‘A brutal dictator’: Trump’s tough talk on Castro and Cuba shows big shift from Obama

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People take to the streets to react to the news of the death of former Cuban President Fidel Castro outside the restaurant Versailles November 26, 2016 in Miami, Florida. Many, mostly Cubans, gathered to wave flags and celebrate the news of the death of the Cuban revolutionary who died at 90. Photo: AFP

Published: 10:47am, 27 Nov 2016Updated: 9:03pm, 27 Nov 2016

Donald Trump has started to put his stamp on a more muscular foreign policy with a toughly-worded statement following the death of Cuba’s Fidel Castro.

The president-elect eschewed the diplomat-speak of US President Barack Obama, who offered his condolences to the Castro family in an anodyne statement. Instead, Trump tore into the newly-deceased dictator in perhaps the clearest example since this month’s election of the two men’s sharply different world views.

Castro, who established a communist regime in Cuba that survived the collapse of the Soviet Union, inspired revolutionary movements and brought two superpowers close to nuclear war before stepping down after 49 years in power, died late Friday night local time. He was 90. His funeral will be held December 4.

Fidel Castro gives a speech in 2003. File photo: Xinhua

Crowds of exiled Cubans and their supporters gathered on the streets of Miami to celebrate the passing of a sometimes unyielding ruler who divided families and ruled with an iron fist. Havana, meanwhile, remained quiet, and in both countries it was unclear how Castro’s death will impact the detente that has developed in the past two years.

Trump said weeks before the November 8 president election that Obama has propped up Cuba economically and politically “in exchange for nothing,” and said that if elected he wanted to cut a better deal both for the Cuban people and the US.

Trump’s reaction started early Saturday with a seemingly celebratory tweet - “Fidel Castro is dead!” - to his 16 million Twitter followers.