The Tribune

EDITOR, The Tribune.

Re:Saying a farewell to Fidel Castro.

The Tribune, Letters, 29 November, 2016

...and good riddance! The above brain-washed, saccharine-sweet ode to a very unsavory dictator, overlooks the fact that many dissenters who opposed Fidel Castro were reportedly imprisoned, tortured and killed, albeit ‘indirectly’, by this murderous communist tyrant, and his accomplice Che Guevara.

It is very common for totalitarian rulers to delegate others to perform their ‘dirty work’, so that few people, if any, ever actually see a Hitler, a Stalin or a Pol Pot kill anyone.  Nevertheless, they were ‘indirectly’ and ultimately responsible for ordering the torture and deaths of many people.

It is certainly bizarre for the writer to say that “in heaven he’ll be happy”.  Especially since Comandante Castro, like other Marxist despots, did not believe in heaven, and spent much of his life vigorously suppressing Christianity. However, he relented magnanimously in 1998 and graciously permitted the return of previously-banned Christmas celebrations in Cuba. Let us give thanks for that - and remember it in the coming weeks when parroting our politically correct “Season’s Greetings” or “Happy Holidays”.

KEN W KNOWLES, MD

Nassau,

November 30, 2016.