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.
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Fidel Castro as a young Marxist activist in 1953.
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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.
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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.
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Castro wears a chapka near Moscow during an official visit to the Soviet Union in January 1964.