In this file photo released by the Cuban government's National Information Agency (AIN), Cuban President Fidel Castro, right, meets Argentina's former soccer star Diego Maradona on the program "Mesa Redonda" in Havana, Cuba. The Argentine soccer great who was among the best players ever and who led his country to the 1986 World Cup title before later struggling with cocaine use and obesity, died from a heart attack at his home in Buenos Aires. He was 60.
President Ram Nath Kovind and First Lady Savita Kovind pay floral tribute at the memorial of Fidel Castro, Carlos Manuel de Cespedes and the memorial of Mariana Grajales, during their visits to Santa Ifigenia Cemetery at Santiago, Cuba.
People hold photos of Cuba's late leader Fidel Castro in a march to commemorate one year since Castro was buried, in Santiago, Cuba. Castro, who led a rebel army to improbable victory, embraced Soviet-style communism and defied the power of 10 U.S. presidents during his half century rule of Cuba, died at age 90 in Cuba on Nov. 25, 2016.
A giant image hanging on Cuba's National Library Jose Marti shows Fidel Castro, right, Raul Castro, center, and Ernesto "Che" Guevara as the honor guard attends a ceremony during a visit by Ecuador's President Rafael Correa at the Jose Marti Monument in Havana, Cuba.
A soldier carries a life-size cut out of Cuba's late leader Fidel Castro during the May Day parade at Revolution Square in Havana, Cuba.
A soldier of the Revolutionary Armed Forces (FAR) stand in guard next to the tomb of Cuba's leader Fidel Castro at the Santa Ifigenia cemetery in Santiago, Cuba..
The motorcade carrying the ashes of the late Cuban leader Fidel Castro makes i's final journey towards the Santa Ifigenia cemetery in Santiago, Cuba.
A man uses a photograph of Fidel Castro to shade himself from the sun while waiting with others for the funeral procession carrying Castro's ashes to pass along the central road near Yarigua, Las Tunas province, Cuba.
Placed in a small coffin, covered by a Cuban flag, the ashes of Fidel Castro are driven along the streets of Havana, Cuba. Castro's ashes have begun a four-day journey across Cuba from Havana to their final resting place in the eastern city of Santiago.
A student stands at attention holding images of Fidel Castro at the university where Castro studied law as a young man, during a vigil in Havana, Cuba.
People wait in line at night to pay their final respects to the late Fidel Castro in the Revolution Plaza in Havana, Cuba.
Workers hang a giant banner with a picture of Cuba's late leader Fidel Castro as a young revolutionary, from the Cuban National Library building, in Havana, Cuba.
An honor guard fires off 21-gun salutes to mark the start of services paying tribute to the late Fidel Castro, in Havana, Cuba.
Students sign a book of condolences and a loyalty oath for the late Fidel Castro at a community center in the Ciudad Escolar Libertad neighborhood in Havana, Cuba.
Cubans carry photos of Revolution leader Fidel Castro on occasion of the upcoming 90th birthday of Castro in August, during a march celebrating workers day, at the Plaza de la Revolucion, on May 1, 2016 in Havana, Cuba. Cuba celebrates workers day shortly before the arrival of the first US American cruise ship to arrive in Cuba, on Monday, May 2, 2016.
Pope Benedict XVI meets with former Cuban President Fidel Castro (L) at the Vatican embassy on March 29, 2012 in Havana, Cuba. The Pope is finishing up his first trip to Cuba, fourteen years after Pope John Paul II visited the communist country.
Circa 1955, Cuban revolutionary Fidel Castro observes as a member of his guerilla army tests his shotgun, Sierra Maestro, Cuba.
Le Premier ministre et Commandant Fidel Castro, donne des ordres dans la zone des operations, a Cuba.
Fidel Castro (L) and Ernesto Che Guevara in Miguel Schultz jail in Mexico city in june-july 1956 (in june they were arrested by mexican police when they prepared expedition in Cuba). This photo may be the 1st one showing Castro and Guevara together.
Prime Minister Fidel Castro, (L) and Captain Antonio Nunez, (R) listen here to Argentine born Major Ernesto Guevara, Industry Minister, before boarding a plane for Montevidee, Uruguay. Between Guevara and Nunez is Captain Omar Fernandez, the New Transport Minister.
Prime Minister Fidel Castro, Soviet Deputy Premier Anastas Mikoyan and INRA Director Captain Antonio Nunez Jimenez try their hand at game fishing at Lago del Tesoro, Las Villas province during Mikoyan's nine-day Cuban visit.
Taking a moment out during his triumphal march across Cuba, rebel leader Fidel Castro gives an autograph to an admirer here, Jan 5th. While Cubans awaited Castro's arrival in Havana, cabinet ministers of the new Cuban government reported to their offices for the first time Jan. 7th, to begin a new program of reform and reconstruction. Photograph dated 1/7/1959.
This photo, filed June 1957, is believed to be the only existing one of Fidel Castro, leader of Cuba's revolutionary forces, and members of his staff and troop commanders made at a secret base near the coast. The group includes five captains, the entire top command of the guerilla army. From right are Capt. Juan Almeida, Capt. George Sotus, Fidel Castro, Capt. Raul Castro, the leader's younger brother (kneeling in the foreground), Capt. Guillermo Garcia, (wearing helmet at left), Lt. Universo Sanchez, Castro's adjutant, (third from left) and Dr. Ernesto Guevara, (second from left), the official physician of the rebel army.
Cuban Premier Fidel Castro, wearing sombrero and dressed in coal miner's overalls, joins in a folk group's performance in his honor during visit to a coal mine. He would later fly to Puerto Mont on November 18th, where he would board a destroyer November 19th for a sightseeing trip with President Salvadore Allende.
Cuban community celebrates the announcement that Fidel Castro died in front La Carreta Restaurant, in Miami. Within half an hour of the Cuban government’s official announcement that former President Fidel Castro had died, at age 90, Miami’s Little Havana teemed with life - and cheers.
In this file photo, Cuba's leader Fidel Castro, left, votes in favor of the modification on the Cuban Constitution, as his brother, Defense Minister Raul Castro, looks on during an extraordinary National Assembly session in the Convention Palace in Havana, Cuba. Former President Fidel Castro, who led a rebel army to improbable victory in Cuba, embraced Soviet-style communism and defied the power of 10 U.S. presidents during his half century rule, has died at age 90. The bearded revolutionary, who survived a crippling U.S. trade embargo as well as dozens, possibly hundreds, of assassination plots, died eight years after ill health forced him to formally hand power over to his younger brother Raul, who announced his death late Friday, Nov. 25, 2016, on state television.
In this Sunday, Sept. 20, 2015 photo, Pope Francis visits with Cuba's Fidel Castro, in Havana, Cuba. The Vatican described the 40-minute meeting at Castro's residence as informal and familial, with an exchange of books. Castro's wife Dalia Soto del Valle is pictured in the background.
In this photo taken on Sunday, Sept. 20, 2015 Pope Francis talks to Cuba's Fidel Castro, in Havana, Cuba. The Vatican described the 40-minute meeting at Castro's residence as informal and familiar, with an exchange of books.
Fidel Castro looks at a sculpture of himself, a gift from China's President Xi Jinping, in Havana, Cuba. Xi Jinping said that his state visit to Cuba is aimed at carrying forward the traditional friendship between the two countries jointly built by Castro and older generations of Chinese leaders. He also extended his best wishes to Castro for his 88th birthday next month.
Fidel Castro, center, meets Vladimir Putin, right, in Havana, Cuba. Putin began a Latin American tour aimed at boosting trade and ties in the region with a stop in Cuba, a key Soviet ally during the Cold War that has backed Russia in its dispute with the West over Ukraine.
Brazil's President Dilma Rousseff visits Cuba's former President Fidel Castro in Cuba, Havana. Rousseff is in Havana to attend the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States summit.
In this photo released by Cuba's state newspaper Granma Cuba's Fidel Castro shakes hands with the former soccer star Diego Maradona in Havana, Cuba.
In this picture taken Tuesday, April 9, 2013 and released by Cuba's state newspaper Granma, Cuba's Fidel Castro talks to children as he attends the inauguration ceremony of the Vilma Espín Guillois school, in Havana, Cuba.
FILE - In this March 8, 1977 photo Cuba Leader Fidel Castro sits with Moammar Gadhafi in Tripoli. Gaddafi died a brutal death in Sirte, his birthplace, where he was in hiding.
In this photo released by the state media Cubadebate web site, Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez, right, speaks to Cuba's Fidel Castro, left, as Chavez 's daughter Rosa looks on at an unknown location in Havana, Cuba on June 28, 2011. Chavez underwent surgery in Cuba two weeks ago and has been unusually quiet since then. Allies of Chavez have insisted the leader is firmly in control of the country and improving from his operation for a pelvic abscess. Chavez arrived to Havana on June 8 and had surgery on June 10.
Fidel Castro, left, and Cuba's President Raul Castro attend the 6th Communist Party Congress in Havana, Cuba. Raul Castro was named first secretary of Cuba's Communist Party, with his brother Fidel not included in the leadership for the first time since the party's creation 46 years ago.
Cuba's leader Fidel Castro gestures before delivering a speech during the 50th anniversary of the Committee for the Defense of the Revolution, CDR, in Havana, Cuba.
Cuban President Fidel Castro gives a dedication speech during the opening of the Museo de Bellas Artes of Cuba, (Museum of Beautiful Arts of Cuba) in Havana, Cuba.
Cuban President Fidel Castro talks with Iranian Hojjatoleslam Hajj Seyed Hassan Khomeini, nephew of the Iman Khomeini at the Revolution Palace in Havana, Cuba.
Cuban leader Fidel Castro arrives in a military jeep to the Mexican Embassy in Havana, Cuba. A bus crashed into the gates of the Mexican Embassy and an unknown number of Cubans rushed inside, where more than a dozen stood on the roof shouting anti-Castro slogans and vowing to throw themselves to the ground if police came in to get them.
Mexican Foreign Ministry’s officials at the Mariano Escobedo airport in Monterrey, Mexico welcome Cuban President Fidel Castro. Castro is in Monterrey to attend the U.N. International Conference on Financing for Development in Mexico. The 171 nations participating in the conference are discussing how to prevent economic collapses and debt problems in the developing world, and how to use dwindling aid more efficiently.
Cuban President Fidel Castro speaks during an address in Havana, Cuba. Castro, speaking publicly for the first time about his invitation to former United States President Carter to visit this Caribbean island, said he wouldn't mind hearing criticism from his guest. While not divulging his agenda, Carter said his intentions are to improve relations between Cuba and the United States, not to deliver an ultimatum.
Cuban leader Fidel Castro welcomes former US President Jimmy Carter and his wife Rosalynn at the Biotechnology center in Havana, Cuba. Carter is the first U.S. head of office, to visit communist Cuba since the 1959 revolution that put Castro in power.
Cuban President Fidel Castro, votes in favour of amending the country's constitution as his brother and Defense Minister Raul Castro looks on, in Havana. The parliament voted unanimously to consecrate its 41-year-old socialist system in the constitution as "irrevocable" and declare that capitalism will never return again.
Cuban President Fidel Castro attends a cultural event at the Karl Marx theatre. Carlos Marti, President of the Union of Artists and Writers of Cuba (middle) and Dark Abel, Minister of Culture (left) are also present. Despite its friction with Washington, Cuba's communist government held an unprecedented Fourth of July observance, saying it wanted to show the regime's respect for Americans and their traditions.
President of Cuba, Fidel Castro talks to reporters about the preparations of his government to face hurricane Isidore. Activating its highly organized civil defense program as Isidore approached, the communist government asked people to move to safer areas, to reduce damage to life and property. Castro talked to reporters after participating in a Congress of economists held in Havana.
Cuban leader Fidel Castro reacts as he is told that he delivered a 3-and-a-half hour speech at the meeting of the anti-ALCA meeting (ALCA, the Spanish acronym for Free Trade Agreement for the Americas) in Havana, Cuba.
Fidel Castro reviews a guard of honour with Jiang Zemin during a welcome ceremony in Beijing's Great Hall of the People, Wednesday, Feb. 26, 2003.
Tuesday February 19, 2008
Ailing leader Fidel Castro resigned as Cuba's president and commander-in-chief
after 49 years. On Tuesday February 19, 2008, he announced saying in a letter
published in official online media that he would not accept a new term when the
newly elected parliament meets. At 81 and ailing, he said he would remain with
them to "fight as a soldier in the battle of ideas." In the photo
Cuban President Fidel Castro, speaks with the press at the international airport
Jose Marti, Tuesday August 23, 2005 in Havana.
Also See: 'This
Is Not My Farewell...'
Members of the Retazos group release 80 doves to celebrate the 80th birthday of Fidel Castro during a ceremony at the Guayasamin foundation in Havana, Cuba.
A couple carrying a flag and a sign saying 'Castro is dead', join other revellers as they cruise the streets of Hialeah, Florida in the early morning hours of Tuesday, after hearing the news about Fidel Castro's health. The veteran Cuban leader has temporarily handed power to his brother Raul due to illness. A statement written by the President and read out on TV by his personal secretary said Castro had undergone surgery to halt internal bleeding. It is for the first time the Communist leader, who turns 80 later this month, has ceded control of the island nation in 47 years. Raul, the defence minister, has long been designated as his successor should he become incapacitated.
