- Joined
- Sep 8, 2020
- Messages
- 15,981
- Reaction score
- 11,076
- Gender
- Male
- Political Leaning
- Progressive
Ion Iliescu, Romania's first freely elected president, dies
Romania's first democratically elected President has passed away (and one of the very few Communists ever to have led a country as a democratic leader, though hed definitely had a few authoritarian tendencies himself, the mineriads for one, nevertheless he transitioned Romania into a democracy). He rose to prominence during the revolution against the rule of Communist dictator Nicolae Ceausescu, but Iliescu was originally part of the Ceausecu regime. Ceausecu's overthrow was just as much an inside affair as a revolution from the outside, the party leadership had grown tired of the totalitarian madness and wanted to move on (and not be killed by an angry mob). He led Romania with a steady hands (and some time too steady) until 1996 when he and the Communist Party were voted out of power. However he returned to power in the 2000 Presidential election, and served a second term until 2004.
As one of the creators of Post Cold War Europe he will be remembered. He will also be remembered as by those who suffered from the violent mineriads (when miners were bused to Bucharest in 1990 to beat up protesters who protested against the fact that several members of Ceausescu's government had been awarded with office and not prison)as another tyrant. He has a very mixed legacy, on one hand he led Romania to democracy, on the other he definitely never had clean hands. Nevertheless another of the Giants of the 90s are gone.