It seems that Castro is either dead or dying. Good. It takes us back to the 'good old days' of Brezhnev's endless cold. The poor man had been dead for weeks but nobody dared say so until rival factions had positioned themselves for the succession.
Let us hope that likely successor, Raul, Fidel's junior by five years, is more Tumbledown Dick than Baby Doc Duvalier. (Richard Cromwell was 'Lord Protector' of England, Scotland and Ireland for just 8 months; Jean-Claude Duvalier was dictator of Haiti for 15 years, longer than his father had been).
Castro has looted what was once the jewel of the Carribean for almost half a century. He has rampaged across the country slaughtering and torturing dissidents and thinkers. He is, taken in the round, one of the most evil dictators on the planet. I hope he dies in as much pain as his critics have tended to.