Fidel Castro is dead!

[Kobuk]

Good riddance to bad rubbish. 
http://www.cnn.com/2016/11/26/americas/fidel-castro-obit/index.html


Now all we need to do is hope and pray the leader of North Korea goes next. 

[GrayWolf448]

was Castro even that bad of a person? never taught about him in school, and anything i do know about him were from a few documentaries that mentioned him, but never anything directly about him (reading that cnn thing atm though)

from what iv heard from my brother many people in Cuba actually liked him, and from that cnn article i dont really blame him for disliking the US (unless he actually wants violence/war against the US) this country has been a mess for years, and could really use improvements.

[Keitsu]

I have no idea who that person is

[cause the rat]

Castro micro managed Cuba. He finally let up a bit and allowed some changes. Cubans are now hoping his predecessor will continue talks with us ( USA ). However we have been very underhanded with them in the past.

It doesn't surprise me that our history with Cuba still isn't taught in public schools. We were the bad guys. And that's what ultimately lead up to the Cuban missile crisis of the 1950's. Look up "The Bay of Pigs."

[Kaiden]

Careful Kobuk, they look up what you say about them...

As for Fidel dying, it probably won't mean anything major to the people since they live in a dictatorship and Raul is running the place now, but hopefully they are more open to trade and travel.

[Old Rabbit]

I have always heard the USA was against Castro because he didn't allow free
elections. So he could stay in power, and suppressed anyone who was against
him.

I remember seeing the news about Castro's revolution taking over when Iwas
a kid.. The feeling was this is a good thing. The predicessor was a dictator that
cared little for the people.

The US government supported Castro's revolution, but when they found out he
as going to be another dictator we pulled back.  Castro lied, he even threw his
partners in prison because they wanted the revolution to free the people from a
dictatorial system as Castro claimed.

The american news media at the time even helped Castro win. They had Castro march 
ines of revolutionist troops marching around and around a block to make it look like
there was many more troops than there really was..

Castro fooled everyone.. Once he found out the USA wouldm't help him he turned to other
countries. Unfortuantly the Soviet Union saw this as an oppertunity to gain a foot hold
in the west. After the Bay of Pigs invasion attempt, Castro allowed Russia to place missiles
in Cuba. This caused the Cuban missile crisis. Why Kennedy didn't allow air support for
the Bay of pigs invasion was likely some agreement with Russia.But I could be wrong.

Castro has treated all his opponents with prison or firing squads. So even though he did
help the cuban people to have good medical care, education, and with agriculture, he did
send troops to foreign countries to fight for the Soviet Union. Of courst at the time every
country we (USA) worked to help the Soviet Union worked to stir up. I am sure in some
cases we were in the wrong.

Castro could have turned Cuba into the jewel of the Caribbean, a tourist mecca if he hadn't
traded Cuba to the soviet union for aid. Just  so he and his buddies could keep total power. 
If it hadn't been for the Cold War Castro's cuba would have likely failed.

There is tourism  in Cuba, but only in limited areas. The Cuban people do pretty good as long
as they do as thei Castro government tells them. Might call them slaves to the Government as
they have no right to change it.

It alwasys amazed me is how many countries claim to be Marxist (Communist) But they  only
force it onto the common man. The leaders and those the leaders like live like rich people in free
societies. Doesn't sound like a classless society to me.  I think they only want the name so they
can tell oppressed peoples they wish to take over, they care about the common man. Which
is a of course a lie.

[Rocket T. Coyote]

Castro nearly brought the world to the brink of nuclear war. Look up the Cuban Missile Crisis. JFK was rather inept too, but there exists a cable message between Nikita Khruschev and "El Supremo" calling for the USSR to annihilate the United States. Khruschev was the cooler of the two heads. Castro kept busy stoaking the fires of revolution in South and Central America. His mercenaries fought in Angola and returned with STDs. He depended on Moscow to stay funded and long-range Soviet maritime patrol bombers made Cuba their refueling destination after cruising our Atlantic coastline.

He gave up his trademark cigars many years ago. When in need of surgery, he went to Spain rather than trust his own country's healthcare. On the lighter side, a story in Parade magazine mentioned that the dictator liked miniskirts because they saved on cloth.

[Holt5]

Glad he's gone. Unsure of who's next in line though...  I've been hearing all about Castro's death and nothing about who may or may not be taking his place...

was Castro even that bad of a person? never taught about him in school, and anything i do know about him were from a few documentaries that mentioned him, but never anything directly about him (reading that cnn thing atm though)

from what iv heard from my brother many people in Cuba actually liked him, and from that cnn article i dont really blame him for disliking the US (unless he actually wants violence/war against the US) this country has been a mess for years, and could really use improvements.

Well, he killed a lot of people, persecuted people for both their religions and their sexuality. Lots of firing squad action when it came to instilling obedience as well as intimidating enemies. Admittedly, firing squads are typically one of the quicker and more painless methods of execution - much better than a lot of things that people have used and continue to use.

[Old Rabbit]

Many years ago I heard Castro nearly drowned after falling into a irrigation canal. Seems
there was a farmer nearby who saved him.. Too bad it wasn't someone who might have
looked the other way. It might have prevented years of suffering by the Cuban people.
Then again perhaps not.

Actually it's posible the USSR talked Castro into being a dictator. Strong man governments
were allways a favorite of the Soviets. Putin has said he feels it's the best way to run a
country. It is easier when your a king or emperor. After all if someone doesnt obey. Off
with their head or shoot them. Hitler used to hang his enimies with wire.

[Kaiden]

I saw a yellow journalism tabloid that said he had JFK assassinated, wouldn't believe it since it's yellow journalism.

His countrymen seemed to love him though (Castro's men).

[Holt5]

I saw a yellow journalism tabloid that said he had JFK assassinated, wouldn't believe it since it's yellow journalism.

His countrymen seemed to love him though (Castro's men).

Yeah I saw that at work today. "DEATHBED CONFESSION OF CASTRO: I ASSASSINATED JFK." Seems too sketchy for me. There's a lot of people who could have assassinated JFK and it's been kept secret for a reason.

[Old Rabbit]

I am sure Castro would have wanted to kill JFK, but I doubt if he had
the expertise to do it. Unless the Soviets helped. I heard we tried to
kill Castro more than once, but apparently we couldn't find someone
who was smart enough to do it. It's not easy to find someone willing
to die trying, unless they think it's a quick way to heaven.

I tend to believe it was a conspiracy to continue the Vietnam war. JFK
had planned to pull our peple out. That was my understanding. We had
some people in the government that were afraid communism was going
to take over the world. If the right people in government felt it was in the
interest of our country they would have done it.

Few if any government ever dabbled with pure Communism. They pressed it
on their people, but the leaders always found ways to live  like rich capitalists.