Vocal Voices

He's gone, RIP.

I did not agree with his politics, but I did respect him for his beliefs and as a human[e] being.

He ushered in world class education and health systems in Cuba, and let us not forget that Cuban intervention in Angola helped bring down apartheid in S. Africa. Yes, he had flaws, all dictators do, but in general he had been good for Cuba and its people.

He was not a populist and he believed in traditional values. The world could do with more leaders like him.

Yes, I can empathise with that obituary in a way. Certainly perhaps when compared with other dictators like Mugabe, Marcos, Pinochet ...

It will be interesting to see what happens next in Cuba.

I've been guilty, in the past, of taking the western line on Castro without thought.

In fact he may not have been what I would want but he was certainly what his people needed at the time.

His passing will be missed. But the world is quite a different place from when he took power.

It is a different place. From what I read it seems like Fidel Castro was personally popular, the other leaders of the revolution maybe not so much.

He (and Guevara) did have people executed after the revolution, but it was a civil war. In the English civil war we executed the King; and it should not be forgotten that most of the people in Cuba were in favour of people in the former regime being executed.

I'd be cautious about lauding him to the skies, but Castro was a significant 20th century figure.

It will be interesting to see what happens in Cuba now. Trump seems to be taking a hard lie with them at the moment, but that can change.