Fidel Castro, love him or hate him. Cuba's strong man and revolutionary leader for over fifty years died Friday aged 90. It would be too easy to pass judgment on Castro that he was nothing more than a tyrant, and the world is well rid of him. For many, including many Cubans, Castro was a hero. Coming to power in 1959 during the Cold War, and on Americas doorstep, the communists government replaced the corrupt US backed Batista regime. No one can deny at that time Castro was a popular leader with the Cuban people, giving them a ray of hope for the future, in what was, and still is, a very poor country.
I believe Castro was a man with many faults, but still a man of his times. Love him or hate him the World couldn't ignore him.

Did Cubans, living in poverty under a Communist dictator really regard him as a hero? The Cuban exiles in America were dancing in the streets. Anyone with a pinch of decency should be celebrating the death of a monster who should have been smothered at birth. The Left, however, doesn't have a shred of decency. The rotten brother is still running Cuba, so the misery of Left dictatorship will continue for them.

Dear Paul1405,

Adolph Hitler, love him or hate him. Germany's strong man and leader for twelve years committed suicide in 1945 aged 56. It would be too easy to pass judgment on Hitler that he was nothing more than a tyrant, and the world is well rid of him. For many, including many Germans, Hitler was a hero. Coming to power in 1933 during the Depression, the Nazi government replaced the hapless Weimar Republic. No one can deny at that time Hitler was a popular leader with the German people, giving them a ray of hope for the future, in what was then a country suffering from the Depression.
I believe Hitler was a man with many faults, but still a man of his times. Love him or hate him the World couldn't ignore him.

And david f your point is? Since you raise the subject of Hitler, a leading Australian politician of the time had this to say after a visit to Nazi Germany in 1938.
“Nevertheless, it must be said that this modern abandonment by the Germans of individual liberty and of the easy and pleasant things of life has something rather magnificent about it."
“The Germans may be pulling down the churches, but they have erected the State, with Hitler as its head, into a sort of religion which produces spiritual exaltation that one cannot but admire…”

He was not the only one who thought Hitler was his kinda guy pre WWII. Maybe his opinion changed a short time later, I don't know. I have nothing else to say on that subject. Do you

Dear Paul1405,

Dictators don't come to power generally unless they are loved and give people hope. Their successors are not usually loved to the same degree. I have a simple dictum. Whatever ideology a dictator bases power on - Marxism, Nazism, clerical fascism in the case of Franco etc. dictators stink. I'm an old man who was a child in the US before WW2. There were articles in the newspapers, the Reader's Digest and other publications how the new leaders in the world gave people hope. One of my cousins used to get a slick publication from the Soviet Union with photos of smiling people operating tractors.

Castro like Hitler, Lenin and other dictators was quite popular. Now Hitler's memory is not honoured by most people the fact that at one time he was immensely popular, loved and gave the German people hope is mainly forgotten. He came to power as a result of a democratic process, and others may do the same.

When I heard Trump say that he knew the system and could solve its problems I became afraid. No person has the wisdom to right all wrongs, but people do not always reject demagogues who claim to be able to do so.

Right, left or middle dictators stink!

david f, the Pope is "elected" by a very small minority of Catholics, his word on Catholicism is law. Being a dictator of sorts does that make the Pope inherently bad. Are/were all absolute Monarchs bad? Mahatma Gandhi was never democratically elected to anything, but his political influence in India is undeniable. Henry Kissinger, was also never democratically elected, but was one of the most influential politicians of the 20th century.
Adolph Hitler had been in power 5 years when Time Magazine declared him man of the year in 1938. Obviously not rejecting a demagogue were they.