Many of the people who fled were also tied to the Baptista regime and severely mistreated Cubans of African descent who were the primary combatants during the Cuban War of Independence (1895–1898). When the war was over if you were not fair skinned life was hard and racism was very blatant. After the Cuban war of independence 100s of thousands of Black Cubans were murdered and imprisoned; which is what fueled the Castro takeover. So as much as we want to call him a murderer so was Baptista but because someone stood up he is a monster. Depending who was impacted by Castro's regime you either love him or hate him. I have been to Cuba numerous times since the 1980s until the present. Things have changed a lot, conditions have improved drastically.
