NO GC,AnthonyC it;s not Fidel

There have been many, but some prominent ones are known to have been the fiercest of them all in Central & Latin America and they are: Trujillo of DR & Duvalier of Haiti. Then, there were the Chilean dictator Pinochet whom was a force to reckon with, but I am sure there are more and worst perhaps others may come up with in this thread given if you give the right chronicled dated era. Thus a little bit of time specificity might help as there are plenty I can think of and know of...

Well, there was the Somoza dinasty in Nicaragua. The bastards terrorized and robbed the country blind across many generations. When Franklin Delano Roosevelt was asked the reason explaining why the US didn´t make something to stop the rule of the first Somoza, he said: "Somoza may be a son of a bitch, but he's our son of a bitch". That phrase speaks volumes about the hipocrisy that have always characterized the US foreign policy since they started to make reality the "Manifest Destiny" doctrine (1898).

Great topic because Latin America has had plenty of dictators. And make no mistake Fidel is one of them.

Well,

I am in the US Army and as an Officer (which I should not even be commenting on this, but as constitutional freedom grants me as a civilian US citizen to say) I still think that Castro and Chavez are different breed of dictators.

They are a lot smarter no matter what they say about them and I even take the risk as being a military personal myself in telling you this. Dictators they may be indeed, but they have been known to be the kind of dictators that stand for causes of their Nations in many patriotic ways. Just because America does not like certain dictators does not necessarily make them as bad as those dictators that have committed genocide, and by far greater atrocities than those ever actually committed.

I feel Chavez and Castro have been considered as rather the "Check & Balance" that faces head on most of the hypocritical US foreign policies because these tow have the balls to do just that and stick it to the US.

P.S: As Lautaro have just said, the phrase above spoke higher volume itself of the hypocrisies of the US foreign policies.

ALL dictators have stood for causes, their own. They all start out if elected democratically playing on the needs of the poor and start a class schisim that blames their woes on the poeple that "have". I worked in Brazil during the last Military Junta and in Venezuela under Chavez and the differences were and are striking. From 1964 until 1985 Brazil handed down control of the goverment from junta to junta but allowed free market influences to flourish, when elections finally took place in '86 the newly elected government took the reigns of a healthy economy and today they are the 10th. most robust economy in the world and 1st. in Latin America.

Jimenez was the last Venezuelan Dictator and when free elections were held in '58 he handed over an economy that rivaled those of France and Germany at that time the Venezuelan economy was number one in Latin America. There was a succession of good and not so good democratically elected presidents but the economic situation was in good shape. In 1999, a month after Chavez took office there were terrible mudslides in the northern parts of the country that caused billions upon billions in damages and his reaction to the events (turning down outside aid) shook international confidence in his government. Shortly afterwards he began to socialize various parts of the economic framework (electric, telephone, water, cement) Investor confidence came to a low point and there was an issue with capitol flight which he fought by freezing the FOREX on the Bolivar which caused an overnight devaluation of close to 50%. This was followed by a Coup, which many believe was orchistrated by his own government to gain further support for his causes. All international investment since that time has essentially ceased and an ambitious socilistic programs began but have been severely mismanaged and the corruption rating of Venezuela is now 167 out of 180, the economy is now ranked 148th. out of the 157 that were scored. Individual breakdowns are here http://www.nationmaster.com/country/ve-venezuela/eco-economy Prior to his taking office the economy ranked fairly high in the world arena and number 2 in Latin America. If you read notices from the Venezuelan information office they say the economy has grown last year by 10%, but if you take out the companies that have been socialized (basically taking money out of one pocket and putting in the other) there has been no growth. With the roll out of the new currency in January and the fixed exchange rate the real purchasing power of the citizen is down 70% since he came to office.

Samoza was a bastard with the death squads and expropriation of private parties only to be bought by him and his family using state funds. When he ultimatly left the country he and his family were the largest landowners.

Pinochet was not much better in his early years but allowed market freedoms later on in his rule, by the time he stepped down and the transition was made to democraticly elected officials Chile was pretty well off and their economy is currently very robust.

The Duvaliers are another story. I worked in Haiti in 1995 for close to 7 months and having spoke to many Hatians it seems that between Papa Doc and the Tonton Macoutes and Baby Doc it was a close race as to who was more ruthless although Baby Doc stole more money.

In short who am I to say who was worse historically or currently, all I know is when people are not allowed the freedoms of economic advancement, education and essentional personal liberties, they suffer.

Afro remember this if you have not been taught it already- "The enemy of my enemy, is my friend"

I think the worst was Trujillo hands down. He had all the oscars for cruelty and torture. He killed innocent men, women (the Mirabal sisters by clubs) and children (mostly Haitian).
Papa Doc or Francois Duvalier was the scariest because of the voodoo rituals but Trujillo killed more people than all the famous ones put together.
In 1937 he murdered an estimated 10,000 Haitians in a few days.
Not only he raped, tortured and murdered in this country but he sent his henchmen overseas to kidnap
and assasinate opponents like Galindez, Bethancourt, many other exiles and even tried to kill Fidel Castro and had one of his security chiefs shot by mistake.
Trujillo was the devil reincarnate.
You can not compare him to any other sane dictator in this hemisphere because he was so evil that
he had to be nuts.

generoso, I totally agree with you people forget this man was a vicious pedophile. He repeatedly raped hundreds of underage girls. He was the lowest life form.

Yes it is.

Adjusting for Population Fidel has killed and imprisoned more than Stalin or Mao.

bla! bla! bla!
Pinoche, I say Pinoche ... Trujillo was bad but Pinoche ruled till old could not any more ... and wait !!! who put him in power?