# Fidel Castro is likely to die **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [November 12, 2006, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fidel-castro-is-likely-to-die/380141 "2006-11-12T20:22:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Bridget\_Burke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7cd45c/32.png) [@Bridget\_Burke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bridget_Burke)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2006, 1:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fidel-castro-is-likely-to-die/380141/21 "2006-11-14T13:20:40Z")
[QUOTE=Starving Artist] Sure, he is. Just ask the tens of thousands if not hundreds of thousands he’s had murdered in order to secure and maintain his reign. Google is full of elucidation in this regard: just click [here](http://www.google.com/search?num=100&hl=en&lr=&safe=off&as_qdr=all&q=%22castro+murdered%22&btnG=Search) and scroll around a little. [/QUOTE] Come up with a better source than random Google sites. ---
**Author:** ![Sarahfeena](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sarahfeena/32/519_2.png) [@Sarahfeena](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sarahfeena)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2006, 1:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fidel-castro-is-likely-to-die/380141/22 "2006-11-14T13:33:39Z")
[QUOTE=Bridget Burke] Come up with a better source than random Google sites. [/QUOTE] So…you don’t believe that Castro has murdered his own people? Can we agree that he has been holding them prisioner on that island for the last 50 years? How do you think he accomplishes that? What do you think happens to people who are caught trying to leave? If they are not killed, do you think they are sent home with a friendly warning not to try it again? Does this kind of rule of law make someone a good Communist or a bad Communist? ---
**Author:** ![Gorsnak](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gorsnak/32/7587_2.png) [@Gorsnak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gorsnak)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2006, 2:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fidel-castro-is-likely-to-die/380141/23 "2006-11-14T14:01:11Z")
[QUOTE=Starving Artist] **BG** said: “He **is** a good Commie, isn’t he?” [/QUOTE] And the only thing he meant by that was that one shouldn’t say “Go with God”, but rather “Go without God.” After all, a “good commie” is an atheist. Jeez did you overreact about nothing. ---
**Author:** ![Starving\_Artist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/aeb1de/32.png) [@Starving\_Artist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Starving_Artist)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2006, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fidel-castro-is-likely-to-die/380141/24 "2006-11-14T16:13:32Z")
Ah…thanks to Babelfish, all is clear now. I must admit ignorance has been fought, at least minorly. I was of the erroneous impression that “Vaya con dios” meant goodbye or see ya later, and that “vaya sin dios” was some playful variation on the theme. Now I know what he was driving at. Too bad nobody in the know bothered to point this out when I asked what he meant by dragging Christianity into it? And no, I didn’t overreact about anything. ---
**Author:** ![Mehitabel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8797f3/32.png) [@Mehitabel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mehitabel)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2006, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fidel-castro-is-likely-to-die/380141/25 "2006-11-14T18:02:07Z")
You know, I actually thought of saying “Vaya sin dios” but thought it might fly over people’s heads. I should have known better than to worry about that around here. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2006, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fidel-castro-is-likely-to-die/380141/26 "2006-11-14T18:39:03Z")
[QUOTE=Kimstu] Well, there have been quite a few of them in Latin America, of course. I don’t think any of them could compete with the major communist tyrants like Stalin and Mao, but some of them definitely have Castro beat in the torture-and-slaughter department. Consider, for example, the authoritarian fundamentalist ordained minister and ex-dictator of Guatemala, [Efrain Rios-Montt](http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/Zeroes/Efrain_Rios_Montt.html). And, of course, Chile’s Pinochet is a conservative Catholic. [/QUOTE] Don’t forget Franco. (He **is** still dead, isn’t he?) Castro could never hope to equal his body count. Then again, he had a bigger country to start with. ---
**Author:** ![Mighty\_Girl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7bcc69/32.png) [@Mighty\_Girl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mighty_Girl)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2006, 6:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fidel-castro-is-likely-to-die/380141/27 "2006-11-15T06:17:43Z")
How about our own Trujillo, self-declared Protector of the Roman Catholic Church, and who presided over one of the cruelest, bloodiest genocidal dictatorship in America. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2006, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fidel-castro-is-likely-to-die/380141/28 "2006-11-15T20:04:14Z")
FWIW, Castro’s eldest son [says he’s recovering](http://today.reuters.co.uk/news/CrisesArticle.aspx?storyId=N13213777&WTmodLoc=World-R5-Alertnet-5) but will provide no further details. ---
**Author:** ![Lemur866](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lemur866/32/434_2.png) [@Lemur866](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lemur866)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2006, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fidel-castro-is-likely-to-die/380141/29 "2006-11-15T20:29:46Z")
Well, he’s been recovering quickly in seclusion for several months now. I’m sure the doctors will upgrade his condition to stable any time now when he reaches thermodynamic equilibrium with his environment. ---
**Author:** ![FRDE](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e68b1a/32.png) [@FRDE](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FRDE)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2006, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fidel-castro-is-likely-to-die/380141/30 "2006-11-16T15:55:23Z")
Well now, I am not sure about Franco - I would eviscerate him for bringing Morroccan troops into Spain, but on the other hand his opponents were not that attractive. To give him credit, the place functioned, and the turnover to Juan Carlos was masterful. He also kept Spain out of WWII - which was pretty smart. With hindsight, in 1936, if I had been at a loose end, I would have joined Franco’s forces, fragmented chaos is a darn sight worse than a slightly oppressive veneer. From my rather distant view, he looks like a pragmatist. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2006, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fidel-castro-is-likely-to-die/380141/31 "2006-11-16T19:23:17Z")
[QUOTE=FRDE] With hindsight, in 1936, if I had been at a loose end, I would have joined Franco’s forces, fragmented chaos is a darn sight worse than a slightly oppressive veneer. [/QUOTE] So? The “fragmented chaos” in the Republic existed mainly (not entirely, but mainly) because of Franco’s rebellion. If he had remained a loyal soldier, things would have gone immeasurably better for Spain. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fidel-castro-is-likely-to-die/380141.md?page=1)