there was no sign of popular revolt throughout Castro's lifetime

Of course not, an example was made early on of what happens to those who oppose the regime.

The Archive Project can be likened to the 1999 "Black Book of Communism," which documented the world-wide cost of communism, noting that "wherever the millenarian ideology of Communism was established it quickly led to crime, terror and repression." The Castro methodology, Cuba Archive finds, was much like that used in Poland and East Germany, less lethal than Stalin's purges, but equally effective in suppressing opposition.

In the earliest days of the revolution, summary executions established a culture of fear that quickly eliminated most resistance. In the decades that followed, inhumane prison conditions often leading to death, unspeakable torture and privation were enough to keep Cubans cowed.

Counting Castro's Victims


his death has no been greeted by rejoicing - rather - he is being mourned

He is being mourned by government decree and Cubans know well enough by now the consequences of disobeying official government decrees.