text: is fidel castro really such a bad guy? why can't we just put the past behind us and open up trade with cuba? time doesn't erase the past.  an estimated $850 million in u.s. assets were seized by the castro in 1960.  the guy spent his whole life comparing capitalism to imperialism, and at the same time killing thousands of political opponents over that same span.  he was on the wrong side of the cold war.  he had many opportunities to forge a partnership (or mend it depending on your perspective) with the u.s. before the embargo of 1962.   bottom line is that a lot has to happen for us to just forget the past and let bigons be bigons.