The Guilty Pleasure of Fidel

Tony Karon has the best take yet on Castro, and why he polarizes the left and right so strongly. His overall view of Castro was that he had an opportunity to improve Cuba, but failed. The conclusion:

However much the aging revolutionary has done for his people, he refused ever to trust them — to openly debate political questions, and to choose wisely in a genuinely competitive political system. Instead, it was Father knows best, on an epic scale.