With a heavy heart, we announce the death of the beloved Cuban revolutionary leader Fidel Castro on November 25, 2016 at age 90. Fidel Castro was born in 1926 in the province of Holguin, Cuba. He studied law at the University of Havana, and in 1953 he began his struggle against the US-backed Cuban dictator Fulgencio Batista. With a vibrant group of revolutionaries, Castro helped topple the Batista government four years later and become the head of the new Cuban state. The years that followed saw dramatic changes in Cuba, as Castro implemented agrarian reform and oversaw the spread of education and health care to previously neglected corners of the island. His administration was able to stand up to economic and political pressure from the United States, though he ultimately decided to embrace socialism as the ideology of the Cuban government. Though his reign was not without controversy, Fidel Castro's commitment to the Cuban people and his unwavering defense of the island's independence from powerful forces outside its borders will not be forgotten. In death, he joins his brother Raúl and his close associate Che Guevara in the Cuban pantheon of national heroes.