Fidel Castro Timeline

By Killajay2o

  • Fidel is born

    He was born in the eastern cuban village of Biran

  • Leads an uprising that failed

    Mr. Castro leads an armed uprising against Cuba’s military dictator, Fulgencio Batista, with an attack on the Moncada barracks in Santiago de Cuba. Mr. Castro and his fellow revolutionaries are routed.

  • Exiled to Mexico

    Castro is given amnesty for his role in the 1953 uprising, is released from prison, and goes into exile in Mexico.

  • Revolutionaries Land in Cuba

    Mr. Castro and 81 other would-be revolutionaries land in Cuba on the yacht Granma. Only about a dozen survive the battle, including Mr. Castro, his brother Raúl and Che Guevara. The trio regroup in the Sierra Maestra, where they begin a guerrilla war. Initial reports list Fidel and Raúl Castro among the dead.

  • Former President of Cuba Goes into exile after revolution succeeds

    Asserting that Mr. Castro and his rebels have gained military superiority over the Cuban Army, Mr. Batista surrenders the presidency and goes into exile in the Dominican Republic.

  • Named Prime Minister

    Mr. Castro becomes prime minister of the revolutionary government, replacing the interim prime minister, José Miró Cardona.

  • U.S. Severs Ties With Cuba

    President Dwight D. Eisenhower formally breaks off diplomatic relations with Cuba.

  • U.S. Imposes Economic Embargo

    The United States bans all imports from and exports to Cuba.

  • Cuban Missile Crisis

    The presence of Soviet warheads in Cuba is discovered and provokes a standoff between Moscow and Washington. Many fear nuclear war, but the Soviet Union decides to withdraw missiles after President John F. Kennedy imposes a naval blockade on the island.

  • Communist party of Cuba created

    Castro founded the cuban communist party, and becoming secretary of that party.

  • Thousands Flee to U.S. in Boatlift

    Addled by a struggling economy and a continuing problem with dissidents, Mr. Castro allows any Cubans wishing to leave the country to do so from the port of Mariel. From mid-April through October, more than 120,000 Cubans enter the United States. Mr. Castro insists, however, that every boat departing the port must include prisoners and the country’s unwanted mentally ill.

  • Soviet Collapse Devastates Cuba

    With the collapse of the Soviet Union, the $5 billion a year in subsidies Cuba relied on for so long disappears. With the island’s economy in ruins, Mr. Castro is forced to abandon a strict centralized economy and begins to experiment with capitalism.

  • Temporary Shift of Power

    Mr. Castro gives power to his brother Raúl after undergoing emergency surgery to stop intestinal bleeding caused by an undisclosed illness.

  • Castro Steps Down

    Ending one of the longest tenures as one of the most powerful communist heads of state in the world, Fidel Castro steps down as the president of Cuba and cedes power to his brother Raúl. In a statement, Fidel Castro says, “It would betray my conscience to occupy a responsibility that requires mobility and the total commitment that I am not in the physical condition to offer.”

  • U.S. and Cuba Announce Restoration of Diplomatic Ties

    President Raúl Castro, and President Obama announced an agreement on Dec. 17 to restore diplomatic relations between Cuba and the United States, but Fidel Castro was conspicuously absent from public view. But he broke his silence a little more than a month later on Jan. 26 in a letter published in Granma, the Communist Party’s official newspaper, giving a qualified endorsement of the détente.

  • Fidel Castro dies at the age of 90