Ángel Castro y Argiz
Encyclopedia
Ángel María Bautista Castro y Argiz (Láncara
, Lugo Province
, Spain
, December 5, 1875—October 21, 1956) was the father of Cuba
n leaders Fidel
and Raúl Castro
.
He was the son of Manuel de Castro y Núñez (Lugo Province
, Láncara
, c. 1853 – Lugo Province
, Láncara
, June 12, 1903) and wife (m. Lugo Province
, Láncara
, August 16, 1873) Antonia Argiz y Fernández (Lugo Province
, Láncara
, 1857 – Lugo Province
, Láncara
, November 16, 1887).
, Galicia in a small fieldstone
house typical of the poor Galician
peasants
of that time. When he was sixteen or seventeen, he was recruited into the Spanish military, and came to Cuba during the second War of Independence
. He was stationed in the tract of land between Júcaro and Morón
. Juanita Castro
, Ángel's daughter, has contradicted this claim to assert that their father was merely an economic migrant to Cuba.
Following the defeat of Spain, Ángel Castro returned to Spain in 1898, but returned to Cuba through the port of Havana
the following year. He ended up in the Oriente province, working as a labourer for the American United Fruit Company
. At this time, American plantation
s were spreading throughout Cuba, and workers were being hired to cut down the hardwood forests and plant sugar cane. Castro organized a group of men and hired them out to United Fruit to perform this type of labour. According to his son Fidel
, Castro once had 300 men working for him. Castro prospered and was eventually able to buy and lease a total of 11,000 hectares of land which yielded pine wood, livestock, and sugar cane in the northern part of what was then Oriente province.
Ángel Castro married María Argota y Reyes on March 25, 1911, by whom he had five children: Manuel Castro Argota (1913–1914), María Lila Perfidia Castro Argota, Pedro Emilio Castro Argota (b. 1914), Antonia María Dolores Castro Argota (b. 1915) and Georgina de la Caridad Castro Argota (b. 1918).
He also had seven more children, including Fidel, by his cook
, Lina Ruz González, born in Las Canarias
on September 23, 1903 and daughter of Francisco Ruz Vázquez (1874-1961) and Dominga González Ramos, whom he later married on April 26, 1943: Ángela María Castro Ruz (b. Birán
, April 2, 1923), Ramón Eusebio Castro Ruz (b. Birán
, October 14, 1924), Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz
(b. Birán
, August 13, 1926), Raúl Modesto Castro Ruz
(b. June 3, 1931), Juana de la Caridad (Juanita) Castro Ruz
(b. May 6, 1933), Emma de la Concepción Castro Ruz (b. January 2, 1935) and Agustina del Carmen Castro Ruz (August 28, 1938).
Castro y Argiz died in the town of Birán
, 42 days before his son Fidel landed in Los Cayuelos
on December 2, 1956. He died of an intestinal hemorrhage at the age of 80. Fidel Castro is said to have received the news of his father's death in stoic silence.
Láncara
Láncara is a municipality in Lugo Province in Galicia in north-west Spain. Láncara was the original hometown of Ángel Castro y Argiz, father of Cuban leaders Fidel Castro and Raúl Castro....
, Lugo Province
Lugo (province)
Lugo is a province of northwestern Spain, in the northeastern part of the autonomous community of Galicia. It is bordered by the provinces of Ourense, Pontevedra, and A Coruña, the principality of Asturias, the State of León, and in the north by the Cantabrian Sea .The population is 356,595 , of...
, Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
, December 5, 1875—October 21, 1956) was the father of Cuba
Cuba
The Republic of Cuba is an island nation in the Caribbean. The nation of Cuba consists of the main island of Cuba, the Isla de la Juventud, and several archipelagos. Havana is the largest city in Cuba and the country's capital. Santiago de Cuba is the second largest city...
n leaders Fidel
Fidel Castro
Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz is a Cuban revolutionary and politician, having held the position of Prime Minister of Cuba from 1959 to 1976, and then President from 1976 to 2008. He also served as the First Secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba from the party's foundation in 1961 until 2011...
and Raúl Castro
Raúl Castro
Raúl Modesto Castro Ruz is a Cuban politician and revolutionary who has been President of the Council of State of Cuba and the President of the Council of Ministers of Cuba since 2008; he previously exercised presidential powers in an acting capacity from 2006 to 2008...
.
He was the son of Manuel de Castro y Núñez (Lugo Province
Lugo (province)
Lugo is a province of northwestern Spain, in the northeastern part of the autonomous community of Galicia. It is bordered by the provinces of Ourense, Pontevedra, and A Coruña, the principality of Asturias, the State of León, and in the north by the Cantabrian Sea .The population is 356,595 , of...
, Láncara
Láncara
Láncara is a municipality in Lugo Province in Galicia in north-west Spain. Láncara was the original hometown of Ángel Castro y Argiz, father of Cuban leaders Fidel Castro and Raúl Castro....
, c. 1853 – Lugo Province
Lugo (province)
Lugo is a province of northwestern Spain, in the northeastern part of the autonomous community of Galicia. It is bordered by the provinces of Ourense, Pontevedra, and A Coruña, the principality of Asturias, the State of León, and in the north by the Cantabrian Sea .The population is 356,595 , of...
, Láncara
Láncara
Láncara is a municipality in Lugo Province in Galicia in north-west Spain. Láncara was the original hometown of Ángel Castro y Argiz, father of Cuban leaders Fidel Castro and Raúl Castro....
, June 12, 1903) and wife (m. Lugo Province
Lugo (province)
Lugo is a province of northwestern Spain, in the northeastern part of the autonomous community of Galicia. It is bordered by the provinces of Ourense, Pontevedra, and A Coruña, the principality of Asturias, the State of León, and in the north by the Cantabrian Sea .The population is 356,595 , of...
, Láncara
Láncara
Láncara is a municipality in Lugo Province in Galicia in north-west Spain. Láncara was the original hometown of Ángel Castro y Argiz, father of Cuban leaders Fidel Castro and Raúl Castro....
, August 16, 1873) Antonia Argiz y Fernández (Lugo Province
Lugo (province)
Lugo is a province of northwestern Spain, in the northeastern part of the autonomous community of Galicia. It is bordered by the provinces of Ourense, Pontevedra, and A Coruña, the principality of Asturias, the State of León, and in the north by the Cantabrian Sea .The population is 356,595 , of...
, Láncara
Láncara
Láncara is a municipality in Lugo Province in Galicia in north-west Spain. Láncara was the original hometown of Ángel Castro y Argiz, father of Cuban leaders Fidel Castro and Raúl Castro....
, 1857 – Lugo Province
Lugo (province)
Lugo is a province of northwestern Spain, in the northeastern part of the autonomous community of Galicia. It is bordered by the provinces of Ourense, Pontevedra, and A Coruña, the principality of Asturias, the State of León, and in the north by the Cantabrian Sea .The population is 356,595 , of...
, Láncara
Láncara
Láncara is a municipality in Lugo Province in Galicia in north-west Spain. Láncara was the original hometown of Ángel Castro y Argiz, father of Cuban leaders Fidel Castro and Raúl Castro....
, November 16, 1887).
Early life
Ángel Castro was born in LáncaraLáncara
Láncara is a municipality in Lugo Province in Galicia in north-west Spain. Láncara was the original hometown of Ángel Castro y Argiz, father of Cuban leaders Fidel Castro and Raúl Castro....
, Galicia in a small fieldstone
Fieldstone
Fieldstone is a building construction material. Strictly speaking, it is stone collected from the surface of fields where it occurs naturally...
house typical of the poor Galician
Galician people
The Galicians are an ethnic group, a nationality whose historical homeland is Galicia in north-western Spain. Most Galicians are bilingual, speaking both their historic language, Galician, and Castilian Spanish.-Political and administrative divisions:...
peasants
Peasant
A peasant is an agricultural worker who generally tend to be poor and homeless-Etymology:The word is derived from 15th century French païsant meaning one from the pays, or countryside, ultimately from the Latin pagus, or outlying administrative district.- Position in society :Peasants typically...
of that time. When he was sixteen or seventeen, he was recruited into the Spanish military, and came to Cuba during the second War of Independence
History of Cuba
The known history of Cuba, the largest of the Caribbean islands, predates Christopher Columbus' sighting of the island during his first voyage of discovery on 27 October 1492...
. He was stationed in the tract of land between Júcaro and Morón
Trocha from Júcaro to Morón
The Trocha from Júcaro to Morón was a fortified military line built between 1869 and 1872 in Cuba by slave work force and Chinese immigrants to impede the pass of insurrectionist forces to the western part of the island during the 1st War of Independence and was 68 km long between Jucaro and...
. Juanita Castro
Juanita Castro
Juana de la Caridad Castro Ruz is a sister of former Cuban President Fidel Castro and current President Raúl Castro. After working as a CIA agent in Cuba, she has been living in the United States since 1964.-Early life:...
, Ángel's daughter, has contradicted this claim to assert that their father was merely an economic migrant to Cuba.
Following the defeat of Spain, Ángel Castro returned to Spain in 1898, but returned to Cuba through the port of Havana
Havana
Havana is the capital city, province, major port, and leading commercial centre of Cuba. The city proper has a population of 2.1 million inhabitants, and it spans a total of — making it the largest city in the Caribbean region, and the most populous...
the following year. He ended up in the Oriente province, working as a labourer for the American United Fruit Company
United Fruit Company
It had a deep and long-lasting impact on the economic and political development of several Latin American countries. Critics often accused it of exploitative neocolonialism and described it as the archetypal example of the influence of a multinational corporation on the internal politics of the...
. At this time, American plantation
Plantation
A plantation is a long artificially established forest, farm or estate, where crops are grown for sale, often in distant markets rather than for local on-site consumption...
s were spreading throughout Cuba, and workers were being hired to cut down the hardwood forests and plant sugar cane. Castro organized a group of men and hired them out to United Fruit to perform this type of labour. According to his son Fidel
Fidel Castro
Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz is a Cuban revolutionary and politician, having held the position of Prime Minister of Cuba from 1959 to 1976, and then President from 1976 to 2008. He also served as the First Secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba from the party's foundation in 1961 until 2011...
, Castro once had 300 men working for him. Castro prospered and was eventually able to buy and lease a total of 11,000 hectares of land which yielded pine wood, livestock, and sugar cane in the northern part of what was then Oriente province.
Ángel Castro married María Argota y Reyes on March 25, 1911, by whom he had five children: Manuel Castro Argota (1913–1914), María Lila Perfidia Castro Argota, Pedro Emilio Castro Argota (b. 1914), Antonia María Dolores Castro Argota (b. 1915) and Georgina de la Caridad Castro Argota (b. 1918).
He also had seven more children, including Fidel, by his cook
Cook (profession)
A cook is a person who prepares food for consumption. In Germany, Austria, Switzerland and Canada this profession requires government approval ....
, Lina Ruz González, born in Las Canarias
Canary Islands
The Canary Islands , also known as the Canaries , is a Spanish archipelago located just off the northwest coast of mainland Africa, 100 km west of the border between Morocco and the Western Sahara. The Canaries are a Spanish autonomous community and an outermost region of the European Union...
on September 23, 1903 and daughter of Francisco Ruz Vázquez (1874-1961) and Dominga González Ramos, whom he later married on April 26, 1943: Ángela María Castro Ruz (b. Birán
Birán
Birán is a small town in Holguín Province of Cuba, best known as the birthplace of Fidel Castro in 1926 and Raúl Castro in 1931. Their father owned a 23,000 acre plantation there. It is located south-west of Mayarí and south of Cueto, in the foothills of the Nipe Mountains ....
, April 2, 1923), Ramón Eusebio Castro Ruz (b. Birán
Birán
Birán is a small town in Holguín Province of Cuba, best known as the birthplace of Fidel Castro in 1926 and Raúl Castro in 1931. Their father owned a 23,000 acre plantation there. It is located south-west of Mayarí and south of Cueto, in the foothills of the Nipe Mountains ....
, October 14, 1924), Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz
Fidel Castro
Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz is a Cuban revolutionary and politician, having held the position of Prime Minister of Cuba from 1959 to 1976, and then President from 1976 to 2008. He also served as the First Secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba from the party's foundation in 1961 until 2011...
(b. Birán
Birán
Birán is a small town in Holguín Province of Cuba, best known as the birthplace of Fidel Castro in 1926 and Raúl Castro in 1931. Their father owned a 23,000 acre plantation there. It is located south-west of Mayarí and south of Cueto, in the foothills of the Nipe Mountains ....
, August 13, 1926), Raúl Modesto Castro Ruz
Raúl Castro
Raúl Modesto Castro Ruz is a Cuban politician and revolutionary who has been President of the Council of State of Cuba and the President of the Council of Ministers of Cuba since 2008; he previously exercised presidential powers in an acting capacity from 2006 to 2008...
(b. June 3, 1931), Juana de la Caridad (Juanita) Castro Ruz
Juanita Castro
Juana de la Caridad Castro Ruz is a sister of former Cuban President Fidel Castro and current President Raúl Castro. After working as a CIA agent in Cuba, she has been living in the United States since 1964.-Early life:...
(b. May 6, 1933), Emma de la Concepción Castro Ruz (b. January 2, 1935) and Agustina del Carmen Castro Ruz (August 28, 1938).
Castro y Argiz died in the town of Birán
Birán
Birán is a small town in Holguín Province of Cuba, best known as the birthplace of Fidel Castro in 1926 and Raúl Castro in 1931. Their father owned a 23,000 acre plantation there. It is located south-west of Mayarí and south of Cueto, in the foothills of the Nipe Mountains ....
, 42 days before his son Fidel landed in Los Cayuelos
Los Cayuelos
Los Cayuelos is a location near the eastern city of Niquero in Cuba. It is known as the landing site of Fidel Castro and his troops on December 2, 1956....
on December 2, 1956. He died of an intestinal hemorrhage at the age of 80. Fidel Castro is said to have received the news of his father's death in stoic silence.