Fidel Castro has died aged 90.

[Ken B]

There are good and bad regimes of many persuasions. I'm not here to argue that Castro's regime was good, I'm merely pointing out that Trudeau's remarks are perfectly understandable from a Canadian perspective, and certainly from his personal perspective. Castro was one of his father's pallbearers. He was hardly going to label Castro as a great evil.

I'm not going to argue in favour of communism either, but it would be wrong to assume that all Communist regimes were as EQUALLY shit as the Romanian one. There's a reason why the toppling of Ceausescu went the way it did.

Trudeau's remarks are not "understandable from a Canadian perspective". We are not moral cretins. His remarks have gone down rather badly with Canadians. That we did not agree with US policy on Cuba does not imply we condoned his regime.

[Dax]

So some of us think that Castro had redeeming qualities, some of us not.

What about Trump's threat to undo the recent developments? (I'm a Brit, by the way).

[ComposerOfAvantGarde]

So some of us think that Castro had redeeming qualities, some of us not.

What about Trump's threat to undo the recent developments? (I'm a Brit, by the way).

Personally I find it rather contradictory for Trump to say

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.

And then threaten to put an end to the normalisation.........

[Ken B]

More on the "Canadian perspective". Trudeau will not attend the funeral, burned by the reactions of Canadians to his disgraceful eulogy.
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-cuba-castro-trudeau-idUSKBN13N1UO

[Tritone]

He was a murderer who had children shot. Did you not know this or did you not care?

Spot on!!  Just shows how far the Left has taken us down the authoritarian food chain that this murderer can be held up as some kind of important leader.  I still have images of those people escaping on anything that floats, heading for the US.  Reminiscent of the Syrian refugees of recent times, minus the free-loading illegals from other countries.

[The new erato]

Removing Batista was a very worthwhile goal, but as so often happens, replacing one dictator with another brings us nowhere,. I cannot help but wonder what would have happened if the fall of Batista had been followed by a more open US policy towards the new leadership in Cuba....and I admit to knowing little about the circumstances at he time except for the general cllimate og cold war, US McCarhyism and paranoia towards anything smelling of social reform and redistribution.

[Madiel]

More on the "Canadian perspective". Trudeau will not attend the funeral, burned by the reactions of Canadians to his disgraceful eulogy.
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-cuba-castro-trudeau-idUSKBN13N1UO

Noted. Including noting that it affirms what I had already understood, that Canada was one of the Western nations most friendly to Cuba during Castro's reign.

Something that the USA in fact took advantage of when it suited, using Canada as a go-between for communication with Cuba so that it could maintain it was not talking to Cuba.

[The new erato]

[Madiel]

What a pity that wisecrack studiously avoids having any pictures of Pierre Trudeau for comparison. You know, given how 5 seconds on Google will provide clear evidence of the resemblance of Pierre and Justin.

Is this what passes for political debate these days? Jesus.

[Wakefield]

Journalistic objectivity:

[Florestan]

Journalistic objectivity:

Indeed. 

[The new erato]

No, this isn't journalism, and nobody who visits the website would expect impartiality. Still, I found the similarities extremely striking.

[carlito77]

Castro would not have been in power for so long had he had not have the support of the majority of the Cuban people. If he didn't have that support, he would've have to resort to more repressive means. There were never any death squads in Cuba like there were in Argentina, Chile, El Salvador, Honduras, and Guatemala. He didn't have a private Swiss bank account like many of these brutal dictators. Many of the people who fled Cuba, did so more for economic reasons than political ones and this was due to the economic blockade imposed by the U.S. for the last 40 years. Cuba was heavily subsidized by the Soviet Union but when Soviet Union collapse, things turned for the worst economically in Cuba.

[Wakefield]

All we know it, Carlito77. Cuba was a socialist paradise.

Free elections, freedom of speech, no crimes, no concentration camps, no death of political opponents, no political prisioners, no summary executions, with impartial courts. We know all of that.   

[North Star]

Many of the people who fled Cuba, did so more for economic reasons than political ones and this was due to the economic blockade imposed by the U.S. for the last 40 years. Cuba was heavily subsidized by the Soviet Union but when Soviet Union collapse, things turned for the worst economically in Cuba.

Indeed, and:

The UN General Assembly has, since 1992, passed a resolution every year condemning the ongoing impact of the embargo and declaring it to be in violation of the Charter of the United Nations and international law. In 2014, out of the 193-nation assembly, 188 countries voted for the nonbinding resolution, the United States and Israel voted against and the Pacific island nations Palau, Marshall Islands and Micronesia abstained. Human rights groups including Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, and the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights have also been critical of the embargo. Critics of the embargo say that the embargo laws are too harsh, citing the fact that violations can result in 10 years in prison.

[Wakefield]

Castro would not have been in power for so long had he had not have the support of the majority of the Cuban people. If he didn't have that support, he would've have to resort to more repressive means. There were never any death squads in Cuba like there were in Argentina, Chile, El Salvador, Honduras, and Guatemala. He didn't have a private Swiss bank account like many of these brutal dictators. Many of the people who fled Cuba, did so more for economic reasons than political ones and this was due to the economic blockade imposed by the U.S. for the last 40 years. Cuba was heavily subsidized by the Soviet Union but when Soviet Union collapse, things turned for the worst economically in Cuba.

"Death squads" in Chile? You're misinformed. This is not central America. Terrible, but here almost all the repression was exclusively run by agents of the State.

[The new erato]

Indeed, and:

Worthwhile quotes that, and I would like to quote myself:

Removing Batista was a very worthwhile goal, but as so often happens, replacing one dictator with another brings us nowhere,. I cannot help but wonder what would have happened if the fall of Batista had been followed by a more open US policy towards the new leadership in Cuba....and I admit to knowing little about the circumstances at the time except for the general cllimate of cold war, US McCarthyism and paranoia towards anything smelling of social reform and redistribution.

[Spineur]

Some french wit, which cannot really be translated:

Cuba n'ayant pas l'usage des urnes, où diable! en a-t-on trouvé une pour recueillir les cendres de Castro ?  Bernard Pivot

finir roulé dans un cigare, il n'y a que ça de vrai pour un tel homme.

La Havane n'a pas beaucoup d'urnes mais beaucoup de cendriers ...

[Spineur]

Fidel, with his Rolex 6542

[Archaic Torso of Apollo]

Based on the Eastern European experience, how Castro will be perceived in the future will largely depend on how well his successors govern Cuba.

There was a joke circulating in Moscow in the 1990s: "What has Boris Yeltsin achieved in 1 year that the Bolsheviks couldn't achieve in 70? He made communism look good."