birth_place article_title name birth_date
birán , oriente province early life of fidel castro
 fidel castro yes august 13 , 1926
early life of fidel castro

the early life of cuban revolutionary and politician fidel castro spans the first 26 years of his life , from 1926 to 1952 .
born in birán , oriente province , castro was the illegitimate son of Ángel castro y argiz , a wealthy farmer and landowner , and his mistress lina ruz gonzález .
first educated by a tutor in santiago de cuba , fidel castro then attended two boarding schools before being sent to el colegio de belén , a school run by jesuits in havana .
in 1945 he began studying law at the university of havana , where he first became politically conscious , becoming a staunch anti-imperialist and critic of united states involvement in the caribbean .
involved in student politics , he was affiliated to eduardo chibás and his partido ortodoxo , achieving publicity as a vocal critic of the pro-u.s. administration of president ramón grau and his partido auténtico .
immersed in the university 's violent gang culture , in 1947 he took part in a quashed attempt to invade the dominican republic and overthrow the military junta of rafael trujillo .
returning to student politics , castro was involved with violent demonstrations in which protesters clashed with riot police , at which he became increasingly left-wing in his views .
traveling to bogotá , colombia , he fought for the liberals in the bogotazo before returning to havana , where he embraced marxism .
in 1948 he married the wealthy mirta díaz balart , and in september 1949 their son fidelito was born .
obtaining his doctorate of law in september 1950 , he co-opened an unsuccessful law firm before entering parliamentary politics as a `` partido ortodoxo '' candidate .
when general fulgencio batista launched a coup and overthrew the elected presidency , castro brought legal challenges against him , but as this proved ineffective , he began to think of other ways to oust batista .
