Goodbye Fidel Castro
November 25th at 10:29 pm Fidel Castro took his last breath, much to the sorrow of those who benefitted from his life’s work — the citizens of Cuba. He was 90 years old and had held the responsibility of his citizens in his hands from 1959 until his illness in 2006 when he turned over the presidency to his brother. He was a benevolent dictator.
Justin Trudeau sent condolences to the Cuban nation on behalf of all Canadians, much to the chagrin of some opponents who believe that there is little hypocrisy in our governments making business deals with places like China or Chile while ignoring their human rights practices. But with Cuba, these opponents claim it is all about human rights and democracy.
Back in 1959 Castro made the mistake of kicking out a non-benevolent, mafia-influenced dictator, Batista, who was supported by the US. He also made the mistake of turning to the Russians for economic help during the American paranoia period of anti-communism. But we seem to overlook China, a one-party state that suppresses open political activity, expressing our concerns, maybe, about human rights while we build pipelines heading west, offshore factories and buy Chinese products.
As for non-benevolent dictators, we seem to love them. The US solidly backed Saddam Hussein when he went after Iran, as they also did with the likes of Pinochet, Noriega, Marcos, Mobutu and Duvalier. I doubt we ever bothered to remind them about human rights.
So bravo, Trudeau for not being a hypocrite. Castro was good to his own people.
Castro’s legacy started when, shortly after taking power, he financially supported women so they could stop prostituting in order to feed and house their children. He gave every citizen a ration book for food. True, the people weren’t offered t-bone steaks every day or even once a week but the homemakers could sufficiently feed their family from the seven pounds of rice, one pound of beans, half a litre of cooking oil, one bread roll per day, plus small quantities of eggs, chicken or fish, spaghetti, and sugar each person was allotted monthly.
Castro also got rid of homelessness, a huge problem in North America today. First he prioritized women with children and then worked his way through his citizens from the most needy to the least until everyone had a place to live. To do this houses and apartments were confiscated from those who owned more than one residence. He also seized homes owned by those who had failed or refused to pay their property taxes. Many of these people were Americans and Castro offered to return the property if they paid the overdue taxes. Most refused to do so.
Starting in the mountains, Castro, in 1961 organized about a million people to be part of the literacy brigade. Their job was to build schools, train teachers and raise literacy, which at that time was between 25-40%. Within two years, 96% of the Cuban citizens could read and write at a functional level. Once basic illiteracy was wiped out, he offered free education to everyone, and anyone could study whatever s/he wanted. This to me seems far more democratic than the system we use with the poor unable to send their children to school and those who manage seldom access the upper class universities such as Harvard or Yale.
Castro also outlawed discrimination, which included permitting black people entry to the Catholic Church which was illegal during Batista’s reign. However, Castro did restrict services for everyone to one day a week. But racially mixed marriages were allowed and it was Raul Castro’s daughter, Mariela who fought, demonstrated, lobbied and won rights for the LGBT society in the 1990s even though Castro was a known gay-basher. Although they haven’t obtained the right to legalized marriage, the anti-discrimination laws include gender identity. And Cubans celebrate the National Day Against Homophobia!
Once in power and in order to fulfil his goals of land reform, income redistribution, agricultural diversification and economic independence of the US, Castro took charge but the economic battle with the US exacerbated the home front problems. The oil companies of Texaco, Standard and Royal Dutch refused to process oil from Russia, which Castro had obtained at a lower price than the US. The US urged the companies to refuse. They did and Castro expropriated them. Eisenhower put on the embargo that is still in effect today even though in 1992 the UN condemned it as a violation of the charter. In retaliation to the embargo, Castro expropriated American companies such as Coca Cola.
But it was the embargo that hurt the Cuban people, not Castro. The Americans disallowed their citizens and companies to do business or spend money in Cuba. Those who broke this law were subjected to prison terms of up to ten years and/or a $250,000 fine.
The world traded in American currency and in Cuba, there was little to spare. Medicine was in short supply as were products such as shampoo, car parts, electronics and Coca Cola. I spoke with a publisher in Havana who said that due to the lack of cash, the government couldn’t print enough books to supply every child in Cuba. The children had to share.
On the other hand, after overthrowing Batista, the Castro regime made many mistakes. While Castro attempted to form a sound government, hundreds of rich Cubans withdrew money from their bank accounts and escaped to Miami. This included Batista’s entire family and 108 Batista supporters who boarded a plane to avoid the possibility of execution for war crimes.
Keen and Wasserman wrote in A Short History of Latin America, “what began as a program of social and political reform within a framework of constitutional democracy and capitalism, evolved into a Marxist revolution.”
Castro imprisoned any Batista followers who hadn’t escaped and on January 12, 1959, 71 men accused of crimes against humanity were shot. This was followed by the execution of numerous Batista loyalists who were attempting to form a counter-revolution in the mountains. In total, 3615 executions have been conducted in Cuba in 57 years with most of them occurring in the first few years of Castro’s rule. On the other hand, 638 CIA sponsored assassination attempts were made on Castro’s life; some of the executions would have been due to these attempts.
Castro’s socialist programs were expensive and when the economy suffered, many tried to leave the country. Some escaped to Mexico or Guatemala and attempted to gain political asylum status in the states.
And some were assisted by Castro. Between 1960-62, 14,000 Cuban children were flown out of Cuba by the Catholic Church. Most never saw their parents again. In 1965 Castro opened the port near Varadero and allowed 3000 people to leave for their “Yankee paradise” as he called it. This was followed by another 260,000 people being, with Cuban assistance, transported to the US by boat. Fearing the influx of more immigrants with some being undesirable to any country, President Nixon stopped further immigration.
Finally, in 1980 all Cubans were permitted to leave Cuba if they wished, including prisoners. Jimmy Carter, aware of the dangers here, closed the border to Cubans. An often-touted event that occurred in 1994 has 72 Cubans escaping by boat who were caught by the Cuban coast guard. Forty-one died. Their entry to the US had been denied due to the closed border and when they were returning to Cuba the coast guards water bombed them.
As time passed, Canada and Europe recognized that the embargo had no political purpose except for revenge. French, German, Spanish and Italian governments built hotels in Varadero, a beach on the Caribbean. Their guests spent tons of much-needed money and the companies paid their taxes. Sympathetic countries also buoyed up Cuba’s economy. When the Soviet Union collapsed and support was halted, Venezuela and China stepped in.
To counter this the Americans passed the Helms-Burton law in 1996, which prohibits any president from lifting the embargo until Cuba has “legalized political activity and made a commitment to free and fair elections.”
The Cubans might not have American styled elections but similar to China that has no embargo and with whom we trade freely, each community in Cuba democratically elects a person by secret ballot to represent them within their district. From these representatives, the provincial assembly is chosen for a two-year period. Finally, the 612 member national assembly is chosen for five-year terms, many from those elected to the districts. One deputy is chosen for each 20,000 inhabitants. Granted, the Castros are in control and the government follows communist dogma but the representatives have some power to make changes.
So, rest in peace Fidel. May your legacy continue for as long as we have a Cuba.
Published in the Prince George Citizen November, 2016
http://www.princegeorgecitizen.com/opinion/editorial/in-praise-of-castro-1.3426706
In response to Art Betke’s letter to the editor on Saturday, I would like to clarify a few statements. First of all, I was pointing out the hypocrisy of our governments (in the article above) who make business deals with places like China, or Chile while ignoring their human rights practices. But with Cuba, Betke claims it is all about human rights and democracy.
Betke seems to imagine a world where Canada and presumably her democratic allies would maintain a principled embargo against every dictatorship in the world, whether communist, fascist or theocratic. No oil would be bought from the Saudis until they quit beheading women, no trade would happen with China until they freed Tibet, no diplomatic relations would be engaged with Iran etc., until these countries improved their human rights records and released political prisoners. And they would demand that we quit depriving aboriginal communities, stop co-operating with the US on the renditioning and torture of political prisoners.
The Castro regime made many mistakes. When the rebels won, Manuel Urrutia, was made President. This was while Castro was still in Santiago de Cuba. During Christmas 1958, hundreds of rich Cubans withdrew money from their bank accounts and flew to Miami. This included Batista’s entire family and 108 Batista supporters who boarded a plane to escape the possibility of execution for war crimes.
Then on January 12, 1959, 71 Batista supporters (not thousands) accused of crimes against humanity were shot. And in total, 3615 executions have been conducted in Cuba in 57 years. In those years 638 CIA sponsored assassination attempts were made on Castro’s life; some of the executions would have been due to these attempts.
Far fewer Cubans than Betke claims have climbed into boats to escape. Between 1960-62, 14,000 Cuban children were flown out of Cuba by the Catholic Church. Most never saw their parents again. In 1965 Castro opened the port near Varadero and allowed 3000 people to leave for their “Yankee paradise”. He then allowed 260,000 to leave. This program was stopped by Nixon. Finally, in 1980 all Cubans were permitted to leave if they wished, including prisoners. Jimmy Carter closed the border to Cubans. An often-touted event that occurred in 1994 has 72 Cubans escaping by boat who were caught by the Cuban coast guard. Forty-one died. The US border was still closed.
Once in power and in order to fulfil his goals of land reform, income redistribution, agricultural diversification and economic independence of the US, Castro took charge but the economic battle with the US exacerbated the home front problems. The oil companies of Texaco, Standard and Royal Dutch refused to process oil from Russia, which Castro had obtained at a lower price than the US. The US urged the companies to refuse. They did and Castro expropriated them. Eisenhower put on the embargo that is still in effect even though in 1992 the UN condemned it as a violation of the charter. In retaliation, Castro expropriated American companies such as Coca Cola. Robert Quirk, in Fidel Castro claims, “The chaos in Cuba at the beginning of 1959 was almost unbelievable.” But Castro floundered on.
Keen and Wasserman wrote in A Short History of Latin America, “what began as a program of social and political reform within a framework of constitution democracy and capitalism, evolved into a Marxist revolution.”
As for freedom of the press, I would suggest that Betke read Havana Times, which is published in Spanish and English. The front page today has a criticism of the nationally owned Internet Company and another complains about restrictions on celebrating during the mourning period for Castro, comparing Cuba to North Korea. And when I was there on one of many occasions, I was with a family who had a television that included some Miami channels. I watched it.
As for Castro’s wealth, Betke read this in Forbes Magazine or in the republished story at Breitbart Magazine. CBS questioned Steve Forbes about the article and Forbes replied that “what is owned by the country or individual is a blur and “the estimates are more art than science.” The near-billion dollar banks stash was withdrawn and no foreign accounts have ever been located.
I don’t think Trudeau was being unprincipled when he sent condolences to the Cuban people, I think he was being diplomatic. Other leaders were too. Castro was praised by Hollande of France, Putin of Russia, Boris Johnson of the UK, Xi Jinping of China, Jacob Zuma of South Africa, Peña of Mexico, Modi of India and Barack Obama of the US.
If Betke wants a world where the democracies boycott all countries with “despotic leaders,” that could amount to half the world. I’m a bit of a feminist, so he might get me to agree, especially when it comes to most Islamic countries. Maybe I could talk him into putting the US on the list as well, considering their record of renditioning, torture, and drone-killing and their constant tendency to restrict access to abortions.
But really, the diplomatic approach is better We might not like assisting the despots, but there’s always the argument that trade, diplomacy and tourism have the effect of promoting more liberal attitudes, spreading rights, improving the plight of all the world’s peoples.
Obama met recently with the president Berdimahamedow of Turkestan, one of the most repressive regimes in the world.
They are more “benevolent” than Berdimahamedow.
