Fidel Castro: Hero or Villain?

[John Simkin]

In a new book on Fidel Castro has just been published. The author, Volker Skierka, is highly critical of Castro’s human rights record. However, he points out that Castro is “almost unique among dictators in not robbing his own people blind…. In fact, he has no interest in the usual trappings of dictatorship.” Skierka argues that in many ways Cuba puts the US to shame when it comes to access to health care for the poor.

What do people think? Is Castro a hero or villain?