Fidel Castro Dead

[DaveW]

As a "damn millennial" my experience in growing up with Castro running things in Cuba was obviously in a less contentious time then that if my parents generation and many of you guys.

 

Interested to hear your thoughts on the man as a whole. Seems complex to say the least.

[glunn]

I agree that this seems complex.

 

I view this in the context of my sense that the Cold War was terrible for most people on both sides.

 

The Russians and Americans spent trillions of dollars on "defense" that could have been spent on education, infrastructure and quality of life. This was very profitable for a small number of people -- mainly arms manufacturers, politicians and generals.

 

In this context, Castro seems like an incidental beneficiary. Without the Soviet presence, I think that we would have crushed Castro and replaced him with our own guy. And without the threat of the United States, I think that Castro would have had less control over his people.

 

At the beginning I think that Castro was pursuing a noble cause in overthrowing Batista, who was a fascist dictator and who was screwing over the Cuban people. After taking power, Castro had good reason to fear the United States, and the Bay of Pigs debacle confirmed this. So it made sense to ally himself with the Soviets and go all in with a Communist system.

 

I wish that we could get a do-over on this one, but from the perspective of the Cuban people I can see why they would prefer Castro over a Batista clone. I also think that Harry Truman inflicted immense misery on hundreds of millions of people around the world by buying into the Cold War, and Castro was an incidental beneficiary.

[kab21]

I have already seen one post on FB praising Trump's response to Castro's death and criticizing Obama's. Not to turn this into a political thread but I find Trump's opinion of Castro to be fair but Obama's response to be the better one. The ending of sanctions/embargos/Cuba hate was long overdue and I am glad that step was taken during the last presidency. They might have been an enemy once but they have been a desperately poor and a non-threat for a long time. There was no reason not to open things up a long time ago.

[Mr. Brooks]

I have already seen one post on FB praising Trump's response to Castro's death and criticizing Obama's. Not to turn this into a political thread but I find Trump's opinion of Castro to be fair but Obama's response to be the better one. The ending of sanctions/embargos/Cuba hate was long overdue and I am glad that step was taken during the last presidency. They might have been an enemy once but they have been a desperately poor and a non-threat for a long time. There was no reason not to open things up a long time ago.

Not only that but the embargo clearly hasn't worked. I mean isn't an embargo meant to be a negotiating tactic? When it doesn't work it just becomes punitive.

[DaveW]

I think it's pretty tacky to celebrate someone's death.
I think it's even more tacky if that someone who never really affected you directly in a meaningful way (i.e. you aren't a Cuban American or know someone close to you who was killed/jailed etc)

I think it's even more tacky for the next leader of this country celebrate it.

[kab21]

I think it is poor diplomatic relations to celebrate it as president when a country as a whole still views him favorably and are mourning his death. Obama's statement never praises him but shows him respect and doesn't create any bumps in the road to continued relations. Trump's statement makes it difficult for them to sit down and talk about stuff in the future. Kind of odd that a 'great negotiator' would do that.

[nicksaviking]

I can tell you from a very agriculturally Red state, the farmers are very anxious to end diplomatic and trade red tape with Cuba, they are eager to start shipping food to a neighboring country that is always desperately in need of it. Trump raising a stink about this wouldn't play well with a particular demographic of his supporters.

[Craig Arko]

I'm ambivalent about this. He did some awful things, and he did some good things. Mostly he was in power for too long.

[nicksaviking]

 

I'm ambivalent about this. He did some awful things, and he did some good things. Mostly he was in power for too long.

 

And no one really even knows if he had any kind of power or the mental capacity to wield it recently. Either way, he's dead now so.....

 

Do we want to stand around doing nothing but seeing who is better at spitting on graves or do we want to get down to business? I kind of thought that was what Trump's campaign was all about. Who cares who said what? Isn't that all part of the symbolically empty crap people supposedly voted against?

[Craig Arko]

 

Do we want to stand around doing nothing but seeing who is better at spitting on graves or do we want to get down to business?

What does that mean?