Cuban revolutionary leader who seized power in 1959 and ran the country until 2008, when he retired and was succeeded by his brother Raúl Castro. He died in 2016. In the 1990s, amid a deep recession after the collapse of the Soviet Union, he grudgingly permitted limited private enterprise for the first time. Castro once ordered Cuba's sugar-millers to hit an annual target of 10m tonnes; in 1989 they reached 8m. More than once when faced with protests, Castro opened Cuba's borders to let migrants flood out, believing the departure of discontented citizens would ease pressure on his regime.
leverage, n.: Even if someone doesn't care what the world thinks about them, they always hope their mother doesn't find out.