Is Fidel Castro a good or a bad dictator?

Question

Has he abused his people by imprisoning dissidents, and physically torturing them?
Does he let his people have freedom of speech, freedom of the press, freedom of information, like access to the Internet, etc.

Answer 1

a dictator is a dictator which means A REALLY BAD ONE !!!

Answer 2

Castro is a dictator...no way around that. Therefore, his politics are absolute and the freedoms enjoyed in a democratic nation are not enjoyed in Cuba.

That said, however, here are two interesting facts:
1. Cuba has the third best medical system in the world...free to all its citizens
2. When Pierre Elliott Trudeau died, Castro was at his funeral. During the coverage, two men were seen at Castro's side...talking to him at great length. Those two men were Jimmy Carter and Gerald Ford.

Sadly, because of the political history between the two countries, Americans have very little knowledge of Cuba and its beautiful land and people. Castro, himself, has been lauded as an incredibly intelligent, interesting and captivating man.

So, you be the judge. Do you have enough information about him to judge him as a person...or are you going to base opinions on the propoganda pumped out of the US about the evils of this horrible dictator?

Answer 3

There are no good dictators. Every dictator takes away the rights of the people. Those Cubans that have come here have many stories concerning his dictatorship of Cuba. People were imprisoned for going against his ideas & ideals, which were communist to the core. Cubans lost their land, were worked on state farms with little pay, housing was totally unsuitable, but those in high positions had all they needed & more while the general public went without. Much like Russia & to some extent our own country.

Answer 4

Power eventually corrupts. I think Fidel started out with good intentions but as time went by and plans did not pan out as he thought they would and his "Utopian Banana Republic Marxism" that was suppose be the envy of all of the rest of the western hemisphere and the world for that matter begun to drown in the sea of dispair called poverty he began to improvise and make plans accordingly. Castro is a rebel by nature even among his own kind.He saw all his former allies fall one by one and still he stuck to his guns and in his view "The show must go on".
I believe at one point he stopped and evaluated his success and probably concluded that it was all in vain and always being on the edge he decided that in this money hungry world that he is just one man and must put away say a billion dollars (hidden in overseas accounts under dummy corporations that he controls) as a security net in case he needs to flee in a hurry. A secondary reason for him putting away a stash like that would be that he also begun to challenge leftist ideas and asked himself "what if money was the root to all hapiness and I was mistaken all this years? I cannot be left broke if all this comes unglued. I am EL DICTATOR. I need at least a Billion$$$. "
This all took place around the falling of the Berlin Wall that is about the time he exchanged his military fatigues for expensive European suits.

Answer 5

What is a good dictator???

Only a lefty with no willingness to judge what's right and wrong would ask such a thing.

Put it this way. If I'm ever a third world leader and a bunch of democrat congress weenies and hollywood waifs come to my country to kiss my @ss, I will change the way I am leading.

Answer 6

Month after month, there are Cubans paddling frantically in slipshod water crafts heading for the Florida coast. Doesn't seem like things are too perky over there.

Answer 7

There is no such thing a good dictator. Therefore, he is a bad dictator.

Answer 8

Wait a second. You're implying there's such a thing as a good dictator?

Answer 9

Bad. There is no such thing as a good dictator.

Answer 10

Was Hitler a good dictator? was Mussolini? There is no such animal as a good dictator.