Editor, The Times:
Don’t you just love the ridiculous chattering of the political right, both within and outside Canada, to Justin Trudeau’s condolence speech on the death of Cuban revolutionary, Fidel Castro.
In any great social change there are winners and losers as was and is still the case in the Cuban Revolution of 1959. The losers were those closely attached to the Cuban leader and American puppet, Fulgencio Batista. Cuba was not much more than an American brothel in which most of its residence lived in abject poverty.
For the vast majority of Cubans, the revolution was their ticket out of poverty. Free education and health care were two of Castro’s policies which benefited most Cubans. The Cuban opponents of the 59 revolution fled to Miami, Florida and became the poster people for the American right.
Were there injustices under the fifty year reign of Castro, of course there were, but the benefits far outweigh the injustice.
Justin Trudeau’s mistake was to confuse family friendship with state politics. Castro was a friend of the Trudeau family, witnessed by Castro’s attendance at Pierre Trudeau’s funeral and personal relationship with Justin.
Canadians in general tend to root for the underdog and that is what the defiance of tiny Cuba to the American bully represented to me and many other Canadians.
Wes Morden
Blackpool, B.C.