After a dictatorial tenure during which he taunted 11 U.S. presidents and defied political and militaristic odds time and again, Fidel Castro has passed away. He was 90.
Since leading a revolution to oust then-dictator Fulgencio Batiste in the streets of Havana and installing himself in power in 1959, Castro has held a complicated place in the global landscape: He rose to prominence by blending his elite education and radical politics with mesmerizing oratorical skills and a very modern understanding of imagery, promising peace and glory for his motherland of Cuba. Upon seizing leadership, his authoritarian political persecutions were merciless, leading untold numbers of Cubans to flee in exile. Those refugees generally washed ashore in Southern Florida, and immersing themselves in the cultural fabric of Miami. Today the streets of that city have erupted in celebration at the news of Castro’s death.
At the same time, Fidel was beloved by many the world-over for promoting ideals of racial equality and medical improvements in his motherland, and for standing strong as the charismatic and bearded face of defiance to Western and American imperialism. His tactics could be terrifying, but he couched them in revolutionary ideals which found resonance in unexpected places.
His overtures to the African American community in the United States through calls for a racial equality that defied political borders resonated with the likes of Jessie Jackson, who celebrated the deceased dictator today, tweeting “The oppressed the world over joined Castro’s cause of fighting for freedom & liberation – he changed the world. RIP.” He added a photo of Castro with Mandela, reminding the world that the great South African leader saw Castro as instrumental in his own release.
Various world leaders notwithstanding, the United States government’s stance on Castro has been clear. As an ideological and military opponent to the United States interests for decades over, Washington has imposed a long-running economic embargo which President Obama has only recently attempted to normalize. The tension runs long and deep. Early on, Cuba’s “Maximum Leader” allied himself with the Soviet Union, bringing the Cold War to the Western hemisphere. This came to a climax in 1962 during a 13-day episode dubbed the Cuban Missile Crisis, which gripped the world in suspenseful fear over Russian nuclear war being staged from Cuba — a mere 90 miles from our southern border. This was a successful test for our young President Kennedy, but later the CIA would back a failed military attack on Castro at a famous altercation called the Bay Of Pigs. Castro came out on top. America was embarrassed. Castro rubbed America’s face in that one for years.
In recent years, though, things had begun to change. In 2006, health issues forced Fidel to cede power to his brother Raul. Under Raul’s regime, Cuba and the United States have begun the process to normalize trade relations, a dramatic shift in policy steered by President Obama and dramatically depicted by POTUS’s 2014 trip to Havana. The moment was meant to indicate a warming of Cuban-American sentiment. Fidel wasn’t a part of the meetings, but he did write a letter six weeks later, which included this passage: “The grave dangers that threaten humanity today have to give way to norms that are compatible with human dignity…No country is excluded from such rights. With this spirit I have fought, and will continue fighting, until my last breath.”
In other words: (Parting) shots fired.
President Obama’s statement today was diplomatic: “We know that this moment fills Cubans – in Cuba and in the United States – with powerful emotions, recalling the countless ways in which Fidel Castro altered the course of individual lives, families, and of the Cuban nation. History will record and judge the enormous impact of this singular figure on the people and world around him…Today we offer condolences to Fidel Castro’s family, and our thoughts and prayers are with the Cuban people.”
President-elect Trump went a different route, first tweeting “Fidel Castro is dead!”, then making a longer, more detailed statement: “The world marks the passing of a brutal dictator who oppressed his own people for nearly six decades…Fidel Castro’s legacy is one of firing squads, theft, unimaginable suffering, poverty and the denial of fundamental human rights.”
What we see here is a departing President’s attempt at preserving his legacy of turning a corner on Cuban relations, and an incoming President’s statement of intent with respect to that legacy.
However it turns out from an American policy standpoint, the world has lost one of the most controversial, enigmatic, and powerful leaders of the 20th century. It is a day to remember.