Fidel Castro, Cuba's former president, dies aged 90 Updated 29 minutes agoFidel Castro, Cuba's former president, dies aged 90

Fidel Castro, Cuba's former president, dies aged 90

Fidel Castro, Cuba's former president, dies aged 90 Updated 29 minutes agoFidel Castro, Cuba's former president, dies aged 90 

Updated 29 minutes ago

Cuban revolutionary leader Fidel Castro, who built a communist state on the doorstep of the United States and for five decades defied its efforts to topple him, has died at age 90.

With a shaking voice, President Raul Castro announced on state television that his older brother died at 10:29pm on Friday (local time). He ended the announcement by shouting the revolutionary slogan: "Towards victory, always."

Castro had been in poor health since an intestinal ailment nearly killed him in 2006.

He led Cuba for five decades and was the world's third longest-serving head of state, after Britain's Queen Elizabeth II and the King of Thailand.

He took power in a 1959 revolution and ruled Cuba for 49 years with a mix of charisma and iron will, creating a one-party state and becoming a central figure in the Cold War.

He was demonised by the United States and its allies but admired by many leftists around the world, especially socialist revolutionaries in Latin America and Africa.

Castro claimed he had survived 634 attempts or plots to assassinate him — mainly masterminded by the Central Intelligence Agency and US-based exile organisations.

They may have included poison pills, a toxic cigar, exploding molluscs, and a chemically tainted diving suit.

Another alleged plan involved giving him powder that would make his beard fall out and so undermine his popularity.

Despite the plots, a US-backed exile invasion at the Bay of Pigs and five decades of economic sanctions, Mr Castro outlasted nine US presidents — from Dwight Eisenhower to Bill Clinton, stepping down while George W Bush was in office.

His alliance with Moscow helped trigger the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962 — a 13-day showdown with the US that brought the world the closest it has been to nuclear war.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-11-26/fidel-castro-former-cuban-leader-dies-at-90-state-tv-reports/8060614