President Michael D Higgins: “Fidel Castro will be remembered as a giant among global leaders”

The President of Ireland released a statement following news of Castro’s passing overnight.

President of Ireland Michael D Higgins has said that the late Fidel Castro “will be remembered as a giant among global leaders”. News of the death of the former Cuban President and leader of the communist revolution in the country emerged late on Friday night when it was announced on state television in Cuba by President Raul Castro, who succeeded his brother as President in 2008. "I have learned with great sadness of the death of Fidel Castro, founder of modern Cuba, and its Prime Minister from 1959 to 1976, as well as its President from 1976 to 2008,” President Higgins said in the statement. Higgins hailed Castro’s impact during his time in power in Cuba, where he was the longest serving non-royal leader of the 20^th century, saying that he brought “significant political and social change to his country, overcoming not just the regime of General Fulgencio Batista but also the economic isolation forced upon Cuba in the years that followed”. President Higgins concluded his statement by saying: “Fidel Castro will be remembered as a giant among global leaders whose view was not only one of freedom for his people but for all of the oppressed and excluded peoples on the planet.” You can read President Higgins’ statement in full here.