An era ends as Fidel Castro steps down as President of Cuba. Castro has been in ill health for some time, but the world was fairly shocked when news of his resignation emerged. Castro came to power back in 1959 with the revolutionary overthrow of Fulgencio Batista dictatorship. Castro resigned just a few days prior a new head of state being named by the national assembly. Castro’s regime spanned 5 decades and is perhaps the best viewed as a case study of charisma as a tool for maintaining absolute power.

Castro’s letter of resignation tendered to the nation, appears to be a signal of his willingness to turn over power to a younger generation according to the story in the New York Times. Castro’s health has deteriorated over the last few years and Castor - now 81 - pointed out that his ill health has made it impossible to carry out his duties as President. He also had this to say about his resignation:

“I will not aspire to, neither will I accept — I repeat I will not aspire to, neither will I accept — the position of President of the Council of State and Commander in chief.“

Castro - Antagonist or National Hero?
From a personal and historic perspective, I have mixed feelings about Castro and this news. One has to admire any leader who maintains such steadfast control of a country. Given the adversarial relationship with the United States over these decades and Cuba‘s proximity to the U.S., it is actually quite amazing. I remember hearing about the Bay of Pigs and the Cuban missile crisis as a small child, and of course we all studied about this in school. The U.S. party line on Castro has obviously been tainted by these past events and Castro‘s hard line toward the U.S., but is he the antagonist he has been depicted as?

Objective thinking about Cuba and Castro is not something most Americans are prepared to do. Cuba has been nothing less than a pure adversary to most people in the U.S., but one has to wonder if this is out of some real understanding of the situation there, or if this is just political and business fodder with underlying intent. President Bush‘s comment on the resignation holds a clue in this puzzle if we can accept that he is either the most ignorant U.S. President ever, or a simple pawn of big business. If he is the latter, then his statements are more indicative of continued pressure versus true diplomacy in this regard, Bush said:

“The United States will help the people of Cuba realize the blessings of liberty.”

Obviously, we have not helped Cuba during Castro‘s tenure, and exerting power and presence in this way may not be effective either. I have always wondered exactly what deep seeded fear or institution Castro and his government must have injured for this relationship to go on like it has. Even today, the leader of the free world addresses this country as if it were some second rate satellite of the U.S. What kind of message are we sending still to the people of Cuba? We have better dealings with China than we do with Cuba, and on paper they have the same government. I would think that Bush and his business cronies would take a softer line to court the next Cuban administration.

Reflection
Castro‘s epitaph will probably read one way in Spanish and quite another in English. Recent progressive and controversial figures like Hugo Chavez obviously took lessons from the Castro playbook. Regardless of how we view these leaders, it is important to note that a segment of their people believe in them and their policies. I think this is one thing the U.S. and others fail to do, recognize these elements of import to other peoples.

Castro did not simply stay on power for 50 years because of the power of his internal political machine, there had to be other factors that prevented his own overthrow. This is particularly true given the heavy burden U.S. policy had to have had on the Cuban economy and political will. Think about this, Cuba is not a world power, has no real economic advantage, and still it remained steadfast in the presence of immense pressure. If nothing else, this has to be the exemplification of either charisma of a supernatural degree on Castor‘s part, or governmental control to rival even Nazi Germany. We may never discern the truth from so much of Castro‘s regime, but perhaps (if our goofy President doesn‘t blow it) with a more flexible leadership in place, we might discern much about the last 5 decades. Let‘s talk rather than poise for 50 more years or unusable detent.