Thursday, December 11, 2014

The winner of this year's OTHER peace prize: Fidel Castro handed China's Confucius award – for his 'important contributions' to world peace

Castro now 88-years-old, rarely makes appearances in public. He did not attend the Confucius Peace Prize award ceremony. A Cuban exchange student accepted the award on his behalf

Malala was jointly awarded the Nobel Peace Prize with Indian children's rights advocate Kailash Satyarthi. Here they hold up their medals during the award ceremony

Pictured with former Soviet premier Nikita Khrushchev, when Castro allowed the Soviet Union to build sites for nuclear missiles on Cuban soil, it sparked a 13-day confrontation with the United States. It is widely considered the closest the Cold War came to escalating in a full scale nuclear conflict

Former Cuban dictator hailed for not resorting to violence
Chosen by nine judges in a 16 strong panel
Previous winners include Russian leader Vladimir Putin
Castro, now 88, did not attend the award ceremony
The award was made a day before Malala Yousafzai received the Nobel

PUBLISHED: 10:39 GMT, 11 December 2014 | UPDATED: 12:08 GMT, 11 December 2014

He brought the world the brink of nuclear war but that hasn't stopped the former Cuban dictator Fidel Castro from being awarded China's version of the Nobel Peace Prize.

Hailing the aging revolutionary icon's 'important contributions' to world peace, he was selected to win the Confucius Peace Prize, the state-run Global Times newspaper reported.

'While in office, Castro didn't resort to violence or force to settle disputes in international relations, especially with the United States,' the paper wrote, seemingly forgetting the Cuban missile crisis.

The Winner of This Year's OTHER Peace Prize Fidel Castro Handed China's Confucius Award – for His 'Importan... by Thavam Ratna