The Island Editorial

Castro: The last of the Mohicans

28 November 2016

 

Another great leader has left the world stage. Fidel Castro’s demise has diminished right thinking people the world over though some Cuban immigrants who are trying to be more American than Americans themselves are reported to have celebrated his death in the US. These events have received undue publicity from the western propaganda hit men who failed to destroy Castro’s iconic image for five decades.

Castro was perhaps the last of the Mohicans among world leaders, so to speak. His greatest achievement, in our book, was not so much the emergence as a charismatic leader after ousting a repressive regime through a revolution and turning Cuba into a source of inspiration for the developing world but surviving numerous assassination attempts to live for his country. He was 90 at the time of his death. While living to struggle, he had to struggle to live, given the hostility of neocons in particular and the Global North in general towards him and his socialist administration.

Threats from imperialists only steeled Castro’s resolve to remain dedicated to his cause unwaveringly and opposing American hegemony with might and main. He defied and outlasted ten US presidents. Uncle Sam on Obama’s watch chose to ‘kiss that hand that he could not bite’.

The US unwittingly facilitated Castro’s rise to power. It is said that but for the Eisenhower administration’s decision to suspend arms shipments to Cuban dictator Batista in 1958, Castro’s revolution would perhaps have had a different ending. The 1962 Cuban missile crisis gave a new lease of life to the nascent socialist regime in Cuba in that the US was compelled to stop invasions in return for the Russians’ missile pullout. However, covert CIA operations to topple Castro continued albeit in vain.

Castro stood up to the US and walked tall while most of his counterparts in the developing world stooped so low as to lick the boots of not only US presidents but also American envoys in their respective countries.

It was only the other day that the US government and the Sri Lankan Parliament entered into a pact to promote what is being described as good governance here and the project is to cost the American taxpayers Rs. 1.9 billion, we are told. It may not be advisable for a small country to ruffle the feathers of the Eagle unnecessarily, but one’s gorge rises when the lily-livered leaders of smaller nations make a public display of their servility to foreign powers.

Interestingly, the Sri Lankan government is panhandling to the US while colossal amounts of borrowed money are being wasted on feathering the nests of political leaders. A supplementary estimate was presented to Parliament on Saturday to the tune of about Rs. 800 million for purchasing super luxury vehicles for ministers and their deputies! This, the government has done unashamedly and unconscionably while the hapless people who lost their houses and shops due to the blast of the army’s central armoury at Salawa are demanding compensation and public assistance is being sought to build a hospital to save children who have to undergo heart operations.

President Maithripala Sirisena declared, at an SLFP event the other day, that he had written to the US President elect, Donald Trump, seeking the latter’s help to protect Sri Lanka’s interest. Why should the head of state of any nation make such a plea? Ironically, President Sirisena has done so while claiming to be a great admirer of Castro!

Many political pundits predicted that the Castro administration would suffer a Humpty Dumpty style fall soon after the collapse of the mighty Soviet empire. But, Castro proved them all wrong despite US sanctions aimed at making the Cuban economy scream.

The Cuban economy suffered heavy blows repeatedly at the hands of imperialists, and Castro had to make course corrections vis-à-vis geo-political vicissitudes, threats and challenges that the new world order threw up. There was a discernible rethink on the dyed-in-the-wool utopian dirigisme after the baton was passed on to Castro’s brother Raul. But, Cuba remains resilient and continues to inspire the Global South.

That said, it needs to be added that Cuba is far from perfect. Castro was not infallible either. But, they have amply demonstrated that a country is capable of facing threats and challenges even from the world powers whose efforts to dominate the globe are governed by Rafferty’s rules if it is blessed with the leadership of an intrepid statesman who has only the national interest at heart.