Havana, Castro completed his studies until he graduated in Law in 1950. From then on, he became involved in different political communities. After denouncing dictator Fulgencio Batista before an Emergency Court and receiving a contrary decision, Castro understood that armed struggle was the only way to achieve a change in the system of government. He participated in a failed rebellion against the dictator, so he was arrested in 1953. Twenty-two months later, he was released and went into exile in Mexico, where he began making plans to overthrow Batista. Fidel Castro returned to Cuba in 1957, in a boat with a small group of 82 rebels, among them the Argentine Ernesto Che Guevara. After a guerrilla war in the rural areas of the island, the fight spread to the city. On January 1, 1959, the victory of the revolutionaries was proclaimed. Castro took power, starting a period characterized by his socialist policy. As prime minister, he began producing large-scale reforms. He ended the US dominance over the island and, in 1961, managed to stop the invasion of exiles supported by the United States in Playa Girón. Fidel Castro transformed Cuba into the first communist country in the Western Hemisphere and allied with the Soviet Union. The country became an enemy of the United States and lived moments of great tension during the Cold War.

Fidel Castro