Obama Strikes a Conciliatory Note on Death of Brutal Dictator Fidel Castro

“His glorious image and great achievements will go down in history”, Xi said.

Castro shared a friendship with Trudeau’s late-father and then prime minister, Pierre Trudeau, with Castro serving as an honorary pallbearer at Pierre’s funeral.

Castro’s internationalist revolutionary commitment to fighting imperialism and capitalism – manifest in the revolutionary victory against USA imperialism and its puppet Batista regime in the 1959 Cuban revolution – conistently stood with the oppressed peoples of the world in their confrontation of imperialism, Zionism, racism and capitalism. He formally handed over power to Raul Castro in 2008 but was still a major presence on the island. But he cracked down harshly on dissent, jailing and exiling opponents.

News of Castro’s death was long anticipated by the exiles.

A formal statement followed, blasting Castro.

Thousands of people banged pots with spoons, waved Cuban flags in the air and whooped in jubilation on Calle Ocho – 8th Street, and the heart of the neighborhood – early Saturday.

“I want to thank him for everything”, added a visibly moved Maradona, who has a tattoo of Fidel Castro on his leg.

Some two million Cubans live in the United States, almost 70% of them in Florida. Of those, the vast majority live in Miami.

Cuban-American politicians excoriated Castro, with Florida Senator Marco Rubio calling him an “evil, murderous dictator who inflicted misery and suffering on his own people”.

April 1980 – Mariel boatlift: Cuba says anyone can leave; some 125,000 Cubans flee. President John F Kennedy’s historian has written that JFK’s first preference for Cuba would be for a democratic regime, but if that was not possible, the second preference would be a dictatorial Batista regime and the last choice would be a Castro regime.

The president’s reaction contrasted with those of prominent officials north, south, east, and west of the United States alike, which included admiring words for Castro.

While for many he was a champion of the poor and symbol of liberation who overthrew a dictator and brought free education and health care to the masses, he was ultimately a brutal dictator and thug who executed thousands of opponents, imprisoned tens of thousands, suppressed freedom and democracy and destroyed the Cuban national economy.

The Cuban government has declared a nine-day period of mourning and suspended alcohol sales and even baseball games.

“Fidel Castro was a honest and reliable friend of Russian Federation”.

For almost 50 years he held power, surviving hundreds of assassination attempts and leading a revolution that ushered inSoviet-style socialism take root just off the coast of the southern United States.

“Fidel was an intellectual; he was a thinker”, Saney said.

She said she still had trouble accepting his death.

“Fidel was the island’s protector, he was everywhere”, said Valdes, 43. He ended the announcement by shouting the revolutionary slogan: “Toward victory, always!”

Trump noted that he had been endorsed by the Brigade 2506 Veterans Association, which represents veterans of the failed US Bay of Pigs invasion in 1961, although he didn’t mention the trade embargo.