How Castro showed up Uncle Sam
How Castro showed up Uncle Sam 24 February 2008 By Tom McGurk Castro has left Cuba with real status among Latin American countries, in spite of the relentless coercive efforts of the United States. For half a century now, the iconic figure of Fidel Castro has been at the epicentre of the great debate of our times - the competing political merits of socialism and capitalism. Following the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 and the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, western capitalism and the free market seemed messianic and triumphant. Against this backdrop, Castro’s solitary experiment, that persisted on a small island off the coast of Florida, became even more tantalising. Now, as Comrade Fidel steps quietly away into the wings of history, his significance and his political legacy deserve, at least, a non-partisan and non-propagandist analysis. To measure his achievements or otherwise, one has to look first at what has been the fate of large areas of Central and South America since Castro came to power in Cuba in 1959.Fromthat time, Cuban communism became the overriding obsession of the United States - and subsequently dictated its foreign policy towards these regions. Well into the 20th century, it seemed that governments in Latin and Central America had never heard of the French Revolution. The concepts of individual rights and notions of liberty, equality and fraternity had apparently never affected the rulers of the old Spanish and Portuguese empires. In 1959, as Castro began a revolution to sweep away the last vestiges of Spanish American feudalism, the United States responded to the threat by setting out to preserve it, in its various forms. The Kennedy administration set up the infamous College of the Americas in Panama, out of which, for a generation, Latin America’s dictators, armies and torturers were secretly trained and equipped. America’s secret wars began in Brazil, then spread to Chile, Uruguay and Argentina - and finally ended up with the savage wars in Central America, that consumed, in turn, El Salvador, Nicaragua and Honduras. Dictators came and went, thousands died or were ‘disappeared’, and torture and mass murder became commonplace, as Washington sought desperately to pull the political and economic strings across the southern part of the Americas. While the world concentrated on the goings-on in Soviet eastern Europe, the unimaginable political slum that was Latin and Central America seemed off the radar, except for the left and liberation theologists. But to those people who did not swallow the State Department’s line, it seemed incomprehensible that Castro could constitute so great a threat that tens of thousands should have to suffer and die in countries huge distances away from his ‘infected’ island in the Caribbean. History will record that, in the beginning, Castro actually sought a close relationship with the US. However, spurned by Washington and under the constant threat of invasion, he turned towards the Soviet bloc. That initiated the 1963 missile crisis, which took the globe to the edge of nuclear war and eventually resulted in a secret agreement - that the US would never invade Cuba. So began a remarkable experiment, in defiance of a United States economic boycott that, given Cuba’s geographical position, would have reduced most countries to ruin. Despite what propagandists say, the Castro revolution proved hugely popular with ordinary Cubans. What many forget was that the country that Castro seized in 1959 was akin to a slave colony - with mass starvation, huge ethnic divisions, 90 per cent illiteracy and grinding poverty widespread. Most Cubans were descended from slaves brought in to work the sugar plantations. Castro set about constructing a unique Third World experiment in social architecture. Today, the average Cuban has a long life expectancy, free education up to university level and levels of public health services and literacy better than the average citizen of the US. This speaks volumes for Castro’s experiment. Any predictions about what will happen to Cuba must now take account of the huge pride Cubans have in this, their truly remarkable achievement. Of course, the average Cuban has little material wealth, and the Party remains at the centre of everything. But, then, this is a society where, with food, housing and transport so cheap, and education and health free, material wealth is largely irrelevant. Anyway, since the state owns all the shops, goods are the same price everywhere. To be in Cuba is to experience the wonder of a society where the tyranny of consumerism does not exist. There is no advertising at all and individualism comes second to the common good. Cuban television is like a community channel - devoted to education and sport. Unlike the Soviet empire, there is no evidence of either party corruption or the power of apparatchiks - communist party officials seem to live in much the same manner as everyone else. And, of course - importantly, in the greater scheme of things – unlike much of the rest of the Americas, Cubans have enjoyed half a century of relative peace. Central Havana early in the morning is quite unlike any capital in the Americas: thousands of children marching off to school, and buses and lorries packed with workers. The indelible signs of most Latin American cities - the street children, beggars and the thousands arriving wearily from shanty towns - are nowhere to be seen. Of course, the Castro revolution has had its victims and it continues to provoke a debate - particularly across the left - about notions of democracy and individual freedom. But, then, I suspect that both Castro and monetarist thinker Milton Friedman had just about the same respect for democracy and its wider demands. Today, a new generation of young Cubans enjoys average levels of education, health and society beyond anything that the rest of the Americas can boast, and nothing can disguise or hide that remarkable achievement. And what will happen, now that the bearded revolutionary icon is slipping away? Certainly, the US will find a changed situation. For the first time, Cuba has genuine friends in Latin America, in Venezuela, Brazil, Argentina, Nicaragua and Bolivia, whose governments are not particularly pro-American. It is in the United States’s interests to redefine its relations with all of them- as non-colonial, non-exploitative and based on respect. Cuba, meanwhile, has developed closer relations as part of ALBA (the Bolivarian Alternative for the People of Our America) - an EU-like economic and political organisation - and in agreements with the Mercosur trade area. How ironic, given all those who died across the Americas as the US fought what they regarded as the scourge of Cuban communism, that today, in Venezuela, Chile, Bolivia and Nicaragua, leftwing democratic governments are popular and in power.
How Castro showed up Uncle Sam 24 February 2008 By Tom McGurk Castro has left Cuba with real status among Latin American countries, in spite of the relentless coercive efforts of the United States. For half a century now, the iconic figure of Fidel Castro has been at the epicentre of the great debate of our times - the competing political merits of socialism and capitalism. Following the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 and the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, western capitalism and the free market seemed messianic and triumphant. Against this backdrop, Castro’s solitary experiment, that persisted on a small island off the coast of Florida, became even more tantalising. Now, as Comrade Fidel steps quietly away into the wings of history, his significance and his political legacy deserve, at least, a non-partisan and non-propagandist analysis. To measure his achievements or otherwise, one has to look first at what has been the fate of large areas of Central and South America since Castro came to power in Cuba in 1959.Fromthat time, Cuban communism became the overriding obsession of the United States - and subsequently dictated its foreign policy towards these regions. Well into the 20th century, it seemed that governments in Latin and Central America had never heard of the French Revolution. The concepts of individual rights and notions of liberty, equality and fraternity had apparently never affected the rulers of the old Spanish and Portuguese empires. In 1959, as Castro began a revolution to sweep away the last vestiges of Spanish American feudalism, the United States responded to the threat by setting out to preserve it, in its various forms. The Kennedy administration set up the infamous College of the Americas in Panama, out of which, for a generation, Latin America’s dictators, armies and torturers were secretly trained and equipped. America’s secret wars began in Brazil, then spread to Chile, Uruguay and Argentina - and finally ended up with the savage wars in Central America, that consumed, in turn, El Salvador, Nicaragua and Honduras. Dictators came and went, thousands died or were ‘disappeared’, and torture and mass murder became commonplace, as Washington sought desperately to pull the political and economic strings across the southern part of the Americas. While the world concentrated on the goings-on in Soviet eastern Europe, the unimaginable political slum that was Latin and Central America seemed off the radar, except for the left and liberation theologists. But to those people who did not swallow the State Department’s line, it seemed incomprehensible that Castro could constitute so great a threat that tens of thousands should have to suffer and die in countries huge distances away from his ‘infected’ island in the Caribbean. History will record that, in the beginning, Castro actually sought a close relationship with the US. However, spurned by Washington and under the constant threat of invasion, he turned towards the Soviet bloc. That initiated the 1963 missile crisis, which took the globe to the edge of nuclear war and eventually resulted in a secret agreement - that the US would never invade Cuba. So began a remarkable experiment, in defiance of a United States economic boycott that, given Cuba’s geographical position, would have reduced most countries to ruin. Despite what propagandists say, the Castro revolution proved hugely popular with ordinary Cubans. What many forget was that the country that Castro seized in 1959 was akin to a slave colony - with mass starvation, huge ethnic divisions, 90 per cent illiteracy and grinding poverty widespread. Most Cubans were descended from slaves brought in to work the sugar plantations. Castro set about constructing a unique Third World experiment in social architecture. Today, the average Cuban has a long life expectancy, free education up to university level and levels of public health services and literacy better than the average citizen of the US. This speaks volumes for Castro’s experiment. Any predictions about what will happen to Cuba must now take account of the huge pride Cubans have in this, their truly remarkable achievement. Of course, the average Cuban has little material wealth, and the Party remains at the centre of everything. But, then, this is a society where, with food, housing and transport so cheap, and education and health free, material wealth is largely irrelevant. Anyway, since the state owns all the shops, goods are the same price everywhere. To be in Cuba is to experience the wonder of a society where the tyranny of consumerism does not exist. There is no advertising at all and individualism comes second to the common good. Cuban television is like a community channel - devoted to education and sport. Unlike the Soviet empire, there is no evidence of either party corruption or the power of apparatchiks - communist party officials seem to live in much the same manner as everyone else. And, of course - importantly, in the greater scheme of things – unlike much of the rest of the Americas, Cubans have enjoyed half a century of relative peace. Central Havana early in the morning is quite unlike any capital in the Americas: thousands of children marching off to school, and buses and lorries packed with workers. The indelible signs of most Latin American cities - the street children, beggars and the thousands arriving wearily from shanty towns - are nowhere to be seen. Of course, the Castro revolution has had its victims and it continues to provoke a debate - particularly across the left - about notions of democracy and individual freedom. But, then, I suspect that both Castro and monetarist thinker Milton Friedman had just about the same respect for democracy and its wider demands. Today, a new generation of young Cubans enjoys average levels of education, health and society beyond anything that the rest of the Americas can boast, and nothing can disguise or hide that remarkable achievement. And what will happen, now that the bearded revolutionary icon is slipping away? Certainly, the US will find a changed situation. For the first time, Cuba has genuine friends in Latin America, in Venezuela, Brazil, Argentina, Nicaragua and Bolivia, whose governments are not particularly pro-American. It is in the United States’s interests to redefine its relations with all of them- as non-colonial, non-exploitative and based on respect. Cuba, meanwhile, has developed closer relations as part of ALBA (the Bolivarian Alternative for the People of Our America) - an EU-like economic and political organisation - and in agreements with the Mercosur trade area. How ironic, given all those who died across the Americas as the US fought what they regarded as the scourge of Cuban communism, that today, in Venezuela, Chile, Bolivia and Nicaragua, leftwing democratic governments are popular and in power.