Fidel castro facts wikipedia

Cuba has had a socialist political system since based on the "one state – one party" principle. Cuba is constitutionally defined as a single party Marxist–Leninist socialist republic with semi-presidential powers. The present Constitution of Cuba, which was passed in a referendum, also describes the role of the Communist Party of Cuba to be the "leading force of society and of the state" and as having the capability of setting national policy, and First Secretary of the Communist Party is the most powerful position in Cuba. The Constitution of Cuba identifies the ideals represented by Cuban independence hero José Martí and revolutionary leader Fidel Castro as the primary foundation of Cuba's political system, while also stressing the importance of the influence of the ideas of Marx, Engels, and Lenin.

The President of Cuba is Miguel Díaz-Canel, who succeeded Raúl Castro as First Secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba in Díaz-Canel is the first president of Communist Cuba to not hail from the family of Fidel or Raúl Castro.Executive power is exercised by the government, which is represented by the Council of Ministers, headed by the Prime Minister of Cuba. Legislative power is exercised through the unicameralNational Assembly of People's Power, which is constituted as the maximum authority of the state. With effect from 10 October , Miguel Díaz-Canel is the president and Manuel Marrero is the Prime Minister of Cuba. The previous president of the State Council was Raúl Castro, brother of former leader Fidel Castro; Raúl Castro remained First Secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba, and Commander-in-Chief of the Revolutionary Armed Forces until 19 April Fidel Castro ruled from to , before illness forced him to hand power to his brother. Esteban Lazo Hernández is the president of the National Assembly.

Political scientists cha

Leader of Cuba from to

"El Comandante" redirects here. For the TV series, see El Comandante (TV series). For other uses, see Fidel Castro (disambiguation).

Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz (KASS-troh;Latin American Spanish:[fiˈðelaleˈxandɾoˈkastɾoˈrus]; 13 August – 25 November ) was a Cuban revolutionary and politician who was the leader of Cuba from to , serving as the prime minister of Cuba from to and president from to Ideologically a Marxist–Leninist and Cuban nationalist, he also served as the first secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba from until Under his administration, Cuba became a one-partycommunist state; industry and business were nationalized, and socialist reforms were implemented throughout society.

Born in Birán, the son of a wealthy Spanish farmer, Castro adopted leftist and anti-imperialist ideas while studying law at the University of Havana. After participating in rebellions against right-wing governments in the Dominican Republic and Colombia, he planned the overthrow of Cuban president Fulgencio Batista, launching a failed attack on the Moncada Barracks in After a year's imprisonment, Castro travelled to Mexico where he formed a revolutionary group, the 26th of July Movement, with his brother, Raúl Castro, and Ernesto "Che" Guevara. Returning to Cuba, Castro took a key role in the Cuban Revolution by leading the Movement in a guerrilla war against Batista's forces from the Sierra Maestra. After Batista's overthrow in , Castro assumed military and political power as Cuba's prime minister. The United States came to oppose Castro's government and unsuccessfully attempted to remove him by assassination, economic embargo, and counter-revolution, including the Bay of Pigs Invasion of Countering these threats, Castro aligned with the Soviet Union and allowed the Soviets to place nuclear weapons in Cuba, resulting in the Cuban Missile Crisis—a defining incident of the Cold War—in

Adopting

History of Fidel Castro's fascination with dairy

During his life, Fidel Castro had a fascination with dairy products that has been described as an obsession. Due to this, he tried to develop the Cuban dairy industry, which failed in the long term. Dairy has been said to be "as integral to Cuban culture as Cohiba cigars".

Ice cream

Castro was known to eat large quantities of ice cream, and according to Gabriel Garcia Márquez, once ate between 18 and 28 scoops of it after a meal. During the on-going American embargo against Cuba, Castro sent his ambassador to Canada to purchase and ship him 28 containers of ice cream from Howard Johnson's, which was the largest restaurant chain in the United States at the time.

In , the Central Intelligence Agency tried to use Castro's love of ice cream against him. At the time, Castro would order a chocolate milkshake from the Havana Libre Hotel lunch counter every day. Richard Bissell Jr., the CIA deputy director for plans, offered Sam Giancana and Santo Trafficante, Jr., the heads of the Chicago and Tampa crime families, $, to assassinate Castro. They gave a pill of botulinum toxin to a waiter with the goal of putting it in Castro's chocolate milkshake, but the pill froze to the side of the hotel's freezer and broke. This was one of allegedly more than failed assassination attempts on Castro by the CIA.

In , Fidel Castro had a large ice cream parlor built in Havana called Coppelia.

Cheese

One of Fidel Castro's many dairy-themed projects was an attempt to create Camembert cheese better than France's. When the French farmer André Voisin visited Cuba in , Castro gave him some Cuban Camembert. Voisin said that the cheese was "not too bad", and eventually admitted that it was "similar" to the French cheese, but refused to say that it was better than France's. This upset Castro, bu

The state visit of Fidel Castro to Chile in was a landmark event both for Chilean internal politics and for the foreign relations of Cuba. Castro's visit occurred as Chile was experiencing political convulsion amidst the presidency of Salvador Allende who had been elected in For Cuba it was the first state visit of Fidel Castro since he visited Moscow in and served to break the diplomatic isolation the country was subject to in Latin America. The state visit was unprecedented as Castro stayed 23 days in the country, travelling it from north to south, and commenting on Chilean politics. Upon arrival to each town and city Castro was usually met by crowds of supporters. His visit ended up making Salvador Allende uncomfortable while the Chilean right-wing exploited it to discredit the Unidad Popular government.

Itinerary

While in Chile Castro was welcomed in the airport by supporters, including communists. The initial security operation around Castro was undertaken jointly by Chileans and Cubans and was unprecedented in Chile. The next day he was received in La Moneda by Salvador Allende. There Castro and Allende talked extensively, and out of protocol, for hours.

The days that followed Castro travelled first to the Norte Grande where he visited Antofagasta, Iquique, the Saltpeter Works of Santa Elena (the cradle of the Chilean labour movement) and the newly nationalized copper mine of Chuquicamata. Castro then went south to Concepción and the coal mining town of Lota. Castro met then again with Allende at Puerto Montt where both embarked on the destroyerRiveros and sailed south, across the Patagonian channels, to arrive at Punta Arenas. Back in Santiago Castro met Cardinal Raúl Silva Henríquez who gave Castro a luxury bible as gift. While in Santiago, Augusto Pinochet, who later headed the military