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Fidel Castro (born August 13, 1926) has been the ruler of Cuba since 1959.

Born in Biran, Holguin, Cuba, into a wealthy farming family, he was educated at Jesuit schools and then the Jesuit preparatory school Colegio Belen in Havana. Leaving school in 1945 he went to the University of Havana to study law, graduating in 1950.

He practiced law in a small partnership, 1950-52. Castro intended to stand for parliament in 1952 for the Ortodoxo Party but the coup d'etat of General Fulgencio Batista overthrew the government of Carlos Prio Socarras and canceled the election. Castro charged Batista with violating the constitution in court but his petition was refused. In response Castro organized a disastrous armed attack on the Moncada Barracks in Oriente province on July 26, 1953. Over eighty of the attackers were killed, and Castro was taken prisoner, tried, and sentenced to fifteen years in prison. (Castro used the closing arguments in the case to deliver "History Will Absolve Me", a passionate speech defending his actions and explaining his political views.) He was released in a general amnesty in May 1955 and went into exile in Mexico and the United States.

He returned to Cuba with a number of other exiles as the 26th of July Revolutionary Movement. Most of the eighty men were killed in their first action in Oriente province on December 2, 1956. Only twelve survived to retreat into the Sierra Maestra mountains and from there wage a guerrilla war against the Batista government. The survivors included Che Guevara, Raul Castro, and Camilo Cienfuegos. Castro's movement gained popular support and grew to over 800 men. On May 24, 1958, Batista launched seventeen battalions against Castro in Operación Veran. Despite being outnumbered, Castro's forces scored a series of stunning victories, aided by massive desertion and surrender amongst Batista's army. On New Year's Day 1959 Batista fled the country, and Castro's forces took Havana.

Initially the United States was quick to recognize the new government. Castro assumed the position of premier in February and friction soon occurred when the new government began expropriating property owned by American companies (United Fruit in particular), paying little compensation. In February 1960, Cuba signed an agreement to buy oil from the USSR. The United States broke diplomatic relations with the Castro government soon after.

The United States then sponsored an unsuccessful attack on Cuba. On April 17, 1961, a force of 1,300 Cuban exiles, financed and trained by the CIA, landed in the south at the Bay of Pigs. The CIA's assumption was that the invasion would spark a popular rising against Castro. There was no rising and what part of the invasion force made it ashore were all killed as President Kennedy withdrew support at the last minute.

In October, 1962, the Cuban missile crisis occurred. After the tensions were diffused, relations remained mutually hostile, and the CIA continued to sponsor a number of assassination schemes over the following years.

Castro took complete control of the nation by nationalizing industry, confiscating property owned by non-Cubans, collectivized agriculture, and enacted policies to benefit workers. Many Cubans fled the country, some to Miami, Florida, where they established a large, active anti-Castro community. Cuba became increasingly dependent on Soviet subsidies, which financed large improvements in Cuba's social conditions. The collapse of the Soviet Union in 1990 brought real economic hardship to Cuba.

In 2002 Fidel Castro's government was identified by the U.S. Government as one of the nations that sponsor terrorism. Castro's government has also been accused of disregarding human rights.