Apparently Donald J Trump (DJT) said the following although I cannot find the actual source:
"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.
I won't advocate the cruel and unpopular things Castro has committed throughout his reign and do not want to take any of the sense of relief the Cuban people are feeling at his passing and at the thought of new horizons ahead of them. That said, it's hypocritical for DJT, a man infused with corruption, greed, vanity, arrogance and conflicting self interests to make any remarks on what he thinks are in the best interests for Cuba.
Castro (and others) took it upon himself to overthrow what was seen to be a corrupted dictator in Fulgencio Batista in 1959. A man, in Castros eyes, who probably embodied corruption much like DJT does.
For twenty-five years Batista ruled Cuba with an iron fist, and the full blessing and endorsement of the United States government, who feared a social and economic revolution and saw him as a stabilizing force with respect for American interests.
The fact is, Castro sought to overthrow a Government which he saw as corrupt and replaced it with one which we know with the benefit of hindsight and political experience does not work in the long run. So long as humanity continues to evolve with aspirations, ambitions, greed, laziness, selfish, lies and a whole bunch of other nouns embodied in our psyche (and DJT's) there is no room for Totalitarian ideals save for novels and academics.
I can't imagine if Batista was allowed to govern for 60 years as Castro did he would be considered a hero in the history books. He did however have the backing of the US- something that Castro didn't and that makes the US very itchy. The issue is Batista only had 25 years to Castros 60 so Batistas shortcomings seem to be forgotten. The victims of Castro are chronicled extensively yet little or no reference to the victims of the US or Batista are really discussed. No one in the current press is really making effort to explain why Castro did what he did. You'll probably have to go the banana wars era between 1898-1934 to begin to make sense of it.
People died under Batistas reign, and the US knew this and most likely chose to ignore it so long as their interests in the region were upheld. Who knows, perhaps the US administration would have eventually overthrown Batista if they saw him as a threat or deviating from their original relationship. That is a thread of speculative history for a parallel universe.
We do know that 638 attempts on Castros live were made and a lot of them were very creative. Statistically, at least 1% must have been carried out with US involvement. The CIA would understandably deny this. It would be abhorrent to think that if Cuba carried out 6 assassination attempts on any American president, not to consider that as an act of terrorisim and war. Who gave America the right to decide they can replace world leaders if they don't abide by their values? There certainly isn't a democratic referendum on whether the current administration asks the question whether they should and must. President Bush certainly didn't have one with regards to Saddam Hussein (he would have overruled it and NATO anyway).
"I think if you expose America to the same lens, you would have a stack of crimes that would overshadow what Fidel Castro's done." -Dr Denise Baden (BBC interview)
Castros reign has separated families and brought hardship to thousands of people. Being a leader for 60 years does not inject new ideas and reforms by new generations and ultimately hurts more people than saves. There is no going back from that and anyone claiming he was flawless is dilusional. He did have principles and stuck to them. That is a nobel leadership quality even though he did not allow (to his error of arrogant judgement perhaps) democratic feedback which is necessary with a varied population of self and common interests. What is left now is a vacuum as Cubans wake up to a future without Castro and to a disruptive future not seen probably since the independence from Spain. One can only hope that the Cuban future will not tainted by US, Russian or Chinese influences and that they may find their own way.
"Hasta la victoria, siempre" in principle was never wrong. It just needs to be modernised "a lo Cubano"!
Overthrow by Stephen Kinzer
The Banana Wars: United States Intervention in the Caribbean, 1898-1934 by Lester D. Langley
#FidelCastro #DonaldTrump #Cuba
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