Fidel – "man of the people" . . . and fat cat.

Who knew that "commie dictator" was a vocation that afforded such entrepreneurial opportunities for personal enrichment?

Fidel has cultivated his status as a left-wing icon since taking power in 1959. Remarkably, the fact that he has extracted from his impoverished and oppressed people a personal fortune -- Forbes magazine estimated it last year at over half a billion dollars for its World's Richest People list -- has done little to dent his image as a man of the people. The standard apologetics for the sorry state of the Cuban economy begin from the premise that America, not socialism, is responsible for Cuba's travails. But Castro's personal financial success suggests that in fact substantial revenue is sluicing through the island. . . . It's just that nearly all of it the income . . . goes to the ruling clique or to the military, bypassing the population. There are good reasons to question the embargo, but the notion that it is the source of all of Cuba's ills isn't one of them.

Fidel had his hand on the pulse of the nation, it turns out, and in its back pocket.

And the riot police and his Caribbean Cheka on speed dial.

Did we mention that? There were actually people who objected to being thrown into jail or having their relatives executed.

Real soreheads.

"Romancing Fidel." Wall Street Journal Online, 8/5/06 (emphasis added; subscription).