Castro has been subject to a record number of US government sanctioned assassination attempts. I am unaware of the exact number of sanctioned attempts off the top of my head, but I believe it is in its hundreds. Not only that, but something like 200 hundred civilians have died as a result of assassination attempts against him by the US; kind of funny (not that people died obviously, but you know what I mean). The US went to such extremes as lacing Castro's scuba diving gear with poison (he used to be a passionate diver) and planting exploding sea shells where he used to go diving. Not only that, but exploding cigars, car bombs, etc. Something out of James Bond, only Castro continues to live. I know he is a dictator, and he seems to be the symbol of who not to like in the US, but you've gotta respect the guy to a degree. In Cuba, he spends something like 6 hours on tv daily ranting about US foreign policy, which sounds amusing. The fact that the health system is widely regarded as being more efficient than America's despite all the sanctions against them is quite interesting. Of course, it does seem like the citizens aren't exactly happy with the country, I'm not pretending it is a perfect Utopia or anything like that.