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Fidel Castro Dead at Age 90

DonLever

By DonLever
in Off-Topic General

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DonLever

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from CKNW:

 

Fidel Castro has died.

He was 90 years old.

Castro led Cuba from 1959 to 2008, after overthrowing the previous government in the Cuban Revolution.

His brother Raul formally assumed power in 2008.

The circumstances of his death are currently not known.

 

From NY Times:

 

Fidel Castro, the fiery apostle of revolution who brought the Cold War to the Western Hemisphere in 1959 and then defied the United States for nearly half a century as Cuba’s maximum leader, bedeviling 11 American presidents and briefly pushing the world to the brink of nuclear war, died Friday. He was 90.

His death was announced by Cuban state television.

In declining health for several years, Mr. Castro had orchestrated what he hoped would be the continuation of his Communist revolution, stepping aside in 2006 when he was felled by a serious illness. He provisionally ceded much of his power to his younger brother Raúl, now 85, and two years later formally resigned as president. Raúl Castro, who had fought alongside Fidel Castro from the earliest days of the insurrection and remained minister of defense and his brother’s closest confidant, has ruled Cuba since then, although he has told the Cuban people he intends to resign in 2018.

Fidel Castro had held onto power longer than any other living national leader except Queen Elizabeth II. He became a towering international figure whose importance in the 20th century far exceeded what might have been expected from the head of state of a Caribbean island nation of 11 million people.

He dominated his country with strength and symbolism from the day he triumphantly entered Havana on Jan. 8, 1959, and completed his overthrow of Fulgencio Batista by delivering his first major speech in the capital before tens of thousands of admirers at the vanquished dictator’s military headquarters.

 

A spotlight shone on him as he swaggered and spoke with passion until dawn. Finally, white doves were released to signal Cuba’s new peace. When one landed on Mr. Castro, perching on a shoulder, the crowd erupted, chanting “Fidel! Fidel!” To the war-weary Cubans gathered there and those watching on television, it was an electrifying sign that their young, bearded guerrilla leader was destined to be their savior.

Most people in the crowd had no idea what Mr. Castro planned for Cuba. A master of image and myth, Mr. Castro believed himself to be the messiah of his fatherland, an indispensable force with authority from on high to control Cuba and its people.

He wielded power like a tyrant, controlling every aspect of the island’s existence. He was Cuba’s “Máximo Lider.” From atop a Cuban Army tank, he directed his country’s defense at the Bay of Pigs. Countless details fell to him, from selecting the color of uniforms that Cuban soldiers wore in Angola to overseeing a program to produce a superbreed of milk cows. He personally set the goals for sugar harvests. He personally sent countless men to prison.

But it was more than repression and fear that kept him and his totalitarian government in power for so long. He had both admirers and detractors in Cuba and around the world. Some saw him as a ruthless despot who trampled rights and freedoms; many others hailed him as the crowds did that first night, as a revolutionary hero for the ages.

Even when he fell ill and was hospitalized with diverticulitis in the summer of 2006, giving up most of his powers for the first time, Mr. Castro tried to dictate the details of his own medical care and orchestrate the continuation of his Communist revolution, engaging a plan as old as the revolution itself.

By handing power to his brother, Mr. Castro once more raised the ire of his enemies in Washington. United States officials condemned the transition, saying it prolonged a dictatorship and again denied the long-suffering Cuban people a chance to control their own lives.

But in December 2014, President Obama used his executive powers to dial down the decades of antagonism between Washington and Havana by moving to exchange prisoners and normalize diplomatic relations between the two countries, a deal worked out with the help of Pope Francis and after 18 months of secret talks between representatives of both governments.

 

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Wilbur Canucks First-Line

Wilbur

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5 minutes ago, JV77 said:

Seeing a lot of negative comments about from mostly Americans.

 

Why do they consider him a bad guy?  I know Castro got rid of all the mafia and drug dealers and was very good to his people.  True?

During the revolution a lot of good people fled/were kicked out too.  A polarizing figure for sure.

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Ryan Strome Canucks All-Star

Ryan Strome

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44 minutes ago, ShakyWalton said:

A name I grew up with...say what you will but he did some good things for Cuba..and cared about his country against all odds.

 

43 minutes ago, JV77 said:

Seeing a lot of negative comments about from mostly Americans.

 

Why do they consider him a bad guy?  I know Castro got rid of all the mafia and drug dealers and was very good to his people.  True?

Two sides to every story fellas.

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ShakyWalton Canucks Franchise Player

ShakyWalton

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34 minutes ago, Wilbur said:

During the revolution a lot of good people fled/were kicked out too.  A polarizing figure for sure.

Being almost a US state in the 50s and early 60s and being only 90 miles away from the US had alot to do with people leaving.

 

Money was hard to come by and the state became the driving force.

 

The embargos against Cuba and world isolation didnt help.

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ShakyWalton Canucks Franchise Player

ShakyWalton

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8 minutes ago, Ryan Strome said:

 

Two sides to every story fellas.

I dont believe the American side for a second.

 

The Americans were pissed they lost all their holdings after the revolution and couldnt sleep until they got it back..they sure tried...Bay of Pigs and embargos...I lived through the Cuba missle crisis..it was a hairy time.

 

Castro was no saint but he stood up against the world for his country.

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Ryan Strome Canucks All-Star

Ryan Strome

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Just now, ShakyWalton said:

I dont believe the American side for a second.

 

The Americans were pissed they lost all their holdings after the revolution and couldnt sleep until they got it back..they sure tried...Bay of Pigs and embargos...I lived through the Cuba missle crisis..it was a hairy time.

Oh I don't disagree on some things.

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Ryan Strome Canucks All-Star

Ryan Strome

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12 minutes ago, JV77 said:

Seeing the Castro story on Global BC vs CNN is the biggwst proof of biased media coverage I have seen.

 

CNN is a joke.  Also learned Castro and Pierre Trudeau had a great relationship and he was even a paul bearer at his funeral.

Very close relationship. It made the Americans very angry.

"Viva Castro".

 

I'm sure @ShakyWalton recalls that.

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JV77 Canucks Regular

JV77

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Americans get away with everything and ignore what they have done and it's really pissing me off now.

 

Guy on CNN talking about Castro "encouraging" the Soviets to use nuclear weapons on the US...for god sakes they are the only country to ever use them!!

 

And they totally ignore it and excuse it! 

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