Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz (13 August 1926 – 25 November 2016) was a Cuban revolutionary and politician who served as Prime Minister of Cuba from 1959 to 1976 and President from 1976 to 2008. Ideologically 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 were implemented throughout society.
Born in Birán, Oriente, 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 1953. 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 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 1959, 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 blockade, and counter-revolution, including the Bay of Pigs Invasion of 1961. 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 1962.
Adopting a Marxist–Leninist model of development, Castro converted Cuba into a one-party, socialist state under Communist Party rule, the first in the Western Hemisphere. Policies introducing central economic planning and expanding healthcare and education were accompanied by state control of the press and the suppression of internal dissent. Abroad, Castro supported anti-imperialist revolutionary groups, backing the establishment of Marxist governments in Chile, Nicaragua, and Grenada, as well as sending troops to aid allies in the Yom Kippur, Ogaden, and Angolan Civil War. These actions, coupled with Castro's leadership of the Non-Aligned Movement from 1979 to 1983 and Cuba's medical internationalism, increased Cuba's profile on the world stage. Following the Soviet Union's dissolution in 1991, Castro led Cuba through the economic downturn of the "Special Period", embracing environmentalist and anti-globalization ideas. In the 2000s, Castro forged alliances in the Latin American "pink tide" – namely with Hugo Chávez's Venezuela – and formed the Bolivarian Alliance for the Americas. In 2006, Castro transferred his responsibilities to Vice President Raúl Castro, who was elected to the presidency by the National Assembly in 2008.
2024 | Soundtrack to a Coup d'Etat as Self (archive footage) |
2024 | Dronningen og statsministrene - i al fortrolighed as Self (archive) |
2023 | Leap of Faith: William Friedkin on The Exorcist as Self (archive footage) |
2023 | El caso Padilla as Self (archive footage) |
2022 | Andança: Os Encontros e as Memórias de Beth Carvalho as Self (archive footage) |
2022 | The Boys from Brazil: Rise of the Bolsonaros as Self (archive footage) |
2022 | Rat Pack as Self (archive footage) |
2021 | Becoming Cousteau as Self (archive footage) |
2021 | История одной командировки as Self (archive footage) |
2021 | Summer of Soul (...Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised) as Self (archive footage) |
2020 | I Am Jackie O as Self (archive footage) |
2020 | 537 Votes as Self (archive footage) |
2020 | Casuslar Şehri as Self (archive footage) |
2019 | Laboratory Greece as Self (archive footage) |
2019 | Amérique latine, l'année de tous les dangers as Self (archive footage) |
2019 | Chop Chop Chang: Operation C.H.I.M.P as Self (archive footage) |
2019 | ReMastered: Massacre at the Stadium as Self (archive footage) |
2018 | Cuba, un aller et un retour as Himself (archive footage) |
2018 | Hayattan Bir Gün Daha as Himself (archive footage) |
2018 | Chavismo: La peste del siglo XXI as Self (archive footage) |
2018 | Karl Marx und seine Erben as Self (archive footage) |
2017 | Cuba and the Cameraman as Self |
2017 | El Che as Self (archive footage) |
2017 | Two Meetings and a Funeral |
2017 | Angola: The War as Himself - President of Cuba (archive footage) |
2017 | Elián as himself |
2017 | Nadie as Himself |
2016 | Historien ska frikänna mig as Self |
2016 | Franco and Fidel: A Strange Friendship as Himself |
2016 | Fidel Castro: America's Nemesis as Himself (Archive Footage) |
2016 | Attentate auf Franco - Widerstand gegen einen Diktator as Self |
2015 | Fidel Castro en la Mira as Himself (archive footage) |
2015 | Celia - la más hermosa flor |
2015 | Laissez-faire as Self (archive footage) |
2013 | Lee Harvey Oswald: 48 Hours to Live as Self (archive footage) |
2012 | The Man Who Saved the World as Self (archive footage) |
2012 | O Dia Que Durou 21 Anos as Self (archive footage) |
2012 | Palme |
2012 | El Alcalde |
2012 | Havana'da 7 Gün as Self (segment "Diary of a Beginner") (archive footage) |
2012 | Castro in Winter as Self |
2012 | Ethel as Self (archive footage) |
2012 | Året var 1962 as Self (archive footage) |
2011 | Memorias del Desarrollo as Self (archive footage) |
2011 | Santiago Files as Self (archive footage) |
2011 | El día más largo |
2010 | The Kennedy Detail as Self (archive footage) |
2010 | Memória Cubana as Self (archive footage) |
2010 | CUBA: Defending Socialism, Resisting Imperialism as Himself |
2010 | Dans la peau de Fidel Castro as Himself (archive footage) |
2010 | La independencia inconclusa as Self (archive footage) |
2009 | Did the Mob Kill JFK? as Self (archive footage) |
2009 | South of the Border as Self (archive footage) |
2008 | La Rabbia di Pasolini as Self (archive footage) |
2008 | Året var 1958 as Self (archive footage) |
2007 | RFK Must Die: The Assassination of Bobby Kennedy as Self (archive footage) |
2007 | Tasmanian Devil: The Fast and Furious Life of Errol Flynn as Self (archive footage) |
2007 | Oswald's Ghost as Self (archive footage) |
2007 | The War on Democracy as Self (archive footage) |
2007 | Lejos de la isla as Himself (archive footage) |
2007 | Un Giorno con Fidel as Himself |
2006 | Cuba, el valor de una utopía as Himself |
2006 | 638 Ways to Kill Castro as Self (archive footage) |
2006 | Looking for Fidel as Himself |
2005 | Soy Cuba, o mamute Siberiano |
2005 | The Adventures of Errol Flynn as Self (archive footage) |
2004 | Salvador Allende as Self (archive footage) |
2004 | Fidel Castro. Ewiger Revolutionär as Self |
2004 | Looking for Fidel as Self |
2003 | Jack Paar: Smart Television as Self |
2003 | Surplus: Terrorized Into Being Consumers as Self |
2003 | 100 Yılın İtirafları as Self (archive footage) |
2003 | Son Efsane: Comandante as Self |
2003 | Che Guevara - Hasta La Victoria Siempre |
2002 | Naqoyqatsi as Self (archive footage) (uncredited) |
2002 | Balseros as Self (archive footage) |
2002 | Reel Radicals: The Sixties Revolution in Film as Self (uncredited archive footage) |
2001 | El juego de Cuba as Himself (footage) |
2001 | Lieber Fidel - Maritas Geschichte as Self (archive footage) |
2000 | Kubánske otázniky as archívne zábery |
1999 | The Secret KGB JFK Assassination Files as Self (archive footage) |
1996 | Soviet Union: The Rise and Fall - Part 2 as Self (archive footage) |
1995 | Ernesto Che Guevara - Uomo, Compagno, Amico |
1993 | Beyond JFK: The Question of Conspiracy as Self (archive footage) |
1993 | 8A as Self |
1991 | JFK: Kapanmayan Dosya as Self (archive footage) |
1991 | Portrait of Castro's Cuba as Himself |
1990 | Cuba 30 Anni Dopo as Himself |
1988 | American Expose: Who Murdered JFK? as Self (archive footage) |
1988 | The Uncompromising Revolution as Self |
1987 | Brascuba as Self (archive footage) |
1987 | La guerra de la CIA contra Cuba |
1987 | Fidel Racconta il Che as Himself |
1986 | Cuba: In the Shadow of Doubt |
1986 | Acta General de Chile |
1984 | Mauvaise Conduite as Self - Politician (archive footage) |
1984 | Тревога. Раздумья старого человека as Self (archive footage) |
1980 | On Company Business as Self - Prime Minister of Cuba (archive footage) |
1980 | La guerra necesaria as Himself |
1979 | Mission Mind Control as Self (archive footage) |
1977 | Le fond de l'air est rouge as Self (archive footage) (uncredited) |
1977 | CBS Reports: The CIA's Secret Army as Self |
1977 | Mi hermano Fidel as Self |
1975 | Waiting for Fidel as Self |
1974 | Général Idi Amin Dada: Autoportrait as Himself (archive footage) (uncredited) |
1974 | La Société du spectacle as Self (archive footage) |
1974 | Cuba and Fidel as Self |
1973 | Venceremos, solidaridad as Self (archive footage) |
1973 | Chile, el gran desafío as Self |
1973 | ...Y el cielo fue tomado por asalto as Self |
1972 | La Explotación del Hombre por el Hombre as Self |
1972 | Compromiso con Chile |
1972 | El primer año as Self |
1972 | El Diálogo de América as Él mismo |
1972 | De América soy hijo... y a ella me debo as Él mismo |
1971 | Fidel as Self |
1971 | La bataille des dix millions |
1969 | Topaz as Self (archive footage) |
1968 | Fırınların Saati as Self (archive footage) |
1967 | Loin du Vietnam as Self (segment "Fidel Castro") |
1963 | Salut les Cubains as Self (uncredited) |
1962 | Muerte al invasor as Self (archive footage) |
1961 | ¡Cuba Sí! as Self - Cuban Politician (uncredited) |
1961 | Пылающий остров as Self |
1960 | Yanki No! as Self |
1960 | Asamblea general as Fidel Castro |
1959 | Cuban Rebel Girls as Self (uncredited) |
| Fidel Castro no Rio de Janeiro, 1959 |
| Revolution's Daughter as Self (archive footage) |
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