I don't think there's a lot of anything positive to say about Fidel Castro. He is a dictator, has a rotten personality, and treats his people like the dirt under his feet. And that's putting it mildly.

Appears that his race is all but run, and the speculation now is on his successor and what changes will occur in a "new" Cuba.

Castro's long tenure as leader of Cuba was marked by some domestic sucesses and as many failures.

Internationally he was less successful, becoming either a pariah, a useful stooge or a caricature in the eyes of most of the world

UPDATE: Castro is a thug of whom the best it can be said is that he sold out the people that he purported to liberate. Che is a thug in thrall to the aforementioned thug Castro. I don't see any "leftists" extolling the virtues of either, except for very stupid ones.

A communist dictator admired and revered by many liberal democrats in America.

should be shot.

not fan of a guy who doesnt let other express themselves or if they do fear of death.

A total nutjob, thank god he is out of power.

pretty screwed up, yet his people have better care than we do...strange

The good news is this guy finally got too old and ill to keep control. Maybe Cuba won't be such a bad place now...lets hope his brother isn't as cruel as he was.

Well, I guess there have been worse leaders during the course of history, but Castro gets extra bad politician points for being the dictator.....oh, um, I mean president of Cuba for so long.

A dictator that had been a thorn in the side of the U.S. for many years!

His long reign of power had little to do with political experience.

  Taking the international politics out of the question, Fidel Castro is probably one of the smartest leaders of any Latin American country - just look at how he played President Jimmy Carter like a loose slot machine! Fidel Castro brilliantly played our immigration policies like a chess game and used them perfectly when he dumped his criminals, his drug addicts and his right-wing loonie-to0n Fr0ot L0oPz right on our door steps! Now we've got wingnutz like Ileana Ros-Lehtinen here, they're getting elected , saying NuTtY-WhACk-As$ G0ofy SHiT - and, unlike Tony Montoya, she didn't even bring a suitcase full of Columbian Dancing Flakes to the party in Miami. In the words of  Desi Arnaz "I jis' don like her, she's got some 'splainin' to do."  She can start her "splainin'" with her open admiration for the murdering right-wing terrorist Luis Posada Carriles. The rumors about his involvement in a certain Dallas, Texas political assassination ALONE seem to indicate the need for a Sodium Pentathol 'question and answers' session.

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A filthy pig. . .three stars for staying alive this long. . .defies the notion that only the good die young. . .

He has sunk to a mere Commie padrone in the good old Latin style. He has survived on pure merit and the love of his people. (chortle)

LOL, he's outlived 'em all!

Fidel will be remembered long after the other people on this list are forgotten.

Yes, Castro is a dictator but Cuba is a genuinely socialist government that looks after its people in some ways better than we do. It may not have all the mod cons of western society, but it has an education and National health Service which puts us (UK) to shame, not to mention the USA that doesnt even have one.

I bet most of the people giving Casto low marks have either not been to Cuba in 40 years or have never been at all. I was in Cuba a couple of years ago and in the 3 weeks I was in Havanna, I only saw one homeless person. Great hospitals, free college, and very active nightlife. Buildings were being renovated all over the city. I can also credit Castro with saving my dad's life by allowing a plane taking him to a hosptial in Miami to fly over Cuban air space. Also, the majority of the people I met, including in non-tourist areas, were perfectly happy with living in Cuba today.

Well, he has survived a long time and he has outlived just about everyone else except the Queen! He is a character, if nothing else. Good for amusement, but not funny for the Cuban people.

Betrayed Che.

Castro, a man who has now totally lost his mind, never had much of one before, a dictator who when he finally leaves this earth should be buried in concrete,......

communism isn't bad if done in the right way......castro should really burn bush w/one of his cigars

How has the world tolorated this ruthless dictator for so many years is beyond me. He is a tyrant very similar to Sad-man Husgone.

I don't like him, period. But his uncanny ability to hang around proves he is effective in some way. He killed JFK, kicked all his (daddy's) mobster buddies out of Havana, and managed to evade or thwart all the CIA's efforts to whack him. He's a despot and cruel, but he's still in power.

Good at pissing us off.

Money, Power, & Respect!

Certainly a ruthless dictator, but his regime has also created decent education - and healthcare systems for the average Cubans. Castro isn't any worse than his fellow Caribbean dictators Rafael Trujillo(Dominican Republic 1930-61) and Francois Papa Doc Duvalier(Haiti 1957-71; under his rule the illiteracy rate remained at about 90%.) who were considered anti-communist in Washington for their willingness to shoot any discontented peasants. Fidel isn't either as corrupt as those two, who stole millions for themselves and to their inner circles. Communist Cuba is anyway soon finished after he is gone.

Despite the fact that he is a Communist, education in Cuba has improved since he took over from the previous dictator in power. People have been getting poorer and poorer, though.

if world war 3 broke out, the only survivors would be the cockroaches and castro.

The United States has an equal obligation to remove Castro from power, equal to their obligation to remove Saddam. Castro is a brutal dictator and his crimes have far outweighed Batista's for decades. So, why then is this country going after Saddam? Why not Castro? It's all about the oil, right? Wrong. Castro is impotent compared to Saddam. The US has major military installations ON THE ISLAND OF CUBA. Castro's every move is monitored very closely, and he does not pose the same threat as Saddam's Iraq does. Castro will die soon; when that happens, I firmly believe that this country will assist Cuba in developing representative government.

Hey! He was once a great baseball player!

Why is this man still in power? The U.S.S.R. has been insolvent for a decade. Kennedy made the promise not to invade Cuba to the Soviet Union, and since that nation is no longer in existance, the deal is not applicable, and thus, there is no reason for us to tolerate this man any longer. However, I agree with X-D: Castro will be dead soon, and when he finally croaks, the United States should assist Cuba in developing a representative government.

Want to know about Castro? Don't ask a Hollywood Liberal. Ask someone that lived there! Human rights violations abound.

A butcher, a self absorbed unelected butcher who only cares about what he wants. He got where he is today by lieing, cheating, and using everyone around him. Hes an unelected tyrant that is so pre occupied with "missle crisis" and such that he doesnt care about his people. This is the George Bush Forum right?

I love America. I respect Cuba and Fidel. Neither Cuba nor America are beyond reproach. Cuba's human rights abuses are exaggerated and pail in comparison to China's, for example.

People who dislike American policies seem to automatically like Castro. He is not as bad as Saddam Husein or any of those but he is still bad. Dissidents are put in jail without trial, people are denied free speach. He has done some good things, cuba have made some medical advances but overall its time for him to step down and hold elections.

Popular with his people and among the greatest leaders of modern history. Its also about time that the majority of AMERICANS critising Cattro realise that the world does not relove around your country. America is only concerned with its own interests and uncocerned with the plight of innocent people, be it in Iraq, Afghanistan etc. If the Americans were so concerned with evil dictators, why are they responsible for putting most of them in power. Remember Chile, Colombia, Honduras, Nicaraguia etc. They only thing they are liberating the people of Iraq from is their oil. P.S. if you are so concerned with 'non-elected tyrants' why is Bush in ofice?

Heh, I can't believe this guy got a few 5star ratings...yeah, his people love him so much, they're risking their lives to get to America!

needs to admit he has been defeated.

Un-elected, communist tyrant, who has to hold his people hostage...a sure sign of a great country. Only a moron would rate him higher than 1

Castro cleaned up Cuba. He kicked out the gangsters and crime lords, but his attempts to improve Cuba's economic situation have not been very successful. I believe he definitely had good intentions and definitely wanted to make things better for Cuba early on, but over the years his power has gone to his head and he has gained the reputation of being an autocratic dictator who has let is ego take over and has little patience for those who don't go along with his ideals. Nonetheless is an intelligent man whom I do have some admiration for, especially for banning racism in Cuba which was very brazen in pre-Castro Cuba.

One insignificant childish petty Tyrant whose only significance is his nation's proximity to the USA. His island is a prison.

Despite his oppression of the Cuban people, Castro is probably the Smartest man in the Western Hemisphere. The proof is here.. how can ONE man rule an island for SOOOOO LONG without being ousted... this man has to have a lot of SMARTS.

He's deceptive, power-hungry, and hates our traditional American way of life. He reminds me too much of Hillary.

A geriatric Stalinist whose time has long passed.

Communist butcher... no better than any other murederous dictator of our century.

some of these comments truly trouble me. Castro is an awful human being, and will rot in hell for what he has done to his people.

Weirdmeister is right...true remedy superseeds false cures

I could not believe it, but it is true: Cuba has better health care than Sweden! Is this something to be proud of? So a lot of people starve, get sick, get beaten or (almost) killed when trying to escape and who can easily cure them? The fantastic health care. How about trying to get less people cured from diseases they should not have had in the first place and start finding a remedy for the terrible position this country is in?

He really is a power-craving maniac that wants to control every aspect of life. He has, however, been successful in ruling his people for 42 years. He once again does this in the name of communism, which is totally inaccurate.