US President-Elect Donald Trump and former Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott unleashed scathing remarks upon the death of former Cuban Communist Leader Fidel Castro. Trump said Fidel Castro was a "brutal dictator" while Abbott said Castro had a legacy that is "not one that should be celebrated".
According to The Washington Post, US-President Elect Donald Trump tweeted simply "Fidel Castro is Dead" on Saturday morning. In his statement he said that Cuba remains a "totalitarian island" and that Castro's death may be "a move away from the horrors endured for too long." He wished that the Cuban People could finally live in the freedom they so richly deserve.
According to The Australian, former Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott said "Frankly his (Fidel Castro) legacy is a bad one." Australian Finance Minister Mathias Cormann said that Castro was "a significant but controversial figure of the 20th century" whose "policies and actions pursued" did not reflect the true interests of the Cubans. Cormann highlighted that Castro's stance against the West -- including Australia -- did not improve life for the ordinary Cuban.
In 1959, Fidel Castro led a band of revolutionary communists who took over Cuba's government. Castro had laid an offensive stance against the United States -- the latter cutting ties with Cuba in 1961 with the increasing tensions of the US-Soviet Union "Cold War". Cuba suffered an immense economic sanction from only the United States and it was only through US President Barack Obama did Cuba and United States' relationships improve for the better.
Upon his victory, he declared Cuba's alliance to the Soviet Union and that his revolution was "Marxist-Leninist". Cuba was the center of the "Cold War" when it became the storage and staging depot for the former Soviet Union's nuclear launchers in 1962 -- the height of the war itself. Castro's death was first rumored before the Cuban media revealed the truth
Cubans both idolize and condemn the Cuban Communist leader. Some Cubans look at him as a revolutionary hero that gave Cuba its freedom. Some said his heavy-handed approach to civilian laws made him a "despot and tyrant".
