[daviddennis]

He's probably right about the Independent's readers. This is the same paper that has a web package charging by the year for the articles of Robert Fisk. Alone. Without including the rest of the paper.

Fidel started as a hero; he was and is genuinely a true believer. Unfortunately, he was a true believer in something just plain wrong.

He could have stayed a hero if he'd realized around 1970 how badly the Communist experiment had let his people down, and traded it for something else. But he didn't, so now he's a goat. And a dictator.

D

[Carthago delenda est]

Fidel started as a hero; he was and is genuinely a true believer.

I might have to quibble with that. Two of Castro's relatives from a former marriage are currently United States congressmen and swear that he has never been serious about communism; he's just after power. And I don't think he's ever been a hero. Just a thug.

[billybudd]

A hero? More like a power-thirsty money-grubbing mobster. Just like every other dictator in every other 3rd world s*** hole.