Fidel Castro as Symbol of Rebellion
Fidel Castro, the epitome of revolution and Cuba’s apex leader, died Friday at the age of 90.
This news was announced by Cuban state television.
Fidel Castro was a historic figure for his defiance of the United States of America for almost half a century.
CNN says no other nonroyal ruler clung to power as long as Castro did.
Mr. Castro was determined to continue his aspiration for communist revolution. But ailing health stopped him in 2006. He provisionally ceded much of his power to his younger brother Raúl, now 85, and two years later formally resigned as president.
Fidel Castro as Authoritarian Leader
Fidel Castro dominated his country with strength and passion for communism from the day he triumphantly entered Havana on Jan. 8, 1959, and completed his overthrow of Fulgencio Batista.
He was a tyrant and controlled every aspect of the Caribbean nation. He was dubbed as Cuba’s “Máximo Lider.”
Amid his repressive power and totalitarian government, Mr. Castro had gained both admirers and detractors in Cuba and around the world. Some saw him as a ruthless leader who suppressed rights and freedoms. But in a global context, many others hailed him as a revolutionary hero for the ages.
Robert Pastor, a former national security adviser for President Jimmy Carter in the 1970s, told CNN in 2012, “He reshaped Cuba in his image, for both bad and good.” Pastor died in 2014.
Cuba will be a different place because he lived and he died.
On US
The New York Times says Mr. Castro’s obsession with the United States, and America’s obsession with him, shaped his rule. Washington considered him a devil and a tyrant. Headlines show that the United States even plotted his assassination and worked on a number of plots to remove him from power.
Castro’s enduring mistrust of the United States continued during Obama’s administration. He continuously blamed many of Cuba’s ills on America and its embargo.
However, the United States ended this long tirade of antagonism with Cuba when President Barack Obama used his executive powers for a deal on the exchange prisoners and normalize diplomatic relations between the two countries in December 2014. This deal was realized with the help of Pope Francis.
