Not content with ruining one country, deceased Cuban dictator Fidel Castro also devastated one of the richest countries on the continent, notes Francisco Toro, executive editor of the Caracas Chronicles blog.
Dictatorship in Venezuela is Castro’s greatest foreign policy victory, the cornerstone of his hemispheric legacy, he writes for The Washington Post:
Cuban infiltration of Venezuelan state institutions — both military and civilian — was complete, with Cuban “advisers” watching over virtually every single office, institute, ministry, barrack and embassy of the Venezuelan state. Reporting directly back to Havana, this web of spies led to a bizarre situation where Castro often had a clearer intelligence picture of what was happening inside the Venezuelan state than the Venezuelan state itself. Chávez, by all accounts, simply trusted Castro’s spies more than he did his own.
