iPuras tonterias! So much foolishness written about Fidel Castro after his death last week. In essence, he was a talented power artist, who, like most of that ilk, subordinated people and morality to their personal ambitions.
The amount of bytes spilled about Fidel stand in inverse proportion to his relevance today. He's been out of power since 2008, and irrelevant in world affairs since the Soviet "new thinking" of 1987. He got a brief revival with Chavez's rise to power in 1998 and might have helped Chavez come back to power in 2002.
Two Fidel stories that sum him up to me: Political pilgrims to Havana often brag about having an audience with Fidel, because he was the pope of the left. One Latin Americanist from DC had such a meeting--a seven hour dinner with the great man. He said it was the most boring experience of his life. Fidel just talked most of the time, and most of the discussion was inane. He added that he had very long fingernails.
Another story from a former diplomat who was standing with former Argentina President Carlos Menem at a Summit of the Americas meeting. Suddenly Fidel walked by in his fatigues, surrounded by his entourage. Menem, stopping in mid sentence, watched Fidel go by and observed, "What an asshole," and then resumed his conversation.
Here's a great piece by Bob Royal summing up Fidel: Semper Fidel Yes, I forgot about Fidel the cow breeder!
This site has some good links on Fidel, including some books by Humberto Fontova that are worth a look: https://huffduffer.com/mfluder/376620
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