Is it true, as Forbes Magazine has asserted, that Fidel Castro is worth 900 million dollars?

Question

http://www.forbes.com/2006/05/03/cz_forbes_0522_royals_slide_7.html

Why would he steal all that money when the per capita income of Cubans languishes around $1,500 / year? That's right, folks, the average Cuban has an annual income of $1,500!

Now, I know, I know, for the Cubans lots of things are either subsidized or simply unavailable (the latter being a slight understatement ;-)); so I have no trouble acknowledging that the average Cuban has $3,500 per year in terms of purchasing power parity. Still, $3,500 is a wretched existence.

So I can't help but wonder how that great leader of the people, Fidel, has become worth $900 million. Shouldn't he give that money back to the people who's necks he's been standing on for the last 48 years?

I think he should give it back and then he should have Cuban doctors treat him next time he's seriously ill. You know the doctors, right? They're the ones that help to make Cuba's health care system the envy of the known world. Yeah, right!

Answer 1

You act surprised after all he is a dictator.

Answer 2

I bet none of you (answerers) have ever been to Cuba.
So where do you get your info from?
The same source that told you about Saadam's weapons of mass destruction.

The doctors here are great, I see them whenever I need a doctor (which is not often, because the food here is healthy; not processed like in the States).

Almost nobody in Cuba makes 1500 a year. Most people makes 50 dollars a month (600 a year) which is suficient here where education (including college) is free, where health care (including preventative) is free, where housing (although in shortage since the 90's) is free.

Basic foods here (like rice, beans, corn, eggs, vegetables, fruits) are extremely cheap and affordable. True, you cannot buy an Ipod, a Ferrari, or a Tivo in Cuba, but the poor people of the Caribbeans, Central America, and Asia cannot even dream about having what every Cuban have from the moment he/she is born.
Come visit the island for a week before you jump to conclusions based on lies told by coni Rice and Dick Cheaney. The Cuban people love their country; "Wiping out" other human being (as Hitler did), does not solve problems. It creates them.

Answer 3

I love it that you give this so much emphasis and seem surprised. Where do you thing the trade income from his country goes? Back into social programs? Oh, maybe some cost of living breaks for his people? No, they go for him to amass more money running his private corp. known as Cuba.

We really should have wiped him off the face of the planet when the Russians were pushing us there.

Answer 4

Yes, from all the drug money he probably has that much. For anyone that has any doubts just go and talk to the people that have escaped from that country and they will all tell you that they wish he was dead

Answer 5

You mean the same doctors Michael More said were great?

Answer 6

The only way person who could answer that is Fidel.

Answer 7

Must be worth more than his country.

Answer 8

Tis true- welcome to dictatorship