Castro: Another Flawed Revolutionary
by Tommi Avicolli-Mecca, Feb. 21, 2008
http://www.beyondchron.org/articles/Castro_Another_Flawed_Revolutionary_5391.html (http://www.beyondchron.org/articles/Castro_Another_Flawed_Revolutionary_5391.html)
It's hard to know what to say about Fidel Castro's resignation after almost 50 years as president of Cuba. I have mixed feelings about the ailing revolutionary who, along with Ernesto "Che" Guevara and others, seized control of the island nation in 1959 and declared it a Socialist country.
Shades of grey, as with all revolutionaries. - brutal oppression of opposition, little freedom of speech or the press or anything. And yet a universal healthcare and education system that has led to one of the highest standards of living in the developing world...
I think Fidel Castro was genuine about wanting to help his people and his country, though how he went about it was at times terrible.
Quote from: lady amarant on February 21, 2008, 07:52:12 AM
Shades of grey, as with all revolutionaries. - brutal oppression of opposition, little freedom of speech or the press or anything. And yet a universal healthcare and education system that has led to one of the highest standards of living in the developing world...
I think Fidel Castro was genuine about wanting to help his people and his country, though how he went about it was at times terrible.
very well said lady amarant! and i agree with yea
The problem is that the US never really let Cuba devellop as it should have.
The embargo considering that Cuba is at the doorstep of one of the
biggest trading powers really made the economy disfunctional for a long time.
Funny enough, its when the USSR stopped helping Cuba that it started
to really form an identity of its own economically.
Repression is real, but also a reaction to the siege mentality, who knows
if Castro would have had such tight reign if the US would have been more benign.
In 1959, Castro was quite open to having cordial relationship with the US, its
only when he was rebuffed that he started turning towards the USSR which during the
depth of the cold war was almost like a declaration of war towards the US. The
rich cuban ruling class, which where ruling as kings with little regards for
most of the population, which had been kicked off their properties provided
the electoral base which would skew florida politics for the 40 years to come.
Then, the bay of pig incident happened which cemented these tense relations
happened in 1961 and then Castro made his biggest mistake, with letting the USSR
install missiles, which was the perfect excuse for the embargo.
When you compare Cuba to China or the Saudi's or countless other dictatorships
the US has supported or traded with actively, the level of oppression seems
run of the mill to mild (if such an evaluation can be made with oppression... >:D).
So, its not dictatorships that makes the embargo lasts, but the political
clout of the southern florida latinos.
Of the revolutionary, he's possibly one of the least flawed! But, that's
not saying much considering the others :-).
I have a fair bit of sympathy for revolutionaries. A few years ago I attempted a trip around Southern Africa similar to what Che Guevarra and his friend did when they were still med-students. It's hard not to turn into a revloutionary when you are confronted first-hand by immense poverty and deprivation so many live in when there is so much wealth and excess in the world. I might be a an eco-terrorist or industrial saboteur myself if not for the fact that history has shown that violent revolution by a small group tends not to be effective past the lifetime of its initial leadership.