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 poses under a portrait of Vladimir Lenin before having talks with Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev (fourth from left).
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Castro (right) meets with Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat in 1970.
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Castro (front) managed a spot of hunting while on a visit to Romania in May 1972 when the country was ruled by communist dictator Nicolae Ceausescu.
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Castro (right) and then-Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev exchange documents during a treaty signing ceremony in Havana in 1989.