<i>New York Times</i> Pentagon correspondent Helene Cooper said the American people see Castro as a "satanic demon" but that <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2016/11/26/statement-president-passing-fidel-castro">President Obama's statement</a> accurately reflected what the world thinks. Sunday on NBC's <i>Meet the Press</i> Cooper said Obama's statement expressed the "ambivalence" the rest of the world feels about Castro. The <i>Times</i> scribe praised Castro's role in taking down apartheid in South Africa, a regime she noted that the U.S. was propping up. "What President Obama's statement reflects is that nobody in the rest of the world sort of agrees with you," Cooper told her fellow MTP guests. "You present a very, and Marco Rubio just did that, America-centric view of Cuba," Cooper told <i>Meet the Press</i> moderator Chuck Todd. "Which is Castro as the, you know, Satanic demon that the United States, and in many ways he has been, but I think what President Obama's statement reflects is that nobody in the rest of the world sort of agrees with you." "The Castro that I grew up knowing as a child growing up in Liberia was a Castro who fought the South African apartheid regime that the United States was propping up," Cooper recalled. "It was Castro that sent Cuban soldiers into Angola and helped to bring down apartheid South Africa. So there is a lot of ambivalence when you look at Fidel Castro that's usually not reflected here and I think what President Obama's statement was doing was reflecting that. But I know you disagree with me." Cooper was told President Obama is the president of the United States. "I disagree a little bit with Helene in that I take your point about the world view, although President Obama the president of America, he is not the president of the world. And there is an American view of this," guest panelist Matt Bai reminded the <i>New York Times</i> writer. Transcript, via NBC: <blockquote>CHUCK TODD: And I think the question is, obviously, is of what President Obama has done gets left in by Donald Trump. But before we go away from President Obama, his statement yesterday got a lot of people upset because of what it didn't say. Let me put it up, here's what he said on Castro. "We know that this moment fills Cubans, in Cuba and in the United States,with powerful emotions, recalling the countless ways in which Fidel Castro altered the course of individual lives, families, and of the Cuban nation. History will record and judge the enormous impact of this singular figure on the people and world around him. I have to say, Helene Cooper, it's the most positive statement I've ever heard a President of the United States put out on Fidel Castro. Why was it so positive? HELENE COOPER: Well, first of all, I think I disagree with you guys on the-- you present a very, and Marco Rubio just did that, America-centric view of Cuba. Which is Castro as the, you know, Satanic demon that the United States, and in many ways he has been, but I think what President Obama's statement reflects is that nobody in the rest of the world sort of agrees with you. The Castro that I grew up knowing as a child growing up in Liberia was a Castro who fought the South African apartheid regime that the United States was propping up. It was Castro that sent Cuban soldiers into Angola and helped to bring down apartheid South Africa. So there is a lot of ambivalence when you look at Fidel Castro that's usually not reflected here and I think what President Obama's statement was doing was reflecting that. But I know you disagree with me. CHUCK TODD: No, no, no, I mean, but Matt, she brings up a good point. No, no she brings up a good point in that there is -- what Castro's reputation is around the world is much different than it is here in the United States. DANIELLE PLETKA: But that still ignores the fact. Okay, you may like what Castro did in South Africa, I don't. But you can't forget that he did this all on the backs of the Cuban people. This was an absolute dictatorship that crushed this island beneath their jackbooted heel. Summarily shot people for disagreeing with the Castros. For 50 years, they have been- they murdered their political opponents and supported groups like Hezbollah, Iran, Medoro, and before that, Chavez, the FARC and others. Let's not forget who he is to America. HELENE COOPER: Again, this is a very America-centric view of Castro. DANIELLE PLETKA: I'm American.</blockquote>