Cuba's Fidel Castro dead aged 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 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.

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.

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 hundreds of supporters of the Batista government executed.

Political opponents have been imprisoned, the independent media suppressed. Thousands of Cubans have fled into exile.

• 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