Cuba After Castro
Born Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz in 1926 to a wealthy family, Castro lived a comfortable life and graduated from Havana University with a degree in law. The dire poverty of many in Cuba was shocking to him and he became a Marxist-Leninist revolutionary. In 1953, challenged Cuba President Fulgencio Batista’s regime in a failed attack on Moncada military barracks in Santiago. Fidel and his younger brother survived and were imprisoned.
Two years later, Castro was amnestied and continued to fight the Batista regime from exile in Mexico. His revolutionary ideas against the corruption of Batista’s regime gained support in Cuba and in 1959 Castro and his forces overthrew Batista. The new Cuban leaders, including Che Guevara, promised to defend the rights of the poor and return land back to the people.
Fidel Castro promoted his ideology as Cuban, not Communist or Marxist. He was denied by then US President Dwight Eisenhower and allied with the Soviet Union and its leader, Nikita Khrushchev. Just miles off US soil, Cuba became a Cold War battleground.
The US attempted to overthrow Castro by gathering a private army of Cuban exiles to invade the island. Cuban troops prevailed and the Bay of Pigs invasion ended with the killing of many and the capture of 1000 Cuban exiles.
A year later, the US watched Soviet missiles track their way to the island of Cuba. The world anxiously stood at the brink of nuclear war as superpowers clashed. The Soviet Union gave in and pulled missiles out of Cuba in return for withdrawal of US weapons out of Turkey. The leader of the small island just off American shores had become enemy number one.
It is estimated that the CIA has made more than 600 attempts to assassinate Fidel Castro. Schemes ranged from silly to sinister including ridicule to custom explosives in his cigar. Meanwhile the Soviet Union supported the country buying sugar and trading the goods needed in light of the American blockade.
In the 1980s, Mikhail Gorbachev leadership in the Soviet Union changed the Cuban economy. The trade lifeline ceased and with no other partner to secure goods, Cuban shelves grew empty. The stress fueled the tempers of Cuban citizens and led to a mass sea exodus to the United States. Many Cubans failed to reach Florida and drowned in their attempt to flee. The event socked the confidence out of Castro’s leadership whose own daughter prefers a life of exile in Miami.
Cuba under Castro’s rule has its feathers. Quality medical care is free and available for all, the literacy rate in 98%, infant mortality rates are comparable to western nations and the island is an environmental leader in sustainable practices.
Cuba has new allies in oil-rich Venezuela run by Castro’s close friend Hugo Chavez but remains on the US radar as deterrent to democracy. Many Cubans detest him and others have genuine adoration for the one leader they have ever known. Many Cubans wonder what will happen to their lives and the life of the Cuban revolution once Fidel is no longer in power. As President Castro turns 80 years old this month the question has worldwide attention. Members of the National Assembly and Communist Party don’t anticipate an upheaval upon Fidel’s departure claiming the succession of Raul Castro, Fidel’s younger brother, is ready as are other leaders trained under Fidel.
Others fear instability and chaos when Castro is gone and wonder who will be in charge. It is not just the residents of Cuba who have a plan for a Cuba without Castro. The Bush Administration has already approved an $80 million fund tagged for boosting democracy in Cuba to help a “transition from repressive control to freedom.” Viewed as an act of aggression by the Cuban government many see the act as a violation of Cuba’s sovereignty. The fund is part of the US Commission for Assistance to a Free Cuba and includes other actions such as enforcing sanctions against the communist regime. The US has maintained an economic embargo against Cuba since 1961. Some dissidents in Cuba view the US actions as a catalyst for Cuban authorities to act against change. It was a US backed dictatorship that Fidel overthrew and the aggression of the past is not yet forgotten.
As many as one in three Cuban exiles hope the US will intervene before nature ends Fidel’s reign, favoring armed intervention. Many dream of a return to Cuba and an investment in its economy. To most though, the thought of an armed conflict is the worst possible scenario after Castro. Dissidents stress dialogue and a gradual transition into an open Western style democracy.
As Fidel Castro quickly approaches 80, he claims he’ll be “out” by 100. Only history will reveal how the Castro era ends. For now, the fate of the country imprinted with his legacy remains a question.
