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Fidel Castro

Fidel Castro

The latest stories on Fidel Castro, Cuban revolutionary, politician and former President of Cuba, including Cuba news and updates.

Born

13 Aug 1926

Industry

Politics

Job Title

Politician

Discover what your luck has in store in February 2026, the Metal Tiger month kicking off the Fire Horse year. Illustration: SCMP Graphics

What’s your luck like in February 2026, the Metal Tiger month?

A good start to the Lunar New Year for the Rat, Ox, Rabbit, Rooster, Dog and Pig – but challenges are in store for the Dragon, Horse, Goat and Monkey.

10 Feb 2026 - 2:00PM

Americas and the Caribbean

US pledges food aid for Cuba while putting squeeze on fuel supply

6 Feb 2026 - 3:35PM

US-Venezuela conflict

Trump team praises US media for keeping its Venezuela raid plan secret

6 Jan 2026 - 6:16PMvideocam

Explainer | US interventions in Latin America: a history of coups and conflicts

From the Bay of Pigs to Operation Condor to Venezuela in 2026: A look at the legacy of CIA-backed coups and US military action in Latin America.

3 Jan 2026 - 11:16PM

Members of Cuban Assault Brigade 2506 after their capture at the Bay of Pigs, Cuba, April 1961. Photo: AFP

Opinion | Don’t blame China for America’s authoritarian turn

America’s authoritarian turn didn’t start with Donald Trump and has been decades in the making.

19 Nov 2025 - 9:30AM

Who are US Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s parents, Mario and Oriales Rubio?

Marco Rubio has been criticised for saying his parents fled Cuba when Fidel Castro came to power, even though they were granted permanent residency in the US several years before.

10 Apr 2025 - 7:00PM

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Donald Trump’s 2025 inauguration

Marco Rubio wins unanimous US Senate approval to be secretary of state

Marco Rubio, who succeeds Antony Blinken, is known for his hawkish stance toward Latin American authoritarian states and China.

21 Jan 2025 - 12:09PMvideocam

Marco Rubio, who will be Donald Trump’s secretary of state. Photo: Reuters

Americas and the Caribbean

After hurricanes, 2 earthquakes jolt crisis-hit Cuba

Back-to-back earthquakes follow two hurricanes and two major blackouts in the last three weeks.

11 Nov 2024 - 3:05PM

Who is Jean-Luc Melenchon? French leftist leader defiant after victory

It did not take Jean-Luc Melenchon long to seize the moment after initial poll indications of the French legislative vote showed the leftist New Popular Front was headed to a shock victory.

8 Jul 2024 - 8:49AM

US-China relations

Reports of Chinese spy base in Cuba met with shrugs in Latin America

Latin American nations are strengthening relations with China amid a belief that Washington’s focus turned to the Middle East and now the Indo-Pacific.

1 Jul 2023 - 1:46AM

Illustration: Lau Ka-kuen

Bolivian general who captured communist Che Guevara dies 84

Gary Prado Salmon was in charge of a patrol in southwestern Bolivia on October 8, 1967, that captured the Argentine revolutionary and Bolivia’s Congress declared him a national hero.

8 May 2023 - 12:58AM

Bolivian former General Gary Prado Salmon in 2007. Salmon, who captured Argentine guerrilla Ernesto Che Guevara in 1967, died on Sunday at the age of 84. Photo: AFP

Americas and the Caribbean

Cuban singer-songwriter Pablo Milanes dies at 79

The ‘Yolanda’ singer toured the world as a cultural ambassador for Fidel Castro’s revolution and helped found Cuba’s ‘nueva trova’ movement.

22 Nov 2022 - 2:39PMvideocam

Mexico’s president: ‘No country should be excluded from Americas Summit’

Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, in his remarks in Cuba’s capital Havana, also said he would keep pushing for the US to lift its decades-old embargo against Cuba.

9 May 2022 - 3:19AMvideocam

Joe Biden hits Cuba with more sanctions over its crackdown on protesters

The sanctions target government ministers who are deemed responsible for the repression of protesters demanding more freedom, food and health care.

23 Jul 2021 - 8:16PM

A demonstrator in solidarity with protests in Cuba outside the White House on July 18. Photo: Getty Images / TNS

US-Cuba relations

Raul Castro attends mass government rally in Havana, Cuba after protests

Thousands attended the rally in Havana on Saturday to denounce the US trade embargo and reaffirm their support for Cuba’s revolution.

18 Jul 2021 - 7:18PMvideocam

Cuba’s President Miguel Diaz-Canel, left, and Raul Castro, centre, in Havana, Cuba on Saturday. Photo: EPA-EFE

End of the Castro era as Cuba welcomes first civilian leader, Miguel Diaz-Canel

Diaz-Canel said the outgoing leader, 89-year-old Raul Castro, would still be consulted on ‘strategic decisions’.

20 Apr 2021 - 7:45AMvideocam

US-Cuba relations

Raul Castro steps down, ending long era in Cuba

The 89-year-old leader confirmed he was resigning as head of the country’s Communist Party, but did not say who he would endorse as his successor.

17 Apr 2021 - 5:53AMvideocam

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Cuba talks on freedom of expression break down after rare protest

The communist government called off the talks with a group of artists and intellectuals, accusing them of receiving support from the US.

5 Dec 2020 - 4:43PMvideocam

Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel, right, attends a concert in Havana organized by youth organizations to condemn the media campaign in support of the San Isidro movement, on November 29. Photo: EPA-EFE

US imposes sanctions on Cuban defence minister

Washington blacklisted Leopoldo Cintra Frias and his children, Deborah Cintra Gonzalez and Leopoldo Cintra Gonzalez.

3 Jan 2020 - 7:28AM

Cuba appoints its first PM in 40 years, a position last held by Castro

The new prime minister Manuel Marrero has been tourism minister for 16 years, presiding over a rise in visitors and a hotel construction boom.

22 Dec 2019 - 9:15PM

Havana at 500: Cubans reflect on life in the capital city

Ordinary residents talk about the good and bad sides to life in a city that’s a byword for romance yet has struggled under a US embargo for decades.

16 Nov 2019 - 6:00PM

Since its founding by Spanish colonists, Havana has become a byword for Latin American romance and revolutionary nostalgia. Photo: Alamy

Cuba slams US at United Nations for banning Castro family

Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez tells the UN General Assembly that the action is ‘aimed at offending Cuba’s dignity’.

29 Sep 2019 - 2:23AM

Cuba’s Foreign Minister Bruno Eduardo Rodriguez Parrilla speaks at the 74th United Nations General Assembly. Photo: AFP

Chinese overseas

Residents dream of return to glory for Havana’s ‘Chinatown without Chinese’

With city celebrating its 500th anniversary, Cuban authorities have committed to restoring many areas, including Chinatown.

14 May 2019 - 9:01AM

Americas and the Caribbean

Castro era ends in Cuba as Miguel Diaz-Canel takes leadership

New leader is a Communist Party loyalist, and the transition is not expected to herald sweeping changes to the island’s state-run economy and one-party system

20 Apr 2018 - 5:44AM

Americas and the Caribbean

For first time since 1959, Cuba set to have a leader not named Castro

The country proposed Miguel Diaz-Canel as sole candidate to replace Castro as president; the proposal is subject to a vote later in the day and the result will be formally announced on Thursday

19 Apr 2018 - 1:26AM

Miguel Diaz-Canel queues at a polling station in Santa Clara, Cuba, during an election to ratify a new National Assembly on March 11. Photo: AFP

Fidel Castro’s eldest son ‘Fidelito’ commits suicide

2 Feb 2018 - 10:44PM

Fidel Castro Diaz-Balart, son of former Cuban leader Fidel Castro, poses with US socialite Paris Hilton as she takes a selfie during the gala dinner at the closing of the XVII Habanos Festival, in Havana, on February 27, 2015. Photo: Reuters

Fidel Castro laid to rest in Cuba, ending nine days of mourning

4 Dec 2016 - 10:52PM

Killing Castro: CIA plotted poisoned cigars and exploding seashells

4 Dec 2016 - 8:23PMvideocam

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