• By Carol J. Williams

Former Cuban leader Fidel Castro, the charismatic icon of leftist revolution who thrust his Caribbean nation onto the world stage by provoking Cold War confrontation and defying U.S. policy through 11 administrations, has died. He was 90.

With his trademark fatigues and scruffy beard, Castro wore his defiance of Western capitalism like a badge of honor, accomplishing the unlikely feat of keeping communism alive in the Western Hemisphere two decades after the fall of the Soviet Union.
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Castro was both bellicose and swashbuckling, a personality forged by prison, exile and revolution. But after early successes in healthcare and education, his government lost much of its luster in later years, as it failed to create economic opportunities and authorities resorted to repression to maintain control.

His last years were spent quietly as his brother Raul took the helm. The younger Castro launched cautious reforms in an effort to steer Cuba out of poverty, and in July 2015 restored diplomatic relations with the United States after a half-century breach.

For decades, however, Fidel Castro outmaneuvered his powerful neighbor to the north, coming out on top in the Bay of Pigs invasion in 1961, the Mariel boatlift in 1980 and the bitter custody battle over young castaway Elian Gonzalez in 2000. He survived bizarre assassination plots, and his government’s challenge to Washington brought on decades of withering sanctions and a diplomatic freeze.

Castro’s revolution touched off an exodus, and the thousands of Cubans who reached Florida forever changed the character, culture and politics of the state. Miami became the center of the expatriate community, where many were convinced for years they could return home when he died.

The years became decades, and news of Castro’s death touched off noisy celebrations in Florida, especially Miami, early Saturday morning. A large crowd gathered outside the famous Versailles restaurant in Little Havana, heart of Miami’s Cuban community, and videos shared over social media showed people cheering, shouting, honking horns and beating on cowbells.

The website of Diario Las Americas, a Spanish-language newspaper in Florida, declared in bold type: “The Cuban Dictator Dies.”

Castro, the longest-reigning of the 20th century caudillos — Latin American military rulers — blamed the U.S. economic blockade, not his government’s communist economics, for the steady erosion of living standards in Cuba.

While a succession of U.S. presidents and hard-line Cuban exiles in Miami saw a dictator who trampled on the rights of his people, Castro won acclaim among Latin Americans who envied his nationalist dignity and cavalier attitude toward the powerful yanquis. # sours : latimes.com