Fidel Castro, the Cuban revolutionary leader who built a communist state on the doorstep of the United States and for five decades defied U.S. efforts to topple him, has died, Cuban television said. He was 90.Here are some comments on Castro from his friends and foes over the years.
"Castro is not just another Latin American dictator, a petty tyrant bent merely on personal power and gain. His ambitions extend far beyond his own shores." - Former U.S. President John F. Kennedy, from "The Quotable Mr. Kennedy," edited by Gerald C. Gardner, 1962.
"Fidel, for me, is a grand master. A wise man should never die; a man like Fidel will never die, because he will always be part of the people." - Former Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, in a January 2007 speech.
"Fidel Castro had Americans murdered illegally, and that was wrong, too. And I'm proud that we have a blockade against people who kill innocent Americans." - Former U.S. President Bill Clinton, in 1996, after Cuba killed four U.S. citizens when it shot down two civilian planes belonging to a Cuban-American group that had agitated against the Castro government and had repeatedly flown into Cuban air space.
"I remember Herbert Matthews' reports on Castro before he came to power, calling him a democrat and the hope of Cuba. And to some of you who are really too young to remember this, even people around our country were calling him the George Washington of Cuba, and George rolled over in his grave." - U.S. President Ronald Reagan, on March 5, 1986.
"Fidel Castro is there to win. His attitude in the face of defeat, even in the most minimal actions of everyday life, would seem to obey a private logic: he does not even admit it, and does not have a minute's peace until he succeeds in inverting the terms and converting it into victory." - Nobel laureate Gabriel Garcia Marquez, writing in Granma on the eve of Castro's 80th birthday.Also Read: Former Cuban President Fidel Castro Dies at 90
"The best thing that Fidel Castro left us is the lesson that we don't want any more Fidel Castros in Cuba. The lesson is that a man like that ends up absorbing the whole nation, ends up seeing himself as the embodiment of the homeland, and ends up simply taking away our nationality. The lesson of Fidel Castro is no more Fidel Castros. Some people admire him, but they admire him for what they think he was, not for who he really was. Staying in power that long is no merit." - Dissident blogger Yoani Sanchez, to Reuters in May 2014.
"It didn't take much to prompt me to join any revolution against a tyrant, but Fidel struck me as an extraordinary man ... He had exceptional faith that once we left for Cuba (from Mexico) we would arrive. That once we arrived we would fight. And once we fought we would win. I shared his optimism. I had to, to fight, to achieve. Stop crying and fight." -- Ernesto "Che" Guevara, in a letter to his parents, 1955.Also Read: Fidel Castro's Memorable Quotes About Communism in Cuba
"A man of great charisma. He's brave, Fidel Castro. A politician, with an iron fist. He stays strong. He put his close friend in front of the firing squad. I would have given him a life sentence or expelled him from the country, but he had him shot." - Former Chilean military dictator General Augusto Pinochet, regarding Castro's treatment of General Arnaldo Ochoa, executed for treason in July 1989.
"He would tell us to place a canon here, move a tank over there. Where to attack, how to do it, with how many men, et cetera. He had it all at his fingertips. And most of the time he was right." - Defense Minister Leopoldo Cintra Frias, regarding Fidel's instructions in the Angola war, in Havana, 1996.
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