Is Fidel Castro a good guy or a bad guy?

Question

The revolution in Cuba is referred to a lot in many films such as Scarface and Before Night Falls, portraying Fidel as an evil person yet he is an Icon and I wanted to know is he good or bad and why?

Answer 1

Very few leaders are either entirely good or entirely bad. Communism however is a dictatorship, and dictatorships are generally looked at as bad.

One of the first things he did upon taking over was ridding the country of the thinking class. That would be doctors, lawyers, political activists, rich merchants, etc. These of course moved mostly to the US, and became his sworn enemies.

As communist dictators go, he hasn't done that badly, but it doesn't change the dictator part. Keep in mind Saddam was returned to office with 100% of the voters voting and 100% of the vote Um, yeah, another dictatorship.

So, in all, if the definition of bad is dictator, then he falls under bad. On the other hand, Cuba has done fairly well under him, and would have done better with a little co-operation from the US, which at the time of the Cold War, was impossible.

Never mind the movies. The gulf between them and fact is unbridgeable.

-Dio

Answer 2

The answer to that question would all depend on which side of the fence you're looking from...

Castro was a revolutionary who wanted to bring economic equality to Cuba's people. Unfortunately, that involved upsetting those who held financial dominance (eg US) as he attemepted to dislodge those who he saw a taking all the money and using it only to empower themselves and left the indiginous Cubans poor. There were also some rich Cubans who did not like Castro's millitant approach and obvoiously felt threatened. Hence their alignment with the US. After all, it was a Cuban businessman (terrorist) who blew up Air Cubana over Barbados in 1979.

On the other side of the fence you have ordinary and poor folks who would naturally see the benefit of Fidel's wishes. Where things turned for the worse was when Castro felt the threat of the USA, CIA in particular, he began to seek allies one of whom were the Soviets. The US also embargoed Cuba causing Cuban to suffer more due to lack of imports/trade.

Now that's a summary. All I can say though, is that because of Cuba's association with the USSR and communism, it has been labelled as BAD.
In my humble opinion, Communism is great in theory, but horrible in practice. The ideals are great but the execution is poor and people suffer as a result. Show me a successful communist model and I will reconsider.

In my books Fidel Castro was a good man who, due to all kinds of factors, got a bad result.

Answer 3

I am old enough to remember when Fidel was a hero of the Revolution taking down the corrupt Batista Government. He was a handsom guy, well educated and a household word in America for some time. The first people to fee Cuba were people of means. My grandmother went on vacation to Havana just prior to the Revolution and told me of the terrible poverty of the common people. Yet, Havana was the number one spot for vacationing people with money.

Answer 4

Would a man that faced the most terrifying empire and defeated it will be a bad man?
Cuba was the place for whores for Americans, Cubans now are the most educated people in latinamerica as a nation, everyone has a degree, and very good at science, why would he be a bad person doing this and resisting a boycott from the USA?

Answer 5

Depends what you mean by 'good' or 'bad'. On balance compared, with some world leaders like Bush, he could be termed a Saint! While the Cuban political system could be termed 'evil' it is worth remembering that the so called US democracy people live in abject poverty without access to adequate medical services and educational opportunities.

Answer 6

ppl say he's a bad person coz he's a communist type of guy while many cubans want democracy and a capitalist regime. it's important for liberty everyone knows but then again, a communist country does keep society in order and under control with special government assistance in all areas.

some countries need that kind of government assistance but the problem is how much should the government intervene in the people's lives.
the majority of the human population dislike communism while that cuban leader implements it. but out of that, he has produced some of the world's greatest doctors!

Answer 7

he led the revoloution of his people against the tin pot dictator imposed by them by the americans (if you watch godfather 2, you can see an admittedly dramatised version of the sort of thing that was going on at the time.)

He has his faults, he only recently decriminalised homsexuality for example. But when you look at what he has done for his people over the years (the first rate public health system and the education system for example,) the good outstrips the bad by a long shot

Answer 8

He is bad. He is a dictator that keeps most of the coutrymen poor. He is very sickly at this time. His brother is in line to take over the country. I fear that he may be worse than Fidel. Why do you think so many people risk their lives trying to get to FL on a raft to escape Cuba??

Answer 9

i reckon he is a good guy and got the communist balance right unlike most commy states...for example just look how good the healthcare system is in cuba despite all the sanctions that have been in place...fidel gets my vote!
ps...bet bush would struggle to do what he has done and he has tried to sort other countrys out and cant even look after his own place...what a loser

Answer 10

he did good things for cuba but on the world stage a bad person