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I know that realpolitik has the majority of the time ultimately dominated global politics, but the point is that Franco for a number of years was the only leader in the Western Hemisphere prepared to have full economic and (sort of) diplomatic relations with Communist Cuba, even to the point where he openly argued with the US government about it. (It was largely resolved by Franco agreeing to allow NATO troops to continue to be based in Spain, in return for the US promising not to interfere with Spain's trade with Cuba).
And the fact he may have butchered many Communists back home and his speeches were often full of fiery anti-Communist rhetoric doesn't ultimately detract from the fact that fascism and communism are more similar than they are different and are part of the same totalitarian family. This notion that Francoist Spain was a quasi-libertarian, Randian bastion of free-market capitalism is a total fabrication.
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