Facts About Cruel Dictators

1. Fidel Castro recommended to the Kremlin a harder line against Washington, even suggesting the possibility of nuclear strikes. The pressure stopped after Soviet officials gave Castro a briefing on the ecological impact on Cuba of nuclear strikes on the United States. 

2. Marita Lorenz, ex-lover of Fidel Castro had agreed to aid the CIA and attempted to smuggle a jar of cold cream containing poison pills into Fidel Castro’s room. When Castro learned about her intentions, he reportedly gave her a gun and told her to kill him but her nerve failed. – 

3. In 2012, a 14-year old North Korean girl drowned while trying to save portraits of dictator Kim Il-Sung and Kim Jong-Il. The government renamed her school after her. – 

4. Kim Il Sung, founder and dictator of North Korea, had a baseball-sized growth on his neck. It was benign but could not be removed due to its location. Official photos of the “Eternal President” were therefore taken from a leftward angle to hide the growth. –

5. Doctors induced labor to make sure the Kim Jong Un’s child was born in 2012, which marked the 100th anniversary of North Korean founder Kim Il-sung. – 

6. When the KGB tried to blackmail Indonesian President Achmed Sukarno with videotapes of the president having sex with Russian women disguised as flight attendants, Sukarno wasn’t upset. He was pleased. He even asked for more copies of the video to show back in his country. –

7. In 1958, Chinese dictator Mao Zedong ordered the people of China to kill sparrows because they steal grain. Since sparrows also eat insects, their absence caused a locust epidemic that ravaged crops and killed millions of people. –

8. In 1973, Mao Zedong told Henry Kissinger China had a surplus of women and offered USA 10 million Chinese women. –

9. President Suharto of Indonesia is considered the world’s most corrupt former head of state, embezzling between $15-$35 billion. 

10. A few of Cambodia’s Khmer Rouge soldiers were found hiding in jungle as recent as 2005, completely unaware that dictator Pol Pot died and Vietnamese troops no longer occupied the country.