Chronology

13/08/1926
  • Birth in the small hours at Manacas Farm, Birán, Mayarí, in the former Oriente province (now Holguín province), of Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz, son of Ángel Castro Argíz and Lina Ruz González.
01/09/1930
  • Fidel's first day at Birán's Mixed Rural School No.15. He is just 4 years old and attends this state school as an occasional pupil.
05/01/1932
  • Enrols officially as a pupil of the Birán state school.
01/06/1933
  • Sent by his parents, together with his sister Angelita, to Santiago de Cuba to continue their schooling. They move into the house of the teacher Eufrasia Feliú, in straightened circumstances and sorely missing family life in Birán. He does not attend the school and receives lessons at the house.
18/12/1933
  • His mother Lina visits Santiago de Cuba and decides to take the children back to Birán, when she realizes the hardships they are enduring, despite the fact that their father was sending the teacher Eufrasia Feliú enough money for their keep.
06/12/1934
  • Eufrasia Feliú convinces Ángel and Lina of the benefits of schooling in Santiago de Cuba and promises to look after the children better. Fidel and Angelita go back to Santiago.
08/01/1935
  • He enrols at the Hermanos La Salle Catholic school, for the second half of his first academic year of primary education.
19/01/1935
  • He is baptized at Santa Iglesia y Arzobispado in Santiago de Cuba. He is entered on the register of baptisms as Fidel Hipólito Ruz González.
02/06/1935
  • He takes his first communion at Santa Iglesia y Arzobispado in Santiago de Cuba.
01/09/1935
  • He begins Grade Two at the Colegio La Salle. His brother Ramón starts classes at the same school.