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Castro was born in Biran, Cuba
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Castro leads troops
Castro leads armed uprising against military dictator Fulgencio Batista, captured in failed attack on Moncada barracks in Santiago de Cuba.
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-cuba-castro-chronology/timeline-key-events-in-fidel-castros-life-idUSN1922589220080220 -
Castro in Prison
Castro, who stated "History will absolve me" at his trial, is given amnesty and leaves prison for Mexico.
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-cuba-castro-chronology/timeline-key-events-in-fidel-castros-life-idUSN1922589220080220 -
Castro
Castro and 81 other would-be revolutionaries land in Cuba on the yacht “Granma.”. Most are routed, but 12 survivors — including Castro, his brother Raul Castro and Argentine Ernesto “Che” Guevara — regroup in Sierra Maestra mountains where they launch a guerrilla war.
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-cuba-castro-chronology/timeline-key-events-in-fidel-castros-life-idUSN1922589220080220 -
Castro enters Havana
Castro enters Havana after triumphal journey across Cuba. As supreme “Comandante” of the armed forces, he begins the political, economic and social transformation of Cuba, launching agrarian reform and nationalizing most foreign and local businesses.
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-cuba-castro-chronology/timeline-key-events-in-fidel-castros-life-idUSN1922589220080220 -
Prime minster
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U.S.
U.S. breaks diplomatic ties with Havana.
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-cuba-castro-chronology/timeline-key-events-in-fidel-castros-life-idUSN1922589220080220 -
Revolution
Castro declares his revolution socialist.
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-cuba-castro-chronology/timeline-key-events-in-fidel-castros-life-idUSN1922589220080220 -
Bay of Pigs
Castro directs troops in defeat of invasion attempt by U.S.-backed Cuban exiles at Bay of Pigs.
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-cuba-castro-chronology/timeline-key-events-in-fidel-castros-life-idUSN1922589220080220 -
Missile Crisis
Missile Crisis. Presence of Soviet warheads in Cuba provokes standoff between Moscow and Washington. Many fear nuclear war, but Soviet Union decides to withdraw missiles after President John F. Kennedy imposes naval blockade.
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-cuba-castro-chronology/timeline-key-events-in-fidel-castros-life-idUSN1922589220080220 -
U.S. imposes
United States imposes full economic embargo.
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-cuba-castro-chronology/timeline-key-events-in-fidel-castros-life-idUSN1922589220080220 -
Cuban Communist Party
Castro founds new Cuban Communist Party and is named First Secretary.
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-cuba-castro-chronology/timeline-key-events-in-fidel-castros-life-idUSN1922589220080220 -
Castro travels
1971-80 - Castro visits Chile, Panama and Nicaragua to support left-wing governments there.
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-cuba-castro-chronology/timeline-key-events-in-fidel-castros-life-idUSN1922589220080220 -
Send troops
Castro sends troops to Angola to help left-wing government fight South-African backed rebels.
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-cuba-castro-chronology/timeline-key-events-in-fidel-castros-life-idUSN1922589220080220 -
President
Castro becomes president, ratified by newly-created National Assembly.
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-cuba-castro-chronology/timeline-key-events-in-fidel-castros-life-idUSN1922589220080220 -
Mariel boat-lift
Mariel boat-lift. Cuba allows exodus of 125,000 Cubans to United States, mostly via Mariel port.
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-cuba-castro-chronology/timeline-key-events-in-fidel-castros-life-idUSN1922589220080220 -
Soviet Union's collapse
Soviet Union’s collapse plunges Cuba into economic crisis.
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-cuba-castro-chronology/timeline-key-events-in-fidel-castros-life-idUSN1922589220080220 -
Castro government
Castro government ends ban on use of U.S. dollars, one of a series of limited economic openings that government says are aimed at saving revolution.
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-cuba-castro-chronology/timeline-key-events-in-fidel-castros-life-idUSN1922589220080220 -
Leave Cuba
More than 35,000 people leave Cuba in flimsy rafts and boats during summer crisis, prompting a migration agreement with the United States to allow a minimum of 20,000 legal entry visas to Cubans annually.
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-cuba-castro-chronology/timeline-key-events-in-fidel-castros-life-idUSN1922589220080220 -
The Pope
Castro welcomes Pope John Paul in first visit by a pontiff to Cuba.
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-cuba-castro-chronology/timeline-key-events-in-fidel-castros-life-idUSN1922589220080220 -
Castro launches campaign
Elian Gonzalez custody saga. Castro launches mass anti-U.S. campaign for the return of six-year-old Cuban boy rescued at sea off U.S. coast after surviving a shipwreck that kills his mother. Elian eventually returns to Cuba.
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-cuba-castro-chronology/timeline-key-events-in-fidel-castros-life-idUSN1922589220080220 -
Castro leads
Castro leads march by one million Cubans along Havana waterfront in campaign to defend socialist system in face of growing dissent and U.S. pressures.
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-cuba-castro-chronology/timeline-key-events-in-fidel-castros-life-idUSN1922589220080220 -
Castro takes
Castro takes to writing prolific flow of articles on world issues, mainly attacks on the U.S. government.
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-cuba-castro-chronology/timeline-key-events-in-fidel-castros-life-idUSN1922589220080220 -
Castro hints
Castro hints he will not cling to power or block rise of younger leaders in message read on television.
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-cuba-castro-chronology/timeline-key-events-in-fidel-castros-life-idUSN1922589220080220 -
Will not return
Almost 19 months since he last appeared in public, Castro said he would not return as head of state and government.
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-cuba-castro-chronology/timeline-key-events-in-fidel-castros-life-idUSN1922589220080220 -
Castro dies
He died at the age of 90 in Cuba. https://www.history.com/topics/cold-war/fidel-castro