PowerPoint Show by Andrew

♫ Turn on Speakers

Former President Fidel Castro, who led a rebel army to improbable victory in Cuba, embraced Soviet-style communism and defied the power of 10 US presidents during his half century rule, has died at age 90. With a shaking voice, President Raul Castro said on state television that his older brother died at 10.29pm on Friday. He ended the announcement by shouting the revolutionary slogan: "Towards victory, always!"

Castro's reign over the island-nation 90 miles from Florida was marked by the US-backed Bay of Pigs invasion in 1961 and the Cuban Missile Crisis a year later that brought the world to the brink of nuclear war. The bearded revolutionary, who survived a crippling US 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 Raul.

Three-year-old Fidel Castro is pictured here in 1929. 

Fidel Castro in 1936.

Fidel Castro in 1940.

The young Fidel Castro eating a lollipop with his schoolmates at Nuestra Senora de Dolores school in Santiago, Cuba, 1940.

The three Castro brothers in 1941 from left to right: Fidel, Raul, and Ramon. 

Castro, at 17 years old, plays basketball at Belen Jesuit High School in 1943. 

School photo of Fidel at the age of 17.

At the Jesuit Belen High School in Havana in 1944.

As a teenager hunting on his father's estate.

The caption describing Fidel Castro in his 1945 high school yearbook reads: Distinguished student and a fine athlete. Very popular. Will study law and we have no doubt he will have a brilliant future.

With Rafael del Pino, Armando Gali Menendez, and other UIR gang members in 1947.

In the Bogota, Colombia, riots of April 1948, with Enrique Ovares.

With wife Mirta Diaz-Balart in 1949.

Castro (pictured in the late 1950s) rallied support in Cuba's eastern Sierra Maestra mountains and three years later, tens of thousands spilled into the streets of Havana to celebrate Batista's downfall.

Castro, center, and his soldiers are pictured in January 1959 as they made a roadside appearance while moving toward Havana where a welcome was expected.

Castro is pictured with his brother Raul (left) and Camilo Cienfuegos (right) while operating in the Mountains of Eastern Cuba.

Castro, center, and Oklahoma Creek Indian missionary W.A. Reiford, right, wear war bonnets as Cuban Capt. Antonio Nunez Jimenez looks on in this July 1959 photo.

Castro was just 32 when he paid an unheralded visit to the U.S.Capitol in 1959.

Castro addresses a National Press Club luncheon in Washington, D.C in 1959.

Castro with revolutionary Ernesto 'Che' Guevara in Havana's famous '1830' restaurant four years after they led the revolution that toppled Cuban dictator Fulgencio Batista.

Cuba's revolutionary hero Ernesto 'Che' Guevara, Castro and Cuba's President Osvaldo Dorticos, right, attend a reception in 1960.

Fidel Castro is pictured with former Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev at the Lenin mausoleum in Moscow's Red Square on May Day in Moscow, Russia in May 1963.

Castro, then the prime minister of Cuba, plays baseball in Havana in this August 1964 photo.

Castro (pictured here at the UN General Assembly in 1970) was famous for his lengthy speeches. His 269-minute speech at the General Assembly in 1960 set a world record.

Castro smiles during a visit to the Cuban embassy in Algiers, Algeria in May 1972.

Among the first world figures to pay tribute to Castro was former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev (seated, left, alongside Castro signing a treaty of friendship and co-operation), who praised him for 'strengthening' his island nation.

Castro welcomes General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union Mikhail Gorbachev during the official ceremony for Gorbachev's arrival in Havana, on April 2, 1989.

Castro greets former Pope John Paul II at the Jose Marti International Airport in Havana in 1998.

Russian President Vladimir Putin (pictured with the former Cuban leader in 2000) described Castro as 'the symbol of an era' and a 'distinguished statesman'.

Castro holds hands with Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez as he recuperates from surgery in Havana in 2003. Castro's health forced him to relinquish power to his brother in 2008.

Castro met Pope Benedict XVI in a meeting in 2012.

Putin, pictured with Castro in 2014, said the former Cuban leader was an 'inspiration for many countries and peoples'.

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro (left) and Bolivia's Evo Morales (center) have paid tribute to Fidel Castro. They are pictured in Havana celebrating the former Cuban leader's 89th birthday last year.

French President Francois Hollande, pictured with Castro last year, described the former Cuban leader as a 'towering figure', but noted concerns over human rights under his regime.

Pope Francis, pictured with Castro in September last year, has described the former Cuban leader's death as 'sad news'.

Fidel Castro is presented with a portrait of himself as a young revolutionary by Vietnamese President Tran Dai Quang on November 15 in one of the last pictures taken of Castro before he died on Friday.

Fidel Castro, who led the country of Cuba for nearly half a century (pictured during his last official appearance in April this year) died Friday at the age of 90.

A woman walks past graffiti that reads 'Long live Fidel and Raul' in Havana, Cuba on Saturday.

A picture of Cuban late former president Fidel Castro hangs on a building in Havana, Cuba on Saturday.

Thousands of Cuban exiles cheered and celebrated in Miami, Florida in the wake of Castro's death.