卡斯楚(1926/27年～)

Castro (Ruz), Fidel

1959年起古巴政治领袖。父为殷实的甘蔗种植园园主，哈瓦那大学法学院毕业後当律师，专为哈瓦那的穷人打官司。原本预定在1952年6月参加下议院议员的选举。然而，同年3月原古巴总统巴蒂斯塔将军推翻现任总统，并取消选举。卡斯楚在1953年组织一支叛军，反对巴蒂斯塔独裁，但行动失败，遭逮捕，被政府判处十五年监禁。1955年获特赦後前往墨西哥，和有志之士（包括格瓦拉）一起继续反巴蒂斯塔政的活动。1956年12月他率领一支武装远征队登陆古巴奥连特省海岸。结果除卡斯楚、格瓦拉等十二人之外，其余全部战死，他们退入山区，逐渐在全岛组织了游击队，声势越来越壮大。1959年1月1日巴蒂斯塔被迫出逃。卡斯楚掌权後，开始实施较激进的政策︰私人商业和工业国有化，没收美国人企业和地产，扩大医疗服务和消灭文盲，并无情地镇压所有的反对派。除了共产党外，禁止所有的政党存在。美国曾尝试推翻他，结果失败（参阅Bay of Pigs Invasion），陷入古巴飞弹危机。卡斯楚全面控制政治和经济，在经济上逐渐仰赖苏联的补助。1991年苏联瓦解，古巴经济陷入困境，卡斯楚试图振兴旅游业来弥补岁收的不足。

English version：

1926/27年～

Castro (Ruz), Fidel

Political leader of Cuba (from 1959). Son of a prosperous sugar planter, he became a lawyer, and worked on behalf of the poor in Havana. He was a candidate for Cuba's legislature when Gen. Fulgencio Batista overthrew the government in 1952. He organized a rebellion against Batista in 1953, but it failed; captured, he served time in prison, then went to Mexico, where he and others, including Che Guevara, continued to plot Batista's overthrow. He led an armed expedition back to Cuba in 1956; most of his men were killed, but a dozen survivors took refuge in the mountains, where they gradually managed to organize guerrillas throughout the island. On January 1, 1959, Batista was forced to flee the country. Castro nationalized private commerce and industry and expropriated U.S.-owned land and businesses, vastly expanded health services and eliminated illiteracy, and ruthlessly suppressed all opposition, outlawing all political groups but the Communist Party. The U.S. attempted to bring about his overthrow and failed (see Bay of Pigs), precipitating the Cuban missile crisis. Castro exercised total control of the government and economy, which was increasingly dependent on subsidies from the Soviet Union. The Soviet Union's collapse (1991) devastated Cuba's economy, and Castro has attempted to replace its former revenues by encouraging tourism.