Flawed, yes. A dictator? Absolutely- like so many other US allies and buddy-buddies that they not only support(ed), but helped put in power (Pinochet, Mobutu, the Shah to name but a few)! But in the US of A, one only hears the negatives.- as if the guy he overthrew (who's rarely mentioned) wasn't a tyrant himself, in the pocket of the mob and CIA.
When Angola was being overrun by Apartheid South African troops and various other mercs, Fidel sent Cuban troops (against the wishes of the USSR) to oppose the invaders. "Mandela wrote that he was in jail in 1975 when he learned about the arrival of the Cuban troops in Angola, and it was the first time then a country had come from another continent not to take something away, but to help Africans to achieve their freedom."
Personally, I've never tired of viewing the contrast between the Cubans living in Miami, as opposed to those actually living in Cuba. Those in Miami, predominantly of European descent; those in Cuba, considerably darker skinned and Black. And you'll certainly be hard pressed to find any of Fidel's detractors giving an honest, detailed accounting as to why...
