I once met a Cuban emigrée the States, who told me that “everyone knows” Fidel Castro has untold billions stashed away offshore, robbed from the Cuban middle classes, for his own benefit, and that of his family.
I have no love for Castro, and I know that stashing money away is a dictatorial foible, but I wondered if there were any evidence of this, or whether it’s a convenient point of anger for Cuban exiles?
Most people will cite this article as evidence of said bank accounts. Most of the information regarding the accounts seems to have come from a high level defector called Jesus M. Fernandez.
I think I have read somewhere that the 1997 Forbes article citing Castro as the “12th richest man in the world” was rather flawed and tenuous, but have no credible cite for that contention. Very difficult thing to confirm, IMHO.
One other thing. Whilst Castro himself obviously denies having any secret funds set aside for himself, it is a possibility that any money held in accounts aboard is actually an attempt, paradoxically, to avoid further corruption by letting money be filtered through party officials for dissemination. It may be a method for Castro to micro-manage certain areas of spending himself, unaccounted for, (including publishing propaganda abroad, purchase of weapons, funding other revolutions in other countries etc…) rather than rely on subordinates to do so, who may line their own pockets along the way.
It seems unlikely it is a family escape/retirement fund as he obviously has no intention of using it by leaving Cuba for other climes. The attempt to separate out this portion of Cuban wealth and attribute it to a personal fund held by Castro directly reads as an attempt to muddy waters between the lines of Castro and the Government. It could, remember, be argued that Castro IS the government.
My apologises if the above is deemed far too much speculation and not enough (in fact, no) facts for this particular forum.
I saw a TV show that said that Castro obtained a one trillion dollar bill (US). Does that count?
If it’s a crime to almost post a Simpsons quote, then I’m guilty!
“We believe Burns still has the bill hidden somewhere in his house, but all we’ve ascertained from satellite photos is that it’s not on the roof.”
Thanks for that article — I wasn’t aware of it or the allegations.