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Fidel Castro has passed away, aged 90

 
 
 
B

BH

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It's breaking on the major news outlets if anyone cares to follow it and/or discuss Fidel and his role in Cuban history.
 
So does this mean that all the Cuban-Americans who've been hoping for his death will finally get off their asses and move back to Cuba?
 
From Dave Barry's Big Trouble:

Arthur Herk's employer, Penultimate Inc, builder of faulty buildings, was John and Leo's [gun dealers] biggest customer. The reason why Penultimate was buying weapons--in fact the whole reason Penultimate existed in the first place--was that it was planning to take over Cuba once Fidel was dead. Quite a few organizations in South Florida, not to mention Cuba, were planning to do this. One thing you could say for sure about post-Castro Cuba, it would not lack for leadership.
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CNN referred to him as a murdering dictator. I have a high tolerance for certain things. I don't have a particular problem with a short to medium term dictatorship, especially when it manifests out of a need to whip things in shape, but a murdering dictator? Well, as long as it's in moderation and a fantastic benefit arises from it (is one thing), but I don't see where he has brought greatness to anything, so his reign being over is a good thing.
 
How many people did Castro actually kill?

Not counting the fascists he killed when he took power.

Because the boy genius GW Bush is responsible for the deaths of hundreds of thousands and the displacement of millions.

And he lives like a king in the US.
 
untermensche said:
How many people did Castro actually kill?

Not counting the fascists he killed when he took power.

Because the boy genius GW Bush is responsible for the deaths of hundreds of thousands and the displacement of millions.

And he lives like a king in the US.
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I don't know for sure. But he killed a lot of dreams. He (and others) killed the dream that it's possible to turn towards a brutal dictator who believes in socialism; overturn the system; kill and/or imprison the capitalists; have everyone trust the dictator to set up the socialist utopia; push towards free democratic elections; and then decide to retain power, and maintain the dictatorship. True Socialism will never work mostly because it breeds thugs who will never relinquish their power.
 
Harry_Bosch said:
untermensche said:
How many people did Castro actually kill?

Not counting the fascists he killed when he took power.

Because the boy genius GW Bush is responsible for the deaths of hundreds of thousands and the displacement of millions.

And he lives like a king in the US.
Click to expand...

I don't know for sure. But he killed a lot of dreams. He (and others) killed the dream that it's possible to turn towards a brutal dictator who believes in socialism; overturn the system; kill and/or imprison the capitalists; have everyone trust the dictator to set up the socialist utopia; push towards free democratic elections; and then decide to retain power, and maintain the dictatorship. True Socialism will never work mostly because it breeds thugs who will never relinquish their power.
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He certainly was a dictator, but the brutal part is in question.

He was a lot less brutal than any US president since he took power for example.

Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos.

Now that was brutal.
 
But George Bush is on "our side" so he gets a pass. Fidel was on the commie side so his crimes from "murder" up to even jerking off on his bed spread when ten and making his mom have to wash it out are simply unforgivable. George Bush can jack off all he wants everywhere he wants and we should all just grin and say "That's Georgie being Georgie".
 
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BH said:
It's breaking on the major news outlets if anyone cares to follow it and/or discuss Fidel and his role in Cuban history.
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It's more interesting to discuss how the hell this man managed to be so loved by the left around the world. I find that horrifying and absurd. The guy was clearly just a get-rich-quick opportunist. Nothing necessarily wrong with that. But why was he so loved while a similar kind of leader, Ghaddafi was so despised? Or Assad? Same same IMHO.
 
Fulgencio Batista Zaldívar (Spanish: [fulˈxensjo βaˈtista i salˈdiβar]; January 16, 1901 – August 6, 1973) was the elected President of Cuba from 1940 to 1944, and U.S.-backed dictator from 1952 to 1959, before being overthrown during the Cuban Revolution.[1] Fulgencio Batista initially rose to power as part of the 1933 Revolt of the Sergeants that overthrew the authoritarian rule of Gerardo Machado. He then appointed himself chief of the armed forces, with the rank of colonel, and effectively controlled the five-member Presidency. He maintained this control through a string of puppet presidents until 1940, when he was himself elected President of Cuba on a populist platform.[2][3] He then instated the 1940 Constitution of Cuba, considered progressive for its time,[4] and served until 1944. After finishing his term he lived in Florida, returning to Cuba to run for president in 1952. Facing certain electoral defeat, he led a military coup that preempted the election.

Back in power, and receiving financial, military, and logistical support from the United States government,[5] Batista suspended the 1940 Constitution and revoked most political liberties, including the right to strike. He then aligned with the wealthiest landowners who owned the largest sugar plantations, and presided over a stagnating economy that widened the gap between rich and poor Cubans.[6] Eventually it reached the point where most of the sugar industry was in U.S. hands, and foreigners owned 70% of the arable land.[7] As such, Batista's increasingly corrupt and repressive government then began to systematically profit from the exploitation of Cuba's commercial interests, by negotiating lucrative relationships with both the American Mafia, who controlled the drug, gambling, and prostitution businesses in Havana, and with large U.S.-based multinational companies who were awarded lucrative contracts.[6][8] To quell the growing discontent amongst the populace—which was subsequently displayed through frequent student riots and demonstrations—Batista established tighter censorship of the media, while also utilizing his Bureau for the Repression of Communist Activities secret police to carry out wide-scale violence, torture and public executions; ultimately killing anywhere from hundreds to 20,000 people.[9][10][11][12][13][14]
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fulgencio_Batista

The Bay of Pigs Invasion (Spanish: Invasión de Playa Girón or Invasión de Bahía de Cochinos or Batalla de Girón) was a failed military invasion of Cuba undertaken by the CIA-sponsored paramilitary group Brigade 2506 on 17 April 1961. A counter-revolutionary military (made up of Cuban exiles who traveled to the United States after Castro's take over), trained and funded by the United States government's Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), Brigade 2506 fronted the armed wing of the Democratic Revolutionary Front (DRF) and intended to overthrow the increasingly communist government of Fidel Castro. Launched from Guatemala and Nicaragua, the invading force was defeated within three days by the Cuban Revolutionary Armed Forces, under the direct command of Prime Minister Fidel Castro.

The Presidential coup of 1952 led by General Fulgencio Batista, against President Carlos Prio, an ally of the United States, forced President Carlos Prio into exile to Miami, Florida. President Prio's exile was the reason for the 26th July Movement led by Fidel Castro. The movement, which did not succeed until after the Cuban Revolution of December 31, 1959, severed the country's formerly strong links with the US after nationalizing American economic assets (banks, oil refineries, sugar and coffee plantations, along with other American owned businesses).

It was after the Cuban Revolution of 1959, that Fidel Castro forged strong economic links with the Soviet Union, with whom, at the time, the United States was engaged in the Cold War. US President Dwight D. Eisenhower was very concerned at the direction Castro's government was taking, and in March 1960, he allocated $13.1 million to the CIA to plan Castro's overthrow (though the plan to overthrow Castro was put off for Kennedy to decide). The CIA proceeded to organize the operation with the aid of various Cuban counter-revolutionary forces, training Brigade 2506 in Guatemala. Eisenhower's successor John F. Kennedy approved the final invasion plan on 4 April 1961.

Over 1,400 paramilitaries, divided into five infantry battalions and one paratrooper battalion, assembled in Guatemala before setting out for Cuba by boat on 13 April 1961. Two days later, on 15 April, eight CIA-supplied B-26 bombers attacked Cuban airfields and then returned to the US. On the night of 16 April, the main invasion landed at a beach named Playa Girón in the Bay of Pigs. It initially overwhelmed a local revolutionary militia. The Cuban Army's counter-offensive was led by José Ramón Fernández, before Castro took personal control. As the US involvement became apparent to the world, Kennedy decided against providing further air cover for the invasion.[5] As a result, the operation only had half the forces the CIA had deemed necessary. The original plan devised during Eisenhower's presidency had required both air and naval support. On 20 April, the invaders surrendered after only three days, with the majority being publicly interrogated and imprisoned.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bay_of_Pigs_Invasion

Following World War II, the United States became secretly engaged in a practice of international political assassinations and attempts on foreign leaders. For a considerable period of time, the U.S. Government officials vehemently denied any knowledge of this program since it would be against the United Nations Charter. On March 5, 1972, Richard Helms, Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) Director, declared that, "no such activity or operations be undertaken, assisted, or suggested by any of our personnel."[1] In 1975, the U.S. Senate convened the Senate Select Committee to Study Governmental Operations with Respect to Intelligence Activities chaired by the Senator Frank Church (D-Idaho). The Church Committee uncovered that CIA and other governmental agencies employed a so-called tactic of "plausible deniability" during decision-making related to assassinations. CIA subordinates were deliberately shielding the higher-ranking officials from any responsibility by withholding full amount of information about planned assassinations. Government employees were obtaining tacit approval of their acts by using euphemisms and sly wording in communications.[2]
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According to the CIA documents, the so-called Family Jewels that were declassified in 2007, one assassination attempt on Fidel Castro prior to the Bay of Pigs invasion involved noted American mobsters Johnny Roselli, Salvatore Giancana and Santo Trafficante.[4]

In September 1960, Momo Salvatore Giancana, a successor of Al Capone's in the Chicago Outfit, and Miami Syndicate leader Santo Trafficante, who were both on the FBI's Ten Most Wanted list at that time, were indirectly contacted by the CIA about the possibility of Fidel Castro assassination. Johnny Roselli, a member of the Las Vegas Syndicate, was used to get access to Mafia bosses. The go-between from the CIA was Robert Maheu, who introduced himself as a representative of several international businesses in Cuba that were expropriated by Castro. On September 14, 1960, Maheu met with Roselli in a New York City hotel and offered him US$150,000 for the "removal" of Castro. James O'Connell, who identified himself as Maheu's associate but who actually was the chief of the CIA's operational support division, was present during the meeting.[5] The declassified documents did not reveal if Roselli, Giancana or Trafficante accepted a down payment for the job. According to the CIA files, it was Giancana who suggested poison pills as a means to doctor Castro's food or drinks. Such pills, manufactured by the CIA's Technical Services Division, were given to Giancana's nominee named Juan Orta.[6] Giancana recommended Orta as being an official in the Cuban government, who had access to Castro.[7][8][9]

Allegedly, after several unsuccessful attempts to introduce the poison into Castro's food, Orta abruptly demanded to be let out of the mission, handing over the job to another unnamed participant. Later, a second attempt was mounted through Giancana and Trafficante using Dr. Anthony Verona, the leader of the Cuban Exile Junta, who had, according to Trafficante, become "disaffected with the apparent ineffectual progress of the Junta". Verona requested US$10,000 in expenses and US$1,000 worth of communications equipment. However, it is unknown how far the second attempt went, as the assassination attempt was canceled due to the launching of the Bay of Pigs Invasion.[8]

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The Church Committee stated that it substantiated eight attempts by the CIA to assassinate Fidel Castro in 1960–1965.[2]:71 Fabián Escalante, a retired chief of Cuba's counterintelligence, who had been tasked with protecting Castro, estimated the number of assassination schemes or actual attempts by the Central Intelligence Agency to be 638, and split them among U.S. administrations as follows:[10][11]

Dwight D. Eisenhower (1959–1961): 38
John F. Kennedy (1961–1963): 42
Lyndon B. Johnson (1963–1969): 72
Richard Nixon (1969–1974): 184
Jimmy Carter (1977–1981): 64
Ronald Reagan (1981–1989): 197
George H. W. Bush (1989–1993): 16
Bill Clinton (1993–2000): 21
Some of them were a part of the covert CIA program dubbed Operation Mongoose aimed at toppling the Cuban government. The assassination attempts reportedly included cigars poisoned with botulinum toxin, a tubercle bacilli-infected scuba-diving suit along with a booby-trapped conch placed on the sea bottom,[12] an exploding cigar (Castro loved cigars and scuba diving, but he quit smoking in 1985),[12][13] a ballpoint pen containing a hypodermic syringe preloaded with the lethal concoction "Blackleaf 40",[12] and plain, mafia-style execution endeavors, among others.[14] There were plans to blow up Castro during his visit to Ernest Hemingway's museum in Cuba.[15]

Some of the plots were depicted in a documentary film entitled 638 Ways to Kill Castro (2006) aired on Channel 4 of the British public-service television.[16] One of these attempts was by his ex-lover Marita Lorenz, whom he met in 1959. She agreed to aid the CIA and attempted to smuggle a jar of cold cream containing poison pills into his room. When Castro learned about her intentions, he reportedly gave her a gun and told her to kill him but her nerves failed.[12][17] Some plots aimed not at murder but at character assassination; they, for example, involved using thallium salts to destroy Castro's famous beard,[3]:30 or lacing his radio studio with LSD to cause him disorientation during the broadcast and damage his public image. The last documented attempt on Castro life was in 2000, and involved placing 90 kg of explosives under a podium in Panama where he would give a talk. The plot was organized by CIA and foiled by Castro's security team.[13][12]

Castro once said, in regards to the numerous attempts on his life he believed had been made, "If surviving assassination attempts were an Olympic event, I would win the gold medal."[12][18]
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assassination_attempts_on_Fidel_Castro
 
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