It does not matter how small you are if you have faith and a plan of action
— Fidel Castro
36 INSPIRATION
13-08-1926 to 25-11-2016
It does not matter how small you are if you have faith and a plan of action
— Fidel Castro
Fidel Castro – an inspirational figure for revolutionary movements all over the world - died at the age of 90 . He was regarded as a rebel , a champion of socialism and someone who dared to defy the US for over five decades . His cigar , the unruffled long beard and the military uniform became symbols of rebellion all around the world , but how many of us know about his journey towards becoming the most iconic revolutionary leader of the 20th century ?
• Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz was born on August 13 , 1926 in Birán in Holguín Province of Cuba .
• He was a Cuban politician and a former leader of the Republic of Cuba . Fidel Castro served as Prime Minister from 1959 to 1976 , and President from 1976 to 2008 .
• He studied law at the University of Havana from 1945 , during which time he developed views on leftist anti-imperialist politics ; a term which can relate to nationalist movements and their desire to achieve an organized society by formally withdrawing from the larger polity .
• From an early age , he admired history ’ s boldest figures , particularly Alexander the Great , and believed he and his rebels were part of that tradition .
• In 1953 , Fidel Castro launched an unsuccessful attack on the Moncada Barracks to remove President Fulgencio Bastista from power in a rebellion against the social strategy of the Dominican Republican and Columbian governments . Although the attack failed , it created a terror in the heart of the Batista government and marked the beginning of the Cuban revolution . Castro was arrested and sentenced to 15 years
• After surviving years of imprisonment , he travelled to Mexico where he formed a revolutionary group , the 26th of July Movement , with his brother and present Cuban president Raúl Castro and an Argentine Marxist revolutionary called Che Guevara .
• The United States was alarmed by Castro ’ s friendly relations with the Soviet Union , and unsuccessfully attempted to remove him by assassination , economic blockade , and counter-revolution , including the Bay of Pigs invasion of 1961 .
• Castro claimed he survived 634 attempts or plots to assassinate him , mainly masterminded by the Central Intelligence Agency and U . S . -based exile organizations .
• Castro holds the record for the longest speech ever delivered to the United Nations : 4 hours and 29 minutes , on Sept . 26 , 1960 , according to the U . N . website . One of his longest speeches on record lasted 7 hours and 30 minutes on Feb . 24 , 1998 , after the national assembly re-elected him to a five-year term as president .
• Time Magazine in 2012 named Castro as one of the 100 most influential personalities of all time .
WINSPIRE : Empowering youth | December , 2016