Fidel Castro is and will always be Cuba's national hero because he's got balls.

Let me start off by saying, if you already disagree with me take a deep breath, look away for 5 seconds, then hear me out. Fidel Castro is a national hero for many reasons. He is inspiring, these were the best 49 years Cuba has ever had for a long time. Let me start with the some displays of research I've done on Cuban history. In 1898, during the Spanish-American War in which Cuba was totally kicking ace, the United States came in right before the end under the false pretext that an American ship was blown up by Spaniards. But there's a reason why they went in. America had their own interests in Cuba. What ended up hapening was that America claimed full credit for Cuba's victory on the Spaniards so then made Cuba "their biatch". They claimed Guantanamo Bay for themselves, put lots of American companies in Cuba making money for and only for America. So then in 1953, while Fulgencio Batista ruled Cuba, Cubans where being opressed, killed by the thousands, there was racism in the country and the blacks were all lower class people. Fidel Castro along with some of his supporters attempted to take over the Moncada Barracks, in an attempt to overthrow Batista. However, Fidel failed and was put in jail. He was realeased in less than two years, due to the political pressure on Batista to release him, and he left to Mexico where he would plot a take 2 on the overthrowing of Batista. At the time, Cubans were very unhappy with Batista, no one had the guts to overthrow him though. Anyone who opposed him or even bad mouthed him would be killed or thrown in jail. Batista was a butcher. Why didn't America intervene? Why didn't America support Fidel Castro? Because even though Batista was an S.O.B., he was OUR S.O.B. He kissed up to America like there was no tomorrow. In 1957, Fidel was joined by Ernesto Che Guevara (yes, that's the general on those t-shirts) and a bunch of Cuban exiles and went back to Cuba. They stayed at the Maestra Hills where they were sent resources to stay alive from Cuban conspiracists supporting his cause (there were many at the time). Many New York Times writers extolled him in articles and one even went to interview him at the Maestra Hills. America was geting worried about this Fidel Castro guy taking over the Cuba that made so much money for them so they asked Batista if he needed help. And Batista's major mistake: He said he had Fidel under control. By 1958 Fidel Castro and Che Guevara were on a roll. They started in Western Cuba and rolled to Eastern Cuba with less than 1,000 men against Batista. The thing is that everytime Fidel arrived at a town, even soldiers would join him and betray Batista. By June 8th 1959, Fidel was in power. By then, he simply gave the middle finger to America and for a reason. America had tried to stop him repeteadly and even when Fidel had already come to power, the C.I.A. attempted his assassination several times, all failed. In 1961 the C.I.A. organized the Bay of Pigs invasion with Cuban exiles in order to overthrow Fidel. Fidel was way too popular and way too fierce. America couldn't take him. Fidel has a bad image in America because of propaganda, but he is really an inspiring hero who fought for his cause. And whether you agree with his cause or not, the Cuban citizens did and that's all that matters. Fidel Castro had more balls than any American president, and if you disagree name me one American president from the 20th century that committed an act of bravery bigger than Fidel Castro's.