It took an intestinal ailment in 2006 to make Fidel Castro contemplate stepping down as the leader of Cuba. He had to quit cigars and switch to vegetarian food. Two years later, he ceded power to his younger brother Raul.
Castro now turns 90. He’s alive but he’s far from the man he used to be. He’s been a thorn in the side of America for decades, a hardcore Communist who formulated the Cuban revolution in the 1950s, accompanied by Che Guevara, amongst others. He rallied people against the American ‘imperialists’ and embraced the Soviet Union. This led to thousands fleeing Cuba. Since then he’s survived so many assassination attempts that most have lost count. Some say there were more than 600 attempts, many by the US mob, who lost out on millions in business opportunities when Castro threw America out in 1959.
No one ever thought he would ever see 90. Perhaps now even him. Castro is possibly the last Red, his ideals probably the last bastion of hardcore Communist thought in the world. People called him a totalitarian dictator and an anti-imperialistic humanitarian. That may not be too far from the truth.
