In her love paean to Saint Fidel, Vivien Lougheed omitted a few details.
First off, there's no such thing as a benevolent dictator. That's an oxymoron, as dictators cannot long hold on to power if they act benevolently.
Let's not forget the thousands of Cubans he executed by firing squad or the 1,200 known to have been liquidated extra-judicially. Let's remember the tens of thousands sentenced to forced labour camps, and the many more thousands (millions?) who risked (and in many cases lost) their lives fleeing his utopian paradise on makeshift rafts and rickety boats. And let's not forget that he unleashed mass murderer Che Guevara on the people to ensure the continuation of his rule.
Political activity other than the Communist Party of Cuba is still a criminal offence. Political dissent of any kind is a criminal offence. Every year there still are thousands of politically motivated arrests.
There's no freedom of movement.
Their high literacy rate allows Cubans to read whatever they want (as long as it's something the ruling Castros allow). The Cuban news media is owned by the Castros who control what news Cubans are allowed to hear. Unofficial, independent journalists/publications are subject to harassment. There's no freedom of the press.
As is typical with despotic rulers, while requiring his subjects to subsist under the beneficent auspices of socialism, Castro himself was extremely wealthy, his personal net worth estimated by Forbes to be $1 billion. His last decades were spent enjoying his four palatial estates, cruising in his yacht, following all the pursuits of the successful bourgeois capitalists that he continuously denounced.
On the news of his death, what world leaders (other than Trudeau) lavished effusive praise on the accomplishments of his regime? Other dictators. That says it all.
Art Betke
Prince George
