Castro — a despot who enslaved an island

YOUR editorial on Castro was appalling (February 20). You say de Valera, Lemass, Lynch, Cosgrave, Haughey, FitzGerald, Reynolds and Bruton “all came and went, proposed policies, lost elections and changed their country for better or worse, and all the while Cuba’s leader of nearly half a century endured”.

Er, yes, they did. And Castro’s endurance is explained precisely because those who came and went had to win or lose elections. You know, those things that Castro sort of didn’t bother about.

You say “whether he is reviled as a despot or admired as the saviour of an impoverished and enslaved island it cannot be denied that he made history and really excellent copy”.