His brother and President Raul Castro announced the news on Cuban state TV. He officially became president in 2008, two years after a temporary transfer of power because of Fidel's illness in 2006.
"At 10.29 at night, the chief commander of the Cuban revolution, Fidel Castro Ruz, died," the 85-year-old president said. He did not give any cause of death.
"Ever onward, to victory," he concluded the address using the Cuban revolution slogan.
Castro's father was a rich sugar plantation owner, but he chose to spend his life fighting for the cause of poor. He took power in 1959