Cuba's Fidel Castro: Timeline of events

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