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It is an opportunity to begin a more democratin reign in Cuba, but this doesn't mean that it requires external help, especially from the US regarding the fact that the US "helped" Iraq too and other countries in this situation. The best thing to do is to leave the people choose what they want.
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The statements each leading presidential candidate have made regarding Castro is telling, I think, to how they regard the cruel, despotic "revolutionary."

Hillary's is the weakest. Though she notes that Cuba is an "authoritarian regime," much of her language fails to hammer the point home. Indeed, it sounds like domestic campaign-stump boilerplate:

The new leadership in Cuba will face a stark choice -— continue with the failed policies of the past that have stifled democratic freedoms and stunted economic growth -— or take a historic step to bring Cuba into the community of democratic nations.

"Continue with the failed policies of the past?" Isn't that what she says to advocate electing a Democrat to the White House in November? To my ear, it a little weak. Maintaining a prison nation for your own glory, torturing and killing political dissidents, etc., strikes me as a little more serious than mere "failed policies of the past."

Then there's Obama, who is better -- more morally clear:

Today should mark the end of a dark era in Cuba's history. Fidel Castro's stepping down is an essential first step, but it is sadly insufficient in bringing freedom to Cuba.

That's Obama's opening sentence. Strong. Clear. Good.

Then, the best, comes from McCain:

Today’s resignation of Fidel Castro is nearly half a century overdue. For decades, Castro oversaw an apparatus of repression that denied liberty to the people who suffered under his dictatorship.

Yet freedom for the Cuban people is not yet at hand, and the Castro brothers clearly intend to maintain their grip on power. That is why we must press the Cuban regime to release all political prisoners unconditionally, to legalize all political parties, labor unions and free media, and to schedule internationally monitored elections.

Specific. Strong. Using properly descriptive language -- without apology or weasel-phrasing.

I think those differences in instinctual language matter.

Clearly, America's efforts to isolate the Castro regime have finally forced the dictator into submission!

No? Oh, well.

I kid, of course. But it's been remarkable to me in recent years how we've kept pursuing a policy that almost nobody thinks is effective or useful: Some of the loudest voices against the Cuba embargo have been Republican!

The voices in favor of keeping the embargo, though, have mostly come out of Florida, and we all know why they've carried extra weight. But it hasn't served our country well; hopefully there's a window here to do something that makes more sense.