I posted this over at Oliver Willis' page in response to his comment in response to Matt Welch's comment on this LA Times editorial, but it ended up being long enough that I figured I'd repeat it here:
Castro has been far less evil (and murderous) and far better to his people than Castro-haters in Miami, Nebraska, or Los Angeles are willing to admit. As dictators go, he's probably the best one there is - though admittedly he doesn't exactly have much competition. People in Nebraska have far more reason to hate the Chinese leadership than Castro. And, many of the economic problems have arisen from the embargo which post Cold-War there is zero justification for.
Miami Castro-haters have always been the biggest impediment to getting rid of Castro, and when he dies they will be the biggest impediment to the democratization of Cuba and the normalization of relations with the U.S. They, and their descendants (and some multinational companies), will try and demand that their property be returned, which much like Palestinian Right of Return demands, regardless of the merits, isn't going to happen.
Attempts to exploit uncertainties by the Miami mob after Castro's death will justify an authoritarian crackdown by the next leadership, much as the U.S.'s attempt to battle Castro after the revolution justified it for him.
As for Welch's assertion that Castro has concentration camps for homosexuals - when I was there I had a delightful time with openly gay men and women who were friends of a Cuban-American friend. Openly in that they publicly wore pink triangle pins. And, there was a mini gay-pride parade through Havana which seemed to be a fairly regular occurrence.
As for concentration camps for HIV+ Cubans... This is overdoing it a bit too as this makes clear. Concentration camps were places where 6 million+ Jews, Gypsies, Homosexuals, and other undesirables were gassed or killed by other means (not withstanding the claims of David Irving and his good friend Chris Hitchens). The sanitoriums in Cuba, though mandatory, provide the best possible medical care that Cuba has to offer. People are allowed out on weekends, and increasingly being allowed to have normalized lives. It was more of an overreaction to a potential public health crisis, not unlike what some proposed in this country at the time, than prison.I'm not defending them completely, but they shouldn't be mischaracterized. They're no Auschwitz, nor even Japanese-American internment camps.
