---
title: "Fidel Castro Takes Power"
year: 1959
country: "Cuba"
canonical: "https://recap.at/1959/castro-revolution-cuba"
slug: "castro-revolution-cuba"
recapType: "global_event"
startDate: "1959-01-01"
---

# Fidel Castro Takes Power

> Castro's revolutionary forces ousted Batista and established the Western Hemisphere's first communist state, reshaping Cold War geopolitics for six decades.

## Summary

Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz was a Cuban communist revolutionary and statesman who was the leader of Cuba from 1959 to 2008. He served as prime minister from 1959 to 1976 and president from 1976 to 2008. Ideologically a Marxist–Leninist and Cuban nationalist, he also served as the first secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba from 1965 until 2011. Under his administration, Cuba became a one-party communist state; industry and business were nationalized, and socialist reforms were implemented throughout society.

## Sources

- [Fidel Castro](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fidel_Castro) - Wikipedia

---
Canonical: https://recap.at/1959/castro-revolution-cuba