Fidel ruled Cuba as prime minister from 1959 to 1976 and then as president from 1976 to 2008.
He was proclaimed the protector of socialism and a great opponent of imperialism.
Castro also served as the first secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba from 1961 to 2011.
Fidel Castro's communist government survived the US enemy invasion, the Cold War-era nuclear crisis, numerous assassinations and decades of US economic sanctions.
