Fidel Castro
Fidel Castro, the commander in chief of Cuba revolution and an icon for those that dream of a communist regime, died at age 90 on November 25th 2016. Every death is a sadness, but did Fidel bring any benefits to Cuban and the world during his lifetime? or in bold question,
WAS FIDEL CASTRO A MONSTER OR A HERO?
Western media portrayed him as unpopular leader, a ruthless murderer and a cruel dictator, but black people in Africa or Afro-America don't see him as a monstrous that many westerns think he was. Cuba, like the United States has a slave history, but Afro-Cubans live longer, have better education and have penetrated the cuban middle class. In Africa, Castro's support for anti apartheid efforts in south Africa, Namibia and his support for Angola's independence movement made him a darling of the masses.
Like other communists regime around the world, Fidel achieved power through force of military. He came to power leading an impressive revolution, through great guerilla tactics, against repressive totalitarian military dicatator, Fulgencio Batista who was controlled by American interests, both legitimate and mafia related. Batista was a murderous, vicious thug. With US help, he maintained an extremely repressive dictatorship in which all his political enemies were imprisoned or murdered.
Throughout the 50's and into 80's, the US backed some of notorious dictators the world has ever seen, in the name of stopping communism. Castro then overthrew the pro-US Cuban government and instituted a new government, on that he controlled as a dictator. His time in power was also destructive, with strong persecutions of political opponents, killed thousands of people, and led more than 1 million people to flee their island.
In Castro regime, Cuba, while a poor country, enjoys high standards of medical care. However, doctors are poorly paid. His foreign policy was based on war, with his legionaries providing support to all communists around the globe, with doctors and teachers helping the country to develop.
Dictator aren't always bad, -look Julius Caesar for example-, Roman people wanted Caesar to be their dictator. On the other hand, just as Caesar, Castro had made many enemies in the process and people wanted him to be killed.
I am trying to be objective. Ideally there are always two sides to an issue. Some people think Castro a hero, but some others think he is a traitor.
For all those reasons and more, both Castro and his legacy are complex, and to depict him as an angel or a monster, he was neither. He was deeply flawed man who believed in his ideology and made Cuba free of everyone but itself.
WAS FIDEL CASTRO A MONSTER OR A HERO?
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| Fidel Castro (Courtesy of Pinterest.com) |
Like other communists regime around the world, Fidel achieved power through force of military. He came to power leading an impressive revolution, through great guerilla tactics, against repressive totalitarian military dicatator, Fulgencio Batista who was controlled by American interests, both legitimate and mafia related. Batista was a murderous, vicious thug. With US help, he maintained an extremely repressive dictatorship in which all his political enemies were imprisoned or murdered.
Throughout the 50's and into 80's, the US backed some of notorious dictators the world has ever seen, in the name of stopping communism. Castro then overthrew the pro-US Cuban government and instituted a new government, on that he controlled as a dictator. His time in power was also destructive, with strong persecutions of political opponents, killed thousands of people, and led more than 1 million people to flee their island.
In Castro regime, Cuba, while a poor country, enjoys high standards of medical care. However, doctors are poorly paid. His foreign policy was based on war, with his legionaries providing support to all communists around the globe, with doctors and teachers helping the country to develop.
Dictator aren't always bad, -look Julius Caesar for example-, Roman people wanted Caesar to be their dictator. On the other hand, just as Caesar, Castro had made many enemies in the process and people wanted him to be killed.
I am trying to be objective. Ideally there are always two sides to an issue. Some people think Castro a hero, but some others think he is a traitor.
For all those reasons and more, both Castro and his legacy are complex, and to depict him as an angel or a monster, he was neither. He was deeply flawed man who believed in his ideology and made Cuba free of everyone but itself.
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