It's interesting having a diverse group of friends. Seems like half of them are cheering his demise, and the other half are posting what they consider his most inspirational quotes.
Certainly, he was a man of consequence. Most of those consequences were bad.
11 comments:
The rotten fruit of a Jesuit education.
.........On May 27, [1966,] 166 Cubans -- civilians and members of the military -- were executed and submitted to medical procedures of blood extraction of an average of seven pints per person. This blood is sold to Communist Vietnam at a rate of $50 per pint with the dual purpose of obtaining hard currency and contributing to the Vietcong Communist aggression........
Counting Castro's Victims
http://www.wsj.com/articles/SB113590852154334404
-Mississippi
Reminds me of reactions to Arafat's death.
All I ever needed to know about Cuba is that their model depended on preventing people from leaving. Always check which way the guns point on the guard towers at the perimeter: it's the most valuable clue there is, whether you're talking about North Korea or the public school system.
Instapundit had this posted: https://pjmedia.com/instapundit/
GOOD RIDDANCE TO FIDEL CASTRO, Cuba’s Brutal Big Brother.
If this were a just world, 13 facts would be etched on Castro’s tombstone and highlighted in every obituary, as bullet points — a fitting metaphor for someone who used firing squads to murder thousands of his own people.
●He turned Cuba into a colony of the Soviet Union and nearly caused a nuclear holocaust.
●He sponsored terrorism wherever he could and allied himself with many of the worst dictators on earth.
●He was responsible for so many thousands of executions and disappearances in Cuba that a precise number is hard to reckon.
●He brooked no dissent and built concentration camps and prisons at an unprecedented rate, filling them to capacity, incarcerating a higher percentage of his own people than most other modern dictators, including Stalin.
●He condoned and encouraged torture and extrajudicial killings.
●He forced nearly 20 percent of his people into exile, and prompted thousands to meet their deaths at sea, unseen and uncounted, while fleeing from him in crude vessels.
●He claimed all property for himself and his henchmen, strangled food production and impoverished the vast majority of his people.
●He outlawed private enterprise and labor unions, wiped out Cuba’s large middle class and turned Cubans into slaves of the state.
●He persecuted gay people and tried to eradicate religion.
But he was a lefty, so it’s all okay.
Just like with Venezuela.
- Mississippi
I'm having a Cuba Libre today.
He claimed all property for himself and his henchmen, strangled food production and impoverished the vast majority of his people.
From 1961 to 2013, milk production in Cuba increased 68%. From 1961 to 2013, milk production in Latin America increased 370%.When 2013 production is expressed as a multiple of 1961 production, we have Latin America 4.7, versus Cuba 1.68. The CIA wasn't shooting milk cows. That wasn't the embargo. That was Castronomics at work.
Those who tout all the alleged great accomplishments of Castro ignore two important facts. First, the Cuba that Castro inherited nearly 58 years ago was relatively well off. Second, other countries have made comparable or greater improvements since that time.If Castro had all those great accomplishments in health care compared to other countries, how do the Fidelistas explain that in both 1960 and in 2014, Cuba ranked third in Life Expectancy in Latin America? In 1960, Cuba's Life Expectancy was 8.24 years greater than Life Expectancy in Latin America. In 2014, the gap was 4.67 years, indicating that other countries have also improved.
World Development Indicators Databank (World Bank)
http://faostat3.fao.org/home/E
This is from 1998, so some of the information is dated, but overall it still stands up.Renaissance and Decay: A Comparison of Socioeconomic Indicators in Pre-Castro and Current-Day Cuba
At long last, a good Communist.
and the other half are posting what they consider his most inspirational quotes.
Which points out that Castro's accomplishments cannot stand up to his rhetoric. For example, consider the Castro regime's abysmal record in milk production compared to Fidel's rhetoric about Ubre Blanca, the wonder cow.
Anyone who can speechify nonstop for 8 hours or more, as Castro did on many an occasion, is bound to come up with an occasional inspirational quote.
The only thing to regret about Castro's death is that is is about fifty years overdue.
My wife ran across this tweet. You might have to click on it to blow it up to a readable size.
http://pic.twitter.com/JUKBtDMH01
Eric Hines
Iran was also well off and beginning to Westernize, with women in universities wearing Western suits. Until an American President, the Leftist alliance, and an ayatollah got involved.
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