How old is fidel castro

Castro removed opposition to his rule though executions and imprisonments, as well as through forced emigration. Though there are no exact numbers, the Cuba Archive estimates that tens of thousands were murdered, with a documented 5, killed by firing squads alone.

Even more Cubans were killed by state forces when they tried to flee the country, which occurred during the Canimar River Massacre and the Tugboat Massacre of During Castro's rule, hundreds of thousands of Cubans fled the country, many settling just across the Florida Straits in Miami.

The largest of these exoduses occurred in when Castro opened up the port of Mariel to allow exiled Cubans living in Miami to come claim their relatives. Upon their arrival, Castro also loaded the ships with Cuban prison inmates and mentally ill people. In all, nearly , Cubans left their homeland in to find sanctuary in the United States. After the collapse of the Soviet Union sent Cuba's economy into a tailspin, Castro's revolution began to lose momentum.

Without cheap oil imports and an eager Soviet market for Cuban sugar and other goods, Cuban unemployment and inflation grew.

The contraction of the Cuban economy resulted in 85 percent of its markets disappearing. Yet Castro was very adept at keeping control of the government during dire economic times. He pressed the United States to lift the economic embargo, but it refused. Castro then adopted a quasi-free market economy and encouraged international investment. He also legalized the U. In , after massive damage was caused by Hurricane Michelle, Castro declined U.

President George W. Bush 's administration assented and authorized the shipment. With the fuel supply running dangerously low, Castro ordered factories to be closed and sent thousands of Cuban doctors to Venezuela in exchange for oil imports.

In the late s, speculation began to arise over Castro's age and well-being. Numerous health problems had been reported over the years, the most significant occurring in , when Castro underwent surgery for gastrointestinal bleeding. Following Castro's surgery, his only appearances were in photographs and video recordings of meetings. On February 19, , year-old Castro permanently gave up the Cuban presidency due to his deteriorating physical condition.

In April , news broke that Castro officially stepped down from his role within Cuba's Communist Party. Castro claimed that he had actually resigned the post five years earlier. In his retirement, Castro began writing a column about his experiences and opinions, called "Reflections of Fidel," and in his autobiography My Life was published. From mid-November to early January , however, Castro failed to publish any columns. This sudden silence sparked rumors that Castro had taken a turn for the worse.

But these stories soon proved to be unfounded, as Castro put out a flurry of articles later that January. Though not involved in the day-to-day affairs of running Cuba, Castro still maintained a certain degree of political influence both at home and abroad.

He continued to meet with foreign leaders, such as Iran's Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in , during their visits to Cuba. Pope Benedict arranged a special audience with Castro at the end of his trip in March , seeking to obtain greater religious freedom for Catholics living in the communist nation, and in September Pope Francis met privately with Castro as well. However, when Barack Obama became the first sitting American president to visit Cuba in almost 90 years, he did not meet with Castro, who later denounced the goodwill mission in his column, citing mistrust of U.

Castro died on November 25, , at the age of Although there is no official count, Castro is believed to have fathered at least nine children.

He officially stepped down in February Castro died on November 25, , at age But if you see something that doesn't look right, click here to contact us!

During his campaign for the White House in , In fact, the story of the song Shortly after midnight on August 13, , East German soldiers begin laying down barbed wire and bricks as a barrier between Soviet-controlled East Berlin and the democratic western section of the city.

Mantle was born in Spavinaw, Sign up now to learn about This Day in History straight from your inbox. On August 13, , Kate Bionda, a restaurant owner, dies of yellow fever in Memphis, Tennessee, after a man who had escaped a quarantined steamboat visited her restaurant. The disease spread rapidly and the resulting epidemic emptied the city. After taking power, Castro abolished legal discrimination, brought electricity to the countryside, provided for full employment and advanced the causes of education and health care, in part by building new schools and medical facilities.

But he also closed down opposition newspapers, jailed thousands of political opponents and made no move toward elections. Moreover, he limited the amount of land a person could own, abolished private business and presided over housing and consumer goods shortages.

With political and economic options so limited, hundreds of thousands of Cubans, including vast numbers of professionals and technicians, left Cuba, often for the United States.

From the s to the s, Castro supplied military and financial aid to various leftist guerilla movements in Latin America and Africa. Meanwhile, relations with many countries, with the notable exception of the United States, began to normalize. Two years later, in , he permanently resigned. In , U. Castro died on November 25, , at the age of But if you see something that doesn't look right, click here to contact us!

Subscribe for fascinating stories connecting the past to the present. Fidel Castro had previously visited New York in April , just four months after he led his victorious guerilla army into Havana and took charge of Cuba. For nearly 60 years, the Castro family controlled Cuba. But in April , it was announced that the island nation long dominated by the specter of its former dictator, Fidel Castro, and his family will get a new leader.

On January 1, , a young Cuban nationalist named Fidel Castro drove his guerilla army into Havana and Elected in as the 35th president of the United States, year-old John F. Watch Videos. Who was Fidel Castro? US - Cuba Relations Learn More about Cuba and Castro.