By: Dmitriy Abramov Fidel Castro Ruz was born on August 13, 1926, on his family's sugar plantation near Biran, Oriente province, Cuba. His father, originally an immigrant laborer from Galicia, Spain, became owner of a 23,000-acre plantation. As a boy, Castro worked in the family's sugar cane fields and at 6 years old convinced his parents to send him to school. He attended two Jesuit institutions, the Colegio Lasalle and the Colegio Dolores, both in Santiago. In 1942 he entered the Colegio Belen, a Jesuit preparatory school in Havana. He was voted the school's best athlete in 1944. In 1945 Castro attended the University of Havana's Faculty of Law, and having earned a law degree, went into practice in 1950 in Havana with two partners. As a lawyer he devoted himself to helping the poor. Castro intended to campaign for a parliamentary seat in the election of 1952 but General Fulgencio Batista overthrew the government of President Carlos Prio Socarras and canceled the election. Castro went to court and charged the dictator with violating the constitution. The court rejected Castro's petition. With no legal recourse left, Castro organized an armed attack by 165 men on the Moncada Barracks in Oriente province on July 26, 1953. That attack and the one on Bayamo garrison failed completely. Half the attackers were killed; Castro and his brother Raul were taken prisoner. They were released in a general amnesty on May 15, 1955. Castro tried unsuccessfully to oppose the military dictatorship by peaceful means. He then went to Mexico and organized Cuban exiles into another fighting force called the 26th of July Revolutionary Movement. The group of 82 men launched an attack on the north coast of Oriente province on December 2, 1956. Again, the attempt met defeat; only 12 of the original attackers survived. Nevertheless, the 12 retreated to the Sierra Maestra mountains and from their mountain stronghold waged continuous guerrilla warfare against t...
