Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz: A Brief Biography

Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz was born near Biran, Cuba on August 13th, 1926. Castro, who is the third child out of six children, grew up in an extremely wealthy environment. His father was from Spain and made a living off his well known sugar plantation. Growing up, Fidel was gifted intellectually and attended El Colegio de Belen. However, as a young man, he was much more interested in sports than school. In high school, he was one of the starting pitchers for the baseball team. At age 17, his last name was changed from Ruz to Castro after being formally recognized by his father. Fidel enrolled in law school at the University of Havana shortly after graduating in 1945. At the university, he became involved in politics and gained interest in Cuban nationalism, anti-imperialism, and …show more content…
In 1947, which was his second or third year at the university, Castro journeyed to the Dominican Republic in pursuit to overthrow the dictator Rafael Trujillo. Although the attempt failed, this was just the beginning for Fidel. In 1948, he wedded Mirta Diaz Balart. Despite the fact that this relationship ended in 1955, it gave Fidel the wealthy lifestyle that he was used to as a child, and it provided him with an enormous amount of political connections, which ended up being beneficial in his future endeavors. Then, when General Fulgencio Batista overthrew the government and set himself up as dictator, Fidel had a new motivation: to defeat Batista and take control of Cuba.
Fidel Castro was a key component to the Cuban Revolution. One of his first raids against Batista took place on July 26th, 1953. Castro, who brought together about 150 additional supporters, attacked the Moncada military barracks, which are in Santiago de Cuba. Santiago de Cuba is the second-largest city in Cuba, and it is about 540 miles from the capital city of