Mourning Fidel Castro in Havana. Photograph: Pedro Pardo/AFP/Getty Images
Images from the life of Fidel Castro, the revolutionary who seized power in Cuba and held it for nearly 50 years.
 |
| Fidel Castro was born in 1926 to a wealthy sugar planter. He turned to revolutionary politics as a young man. |
 |
| After two years in jail for mounting a failed coup, he went into exile in Mexico. He returned in 1956 and his revolutionary movement took hold. Castro finally assumed power in Cuba on New Year's Day, 1959, after ousting Fulgencio Batista. |
 |
| In 1961, Castro led his troops against 1,500 Cuban exiles. The exiles were supported by the CIA, who landed in the Bay of Pigs in a bid to oust his government. |
 |
Ernesto
"Che" Guevara, born in Argentina, became a key figure in Cuba's
revolution alongside Castro - and a left-wing hero. The pair are pictured in
the 1960s.
|
 |
Perhaps
Castro's biggest test came in 1962, when US President Kennedy warned him to
remove Soviet missiles from Cuba.
|
 |
In the end,
Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev and Castro removed the missiles, and the threat
of nuclear war was averted.
|
 |
Fidel
Castro had a particular love of baseball. Here he is seen playing here at a
teachers' college in the Sierra Maestra in 1962.
|
 |
Many
liberal Cubans considered him an oppressive dictator.
|
 |
Thousands
fled their homeland for the US, often on dangerous makeshift rafts.
|
 |
But Fidel
Castro retained enough public support to become one of the world's
longest-serving leaders.
|
 |
South
African icon Nelson Mandela was among those to embrace Castro, who opposed
apartheid. In 1990, when his 27 years in jail ended, Mandela visited Cuba to
express his gratitude. The pair are pictured in 1998.
|
 |
Pope John
Paul II visited Cuba in 1998 - the first pontiff to do so. Hundreds of
thousands gathered to hear his three-hour address in Havana's Revolution
Square. Castro, who the church says persecuted Catholics for decades, sat in
the front row.
|
 |
Russia's
Vladimir Putin (pictured in 2000) met Castro several times. In a condolence
message, he said "Fidel Castro was a sincere and reliable friend of
Russia" and called him "a symbol of an era in the modern history of
the world".
|
 |
In
September 2010, Fidel Castro addressed a rally for the first time in four
years. His speech was the first in a string of appearances since he re-emerged
in July 2010 from seclusion after surgery.
|
 |
After
intestinal surgery in 2006, he handed day-to-day power to his brother Raul.
Then he made only rare recorded appearances, before stepping down in February
2008.
|
 |
One of the
last times Castro was glimpsed was during the visit of the Vietnamese president
in November.
|
