Fidel Castro was a person.
Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz ( [ fiˈðel aleˈhandɾo ˈkastɾo ˈrus ] ; August 13 , 1926 -- November 25 , 2016 ) was a Cuban revolutionary and politician who governed the Republic of Cuba as Prime Minister from 1959 to 1976 and then as President from 1976 to 2008 . Politically a Marxist -- Leninist and Cuban nationalist , he also served as the First Secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba from 1961 until 2011 . After participating in rebellions against right-wing governments in the Dominican Republic and Colombia , he planned the overthrow of Cuban President Fulgencio Batista , launching a failed attack on the Moncada Barracks in 1953 . After a year 's imprisonment , he traveled to Mexico where he formed a revolutionary group , the 26th of July Movement , with his brother Raúl Castro and Che Guevara . In the 2000s he forged alliances in the Latin American `` pink tide '' -- namely with Hugo Chávez 's Venezuela -- and signed Cuba up to the Bolivarian Alliance for the Americas .