Who was Fidel Castro ?

hi

Fidel Castro is the author of the longest timed speech ever delivered at the United Nations. Castro made the speech at the 872nd plenary meeting of the General Assembly on 26 September 1960. The time listed is 269 minutes (4 hours and 29 minutes).

A Marxist–Leninist and Cuban nationalist, Castro also served as the First Secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba from 1961 until 2011. ... After a year's imprisonment, Castro traveled to Mexico where he formed a revolutionary group, the 26th of July Movement, with his brother Raúl Castro and Che Guevara.

Castro was known for his busy working hours, often only going to bed at 3 or 4 a.m. He even preferred to meet foreign diplomats in these early hours, believing that they would be tired, and he could gain the upper hand in negotiations.

Former Cuban President Fidel Castro delivers a speech during the commemoration of the 50th Anniversary of the Committees of Defense of the Revolution on September 28, 2010 in Havana.

Castro claimed he survived 634 attempts or plots to assassinate him, mainly masterminded by the Central Intelligence Agency and U.S.-based exile organizations. They may have included poison pills, a toxic cigar, exploding mollusks, and a chemically tainted diving suit.

Castro's favorite author was American novelist Ernest Hemingway. Hemingway had one of his permanent residences in Cuba and wrote some of his famous works such as For Whom The Bell Tolls on the island. Castro and Hemingway met in 1960 at a fishing tournament in Cuba

In 1955, after being imprisoned for two years, Castro traveled to Mexico where he formed a revolutionary group, the 26th of July Movement, with his brother Raúl Castro and Che Guevara, a controversial Argentine Marxist revolutionary, guerrilla leader, diplomat, and military theorist.

Castro participates in an unsuccessful rebellion in the Dominican Republic against Generalissimo Rafael Trujillo.

Fidel Castro was the world’s third longest-serving head of state, after Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II and the King of Thailand, leading Cuba for nearly 5 decades.

During his extraordinarily long political career, Castro also outlasted as many as 9 US presidents - from Eisenhower to Clinton. For most of his reign, Castro faced numerous economic and financial sanctions issued by those presidents.

Castro was uninterested in music but was a devoted sports fan and spent much of his time trying to keep fit and undertaking regular exercise.

Fidel Castro's private life remains largely unknown, but the Cuban leader is known to have had five wives with whom he had a total of eleven children.

Castro runs for parliament. The government is overthrown on March 10, 1952, by Fulgencio Batista, and the elections are suspended.

Fidel Castro was named by Time Magazine as one of the 100 most influential personalities of all time.

Castro and approximately 150 others attack the Moncada military barracks in Santiago de Cuba in an unsuccessful attempt to overthrow the Batista regime.

Castro's full name was Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz. He was named Castro after his father, Ángel Castro y Argiz who was a Spanish immigrant. His second name, Ruz, was given to him after his mother Lina Ruz González, a daughter of Canarian immigrants.

Fidel and Raul Castro are released as part of a general amnesty for political prisoners. They go into exile in Mexico. While in Mexico, they meet Argentine physician Che Guevara. The three organize a group of Cuban exiles into a new guerrilla group.

Castro was known to chew on Cuban cigars until he gave it up in 1985, saying, "The best thing you can do with this box of cigars is give them to your enemy."

Eighty-two exiles land in Cuba, on a yacht named Granma. Most are killed immediately. The survivors, including Guevara and the Castros, flee to the Sierra Maestra Mountains. Between 1957 and 1958, they wage a guerrilla campaign from this base, which includes skirmishes with government troops and burning sugar crops.

A group of approximately 1,300 Cuban exiles land at Playa Giron (Bay of Pigs). Armed with US weapons, they make an unsuccessful attempt to overthrow Castro. The survivors are released in December 1962, in exchange for $53 million in food and medicine.

Castro started wearing his iconic beard as a young revolutionary. It was not just a symbol of the guerrilla fighter; he had practical reasons for that, explaining, “If you calculate 15 minutes a day to shave, that is 5,000 minutes a year spent shaving." Castro said he would rather spend his time on more important activities.

A Soviet delegation visits Cuba. During the visit, Soviet officials meet with Castro to discuss installing nuclear missiles in Cuba.

Castro becomes president of the State Council. This new title replaces the posts of president and prime minister.

While still in school (aged 21), he traveled to the Dominican Republic in the summer of 1947 to participate in the overthrow the military dictator Rafael Trujillo, planting the seed of his inclination toward armed rebellion.