The news of Fidel Castro’s death has created waves around the world. As Deanna said, it is indeed the Best November EVER! Cheers and tears of joy abound from Cubans living here in the United States – especially in Miami’s Little Havana.

Meanwhile world leaders, pundits, the media, and those who think Communism and Castro is totally awesome are completely ignoring the realities of just how oppressive and heinous Castro’s reign actually was.

Myth: According to Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Castro was a ‘larger than life leader,’ and called him a “legendary revolutionary and orator.”

Reality: To others such as Cuban poet, Armando Valladares, life under Castro meant jail and constant torture…for TWENTY TWO YEARS.

Suddenly, everything was a whirl – my head spun around in terrible vertigo. They beat me as I lay on the floor. One of them pulled at my arm to turn me over and expose my back so he could beat me more easily. And the cables fell more directly on me. The beating felt as if they were branding me with a red-hot branding iron, but then suddenly I experienced the most intense, unbearable, and brutal pain of my life. One of the guards had jumped with all his weight on my broken, throbbing leg.”

Myth: Cuba’s literacy rate is the best in the world. Really it is. Just ask Colin Kaepernick!

Reality: The Literacy rate isn’t all that its cracked up to be. Sure its high, but is it really that great? Especially when Castro’s regime reports its own figures as “facts.”

And all of the people citing Cuba's "99.8% literacy rate" and "excellent free healthcare" are parroting Castro's claims w/out verification. https://t.co/kuei8eZzoF

— Joel Engel (@joelengel) November 26, 2016

Not only that, but when the literacy rate is also predicated upon zero freedom to choose what to read, watch, or write…

"But the literacy rate in Cuba was so high?" Right. But they can't choose what they read, no freedom of the press, and Internet is censored.

— cristina lópez g. (@crislopezg) November 26, 2016

I’ll choose freedom over having my choices and my voice dictated by one single person or government any day of the week!

Myth: Healthcare is the absolute best in Cuba!

https://twitter.com/Matthops82/status/802541937840496640

Reality: Certain hospitals in Havana are decent. But across all of Cuba? A very different story.

"He gave Cuba free healthcare" meanwhile my family here has to send pounds and pounds of medicine over there monthly

— CuffMaster Flex (@vinsanity3434) November 26, 2016

In fact, there are three levels of healthcare. Medical tourism for famous people, elite care for the Party and those in high favor with Castro, and then there is the healthcare for everyone else. And its third world care at its very worst.

The late Fred Thompson demolished the argument that Cuba’s healthcare is top notch. It wasn’t in 2007 and it still isn’t today. Exit Question:

https://twitter.com/isaboemeke/status/802526756351508480

Myth: There is no oppression in Cuba and no one really ever needed to or should need to escape from Cuba any more.

Reality: Why is it taking so long for those living IN Cuba to get the news of his death? Maybe its because Cubans aren’t allowed internet access…

Not only that, if Castro really was a champion of social justice, then why have so many attempted to leave and had families torn apart due to the evil whims of his soldiers?

That bearded guerrilla in green and carrying a rifle confirmed all three of us were cleared to leave Cuba.

But, he added, that only two of us could leave because that’s what he personally was deciding. He then told my father to pick who goes and who stays. What ensued next is hazy to me. I know there were tears. I know there was drama. But suffice to say only my mother and I got on that plane.

My dad stayed behind, and for three years he was unable to reunite with us. Other family members never were able to reunite with us.

How come so many Cubans were jailed, died, or suffer from effects of torture to this day?

grandfather, Manuel Sanjurjo. Political prisoner for 20+ years. Professor at U of Havana. Half faced paralyzed from beatings

— Vicki Diez (@vicki_dee) November 26, 2016

my abuelo, Pedro Aguilar, spent 5 years in prison for attempting to escape from Cuba. Then brought my dad & fam to USA in 1980

— Evan Aguilar (@EvanAguilar) November 26, 2016

My grandfather, Pablo Rodriguez Carazo killed by firing squad. My father, Gustavo Rodriguez-Perez spent 21 years in prison

— Neyda A Borges (@Neyda_Borges) November 26, 2016

Ñongo Puig, RIP. Killed by Castro firing squad in 1961. His brother Rino Puig, RIP, 15 yrs as a political prisoner. https://t.co/O6FngpOFKD

— Ana Navarro (@ananavarro) November 26, 2016

The fact is, the myth that Castro was a benevolent dude who championed literacy and healthcare is just as dangerous as the myth that Che Guevara was just a misunderstood guy who fought for freedom.

The reality is, Cuba and Cubans have been under the thumb of a despotic tyrant who amassed a fortune worth well over $900 million, and did so on the backs of those he tortured and killed.  His death is, I’m sure, a welcome relief Cubans everywhere. But whitewashing the truth of Fidel Castro’s brutality does a disservice to us all.