Fidel Castro, Communist Revolutionary and Longtime Cuban Ruler, Dead at 90

Fidel Castro — the revolutionary who took control of Cuba, held the country for half a century, and repeatedly defied the United States — has died at the age of 90, according to a Cuban state media report. He died on Friday, Nov. 25.

"At 10:29 in the night, the chief commander of the Cuban revolution, Fidel Castro Ruz, died," Raul Castro said in a nationally televised address. "Ever onward, to victory."

His death was met with cheers and celebration in Miami, home to many Cuban-Americans.

Failing health forced Fidel Castro, el comandanté, to hand over the reigns of the island nation 90 miles from the southern tip of Florida to his brother, Raul, in 2008. Nonetheless, Castro presided over his nation as a succession of U.S. presidents came and went, from Dwight Eisenhower to George W. Bush.

Castro took control of Cuba in 1959, overthrowing President Fulgencio Batista after six years of warfare. He emerged as an influential revolutionary, capturing the imaginations of disaffected young people and communist sympathizers worldwide throughout the 1960s. He also became the focal point of various fruitless attempts by the United States government to remove him from power and take his life.

"I think that a man should not live beyond the age when he begins to deteriorate, when the flame that lighted the brightest moment of his life has weakened," Castro once said.

And yet he lived to 90, and spent the final 10 years of his life in frail physical and mental health. Castro had nine children — seven sons and two daughters.

Castro was born on a farm on Aug. 13, 1926, attended private boarding schools, and studied law in Havana. While in college, he became disillusioned with the corruption in Cuba and with American imperialism in the Caribbean.

As a revolutionary, he fought in the Dominican Republic and Colombia before eventually plotting revolution in his own country and leading a guerrilla war alongside Che Guevara and his brother Raul. As ruler of Cuba, Castro allied himself closely with the Soviet Union.

Castro in the USSR

In 1961, just two years after Castro took control of Cuba, the United States sponsored an invasion led by Cuban exiles. The Bay of Pigs failed miserably and embarrassed a young President John F. Kennedy.

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Castro would occupy much of America's attention throughout the 1960s. After the Bay of Pigs, Castro allowed the Soviet Union to secretly ship nuclear missiles to Cuba. When the United States discovered this in 1962, President Kennedy ordered a blockade of Cuba and a tense standoff with the Soviet Union ensued. The 13-day Cuban Missile Crisis brought the world's two superpowers to the brink of war before Kennedy and Soviet Premier Nikita Krushchev negotiated a compromise that led to the removal of Soviet missiles from Cuba and U.S. missiles from Turkey.

Several U.S. attempts to assassinate Castro, including the use of poison and exploding cigars, also failed. The U.S. even enlisted mafia figures in attempts to kill Castro.

Throughout the 1960s and '70s, no other figure in the world embodied the spirit of the communist revolution more than Fidel Castro. He inspired and aided revolutionary movements in Africa, Central America and South America.

In 1980, a flood of Cuban refugees landed in the United States after Castro announced that anyone who wanted to leave Cuba could do so. In the spring and summer of 1980, the Mariel boatlift brought tens of thousands refugees to Florida. Later, the United States would learn that many of the refugees had been released from Cuban jails and sanitariums for the mentally ill. As many as 120,000 Cuban refugees came to the United States during this period.

Today, 1.7 million Cuban-Americans reside in Florida. President Barack Obama normalized relations with Cuba in 2015, ending a 55-year trade embargo.

Obama issued the following statement on Castro's death:

At this time of Fidel Castro’s passing, we extend a hand of friendship to the Cuban people. We know that this moment fills Cubans - in Cuba and in the United States - with powerful emotions, recalling the countless ways in which Fidel Castro altered the course of individual lives, families, and of the Cuban nation. History will record and judge the enormous impact of this singular figure on the people and world around him.

For nearly six decades, the relationship between the United States and Cuba was marked by discord and profound political disagreements. During my presidency, we have worked hard to put the past behind us, pursuing a future in which the relationship between our two countries is defined not by our differences but by the many things that we share as neighbors and friends - bonds of family, culture, commerce, and common humanity. This engagement includes the contributions of Cuban Americans, who have done so much for our country and who care deeply about their loved ones in Cuba.

Today, we offer condolences to Fidel Castro's family, and our thoughts and prayers are with the Cuban people. In the days ahead, they will recall the past and also look to the future. As they do, the Cuban people must know that they have a friend and partner in the United States of America.

President-Elect Donald Trump issued a statement to a different tune on the death of the longtime Cuban leader:

"Today, the world marks the passing of a brutal dictator who oppressed his own people for nearly six decades. Fidel Castro’s legacy is one of firing squads, theft, unimaginable suffering, poverty and the denial of fundamental human rights.

"While Cuba remains a totalitarian island, it is my hope that today marks a move away from the horrors endured for too long, and toward a future in which the wonderful Cuban people finally live in the freedom they so richly deserve.

"Though the tragedies, deaths and pain caused by Fidel Castro cannot be erased, our administration will do all it can to ensure the Cuban people can finally begin their journey toward prosperity and liberty. I join the many Cuban Americans who supported me so greatly in the presidential campaign, including the Brigade 2506 Veterans Association that endorsed me, with the hope of one day soon seeing a free Cuba."

In years past, Castro's death has been mistakenly reported several times. Each time, Cubans in Florida would celebrate. The New York Times notes that schools even have contingency plans for the expected jubilation and celebration that will ensue upon official word of his death.

As word hit Miami in the wee hours of Saturday morning, people took to the streets to wave flags, honk horns and cheer.

Castro's legacy as a national leader is mixed. "Castro’s regime was successful in reducing illiteracy, stamping out racism and improving public health care, but was widely criticized for stifling economic and political freedoms," according to History.com.

Most of all, however, the famously bearded revolutionary will be remembered as a nationalist leader who stood up the United States time and time again, and lived to a ripe old age.

photo: Fidel Castro in Washington, D.C., in 1959 | public domain photo