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Fidel Castro's death has been announced by Cuban state television:
Cuba's former president Fidel Castro, one of the world's longest-serving and most iconic leaders, has died aged 90. His younger brother and successor as president Raul Castro announced the news on state television.
Castro toppled the government in 1959, introducing a Communist revolution. He defied the US for decades, surviving many assassination plots. His supporters said he had given Cuba back to the people. Critics saw him as a dictator.
Ashen and grave, President Castro told the nation in an unexpected late night broadcast on state television that Fidel Castro had died and would be cremated later on Saturday. "The commander in chief of the Cuban revolution died at 22:29 hours this evening (03:29 GMT Saturday)," he said. "Towards victory, always!" he added, using a revolutionary slogan. A period of official mourning has been declared on the island until 4 December, when his ashes will be laid to rest in the south-eastern city of Santiago.
Also at Bloomberg (world leaders react), Washington Post, NYT, The Guardian, CNN, NPR, WSJ, PBS, and Reuters. Editorials at the Miami Herald and Daily Beast.
(Score: 5, Informative) by cmn32480 on Saturday November 26 2016, @03:20PM
Spend time in one of his political prisons, or talk to some people who did (like my Uncle). You just might change your mind.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_rights_in_Cuba [wikipedia.org]
http://babalublog.com/fidel-castros-greatest-atrocities-and-crimes/ [babalublog.com]
The old Cubans are celebrating today and rightfully so.
"It's a dog eat dog world, and I'm wearing Milkbone underwear" - Norm Peterson
(Score: 5, Insightful) by Runaway1956 on Saturday November 26 2016, @03:47PM
If I spent a few decades locked up in the US of A, maybe at Gitmo Bay, I'd have some pretty bad things to say about the USA as well.
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday November 26 2016, @05:50PM
Why about the USA? Gitmo is in Cuba, so obviously it should count under Cuban atrocities.
Maybe one day the US is going to use the human rights abuses at Gitmo as a casus beli and invade Cuba.
Ain't exporting your human rights abuses just grand?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday November 26 2016, @06:26PM
DIIIIPSHIT.
If people were making a parody of a self-absorbed clueless Liberal, it would sound exactly like you.
Calling Republicans Hitler while praising a 70 year dictator who is the actual closest thing to him.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Sulla on Saturday November 26 2016, @07:54PM
Why not have qualms with both? Castro will go to hell for his crimes, and Bush will most likely do the same (presuming hell does exist). Both tyrants, both condoned murder and torture, and both oppressed for the sake of oppression.
Ceterum censeo Sinae esse delendam
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Azuma Hazuki on Sunday November 27 2016, @06:26AM
It does, though not the way any religion suspects, although I would say the less-dogmatic Buddhists are least wrong on this (that is, there's no geometric stacking of hells one after another with a 20x multiplier on residence time, etc). My girlfriend's been there, and not as a "tourist" during an NDE either.
The good news is, as far as I can tell it appears to be a self-inflicted and self-correcting process: there are no more illusions in the clear light of death, and one's evils are reflected back on them utterly unfiltered in a perfect one-to-one ratio. This is of course incredibly painful, and people perceive it mostly the way their cultures tell them to. My girlfriend was a Buddhist at the time, for example, so she actually met up with Enma Daiou and got sentenced to one of the traditional Buddhist hells -- or so she thought, because this is what she had been trained to expect.
It's really just your own mind trying to make sense of what's happening to you through the only lens it has.
I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
(Score: 2) by cmn32480 on Tuesday November 29 2016, @03:51AM
Most of my family were never in Castro's prisons. All of the ones that are here fled Cuba with not much more than the clothes on their back and what they could pack in a suitcase to make it look like they were going on vacation.
He drove people from their homes, killed thousands who disagreed with him, and lived a life of luxury while the people of the island wallowed in poverty. Some great leader.
If Cuba is currently so wonderful, why are people STILL building rafts from anything that will float to GTFO??
I hope the bastard is slow roasting.
"It's a dog eat dog world, and I'm wearing Milkbone underwear" - Norm Peterson
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Tuesday November 29 2016, @05:23AM
You remind me of our own history in the US. We kinda gloss over the Tories who fled the US to Canada. Wonder what their take is on our revolution, and subsequent history.
I'm trying for a comparison here. Is Cuba as bad as Iraq is today? Afghanistan? How about Syria?
My major problem with the invasion of Iraq is that we pretty much destroyed a culture, and replaced it with ISIS. As bad as Hussein was, he maintained a level of stability in Iraq for decades. Today, it's just about the MOST unstable place in the world. Ukraine is vastly more stable than Iraq. And, I think that Cuba is probably more stable than Ukraine.
The only first hand experience that I have with Cuba, is going ashore at Gitmo, and having a couple beers in the EM club. I'm sure that you know more about Cuba than I do, but still, people aren't dying by the thousands of starvation, disease, and political upheavals. It's a pretty safe, stable country to live in, unless you actively oppose the government, right?