It depends on where you stand. Cuba, at the time Castro and his rebels started fighting the US, was becoming the Las Vegas of the Caribbean--lots of ritzy hotels, golf courses, casinos, etc. run by the mob. Many of the people (at that time) who could to go down there were rich folks, or mob connected. The employers treated the locals, who were hired as the maids, waiters, janitors, cooks--all those type jobs--as less then human and paid them a wage that was often barely subsistence level, even for Cuba. The working people lived in poverty while those who sucked up to the mob and wealthy lived richly. No middle ground. Castrp and his followers felt this was unfair since all the money from the casinos, hotels, restaurants, golf courses and everything else was not staying in Cuba. None of it was going back to the Cuban people or the infrastructure of Cuba, or to schools or housing or anything else in Cuba. Whatever resources Cuba had was being reaped by the rich and the mob. So, Castro and his followers decided that needed to change and if that meant tossing out the rich Americans, so be it. To which the Americans forbid anyone from trading goods or selling goods to Cuba. Which is why Cuba turned to Russia; Russia was the only "big" country to offer to help them, to send them trade and goods--which also included war weapons because it was to Russia's advantage to have a base so close to their enemy, the USA. I personally think it was good for Cuba as a culture to cut themselves off as they did, to preserve what little culture of their own they still had. It has been rough on the people there but they seem to have made it through and have retained a lot of their own identity, and, hopefully now can prevent a US takeover. It'd be nice to be able to visit Cuba and learn about their people, their culture, enjoy their foods and music and dance knowing that the tourist dollars you spend will go back into the support of that country and maybe make it more equitable. Not everything that was done by Castro over the years was good, nothing anyone does ever is, but in the larger picture, he did a credible job of keeping Cuba Cuba, not just another playground for Americans.