“There is often talk of human rights, but it is also necessary to talk of the rights of humanity. Why should some people walk barefoot, so that others can travel in luxurious cars? Why should some live for thirty-five years, so that others can live for seventy years? Why should some be miserably poor, so that others can be hugely rich? I speak on behalf of the children in the world who do not have a piece of bread. I speak on the behalf of the sick who have no medicine, of those whose rights to life and human dignity have been denied.”

Cuban communist revolutionary and politician

Fidel Castro was a Cuban communist revolutionary and politician who led Cuba from 1959 to 2011. He is known as the central figure of the Cuban Revolution and as the country’s long-serving head of government and state. He served as prime minister from 1959 to 1976, president from 1976 to 2008, and first secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba from 1965 to 2011. His rule was shaped by Marxist-Leninist and Cuban nationalist ideas, and under his administration Cuba became a one-party communist state with nationalized industry and business, along with wide-ranging socialist reforms.