After Fidel … what?
This week’s announcement by Fidel Castro that he is stepping down as President of Cuba after half a century of power was of much more than passing interest to me. I’m travelling to Cuba for a holiday in two weeks time and, over the last month, I’ve been working my way through a huge 700-page biography of Castro called “My Life”. The book is based on over 100 hours of interviews conducted by Ignacio Ramonet.
Now Ramonet has written an interesting article this week on Castro and Cuba.
He states:
“The most surprising thing that I found out about the man, in the hours we spent together compiling his memoirs, was how modest, human, discreet and respectful he was. He has a tremendous moral and ethical sense. He is a man of rigorous principles and sober existence. He is also, I discovered, passionate about the environment. He is neither the man the western media depict, nor the superman the Cuban media sometimes present. He is a normal man, albeit one who is incredibly hard working. He is also an exemplary strategist, one who has led a life of enduring resistance.”
He writes of Cuba that real change will come with the election in the US of Barack Obama:
“Its socialism will undoubtedly alter – but not in the manner of a China or Vietnam. Cuba will continue to go its own way. The new regime will initiate changes at the economic level, but there will be no Cuban perestroika – no opening up of politics, no multiparty elections. Its authorities are convinced that socialism is the right choice, but that it must be forever improved. And their preoccupation now, more than ever with the retirement of Castro, will be unity. But everything in Cuba is related to the US: that is the one overarching aspect of political life which outsiders need to understand. The retirement of Castro, long anticipated, means continuity. But in the evolution of this small nation’s history, the election of Obama could be seismic.”