Why do so many on the left feel so sentimental about Castro? I once attended the annual conference of the National Union of Journalists. One of the many (hundreds) of policy motions placed before we delegates was, to paraphrase, a declaration that Cuba is a socialist paradise defying American imperialism and capitalism, and a call from the NUJ to the US to drop its inhumane sanctions. Naturally, our call went unreported anywhere in the British or international media. Not so much as a news-in-brief.

Well, it seemed very odd to me, and entirely, and poignantly, symbolic of the gullible and confused attitude of the British left to dear old Fidel. For here was a man being feted, and not unusually, as a hero by a roomful of liberal, progressive journalists, but who oppressed journalists in his own one-party state. The very people who lazily raised their hands to support the annual NUJ "Hands off Cuba" motion would never be allowed to write the sort of free-wheeling, opinionated, satirical or investigative articles that are commonplace in Britain if they happened to be working in Havana.

Jeremy Corbyn talks about the social and political impact of Fidel Castro

There were a few voices of dissent at the conference, to this unthinking abasement to the dictator Castro (the BBC contingent were brave enough to oppose it), but, as usual, it got nodded through, to the great shame of all concerned. To repeat: Fidel Castro was an enemy of a free press and free trade unionism. Simple as that, and if he made the trains run on time and had a network of excellent nursery schools, well, so what?

If you believe in democratic centralism and some or other version of Marxism or "Leninism” or Trostkyism, then Castroism is, of course, fine. If you hate America so much that any regime that opposes America automatically qualifies as an ally, fine. If you're happy to have Castro's whiskery mug on your t-shirts, a face that was an ally of oppression and political murder in the Soviet Union, also fine.

If you're a journalist who believes that freedom of expression is a human right: not fine.

Pictures of everyday life in Cuba Show all 20 1 /20 Pictures of everyday life in Cuba Pictures of everyday life in Cuba A man rides his modified bicycle past a vintage American car in Havana Getty Images Pictures of everyday life in Cuba A taxi sits parked by Ancon Beach waiting for returning bathers in Trinidad Getty Images Pictures of everyday life in Cuba Afrocuban carnival group "Los componedores de batea" performing in the streets of La Habana Vieja Rex Pictures of everyday life in Cuba Pastel colours for an ice-cream place and a vintage American car in Cienfuegos after sunset Rex Pictures of everyday life in Cuba A man on the phone in a bookshop in Old Havana (Habana Vieja) selling books and displaying propaganda poster of the Cuban Revolution Rex Pictures of everyday life in Cuba Street Musicians in Santiago De Cuba Rex Pictures of everyday life in Cuba A man works to repair his classic American car after it broke down along the Prado, a wide avenue that runs from Parque Central to the Malecon seafront highway, in Havana Getty Images Pictures of everyday life in Cuba Members of the 'Ladies in White,' a group founded by the partners and relatives of jailed dissidents that regularly protests against the Cuban government, demonstrate on the streets of Havana Getty Images Pictures of everyday life in Cuba Street vegetables vendor in Havana Getty Images Pictures of everyday life in Cuba The sun setting through the palm trees and creates long shadows on the pool deck at this resort in Cuba Varadero Rex Pictures of everyday life in Cuba General view of a street in Havana Getty Images Pictures of everyday life in Cuba A girls plays on a street in Havana Getty Images Pictures of everyday life in Cuba Girls walk past graffiti art along the Paseo de Marti, the wide boulevard that runs through the heart of the historic Old Havana neighborhood in Havana Getty Images Pictures of everyday life in Cuba A woman smokes her Havana cigar Getty Images Pictures of everyday life in Cuba A man harvests tobacco leaves for drying at a tobacco drying house on a co-op plantation in Pinar del Rio Getty Images Pictures of everyday life in Cuba Men play chess on a street in Havana Getty Images Pictures of everyday life in Cuba Locals take part in a gay parade in Havana Getty Images Pictures of everyday life in Cuba Scene of the Memories Paraiso Azul resort in Santa Maria Key Getty Images Pictures of everyday life in Cuba Beach on the Bay of Pigs, Zapata Peninsula Pictures of everyday life in Cuba Divers swimming above coral reef in Caribbean Sea Rex

Nowadays the whole world has moved on from the Castroist simplicities of imperialist oppression. No-one should be bothered if their farms or factories or infrastructure are owned by firms based in America, India, China, Germany, France or anywhere else. Profit is no longer a dirty word. As we see here in Britain. Free movement of capital and goods are founding freedoms of the European Union, as well as freedom of movement of people. Castro's experiment simply did not work, even though the dental service is reputed to be excellent.

The sooner the world's capitalists move back into Cuba and lift its poor benighted people out of poverty, the better. It has worked for ex-socialist China and India, and indeed Russia. It will work in Cuba too, which has many natural advantages. Maybe then the Cuban people can use the improvements in their literacy to actually read the papers and websites of their choice, and write what they want for them; vote for the political parties they wish to; and swap the aged Buicks and Ladas for a nice new Toyota or Range Rover.