Cuba's Fidel Castro dies aged 90

[Deleted]

Like how to turn one of the most beautiful places in the world into an uninhabitable shit hole...

Honestly, while Fidel Castro clearly did some shit, you should read up on history, as the guy before him, Fulgencio Batista, was much worse. Sure, Cuba might have been an ally of the US then and a nice vacation spot for tourists, but for the people living there it was a shithole. Fidel really helped those living in poverty rise somewhat.

If Cuba had continued being ruled by Batista, it would have turned into a shit hole for all its people as well. Also, a thing to note, Batista was originally supported by Communists too, but moved away to the US when he wanted to make a fortune (at the expense of the Cubans, which is why there was such a strong support for Fidel Castro).

Batista was so bad that 52 people (this was aprox the original number of Fidel and Hugo Chavez's group after they hid in the woods in the first movement) managed to oust him. Because people supported these 52 rebels hiding in the woods rather than him.

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Not really. It was a terrible law that had the reverse effect. It pretty much became the reason the Castro family remains in power as they can say "We're trying but the US is stopping us." and the only reason it lasted as long as it did is because Florida is a swing state and Cuban Americans are swung voters.

If there were no embargo Castro would likely have been forced to go not long after the USSR fell.

This is actually quite true. The embargo and the numerous assassination attempts gave Fidel examples for his people that the USA does indeed try to control them no matter their wishes. If these things would not have happened, or, at least, would not have been as strong, once those that remembered Batista died, Fidel could have been ousted by his own people.

[Deleted]

Only someone on the far left could ask that question.

Capitalism brought US great prosperity and much better living conditions.

Socialism brought poverty, dictators and misery into Latin America - see for example Venezuela.

And the Americans you seem to love so much brought Dictators,Death Squads, Rebellion to South America and armed Drug Lords. But hey atleast you can now eat a Big mac before the Yank armed Hitmen take you out because you said something someone with money and power did not like.

[Waynhim]

Christ, US citizens are so brainwashed by McCarthy still, that they can't see that a lot of what Castro did was good for his people.

I was on Cuba laste 90's and the general feel among the people I spoke too, (mainly lived in private B&B's), was that older people kinda appreciated the system, while younger people, even though grateful for free education and healthcare, felt confined to the country due to the restrictions of travel and internet and the like.

TBH everyone not reared in the US knows that in that relationship US has been by far the most immature.

[Tojara]

I suggest people read history about what Cuba was like, for actual Cubans prior to Castro taking over.

He absolutely did some terrible shit, but honestly some of that is likely caused from multiple assassination attempts in addition to embargo thrown upon it for decade.

I mean I ask this. Look at what Cuba has accomplished (in a relative sense) compared to the rest of Latin America. Education, health care and that sort of thing. It certainly isn't the land of opportunity, but at least you'll be educated and won't die. For myself who lives in Canada or the U.S that would seem like a terrible fate, but at least they cared for their poor.

Completely hypothetical, but imagine what Cuba would have looked like if it had support from the majority of Western countries decades ago. Not saying it would be a paradise, but regardless of how you spin it, even under Castro's evil reign it's fairing far better off than the majority of Latin America.

Not supporting the man completely, he's absolutely controversial, but certainly not as evil as many are painting him to be. You want evil, look at the man who ran the country before him, and by proxy who was controlling him (which was the reason for the revolution to begin with).

[Sephirosu]

"There is often talk of human rights, but it is also necessary to talk of the rights of humanity. Why should some people walk barefoot, so that others can travel in luxurious cars? Why should some live for thirty-five years, so that others can live for seventy years? Why should some be miserably poor, so that others can be hugely rich? I speak on behalf of the children in the world who do not have a piece of bread. I speak on the behalf of the sick who have no medicine, of those whose rights to life and human dignity have been denied.” - Fidel Castro

Cuba has achieved universal literacy, a national daily average diet of 3000 calories a day, and the elimination of homelessness, and a healthcare system producing results similar to that of developed western nations. Only through socialist rule has that been possible.

RIP Fidel Castro.

Imma call bullshit on those 2 statements because it's globally known that Cuba has had cases of starvation (they started to ration food and other basic articles because of the embargo.... Even thou they claimed they were capable of sustaining themselves and other countries sold stuff to them.) and homeless people (a roof and 4 sticks does not a home make)

[minteK917]

Its kinda hilarious to watch American posters with their shitty high school diploma talk about a country they couldnt visit as if it was an amazing place with Fulgencio Batista. Then turn around and whine about Russia and Bashar al-Assad.

[Hotmail]

Although he was far past the point of being beneficial to his country, Castro did good in his time;

- Fidel Castro was the political leader of Cuba until 2008. He was the first leader in the country to rule under Communism's policies. He also created a policy that provided social health care for elderly residents.

- Castro has also successfully assisted foreign revolutions in Angola and Ethiopia. He was elected the head of Nonaligned Nations Movement and has been a strong critic of US imperialism.

- Cuban leader Fidel Castro (1926-) established the first communist state in the Western Hemisphere after leading an overthrow of the military dictatorship of Fulgencio Batista in 1959.

-After taking power, Castro abolished legal discrimination, brought electricity to the countryside, provided for full employment and advanced the causes of education and health care, in part by building new schools and medical facilities.

- From the 1960s to the 1980s, Castro supplied military and financial aid to various leftist guerilla movements in Latin America and Africa. Nonetheless, relations with many countries, with the notable exception of the United States, began to normalize.

- Castro delivered the Cuban people from worse conditions that was going on in the 1950's. Other countries are communist and I dont see the US putting embargoes on them. The reason they did that is because they are mad Casto successfully ousted the cuban president that was US backed.

The facts don't lie, I mean I don't know what else there is to say really. He will be missed.

[Deleted]

The dictatorship apologia from some posters in this thread disgusts me. Fidel Castro was a mass murderer who killed those who dared oppose him. Later he has moderated a bit and has started to "only" imprison those who disagreed with him.

His regime killed between 9.000 and 78.000 people.
This has the influence of Cuba in the revolution of Angola and other nations as well, where many died.
This also has the numbers of counter-revolutionaries killed, as in, people that raised arms against his regime.

But counting those isn't quite perfect, is it? In the end, France for example also participated in Irak and other countries helping to oust former dictators. So any number of deaths there are also attributed to them, yet we consider them a good country.
And when the ISIS madmen staged attacks in France, they were shot. Because they attacked those in power. So these would be those fighting Castro's regime while he was in power.

I know what you're thinking "but Fidel Castro was evil so it was right to fight him!". Fair point. However, history is made by the winners. For example, North Korea. You'd be surprised, but most people there actually believe that Kim is a better leader than those in capitalist nations. Why? Because he won and supported his version of history.
I can safely assume that for most Cubans living now in Cuba this is the same situation. Just as it is for French living in France when they talk about Napoleon.

Since the history is done from the point of the victor, for the people living there killing those counter-revolutionaries might be just as for the French it is to kill radical muslims when they stage attacks. For many radical muslims living around the world however, this is a bad thing.

Since we can't know exactly how many died in Angola and how many counter-revolutionaries existed (or we could, but I'm not willing to waste that much time trying to find out), we'd still have about 10.000-78.000 people killed by the Castro regime. And this is bad, and he did indeed a lot of people. But there's another issue. history is also done comparing to previous leaders. Batista killed about 20.000 people in his 7 years of leadership.

So, Batista killed 20.000 people in 7 years. Castro ruled from 1959 to today (adding his brother too), that's 57 years. Even if we take the 78.000 count, that's about 1370 people per year compared to 2860 per year for Batista. Add to this the fact that Batista also pushed more of the country into poverty to push his finances up while Castro actually helped the Education and Healthcare a huge lot, thus helping the huge poor mass that Batista had created, I can safely say that Castro, both of them actually, were better than Batista.

Was Fidel still a mass murderer? Of course! But I believe that under this situations, it's understandable why some people don't see him as horrible, but rather just as a necessary evil. From their perspective, he helped the poor. He ousted a horrible dictator. He fought USA imperialism. Could he have done better? Sure he could have. But he's dead now, so it doesn't matter.

[Slant]

Cuba has achieved universal literacy, a national daily average diet of 3000 calories a day, and the elimination of homelessness, and a healthcare system producing results similar to that of developed western nations. Only through socialist rule has that been possible.

You know your country is fucked when you think having an average 3000 calories a day diet is an achievement. Or universal literacy. Congratulations, you just made it into the modern age. Just barely, but you made it!

[minteK917]

You know your country is fucked when you think having an average 3000 calories a day diet is an achievement. Or universal literacy. Congratulations, you just made it into the modern age. Just barely, but you made it!

So the US has not reached modern age then?

[Slant]

So the US has not reached modern age then?

Are you kidding me? A nation that is still unsure if evolution is a thing, where it's a legitimate stance to ignore science? That just voted the biggest orang utan in political history into office as POTUS? Oh, some of them have. But others drag the average so far down that it's really hard to say they all reached the modern age. :P

[minteK917]

Are you kidding me? A nation that is still unsure if evolution is a thing, where it's a legitimate stance to ignore science? That just voted the biggest orang utan in political history into office as POTUS? Oh, some of them have. But others drag the average so far down that it's really hard to say they all reached the modern age. :P

Cant argue with that lol. Well played.

[Tailswipe]

Although he was far past the point of being beneficial to his country, Castro did good in his time;

- Fidel Castro was the political leader of Cuba until 2008. He was the first leader in the country to rule under Communism's policies. He also created a policy that provided social health care for elderly residents.

- Castro has also successfully assisted foreign revolutions in Angola and Ethiopia. He was elected the head of Nonaligned Nations Movement and has been a strong critic of US imperialism.

- Cuban leader Fidel Castro (1926-) established the first communist state in the Western Hemisphere after leading an overthrow of the military dictatorship of Fulgencio Batista in 1959.

-After taking power, Castro abolished legal discrimination, brought electricity to the countryside, provided for full employment and advanced the causes of education and health care, in part by building new schools and medical facilities.

- From the 1960s to the 1980s, Castro supplied military and financial aid to various leftist guerilla movements in Latin America and Africa. Nonetheless, relations with many countries, with the notable exception of the United States, began to normalize.

- Castro delivered the Cuban people from worse conditions that was going on in the 1950's. Other countries are communist and I dont see the US putting embargoes on them. The reason they did that is because they are mad Casto successfully ousted the cuban president that was US backed.

The facts don't lie, I mean I don't know what else there is to say really. He will be missed.

Supporting the MPLA and other corrupt African dictatorships doesn't make you a good guy.

[Shibito]

What he did for Cubas healthcare and education system is pretty admirable. Shame he betrayed his own revolution politically.

Like all communists do.

[Khaza-R]

It's caused quite a celebration here in Miami.

Either way, he hasn't had control of the country for nearly eight years. His death is mostly symbolic at this point

[Hotmail]

Supporting the MPLA and other corrupt African dictatorships doesn't make you a good guy.

As opposed to supporting a corrupt american dictatorship? I mean pick your poison, Sonic.

[Deleted]

That embargo sure showed him!

funny how the US mostly only seems capable of toppling democracies.

[lonely zergling]

Good news. One less of the red plague.

[Deleted]

Some of the comments in this thread.. I don't know why I keep coming back here and do this to myself. The site is cool and all but the forums are a fucking cesspool filled with some of the most self absorbed "intellectuals". Some of the most retarded topics and replies that I've ever read were on this forum. Just fucking ban me already if possible so that I can't access the site anymore thanks.

[nextormento]

He had a communist country and was making it work on the doorsteps of the US.

He had a country. He *owned* a country that he puppeteered into disgrace.
That wasn't a country "working", but one precariously subsisting: an archaeological site of the XX century revolutionary failures.

He was a great orator, and the bringer of a massive flame to lighten the hearts of many seeking refugee in hope: shallow promises of prosperity. He embodied the state, the country, the regime and the nation; something any statesman should be envious of. Yet something every leader should be wary of.

He is a symbol of resistance, indeed. How can a country manage to obstinately persist in their isolation?. It was a difficult endeavor. He had support during the cold war. Well, only whenever the missile crisis wasn't on the radar. Yet once the urss fell, it slowly but surely degraded into the empty nationalist shell that he represented: abject and useless populism.
Imbeciles seek to blame the other, for their own failures. It can be the poor, the rural folk, the immigrant, the rich, the socialist, the businessman, the father, the gypsy, the millenial, the printing press. It's always someone else's fault but themselves. Castro, like any nationalist, pointed beyond their borders, to seek that other, and found the US.
Not a bit any different than your average Maduro, Duterte, Putin or Trump. Strongmen with a strong following of very thick skulls.

Patria o muerte, venceremos.
The only victors on this tale will be the Cubans pissing on his grave.