Fidel Castro rides into Havana alongside his fellow revolutionaries Che Guevara and Camilo Cienfuegos after leading his rebel army to victory over the forces of the dictator Fulgencio Batista.
Castro launched his audacious rebellion after a spell in jail and then exile in Mexico after a failed coup against Batista in 1953.Jav streamingHe met Guevara, who went on to be his second-in-command, in Mexico City where he and brother Raul launched the 26th of July Movement to overthrow the Cuban dictatorship.
In 1956, alongside 82 rebel fighters, they set sail for Cuba to wage a two-year guerrilla war against Batista, finally seizing power in January 1959.
he entrance to Cuba's Cienfuegos oil refinery
After Castro forms close ties with the Soviet bloc, the United States begins working to oust him, cutting purchases of sugar, Cuba's economic mainstay.
Castro, in turn, confiscates all US assets on the island including its oil refineries.
Washington responds by imposing a trade embargo, banning virtually all US exports to Cuba except for food and medicine.
It goes on to sever diplomatic ties on 3 January, 1961.
Castro declares his revolution to be socialist, and the next day about 1,400 Cuban exiles storm the beach at the Bay of Pigs on Cuba's south coast with the aim of overthrowing the increasingly left-wing regime.
Backed by the CIA, the invaders enjoy some early successes but they lack air and sea cover and are defeated after three days.
It is a hugely embarrassing turn of events for the US but a great victory for Castro, who took personal command of the Cuban forces and becomes a national hero.
The debacle also serves to strengthen ties between the Havana and Moscow.
Image Caption:A Soviet cargo ship loaded with missiles on its way back to Russia from Cuba in 1962
In response to the failed Bay of Pigs invasion, Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev agrees to Cuba's request to place nuclear missiles on the island.Jav Prestige
The agreement was reached at a secret meeting between Khrushchev and Castro in July 1962 and work on a number of missile launch facilities starts later that summer.
The US replies by setting up a military blockade to prevent further missiles from entering Cuba and demands those already there be dismantled and returned to the USSR.
After a tense stand-off, Krushchev agrees and the whole world breathes a sigh of relief. It was the closest the Cold War came to escalating into a full nuclear conflict.
Castro continues to tighten his grip on the economy and after taking over almost all private businesses he cancels all Christmas celebrations.
He says the sugar harvest, which takes place at that time of year, is vital to Cuba's economy and nothing must be allowed to get in its way.
Despite widespread protests, the ban remains in force until December 1997, just before Pope John Paul II's visit to the island.
Castro declared that, for that year only, Christmas would become a national holiday again, but the change stuckJav School Girl
Chủ Nhật, 27 tháng 11, 2016
Liberator or brutal dictator
Iconic figure" is an overused phrase.
But not when applied to Fidel Castro.Watch jav
He symbolised a whole period of history.
He represented, like few others, one side in that titanic clash of ideologies - the Cold War.
He did so both through what he achieved, and through the sheer power of his personality and charisma.
Apart from Queen Elizabeth II, he was truly the last of the iconic giants of the Twentieth Century left standing.
That much is indisputable.
:: Cubans mourn and celebrate death of Castro
But was this iconic giant a force for good? A liberator or a brutal dictator?
And were his failings of his own making, or were they forced upon him by America?
Castro's achievements were many. He was an effective military tactician, seizing power as a young commander leading a small force.
He was a clever politician, consolidating power then using the force of his personality and charismatic image to unite Cubans and galvanise them into transforming their country.
The Castro revolution raised living standards, reduced infant mortality and massively improved both education and healthcare.
He made science central to his revolution and Cuba's thriving bio-medical industry is testament to that.
But in other ways he failed his people and the promise of his own revolution.
Liberal supporters of his revolutionary regime were to become disappointed as he became more hardline.
He increasingly used repressive tactics to enforce his regime's grip on the country.
He was intolerant of dissent but, say dissidents, also of others simply because they didn't conform, whether sexually, religiously or otherwise.
In the 60s, his regime is alleged to have locked up thousands of homosexuals in camps where they underwent "re-education" attempts.
:: Castro in his own words Jav IDEA POCKET
Under the Castro regime, Cuba's economy has failed repeatedly.
It has raised living standards but only so far.
Its people are starved not of food but of material goods and opportunity.
Critics say that has forced many into prostitution and crime, and forced many thousands of others to flee, sometimes via the perilous sea crossing to Florida.
The blame for this? It depends on your point of view.
Supporters of Castro say he was forced to become more hardline by the failed CIA operation to topple him, the Bay of Pigs fiasco, and America's punitive and vindictive economic and political sanctions.
US efforts to isolate Cuba forced Castro to follow a more repressive dictatorial path, it is argued.
Only after the Bay of Pigs did Castro refer to his revolution as socialist and begin adopting Marxist-Leninist principles.
These may have contributed to initial economic progress but ultimately were disastrous for the economy.
And sanctions undoubtedly contributed to the country's economic failure.
But critics say much of the blame lies with Castro himself for micromanaging the economy and using disastrous centralised planning.
They claim his promise of a more liberal revolution was a deception, and that he planned to pursue repressive and brutal policies from the outset, believing they were the only effective means of revolution. Jav Office
Anyone in any doubt about the brutality of the regime and its policy to detain, torture and punish people simply for not adhering to its revolutionary path should read "Against All Hope", the account of Armando Valladares, held for 22 years in the Castro prison system.
Cuba's tragedy is that a revolution that toppled a nasty repressive regime in a poor corrupt country ended up producing an increasingly poor corrupt country run by a nasty repressive regime
But not when applied to Fidel Castro.Watch jav
He symbolised a whole period of history.
He represented, like few others, one side in that titanic clash of ideologies - the Cold War.
He did so both through what he achieved, and through the sheer power of his personality and charisma.
Apart from Queen Elizabeth II, he was truly the last of the iconic giants of the Twentieth Century left standing.
That much is indisputable.
:: Cubans mourn and celebrate death of Castro
But was this iconic giant a force for good? A liberator or a brutal dictator?
And were his failings of his own making, or were they forced upon him by America?
Castro's achievements were many. He was an effective military tactician, seizing power as a young commander leading a small force.
He was a clever politician, consolidating power then using the force of his personality and charismatic image to unite Cubans and galvanise them into transforming their country.
The Castro revolution raised living standards, reduced infant mortality and massively improved both education and healthcare.
He made science central to his revolution and Cuba's thriving bio-medical industry is testament to that.
But in other ways he failed his people and the promise of his own revolution.
Liberal supporters of his revolutionary regime were to become disappointed as he became more hardline.
He increasingly used repressive tactics to enforce his regime's grip on the country.
He was intolerant of dissent but, say dissidents, also of others simply because they didn't conform, whether sexually, religiously or otherwise.
In the 60s, his regime is alleged to have locked up thousands of homosexuals in camps where they underwent "re-education" attempts.
:: Castro in his own words Jav IDEA POCKET
Under the Castro regime, Cuba's economy has failed repeatedly.
It has raised living standards but only so far.
Its people are starved not of food but of material goods and opportunity.
Critics say that has forced many into prostitution and crime, and forced many thousands of others to flee, sometimes via the perilous sea crossing to Florida.
The blame for this? It depends on your point of view.
Supporters of Castro say he was forced to become more hardline by the failed CIA operation to topple him, the Bay of Pigs fiasco, and America's punitive and vindictive economic and political sanctions.
US efforts to isolate Cuba forced Castro to follow a more repressive dictatorial path, it is argued.
Only after the Bay of Pigs did Castro refer to his revolution as socialist and begin adopting Marxist-Leninist principles.
These may have contributed to initial economic progress but ultimately were disastrous for the economy.
And sanctions undoubtedly contributed to the country's economic failure.
But critics say much of the blame lies with Castro himself for micromanaging the economy and using disastrous centralised planning.
They claim his promise of a more liberal revolution was a deception, and that he planned to pursue repressive and brutal policies from the outset, believing they were the only effective means of revolution. Jav Office
Anyone in any doubt about the brutality of the regime and its policy to detain, torture and punish people simply for not adhering to its revolutionary path should read "Against All Hope", the account of Armando Valladares, held for 22 years in the Castro prison system.
Cuba's tragedy is that a revolution that toppled a nasty repressive regime in a poor corrupt country ended up producing an increasingly poor corrupt country run by a nasty repressive regime
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