Key Dates in Fidel Castro's Government in Cuba

Here’s a look at the key days in the government of former Cuban leader Fidel Castro, who passed away on SaturdayJanuary 1, 1959: Castro's rebels take power as dictator Fulgencio Batista flees CubaJune 1960: Cuba nationalises US-owned oil refineries after they refuse to process Soviet oil. Nearly all other US businesses expropriated by OctoberOctober 1960: Washington bans exports to Cuba, other than food and medicineAlso Read: Cuba's Fidel Castro Made Revolutionary Mark on HistoryApril 16, 1961: Castro declares Cuba socialist stateApril 17, 1961: Bay of Pigs: CIA-backed Cuban exiles stage failed invasionFebruary, 7, 1962: Washington bans all Cuban importsOctober 1962: US blockade forces removal of Soviet nuclear missiles from Cuba. US President John F Kennedy agrees privately not to invade CubaAlso Read: Fidel Castro: A look at the Life of the Revolutionary LeaderMarch 1968: Castro's government takes over almost all private businessesApril 1980: Mariel boatlift: Cuba says anyone can leave; some 125,000 Cubans fleeDecember 1991: Collapse of Soviet Union devastates Cuban economy

August 1994: Castro declares he will not stop Cubans trying to leave; some 40,000 take to sea heading for United StatesMarch 18, 2003: Seventy-five Cuban dissidents sentenced to prisonJuly 31, 2006: Castro announces has had operation, temporarily cedes power to brother RaulAlso Read: Facts About Former Cuban Leader Fidel CastroFebruary 19, 2008: Castro resigns as presidentJuly 2010: Castro re-emerges after years in seclusion, visiting a scientific institute, giving a TV interview, talking to academics and even taking in a dolphin show at the aquariumApril 19, 2011: Castro is replaced by his brother Raul as first secretary of the Communist Party, the last official post he held. The elder Castro made a brief appearance at the Congress, looking frail as a young aide guided him to his seatApril 19, 2016: Castro delivers a valedictory speech at the Communist Party's seventh Congress, declaring that "soon I'll be like all the others. The time will come for all of us, but the ideas of the Cuban Communists will remain”November 25, 2016: Fidel Castro dies