Fidel Castro dead

[abaris]

Sure. Another way of looking at it is that he drove the Mafia out of Cuba because he wasn't going to get Batista's share.

The notion that this opportunistic thug was some kind of moral idealist is just nutty.

Boru

But from a purely western perspective he could have swung both ways. The west barring it's doors drove him to the Soviets. Castro fought for Castro's glory. Or at the very least, lived for Castro's glory. Maybe there was some idealism in him when he set out to fight Batista, I wouldn't know. But he could have just as well turned into Batista 2.0. There was a lot going on before he openly turned to the Soviets for support. Quite a lot, and it's anybody's guess if it would have happened in any case if the USA hadn't been as quick with their embargos.