Fidel Castro dies at the age of 90

Former President of Cuba and the leader of the Communist revolution, Fidel Castro has died at the age of 90. He was ruling Cuba as a one-party state for nearly half a century till 2008, after which his brother Raul assumed the power. He governed as a Prime Minister of Cuba from 1959 to 1976 and then as a President of Cuba from 1976 to 2008. He led a coup in 1959 which led to the overthrow of the US-backed regime of former Cuban president Fulgencio Batista. Castro remained hostile to the United States throughout his life.

Castro has been praised by his supporters as a man who ended years of corrupt rule and gave people access to education, health and housing. But his opponents accuse him of his brutality in suppressing opposition. Though due to his illness he was seen very rarely in the public, he continued to write regularly for Granma, the Communist Party newspaper.