Agencies
Havana, Nov 26: Guerrilla revolutionary and communist idol, Fidel Castro was a holdout against history who turned tiny Cuba into a thorn in the paw of the mighty capitalist United States. The former Cuban President, who died aged 90, said he would never retire from politics. But emergency intestinal surgery in July 2006 drove him to hand over power to Raul Castro, who ended his brother’s antagonistic approach to Washington, shocking the world in December 2014 in announcing a rapprochement with US President Barack Obama.
Famed for his rumpled olive fatigues, straggly beard and the cigars he reluctantly gave up for health reasons, Fidel Castro kept a tight clamp on dissent at home while defining himself abroad with his defiance of Washington. In the end, he essentially won the political staring game, even if the Cuban people do continue to live in poverty and the once-touted revolution he led has lost its shine. As he renewed diplomatic ties, Obama acknowledged that decades of US sanctions had failed to bring down the regime — a drive designed to introduce democracy and foster western-style economic reforms — and it was time to try another way to help the Cuban people.
A great survivor and a firebrand, if windy orator, Castro dodged all his enemies could throw at him in nearly half a century in power, including assassination plots, a US-backed invasion bid, and tough US economic sanctions. Born August 13, 1926 to a prosperous Spanish immigrant landowner and a Cuban mother who was the family housekeeper, young Castro was a quick study and a baseball fanatic who dreamed of a golden future playing in the US big leagues.
But this young man’s dreams evolved not in sports but politics. He went on to form the guerrilla opposition to the US-backed government of Fulgencio Batista, who seized power in a 1952 coup. That involvement netted the young Fidel Castro two years in jail, and he subsequently went into exile to sow the seeds of a revolt, launched in earnest December 2, 1956 when he and his band of followers landed in south-eastern Cuba on the ship Granma. Twenty-five months later, against great odds, they ousted Batista and Castro was named Prime Minister.
Once in undisputed power, Castro, a Jesuit-schooled lawyer, aligned himself with the Soviet Union. And the Cold War Eastern Bloc bankrolled his tropi-communism until the Soviet bloc’s own collapse in 1989. And Castro’s dangerous liaison with the Soviet Union took the world to the nerve-jarring edge of nuclear war in the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis. It was sparked when Moscow sought to position nuclear-tipped missiles on the island just 144 kilometres off the US state of Florida. After a tense stand-off between the rival superpowers, the world pulled back from the abyss as Moscow agreed to keep the missiles off Cuban soil.
Castro strode the world stage as a communist icon when the Cold War was at its height. He sent 15,000 soldiers to help Soviet-backed troops in Angola in 1975 and dispatched forces to Ethiopia in 1977. The United States has variously been infuriated, embarrassed and alarmed at Castro’s defiance, and intensely frustrated by his survival in power despite the economic embargo Washington hoped in vain would spark rebellion. The tempestuous Cuban President himself repeatedly pinned the blame for Cubans’ economic hardship on the embargo. The United States had invaded the island nation before, he reminded his 11 million people constantly, and could do so again at any time.
After a cut-off of Soviet bloc aid in 1989 nearly collapsed the economy, Castro allowed more international tourism and slight economic reform on the Caribbean’s largest island. But as even China loosened economic reins, Havana backtracked and held tight to the centralised economic model. Instead, a new ally, Hugo Chavez, President of oil-rich Venezuela and also a foe of Washington, began bankrolling Castro’s regime. Known widely among Cubans as simply “Fidel” or “El Comandante,” Castro broke off diplomatic ties with the United States in 1961 and expropriated US companies’ assets totalling more than one billion dollars.
In April 1961 he weathered an invasion attempt by some 1,300 CIA-trained Cuban exiles at the Bay of Pigs. But the island suffered from an exodus of people and capital abroad, mainly to Florida where a large anti-Castro movement thrived. After stepping aside in 2006, Fidel Castro recovered slowly from surgery and kept rallying on the sidelines to push his Revolution into the 21st century. It made it, in decidedly rough shape. President Raul Castro, the former defence chief who is now (born June 3, 1931) President himself, in the past few years kept dissent largely in check and economic reform limited, with the island’s economy in very dire straits.
THE OTHER STORY:
BELIEVE IT OR NOT
Havana: Fidel Castro’s rule of nearly five decades split many a Cuban family between exile and solidarity with the communist revolution including his own. While brother Raul was his closest confidant and successor as President, sister Juana, exiled in south Florida, called Fidel a “monster” to whom she hadn’t spoken in more than four decades. Eldest son Fidelito, long Castro’s only officially recognised child, was a nuclear scientist in Cuba. Eldest daughter Alina Fernandez, born from an affair with a married socialite who remained on the island decades later, blasted dad on exile radio from Miami.
The sprawling Castro clan, made larger by Fidel’s early extramarital affairs, also suffered from the same sorts of dysfunction and disagreements afflicting so many other families: siblings who don’t speak, adults resentful over childhood slights and murky talk of babies born out of wedlock. During Castro’s long illness, the tightly wrapped secrecy about his family started unravelling as his youngest sons and their mother, Dalia Soto del Valle, rallied around him. Soto del Valle, a blonde, green-eyed former schoolteacher Castro met during Cuba’s literacy campaigns in the 1960s, was his life’s most enduring relationship. She was rarely seen in public and never alongside the “maximum leader” while he was in power.
Together more than four decades, the couple had five sons, now middle-aged. Castro, who took the nom de guerre Alejandro during the revolution, continued his homage to Alexander the Great when naming them: Alexis, Alejandro, Angelito, Alexander and Antonio.
None were involved in politics. The best known is Antonio, or Tony. An orthopaedic surgeon and former official doctor for the island’s national baseball team, he later became vice president of both the Cuban Baseball Federation and the Swiss-based International Baseball Federation. For decades their identities and their mother’s were state secrets known only to a small circle of loyalists. So private was Castro about his family life, his marital status with Soto del Valle was unknown in a country where common-law unions are as ubiquitous as legal ones. Some reports said they married in a quiet civil ceremony in 1980.
News correspondents on the island had heard whispers about “la mujer del comandante” the comandante’s woman but didn’t get their first glimpse of her until early 2000 when she joined a huge rally calling for the return of Elian Gonzalez, the Cuban boy rescued from an inner tube off South Florida.
Briefly:
Fidel’s funeral December 4
Havana: Cuba declared nine days of public mourning Saturday for its late revolutionary leader Fidel Castro, and said his ashes will be buried at a ceremony December 4 in Santiago de Cuba. From November 26 to December 4, “public activities and shows will cease, the national flag will fly at half mast on public buildings and military installations,” a statement from the state executive said. Castro’s ashes will be buried in the historic southeastern city of Santiago December 4 after a four-day procession through the country, it added. President Raul Castro earlier said that his older brother Fidel was to be cremated early Saturday.
‘All embargoes should be lifted’
Antananarivo: French President Francois Hollande Saturday reiterated that all the embargoes imposed by the US against Cuba should be lifted. Following the death of Cuban leader Fidel Castro Friday at the age of 90, Hollande made these remarks after the opening ceremony of the 16th Francophonie Summit held in Antananarivo, Madagascar, Xinhua news agency reported. “Although I often criticised Cuba for its human rights, I always considered the embargoes as an unacceptable unilateral decision,” Hollande told the media. “History aside, it’s the future that counts,” Hollande said, adding that he wanted to reiterate, after learning about the passing away of Fidel Castro, “the embargoes penalising Cuba should be lifted, completely lifted”.
TRIBUTES/REACTIONS
Nicolas Maduro, Venezuelan President: To all the revolutionaries of the world, we have to continue with Castro’s legacy and his flag of independence, of socialism, of homeland
Mikhail Gorbachev, former Soviet leader: Fidel stood up and strengthened his country during the harshest American blockade, when there was colossal pressure on him and he still took his country out of this blockade to a path of independent development. In the past years, even when Fidel Castro was not formally in power, his role in strengthening the country was huge
Brian Wilson, UK’s former Labour trade minister: He educated his people and he gave them healthcare they had never had before, and you can admire all of that without being an uncritical supporter, believe me, but do not lose the bigger picture – that Fidel Castro, for his region and for oppressed people throughout the world, sent out a message of hope
Imran Khan, Pakistan Tehreek e Insaf chief: Saturday the world lost an iconic revolutionary leader who liberated his nation from all vestiges of imperialism
Donald Trump, US President-elect: Fidel Castro is dead! All of the concessions that Barack Obama has granted the Castro regime were done through executive order, which means the next President can reverse them and that I will do unless the Castro regime meets our demands
Fidel Castro and the 11 US Presidents
Havana: From Dwight Eisenhower, who broke US diplomatic relations with Cuba, to Barack Obama, who decided to normalise them, 11 US presidents faced off with Cuban revolutionary leader Fidel Castro.
— Dwight Eisenhower (Republican, 1953-1961): Provided arms to dictator Fulgencio Batista, who was battling Castro’s rebels. Prepared the invasion of the Bay of Pigs and broke off diplomatic ties with Cuba in January 1961.
— John F Kennedy (Democrat, 1961-1963): Gave the green light for the invasion of the Bay of Pigs in April 1961. Put in place the US embargo against Cuba in February 1962 before the Cuban missile crisis erupted that October. Was working to promote a rapprochement when he was assassinated in 1963.
— Lyndon Johnson (Democrat, 1963-1969): Reinforced the embargo and tried to prevent the sale of Cuban nickel to Soviet bloc countries. Approved CIA plots to assassinate Castro and supported anti-Castro guerrilla groups.
— Richard Nixon (Republican, 1969-1974): Boosted anti-Castro activity, including the arrests of Cuban fishermen. Also worked against sale of Cuban nickel to Soviet satellite states.
— Gerald Ford (Republican, 1974-1977): In office as attacks against Cuban missions abroad multiplied and an attack on a Cuban airliner left 73 dead. Authorized the first trip of US businessmen to Cuba and eased the embargo.
— Jimmy Carter (Democrat, 1977-1981): Further eased the embargo. Opened a US interests section in Havana and allowed a Cuban interests section to open in Washington. Allowed Cuban exiles to travel home. Signed maritime boundary treaty. In office during Mariel boatlift of Cuban emigrants to US. Visited Cuba as an ex-president in 2002 and again in 2011.
— Ronald Reagan (Republican, 1981-1989): Relations take a turn for the worse, and easing of embargo rolled back. Creation of the Cuban-American National Foundation, the main exile organization, and the anti-Castro stations Radio and TV Marti. First immigration deal signed in 1984.
— George H W Bush (Republican, 1989-1993): Reinforced embargo with the Torricelli Act, as the Soviet bloc crumbled. US subsidiaries in third countries banned from dealing with Cuba.
— Bill Clinton (Democrat, 1993-2001): Put into force Torricelli Act and approved Helms-Burton Act, which again tightened embargo. In 1994, 36,000 Cubans fled for the US in makeshift boats and rafts. A new immigration agreement was signed and Clinton backed anti-Castro activists.
— George W Bush (Republican, 2001-2009): Increased financial aid to anti-Castro groups and strengthened embargo. Limited travel to Cuba by exiles, and the money they could remit to relatives at home. Approved food trade with restrictions. Raul Castro took helm during his tenure.
— Barack Obama (Democrat, 2009-present): Lifted restrictions on trips by exiles and amount of money they could send home. Opened a “dialogue” on immigration. In December 2014, Obama and Raul Castro announced simultaneously that the nations would normalise relations. The two countries Cuba reopened embassies in each other’s capitals in July 2015. Obama made a historic visit to Cuba in March 2016, the first by a serving US president since 1928.
Cuba under Castro
Castro’s regime has been credited with opening 10,000 new schools and increasing literacy to 98 percent. Cubans enjoy a universal health-care system, which has decreased infant mortality to 11 deaths in 1,000 (1.1 per cent). But at the same time, civil liberties were whittled away, as labour unions lost the right to strike, independent newspapers were shut down and religious institutions were harassed. Castro removed opposition to his rule though executions and imprisonments, as well as through forced emigration. During Castro’s rule, hundreds of thousands of Cubans fled the country, many settling just across the Florida Straits in Miami. The largest of this exodus occurred in 1980, when Castro opened up the port of Mariel to allow exiled Cubans living in Miami to come claim their relatives. Upon their arrival, Castro also loaded the ships with Cuban prison inmates, mental patients and other social undesirables. In all, nearly 120,000 Cubans left their homeland in 1980 to find sanctuary in the United States.