Fidel Castro Events

1926 Aug 13 Fidel Castro is born
Fidel Alejandro Vittore Castro Ruz was born on a sugar plantation in Birán, near Mayarí, in the modern-day province of Holguín – then a part of the now-defunct Oriente province. He was th...
1945 Fidel Castro studies law at Havana University
In late 1945, Castro entered law school at the University of Havana. He became immediately embroiled in the political culture at the University, which was a reflection of the volatile pol...
1947 Fidel Castro joins Partido Ortodoxo a Cuban political party
In 1947, Castro joined the Partido Ortodoxo which had been newly formed by Eduardo Chibás. A charismatic figure, Chibás attracted many Cubans with his message of social justice, honest go...
1948 Oct 11 Fidel Castro marries Mirta Diaz-Balart
By his first wife Mirta Díaz-Balart, whom he married on October 11, 1948, Castro has a son named Fidel Ángel "Fidelito" Castro Díaz-Balart, born on September 1, 1949. Díaz-Balart and Cast...
1950 Fidel Castro graduates with a doctorate in law
Although Castro considered enrolling at Columbia University, a private university in Manhattan, he returned to Cuba to complete his degree. Castro started to have money problems. He refu...
1953 Jul 26 Attack on Moncada Barracks in Cuba
As discontent over the Batista coup grew, Castro abandoned his law practice and formed an underground organization of supporters, including his brother, Raúl, and Mario Chanes de Armas. T...
1953 Oct Fidel Castro is sentenced to 15 years in jail
Castro led a failed attack on the Moncada Barracks in Santiago de Cuba in 1953; and in the trial following his capture made his famous "history will absolve me" speech, spelling out why h...
1955 May Fidel Castro is released from jail
While he was being held at the prison for political activists on Isla de Pinos, he continued to plot Batista's overthrow, planning upon release to reorganize and train in Mexico. After ha...
1955 Jun Fidel Castro starts the 26th of July Movement
Once in Mexico, Castro reunited with other Cuban exiles and founded the 26th of July Movement, named after the date of the failed attack on the Moncada Barracks. The goal remained the ove...
1956 Dec 2 Fidel Castro leads group in a rebellion to overthrow Fulgencio Batista
Since regular contacts with a KGB agent named Nikolai Sergeevich Leonov in Mexico City had not resulted in the hoped for weapon supply, they decided to go to the United States to gather p...
1958 May Fulgencio Batista launches Operation Verano
n May 1958, Batista launched Operation Verano aiming to crush Castro and other anti-government groups. It was called La Ofensiva ("The Offensive") by the rebels (Alarcón Ramírez,1997). Al...
1958 Dec Battle of Yaguajay
The Battle of Yaguajay (December 19 – December 30, 1958) was a decisive victory for the Cuban Revolutionaries over the soldiers of the Batista government near the city of Santa Clara in C...
1958 Dec 28
to 1959 Jan 1
 Battle of Santa Clara
The Battle of Santa Clara was a series of events in late December 1958 that led to the capture of the Cuban city of Santa Clara by revolutionaries under the command of Che Guevara. The ba...
1959 Jan 1 Collapse of the Fulgencio Batista regime
After the loss at the Battle of Santa Clara, expecting betrayal by his own army and having lost all backup from the previously supportive US government, Batista (accompanied by president-...
1959 Jan 8 Fidel Castro assumes the post of Commander-in-Chief
On January 8, 1959, Castro's army rolled victoriously into Havana. As news of the fall of Batista's government spread through Havana, The New York Times described the scene as one of jubi...
1959 Feb 16 Fidel Castro is sworn in as Prime Minister of Cuba
Fidel Castro sought to oust liberals and democrats, such as José Miró Cardona and Manuel Urrutia Lleó. In February professor José Miró Cardona had to resign because of Castro's attacks. O...
1959 May 17 Fidel Castro signs First Agrarian Reform into law
The agrarian reform laws of Cuba sought to break up large landholdings and redistribute land to those peasants who worked it, to cooperatives, and the state. Laws relating to land reform ...
1961 Apr 15
6:00AM
 United States B-26B Invader Bombers Attack Three Cuban Airfields
At about 06.00 Cuba local time on 15 April 1961, eight Douglas B-26B Invader bombers in three groups, simultaneously attacked three Cuban airfields, at San Antonio de Los Baños and at Ciu...
1961 Apr 15
7:30AM
 United States Flies B-26 Bomber in Deception Flight Near Cuba
About 90 minutes after the eight B-26s had taken off from Puerto Cabezas to attack Cuban airfields, another B-26 departed on a deception flight that took it close to Cuba but headed north...
1961 Apr 16 CIA/Brigade 2506 Invasion Fleet Converges on "Rendezvous Point Zulu" South of Cuba
Following the air strikes on airfields on April 15, 1961, the FAR managed to prepare for armed action at least four T-33s, four Sea Furies and five or six B-26s. All three types could be ...
1961 Apr 17
to 1961 Apr 19
 Bay of Pigs Invasion
The Bay of Pigs Invasion (known as La Batalla de Girón in Cuba), was an unsuccessful attempt by a U.S.-trained force of Cuban exiles to invade southern Cuba with support from U.S. governm...
1961 Apr 18 Second Day of Bay of Pigs Invasion
By about 10.30 on 18 April, Cuban troops and militia, supported by tanks, took Playa Larga after Brigade forces had fled towards Girón in the early hours. During the day, Brigade forces r...
1961 Apr 19 Third Day of the Bay of Pigs Invasion
The final air attack mission (code-named Mad Dog Flight) comprised five B-26s, four of which were manned by American CIA contract air crews and pilots from the Alabama Air Guard. One FAR ...
1961 Apr 20 Fourth Day of the Bay of Pigs Invasion
From 19 April until about 22 April, sorties were flown by A4D-2Ns to obtain visual intelligence over combat areas. Reconnaissance flights are also reported of Douglas AD-5Ws of VFP-62 and...
1961 May 1 Fidel Castro declares Cuba a socialist state
On May 1, 1961, Castro declared Cuba as socialist state and officially abolished multiparty elections. Critics noted that Castro feared elections would eject him from power. In June 1960...
1962 Feb United States Economic Blockade Against Cuba Becomes Near-Total Embargo
The United States Embargo against Cuba (described in Cuba as el bloqueo, Spanish for "the blockade") is a commercial, economic, and financial embargo partially imposed on Cuba in October ...
2003 Apr 16 CNN Prematurely Releases Obituaries
Multiple premature obituaries came to light on 16 April 2003, when it was discovered that pre-written draft memorials to several world figures were available on the development area of th...
2008 Feb 19 Fidel Castro Resigns
Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz (born August 13, 1926) is a Cuban politician, one of the primary leaders of the Cuban Revolution, the Prime Minister of Cuba from February 1959 to December 1976...
2010 Sep 8 Fidel Castro Admits Cuba's Economic Model Didn't Work
[During] the generally lighthearted conversation (we had just spent three hours talking about Iran and the Middle East), I asked him if he believed the Cuban model was still something wor...