This column originally ran in
August of 2016.
This August 13, Fidel Castro
Ruz, leader of the Cuban Revolution and international inspiration for people
struggling for a better world, turned 90. His age alone is a remarkable
achievement, considering more than 630 documented assassination attempts on his
life by the CIA and other nefarious agencies.
Despite the enormous historical
impact that Fidel Castro has had in Cuba and Latin America for more than 55
years, it is astounding that his voice has never been heard nor his words
widely known by the people of the United States.
But Fidel’s legendary life of
revolution is certainly noted elsewhere. All this year in Cuba, and around the
world as his birthday approaches, there are countless activities to celebrate
his life.
It is a shame that Fidel
Castro’s life and his audacity in defeating a bloody dictatorship to then build
socialism, is hardly known by the American people. They would find a man of
enormous courage and humanity who delivered his country from a neo-colonial
status to a sovereign country with a major imprint on the world stage.
They would learn that Fidel
Castro has expressed admiration for the American people, despite U.S.
government policy that has tried to overthrow the revolution and done so much
harm.
Think about this. In March of
this year, President Barack Obama in Havana spoke on Cuban national television,
uncensored on evening prime time, when undoubtedly millions of people watched
him, curious to know if and how U.S. policy would change toward Cuba.
Uncensored.
But how many people ever heard
Fidel Castro — or Raúl Castro — over the airwaves in the U.S. or in a daily
newspaper? To ask is to answer.
Part of the U.S. blockade of
Cuba has been the travel ban, keeping us from seeing Cuba with our own eyes.
Its intent was to isolate Cuba and keep people of the United States from
understanding the Cuban revolutionary process or who the Cubans and their
leaders really are.
Fidel Castro was one of
Washington’s first demonized leaders, to justify the U.S. government placing
the Cuban population under screws to extract their surrender to the old ways of
domination.
The blockade has been
extremely harsh, to the tune of more than 1 trillion dollars in damages to the
Cuban economy, not including the human toll. And yet, Cuba’s infant mortality
rate reached an astonishing low 4.2 deaths per 1,000 last year, a testament to
their healthcare system.
Fidel Castro’s proposals of
international solidarity also extended to the United States.
How many people know that
right after the Katrina disaster, Fidel Castro quietly — without fanfare —
offered George W. Bush more than 1,000 Cuban medical personnel, who were
prepared to arrive in New Orleans within five hours of Bush’s would-be approval
and treat the beleaguered victims along the Gulf Coast without a single cost to
the U.S.?
Bush completely ignored the
offer. After several days, Castro then publicly repeated the offer, hoping it
could become a reality. Instead more people died needless deaths.
How many people know that
young Americans are studying for free in Cuba, to become medical doctors in the
U.S., thanks to the Latin American School of Medicine?
Cuban medical workers were
decisive in combating Ebola in western Africa. When that health catastrophe
seemed as if it could potentially spread around the world, many breathed a sigh
of relief in witnessing Cuba’s role.
By extending support to the
people of southern Africa in the 1970s and 1980s, surely Fidel Castro knew that
would earn even deeper enmity from Washington, an ally of the apartheid regime.
But he nevertheless called on
Cuban volunteers to aid in defeating the invading South African army in Angola.
Those 300,000 men and women helped break the chains of apartheid, and led to
Namibia’s independence.
Fidel Castro’s 90th birthday
last Saturday should merit some reflection in the United States on who he
really is, beyond the relentlessly negative image that the U.S. administrations
and media have conveyed to the people of the United States.
Several times in the last 25
years, I have had the honor and privilege of meeting Fidel Castro. I am certain
that I will never personally meet a greater humanitarian or revolutionary.
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