Fidel Castro
![](/Images/godic/202501/03/Fidel_Castro_-_MATS_Terminal_Washington_19595749.jpg")
![Castro intended to overthrow the presidency of General Fulgencio Batista (left, with U.S. Army Chief of staff Malin Craig, in 1938).](/Images/godic/202501/03/BatistaDC19385749.jpg")
![Fidel Castro under arrest after the Moncada attack, 1953](/Images/godic/202501/03/Fidel_Castro_under_arrest_after_the_Moncada_attack5749.jpg")
![Fidel's brother Raúl (left) and friend Guevara (right).](/Images/godic/202501/03/Raulche25750.jpg")
Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz (American Spanish: [fiˈðel aleˈxandɾo ˈkastɾo ˈrus] audio ; born August 13, 1926), known as Fidel Castro, is a Cuban politician and revolutionary who governed the Republic of Cuba as Prime Minister from 1959 to 1976 and then as President from 1976 to 2008. Politically a Marxist–Leninist and Cuban nationalist, he also served as the First Secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba from 1961 until 2011. Under his administration Cuba became a one-party communist state; industry and business were nationalized, and state socialist reforms implemented throughout society.