After sweeping to power in a communist uprising in 1959, Castro served as prime minister or president of the Caribbean island state for nearly 50 years, surviving a U.S.-backed military invasion, 10 U.S. presidents, U.S. economic sanctions, diplomatic isolation, and the demise of his chief Soviet sponsor. He also played a central role in bringing the world to the brink of nuclear war during the Cuban missile crisis.
Fidel Castro (1926-2016) -- A Life In Pictures
Fidel Castro, the man who led Cuba for nearly five decades, has died at the age of 90.
![Fidel Castro as a young Marxist activist in 1953. ](https://gdb.rferl.org/e0c8e436-0194-4924-97c9-3a971a5aca3a_w1024_q10_s.jpg)
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Fidel Castro as a young Marxist activist in 1953.
![Surrounded by members of his leftist guerrilla movement, Castro (center) waves to crowds in Cienfuegos shortly after ousting Cuban dictator Fulgencio Batista in 1959. ](https://gdb.rferl.org/31df0cdf-c6c3-485a-be10-5398e0c44a9a_w1024_q10_s.jpg)
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Surrounded by members of his leftist guerrilla movement, Castro (center) waves to crowds in Cienfuegos shortly after ousting Cuban dictator Fulgencio Batista in 1959.
![Castro (center) delivers a speech in Havana in 1959. Fellow revolutionaries Camilo Cienfuegos (right) and Ernesto Che Guevara (left) stand beside him. ](https://gdb.rferl.org/5a856730-3a96-4291-b65d-b5f0a086e5f6_w1024_q10_s.jpg)
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Castro (center) delivers a speech in Havana in 1959. Fellow revolutionaries Camilo Cienfuegos (right) and Ernesto Che Guevara (left) stand beside him.
![Castro wears a chapka near Moscow during an official visit to the Soviet Union in January 1964. ](https://gdb.rferl.org/a1c5b8f1-5fcc-462c-aab2-987c1df7fa88_w1024_q10_s.jpg)
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Castro wears a chapka near Moscow during an official visit to the Soviet Union in January 1964.