Coordinates	33°51′35.9″N151°12′40″N
Honorific-prefix	The Right Honourable
Name	The Baroness Thatcher
Honorific-suffix	LG OM PC FRS
Alt	Photograph
Office	Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
Monarch	Elizabeth II
Deputy	William WhitelawGeoffrey Howe
Term start	4 May 1979
Term end	28 November 1990
Predecessor	James Callaghan
Successor	John Major
Office2	Leader of the Opposition
Monarch2	Elizabeth II
Primeminister2	Harold WilsonJames Callaghan
Term start2	11 February 1975
Term end2	4 May 1979
Predecessor2	Edward Heath
Successor2	James Callaghan
Office3	Leader of the Conservative Party
Term start3	11 February 1975
Term end3	28 November 1990
Predecessor3	Edward Heath
Successor3	John Major
Office4	Secretary of State for Education and Science
Primeminister4	Edward Heath
Term start4	20 June 1970
Term end4	4 March 1974
Predecessor4	Edward Short
Successor4	Reginald Prentice
Office5	Member of Parliament for Finchley
Term start5	8 October 1959
Term end5	9 April 1992
Predecessor5	John Crowder
Successor5	Hartley Booth
Birthname	Margaret Hilda Roberts
Birth date	October 13, 1925
Birth place	Grantham, Lincolnshire, United Kingdom
Party	Conservative Party
Spouse	Denis Thatcher(m. 1951–2003, his death)
Children	Carol ThatcherMark Thatcher
Relations	Alfred Roberts (father)
Alma mater	Somerville College, Oxford
Profession	ChemistLawyer
Religion	Church of England(Since 1951)Methodism (Before 1951)
Signature alt	Signature written in ink }}

Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher, (née Roberts; born 13 October 1925) is a former Conservative Prime Minister of the United Kingdom who served from 1979 to 1990.

Born in Grantham, Lincolnshire, Thatcher studied chemistry at Somerville College, Oxford before qualifying as a barrister. In the 1959 general election she became MP for Finchley. Edward Heath appointed Thatcher Secretary of State for Education and Science in his 1970 government. In 1975 she was elected Leader of the Conservative Party, the first woman to head a major UK political party, and in 1979 she became the UK's first female Prime Minister.

After entering , Thatcher was determined to reverse what she perceived as a precipitous national decline.|group=nb}} Her political philosophy and economic policies emphasised deregulation, particularly of the financial sector, flexible labour markets, the sale or closure of state-owned companies, and the withdrawal of subsidies to others. Thatcher's popularity waned amid recession and high unemployment, until economic recovery and the 1982 Falklands War brought a resurgence of support resulting in her re-election in 1983.

Thatcher survived an assassination attempt in 1984, and her hard line against trade unions and tough rhetoric in opposition to the Soviet Union earned her the nickname of the "Iron Lady". Thatcher was re-elected for a third term in 1987, but her Community Charge was widely unpopular and her views on the European Community were not shared by others in her Cabinet. She resigned as Prime Minister and party leader in November 1990 after Michael Heseltine's challenge to her leadership of the Conservative Party.

Thatcher holds a life peerage as Baroness Thatcher, of Kesteven in the County of Lincolnshire, which entitles her to sit in the House of Lords.

Early life and education

Margaret Roberts was born on 13 October 1925. Her father was Alfred Roberts, originally from Northamptonshire, and her mother was Beatrice Ethel (née Stephenson) from Lincolnshire. She spent her childhood in Grantham, where her father owned two grocery shops. She and her older sister Muriel were raised in the flat above the larger of the two, located near the railway line. Her father was active in local politics and religion, serving as an alderman and a Methodist lay preacher, and brought up his daughter as a strict Methodist. He came from a Liberal family but stood – as was then customary in local government – as an Independent. He was Mayor of Grantham in 1945–46 and lost his position as alderman in 1952 after the Labour Party won its first majority on Grantham Council in 1950.

Roberts attended Huntingtower Road Primary School and won a scholarship to Kesteven and Grantham Girls' School. Her school reports showed hard work and continual improvement; her extracurricular activities included the piano, field hockey, poetry recitals, swimming and walking. She was head girl in 1942–43. In her upper sixth year she applied for a scholarship to study chemistry at Somerville College, Oxford but was initially rejected, and only offered a place after another candidate withdrew. She arrived at Oxford in 1943 and graduated in 1947 with Second Class Honours in the four-year Chemistry Bachelor of Science degree; in her final year she specialised in X-ray crystallography under the supervision of Dorothy Hodgkin.

Roberts became President of the Oxford University Conservative Association in 1946. She was influenced at university by political works such as Friedrich von Hayek's ''The Road to Serfdom'' (1944), which condemned economic intervention by government as a precursor to an authoritarian state.

After graduating, Roberts moved to Colchester in Essex to work as a research chemist for BX Plastics. She joined the local Conservative Association and attended the party conference at Llandudno in 1948, as a representative of the University Graduate Conservative Association. One of her Oxford friends was also a friend of the Chair of the Dartford Conservative Association in Kent, who were looking for candidates. Officials of the association were so impressed by her that they asked her to apply, even though she was not on the Conservative party's approved list: she was selected in January 1951 and added to the approved list ''post ante''. At a dinner following her formal adoption as Conservative candidate for Dartford in February 1951 she met Denis Thatcher, a successful and wealthy divorced businessman, who drove her to her Essex train. In preparation for the election Roberts moved to Dartford, where she supported herself by working as a research chemist for J. Lyons and Co. in Hammersmith, part of a team developing emulsifiers for ice cream.

Early political career

In the February 1950 and October 1951 general elections she campaigned for the safe Labour seat of Dartford, where she attracted media attention as the youngest and the only female candidate. She lost both times to Norman Dodds, but reduced the Labour majority by 6,000, and then a further 1,000. During the campaigns, she was supported by her parents and by Denis Thatcher, whom she married in December 1951. Denis funded his wife's studies for the bar; she qualified as a barrister in 1953 and specialised in taxation. That same year her twins, Carol and Mark, were born.

Member of Parliament (1959–1970)

Thatcher began looking for a safe Conservative seat in the mid-1950s. She was narrowly rejected as the candidate for Orpington in 1955, but was selected for Finchley in April 1958. She won the seat after a hard campaign in the 1959 election and was elected as a Member of Parliament (MP). Her maiden speech was in support of her private member's bill (Public Bodies (Admission to Meetings) Act 1960), requiring local authorities to hold their council meetings in public. In 1961 she went against the Conservative Party's official position by voting for the restoration of birching.

In October 1961, Thatcher was promoted to the front bench as Parliamentary Undersecretary at the Ministry of Pensions and National Insurance in Harold Macmillan's administration. After the loss of the 1964 election she became Conservative spokesman on Housing and Land, in which position she advocated her party's policy of allowing tenants to buy their council houses. She moved to the Shadow Treasury team in 1966, and as Treasury spokesman opposed Labour's mandatory price and income controls, arguing that they would produce contrary effects to those intended and distort the economy.

At the Conservative Party Conference of 1966 she criticised the high-tax policies of the Labour Government as being steps "not only towards Socialism, but towards Communism". She argued that lower taxes served as an incentive to hard work. Thatcher was one of the few Conservative MPs to support Leo Abse's Bill to decriminalise male homosexuality and voted in favour of David Steel's Bill to legalise abortion, as well as a ban on hare coursing. She supported the retention of capital punishment and voted against the relaxation of divorce laws.

In 1967, she was selected by the United States Embassy in London to take part in the International Visitor Leadership Program (then called the Foreign Leader Program), a professional exchange programme that gave her the opportunity to spend about six weeks visiting various US cities, political figures, and institutions such as the International Monetary Fund. Thatcher joined the Shadow Cabinet later that year as Shadow Fuel spokesman. Shortly before the 1970 general election, she was promoted to Shadow Transport, and then to Education.

Education Secretary (1970–1974)

The Conservative party under Edward Heath won the 1970 general election, and Thatcher was appointed Secretary of State for Education and Science. In her first months in office she attracted public attention as a result of the administration's attempts to cut spending. She gave priority to academic needs in schools, and imposed public expenditure cuts on the state education system, resulting in the abolition of free milk for schoolchildren aged seven to eleven. She held that few children would suffer if schools were charged for milk, but she agreed to provide younger children with a third of a pint daily, for nutritional purposes. Her decision provoked a storm of protest from the Labour party and the press, and led to the moniker "Margaret Thatcher, Milk Snatcher". Thatcher wrote in her autobiography: "I learned a valuable lesson [from the experience]. I had incurred the maximum of political odium for the minimum of political benefit."

Thatcher's term of office was marked by proposals for more local education authorities to close grammar schools and to adopt comprehensive secondary education. Although she was committed to a tiered secondary modern–grammar school system of education, and determined to preserve grammar schools, during her tenure as Education Secretary she turned down only 326 of 3,612 proposals for schools to become comprehensives; the proportion of pupils attending comprehensives rose from 32% to 62%.

Leader of the Opposition (1975–1979)

The Heath government continued to experience difficulties with oil embargoes and union demands for wage increases in 1973, and was defeated in the February 1974 general election. The Conservative result in the general election of October 1974 was even worse, and Thatcher mounted a challenge for the leadership of the party. Promising a fresh start, her main support came from the Conservative 1922 Committee. She defeated Heath on the first ballot and he resigned the leadership. In the second ballot she defeated Heath's preferred successor, William Whitelaw, and became party leader on 11 February 1975; she appointed Whitelaw as her deputy. Heath remained disenchanted with Thatcher to the end of his life for what he, and many of his supporters, perceived as her disloyalty in standing against him.

Thatcher began regularly to attend lunches at the Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA), a think tank founded by the poultry magnate Antony Fisher, a disciple of Friedrich von Hayek; she had been visiting the IEA and reading its publications since the early 1960s. There she was influenced by the ideas of Ralph Harris and Arthur Seldon, and she became the face of the ideological movement opposing the welfare state Keynesian economics they believed was weakening Britain. The institute's pamphlets proposed less government, lower taxes, and more freedom for business and consumers.

Thatcher began to work on her voice and screen image. The critic Clive James, writing in ''The Observer'' in 1977, compared her voice of 1973 to a cat sliding down a blackboard, but acknowledged her intelligence and mental agility.|group=nb}}

On 19 January 1976 Thatcher made a speech in Kensington Town Hall in which she made a scathing attack on the Soviet Union:

In response, the Soviet Defence Ministry newspaper ''Krasnaya Zvezda'' (''Red Star'') gave her the nickname "Iron Lady". She took delight in the name, and it soon became associated with her image.

Despite an economic recovery in the late 1970s, the Labour government faced public unease about the direction of the country and a damaging series of strikes during the winter of 1978–79, popularly dubbed the "Winter of Discontent". The Conservatives attacked the Labour government's unemployment record, using advertising with the slogan ''Labour Isn't Working''. A general election was called after James Callaghan's government lost a motion of no confidence in early 1979. The Conservatives won a 44-seat majority in the House of Commons, and Margaret Thatcher became the UK's first female Prime Minister.

Prime Minister (1979–1990)

Thatcher became Prime Minister on 4 May 1979. Arriving at 10 Downing Street, she said, in a paraphrase of the "Prayer of Saint Francis":

Domestic affairs

Thatcher was Prime Minister at a time of great racial tension in Britain. Her standing in the polls rose by 11 percent after she said in a TV interview during campaigning for the 1979 election: "The moment a minority threatens to become a big one, people get frightened. The British character has done so much for democracy, for law, that if there is any fear that it might be swamped, people are going to react and be rather hostile to those coming in". The Conservatives attracted voters from the National Front, whose support almost collapsed. ''The Economist'' noted "The Tory tide swamped the smaller parties, specifically the National Front, which suffered a clear decline". In confidential official documents she objected to the number of Asian immigrants in July 1979, in the context of limiting the number of Vietnamese boat people allowed to settle in the UK. Her stance on these issues was perceived as part of a rising racist public discourse, which professor Martin Barker called "new racism".

As Prime Minister, Thatcher met weekly with Queen Elizabeth II to discuss government business, and their relationship came under close scrutiny. In July 1986 the ''Sunday Times'' reported claims attributed to the Queen's advisers of a "rift" between Buckingham Palace and Downing Street "over a wide range of domestic and international issues". The Palace issued an official denial, heading off speculation about a possible constitutional crisis. After Thatcher's retirement a senior Palace source again dismissed as "nonsense" the "stereotyped idea" that she had not got along with the Queen, or that they had fallen out over Thatcherite policies. Thatcher later wrote "... I always found the Queen's attitude towards the work of the Government absolutely correct. ... stories of clashes between 'two powerful women' were just too good not to make up."

Economy and taxation

Thatcher's economic policy was influenced by monetarist thinking and economists such as Milton Friedman and Friedrich von Hayek. Together with Chancellor of the Exchequer Geoffrey Howe, she lowered direct taxes on income and increased indirect taxes. She increased interest rates to slow the growth of the money supply and thereby lower inflation, introduced cash limits on public spending, and reduced expenditures on social services such as education and housing. Her cuts in higher education spending resulted in her being the first Oxford-educated post-war Prime Minister not to be awarded an honorary doctorate by the University of Oxford, after a 738 to 319 vote of the governing assembly and a student petition. Her new centrally-funded City Technology Colleges did not enjoy much success, and the Funding Agency for Schools was set up to control expenditure by opening and closing schools; the Social Market Foundation, a right-wing think tank, described it as having "an extraordinary range of dictatorial powers".

GDP and public spending by functional classification	% change in real terms1979/80 to 1989/90
GDP	+23.3
Total government spending	+12.9
Law and order	+53.3
Employment and training	+33.3
Health	+31.8
Social security	+31.8
Transport	−5.8
Trade and industry	−38.2
Housing	−67.0
Defence	−3.3

Some Heathite Conservatives in the Cabinet, the so-called "wets", expressed doubt over Thatcher's policies. The 1981 riots in England resulted in the British media discussing the need for a policy U-turn. At the 1980 Conservative Party conference, Thatcher addressed the issue directly, with a speech written by the playwright Ronald Millar that included the lines: "You turn if you want to. The lady's not for turning!"

Thatcher's job approval rating fell to 23% by December 1980, lower than recorded for any previous Prime Minister. As the recession of the early 1980s deepened she increased taxes, despite concerns expressed in a statement signed by 364 leading economists issued towards the end of March 1981.

By 1982 the UK began to experience signs of economic recovery; inflation was down to 8.6% from a high of 18%, but unemployment was over 3 million for the first time since the 1930s. By 1983 overall economic growth was stronger and inflation and mortgage rates were at their lowest levels since 1970, although manufacturing output had dropped by 30% since 1978 and unemployment remained high, peaking at 3.3 million in 1984.

Throughout the 1980s revenue from the 90% tax on North Sea oil extraction was used as a short-term funding source to balance the economy and pay the costs of reform.

Thatcher reformed local government taxes by replacing domestic rates—a tax based on the nominal rental value of a home—with the Community Charge (or poll tax) in which the same amount was charged to each adult resident. The new tax was introduced in Scotland in 1989 and in England and Wales the following year, and proved to be among the most unpopular policies of her premiership. Public disquiet culminated in a 70,000-strong demonstration in London on 31 March 1990; the demonstration around Trafalgar Square deteriorated into the Poll Tax Riots, leaving 113 people injured and 340 under arrest. The Community Charge was abolished by her successor, John Major.

Foreign affairs

Thatcher took office in the final decade of the Cold War and became closely aligned with the policies of United States President Ronald Reagan, based on their mutual distrust of Communism, although she strongly opposed Reagan's October 1983 invasion of Grenada. During her first year as Prime Minister she supported NATO's decision to deploy US nuclear cruise and Pershing missiles in Western Europe, and permitted the US to station more than 160 cruise missiles at RAF Greenham Common, starting on 14 November 1983 and triggering mass protests by the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament. She bought the Trident nuclear missile submarine system from the US to replace Polaris, tripling the UK's nuclear forces at an eventual cost of more than £12 billion (at 1996–97 prices). Thatcher's preference for defence ties with the US was demonstrated in the Westland affair of January 1986, when she acted with colleagues to allow the struggling helicopter manufacturer Westland to refuse a takeover offer from the Italian firm Agusta in favour of the management's preferred option, a link with Sikorsky Aircraft Corporation. The UK Defence Secretary, Michael Heseltine, who had supported the Agusta deal, resigned in protest.

On 2 April 1982 the ruling military junta in Argentina ordered the invasion of the British Falkland Islands and South Georgia, triggering the Falklands War. The subsequent crisis was "a defining moment of her [Thatcher's] premiership". At the suggestion of Harold Macmillan and Robert Armstrong, she set up and chaired a small War Cabinet (formally called ODSA, Overseas and Defence committee, South Atlantic) to take charge of the conduct of the war, which by 5–6 April had authorised and dispatched a naval task force to retake the islands. Argentina surrendered on 14 June and the operation was hailed a success, notwithstanding the deaths of 255 British servicemen and 3 Falkland Islanders. Argentinian deaths totalled 649, half of them after the nuclear-powered submarine torpedoed and sank the cruiser ARA ''General Belgrano'' on 2 May. Thatcher was criticised for the neglect of the Falklands' defence that led to the war, and notably by Tam Dalyell in parliament for the decision to sink the ''Belgrano'', but overall she was considered a highly talented and committed war leader. The "Falklands factor", an economic recovery beginning early in 1982, and a bitterly divided Labour opposition contributed to Thatcher's second election victory in 1983.

The Thatcher government supported the Khmer Rouge keeping their seat in the UN after they were ousted from power in Cambodia by the Cambodian–Vietnamese War.Although denying it at the time they also sent the SAS to train the Khmer Rouge alliance to fight against the Vietnamese-backed People's Republic of Kampuchea government.

Thatcher's antipathy towards European integration became more pronounced during her premiership, particularly after her third election victory in 1987. During a 1988 speech in Bruges she outlined her opposition to proposals from the European Community (EC), forerunner of the European Union, for a federal structure and increased centralisation of decision making. She had supported British membership of the EC, despite believing that the role of the organisation should be limited to ensuring free trade and effective competition, and feared that the EC's approach was at odds with her views on smaller government and deregulation; in 1988, she remarked, "We have not successfully rolled back the frontiers of the state in Britain, only to see them re-imposed at a European level, with a European super-state exercising a new dominance from Brussels". Thatcher was firmly opposed to the UK's membership of the Exchange Rate Mechanism, a precursor to European monetary union, believing that it would constrain the British economy, despite the urging of her Chancellor of the Exchequer Nigel Lawson and Foreign Secretary Geoffrey Howe, but she was persuaded by John Major to join in October 1990, at what proved to be too high a rate.

In April 1986, Thatcher permitted US F-111s to use Royal Air Force bases for the bombing of Libya in retaliation for the alleged Libyan bombing of a Berlin discothèque, citing the right of self-defence under Article 51 of the UN Charter.|group=nb}} Polls suggested that less than one in three British citizens approved of Thatcher's decision. She was in the US on a state visit when Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein invaded neighbouring Kuwait in August 1990. During her talks with US President George H. W. Bush, who had succeeded Reagan in 1989, she recommended intervention, and put pressure on Bush to deploy troops in the Middle East to drive the Iraqi army out of Kuwait. Bush was somewhat apprehensive about the plan, prompting Thatcher to remark to him during a telephone conversation that "This was no time to go wobbly!" Thatcher's government provided military forces to the international coalition in the build-up to the Gulf War, but she had resigned by the time hostilities began on 17 January 1991.

Thatcher was one of the first Western leaders to respond warmly to reformist Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev. Following Reagan–Gorbachev summit meetings and reforms enacted by Gorbachev in the USSR, she declared in November 1988 that "We're not in a Cold War now", but rather in a "new relationship much wider than the Cold War ever was". She went on a state visit to the Soviet Union in 1984, and met with Gorbachev and Nikolai Ryzhkov, the Chairman of the Council of Ministers. Thatcher was initially opposed to German reunification, telling Gorbachev that it "would lead to a change to postwar borders, and we cannot allow that because such a development would undermine the stability of the whole international situation and could endanger our security". She expressed concern that a united Germany would align itself more closely with the Soviet Union and move away from NATO. In contrast she was an advocate of Croatian and Slovenian independence. In a 1991 interview for Croatian Radiotelevision, Thatcher commented on the Yugoslav Wars; she was critical of Western governments for not recognising the breakaway republics of Croatia and Slovenia as independent states and supplying them with arms after the Serbian-led Yugoslav Army attacked.

Industrial relations

Thatcher was committed to reducing the power of the trade unions, whose leadership she accused of undermining parliamentary democracy and economic performance through strike action. Several unions launched strikes in response to legislation introduced to curb their power, but resistance eventually collapsed. Only 39% of union members voted for Labour in the 1983 general election. According to the BBC, Thatcher "managed to destroy the power of the trade unions for almost a generation".

The miners' strike was the biggest confrontation between the unions and the Thatcher government. In March 1984 the National Coal Board (NCB) proposed to close 20 of the 174 state-owned mines and cut 20,000 jobs out of 187,000. Two-thirds of the country's miners, led by the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) under Arthur Scargill, downed tools in protest. Thatcher refused to meet the union's demands and compared the miners' dispute to the Falklands conflict two years earlier, declaring in a speech in 1984: "We had to fight the enemy without in the Falklands. We always have to be aware of the enemy within, which is much more difficult to fight and more dangerous to liberty." After a year out on strike, in March 1985, the NUM leadership conceded without a deal. The cost to the economy was estimated to be at least £1.5 billion, and the strike was blamed for much of the pound's fall against the US dollar. The government closed 25 unprofitable coal mines in 1985, and by 1992 a total of 97 had been closed; those that remained were privatised in 1994. The eventual closure of 150 coal mines, not all of which were losing money, resulted in the loss of tens of thousands of jobs and devastated entire communities. Miners had helped bring down the Heath government, and Thatcher was determined to succeed where he had failed. Her strategy of preparing fuel stocks, appointing a union-busting NCB leader in Ian MacGregor, and ensuring police were adequately trained and equipped with riot gear, contributed to her victory.

The number of stoppages across the UK peaked at 4583 in 1979, when more than 29 million working days were lost. In 1984, the year of the miners' strike, there were 1221, resulting in the loss of more than 27 million working days. Stoppages then fell steadily throughout the rest of Thatcher's premiership; in 1990 there were 630 and fewer than 2 million working days lost, and they continued to fall thereafter. Trade union membership also fell, from 13.5 million in 1979 to less than 10 million by the time Thatcher left office in 1990.

Privatisation

The policy of privatisation has been called "a crucial ingredient of Thatcherism". After the 1983 election the sale of state utilities accelerated; more than £29 billion was raised from the sale of nationalised industries, and another £18 billion from the sale of council houses.

The process of privatisation, especially the preparation of nationalised industries for privatisation, was associated with marked improvements in performance, particularly in terms of labour productivity. A number of the privatised industries including gas, water, and electricity, were natural monopolies for which privatisation involved little increase in competition. The privatised industries that demonstrated improvement often did so while still under state ownership. British Steel, for instance, made great gains in profitability while still a nationalised industry under the government-appointed chairmanship of Ian MacGregor, who faced down trade-union opposition to close plants and reduce the workforce by half. Regulation was also significantly expanded to compensate for the loss of direct government control, with the foundation of regulatory bodies like Ofgas, Oftel and the National Rivers Authority. There was no clear pattern to the degree of competition, regulation, and performance among the privatised industries; in most cases privatisation benefitted consumers in terms of lower prices and improved efficiency, but the results overall were "mixed".

Thatcher always resisted rail privatisation, and was said to have told Transport Secretary Nicholas Ridley "Railway privatisation will be the Waterloo of this government. Please never mention the railways to me again." Shortly before her resignation, she accepted the arguments for privatising British Rail, which her successor John Major implemented in 1994. ''The Economist'' later considered the move to have been "a disaster".

The privatisation of public assets was combined with financial deregulation in an attempt to fuel economic growth. Geoffrey Howe abolished Britain's exchange controls in 1979, allowing more capital to be invested in foreign markets, and the Big Bang of 1986 removed many restrictions on the London Stock Exchange. The Thatcher government encouraged growth in the finance and service sectors to compensate for Britain's ailing manufacturing industry. Political economist Susan Strange called this new financial growth model "casino capitalism", reflecting her view that speculation and financial trading were becoming more important to the economy than industry.

Northern Ireland

In 1981, Provisional Irish Republican Army (PIRA) and Irish National Liberation Army (INLA) prisoners in Northern Ireland's Maze Prison began a hunger strike in an effort to regain the status of political prisoners that had been removed five years earlier under the preceding Labour government. Bobby Sands began the strike, saying that he would fast until death unless prison inmates won concessions over their living conditions. Thatcher refused to countenance a return to political status for the prisoners, declaring "Crime is crime is crime; it is not political", but nevertheless the UK government privately contacted republican leaders in a bid to bring the hunger strikes to an end. After the deaths of Sands and nine others some rights were restored to paramilitary prisoners, but not official recognition of their political status. Violence in Northern Ireland escalated significantly during the hunger strikes; in 1982 Sinn Féin politician Danny Morrison described Thatcher as "the biggest bastard we have ever known".

Thatcher narrowly escaped injury in a PIRA assassination attempt at a Brighton hotel early in the morning on 12 October 1984. Five people were killed, including the wife of Cabinet Minister John Wakeham. Thatcher was staying at the hotel to attend the Conservative Party Conference, which she insisted should open as scheduled the following day. She delivered her speech as planned, a move that was widely supported across the political spectrum and enhanced her popularity with the public.

On 6 November 1981 Thatcher and Irish Taoiseach Garret FitzGerald had established the Anglo-Irish Inter-Governmental Council, a forum for meetings between the two governments. On 15 November 1985, Thatcher and FitzGerald signed the Hillsborough Anglo-Irish Agreement, the first time a British government had given the Republic of Ireland an advisory role in the governance of Northern Ireland. In protest the Ulster Says No movement attracted 100,000 to a rally in Belfast, Ian Gow resigned as Minister of State in the HM Treasury, and all fifteen Unionist MPs resigned their parliamentary seats; only one was not returned in the subsequent by-elections on 23 January 1986.

Resignation

Thatcher was challenged for the leadership of the Conservative Party by virtually unknown backbench MP Sir Anthony Meyer in the 1989 leadership election. Of the 374 Conservative MPs eligible to vote 314 voted for Thatcher and 33 for Meyer. Her supporters in the party viewed the result as a success, and rejected suggestions that there was discontent within the party.

During her premiership Thatcher had the second-lowest average approval rating, at 40 percent, of any post-war Prime Minister. Polls consistently showed that she was less popular than her party. A self-described conviction politician, Thatcher always insisted that she did not care about her poll ratings, pointing instead to her unbeaten election record.

Opinion polls in September 1990 reported that Labour had established a 14% lead over the Conservatives, and by November the Conservatives had been trailing Labour for 18 months. These ratings, together with Thatcher's combative personality and willingness to override colleagues' opinions, contributed to discontent within the Conservative party.

On 1 November 1990 Geoffrey Howe, the last remaining member of Thatcher's original 1979 cabinet, resigned from his position as Deputy Prime Minister over her refusal to agree to a timetable for Britain to join the European single currency. In his resignation speech on 13 November, Howe commented on Thatcher's European stance: "It is rather like sending your opening batsmen to the crease only for them to find the moment that the first balls are bowled that their bats have been broken before the game by the team captain." His resignation was fatal to Thatcher's premiership.

The next day, Michael Heseltine mounted a challenge for the leadership of the Conservative Party. Opinion polls had indicated that he would give the Conservatives a national lead over Labour. Although Thatcher won the first ballot, Heseltine attracted sufficient support (152 votes) to force a second ballot. Thatcher initially stated that she intended to "fight on and fight to win" the second ballot, but consultation with her Cabinet persuaded her to withdraw. After seeing the Queen, calling other world leaders, and making one final Commons speech, she left Downing Street in tears. She regarded her ousting as a betrayal.

Thatcher was replaced as Prime Minister and party leader by her Chancellor John Major, who oversaw an upturn in Conservative support in the 17 months leading up to the 1992 general election and led the Conservatives to their fourth successive victory on 9 April 1992. Thatcher favoured Major over Heseltine in the leadership contest, but her support for him weakened in later years.

Later years

Thatcher returned to the backbenches as MP for Finchley for two years after leaving the premiership. She retired from the House at the 1992 election, aged 66, saying that leaving the Commons would allow her more freedom to speak her mind.

Post-Commons

After leaving the House of Commons, Thatcher became the first former Prime Minister to set up a foundation; it closed down in 2005 because of financial difficulties. She wrote two volumes of memoirs, ''The Downing Street Years'' (1993) and ''The Path to Power'' (1995).

In July 1992, Thatcher was hired by the tobacco company Philip Morris as a "geopolitical consultant" for $250,000 per year and an annual contribution of $250,000 to her foundation. She also earned $50,000 for each speech she delivered.

In August 1992, Thatcher called for NATO to stop the Serbian assault on Goražde and Sarajevo to end ethnic cleansing during the Bosnian War. She compared the situation in Bosnia to "the worst excesses of the Nazis", and warned that there could be a "holocaust". She made a series of speeches in the Lords criticising the Maastricht Treaty, describing it as "a treaty too far" and stated "I could never have signed this treaty". She cited A. V. Dicey when stating that as all three main parties were in favour of revisiting the treaty, the people should have their say.

Thatcher was honorary Chancellor of the College of William and Mary in Virginia (1993–2000) and also of the University of Buckingham (1992–1999), the UK's first private university, which she had opened in 1975.

After Tony Blair's election as Labour Party leader in 1994, Thatcher praised Blair in an interview as "probably the most formidable Labour leader since Hugh Gaitskell. I see a lot of socialism behind their front bench, but not in Mr Blair. I think he genuinely has moved."

In 1998, Thatcher called for the release of former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet when Spain had him arrested and sought to try him for human rights violations, citing the help he gave Britain during the Falklands War. In 1999, she visited him while he was under house arrest near London. Pinochet was released in March 2000 on medical grounds by the Home Secretary Jack Straw, without facing trial.

In the 2001 general election Thatcher supported the Conservative general election campaign, but did not endorse Iain Duncan Smith as she had done for John Major and William Hague. In the Conservative leadership election shortly after, she supported Smith over Kenneth Clarke.

In March 2002, Thatcher's book ''Statecraft: Strategies for a Changing World'', dedicated to Ronald Reagan, was released. In it, she claimed there would be no peace in the Middle East until Saddam Hussein was toppled, that Israel must trade land for peace, and that the European Union (EU) was "fundamentally unreformable", "a classic utopian project, a monument to the vanity of intellectuals, a programme whose inevitable destiny is failure". She argued that Britain should renegotiate its terms of membership or else leave the EU and join the North American Free Trade Area. The book was serialised in ''The Times'' on 18 March; on 23 March she announced that on the advice of her doctors she would cancel all planned speaking engagements and accept no more.

Since 2003

Sir Denis Thatcher died on 26 June 2003 and was cremated on 3 July. She had paid tribute to him in ''The Downing Street Years'', writing "Being Prime Minister is a lonely job. In a sense, it ought to be: you cannot lead from the crowd. But with Denis there I was never alone. What a man. What a husband. What a friend".

On 11 June 2004, Thatcher attended the state funeral service for Ronald Reagan. She delivered her eulogy via videotape; in view of her health, the message had been pre-recorded several months earlier. Thatcher then flew to California with the Reagan entourage, and attended the memorial service and interment ceremony for the president at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library.

Thatcher celebrated her 80th birthday at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel in Hyde Park, London, on 13 October 2005, at which the guests included the Queen, The Duke of Edinburgh, Princess Alexandra and Tony Blair. Geoffrey Howe, by then Lord Howe of Aberavon, was also present, and said of his former leader: "Her real triumph was to have transformed not just one party but two, so that when Labour did eventually return, the great bulk of Thatcherism was accepted as irreversible."

In 2006, Thatcher attended the official Washington, D.C. memorial service to commemorate the fifth anniversary of the 11 September 2001 attacks on the United States. She was a guest of Vice President Dick Cheney, and met with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice during her visit.

In February 2007, Thatcher became the first living UK Prime Minister to be honoured with a statue in the Houses of Parliament. The bronze statue stands opposite that of her political hero, Sir Winston Churchill, and was unveiled on 21 February 2007 with Thatcher in attendance; she made a rare and brief speech in the members' lobby of the House of Commons, responding: "I might have preferred iron – but bronze will do ... It won't rust." The statue shows her addressing the House of Commons, with her right arm outstretched.

Thatcher returned to 10 Downing Street in late November 2009 for the unveiling of an official portrait by the artist Richard Stone, an unusual honour for a living ex-Prime Minister. Stone had previously painted portraits of the Queen and the Queen Mother.

Thatcher suffered several small strokes in 2002 and was advised by her doctors not to engage in any more public speaking. After collapsing at a House of Lords dinner, she was admitted to St Thomas' Hospital in central London on 7 March 2008 for tests. Her daughter Carol has recounted ongoing memory loss.

At the Conservative Party conference in 2010, the new Prime Minister David Cameron announced that he would invite Thatcher back to 10 Downing Street on her 85th birthday for a party to be attended by past and present ministers. She pulled out of the celebration because of flu. She was invited to the Royal Wedding on 29 April 2011 but did not attend, reportedly due to ill health.

On American Independence Day 2011 (4 July) Lady Thatcher was to attend a ceremony for the unveiling of a 10-foot statue to former American President Ronald Reagan, outside the American Embassy in Grosvenor Square, London but was unable to attend due to frail health. On 31 July 2011 it was announced that the former prime minister’s office in the House of Lords had been closed down.

Also in July 2011, Thatcher was named the most competent British Prime Minister of the past 30 years in an Ipsos Mori poll.

Legacy

Thatcher remains identified with her remarks to the reporter Douglas Keay, for ''Woman's Own'' magazine in September 1987:

}}

To her supporters, Margaret Thatcher remains a figure who revitalised Britain's economy, impacted the trade unions, and re-established the nation as a world power. She oversaw an increase from 7% to 25% of adults owning shares, and more than a million families bought their council houses, giving an increase from 55% to 67% in owner-occupiers. Total personal wealth rose by 80%. Victory in the Falklands conflict and her strong alliance with the United States are also remembered as some of her greatest achievements.

Thatcher's premiership was also marked by high unemployment and social unrest, and many critics fault her economic policies for the unemployment level; many of the areas affected by high unemployment as a result of her monetarist economic policieshave still not fully recovered and are also blighted by social problems including drug abuse and family breakdown. Speaking in Scotland in April 2009, before the 30th anniversary of her election as Prime Minister, Thatcher insisted she had no regrets, and was right to introduce the poll tax and to remove subsidies from "outdated industries, whose markets were in terminal decline" which had created "the culture of dependency, which had done such damage to Britain".

Thatcher often referred after the war to the "Falklands Spirit"; Hastings and Jenkins (1983) suggested that this reflected her preference for the streamlined decision-making of her War Cabinet over the painstaking deal-making of peace-time cabinet government.

Critics have regretted Thatcher's influence in the abandonment of full employment, poverty reduction and a consensual civility as bedrock policy objectives. Many recent biographers have been critical of aspects of the Thatcher years and Michael White, writing in ''New Statesman'' in February 2009, challenged the view that her reforms had brought a net benefit. Despite being Britain's first woman Prime Minister, some critics contend Thatcher did "little to advance the political cause of women", either within her party or the government, and some British feminists regarded her as "an enemy".

The term "Thatcherism" came to refer to her policies as well as aspects of her ethical outlook and personal style, including moral absolutism, nationalism, interest in the individual, and an uncompromising approach to achieving political goals.|group=nb}}. Influenced at the outset by Keith Joseph, Thatcherism remains a potent byword in British political parlance, with both Tony Blair and Gordon Brown defining policies in post-Thatcherite terms, and David Cameron saying after a dinner with Thatcher in February 2009: "You have got to do the right thing even if it is painful. Don't trim or track all over the place. Set your course and take the difficult decisions because that is what needs to be done ... I think that influence, that character she had, that conviction she had, I think that will be very important."

Thatcher's tenure of 11 years and 209 days as Prime Minister was the longest since Lord Salisbury (13 years and 252 days in three spells starting in 1885), and the longest continuous period in office since Lord Liverpool (14 years and 305 days starting in 1812).

Honours

Thatcher became a Privy Councillor (PC) upon becoming Secretary of State for Education and Science in 1970. She was appointed a Member of the Order of Merit (OM) (an order within the personal gift of the Queen) within two weeks of leaving office. Denis Thatcher was made a Baronet at the same time. She became a peer in the House of Lords in 1992 with a life peerage as Baroness Thatcher of Kesteven in the County of Lincolnshire. She was appointed a Lady Companion of the Order of the Garter, the UK's highest order of chivalry, in 1995.

She was elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS) in 1983, and was the first woman entitled to full membership rights as an honorary member of the Carlton Club on becoming leader of the Conservative Party in 1975.

In the Falkland Islands, Margaret Thatcher Day has been marked every 10 January since 1992, commemorating her visit in 1983. Thatcher Drive in Stanley is named for her, as is Thatcher Peninsula in South Georgia, where the task force troops first set foot on the Falklands.

Thatcher has been awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian honour awarded by the US; the Republican Senatorial Medal of Freedom; and the Ronald Reagan Freedom Award. She is a patron of the Heritage Foundation, which established the Margaret Thatcher Center for Freedom in 2005. Speaking of Heritage president Ed Feulner, at the first Clare Booth Luce lecture in September 1993, Thatcher said: "You didn't just advise President Reagan on what he should do; you told him how he could do it. And as a practising politician I can testify that that is the only advice worth having." Other awards include Dame Grand Cross of the Croatian Grand Order of King Dmitar Zvonimir.

Upon Thatcher's eventual death, it is rumoured that she will be honoured with a state funeral at St Paul's Cathedral. If so, she will be the first prime minister to be honoured this way since Sir Winston Churchill in 1965.

Media depictions

Depictions of Margaret Thatcher have featured in a number of television programmes, documentaries, films and plays; she was played by Patricia Hodge in Ian Curteis's long unproduced ''The Falklands Play'' (2002) and Lindsay Duncan in ''Margaret'' (2009). She was portrayed by Andrea Riseborough in the TV film ''The Long Walk to Finchley''. Thatcher will be played by Meryl Streep in the 2011 film ''The Iron Lady''.

Thatcher was lampooned by satirist John Wells in several media. Wells collaborated with Richard Ingrams on the spoof "Dear Bill" letters which ran as a column in ''Private Eye'' magazine, were published in book form, and were then adapted into a West End stage revue as ''Anyone for Denis?'', starring Wells as Denis Thatcher. The stage show was followed by a 1982 TV special directed by Dick Clement. In 1979, Wells was commissioned by comedy producer Martin Lewis to write and perform on a comedy record album titled ''Iron Lady: The Coming Of The Leader'' on which Thatcher was portrayed by comedienne and noted Thatcher impersonator Janet Brown. The album consisted of skits and songs satirising Thatcher's rise to power.

In ''Spitting Image'', Thatcher was portrayed as a bullying tyrant, wearing trousers, and ridiculing her own ministers.

Protest songs

Thatcher was the subject or the inspiration for a number of protest songs including The Specials' "Ghost Town", (1981), and The Jam's "Town Called Malice" (Number One in February 1982). Elvis Costello's "Shipbuilding" protested against the Falklands war. Songwriter Billy Bragg released ''Workers Playtime'' in 1988. Paul Weller was a founding member of Red Wedge collective, which unsuccessfully sought to oust Thatcher with the help of music. In 1987, they organised a comedy tour with British comedians Lenny Henry, Ben Elton, Robbie Coltrane, Harry Enfield and others.

References

Notes

Footnotes

Bibliography

Further reading

;Biographies

; Political analysis

;Books by Thatcher

;Ministerial autobiographies

External links

Margaret Thatcher Foundation

Margaret Thatcher on the Downing Street website.

Records of the Prime Minister's Office, digitised files from the Prime Minister's Office, covering from the 1979 general election to December 1979.

Actresses (and actors) who have portrayed Thatcher, ''The Telegraph'' (London), 8 February 2011. Retrieved 28 May 2011

|- |- |- |- |- |- |- |- |- |- |- |- |- |- ! colspan="3" style="background:#cfc;" | Order of precedence in Northern Ireland

Category:1925 births Category:Living people Category:Alumni of Somerville College, Oxford Category:Alumni of the Inns of Court School of Law Category:Attempted assassination survivors Category:British anti-communists Category:British female MPs Category:British people of the Falklands War Category:British Secretaries of State for Education Category:Chancellors of the College of William & Mary Category:Cold War leaders Category:Conservatism in the United Kingdom Category:Conservative Party (UK) life peers Category:Conservative Party (UK) MPs Category:Converts to Anglicanism Category:Critics of the European Union Category:Dames Grand Cross of the Royal Order of Francis I Category:English Anglicans Category:English anti-communists Category:English barristers Category:English chemists Category:English Methodists Category:Fellows of the Royal Society Category:Female Fellows of the Royal Society Category:Female heads of government Category:Female lawyers Category:Female life peers Category:Female members of the Cabinet of the United Kingdom Category:Female members of the United Kingdom Parliament for English constituencies Category:Former Methodists Category:Grand Order of King Dmitar Zvonimir recipients Category:Heritage Foundation Category:Honorary Fellows of Somerville College, Oxford Category:Ladies Companion of the Garter Category:Leaders of the Conservative Party (UK) Category:Leaders of the Opposition (United Kingdom) Category:Members of the Order of Merit Category:Members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom Category:Members of the United Kingdom Parliament for English constituencies Category:People associated with the University of Buckingham Category:People educated at Kesteven and Grantham Girls' School Category:People from Grantham Category:People with dementia Category:Presidential Medal of Freedom recipients Category:Prime Ministers of the United Kingdom Category:Stroke survivors Category:UK MPs 1959–1964 Category:UK MPs 1964–1966 Category:UK MPs 1966–1970 Category:UK MPs 1970–1974 Category:UK MPs 1974 Category:UK MPs 1974–1979 Category:UK MPs 1979–1983 Category:UK MPs 1983–1987 Category:UK MPs 1987–1992 Category:Women chemists Category:Women in 20th-century warfare

af:Margaret Thatcher am:ማርጋሬት ታቸር ar:مارجريت تاتشر az:Marqaret Tetçer bn:মার্গারেট থ্যাচার zh-min-nan:Margaret Thatcher be:Маргарэт Тэтчэр bo:མར་ག་རེ་ཐ་ཁྲ་ཆེའར། bs:Margaret Thatcher br:Margaret Thatcher bg:Маргарет Тачър ca:Margaret Thatcher cv:Маргарет Тэтчер cs:Margaret Thatcherová cy:Margaret Thatcher da:Margaret Thatcher de:Margaret Thatcher et:Margaret Thatcher el:Μάργκαρετ Θάτσερ es:Margaret Thatcher eo:Margaret Thatcher eu:Margaret Thatcher fa:مارگارت تاچر fo:Margaret Thatcher fr:Margaret Thatcher fy:Margaret Thatcher ga:Margaret Thatcher gv:Margaret Thatcher gd:Mairead Thatcher gl:Margaret Thatcher ko:마거릿 대처 hy:Մարգարետ Թետչեր hi:मारगरेट थाचर hr:Margaret Thatcher io:Margaret Thatcher id:Margaret Thatcher is:Margrét Thatcher it:Margaret Thatcher he:מרגרט תאצ'ר jv:Margaret Thatcher ka:მარგარეტ ტეტჩერი kk:Маргарет Тэтчер sw:Margaret Thatcher la:Margarita Thatcher lv:Margareta Tečere lt:Margaret Thatcher hu:Margaret Thatcher mk:Маргарет Тачер ml:മാർഗരറ്റ് താച്ചർ mr:मार्गारेट थॅचर arz:مارجاريت تاتشر ms:Margaret Thatcher mn:Маргарет Тэтчер my:သက်ချာ မာဂရက် nl:Margaret Thatcher ja:マーガレット・サッチャー no:Margaret Thatcher nn:Margaret Thatcher nov:Margaret Thatcher oc:Margaret Thatcher pnb:مارگریٹ تھیچر pl:Margaret Thatcher pt:Margaret Thatcher ro:Margaret Thatcher rm:Margaret Thatcher qu:Margaret Thatcher ru:Тэтчер, Маргарет sa:मार्गरेट थाचर scn:Margaret Thatcher simple:Margaret Thatcher sk:Margaret Thatcherová sl:Margaret Thatcher szl:Margaret Thatcher sr:Маргарет Тачер sh:Margaret Thatcher fi:Margaret Thatcher sv:Margaret Thatcher tl:Margaret Thatcher ta:மார்கரெட் தாட்சர் tt:Маргарет Тэтчер th:มาร์กาเรต แทตเชอร์ tg:Маргарет Татчер tr:Margaret Thatcher uk:Маргарет Тетчер ur:مارگریٹ تھیچر vi:Margaret Thatcher war:Margaret Thatcher yi:מארגארעט טאטשער yo:Margaret Thatcher zh-yue:戴卓爾夫人 bat-smg:Margareta Tečer zh:玛格丽特·撒切尔

Marga Gomez (born June 19, 1960, in Manhattan, New York) is a Puerto Rican/Cuban-American comedian, playwright, and humorist. She is openly lesbian.

Gomez got her start in the gay comedy clubs of San Francisco in the mid 1980s, including the Valencia Rose Cafe founded by Ron Lanza and Hank Wilson. She tours nationally in concert, at universities, nightclubs, cruiseships, and political events. She has appeared on HBO's ''Comic Relief'', Showtime's ''Latino Laugh Festival'', Comedy Central's ''Out There'' and the PBS series ''In The Life''. Marga's comedy recording, ''Hung Like a Fly'', is available on Uproar Records. She is profiled in the 2003 award winning documentary ''Laughing Matters'' along with Kate Clinton, Suzanne Westenhoefer and Karen Williams.

Gomez won a GLAAD award for Off-Off Broadaway theater in 2004 and is the author/performer of numerous theater pieces:

''Los Big Names'',

'' A Line Around The Block'',

''Memory Tricks'',

''Marga Gomez is Pretty, Witty & Gay''

''jaywalker'',

''The Twelve Days of Cochina'' and

''Marga Gomez’s Intimate Details''.

Her seventh and most recent solo performance, ''Los Big Names'', was presented by Woolly Mammoth Theatre at the Kennedy Center in Washington DC in 2004 and opened Off Broadway at the 47th Street Theater in April 2006 receiving nominations for the Drama Desk Award and New York Outer Critics Circle Award. The work was inspired by the lives of her entertainer parents Willy Chevalier and Margo the Exotic.

Marga has been produced Off-Broadway, nationally and internationally, and has appeared at San Francisco's Theater Rhinoceros. In 2002 Marga co-wrote and co-starred with Carmelita Tropicana in ''Single Wet Female'' for a three week sold out engagement at New York's Performance Space 122 under the direction of David Schweizer. She has also joined the casts of ''The Vagina Monologues'' several times, sharing the stage with Rita Moreno, Jobeth Williams, Barbara Bush and others. Gomez’s film and television credits include HBO's ''Tracy Takes on'', ''Sphere,'' and ''Batman Forever.'' She is featured in indie festival hits ''Rosa Negra'', ''The D Word'', ''Desi’s Looking for a New Girl'', and ''Fabulous''.

Selections from her solo plays have been published in several anthologies including ''Extreme Exposure'' (TCG Books), ''Out'', ''Loud & Laughing'' (Anchor Books), ''Contemporary Plays by American Women of Color'' (Routledge) and ''Out of Character'' (Bantam Books). Marga was one of eight playwrights to be commissioned by the Mark Taper Forum's Latino Theater Initiative as part of the 2005 ''Amor Eterno'' project. Marga is the recipient of Theater LA’s 'Ovation Award' for her collaboration with Culture Clash at the Mark Taper Forum.

Notes

External links

Official Website

Category:1960 births Category:Living people Category:American comedians Category:American humorists Category:American dramatists and playwrights Category:American people of Cuban descent Category:LGBT Hispanic and Latino American people Category:LGBT American people of Cuban descent Category:LGBT people of Puerto Rican descent Category:LGBT comedians Category:Women comedians

Coordinates	33°51′35.9″N151°12′40″N
Name	Fidel Castro
Colorcode	Red
Office	First Secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba
Deputy	Raúl Castro
Term start	October 3, 1965
Term end	April 19, 2011
Predecessor	Position established
Successor	Raúl Castro
Office2	President of the Council of State of Cuba
Term start2	December 2, 1976
Term end2	February 19, 2008
Deputy2	Raúl Castro
Predecessor2	Osvaldo Dorticós Torrado(as President of Cuba)
Successor2	Raúl Castro
Office3	President of the Council of Ministers of Cuba
Term start3	December 2, 1976
Term end3	February 19, 2008
Deputy3	Raúl Castro
Predecessor3	Himself (as Prime Minister)
Successor3	Raúl Castro
Office4	Prime Minister of Cuba
President4	Manuel Urrutia LleóOsvaldo Dorticós Torrado
Term start4	February 16, 1959
Term end4	December 2, 1976
Predecessor4	José Miró Cardona
Successor4	Position abolished
Office5	7th and 23rd Secretary-General of the Non-Aligned Movement
Term start5	September 16, 2006
Term end5	February 24, 2008
Predecessor5	Abdullah Ahmad Badawi
Successor5	Raúl Castro
Term start6	September 10, 1979
Term end6	March 6, 1983
Predecessor6	Junius Richard Jayawardene
Successor6	Neelam Sanjiva Reddy
Birth date	August 13, 1926
Birth place	Birán, Cuba
Party	Communist Party of Cuba
Relations	(siblings)Raúl CastroEnma CastroAgustina CastroRamon Castro RuzAngelita Castro
Spouse	Mirta Diaz-Balart (1948–1955)Dalia Soto del Valle (1980–present)
Children	Fidel Ángel Castro Diaz-BalartAlina Fernández-RevueltaAlexis Castro-SotoAlejandro Castro-SotoAntonio Castro-SotoAngel Castro-SotoAlex Castro-SotoJorge Angel CastroFrancisca Pupo
Alma mater	University of Havana
Profession	Lawyer
Religion	Deist
Signature	Fidel Castro Signature.svg
Footnotes	*Acting presidential powers were transferred to Raúl Castro from July 31, 2006. }}

Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz (; born August 13, 1926) is a Cuban revolutionary and politician, having held the position of Prime Minister of Cuba from 1959 to 1976, and then President from 1976 to 2008. He also served as the First Secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba from the party's foundation in 1961 until 2011. Politically a Marxist-Leninist, under his administration the Republic of Cuba was converted into a one-party socialist state, with industry and business being nationalised under state ownership and socialist reforms implemented in all areas of society.

Born the illegitimate son of a wealthy farmer, Castro became involved in leftist anti-imperialist politics whilst studying law at the University of Havana. Subsequently involving himself in armed rebellions against right wing governments in the Dominican Republic and Colombia, he went on to conclude that the U.S.-backed Cuban President Fulgencio Batista, who was widely seen as a dictator, had to be overthrown; to this end he led a failed armed attack on the Moncada Barracks in 1953. Imprisoned for a year, he then traveled to Mexico, and with the aid of his brother Raúl Castro and friend Che Guevara, he assembled together a group of Cuban revolutionaries, the July 26 Movement. Returning with them to Cuba, he took a key role in the Cuban Revolution, leading a successful guerrilla war against Batista's forces, with Batista himself fleeing into exile in 1959.

Castro subsequently became Commander in Chief of the armed forces and shortly thereafter became Prime Minister. His involvement in the overthrow of Batista, as well as a suspected relationship with Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev, alarmed the United States, who through the CIA organised the failed Bay of Pigs invasion in 1961 to overthrow his government, before proceeding to orchestrate repeated assassination attempts against him and implement an economic blockade of Cuba. To counter this threat, Castro forged an alliance with the Soviet Union and allowed them to store nuclear weapons on the island, leading to the events of the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962. Adopting Marxism-Leninism as his guiding ideology, in 1961 Castro proclaimed the socialist nature of the Cuban revolution, and in 1965 became First Secretary of the newly founded Communist Party, with all other parties being abolished. He then led the transformation of Cuba into a socialist republic, nationalising industry and introducing free universal healthcare and education, as well as suppressing internal opposition. A keen internationalist, Castro then introduced Cuban medical brigades who worked throughout the developing world, and aided a number of foreign revolutionary socialist groups in the hope of toppling world capitalism.

In 1976 he became President of the Council of State as well as of the Council of Ministers. On the international stage, he held the post of Secretary-General of the Non-Aligned Movement from 1979 to 1983. Following the collapse of key ally the Soviet Union in 1991, Castro led Cuba into its economic "Special Period", before then taking the country into the Bolivarian Alliance for the Americas in 2006 and forging economic and political alliances with other nations in the Latin American "Pink Tide". Amidst failing health, in 2006 Castro transferred his responsibilities to Vice-President Raúl Castro, who was then elected President when Fidel stepped down in 2008.

Castro is a controversial and highly divisive world figure, being lauded as a champion of anti-imperialism, humanitarianism, environmentalism and the world's poor by his supporters, but his critics have accused him of being a dictator whose authoritarian administration has overseen multiple human rights abuses. Nonetheless, he has had a significant influence on the politics of a number of other world leaders, namely Nelson Mandela, Hugo Chávez and Evo Morales, and he is widely admired for leading his country's resistance to imperialism.

Early life

Childhood and education: 1927–1945

Fidel's father, Ángel Castro y Argiz (1875–1956) was a Spaniard born to a poor peasant family in rural Galicia, north-west Spain. Working as a manual laborer on local farms, in 1895 he was conscripted into the Spanish army to fight in the Cuban War of Independence against the Cuban forces who wished to secede from the Spanish Empire. Wishing to gain greater influence in the Caribbean, the United States subsequently declared war on Spain, leading to the Spanish-American War of 1898, in which the U.S. seized control of Cuba, setting up their own American government on the island. In 1902, the Republic of Cuba was proclaimed, however it remained only partially independent of the U.S., which retained economic and political dominance over it. For a time, Cuba enjoyed economic growth, and Ángel Castro decided to migrate there permanently in search of employment. Doing so, he undertook various jobs, eventually earning enough money to set up his own business growing sugar cane on a farm in Birán, near Mayarí in Oriente Province.

Ángel took a wife, María Luisa Argota, with whom he had two daughters, but they separated after several years and he began a relationship with a household servant who was thirty years his junior. This woman, Lina Ruz González (September 23, 1903 – August 6, 1963), came from an impoverished Cuban family of Canarian descent, but became Ángel's domestic partner, bearing him three sons and four daughters.

Fidel was Lina's third child, being born at his father's farm on August 13, 1927, and was given his mother's surname of Ruz rather than his father's because he had been born out of wedlock, something that carried a particular social stigma at the time. Although he was from a prosperous background, with his father's business proving ever more profitable, his father ensured that he grew up alongside the children of the farm's workforce, many of whom were Haitian economic migrants of African descent, something that Fidel would later relate prevented him from absorbing "bourgeois culture" at an early age. Aged six, Fidel, along with his elder siblings Ramón and Angela, was sent to live with their teacher in Santiago de Cuba, and it was here that the children dwelt in cramped conditions and in relative poverty, often failing to have enough to eat because of their tutor's poor economic situation. Aged eight, Fidel was then baptized into the Roman Catholic Church (something usually performed soon after birth), although later gave up his faith in Christianity, becoming an atheist. Being baptized enabled Fidel to begin attending the La Salle boarding school in Santiago, but here he often got into trouble with the school authorities for misbehavior, and so he was instead sent to the privately-funded, Jesuit-run Dolores School in Santiago.

In 1945 he transferred to the more prestigious Jesuit-run El Colegio de Belén in Havana, although to get in he had to pretend to be a year older than he was; his father bribed an administrator to supply him with a fake birth certificate stating that he was born in 1926 rather than 1927. Although Fidel took an interest in history and debating at Belén, he did not excel academically, instead devoting much of his time to playing sport, including swimming, mountain climbing, table tennis, athletics, basketball and baseball. Meanwhile, Ángel Castro finally dissolved his first marriage when Fidel was fifteen, allowing him to marry Fidel's mother; Fidel was formally recognized by his father when he was seventeen, when his surname was legally changed from Ruz to Castro.

University and early political activism: 1945–1947

In late 1945, Castro began studying law at the University of Havana. Here he became immediately embroiled in the student protest movement, which in Cuba at that time was particularly volatile: under the regimes of centre-left Cuban Presidents Gerardo Machado (1925–1933), Fulgencio Batista (1933–1944) and Ramón Grau (1944–1948) there had been a government crackdown on student protesters, with student leaders being killed or terrorized by violent gangs. This led to a form of ''gangsterismo'' culture within the university that was dominated by a variety of violent and often armed student groups who spent much of their time fighting one another and running criminal enterprises rather than opposing the government. Becoming surrounded by this gang culture, Castro focused on political objectives, unsuccessfully campaigning for the position of President of the Federation of University Students (FEU). To do so he put forward a platform of "honesty, decency and justice" and emphasized his opposition to political corruption, something that he increasingly associated with the involvement of the U.S. government in Cuban politics. He became passionate about anti-imperialism and opposing American intervention in the Caribbean, joining the University Committee for the Independence of Puerto Rico and the Committee for Democracy in the Dominican Republic.

He was in contact with members of several different student leftist groups at the time, including the Popular Socialist Party (''Partido Socialista Popular'' – PSP), the Socialist Revolutionary Movement (''Movimiento Socialista Revolucionaria'' – MSR) and the Insurrectional Revolutionary Union (''Unión Insurrecional Revolucionaria'' – UIR), although did not adopt the Marxist ideas of the former and mistrusted some of MSR's connections to the Grau government. Castro himself had become highly critical of the corruption and violence of Grau's regime, delivering a public speech on the subject in November 1946 that earned him a place on the front page of several newspapers. Instead, it was to the UIR that he grew closest to, although whether he ever became a member or not has remained unknown. In 1947, Castro joined a newly founded socialist party, the Party of the Cuban People (''Partido Ortodoxo''), which had been formed by veteran politician Eduardo Chibás (1907–1951). A charismatic figure, Chibás attracted many Cubans with his message of social justice, honest government, and political freedom. The Partido Ortodoxo publicly exposed corruption and demanded governmental and social reform. Though Chibás lost the election, Castro, considering Chibás his mentor, remained committed to his cause, working fervently on his behalf.

Meanwhile, the student gang violence had escalated after Grau had employed several prominent gang leaders, including members of the MSR, as officers in the police force, and Castro soon received a threat urging him to either leave the university and its political arena or be killed. He did not give in to the threat, instead going around with a gun and surrounded himself with friends who were similarly armed. Various accusations would arise in later years alleging that Castro carried out gang-related assassination attempts at this time, including of prominent UIR member Lionel Gómez, MSR leader Manolo Castro and university policeman Oscar Fernandez, but these are supported by "scant evidence" and remain unproven.

Latin American rebellions: 1947–1948

In June 1947, Castro learned of a planned international expedition to invade the Dominican Republic and overthrow its right-wing president, Rafael Trujillo, a military general widely seen as a dictator who had overseen a system of "repressive brutality" through the use of a violent secret police which routinely murdered and tortured opponents. An ally of the United States, Trujillo angered many across the world when he ordered the Parsley Massacre that killed 20,000–30,000 impoverished Haitian migrants. Castro had become a heavy critic of Trujillo's regime, rising to the presidency of the University Committee for Democracy in the Dominican Republic, and decided to join the military expedition, which was led by General Juan Rodríguez, a Dominican exile, and supported by Grau's Cuban government which feared Trujillo's militaristic behavior. The invasion was carried out on July 29, 1947, by around 1,200 men, most of whom were exiled Dominicans or Cubans, although other volunteers came from across Latin America. However, both Dominican and U.S. intelligence had gained foreknowledge of the event, and it was soon quashed by the Dominican army and the Cuban government, who had been pressured by the U.S. to cease their support for it. Whilst Grau's government immediately arrested many of those involved, Castro managed to escape the police by jumping off of the naval frigate he was aboard and swimming to shore in the dark of night.

The botched mission only served to further Castro's opposition to the Grau administration, and returning to Havana, he took a leading role in the student protests that were centred against the killing of a high school pupil by government bodyguards. The protests, accompanied by a U.S.-imposed crackdown on those considered to be communists, led to violent clashes between protesters and police in February 1948, in which Castro was badly beaten. It was at this point that his public speeches took on a distinctively leftist slant, condemning the social and economic inequalities of Cuba under the Grau government, something that was in contrast to his former public criticisms, which had centered around condemning corruption and U.S. imperialism. Castro's biographer Leycester Coltman would later remark that "Castro was not yet expressing a Marxist viewpoint, but he was moving in that direction."

After a quick visit to Venezuela and Panama, in April 1948 Castro traveled to the city of Bogotá in Colombia with a number of other Cuban students on a trip sponsored by the government of Argentine President Juan Perón, whose anti-imperialist politics impressed Castro. Once there, the assassination of popular leftist leader Jorge Eliécer Gaitán Ayala led to widespread rioting that came to be known as the Bogotazo. Leaving three thousand dead, the riots revolved around clashes between rightist Conservatives, who then controlled the country's government and who were backed by the army, and leftist Liberals who were supported by a number of Colombian socialist groups. Castro, along with his fellow Cuban visitors, joined in in support of the Liberal cause by stealing guns from a police station, but subsequent police investigations came to the conclusion that neither Castro nor any of the other Cubans had been involved in the killings.

Marriage and Marxism: 1948–1950

Returning to Cuba, Castro became a prominent figure in the widespread protests going on at the government's attempts to raise bus fares, with buses being the only form of transport available to most students and workers, many of whom would have had difficulty affording the higher fees. It was also in 1948 that Castro married Mirta Díaz Balart, a student from a wealthy Cuban family through whom he was exposed to the lifestyle of the Cuban elite. The relationship was a love match and was disapproved of by both of their families. Mirta's father gave them tens of thousands of dollars to spend in a three-month honeymoon in New York City, and the couple also received a U.S. $1,000 wedding gift from the military general and former president Fulgencio Batista, a friend of Mirta's family.

That same year, Grau decided not to stand for re-election, and his party instead nominated Carlos Prío Socarrás as their presidential candidate. Prío would go on to win the election, becoming President of Cuba. However, he faced widespread protests when members of the MSR, which by this time was allied to the police force, assassinated Justo Fuentes, a "self-taught black man" and prominent member of the UIR who was a friend and ally of Castro's. In response, Prío agreed to try to quell the gangs, but found them to be too powerful to control.

Castro had begun to move further to the left in his political views, being influenced by the writings of prominent Marxists like Karl Marx, Friedrich Engels and Vladimir Lenin. In doing so, he came to see the problems facing Cuba as being an integral part of capitalist society, or the "dictatorship of the bourgeoisie", rather than as simply the failings of corrupt politicians. Coming to believe the Marxist idea that true political change could only be brought about by a revolution led by the working class, Castro set about visiting Havana's poorest neighbourhoods, witnessing the nation's huge social and racial inequalities, and became active in the University Committee for the Struggle against Racial Discrimination.

In September 1949, Mirta gave birth to a son, Fidelito, and so the couple moved to a larger flat in Havana. Despite the fact that he had a new family to take care of, Castro continued to put himself at risk, staying active in the city's political arena and joining a new organisation, the September 30 Movement, which contained within it both communists and members of the Partido Ortodoxo. The purpose of the group was to oppose the influence of the violent gangs within the university, which President Prío had failed to control, instead offering many of their senior members jobs in government ministries. Castro volunteered to deliver a speech for the Movement on November 13, in which he exposed the government's secret deals with the gangs and identified many of their key members. Attracting the attention of the national press, the speech angered the gangs, and Castro was forced to go into hiding, first in various rural areas and then in the U.S. Returning to Havana several weeks later, Castro layed low and focused on his university studies, graduating from university as a Doctor of Law in September 1950.

Career in law and politics: 1950–1952

Now a Doctor of Law, Castro became a professional lawyer, founding his own legal partnership with two of his fellow leftist students, Jorge Azpiazu and Rafael Resende. Castro intended for their partnership to focus on helping poor Cubans to assert their rights, and as such it earned little money, with its main client being a timber merchant who paid them in timber to furnish their office. Castro himself cared little for money or material goods, something that his wife found difficult, particularly when their furniture was reposessed and their electricity cut off, in both instances because Castro had failed to pay his bills.

Castro remained active in politics, taking part in a high-school protest in Cienfuegos in November 1950 that involved students fighting a four-hour battle with police in protest at the Education Ministry's ban on the founding of student associations in schools. He was arrested and charged with using violence against police officers, but the magistrate later dismissed the charges. He also became an active member of the Cuban Peace Committee, a part of the international campaign led by British intellectual Betrand Russell to oppose western involvement in the Korean War. His hopes for Cuba still largely centred around Eduardo Chibás and his left wing Partido Ortodoxo; however Chibás had made a mistake when he accused Education Minister Aureliano Sánchez of purchasing a Guatamalan ranch with misappropriated funds, but was unable to substantiate his allegations. The government used this as an opportunity to go on the offensive against Chibás, accusing him of being a liar and a troublemaker. In 1951, while running for president again, Chibás shot himself in the stomach during a radio broadcast in an attempt to issue a "last wake-up call" to the Cuban people. Castro was present and accompanied him to the hospital where he died of his injuries.

Although his political views were further left than the Partido Ortodoxo, Castro believed that those parties on the far left, namely the PSP, were too unpopular to achieve a revolutionary leftist movement in Cuba, and for this reason stuck with the Ortodoxo. Seeing himself as the heir to Chibás, Castro wanted to run for Congress in the June 1952 elections, but senior party members feared his radical reputation and refused to nominate him. Instead he gained the support of enough Ortodoxo members in Havana's poorest districts to be nominated as a candidate for the House of Representatives, and put all his energies into campaigning. It was at the time that Castro held a meeting with General Fulgencio Batista, the former president who had recently returned to politics by winning a seat in the Senate and founding the Unitary Action Party; although they both opposed the Prío administration, their meeting never got beyond "polite generalities" with no indication that they would later become bitter enemies.

The Ortodoxo had gained a considerable level of support, and there was a "fair chance that the ''Ortodoxos'' and Castro would both have succeeded in the election." However, this was quashed in March 1952 when General Batista seized power in a military coup, removing the widely discredited President Prío from office, who then fled to Mexico. Subsequently declaring himself president, Batista cancelled the planned presidential elections, describing his new system as "disciplined democracy": however Castro, like many others, instead saw it as the establishment of a one-man dictatorship which would not benefit the Cuban populace. Although in his earlier democratic terms as president Batista had taken a centre-left stance, he now moved to the right and went on to solidify his ties with the United States, severing diplomatic relations with the Soviet Union, suppressing trade unions and persecuting socialist groups in Cuba. Intent on opposing the Batista administration, Castro brought several legal cases against them, arguing that Batista had committed sufficient criminal acts to warrant at least 100 years imprisonment and accusing various of his ministers of breaching labour laws, but these came to nothing, leading Castro to begin thinking of alternative ways to oust the new government.

Cuban Revolution

The Movement and the Moncada Barracks attack: 1952–1953

Finally becoming dissatisfied with the Ortodoxo and their policy of non-violent opposition to Batista's regime, Castro decided to form a group simply known as 'The Movement' that consisted of both a civil and a military committee; the former of these would conduct political agitation through an underground newspaper, ''El Acusador'' (''The Accuser''), whilst the latter would arm and train recruits to take violent action in order to bring down Batista. With Castro himself as the Movement's head, the organisation was based upon a clandestine cell system, with each cell containing ten members, none of whom knew the whereabouts or activities of the other cells. A dozen individuals formed the nucleus of the movement, many of whom were also dissatisfied Ortodoxo members, although from July 1952 the Movement went on a recruitment drive, and within a year it had around 1,200 members, organised into over a hundred cells, with the majority of members coming from the poorer districts of Havana. Although Castro's political ideology was that of revolutionary socialism, he avoided an alliance with the communist PSP, fearing that this would frighten away the social moderates who were members of the Movement, but did keep in contact with some of the PSP's members, who included his brother and fellow conspirator Raúl. He would later relate that the members of the Movement were on the whole simply anti-Batista, and few had strong socialist or anti-imperialist views, something which Castro attributed to "the overwhelming weight of the Yankees' ideological and advertising machinery" which he felt had suppressed class consciousness amongst Cuba's working class.

Castro's Movement was not the only militant group that wanted to oust Batista, for one of the Orthodoxo's founding members, the Professor of Philosophy Rafael García Bárcena, had also founded his own group, the National Revolutionary Movement (''Movimiento Nacional Revolucionaria'' – MNR), which consisted largely of middle-class members devoted to the cause, something in contrast to Castro's predominantly working class support base. In March 1953, the MNR had planned to attack and seize control of the barracks at Camp Colombia, but police had been alerted to the plot, with the conspirators being rounded up and tortured. In all, fourteen people were sentenced to imprisonment for the attack. Meanwhile, Castro had been having similar ideas, stockpiling weapons in order to lead the armed wing of the Movement in an attack on the Moncada Barracks, a military garrison just outside Santiago de Cuba in Oriente. The plan was for Castro's members to dress in army uniforms and arrive at the base in cars on July 25, the festival of St James, when many of the officers would be on leave or celebrating in the nearby town. The rebels would then seize control of the barracks before the alarm could be raised, raid the armoury and then escape before the army could bring in reinforcements. Supplied with a wealth of new weaponry, Castro believed that the Movement could arm local supporters and spark a revolution in Oriente, which was dominated by a population of impoverished cane-cutters. The plan was to then seize control of a radio station in Santiago, from which the Movement could broadcast their manifesto and promote widespread uprisings against Batista. In doing so, Castro's plan was directly emulating those of the 19th century Cuban independence fighters who had raided Spanish barracks, and in keeping with this Castro saw himself as the heir to independence leader and national hero José Martí, both leading national liberation struggles against foreign dominance.

Castro had gathered together 165 members of the Movement to take part in the mission, 138 of which were stationed in Santiago, with the other 27 instead positioned in Bayamo; the majority of these were young men from Havana and Pinar del Río, and he ensured that, with the exception of himself, none of the volunteers had children. The plan had been carefully orchestrated, and Castro ordered his troops not to cause bloodshed unless they met armed resistance.

The attack took place on July 26, 1953, but before it had even begun it ran into trouble; of the sixteen cars that had set out from Santiago, one broke down on the way and two others got separated from the main convoy. When they eventually reached the barracks, further problems arose and soon the alarm was raised by the guards, with most of the rebels being pinned down outside of the base by machine gun fire. Those that managed to get inside faced heavy resistance, and four of them were killed by gunfire before Castro, realising that he was heavily outnumbered, ordered his men to retreat. In the attack, the rebels had suffered 6 fatalities and 15 other casualties, whilst the government forces had faced a heavier toll, with 19 dead and 27 wounded. Meanwhile, some of the other rebels had taken over a civilian hospital, but as the main attack on the barracks failed, government soldiers stormed the hospital, rounding up the rebels, before torturing them for information and finally summarily executing 22 of them without trial. Those rebels that had been able to escape, and who included both Fidel and his brother Raúl, had assembled at their base, the Siboney Farm, where some debated surrender, whilst others wished to flee to Havana. Castro however, accompanied by 19 comrades, decided to set out for the rugged Gran Piedra mountains several miles to the north, where they could establish a guerrilla base and continue their revolutionary activities.

In response to the Moncada attack, Batista's government ordered a violent crackdown on all dissent (orchestrated by both the army and the SIM police), declaring martial law and imposing strict censorship on the media. Government propaganda began broadcasting falsities about the event, claiming that the rebels had murdered patients in the civilian hospital and asserting that the Movement was a communist group financed by the exiled President Prío (ignoring the fact that the latter was a fierce anti-communist). Despite this censorship, news and photographs soon spread of the army's use of torture and summary executions in Oriente, causing widespread public and even some governmental disapproval.

Arrest and trial: 1953

Over the next few days all of the rebels hiding in the mountains were rounded up by government forces and transported to a prison north of Santiago, although Castro was not executed on the spot as many of his comrades had been. Believing that Castro had been incapable of planning the attack by himself, the government accused politicians from the Ortodoxo and communist PSP of being involved in masterminding the attack, and in all 122 defendents, amongst them Castro, were put on trial on September 21 at the Palace of Justice in Santiago. Although they were censored from reporting on it, journalists were permitted to attend the proceedings, which proved an embarrassment for the Batista administration; acting as his own defence council, Castro convinced the three presiding judges to overrule the army's decision to keep all defendents handcuffed in court, before proceeding to argue that the charge with which they were all accused – of 'organising an uprising of armed persons against the Constitutional Powers of the State' – was incorrect, for they had risen up not against the Constitutional Powers of the State but against Batista, who had seized power in an unconstitutional manner. When asked who was the intellectual author of the attack, Castro claimed that it was the long deceased national icon José Martí, before quoting some of Martí's works that justified uprisings against tyrannical regimes.

As the trial went on, knowledge of the torture that army officers inflicted on some of those captured emerged, which included castration using a razor and the gouging out of eyes with bayonets; the judges agreed that full investigations into these crimes would have to be undertaken. These revelations proved to be a great embarrassment to the army, who tried unsuccessfully to prevent Castro from testifying any further by claiming that he was too ill to leave his cell. The trial came to an end on October 5, with all of the politicians and many of the rebels being acquitted, although fifty-five were sentenced to prison terms of between 7 months and 13 years. Castro was sentenced separately, on October 16, during which he proceeded to deliver a speech that would later be printed under the title of ''History Will Absolve Me'', in which he proclaimed that:

:I warn you, I am just beginning! If there is in your hearts a vestige of love for your country, love for humanity, love for justice, listen carefully... I know that the regime will try to suppress the truth by all possible means; I know that there will be a conspiracy to bury me in oblivion. But my voice will not be stifled – it will rise from my breast even when I feel most alone, and my heart will give it all the fire that callous cowards deny it... Condemn me. It does not matter. History will absolve me.

Although the maximum penalty for leading such an uprising was a 20 year prison sentence, Castro was ultimately sentenced to only 15 years, being imprisoned in the hospital wing of the Model Prison (''Presidio Modelo'') on the Isla de Pinos, sixty miles off of Cuba's southwest coast.

Imprisonment and the July 26 Movement: 1953–1955

Whilst imprisoned in the ''Presidio Modelo'' along with 25 of his fellow conspirators, Castro devoted himself to politics once more, changing the name of the Movement to the "July 26 Movement", in memory of the date of the failed Moncada attack. Forming a school for the prisoners, the Abel Santamaría Ideological Academy, Castro organised five hours a day of teaching, with himself and other Movement members lecturing on such subjects as ancient and modern history, philosophy and the English language. Making use of the prison library and gifts from friends outside of prison, he himself continued reading widely, enjoying the works of Marx, Lenin, and Martí but also reading books by Sigmund Freud, Immanuel Kant, William Shakespeare, Axel Munthe, Somerset Maugham and Fyodor Dostoyevsky, analysing most of them within a Marxist framework. He also corresponded with those outside of prison, trying to maintain control over his Movement without giving too much away to the prison censors, who read all of his letters, and also organised the publication and distribution of his ''History Will Absolve Me'' lecture. Although at first he had a fair amount of freedom within the prison, this came to an end after prison inmates embarrassed the guards by singing anti-Batista songs on a visit by the president in February 1954. In retaliation, the prison authorities removed most of the privileges that Castro and other prisoners were allowed, locking Castro himself up in solitary confinement indefinitely.

Meanwhile, Castro's wife Mirta, who did not share his obsession with political activism, had gained employment in the Ministry of the Interior, thereby working for Batista's government, something that she had been encouraged to do by her brother, who had been a friend and ally of Batista for many years. This had been kept a secret from Castro, who eventually found out about it on a radio announcement, and was appalled; he raged that he would rather die "a thousand times" than "suffer impotently from such an insult". Both Fidel and Mirta subsequently initiated divorce proceedings, with Mirta taking custody of their son Fidelito, something that angered Castro, who did not want his son growing up in a bourgeois environment.

In 1954, Batista's government finally went ahead with their earlier promises and held presidential elections, but no politicians had risked standing against Batista lest they face violent reprisals, and he won comfortably, with the election being widely recognised as fraudulent. The election had however allowed some political opposition to be openly voiced, and supporters of Castro and his Movement had begun agitating for an amnesty for all those imprisoned over the Moncada incident. Some politicians in the government suggested that such an amnesty would provide good publicity, and the Congress and Batista eventually agreed. Backed by the U.S. government and major corporations, and with a thriving economy, Batista believed that Castro would be no political threat to his regime, and on May 15, 1955 the prisoners were released.

Returning to Havana, Castro was met by his supporters, being carried along on the shoulders of students, and set about giving various radio interviews and press conferences. Now a single man again, Castro had sexual affairs with a number of women, including one of his devout supporters, Naty Revuelta, who conceived him a child named Alina, and another of his supporters, Maria Laborde, who conceived another child, Jorge Angel Castro. He also set about to strengthen his anti-Batista revolutionary Movement, welcoming members of the now defunct MNR into it, and establishing an eleven-person National Directorate of the 26 July Revolutionary Movement (or MR-26-7). However, despite these changes to its structure there was still dissent, with some members questioning the leadership of the MR-26-7, which was entirely under the control of Castro. When the dissenters presented to him a proposal that it be run by a democratic board rather than just himself, Castro dismissed it, arguing that a successful revolution could not be run by a committee; some of them subsequently abandoned the MR-26-7, labeling Castro a ''caudillo'' (dictator), although the majority accepted his reasoning and remained loyal to him.

Mexico and guerrilla training: 1955–1956

In 1955, a series of bomb attacks and violent demonstrations against Batista's administration led to a crackdown on dissent in Cuba, with Castro being placed under armed guard by his supporters to protect him from possible assasination attempts. His brother Raúl was accused of one such bomb attack and had to flee the county, with Fidel deciding to follow on July 7. Those members of the MR-26-7 that remained in Cuba were left with orders to prepare cells for revolutionary action in all of the country's main towns and cities, and await Castro's return, when he would bring with him an armed revolutionary army to topple Batista. He sent a letter to the country's political leaders and the press, declaring that "I am leaving Cuba because all doors of peaceful struggle have been closed to me. Six weeks after being released from prison I am convinced more than ever of the dictatorship's intention, masked in many ways, to remain in power for twenty years, ruling as now by the use of terror and crime and ignoring the patience of the Cuban people, which has its limits. As a follower of Martí, I believe the hour has come to take our rights and not beg for them, to fight instead of pleading for them."

The Castro brothers and a number of other MR-26-7 members travelled to Mexico, a country with a long history of offering asylum to left-wing exiles, where they felt that they would be welcomed by this exiled socialist community and a relatively tolerant government. Raul had befriended one of these socialists, an Argentine doctor and convinced Marxist-Leninist named Ernesto "Che" Guevara (1928–1967), who was a proponent of guerrilla warfare and who was keen to join the Cuban Revolution as a part of his deeply held belief in overthrowing U.S. imperialism in Latin America. Upon meeting Guevara, Fidel took a liking to him, later describing him as being "a more advanced revolutionary than I was." Another socialist revolutionary whom Castro began associating with was the Cuban-born Spaniard Colonel Alberto Bayo (1892–1967), who had fought for the leftist Republican side in the Spanish Civil War during the 1930s, before being exiled upon the victory of the fascist General Francisco Franco and his Falange. Bayo agreed to teach Fidel's rebels the skills in guerrilla warfare that they would need if they were to return to Cuba to battle Batista, clandestinely meeting them at various hired premises.

In desperate need of money to finance his activities, Castro went on a tour of the United States in search of wealthy sympathizers, including the exiled former President Prío (who contributed the considerable sum of $100,000), during which time he was monitored by agents of Batista's government who at one point allegedly orchestrated a failed plot to kill him. These agents also bribed Mexican police to arrest Castro and other MR-26-7 members in the country, but ultimately the revolutionaries were all released, particularly as several members of the Mexican government sympathized with their cause. Meanwhile, Castro had also kept in contact with the MR-26-7 agents who had remained in Cuba, where they had succeeded in getting a large clandestine support base in several towns in Oriente. Other militant groups had also sprung up to oppose Batista within the country, primarily from the ranks of the student movement; most notable of these was the Revolutionary Directorate (DR), which had been founded by the Federation of University Students (FEU) President José Antonio Echevarría, who traveled to Mexico City to meet with Castro, but the two disagreed widely on tactics, with Castro disagreeing with the young student's policy of support for indiscriminate assassinations of government figures.

Purchasing a decrepid old yacht, the ''Granma'', it was on the 25 November 1956 that Castro set sail from Tuxpan in Veracruz, Mexico with a group of 81 revolutionaries, armed with 90 rifles, 3 machine guns, around 40 pistols and 2 hand-held anti-tank guns. The 1,200 mile crossing to Cuba was harsh, and in the overcrowded conditions of the ship (which was designed to hold around 20 passengers), many of the men suffered from seasickness, and food supplies began to run low. At some points they had to bail water caused by a leak, and at another a man fell overboard, delaying their journey. The plan had been for the journey to take five days, and on the ''Granma'''s scheduled day of arrival, 30 November, members of the MR-26-7 in Cuba under the leadership of Frank Pais led an armed uprising against government buildings in Santiago, Manzanillo and several other towns. However, the crossing in the ''Granma'' ultimately lasted for seven days, and with Castro and his men unable to provide immediate back-up, Pais and those MR-26-7 members under his leadership dispersed to their homes after two days of intermittent attacks, having "suffered very few casualties and arrests".

Guerrilla war in the Sierra Maestra: 1956–1958

The ''Granma'' landed in Cuba on 2 December 1956, crashing in a mangrove swamp at Playa Las Coloradas, close to Los Cayuelos. Batista's forces had been expecting them, and within several hours of their arrival they were bombarded from a naval vessel, forcing them to flee inland, where they began heading for the Sierra Maestra in Oriente, a large forested mountain range from where they could lead a guerrilla war against Batista. At daybreak on 5 December they were unexpectantly attacked by a detachment of Batista's Rural Guard; in the confusion, the rebels scattering into different groups which continued making their journey to the Sierra Maestra independently. With only two comrades, Castro made it to the mountains, along the way meeting up with others who had survived the attack, but ultimately it was discovered that of the 82 rebels who had arrived on the ''Granma'', only 19 had made it to the Sierra Maestra, the rest being killed or captured by Batista's forces.

Setting up an encampment in the thick jungle of the Sierra Maestra, the survivors, who included Fidel Castro, Che Guevara, Raúl Castro and Camilo Cienfuegos, began launching attacks on small army posts in the region in order to steal weaponry; in January 1957 they attacked the outpost near to the beach at La Plata, defeating the soldiers stationed there (who Guevara, being a doctor, subsequently treated for any injuries), but executing the local ''mayoral'' (land company overseer) Chicho Osorio, who was despised by the local peasants and who had boasted of killing one of the MR-26-7 rebels several weeks previously. The execution of Osorio aided the rebels in gaining the trust of local people in the mountains, who typically hated the ''mayorals'' as enforcers of the much-despised wealthy landowners. Nonetheless, although the majority of the locals hated the army and the gentry, they were initially not particularly enthusiastic in their support for the guerrillas, viewing them with suspicion as outsiders. As trust grew between the two communities, some locals subsequently joined the rebels, although the majority of new recruits actually came from urban areas, travelling to the Sierra Maestra in order to aid the revolutionary effort.

With rising levels of support and more and more volunteers joining the rebel army, which now numbered over 200, in July 1957 Castro eventually divided his men into three columns, keeping charge of one and giving control of the others to his brother and Che Guevara. The MR-26-7 members operating in urban areas also continued agitating against the government, sending supplies to the Sierra Maestra rebels and on 16 February 1957 Castro met with other leading members of the group to discuss tactics, and it was here that he met Celia Sánchez, who would become a close friend and comrade of Castro's. The Cuban Revolution was not however simply contained to the MR-26-7, and across Cuba militant groups were beginning to rise up against Batista. Most notably, Echevarría and his DR had been carrying out bombings and acts of sabotage, leading the police to respond with mass arrests, the torture of suspects and extra-judicial killings. In March 1957 the DR launched an attack on the presidential palace, with Batista himself narrowly surviving, but the rebels were eventually defeated, and Echevarría was shot dead by police in the street as he attempted to issue a radio broadcast to the Cuban people. His death would prove beneficial for Castro, removing a charismatic rival to his leadership of the anti-Batista movement.

Although he was already a convinced Marxist-Leninist, Castro kept his beliefs a secret from many of the MR-26-7, something in contrast to Guevara and Raúl, whose beliefs were well known. In this way he hoped to gain a wider support base amongst those of other political persuasions, and in 1957 he met with leading members of the ''Partido Ortodoxo''. Castro and the ''Ortodoxo'' leaders Raúl Chibás and Felipe Pazos drafted and signed a document called the Sierra Maestra Manifesto in which they laid out their plans for a post-Batista Cuba. Rejecting the idea that Cuba should be run by a provisional military junta following Batista's demise, it demanded that a provisional civilian government be set up that was "supported by all" and which must implement agrarian reform, industrialisation and a campaign to wipe out illiteracy before introducing "truly fair, democratic, impartial, elections".

Batista's government censored the Cuban media, and so Castro felt it would be beneficial to reach out and contact foreign media sources in order to spread his message. Subsequently, a U.S. journalist from the ''New York Times'' named Herbert Matthews came to interview Castro in the Sierra Maestra, attracting interest to the rebel's cause in the United States and other parts of the world, turning him into something of a celebrity. The ''New York Times'' front page story presented Castro as a romantic and appealing revolutionary, and had exaggerated the number of troops and resources that he had at his command (an impression that Castro had deliberately given to Matthews), with Matthews even declaring that "Batista cannot possibly hope to suppress the Castro revolt". Soon, other reporters followed in Matthews' footsteps by travelling to the Sierra Maestra to interview Castro, sent by such news agencies as CBS, whilst a reporter from ''Paris Match'' actually stayed with the rebels for around four months, documenting their daily routine.

With the increasing number of attacks that Castro's guerrillas were making against army outposts in and around the Sierra Maestra, Batista's government decided to withdraw from all such posts in the region, and by the spring of 1958 the rebels controlled all of the mountainous areas in Oriente province, thereby having control over a hospital, schools, a printing press, slaughterhouse, land-mine factory and a cigar-making factory.

Countering Operation Verano: 1958

President Batista was coming under increasing pressure by 1958. His army's military failures in Oriente, coupled with his censorship of the media and the repressive techniques of torture and extra-judicial killings employed by the police and armed forces were being increasingly criticised both at home and abroad. Influenced by a wave of anti-Batista sentiment amongst their citizens, the U.S. government made the decision to stop supplying him with weaponry, which he had been using against the rebels, leading him to instead begin buying arms from the United Kingdom. The opposition movement used this as an opportunity to rise up across the country, with Castro being a supporter of the proposition of a general strike which would be accompanied by armed attacks by the MR-26-7. The strike began on 9 April, and whilst it received strong support in the centre and east of Cuba, in Havana and other urbanised western parts of the country most workers continued working as usual.

Batista's response was to launch an all-out-attack on Castro's guerrilla forces, known as ''Operation Verano''. The army began aerial bombardment of forested areas and villages that were suspected of aiding and hiding the militants, whilst 10,000 soldiers under the command of General Eulogio Cantillo surrounded the Sierra Maestra, driving north to the areas where the rebels were camped. However, despite their massive superiority of numbers and weaponry, the army were at a disadvantage, having no experience with guerrilla warfare or the mountainous region. Castro, who by this time had around 300 men at his command, avoided open confrontation, instead using land mines and ambushes to halt the enemy offensive. The army suffered heavy losses and a number of embarrassments; in June 1958 a battalion was trapped in a valley by the rebels and forced to surrender. Their weapons were confiscated, and they were handed over to the Red Cross. In the summer, the MR-26-7 went on the offensive, pushing the governmental forces back, out of the mountain range and into the lowlands, with Castro using his columns in a pincer movement to surround the main army concentration in Santiago. By November, Castro's forces had most of the provinces of Oriente and Las Villas under his control, and although the capitals of Santiago and Santa Clara remained in government hands, their grip on them was slipping.

Batista's fall and Cantillo's military junta: 1958–1959

The U.S. government had come to realise that Batista would probably lose the war, and fearing that Castro, under the influence of known Marxist-Leninists like Che Guevara, would displace U.S. interests with socialist reforms, they decided to support Batista's removal in support of a military junta led by centrist or right wing officers, believing that General Cantillo, who then commanded most of the country's armed forces, would be best placed to lead it. After being approached with this proposal, Cantillo decided to secretly meet with Castro to see if they could bring an end to the fighting, and ultimately it was agreed that the two would call a ceasefire, following which Batista would be apprehended and tried as a war criminal. However, Cantillo still had some loyalty to Batista, and warned him of Castro's intentions. Wishing to avoid a war crimes tribunal, Batista subsequently resigned on 31 December 1958, informing the armed forces that they were now under the control of Cantillo. With his family and closest advisers, Batista then fled into exile, taking with him an amassed fortune of more than US$ 300,000,000. The following morning Cantillo entered the presidential palace in Havana, proclaimed the Supreme Court judge Carlos Piedra to be the new President, and began appointing new members of the government.

Still in Oriente, Castro was furious at Cantillo's actions, recognising it as the establishment of a military junta and told his troops to end the ceasefire and continue on the offensive against government forces. The MR-26-7 put together a plan to oust the Cantillo-Piedra junta, freeing the high ranking military officer Colonel Barquin from the Isle of Pines prison (where he had been held captive for plotting to overthrow Batista), and commanding him to fly to Havana to place Cantillo under house arrest. Meanwhile, whilst there was widespread celebrations as news of Batista's downfall spread across Cuba on 1 January 1959, Castro gave an order to MR-26-7 members to take on the responsibility of policing the country, in order to prevent the widespread looting and vandalism that he had witnessed in the Bogotazo.

Whilst Cienfuegos and Guevara led their columns of soldiers into Havana onto 2 January, Castro entered Santiago, where he accepted the surrender of the Moncada Barracks, before giving a speech to the assembled crowds in which he invoked the 19th century wars of independence against the Spanish Empire. He proceeded to speak out against Cantillo's junta but highlighted that the majority of soldiers in the armed forces were honourable, and that only the few who had committed human rights abuses would be brought to justice. He also praised the role that women had played in the MR-26-7, and proclaimed that they would have equal rights in the new Cuba. Castro immediately became a heroic figure to the Cuban people, striking a "Christ-like figure" and wearing a medallion of the Virgin Mary, with cheering crowds meeting him at every town on his way to Havana, in most of which he would stay to give speeches, press conferences and interviews. U.S. and other foreign reporters noted that the public adulation of Castro was on an unprecedented scale.

Provisional government: 1959

Whilst still in the Sierra Maestra, Castro had made it clear that the lawyer Manuel Urrutia Lleó (1901–1981) should be the new Cuban president and leader of the provisional government. An established figure, Urrutia had defended several revolutionaries, including members of the MR-26-7, in court during the Batista administration, and it was for this reason that Castro believed he would make a good leader, being both connected to the Cuban establishment and favourable to the revolutionary cause. Following the house arrest of Cantillo and the ensuing collapse of the junta, Urrutia proclaimed himself to be provisional president, based purely on the support of Castro and his rebels rather than on any democratic consensus.

Law professor José Miró Cardona created a new government with himself as prime minister and Manuel Urrutia Lleó as president on January 5. The United States officially recognized the new government two days later. Castro himself arrived in Havana to cheering crowds and assumed the post of Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces on January 8.

On January 8, 1959, Castro's army rolled victoriously into Havana and would shortly thereafter declare that "power does not interest me, and I will not take it."

Fidel Castro sought to oust liberals and democrats, such as José Miró Cardona and Manuel Urrutia Lleó. In February professor José Miró Cardona had to resign because of Castro's attacks. On February 16, 1959, Castro was sworn in as Prime Minister of Cuba. Professor Miró soon went into exile in the United States, and would later participate in the Bay of Pigs Invasion against Castro's form of government. President Manuel Urrutia Lleó wanted to restore elections, but Castro opposed free elections. Castro's slogan was "Revolution first, elections later".

During this period Castro repeatedly denied being a communist. For example in New York on April 25 he said, "...[communist] influence is nothing. I don't agree with communism. We are democracy. We are against all kinds of dictators... That is why we oppose communism."

Between April 15 and April 26, Castro and a delegation of industrial and international representatives visited the U.S. as guests of the Press Club. Castro hired one of the best public relations firms in the United States for a charm offensive visit by Castro and his recently initiated government. Castro answered impertinent questions jokingly and ate hot dogs and hamburgers. His rumpled fatigues and scruffy beard cut a popular figure easily promoted as an authentic hero. He was refused a meeting with President Eisenhower. After his visit to the United States, he would go on to join forces with the Soviet leader, Nikita Khrushchev.

Castro started to organize attacks on President Manuel Urrutia Lleó. Castro himself resigned as Prime Minister of Cuba and later that day appeared on television to deliver a lengthy denouncement of Urrutia, claiming that Urrutia "complicated" government, and that his "fevered anti-Communism" was having a detrimental effect. Castro's sentiments received widespread support as organized crowds surrounded the presidential palace demanding Urrutia's resignation, which was duly received. On July 23, Castro resumed his position as premier and appointed Osvaldo Dorticós as the new president.

Premiership

As early as July 1959, Castro's intelligence chief Ramiro Valdés contacted the KGB in Mexico City. Subsequently, the USSR sent over one hundred mostly Spanish-speaking advisors, including Enrique Líster Forján, to organize the Committees for the Defense of the Revolution.

In February 1960, Cuba signed an agreement to buy oil from the USSR. When the U.S.-owned refineries in Cuba refused to process the oil, they were expropriated, and the United States broke off diplomatic relations with the Castro government soon afterward. To the concern of the Eisenhower administration, Cuba began to establish closer ties with the Soviet Union. A variety of pacts were signed between Castro and Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev, allowing Cuba to receive large amounts of economic and military aid from the USSR.

In June 1960, Eisenhower reduced Cuba's sugar import quota by 7,000,000 tons, and in response, Cuba nationalized some US$850 million worth of U.S. property and businesses. Health care was socialized. The new government took control of the country by nationalizing industry, redistributing property, collectivizing agriculture and creating policies that would benefit the poor. While popular among the poor, these policies alienated many former supporters of the revolution among the Cuban middle and upper-classes.

By the early autumn of 1960, the U.S. government was engaged in a semi-secret campaign to remove Castro from power.

In September 1960, Castro created Committees for the Defense of the Revolution, which implemented neighborhood spying in an effort to weed out "counter-revolutionary" activities.

By the end of 1960, all opposition newspapers had been closed down and all radio and television stations were in state control, run under the Leninist principle of Democratic Centralism. Moderates, teachers and professors were purged. He was accused of keeping about 20,000 dissidents held captive and tortured under inhuman prison conditions every year.

Groups such as homosexuals were locked up in concentration camps in the 1960s, where they were subject to medical-political "re-education". Castro's admiring description of rural life in Cuba ("in the country, there are no homosexuals") reflected the idea of homosexuality as bourgeois decadence, and he denounced "maricones" (faggots) as "agents of imperialism". Castro stated that "homosexuals should not be allowed in positions where they are able to exert influence upon young people". However, in August 2010, Castro called the sending of openly gay men to labor camps without charge or trial "moments of great injustice, great injustice!" saying that "if someone is responsible, it's me."

Loyalty to Castro became the primary criteria for all appointments on the island. The Communist Party strengthened its one-party rule, with Castro as the Prime Minister.

In the 1961 New Year's Day parade, Castro exhibited Soviet tanks and other weapons. The Soviet Union awarded him the Lenin Peace Prize later that year.

Bay of Pigs Invasion

The Bay of Pigs Invasion (known as La Batalla de Girón, or Playa Girón in Cuba), was an unsuccessful attempt by a US-trained force of Cuban exiles to invade southern Cuba with support from US government armed forces, to overthrow the Cuban government of Fidel Castro.

The plan was launched in April 1961, less than three months after John F. Kennedy assumed the presidency in the United States. The Cuban armed forces, trained and equipped by Eastern Bloc nations, defeated the exile combatants in three days.

Reaction: the socialist state

On May 1, 1961, Castro declared Cuba a socialist state and officially abolished multiparty elections. Critics noted that Castro feared elections would eject him from power. On the same day Castro announced to the hundreds of thousands in his audience that: }}

In a nationally broadcast speech on December 2, 1961, Castro declared that he was a Marxist-Leninist and that Cuba was adopting Communism. On February 7, 1962, the US imposed an embargo against Cuba. This embargo was broadened during 1962 and 1963, including a general travel ban for American tourists.

Cuban Missile Crisis

Tensions between Cuba and the U.S. heightened during the 1962 missile crisis, which nearly brought the U.S. and the USSR into nuclear conflict. Khrushchev conceived the idea of placing missiles in Cuba as a deterrent to a possible U.S. invasion and justified the move in response to U.S. missile deployment in Turkey. After consultations with his military advisors, he met with a Cuban delegation led by Raúl Castro in July in order to work out the specifics. It was agreed to deploy Soviet R-12 MRBMs on Cuban soil; however, American Lockheed U-2 reconnaissance discovered the construction of the missile installations on October 15, 1962 before the weapons had actually been deployed.

The U.S. government viewed the installation of Soviet nuclear weapons south of Key West as an aggressive act and a threat to U.S. security. As a result, the U.S. publicly announced its discovery on October 22, 1962, and implemented a quarantine around Cuba that would actively intercept and search any vessels heading for the island. Nikolai Sergevich Leonov, who would become a General in the KGB Intelligence Directorate and the Soviet KGB deputy station chief in Warsaw, was the translator Castro used for contact with Russians during this period.

In a personal letter to Khrushchev dated October 27, 1962, Castro urged him to launch a nuclear first strike against the United States if Cuba were invaded, but Khrushchev rejected any first strike response. Soviet field commanders in Cuba were, however, authorized to use tactical nuclear weapons if attacked by the United States. Khrushchev agreed to remove the missiles in exchange for a U.S. commitment not to invade Cuba and an understanding that the US would secretly remove American MRBMs targeting the Soviet Union from Turkey and Italy, a measure that the U.S. implemented a few months later.

Assassination attempts

Fabian Escalante, who was long tasked with protecting the life of Castro, estimated the number of assassination schemes or attempts by the CIA to be 638. Some such attempts allegedly included an exploding cigar, a fungal-infected scuba-diving suit, and a mafia-style shooting. Some of these plots are depicted in a documentary entitled ''638 Ways to Kill Castro''. One of these attempts was by his ex-lover Marita Lorenz whom he met in 1959. She allegedly agreed to aid the CIA and attempted to smuggle a jar of cold cream containing poison pills into his room. When Castro realized, he reportedly gave her a gun and told her to kill him but her nerve failed. Castro once said, in regards to the numerous attempts on his life he believes have been made, "If surviving assassination attempts were an Olympic event, I would win the gold medal."

According to the Family Jewels documents declassified by the CIA in 2007, one such assassination attempt before the Bay of Pigs invasion involved Johnny Roselli and Al Capone's successor in the Chicago Outfit, Salvatore Giancana and his right-hand man Santos Trafficante. It was personally authorized by the then US attorney general Robert Kennedy.

Giancana and Miami Syndicate leader Santos Trafficante were contacted in September 1960 about the possibility of an assassination attempt by a go-between from the CIA, Robert Maheu, after Maheu had contacted Johnny Roselli, a member of the Las Vegas Syndicate and Giancana's number-two man. Maheu had presented himself as a representative of numerous international business firms in Cuba that were being expropriated by Castro. He offered US$150,000 for the "removal" of Castro through this operation (the documents suggest that neither Roselli nor Giancana and Trafficante accepted any sort of payments for the job). According to the files, it was Giancana who suggested using a series of poison pills that could be used to doctor Castro's food and drink. These pills were given by the CIA to Giancana's nominee Juan Orta, whom Giancana presented as being an official in the Cuban government who was also in the pay of gambling interests, and who did have access to Castro.

After a series of six attempts to introduce the poison into Castro's food, Orta abruptly demanded to be let out of the mission, handing over the job to another, unnamed participant. Later, a second attempt was mounted through Giancana and Trafficante using Dr. Anthony Verona, the leader of the Cuban Exile Junta, who had, according to Trafficante, become "disaffected with the apparent ineffectual progress of the Junta". Verona requested US$10,000 in expenses and US$1,000 worth of communications equipment. However, it is unknown how far the second attempt went, as the entire program was cancelled shortly thereafter due to the launching of the Bay of Pigs Invasion.

United States embargo

José María Aznar, former Spanish Prime Minister, wrote that the embargo was Castro's greatest ally, and that Castro would lose his presidency within three months if the embargo was lifted. Castro retained control after Cuba became bankrupt and isolated following the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991. The synergic contraction of Cuban economy resulted in eighty-five percent of its markets disappearing, along with subsidies and trade agreements that had supported it, causing extended gas and water outages, severe power shortages, and dwindling food supplies.

In 1994, the island's economy plunged into what was called the "Special Period"; teetering on the brink of collapse. Cuba legalized the US dollar, turned to tourism, and encouraged the transfer of remittances in US dollars from Cubans living in the USA to their relatives on the Island. After massive damage caused by Hurricane Michelle in 2001, Castro proposed a one-time cash purchase of food from the U.S. while declining a U.S. offer of humanitarian aid.

The U.S. authorized the shipment of food in 2001, the first since the embargo was imposed. During 2004, Castro shut down 118 factories, including steel plants, sugar mills and paper processors to compensate for the crisis due to fuel shortages, and in 2005 directed thousands of Cuban doctors to Venezuela in exchange for oil imports.

Foreign relations

Soviet Union

Following the establishment of diplomatic ties to the Soviet Union, and after the Cuban Missile Crisis, Cuba became increasingly dependent on Soviet markets and military and economic aid. Castro was able to build a formidable military force with the help of Soviet equipment and military advisors. The KGB kept in close touch with Havana, and Castro tightened Communist Party control over all levels of government, the media, and the educational system, while developing a Soviet-style internal police force. Castro's alliance with the Soviet Union caused something of a split between him and Guevara. In 1966, Guevara left for Bolivia in an ill-fated attempt to stir up revolution against the country's government.

Cuba's relations with the Soviet Union became strained when Cuba continued to recognise Israel as an independent state; the Soviet Union and its satellite states in the Eastern Bloc (with the exception of the Socialist Republic of Romania) had broken of diplomatic ties with Israel the earlier year. Relations became even more sour when Alexei Kosygin, the Chairman of the USSR Council of Ministers, visited Cuba in the aftermath of the 1967 Glassboro Summit Conference. During the visit Kosygin pressured Castro to end diplomatic relations with Israel, Castro responded by demanding that the Soviet Union end diplomatic relations with the United States.

On August 23, 1968, Castro made a public gesture to the USSR that caused the Soviet leadership to reaffirm their support for him. Two days after the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia to repress the Prague Spring, Castro took to the airwaves and publicly denounced the Czech rebellion. Castro warned the Cuban people about the Czechoslovakian 'counterrevolutionaries', who "were moving Czechoslovakia towards capitalism and into the arms of imperialists". He called the leaders of the rebellion "the agents of West Germany and fascist reactionary rabble." In return for his public backing of the invasion, at a time when many Soviet allies were deeming the invasion an infringement of Czechoslovakia's sovereignty, the Soviets bailed out the Cuban economy with extra loans and an immediate increase in oil exports.

In 1971, despite an Organization of American States convention that no nation in the Western Hemisphere would have a relationship with Cuba (the only exception being Mexico, which had refused to adopt that convention), Castro took a month-long visit to Chile, following the re-establishment of diplomatic relations with Cuba. The visit, in which Castro participated actively in the internal politics of the country, holding massive rallies and giving public advice to Salvador Allende, was seen by those on the political right as proof to support their view that "The Chilean Way to Socialism" was an effort to put Chile on the same path as Cuba.

When Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev visited Cuba in 1989, the camaraderie between Havana and Moscow was strained by Gorbachev's implementation of economic and political reforms in the USSR. "We are witnessing sad things in other socialist countries, very sad things", lamented Castro in November 1989, in reference to the changes that were sweeping such communist allies as the Soviet Union, East Germany, Hungary, and Poland. The subsequent dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 had an immediate and devastating effect on Cuba.

Other countries

}}

On November 4, 1975, Castro ordered the deployment of Cuban troops to Angola in order to aid the Marxist MPLA-ruled government against the South African-backed UNITA opposition forces. Moscow aided the Cuban initiative with the USSR engaging in a massive airlift of Cuban forces into Angola. On Cuba's role in Angola, Nelson Mandela is said to have remarked "Cuban internationalists have done so much for African independence, freedom, and justice."

Cuban troops were also sent to Marxist Ethiopia to assist Ethiopian forces in the Ogaden War with Somalia in 1977. In addition, Castro extended support to Marxist Revolutionary movements throughout Latin America, such as aiding the Sandinistas in overthrowing the Somoza government in Nicaragua in 1979. It has been claimed by the Carthage Foundation-funded Center for a Free Cuba that an estimated 14,000 Cubans were killed in Cuban military actions abroad. Castro never disclosed the amount of casualties in Soviet African wars, but one estimate is 14,000, a high number for the small country.

Juan Antonio Rodríguez Mernier, a former Cuban Intelligence Major who defected in 1987, says the regime made large amounts of money from drug trafficking operations in the 1970s. The cash was to be deposited in Fidel's Swiss bank accounts "in order to finance liberation movements". Norberto Fuentes, a defected member of the Castro brothers' inner circle, has provided details about these operations. According to him, an operation conducted in cooperation with the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine helped Cuban intelligence to steal one billion by robbing banks in Lebanon during the 1975–76 civil war. Gold bars, jewelry, gems, and museum pieces were carried in diplomatic pouches via air route Beirut-Moscow-Havana. Castro personally greeted the robbers as heroes.

Cuba and Panama restored diplomatic ties in 2005 after breaking them off a year prior when Panama's former president pardoned four Cuban exiles accused of attempting to assassinate Cuban President Fidel Castro in 2000. The foreign minister of each country re-established official diplomatic relations in Havana by signing a document describing a spirit of fraternity that has long linked both nations. Cuba, once shunned by many of its Latin American neighbours, now has full diplomatic relations with all but Costa Rica and El Salvador.

Although the relationship between Cuba and Mexico remains strained, each side appears to make attempts to improve it. In 1998, Fidel Castro apologized for remarks he made about Mickey Mouse which led Mexico to recall its ambassador from Havana. He said he intended no offense when he said earlier that Mexican children would find it easier to name Disney characters than to recount key figures in Mexican history. Rather, he said, his words were meant to underscore the cultural dominance of the US. Mexican president Vicente Fox apologized to Fidel Castro in 2002 over statements by Castro, who had taped their telephone conversation, to the effect that Fox forced him to leave a United Nations summit in Mexico so that he would not be in the presence of President Bush, who also attended.

At a summit meeting of sixteen Caribbean countries in 1998, Castro called for regional unity, saying that only strengthened cooperation between Caribbean countries would prevent their domination by rich nations in a global economy. Caribbean nations have embraced Cuba's Fidel Castro while accusing the US of breaking trade promises. Castro, until recently a regional outcast, has been increasing grants and scholarships to the Caribbean countries, while US aid has dropped 25% over the past five years. Cuba has opened four additional embassies in the Caribbean Community including: Antigua and Barbuda, Dominica, Suriname, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines. This development makes Cuba the only country to have embassies in all independent countries of the Caribbean Community.

Castro was known to be a friend of former Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau and was an honorary pall bearer at Trudeau's funeral in October 2000. They had continued their friendship after Trudeau left office until his death. Canada became one of the first American allies openly to trade with Cuba. Cuba still has a good relationship with Canada. In 1998, Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chrétien arrived in Cuba to meet President Castro and highlight their close ties. He is the first Canadian government leader to visit the island since Pierre Trudeau was in Havana in 1976.

The European Union accuses the Castro regime of "continuing flagrant violation of human rights and fundamental freedoms". In December 2001, European Union representatives described their political dialogue with Cuba as back on track after a weekend of talks in Havana. The EU praised Cuba's willingness to discuss questions of human rights. Cuba is the only Latin American country without an economic co-operation agreement with the EU. However, trade with individual European countries remains strong since the US trade embargo on Cuba leaves the market free from American rivals.

In 2005, EU Development Commissioner Louis Michel ended his visit to Cuba optimistic that relations with the communist state will become stronger. The EU is Cuba's largest trading partner. Cuba's imprisonment of 75 dissidents and the execution of three hijackers have strained diplomatic relations. However, the EU commissioner was impressed with Fidel Castro's willingness to discuss these concerns, although he received no commitments from Castro. Cuba does not admit to holding political prisoners, seeing them rather as mercenaries in the pay of the United States.

Castro is seen as an icon by leaders of recent socialist governments in Latin America. Hugo Chávez of Venezuela is a long-time admirer and reached agreements with Cuba to provide subsidized petroleum in exchange for Cuban medical assistance. Evo Morales of Bolivia has described him as "the grandfather of all Latin American revolutionaries".

Succession issues

According to Article 94 of the Cuban Constitution, the First Vice President of the Council of State assumes presidential duties upon the illness or death of the president. Raúl Castro was the person in that position for the last 32 years of Fidel Castro's presidency.

Speculation on illness: 1998–2005

Due to the issue of presidential succession and Castro's longevity, there have long been rumors, speculation and hoaxing about Castro's health and demise. In 1998 there were reports that he had a serious brain disease, later discredited. In June 2001, he apparently fainted during a seven-hour speech under the Caribbean sun. Later that day he finished the speech, walking buoyantly into the television studios in his military fatigues, joking with journalists.

In January 2004, Luis Eduardo Garzón, the mayor of Bogotá, said that Castro "seemed very sick to me" following a meeting with him during a vacation in Cuba. In May 2004, Castro's physician denied that his health was failing, and speculated that he would live to be 140 years old. Dr. Eugenio Selman Housein said that the "press is always speculating about something, that he had a heart attack once, that he had cancer, some neurological problem", but maintained that Castro was in good health.

On October 20, 2004, Castro tripped and fell following a speech he gave at a rally, breaking his kneecap and fracturing his right arm. He was able to recover his ability to walk and publicly demonstrated this two months later.

In 2005, the CIA said it thought Castro had Parkinson's disease. Castro denied such allegations, while also citing the example of Pope John Paul II in saying that he would not fear the disease.

Transfer of duties, speculation on illness 2006–2007

On July 31, 2006, Castro delegated his duties as President of the Council of state, President of the Council of Ministers, First Secretary of the Cuban Communist Party and the post of commander in chief of the armed forces to his brother Raúl Castro. This transfer of duties was described at the time as temporary while Fidel recovered from surgery he underwent due to an "acute intestinal crisis with sustained bleeding". Fidel Castro was too ill to attend the nationwide commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the Granma boat landing on December 2, 2006, which also became his belated 80th birthday celebrations. Castro's non-appearance fueled reports that he had terminal pancreatic cancer and was refusing treatment, but on December 17, 2006 Cuban officials stated that Castro had no terminal illness and would eventually return to his public duties. However, on December 24, 2006, Spanish newspaper ''El Periódico de Catalunya'' reported that Spanish surgeon José Luis García Sabrido had been flown to Cuba on a plane chartered by the Cuban government. Dr. García Sabrido is an intestinal expert who further specializes in the treatment of cancer. The plane that Dr. García Sabrido's traveled in also was reported to be carrying a large quantity of advanced medical equipment. On December 26, 2006, shortly after returning to Madrid, Dr. García Sabrido held a news conference in which he answered questions about Castro's health. He stated that "He does not have cancer, he has a problem with his digestive system", and added, "His condition is stable. He is recovering from a very serious operation. It is not planned that he will undergo another operation for the moment." Although most Cubans acknowledge that they are aware Castro is seriously ill, most also seem worried about a future without Castro.

On January 16, 2007, the Spanish newspaper, ''El País'', citing two unnamed sources from the Gregorio Marañón hospital —who employs Dr. García Sabrido— in Madrid, reported Castro was in "very grave" condition, having trouble wound healing, after three failed operations and complications from an intestinal infection caused by a severe case of diverticulitis. However, Dr. García Sibrido told CNN that he was not the source of the report and that "any statement that doesn't come directly from [Castro's] medical team is without foundation." Also, a Cuban diplomat in Madrid said the reports were lies and declined to comment, while White House press secretary Tony Snow said the report appeared to be "just sort of a roundup of previous health reports. We've got nothing new." On January 30, 2007, Cuban television and the paper ''Juventud Rebelde'' showed fresh video and photos from a meeting between Castro and Hugo Chávez said to have taken place the previous day.

In mid-February 2007, it was reported by the Associated Press that Acting President Raúl Castro had said that Fidel Castro's health was improving and he was taking part in all important issues facing the government. "He's consulted on the most important questions", Raúl Castro said of Fidel. "He doesn't interfere, but he knows about everything." On February 27, 2007, Reuters reported that Fidel Castro had called into ''Aló Presidente'', a live radio talk show hosted by Hugo Chávez, and chatted with him for thirty minutes during which time he sounded "much healthier and more lucid" than he had on any of the audio and video tapes released since his surgery in July. Castro reportedly told Chávez, "I am gaining ground. I feel I have more energy, more strength, more time to study", adding with a chuckle, "I have become a student again." Later in the conversation (transcript in Spanish; audio) , he made reference to the fall of the world stock markets that had occurred earlier in the day and remarked that it was proof of his contention that the world capitalist system is in crisis.

Reports of improvements in his condition continued to circulate throughout March and early April. On April 13, 2007, Chávez was quoted by the Associated Press as saying that Castro has "almost totally recovered" from his illness. That same day, Cuban Foreign Minister Felipe Roque confirmed during a press conference in Vietnam that Castro had improved steadily and had resumed some of his leadership responsibilities. On April 21, 2007, the official newspaper ''Granma'' reported that Castro had met for over an hour with Wu Guanzheng, a member of the Politburo of the Chinese Communist Party who was visiting Havana. Photographs of their meeting showed the Cuban president looking healthier than he had in any previously released since his surgery.

As a comment on Castro's recovery, U.S. President George W. Bush said: "One day the good Lord will take Fidel Castro away", Hearing about this, Castro, who is thought to be atheist, ironically replied: "Now I understand why I survived Bush's plans and the plans of other presidents who ordered my assassination: the good Lord protected me."

In January 2009 Castro asked Cubans not to worry about his lack of recent news columns, his failing health, and not to be disturbed by his future death. At the same time pictures were released of Castro's meeting with the Argentine president Cristina Fernández on January 21, 2009.

Later years

Retirement: 2008-present

In a letter dated February 18, 2008, Castro announced that he would not accept the positions of president and commander in chief at the February 24, 2008 National Assembly meetings, saying "I will not aspire to nor accept—I repeat I will not aspire to or accept—the post of President of the Council of State and Commander in Chief," effectively announcing his retirement from official public life. The letter was published online by the official Communist Party newspaper ''Granma''. In it, Castro stated that his health was a primary reason for his decision, stating that "It would betray my conscience to take up a responsibility that requires mobility and total devotion, that I am not in a physical condition to offer".

On February 24, 2008, the National Assembly of People's Power unanimously chose his brother, Raúl Castro, as Fidel's successor as President of Cuba. In his first speech as Fidel's successor, he proposed to the National Assembly of People's Power that Fidel continue to be consulted on matters of great importance, such as defence, foreign policy and "the socioeconomic development of the country". The proposal was immediately and unanimously approved by the 597 members of the National Assembly. Raúl described his brother as "not substitutable". Castro had already given up the post of First Secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba on July 31, 2006.

Since his retirement, Castro has written a regular column in ''Granma'' called "Reflections", in which he writes on world affairs, and has occasionally made pre-taped appearances on television greeting visitors such as Hugo Chávez in his room. In July 2010, he made his first public appearance greeting workers at a science centre and gave his most prominent television interview since falling ill, on the Cuban program ''Mesa Redonda'' speaking for an extended period about tensions between the United States, Iran and North Korea.

On August 7, 2010, Castro gave his first speech to the Cuban National Assembly in four years. He addressed the body for ten minutes on international affairs and then remained to listen and respond to questions for a further 70 minutes. In his comments he urged the United States not to go to war with Iran or North Korea and warning about the dangers of a nuclear holocaust. When asked whether Castro may be re-entering government, Culture minister Abel Prieto told the BBC, "I think that he has always been in Cuba's political life but he is not in the government...He has been very careful about that. His big battle is international affairs."

On April 19, 2011, Castro resigned from the Communist Party central committee, thus stepping down as leader of the party. Raúl Castro was selected as his successor.

Politics

Political thought

Castro has proclaimed himself to be "a Socialist, a Marxist, and a Leninist". As a socialist, Castro believes strongly in converting Cuba, and the wider world, from a capitalist system in which business and industry is owned by private individuals and organisations, into a socialist system in which all business and industry are owned by the state on behalf of the populace. In the former, there is a class divide between the wealthy classes who control the means of production (i.e. the factories, farms, media etc) and the poorer working classes who labour on them, whilst in the latter, socialists argue, this class divide would be obliterated as society becomes more egalitarian.

Marxism is the socio-political theory developed by German sociologists Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels in the mid-19th century. It holds as its foundation the idea of class struggle; that society mainly changes and progresses as one socio-economic class takes power from another. Thus Marxists believe that capitalism replaced feudalism in the Early Modern period as the wealthy industrial class, or bourgeoisie, took political and economic power from the traditional land-owning class, the aristocracy and monarchy. In the same process, Marxists predict that socialism will replace capitalism as the industrial working class, or proletariat, seize power from the bourgeoisie through revolutionary action. In this way, Marxism is believed by its supporters to provide a scientific explanation for why socialism should, and will, replace capitalism in human society.

Leninism refers to the theories put forward by Russian revolutionary, political theorist and politician Vladimir Lenin, the leader of the Bolshevik Party who was a leading figure in the October Revolution that overthrew the Russian capitalist government and replaced it with a socialist alternative in 1917. Taking Marxism as its basis, Leninism revolves around putting forward ideas for how to convert a capitalist state into a socialist one. Castro used Leninist thought as a model upon which to convert the Cuban state and society into a socialist form.

Influences

Castro has described two historical figures as being particular influences on his political viewpoints; the Cuban anti-imperialist revolutionary José Martí (1853–1895) and the German sociologist and theorist Karl Marx (1818–1883). Commenting on the influence of Martí he related that "above all", he adopted his sense of ethics because:

:When he spoke that phrase I'll never be able to forget – 'All the glory in the world fits into a grain of corn' – it seemed extraordinarily beautiful to me, in the face of all the vanity and ambition that one saw everywhere, and against which we revolutionaries must be on constant guard. I seized upon that ethics. Ethics, as a mode of behaviour, is essential, a fabulous treasure.

The influence which Castro took from Marx on the other hand was his "concept of what human society is", without which, Castro argued, "you can't formulate any argument that leads to a reasonable interpretation of historical events."

Public image

By wearing military-style uniforms and leading mass demonstrations, Castro projected an image of a perpetual revolutionary. He was mostly seen in military attire, but his personal tailor, Merel Van 't Wout, convinced him to occasionally change to a business suit. Castro is often referred to as "Comandante", but is also nicknamed "''El Caballo''", meaning "The Horse", a label that was first attributed to Cuban entertainer Benny Moré, who on hearing Castro passing in the Havana night with his entourage, shouted out "Here comes the horse!"

During the revolutionary campaign, fellow rebels knew Castro as "The Giant". Large throngs of people gathered to cheer at Castro's fiery speeches, which typically lasted for hours. Many details of Castro's private life, particularly involving his family members, are scarce as the media is forbidden to mention them. Castro's image appears frequently in Cuban stores, classrooms, taxicabs, and national television. Despite this, Castro has stated that he does not promote a cult of personality.

Personal life

In his biography of the Cuban leader, entitled ''The Real Fidel Castro'' (2003), the Briton Leycester Coltman described the Cuban as being "fiercely hard-working, dedicated[,] loyal... generous and magnanimous" but also noted that he could be "vindictive and unforgiving" at times. He went on to note that Castro "always had a keen sense of humour and could laugh at himself" but could equally be "a bad loser" who would act with "ferocious rage if he thought that he was being humiliated." In her book, ''Red Heat: Conspiracy, Murder and the Cold War in the Caribbean'' (2011), the British historian Alex Von Tunzelmann commented that "though ruthless, [Castro] was a patriot, a man with a profound sense that it was his mission to save the Cuban people", contrasting him strongly to his Haitian contemporary François Duvalier.

Family

By his first wife Mirta Díaz-Balart, whom he married on October 11, 1948, Castro has a son named Fidel Ángel "Fidelito" Castro Díaz-Balart, born on September 1, 1949. Díaz-Balart and Castro were divorced in 1955, and she remarried Emilio Núñez Blanco. After a spell in Madrid, Díaz-Balart reportedly returned to Havana to live with Fidelito and his family. Fidelito grew up in Cuba; for a time, he ran Cuba's atomic-energy commission before being removed from the post by his father. Díaz-Balart's nephews are Republican U.S. Congressmen Lincoln Diaz-Balart and Mario Diaz-Balart, vocal critics of the Castro government.

Fidel has five other sons by his second wife, Dalia Soto del Valle: Antonio, Alejandro, Alexis, Alexander "Alex" and Ángel Castro Soto del Valle.

While Fidel was married to Mirta, he had an affair with Natalia "Naty" Revuelta Clews, born in Havana in 1925 and married to Orlando Fernández, resulting in a daughter named Alina Fernández-Revuelta. Alina left Cuba in 1993, disguised as a Spanish tourist, and sought asylum in the United States. She has been a vocal critic of her father's policies. Alina was assisted by Elena Diaz-Verson Amos, wife of AFLAC founder John Amos. Alina lived with Elena in Columbus, Georgia, for several years.

By an unnamed woman he had another son, Jorge Ángel Castro. Fidel has another daughter, Francisca Pupo (born 1953) the result of a one night affair. Pupo and her husband now live in Miami.

His sister Juanita Castro has been living in the United States since the early 1960s. When she went into exile, she said "I cannot longer remain indifferent to what is happening in my country. My brothers Fidel and Raúl have made it an enormous prison surrounded by water. The people are nailed to a cross of torment imposed by international Communism."

Religious beliefs

According to ''Washington Post'', Fidel Castro's letters from prison suggest that he " was a man of unusual spiritual depth – and a fervent believer in God. Addressing the father of a fallen comrade, he writes: " I will not speak of him as if he were absent, he has not been and he will never be. These are not mere words of consolation. Only those of us who feel it truly and permanently in the depths of our souls can comprehend this. Physical life is ephemeral, it passes inexorably. . . . This truth should be taught to every human being – that the immortal values of the spirit are above physical life. What sense does life have without these values? What then is it to live? Those who understand this and generously sacrifice their physical life for the sake of good and justice – how can they die? God is the supreme idea of goodness and justice.""

Castro was baptized and raised a Roman Catholic as a child but did not practice as one. In Oliver Stone's documentary ''Comandante'', Castro states "I have never been a believer", and has total conviction that there is only one life. Pope John XXIII excommunicated Castro in 1962 after Castro suppressed Catholic institutions in Cuba. Castro has publicly criticized what he sees as elements of the Bible that have been used to justify the oppression of both women and people of African descent throughout history.

In 1992, Castro agreed to loosen restrictions on religion and even permitted church-going Catholics to join the Cuban Communist Party. He began describing his country as "secular" rather than "atheist". Pope John Paul II visited Cuba in 1998, the first visit by a reigning pontiff to the island. Castro and the Pope appeared side by side in public on several occasions during the visit. Castro wore a dark blue business suit rather than fatigues in his public meetings with the Pope and treated him with reverence and respect. In December 1998, Castro formally re-instated Christmas Day as the official celebration for the first time since its abolition by the Communist Party in 1969. Cubans were again allowed to mark Christmas as a holiday and to openly hold religious processions. The Pope sent a telegram to Castro thanking him for restoring Christmas as a public holiday.

Castro attended a Roman Catholic convent blessing in 2003. The purpose of this unprecedented event was to help bless the newly restored convent in Old Havana and to mark the fifth anniversary of the Pope's visit to Cuba. The senior spiritual leader of the Orthodox Christian faith arrived in Cuba in 2004, the first time any Orthodox Patriarch has visited Latin America in the Church's history: Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I consecrated a cathedral in Havana and bestowed an honor on Fidel Castro. His aides said that he was responding to the decision of the Cuban Government to build and donate to the Orthodox Christians a tiny Orthodox cathedral in the heart of old Havana. After Pope John Paul II's death in April 2005, an emotional Castro attended a mass in his honor in Havana's cathedral and signed the Pope's condolence book at the Vatican Embassy. He had last visited the cathedral in 1959, 46 years earlier, for the wedding of one of his sisters. Cardinal Jaime Lucas Ortega y Alamino led the mass and welcomed Castro, who was dressed in a black suit, expressing his gratitude for the "heartfelt way the death of our Holy Father John Paul II was received (in Cuba)."

In his 2009 spoken autobiography, Castro said that that Christianity exhibited "a group of very humane precepts" which gave the world "ethical values" and a "sense of social justice", before relating that "If people call me Christian, not from the standpoint of religion but from the standpoint of social vision, I declare that I am a Christian."

Recognition and legacy

Various leftist governments across the world have granted Castro awards for his work in promoting socialism and providing international humanitarian aid. The Juche government of North Korea for instance awarded him "the Golden Medal (Hammer and Sickle) and the First Class Order of the National Flag", whilst Muammar Gaddafi's Arab socialist government of Libya bestowed upon him a "Libyan human rights award". On a visit to South Africa in 1998 he was warmly received by President Nelson Mandela. President Mandela gave Castro South Africa's highest civilian award for foreigners, the Order of Good Hope. Last December Castro fulfilled his promise of sending 100 medical aid workers to Botswana, according to the Botswana presidency. These workers play an important role in Botswana's war against HIV/AIDS. According to Anna Vallejera, Cuba's first-ever Ambassador to Botswana, the health workers are part of her country's ongoing commitment to proactively assist in the global war against HIV/AIDS,

In Harlem, Castro is seen as an icon because of his historic visit with Malcolm X in 1960 at the Hotel Theresa.

After the fall of apartheid and the independence of Namibia, the country's capital, the city of Windhoek, renamed many streets, including one that now bears the name of Fidel Castro Street

Honours and awards

Hero of the Soviet Union

Order of Lenin, three times; (Soviet Union) 1963, "for their successful struggle for freedom and independence of heroic Cuban people, who has made a worthy contribution to the great cause of peace and socialism and his great role in strengthening and development of the fraternal Soviet-Cuban"; 1972 and 1986 "for his contribution to the promotion of fraternal relations between the USSR and Cuba"

Lenin Peace Prize for Strengthening International Peace Among Peoples (Soviet Union, 1961)

Commemorative Medal for the 30th Anniversary of Victory in the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945 (Soviet Union, 1975)

Order of the October Revolution (Soviet Union, 1976)

Star of the Republic of Indonesia, Fourth Class

Guerrilla Star (Indonesia, 1960)

Order of the Star of the Romanian Socialist Republic, First Class (1972; "for special merits in the revolutionary struggle for national liberation and social development of Cuba, for the defense of national independence and sovereignty of the motherland socialism against imperialism, for the special contribution made to the expansion of multilateral relations of cooperation, international friendship and solidarity between the Communist Party of Cuba and the Romanian Communist Party, between the Republic of Cuba and the Socialist Republic of Romania, between Cuba and the Romanian people "

Order of the White Lion, First Class (Czechoslovakia, 1972)

Order of Georgi Dimitrov (Bulgaria, 1972)

Grand Cross of the Order of Polonia Restituta (1973)

Order of Courage (Libya) (1977)

Somali Order, First Class (1977)

Order of Jamaica (1977)

Order of Merit of Jamaica

Great Order of the Star Honor of Socialist Ethiopia (1978), for Cuban aid to victory in the Ogaden War

Jorge Dimitrov Prize for Peace (Bulgaria, 1980)

Order of the Gold Star (Vietnam, 1982)

Hero of the People's Republic of Korea

Order of National Flag, First Class (North Korea, 1986)

Order of Karl Marx (German Democratic Republic)

Collar of the Order of the Aztec Eagle (Mexico, 1987)

Gold Medal of the Senate of Spain (1988)

Order of Klement Gottwald (Czechoslovakia, 1989) "for outstanding personal merits for the expansion of fraternal and friendly partnership and cooperation between Cuban and Czechoslovak Communist parties, the two countries and their peoples"

Order Agostinho Neto (Angola, 1992)

Order of Merit of Duarte, Sanchez and Mella, Grand Cross Gold Plate (Dominican Republic, 1998)

Order of Good Hope, First Degree (South Africa, 1998)

Grand Cross of the Order Mali National (July 1998)

Order of Prince Yaroslav the Wise (Ukraine, 2000), for medical assistance to victims of the Chernobyl disaster

Independence Medal of Qatar (15 September 2000)

Order of the Republic of Yemen (2000)

Grand Collar of the Order of the Liberator (Venezuela, October 2000)

Grand Collar of the Order Agostura Congress (Venezuela, 2001)

Honorary Medal of the Algerian Liberation Army (May 6, 2001)

Order of the Crown of the Realm (Malaysia, 11/05/2001)

Medal of the City of Buenos Aires (2003)

Hero of Working with its Gold Medal for Hammer and Sickle (North Korea, 2006)

Order of National Flag First Class (North Korea, 2006) to "promote the reunification of the Korean peninsula and build socialism"

Amilcar Cabral Medal (Guinea Bissau, 2007) for "having contributed to the establishment and strengthening of Guinea Bissau"

Sports Merit Medal (Ministry of Sports of Ecuador, 2007)

Order of the ancient Welwitschia Mirabilis (Namibia, March 2008) "for his support of African liberation struggles"

Ubuntu Award (National Heritage Council of South Africa, 2008) "a life dedicated to solidarity and ethics, highlighting the importance of human values ​​and dedication to humanity"

Medal of Honor of Dominica (November 2008) for "the support provided by Cuba and its leader since independence in Dominica"

General Order of Omar Torrijos Herrera Division of Great Extraordinary Cross (Panama, January 2009)

Grand Collar of the Order of the Quetzal (February 2009) "in appreciation for the more than 17 million consultations and more than 40,000 operations of the Operation Miracle Eye, made by Cuban doctors for the benefit of the Guatemalan people"

Order of Oliver Reginald Tambo, Fellow in Grade Gold South Africa "for his contribution to the eradication of racism, colonialism, apartheid and inequality in human society"

Order of Honour and Glory (Russian Orthodox Church, October 19, 2008) - for his contribution to strengthening inter-religious cooperation in connection with the consecration of the church of Our Lady of Kazan in Havana

Order of the Eagle of Zambia, First Degree (Zambia, September 2009) "for having inspired many to fight for dignity and equality"

Order of Merit, first grade (Ukraine, March 2010) "for his important contribution to restoring the health of the children of Chernobyl, after an accident in 1986 in the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic"

General Eloy Alfaro Award (Ecuador, May 2010) for its "exceptional merit and dignity"

East Timor Order, Great Collar (November 2010) "for Cuban support in health and education"

Controversy and criticism

Dictatorship

Many observers refer to Castro as a dictator and his rule was the longest to-date in modern Latin American history.

Human rights abuses

The Human Rights Watch organization has suggested that Castro constructed a "repressive machinery" which "continues to deprive Cubans of their basic rights".

Castro's 49-year regime remains one of the most controversial in the history of Latin America. Scholar R. J. Rummel estimates the casualties of his regime to 73,000, with one study estimating over 119,000 and several others suggesting significantly lower figures.

Allegations of mismanagement

In their book, ''Corruption in Cuba'', Sergio Diaz-Briquets and Jorge F. Pérez-López Servando state that Castro "institutionalized" corruption and that "Castro's state-run monopolies, cronyism, and lack of accountability have made Cuba one of the world's most corrupt states". Servando Gonzalez, in ''The Secret Fidel Castro'', calls Castro a "corrupt tyrant".

In 1959, according to Gonzalez, Castro established "Fidel's checking account", from which he could draw funds as he pleased. The "Comandante's reserves" were created in 1970, from which Castro allegedly "provided gifts to many of his cronies, both home and abroad". Gonzalez asserts that Comandante's reserves have been linked to counterfeiting business empires and money laundering.

As early as 1968, a once-close friend of Castro's wrote that Castro had huge accounts in Swiss banks. Castro's secretary was allegedly seen using Zürich banks. Gonzalez wrote that Cuba's paucity of trade with Switzerland contrasts oddly with the National Office of Cuba's relatively large office in Zurich. Castro has denied having a bank account abroad with even a dollar in it.

Allegations of wealth

A KGB officer, Alexei Novikov, stated that Castro's personal life, like the lives of the rest of the Communist elite, is "shrouded under an impenetrable veil of secrecy". Among other things, he asserted that Castro has a personal guard of more than 9,700 men and three luxurious yachts.

In 2005, American business and financial magazine ''Forbes'' listed Castro among the world's richest people, with an estimated net worth of US$550 million. The estimates, which the magazine admitted were "more art than science", claimed that the Cuban leader's personal wealth was nearly double that of Britain's Queen Elizabeth II, despite anecdotal evidence from diplomats and businessmen that the Cuban leader's personal life was notably austere. This assessment was drawn by making economic estimates of the net worth of Cuba's state-owned companies, and used the assumption that Castro had personal economic control. ''Forbes'' later increased the estimates to US$900 million, adding rumors of large cash stashes in Switzerland. The magazine offered no proof of this information, and according to CBS News, Castro's entry on the rich list was notably brief compared to the amount of information provided on other figures. Castro, who had considered suing the magazine, responded that the claims were "lies and slander", and that they were part of a US campaign to discredit him. He declared: "If they can prove that I have a bank account abroad, with US$900m, with US$1m, US$500,000, US$100,000 or US$1 in it, I will resign." President of Cuba's Central Bank, Francisco Soberón, called the claims a "grotesque slander", asserting that money made from various state owned companies is pumped back into the island's economy, "in sectors including health, education, science, internal security, national defense and solidarity projects with other countries."

Authored works

Fully or partially by Fidel Castro

''Capitalism in Crisis: Globalization and World Politics Today'', Ocean Press, 2000, ISBN 1876175184

''Che: A Memoir'', Ocean Press, 2005, ISBN 192088825X

''Cuba at the Crossroads'', Ocean Press, 1997, ISBN 187528494X

''Fidel Castro: My Life: A Spoken Autobiography'', Scribner, 2008, ISBN 1416553282

''Fidel Castro Reader'', Ocean Press, 2007, ISBN 1920888888

''Fidel My Early Years'', Ocean Press, 2004, ISBN 1920888098

''Fidel & Religion: Conversations with Frei Betto on Marxism & Liberation Theology'', Ocean Press, 2006, ISBN 1920888454

''How Far We Slaves Have Come! South Africa and Cuba in Today's World'', by Nelson Mandela & Fidel Castro, Pathfinder Press, 1991, ISBN 087348729X

''Playa Giron: Bay of Pigs : Washington's First Military Defeat in the Americas'', Pathfinder Press, 2001, ISBN 087348925X

''Political Portraits: Fidel Castro reflects on famous figures in history'', Ocean Press, 2008, ISBN 1920888942

''The Declarations of Havana'', Verso, 2008, ISBN 1844671569

''The Prison Letters of Fidel Castro'', Nation Books, 2007, ISBN 1560259833

''War, Racism and Economic Justice: The Global Ravages of Capitalism'', Ocean Press, 2002, ISBN 1876175478

See also

2006–2008 Cuban transfer of presidential duties

Cuban dissident movement

July 26 Movement

Left-wing nationalism

Politics of Cuba

In other media:

''638 Ways to Kill Castro''

''Comandante''

''Fidel (2001 documentary)''

''Fidel (film)''

''My Life (Fidel Castro autobiography)''

References

Footnotes

Bibliography

Further reading

External links

;By Fidel Castro

Archive of Fidel Castro's speeches in 6 languages

Fidel Castro History Archive at Marxists Internet Archive.

Collection of Castro's speeches

"We Don't Hope for Favors from the Worst of Empires"

"Where Have All the Bees Gone?"

"In Spite of Everything: Reflections on the Pan-American Games"

"Time for an Alliance of Civlizations Against Empire"

Fidel Castro in His Own Words

;Images

Castro: Early Years (1953–1961) – slideshow by ''Life magazine''

Fidel Castro: A Revolutionary Life – slideshow by ''Life magazine''

Fidel Castro: A Life in Pictures – slideshow by ''BBC News''

Fidel Castro's Five Decades in Power – slideshow by ''The Washington Post''

Fidel Castro Resigns as President – slideshow by ''New York Times''

;About Fidel Castro

Fidel Castro: From Rebel to El Presidente – timeline by ''NPR''

Arthur Miller: A Visit With Castro by ''The Nation'', December 24, 2003

BBC Video: Fidel Castro Visits Boyhood Home of Che Guevara

''New York Times'' –- Interactive Feature: Three Days With Fidel

PBS American Experience Interactive site on Fidel Castro with a teacher's guide

Guide to the Cuban Revolution Collection, Manuscripts and Archives, Yale University Library

Deena Stryker Photographs of Cuba, 1963–1964, Duke University Libraries Digital Collections

NPR Audio: Cuba's Castro an Inspiration, Not a Role Model by Tom Gjelten, September 15, 2006

''The Guardian:'' "The Fidel I Think I Know" by Gabriel García Márquez, August 12, 2006

''Washington Post:'' Fidel Castro Will Always Lead Cuba, Locals Say February 22, 2008

|- |- |- |- |- |-

Category:1926 births Category:Anti-fascists Category:Attempted assassination survivors Category:Cold War leaders Category:Communist rulers Category:Communist Party of Cuba politicians Category:Cuba–United States relations Category:Cuban guerrillas Category:Cuban lawyers Category:Cuban people of Spanish descent Category:Cuban revolutionaries Category:Cuban soldiers Category:Cuban people of Canarian descent Category:Government ministers of Cuba Category:Living people * Category:Fidel Castro family Category:International opponents of apartheid in South Africa Category:Leaders who took power by coup Category:Marxist writers Category:People excommunicated by the Roman Catholic Church Category:People from Holguín Province Category:Presidents of Cuba Category:Heroes of the Soviet Union Category:Lenin Peace Prize recipients Category:Grand Crosses of the Order of the White Lion Category:Recipients of the Order of Lenin, three times Category:Recipients of the Order of the October Revolution Category:Grand Crosses of the Order of the Star of Romania Category:Recipients of the Order of Georgi Dimitrov Category:Grand Crosses of the Order of Polonia Restituta Category:Recipients of the Order of Jamaica Category:Recipients of the Order of Merit of Jamaica Category:Recipients of the Order of Karl Marx Category:Collars of the Order of the Aztec Eagle‎ Category:Recipients of the Order of Klement Gottwald Category:Recipients of the Order of Merit of Duarte, Sanchez and Mella Category:Recipients of the Order of Good Hope Category:Recipients of the Order of Prince Yaroslav the Wise Category:Collars of the Order of the Liberator General San Martin Category:Recipients of the Order of the Crown of the Realm Category:Recipients of the Order of Honour and Glory Category:Chevaliers of the Order of Merit

af:Fidel Castro ang:Fidel Castro ar:فيدل كاسترو an:Fidel Castro ast:Fidel Castro az:Fidel Kastro bn:ফিদেল কাস্ত্রো zh-min-nan:Fidel Castro be:Фідэль Кастра be-x-old:Фідэль Кастра bcl:Fidel Castro bs:Fidel Castro br:Fidel Castro bg:Фидел Кастро ca:Fidel Castro Ruz cv:Кастро Фидель cs:Fidel Castro cy:Fidel Castro da:Fidel Castro de:Fidel Castro dv:ފިޑެލް ކާސްޓްރޯ et:Fidel Castro el:Φιδέλ Κάστρο es:Fidel Castro eo:Fidel Castro eu:Fidel Castro fa:فیدل کاسترو fo:Fidel Castro fr:Fidel Castro fy:Fidel Castro ga:Fidel Castro gv:Fidel Castro gl:Fidel Castro gu:ફિડલ કાસ્ટ્રો ko:피델 카스트로 hy:Ֆիդել Կաստրո hi:फिदेल कास्ट्रो hsb:Fidel Castro hr:Fidel Castro io:Fidel Castro id:Fidel Castro is:Fidel Castro it:Fidel Castro he:פידל קסטרו jv:Fidel Castro kn:ಫಿಡೆಲ್ ಕ್ಯಾಸ್ಟ್ರೊ ka:ფიდელ კასტრო kk:Фидел Кастро sw:Fidel Castro ht:Fidel Castro ku:Fidel Castro la:Fidelis Castro lv:Fidels Kastro lb:Fidel Castro lt:Fidelis Kastro li:Fidel Castro ln:Fidel Castro hu:Fidel Castro mk:Фидел Кастро ml:ഫിദൽ കാസ്ട്രോ mr:फिडेल कॅस्ट्रो arz:فيدل كاسترو mzn:فیدل کاسترو ms:Fidel Castro mwl:Fidel Castro Ruz mn:Фидель Кастро my:ဖီဒယ်လ် ကက်စထရို nah:Fidel Castro nl:Fidel Castro ne:फिडेल कास्ट्रो ja:フィデル・カストロ no:Fidel Castro nn:Fidel Castro oc:Fidel Castro uz:Fidel Castro pl:Fidel Castro pt:Fidel Castro ro:Fidel Castro qu:Fidel Castro ru:Кастро, Фидель sa:फिदेल कास्ट्रो sq:Fidel Castro scn:Fidel Castru simple:Fidel Castro sk:Fidel Castro sl:Fidel Castro so:Fidel Castaro sr:Фидел Кастро sh:Fidel Castro fi:Fidel Castro sv:Fidel Castro tl:Fidel Castro ta:பிடல் காஸ்ட்ரோ tt:Фидель Кастро te:ఫిడెల్ కాస్ట్రో th:ฟีเดล กัสโตร tg:Фидел Кастро tr:Fidel Castro uk:Фідель Кастро vec:Fidel Castro vi:Fidel Castro fiu-vro:Castro Fidel war:Fidel Castro wuu:非台勒 加斯托洛 yi:פידעל קאסטרא yo:Fidel Castro zh-yue:卡斯特羅 bat-smg:Fidel Castro zh:菲德尔·卡斯特罗

Coordinates	33°51′35.9″N151°12′40″N
Name	Tila Tequila
Background	solo_singer
Birth name	Tila Nguyen
Alias	Tila Tequila
Birth date	October 24, 1981
Birth place	Singapore
Origin	Houston, Texas, United States
Instruments	Vocals
Genre	R&B;, pop rap, hip hop, pop rock, electropop
Occupation	glamour model, singer, rapper
Years active	2001–present
Website	misstila.com }}

Tila Nguyen (born October 24, 1981), better known by her stage names Tila Tequila and Miss Tila, is a Singaporean-born American model and television personality. She is known for her appearances in the men's magazines ''Stuff'', ''Maxim'', ''Penthouse'', her role as host of the Fuse TV show featuring performance striptease, ''Pants-Off Dance-Off'' and her position as the most popular artist on MySpace (according to page views) circa April 2006, along with Jeffree Star. She was raised in Houston, Texas, and now lives in Los Angeles, California. Her MTV reality show ''A Shot at Love with Tila Tequila'' aired for two seasons.

Early life and education

Nguyen was born in Singapore, where her family emigrated from Vietnam after the Vietnam War. Her mother is half French descent, while her father is full Vietnamese. Her siblings are Daniel and Terri. When she was one year old, she and her family lived in a neighborhood in Houston until they were admitted to a gated community run by a strict Buddhist temple. The family left the community when Nguyen was eight.

While in middle school, Nguyen became a tomboy and was eventually sent to a boarding school for six months for her combative behavior before transferring to another school. While in high school, she used her sister's identification card to enter nightclubs, where she began taking drugs and joined a gang. In her memoir, she would later explain that she felt "confused" and "lost" from various personal family and environmental issues and lost her virginity at 15. She turned to writing poems in an attempt to release powerful emotions, and friends outside the gang briefly helped turn her life around. However, her past caught up with her, and she fled to Queens, New York, at the age of 16. While still 16, she experienced a drive-by shooting in Houston. She reports having become pregnant and suffering a miscarriage the following year.

Nguyen graduated from Alief Hastings High School in 2000. She has cited the violent adolescence she had in Texas as her reason for becoming a model and moving to California in 2001. In a March 2003 interview, she revealed that she has taken some college classes but does not have a degree, stating, "I didn't want to go to college for an actual degree because there's nothing out there I like besides doing something that involves the entertainment industry."

Career

Modeling and acting

Nguyen's career began at the age of 18 when she was discovered at the Sharpstown Mall by a ''Playboy'' scout and was offered a chance to model nude for the magazine. She did a test shoot, then eventually moved to Southern California and was featured as ''Playboy''’s Cyber Girl of the week on April 22, 2002, and soon thereafter she became the first Asian Cyber Girl of the Month. A few more pictorials for the magazine followed.

Nguyen gained further popularity through the import racing scene. She has been featured on the cover of ''Import Tuner'' magazine, at car shows such as Hot Import Nights, and in the video game ''Street Racing Syndicate''. She was also the most frequent host on the first season of Fuse TV's dance show, ''Pants-Off Dance-Off'', on which a group of contestants strip to music videos.

Nguyen was featured on the cover of the April 2006 issue of ''Stuff'' magazine; in the interview, she claimed that her nickname "Tila Tequila" came about when she experimented with alcohol at the age of thirteen. She appeared on the August 2006 ''Maxim'' UK cover, was named #88 in their Hot 100 List, and also appeared in the December 2007 issue. She was ranked #100 on the Maxim Hot 100 list in 2008.

Nguyen made an appearance as one of the 12 strangers in the first game on the April 6, 2007 episode of NBC's game show ''Identity''. On March 4, 2007 she made a cameo appearance on the show "War At Home." She also appeared as a Hooters Girl in the 2007 film ''I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry''.

Nguyen has been featured on the front page of magazines such as Penthouse, King, Blender, and most recently Steppin' Out

Nguyen has provided her voice to shows such as ''Robot Chicken'' and ''The Cleveland Show''.

Reality television

In May 2007, Nguyen began filming for a reality show which first aired on MTV on October 9, 2007, as ''A Shot at Love with Tila Tequila''. The program is a bisexual-themed dating show where 16 straight men and 16 lesbian women compete for Nguyen's affections, the twist being that the contestants were not aware of her bisexuality until the end of the first episode. The ten-episode series is produced by SallyAnn Salsano and MTV.

The show led to a heated online debate between Nguyen and conservative Christians after an article appeared on ''The Christian Post'' on September 13, 2007. After seeing the article, Nguyen wrote an impassioned response in her blog on September 28, 2007, criticizing churches for "bashing" the gay community while thanking God for saving her life.

The show premiered for a second season in April 2008 and became a popular gossip subject in Asian media, such as ''AsianWeek''. The season finale premiered July 8, 2008, the winner being Kristy Morgan who declined her "shot at love". A new season of the series was announced. However, bisexual twin women were the bachelorettes.

Before ''A Shot at Love'', Nguyen was a contestant on VH1's ''Surviving Nugent'', a reality TV show where participants performed compromising tasks and stunts for rock star Ted Nugent.

Online business ventures

In July 2001, Nguyen started up her website entitled "Tila's Hot Spot". Originally the site featured information, quotes, blog, and pictorials requiring adult verification and a monthly fee. Later, the site was revamped to feature all-ages content and information to promote her career, business ventures, personal information, and a premium membership section including videos, non-nude picture galleries, blogs, and chat sessions. In 2008 the site was transformed into a social network.

During 2005, Nguyen launched Tilafashion.com, a site featuring her custom line of clothing for men and women. In 2006, Nguyen created a website entitled "Tila Zone," which features content to use on Myspace and other social networking websites including layouts, widgets, and clipart.

In December 2009, Nguyen partnered with Joe Francis to launch a dating site called "TilasHotSpotDating.com". The site is for people ages 18 and up. The site includes a free membership with basic access to the site, and paid membership which includes access to other areas of the site. Nguyen has taken part in webcam chats on the site.

In 2010, Nguyen launched a celebrity blog site, MissTilaOMG.com.

Music

At age 20, Nguyen acted on her interest in rock music and started looking for bands willing to let her join. She eventually assembled a band called Beyond Betty Jean, for which she was singer and songwriter. Following the breakup of Beyond Betty Jean, Nguyen started working in recording studios to sharpen her vocal skills and wrote music. Later, she became the lead singer of a band called Jealousy, which released a few songs online before breaking up. Around this time, she began to employ the stage name of "Tila Tequila".

In April 2006 during the taping of an interview with MTV's ''Total Request Live'' VJs, will.i.am announced that Nguyen had been signed to the Will.I.Am music group, a record label under A&M; Records. Despite this major-label signing, Nguyen independently released her first single "I Love U" through iTunes on February 27, 2007, justifying the independent release through her desire to become famous by herself. She also shot a music video for the song.

In March 2007, Washington-based record label The Saturday Team released an EP called ''Sex'', by Tila Tequila. On July 27, 2007, Italian website MusicBlob reported that The Saturday Team and distributor Icon Music Entertainment Services sued Nguyen over breaching her contract related to the album. However, Nguyen claimed in a MySpace bulletin that the EP was not authorized for release by her, and was removed from most retailers. The Saturday Team won a legal case, making ''Sex'' available for digital purchase.

On October 9, 2007, Nguyen released her second official single, "Stripper Friends". A video premiered via Yahoo! Music on February 26, 2008 and was released to iTunes on March 4, 2008. The single failed to chart. In April 2008, the single "Paralyze" and its accompanying music video were released via Yahoo! Music and iTunes.

On April 7, 2009 the "''I Love U Remixes''" EP was released to digital music retailers.

In April 2010, Nguyen officially released "I Fucked The DJ", along with an edited version entitled "I Love My DJ", through iTunes. The songs were released under the name "Miss Tila".

In May 2010, Nguyen released an EP to iTunes entitled "Welcome to the Darkside". The EP includes a cover of Depeche Mode's song "Blue Dress" and Yoko Ono's song "Walking on Thin Ice". Tila began a tour supporting the new EP in 2010, and at one of her tour stops in August 2010, Nguyen appeared at the Gathering of the Juggalos, a music festival founded by hip hop duo Insane Clown Posse. She was repeatedly pelted with rocks and bottles among other objects, and she vowed to take legal action against the organizers and promoters for the event.

Book

On December 2, 2008, Nguyen released a self-help book, ''Hooking Up with Tila Tequila: A Guide to Love, Fame, Happiness, Success, and Being the Life of the Party'' (ISBN 9781439101537).

Record Label and Management Firm

Nguyen has started her own record label called "Tila Tequila Records", and recently signed Raz-B of B2K. Apart from her record label, Nguyen has also started a management firm called "Little Miss Trendsetter Management LLC".

Personal life

On September 6, 2009, Nguyen was allegedly choked and restrained by former boyfriend Shawne Merriman, who was later arrested. San Diego district attorney Bonnie Dumanis decided not to charge Merriman after her office spent three days reviewing reports from the San Diego County Sheriff's Department. On November 17, 2009, Nguyen sued Merriman for $1.5 million. Several weeks later, Merriman countersued, alleging intentional interference with contract, unfair competition, and trademark infringement. She declined to respond to his more recent actions, and a default judgment was entered in his favor for $2 million.

In November 2009, Nguyen announced on Twitter that she is a lesbian, rather than bisexual, as she had previously proclaimed herself to be.

On December 9, 2009, Nguyen stated she was engaged to heiress Casey Johnson and was photographed with a diamond ring. On January 4, 2010, Johnson, who had long suffered from Type I Diabetes, was found dead. On February 4, 2010, the Los Angeles Coroner's Office announced that Johnson "died from diabetic ketoacidosis, a life-threatening condition caused by a lack of insulin and high blood sugar". She was reported to have neglected to take her medication, and died naturally. Nguyen has arranged plans to seek legal custody of Casey Johnson's adopted daughter, Ava.

Discography

EPs

''Sex'' (2007)

''Welcome to the Dark Side'' (2010)

===Singles===

"I Love U" (2007)

"Stripper Friends" (2007)

"Paralyze" (2008)

"I Fucked the DJ (I Love My DJ)" (2010)

"You Can Dance" (2011)

Filmography

Films

''I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry'' as a Hooters Girl (2007)

Television

''A Shot at Love with Tila Tequila'' as herself (2007)

''A Shot at Love II with Tila Tequila'' as herself (2008)

''The War at Home'' as herself (episode: The White Shadow)

''Robot Chicken'' as herself (episode: Help Me!)

''MADtv'' as herself (episode: #1412) (2009)

''The Cleveland Show'' as herself (episode: The Brown Knight)

''$h*! My Dad Says'' as Ting Ting (episode: Ed Goes to Court)

Books

Tila Tequila with Sarah Tomlinson, ''Hooking Up With Tila Tequila: A Guide to Love, Fame, Happiness, Success, and Being the Life of the Party'', Simon & Schuster Adult Publishing Group, December 2008 (ISBN 9781439101537)

Awards and nominations

{|class="wikitable" |- !Year !Award !Result |- |2007 |The Soup Awards for Entertainer of the Year | |- |rowspan=2|2008 |Spike Annual Guy's Awards for So Hot They're Famous | |- |Bravo's A-List Awards for A-List Drama Queen | |}

References

External links

Official website

Category:Living people Category:1981 births Category:21st-century women writers Category:American actors of Asian descent Category:American bloggers Category:American female singers Category:American memoirists Category:American musicians of Vietnamese descent Category:American people of French descent Category:American pop singer-songwriters Category:American television personalities Category:American women writers Category:American writers of Asian descent Category:Lesbian actors Category:Lesbian musicians Category:Lesbian writers Category:LGBT Asian Americans Category:LGBT musicians from the United States Category:LGBT television personalities Category:LGBT writers from the United States Category:Musicians from Houston, Texas Category:Musicians from Los Angeles, California Category:Participants in American reality television series Category:People from Queens Category:Singaporean emigrants to the United States

de:Tila Tequila es:Tila Tequila fr:Tila Tequila it:Tila Tequila lt:Tila Tequila nl:Tila Tequila ja:ティラ・テキーラ no:Tila Tequila pl:Tila Tequila pt:Tila Tequila ru:Тила Текила fi:Tila Tequila sv:Tila Nguyen th:ทีลา เทกีลา tr:Tila Tequila vi:Tila Nguyễn zh:提拉·特基拉