Fidel Castro was born near Mayari Cuba in 1926. In 1950 he graduated in law from the University of Havana and opened a law firm with two partners. Two years later he ran for election to the Cuban House of Representatives. The elections never took place because dictator Fulgencio Batista blocked them and ended democracy in Cuba. This was perhaps the defining moment in Castro's life. As a result of Batista's action, Castro gathered a small force and attacked the Moncada barracks in Santiago de Cuba on July 26. Castro was captured and sentenced to fifteen years in prison. In 1955, however, Batista freed him. Castro immediately went into exile in Mexico where he began training a group of revolutionaries called the July 26th Movement. In December 1956, Castro's forces invaded Cuba. The rebels suffered casualties, but many managed to escape to the Sierra Maestra, a mountain range in southeastern Cuba. From there Castro was able to direct his revolution. Over the next two years, he gained growing support from the Cuban people, and on January 1, 1959, Batista fled the country. Shortly after Castro took control of the government, relations with the United States declined. In 1960, he took over U.S. oil refineries in Cuba. The United States then stopped purchasing Cuban sugar, and Castro responded by taking over all U.S. assets in Cuba. Angered by Castro's actions, President Kennedy authorized an attempt to overthrow the Cuban dictator in 1961 , known as the Bay of Pigs invasion. The invasion failed but made Castro wary of another U.S. attempt. As a result, when Khrushchev offered to place nuclear missiles in Cuba, he accepted. Castro's role in the crisis is very different from that of the other two leaders. Once he decided to accept the missiles, he lost control over their fate. Castro was simply a pawn in the international chess game and Cuba was simply a playing field. Neither Castro nor Cuba had much international importance. The missile clash could have happened anywhere in the world, unfortunately for the Cuban people it happened on their island.