Cuban Dictator Fidel Castro Dies Aged 90

Fidel Castro, former leader of Cuba's communist revolution, has died at the age of 90. He was reportedly battling Diverticulitis -- a swelling of the colon -- at the time of his death.

Castro had ruled the Caribbean island since the 1959 revolution. He was in Command when Russia and the U.S. went to the brink of nuclear war during the Cuban Missile Crisis in October 1962, after Russians used the island to train nuclear weapons on the U.S.  

Due to health issues in 2006, Fidel Castro provisionally ceded much of his power to his younger brother Raúl, now 85, and two years later formally resigned as president. Raúl Castro, who had fought alongside Fidel Castro from the earliest days of the insurrection and remained minister of defense and his brother’s closest confidant, has ruled Cuba since then, although he has told the Cuban people he intends to resign in 2018.

According to USA Today President Raúl Castro delivered a statement on Cuban television to confirm his brother's death:

“With profound pain I appear to inform our people and the friends of the Americas and of the world, that today, November 25, at 10:29 pm, the Commander in Chief of the Cuban Revolution Fidel Castro Ruz died. In compliance with the expressed will of the Companion Fidel, his remains will be cremated. In the early hours of Saturday the 26th, the funeral organizing committee will provide our people with detailed information on the organization of the posthumous tribute that will be done for the founder of the Cuban Revolution. Ever onward to victory!”

The Cuban government will observe nine days of mourning for Fidel Castro. After two days of observances in Revolution Plaza in Havana, Castro’s ashes will be transported across the country to the eastern city of Santiago. The final Mass and ceremony will take place Dec. 4, and his ashes will be interred in the cemetery of Santa Ifigenia.

Fidel Castro leaves behind at least 9 children and an unconfirmed number of grandkids. May his soul Rest In Peace.