Remembering Castro

Cuba: Former allies say the former dictator knows only one title: the boss | Priya Abraham

Sven Creutzmann/Mambo Photography/Getty Images

As Fidel Castro first slipped his grip on power following intestinal surgery in 2006, 88-year-old Huber Matos remembered the day he met the bearded revolutionary chief nearly half a century ago, on March 31, 1958.

Matos had made it to Cuba's Sierra Maestra mountains with a stash of weapons from Costa Rica, and Castro hugged him and showed his delight until Matos said he wanted to stop his gun-running and stay in Cuba. Then Castro said sternly, "Look, I am the boss."

That's what Castro demanded to be throughout his dictatorship—until Feb. 19 when he issued a letter of resignation, becoming the last of the old-guard communist revolutionaries to step down from office.

Castro cited his "critical health condition"—what experts believe may be complications from diverticulitis, a digestive disease of the large intestine—as prompting him to make permanent a temporary transfer of power to 76-year-old Raul Castro that was made 18 months ago. As the 82-year-old dictator ceded power to his younger brother, who officially became Cuba's president on Feb. 24, WORLD spoke with his two most famous allies-turned-critics, Matos and Armando Valladares.