Former President Fidel Castro, who led a rebel army to improbable victory in Cuba, embraced Soviet-style communism and defied the power of 10 US presidents during his half century rule, has died at age 90.
With a shaking voice, his younger brother, Raul Castro, announced on state television that his brother died at 10:29 p.m. on Friday night.
Castro’s reign over the island-nation 90 miles from Florida was marked by the US-backed Bay of Pigs invasion in 1961 and the Cuban Missile Crisis a year later that brought the world to the brink of nuclear war.
Check out Fidel Castro and his India connection in Pics:
The then Indian Interior Minister Zingh Zail and the Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi welcome Cuban Head of State, Fidel Castro to the 7th Summit of Non-Aligned Countries in New Delhi. (Photo by Alain Nogues/Sygma/Sygma via Getty Images)
Fidel Castro has met Indira Gandhi on his arrival at airport. (Getty Images)
Indira Gandhi, Fidel Casto, and the leaders of many other nations attend the Seventh Non-Aligned Summit in New Delhi. (Getty Images)
The portraits of Indira Ghandi and Fidel Castro in the wall of the church in the village of Staro Jelezare, Plovdiv, Bulgaria On August 1, 2015. (Photo by NurPhoto/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
Cuban President Fidel Castro and PLO Leader Yasser Arafat raise their hands together during a session at the Seventh Summit of the Non-Aligned Movement in New Delhi. (Photo by Alain Nogues/Sygma/Sygma via Getty Images)
