Fidel Castro, former Cuban president, is dead at 90

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I imagine Jeremy Corbyn will cop some (more) stick for this:

“Fidel Castro’s death marks the passing of a huge figure of modern history, national independence and 20th century socialism.

“From building a world class health and education system, to Cuba’s record of international solidarity abroad, Castro’s achievements were many.

“For all his flaws, Castro’s support for Angola played a crucial role in bringing an end to Apartheid in South Africa, and he will be remembered both as an internationalist and a champion of social justice.”

Justin Trudeau:

“It is with deep sorrow that I learned today of the death of Cuba’s longest serving President.

“Fidel Castro was a larger than life leader who served his people for almost half a century. A legendary revolutionary and orator, Mr. Castro made significant improvements to the education and healthcare of his island nation.

“While a controversial figure, both Mr. Castro’s supporters and detractors recognized his tremendous dedication and love for the Cuban people who had a deep and lasting affection for “el Comandante”.

“I know my father was very proud to call him a friend and I had the opportunity to meet Fidel when my father passed away. It was also a real honour to meet his three sons and his brother President Raúl Castro during my recent visit to Cuba.

“On behalf of all Canadians, Sophie and I offer our deepest condolences to the family, friends and many, many supporters of Mr. Castro. We join the people of Cuba today in mourning the loss of this remarkable leader.”

And here’s the President and President-Elect. See if you can spot which is which:

At this time of Fidel Castro’s passing, we extend a hand of friendship to the Cuban people. We know that this moment fills Cubans - in Cuba and in the United States - with powerful emotions, recalling the countless ways in which Fidel Castro altered the course of individual lives, families, and of the Cuban nation. History will record and judge the enormous impact of this singular figure on the people and world around him.

For nearly six decades, the relationship between the United States and Cuba was marked by discord and profound political disagreements. During my presidency, we have worked hard to put the past behind us, pursuing a future in which the relationship between our two countries is defined not by our differences but by the many things that we share as neighbors and friends - bonds of family, culture, commerce, and common humanity. This engagement includes the contributions of Cuban Americans, who have done so much for our country and who care deeply about their loved ones in Cuba.

Today, we offer condolences to Fidel Castro’s family, and our thoughts and prayers are with the Cuban people. In the days ahead, they will recall the past and also look to the future. As they do, the Cuban people must know that they have a friend and partner in the United States of America.

Trump did eventually come back with this (I think he might need to work on diplomacy a bit more yet):

"Today, the world marks the passing of a brutal dictator who oppressed his own people for nearly six decades.

Fidel Castro’s legacy is one of firing squads, theft, unimaginable suffering, poverty and the denial of fundamental human rights. While Cuba remains a totalitarian island, it is my hope that today marks a move away from the horrors endured for too long, and toward a future in which the wonderful Cuban people finally live in the freedom they so richly deserve.

Though the tragedies, deaths and pain caused by Fidel Castro cannot be erased, our administration will do all it can to ensure the Cuban people can finally begin their journey toward prosperity and liberty. I join the many Cuban Americans who supported me so greatly in the presidential campaign, including the Brigade 2506 Veterans Association that endorsed me, with the hope of one day soon seeing a free Cuba.

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The truth is probably between the two reactions. I mean, WTF is “Trudeau” smoking?

Talk to people who actually risked their lives coming here from Cuba and I think you will find a lack of “deep and lasting affection for ‘el Comandante’”. Though maybe they are just bitter ex-pats.

Though going forward, maybe we can lift the Embargo and help the Cuban people out some.

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Trump said all that? Putin is going to be pissed.

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People risk their lives coming here from Mexico. Trump wants a higher wall.

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It probably is. But what should the head of state offer as a statement on the death of the former head of state of a neighbouring country? Is Obama’s statement his actual personal opinion?

(thanking a partisan group for an endorsement during your recent election campaign probably isn’t on the list. And off-the-cuff tweets ahead of any statement should be right off)

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The problem was that US/NATO foreign policy at the time had no room for nuance. The Cuban missile crisis hardly helped, but currently NATO is putting missiles around Russia and there isn’t a global crisis. It was a time of tremendous tension and if you actually knew what was happening - fall out from atmospheric bomb testing, patrolling aircraft with nuclear weapons on board - it could be quite terrifying.
I think a big chance was missed both in Cuba and in Vietnam, but it would have meant that American foreign policy wasn’t an arm of American business expansion. Ostrovsky suggests that one reason Yeltsin’s Russia was so dysfunctional is that “businessmen” copied what they saw as the American model - without realising that the US had a strong legal system which kept unrestricted mafia capitalism in check. Helping Cuba develop into a democracy and develop strong institutions while pushing back against the Florido-Cuban mafia would have been a constructive engagement, but it wouldn’t have appealed to the MIC.

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A good comment. Latin American has inherited a system of government from Spain even as the Spanish have escaped from it.

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Yes, I’m aware. Just because it was, doesn’t mean it had to be, though. People made choices, and despite very real threat of nuclear war, I don’t think that’s the only animating factor. Hegemony and the desire to exert it over the largest part of the world by both sides also drove it.

That’s probably coming to an end soon.

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I hope this dark age isn’t too long, and has a nice renaissance.

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We’ll see. It will only end if we force it to.

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Absolutely. Machiavelli, El Che, Nietzsche, William Gibson, Freud…they all say exactly that.

Nothing changes unless people make things change.

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Here is the complete quote:

I do not understand this squeamishness about the use of gas. We have definitely adopted the position at the Peace Conference of arguing in favour of the retention of gas as a permanent method of warfare. It is sheer affectation to lacerate a man with the poisonous fragment of a bursting shell and to boggle at making his eyes water by means of lachrymatory gas._

I am strongly in favour of using poisoned gas against uncivilised tribes. The moral effect should be so good that the loss of life should be reduced to a minimum. It is not necessary to use only the most deadly gasses: gasses can be used which cause great inconvenience and would spread a lively terror and yet would leave no serious permanent effects on most of those affected._

I’ll let the reader think what they want of the language used here. That said, the gas talked about here would very likely have caused much more permanent damage than Churchill wrote (and even death in children and the elderly).
An article studying this very nicely says he simply was optimistic. Considering the experience of the use of various gas at an industrial scale during WWI, I have my doubts about that analysis and wonder whether he simply wasn’t trying to use what he thought was the best way to convince those to whom the memo was sent (the man is known for his tendency to over-exaggerate one way or the other to convince his intended target).

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Had to highlight the most delusional bits. So, for every moment of his 45 year dictatorship, there was the US, “forcing” him to follow dictatorial communism, “forcing” him to be the maximum general. You realize this rationalization can be used with every situation where a ruling government has any oppositional element, domestic or foreign? You use the same explanation for Lenin and Kim Il-Sung? My real question is how your got 45+ people to agree with your paean to this brutal guy.

Quoting Mandela is the worst. Mandela inarguably IS a man who had a moral compass, who did not fall to base, self-serving motives. Ethics-wise, the two had nothing in common. Yes, Mandela would throw out “liberation” appeals to flawed self-styled “heroes” of liberation like Castro and Arafat-- 28 years of imprisonment will have some effect after all.

I’m not a strident anti-communist. I realize Batista was an awful, corrupt regime and that the Cubans deserved much, much better. But replacing Cuba’s authoritarian dictatorship with a much more brutal communist dictatorship (with, yes, advances in healthcare and education) was a step sideways not forward.

“The best thing that Fidel Castro left us is the lesson that we don’t want any more Fidel Castros in Cuba. The lesson is that a man like that ends up absorbing the whole nation, ends up seeing himself as the embodiment of the homeland, and ends up simply taking away our nationality. The lesson of Fidel Castro is no more Fidel Castros. Some people admire him, but they admire him for what they think he was, not for who he really was. Staying in power that long is no merit.” – Cuban Dissident Yoani Sanchez

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At the time of the Cuban missile crisis USA had nuclear missiles in Turkey and a massive superiority in long range missiles as well. The Soviet Union had every reason to want to even the odds by placing missiles on Cuba. Fortunately they had sense enough to back down when Kennedy started WW III (the blockade of Cuba was a clear act of war).

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You do not have to celebrate Castro’s death, but I’ll thank you not to tell me when, where, or how to celebrate or not to celebrate.

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Heh.

As far as people celebrating Castro’s death, that’s fair enough. I will be delighted when the likes of Kissinger and Tebbit die.

EDIT:

This is pretty good:

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Batista happened because of the US, Castro was a reaction to Batista, who was then isolated from the world, again, by the US.
The political destabilization of Latin America by the US is no different in spirit than the disenfranchisement of minorities within the US territory. These poor people are now looked upon as being fundamentally responsible for their condition and any attempt to explain their current condition as the product of the hegemony protecting its interests is then considered insulting.

Castro should not have held on to power. Agreed. It is not healthy for any nation state to be so dependent on one man. To the extent that he was sincere about his vision for Cuba, he failed if that Cuba could not continue without his succession.

Well, Yoani Sanchez certainly is not speaking as if he understands power.

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apparently he had no issue with the Adidas brand of capitalism.

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The idea that successful communist socialism should reject any contact with capitalism only exists because the US created it. Cuba did not decide to hide away from the world as a matter of principle.

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George Orwell speculated that Soviet Union intended to cause the Spanish Republic to lose the Spanish civil war, so that the revolution wouldn’t spread to France, who were a major trading partner at the time.

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