I read of
Fidel Castro temporarily stepping down and -- more like a monarch than a Marxist-- appointing his 75 year old, younger, brother
Raul as his stand-in and I think of the following:
When I first met
my recently departed pal, Cuban writer
Justo Vasco, in his crowded, hot-box Havana apartment almost 20 years ago, he described Fidel Castro as the spoiled son of a plantation ownwer. "Fidel runs this island the same way his daddy ran the sugar farm," Justo said. "As if all of Cuba were his personal
hacienda, and as if all we Cubans were his peons."
Justo, whose father was a founder of the Cuban Communist Party, Justo who was Cuba's leading Russian literary translator, Justo who had married a Russian woman while studying in Moscow and who had an adult son who was a major in the Red Army, said all this --obviously-- with great, torturous pain.
I asked him why he, and the other revolutionary-generation Cuban writers I knew, were so obsessively bitter about the way things turned out? One could certainly criticize Cuba for many things, I agreed, but it still compared quite favorably with other, much more oppressive regimes: Iran under the Shah or Khomeini, Egypt, Chile under Pinochet etc.
"Yes, Marc, all that is true," he said. "But with one difference. We Cubans bit the apple. The Egyptians don't claim to be building a new society, they've made no claim on humanity as we have. That's why our sins are of such greater magnitude."
Justo's thoughts seem quite timely in the light of today's news from Cuba. We wouldn't bat an eyelash to read that the King or Emir of some corrupt gulf sheikdom had turned over power to his next of kin. But, I think, there's an added dimension when we see Castro do the same. It's not a surprise, by any means. We have all long known that kid brother Raul was his favored
successor.
As we watch it actually happen in real time, however, there's a certain special squalor to it all. Castro has been in power for a staggering 47 years. Two-and-a-half generations of Cubans have been formed in "the revolution." But funny thing, it turns out the only Cuban fit to succeed him is his own brother. After a half-century of supposed socialist transformation, after churning out millions of "new socialist men" (and women) there isn't a single other Cuban who is capable of leading his country? Only Fidel's brother? That's quite a striking coincidence, wouldn't you say?
Snapping into the apple was an exhilirating, liberating experience when a bearded young idealist promised freedom, equality and a new way of life. But how very sour the aftertaste has, indeed, become.
It's one helluva of a Hobson's Choice with which the Cubans are now about to be faced: or
the heirs of Bautista in Miami. Or the reptilian Stalinist Raul taking over for his agonizing brother.
Pobre Cuba.
P.S. Only one time in my life did I get into bare-knuckle fisticuffs with an assailant; the whole hill, the whole nine yards. Punching and kicking and wrastlin' arond with the guy on the floor. The year was 1972. The scene was in a friend's apartment in downtown Santiago where a coupla of weird-lookin' smart ass Russkies had come over for some late night drinkies with me and some friends. The assailant, my punch-out partner, was a drunken pudgy Russian in a black suit, white shirt and a narrow dark tie. He was Raul Castro's personal translator it turned out. I had to take the dude down and punch out his lights as he kept trying to knock down the bathroom
door with his shoulde to get to my room-mate's terrified girl friend on the other side
. I finally put him down after I worked up the nerve to boink him over the head with a bottle of rotgut Russian vodka he had brought over the from the Soviet Embassy. Once he was down, Monika, a visisitng West German cineaste, gave him a few Prussian-grade kicks in the kidneys for good measure. It all felt very cold-warish and very satisfying, I might say.
 Â
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July 31st, 2006 at 10:20 pm
One of the things I continue to find amazing about Castro is how the United States has probably done more to (unintentionally) prop him up over the years than just about any other place, with the possible exception of the Soviet Untion.
August 1st, 2006 at 12:55 am
Kevin, you are of course absolutely correct. I would say that since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1989 (effectively) the single greatest factor in maintaining Castro’s monopoly on power has been the U.S. embargo. If it had been lifted ay any moment in the last fifteen years and Americans were free to travel to Cuba and American business were free to invest, Fidel would already be living out his last days in Madrid.
But the two sides need each other. If one side didnt exist, the other would have to invent it.
August 1st, 2006 at 1:12 am
You mean ending the embargo would have brought down Fidel the same way foreign trade has brought down the regime in China? Not that I’m in favor of the embargo, but I don’t see how ending it brings about regime change.
Another little question: If the Castro regime can survive without direct Soviet aid, what makes people think Israel couldn’t survive without U.S. aid?
August 1st, 2006 at 5:20 am
Passing the torch of power through kinship seems to have seen an upsurge in the last decade or so. Kim Jong Il, son of Kim Il Sung. Bashar Assad, son of Hafez Assad. Saddam’s sons seemed likelier to have succeeded him over anybody else in Iraq. Egyptians complain that Mubarak’s son seems to the anointed successor, but they probably can’t stop it. Jordan has a new King Hussein, chip off the old block.
And Dubya, does he count? Sort of. I mean, without the family coattails, why would he be anything but a Billy Carter?
Sometimes I wonder whether, all other things being equal, hereditary monarchies might not be the better path to eventual democracy than revolutions. After all, the American system didn’t spring from the forehead of Zeus, it was an adaptation of an increasingly democratic monarchy: Britain’s. A class of political servants grows up around monarchies, in part to buffer the variations in quality of leadership from generation to generation. Intermarriage steadily increases the kinship network, and is sometimes just part of keeping the peace among rivals. Democratic forces whittle away at monarchial power systems from below, but also benefit in that struggle by the stability of the state.
Of course it can work the other way: crime families holding onto power for generation after generation.
August 1st, 2006 at 6:00 am
It does seem strange (even understanding how being demonized by the U.S. helps him) that Castro(s) remains in absolute power in a way that is utterly at odds with the goals of his revolution.
Aren’t there elements of his legend that are true? How much has he been helped by left intellectuals who still idolize him? Do people just dream of free and equal societies but really still crave Kings and Queens?
August 1st, 2006 at 6:32 am
Marc: do you expect that the Cuban people (and perhaps those in exile) will allow the transfer of power from Fidel to Raul to go unchallenged? Have they been beaten down by time into a timid and complacent society?
August 1st, 2006 at 6:45 am
“You mean ending the embargo would have brought down Fidel the same way foreign trade has brought down the regime in China? Not that I’m in favor of the embargo, but I don’t see how ending it brings about regime change.”
Robert, I am sure I don’t have to tell you that each situation has to be analyzed in terms of its own history. The US has posed a credible threat to Cuba since the revolution, which overthrew an old style US puppet dictator happy to keep the island an American sugar plantation. As long as that threat continued and continues via the embargo, Castro’s status as the island’s protector is credible to many Cubans. Remove the embargo, and there is no longer any excuse for stifling dissent. In fact, there never would have been in the first place if not for the Bay of Pigs and other US attempts to overthrow the Castro government.
China is another case altogether. It has been a long time since the US was a credible threat to that nuclear armed country.
And while I agree with Marc on his criticisms of Castro, many here may be too young to remember what Cuba was before him–something much worse–which is why left romanticism about the Cuban revolution had some basis in fact in the early days.
August 1st, 2006 at 9:59 am
Kevin and Marc are correct and the only thing I might add is that what has for far too long determined US policy towards Cuba is the numebr of electoral votes in Florida.
Marc,
I would rather have Castro spend his retirement in the Hague.
Michael Balter,
You’re right in that nothing occurs in a vacuum, but anyone who supported Castro after what he did to Huber Matos is a useful idiot IMHO.
August 1st, 2006 at 10:26 am
Robert the answer is “NO”. If we did not provide Israel with billions in aid the state would have long ago failed or, hopefully, changed its relations to its neighbors. Fact is that we may not like Fidel but he has a lot of friends in South America. Israel has none in the Middle East. Cuba has tourism. Israeli tourism isn’t such a hot deal right at the moment and you don’t get an inquisition like you do if you fly El Al (for good reasons I might add – but still a pain in the neck).
August 1st, 2006 at 12:25 pm
The scene was in a friend’s apartment in downtown Santiago where a coupla of weird-lookin’ smart ass Russkies had come over for some late night drinkies with me and some friends…
—
Sheer unadulterated Walter Mitty.
August 1st, 2006 at 1:05 pm
What happens to a dream deferred?
The Calle Ocho crowd has done much to spin the positives of pre Castro Cuba, however if it was so great how come there was like, duh, a revolution, because it sucked back then too.
What made sense during the Cold War, no longer holds true, there are no threats to the US security and communism is all but dead in the majority of the world, so what’s the hold up? The Batisos. After the Soviet collapse the world recognized that our hardline stance not only was hurting more Cuban citizens than helping advance the ideals of democracy and giving Castro a very important PR too back home by inflating the importance of Batistos on US foreign policy. Our good friend Chavez with his oli dealing with China and love of Fidel are helping to reinvigorte the hardliners propoganda and to float the government much needed cash. Meanwhile the rest of the world which is steadily investing in Cuba have left all of the moral hand wringing to the US as they happily cash in.
Some asked earlier are the Cuban people so oppressed that they would just sit their and let Castro do a handoff to his brother yes and no. Out policy of letting any Cuban who arrives in the US to stay certainly has not helped allowing Castro a natural valve to relieve any native political pressure by turning a blind eye to those fleeing the island; ie. Marielitos. Whose left to create a formidable desent – like he did after receiving his Harvard education. There are still enough people who were around during the Bastista days who do not wish to return to an era when only personas blancas ricas held all of the power and still others although poor and lacking the freedom of speech who believe in the grand experiment because that’s all they’ve known.
No one should be surprised that Casto is naming Raul (he been a petty dictator for decades), however no one should be surprised if he is dead or is gravely ill that no sweeping changes will occur short of an invasion from the US. After all Castro has been out foxing the US for nearly fifty years, there is no way that he would install Raul so publically if he did not feel that Raul would have the complete support of his cronies and the military.
It’s time for the US to end the embargo, not only would it benefit Cubans and Cuban Americans by promoting a peaceful transition, but it would go far to help repair relations with the increasingly left leaning Central & South America.
August 1st, 2006 at 2:02 pm
I seem to have stumbled into a fantasy world.
Since when did a dictator need an excuse to stifle dissent? All it takes is the will and the means. It’s not America would-be Cuban dissidents are afraid of, it’s Fidel, and if they’re not he’ll give them a reason to be in short order.
Israel is a vigorous, diversified and technologically advanced industrialized society. U.S. aid is a fraction of its GDP, and though losing it would hurt it would not undermine the inherent strength of its economy. (Indeed, one might well ask why we continue to subsidize a country this affluent.) The Republic of Vietnam got material and military support far in excess of anything Israel ever got and it didn’t save them. The real reason for Israel to make peace is that if you fight your enemy long enough you will eventually teach them how to defeat you. It’s been fortunate in having enemies that are very slow learners. Hamas has advanced to the level of gangster, and can now pursue a strategy of bringing Israel to its knees by capturing noncommissioned officers. Perhaps on the next raid they can capture a sergeant and inconvenience a whole platoon. The Arab world is committed to a set of strategies that guarantee it’s going to be powerless in competition with a modern society. I can’t tell you who to sympathize with, but you’re not doing your side any favors by deluding yourself.
Anyway, what a shame it is that we’d be living in a world of perfect peace, freedom and equality if it weren’t for the United States. What a tough frigging break for an incipient utopia.
August 1st, 2006 at 2:18 pm
“The Republic of Vietnam got material and military support far in excess of anything Israel ever got and it didn’t save them.”
That’s a silly comparison–not only did Vietnam have the infrastructure of a failed state, but it was in the middle of a civil war. Your comparison of Vietnam and Israel is almost as nonsensical as your comparison of Israel and Cuba. But at least you got one thing right, albeit parenthetically:
“(Indeed, one might well ask why we continue to subsidize a country this affluent.)”
August 1st, 2006 at 2:30 pm
Amazing how the ground shifts under you here.
“Israel is a failed state that only survives because of American support.”
Well, the RVN had even more American support and it didn’t save them.
“Well, that was a failed state.”
The point people are straining themselves so hard to miss is that if an obviously weak country can survive for over 15 years in the face of opposition from the world’s dominant power after losing what many assumed to be its primary means of support, why would you think a far stronger country couldn’t do likewise? Wishful thinking, is what I say.
August 1st, 2006 at 2:39 pm
“Amazing how the ground shifts under you here.”
Except the “you” ain’t me: I never claimed Israel is or would be a failed state absent U.S. support. I did point out that your country comparisons did not constitute support for your argument.
August 1st, 2006 at 3:07 pm
And here’s an analogy you’ll like even less: Suppose instead of resettling them in Miami the United States had set up the Cuban exiles in refugee camps around Guantanamo, on the assumption that Castro’s overthrow was imminent. How do you suppose they’d be doing by now? I’ll tell you one thing: As they are now they’re a hell of a lot more likely to get their old property back than the Palestinians.
August 1st, 2006 at 4:10 pm
That’s an interesting analogy Robert, but I don’t seem to get it entirely becaue it’s not very linear. I see the point of if the exile community were currently occupying Guantanamo, they would lack all of the monetary resources afforded to being American citizens and the disproportinate amount of influence they hold over the Republican party. On the flip side if they were “interned” say like Palestinians per se perhaps that would have created more of a groundswell of internation pressure to toppel Castro (especially Latin American) which seems to be lacking now and is financing the government. The US is the only country that is holding out.
However, I’m unsure what the parallel would be to the Palestinians, since there is nothing to suggest that Israel is going anywhere and enjoys the full support of the US as opposed to Cuba.
August 1st, 2006 at 5:06 pm
Certainly true about the failed embargo. Well maybe it didn’t fail? It helped keep Cuba the way it is.
August 1st, 2006 at 5:15 pm
Nominee: Puffiest Strawman of the Year
“Anyway, what a shame it is that we’d be living in a world of perfect peace, freedom and equality if it weren’t for the United States. What a tough frigging break for an incipient utopia. ”
and the winner is:
Robert Fiore!!!
August 1st, 2006 at 7:35 pm
Maybe Castro will die and his brother will have a fatal heart attack from the shock.
Rationalize what you want, but I support the embargo and believe it was and is the right thing. We tried friendship once with Castro and Cuba. Didn’t work, did it? They’re getting what they deserve in backing the dictator who brought and promotes communism in our part of the world.
But, here’s an honest article that looks at both sides of the embargo but offers no conclusion: About That Cuban Embargo
One thing that drives me are my friends who once lived in Cuba and their stories of the destruction to that country and families by Castro. Watch the current news of the Cuban people in Miami celebrating Castro’s stepping down. I belieive that these people deserve consideration and that they might know more about the situation than most. We might learn from watching and listening to them.
August 1st, 2006 at 9:07 pm
Celebrating what? Embargo has done what?
August 1st, 2006 at 9:11 pm
I’m going to take the liberty of posting nearly this entire interview – which I found interesting and telling – because Salon requires a day pass and watching an ad.
After Fidel, no deluge
By Mark Schone
Aug. 02, 2006 | Among South Florida’s half-million-strong Cuban community, hopes are high for rapid change in Havana now that 79-year-old Fidel Castro seems near his long-awaited end. But Miami lawyer Alfredo Duran says his fellow exiles are laboring under a misconception. Duran left Cuba in that first wave of middle-class refugees more than 40 years ago, but unlike many of his generation, he’s been back, and his sense of what is possible is grounded in experience.
Duran’s first return voyage to Cuba was in uniform. As a 21-year-old, Duran joined the famous Brigade 2506 and participated in the Bay of Pigs invasion, where he hid in the swamp for 30 days before being captured by Cuban soldiers. Ransomed by the American government, he earned a law degree, settled in Miami, and twice served as president of the right-wing Veterans Association of Brigade 2506. During the 1980s, however, he soured on the idea of violent regime change in Cuba and moved to the political center. In 1993, he was thrown out of the group he’d once run for advocating negotiations with Castro — for having morphed into a despised “dialoguero.”
…
Salon spoke with Duran by telephone on Tuesday.
…
There’s two types of people in Miami. The old Cubans, the ones who came prior to the 1980s, they would probably wish the U.S. Marines would invade Cuba and really have a complete overthrow. Those who came after the 1980s, who have a more benevolent view, what they would like to see is really a transition where the people of Cuba would not suffer as much, where things would go towards normalization, where ultimately democracy would be established. But they don’t want a violent overthrow. They want basically an evolution of the system.
Which group of Cuban-Americans is dominant?
The new generation, basically just because of the survival factor. The people who came in the ’60s are becoming less and less. You’re getting a more moderate view in the community. That’s reflected in voter registration. They’re starting to act more and more like immigrants and less and less like exiles. They want Cuba to be normal. They don’t want Fidel Castro, but they don’t want a civil war that would kill their relatives.
Do you foresee another floating exodus, another wave of balseros?
I see it more — if that were to happen, it would originate from Florida, not Cuba. People would be trying to go to Cuba to get their relatives out. And I don’t think the Coast Guard would allow it. I see very little chance of it. I think that people will ultimately come to accept [the change]. I think the United States will finally decide to have a more intelligent policy toward Cuba and start talking to the new government in Cuba and normalize things, especially travel back and forth and that type of stuff. That would alleviate a lot of the tension.
Will that happen while anyone named Castro, meaning Raul, is running the government?
It’s a macho thing. They can’t let a Castro beat them. United States policy a long time ago stopped being about the best interests of the United States. It’s got a lot to do with local politics, and it’s got a lot to do with the fact that it’s Castro in there, and they’re not going to let Castro have his way. It shouldn’t be that way, but that’s the mind-set in Washington, at least until a new administration comes in. The time to start talking is now.
What happens to the people in the anti-Castro movement when the bogeyman is dead?
They will have to adjust. The anti-Castro movement is becoming more and more moderate. You only have a few ultra-right-wing groups that are at all effective, and mostly they are very old men. They will adjust to the new system and try to bring about the trend for democracy, the travel back and forth, a freer economy.
They won’t lose interest?
A lot of them still want to roll the clock back to 1959 both politically and economically. A lot of them would like to get their property back on the backs of the U.S. Marines. I certainly hope that doesn’t happen. Those people are out of touch with what the reality of Cuba is now. Cuba has had tremendous social and political changes. It’s not going to be easy to turn back the clock.
You’re part of that earlier generation. How many times have you been back?
Three.
Did you have culture shock? And I don’t mean big pictures of Fidel. I mean something unexpected that really made you feel like you were in a different country.
You know, the biggest surprise is that it didn’t feel like a different country. It felt the same. The first time I went back was 40 years after I left. I felt sort of strange. I said, “What the hell is going on?” Basically, I realized the shock was that everything was exactly as I had left it. Havana hasn’t changed that much. I could get around exactly the way I had before. The second biggest shock was that after so many years of a Soviet presence, I couldn’t see any signs of Soviet cultural influence. There was more American influence…
August 1st, 2006 at 10:08 pm
Reg… thanks for posting the interview with Alfredo Duran. I have had the pleasure of having a couple of meals with him in Havana and he is a great guy.
And what he says is true. For the last decade now there has been a growing, moderate to liberal sector among Miami’s Cuban exile community. Duran is one of their leaders.
Unfortunately, they dont get the time of day from anybody. The media loves to focus on the blood-in-the-teeth crazies who give such wonderful anti-castro soundbites. And, I’m afraid to say, American liberals and lefties also ignore the moderate Cubans, generally preferring to lump all the exiles together as “gusanos” — worms (the epithet applied to them by Fidel). The right-wing extremists also attack the moderates as “communists.” Back in the early 90′s there was even a campaign of violence exercised against the Duran types.
Again, thanks.
August 2nd, 2006 at 7:34 am
Robert Fiore
Re: “Israel is a vigorous, diversified and technologically advanced industrialized society”.
Israel’s economy is overwhelmingly based on high-tech military exports. Concerning your perception that Israel is no longer dependent on US economic aid, last year Israel quickly caved in to pressure from Washington to terminate it’s sales of “sensitive” military technology to China. Washington further demanded that the Knesset enact strict oversight controls so that, in the future, Israel would consistently toe the line drawn by the US.
People in this country who wish to understand what’ really going on in Israel (and better understand the nature of it’s symbiotic relationship to the US), should focus more on the Israeli media outlets which provide far more realistic and balanced reporting than The US media.
In doing so, US supporters of Israel would understand that the real reason for Israeli expansionism in to the West Bank, and now northward to the Litana River in Lebanon, is primarily based on economic needs.
There is a sentiment that occasionally pops up in Israeli media commentary and opinion: in the rest of the world there are countries that have an army – Israel is an army that has a country.
August 2nd, 2006 at 9:27 am
High-tech military exports, now there’s a business to be in: Evergreen and recession-proof, too. Who says synergy doesn’t work? I’m confused, though. That Israel Lobby paper some time back tells us all that Israel is a bad ally who ignores the wishes of the US. Now you’re telling me that they cooperate closely with the US and respect our wishes as to who they do business with and what they sell them. Maybe you people should get together some day and decide exactly what your argument is. Cooperation on oversight seems like a natural and reasonable price to pay for the huge subsidies they’re receiving. The question was, if Cuba can survive without aid from the Soviet Union why do you think Israel couldn’t survive without aid from the US? This doesn’t answer it.
August 2nd, 2006 at 11:02 am
Unfortunately, they dont get the time of day from anybody. The media loves to focus on the blood-in-the-teeth crazies who give such wonderful anti-castro soundbites. And, I’m afraid to say, American liberals and lefties also ignore the moderate Cubans, generally preferring to lump all the exiles together as “gusanos†— worms (the epithet applied to them by Fidel). The right-wing extremists also attack the moderates as “communists.â€
Marc,
It has been going on longer than that. In 1976 Emilio Milian, a radio personality in Miami had both of his legs blown off by a car bomb for daring to go against the grain of the predominant exile community. Think about what kind of mesage that sent to the moderates.
Also, the fact that some in the exile community, especially some with deep pockets, continue to champion the likes of Luis Posada Carriles certainly puts a chill into the moderate voices.
When change happens in Cuba, it will come from within, not from Miami.
Rationalize what you want, but I support the embargo and believe it was and is the right thing.
Well that certainly makes sense.
August 2nd, 2006 at 11:22 am
I have to say, I just read this post and I doubt the veracity of it. I venture Cooper has made up this little tale or greatly embellished it. The whole macho man aura of the tale is amusing, right down to Cooper’s swooping in and saving a damsel in distress from a Commie. I’d bet this is one of those dreams that got revised as reality in someone’s mind.
August 2nd, 2006 at 3:08 pm
well,
1. i am a damsel
2. i kinda know cooper
3. i completely believe that cooper is capable of swooping
4. if i ever needed someone to swoop for me i would pick cooper
5. cooper is cool, his story is true, even my sixteen year old daughter thinks cooper is cool
6. instead of trying to verify the veracity of cooper’s story would it not be more useful to discuss whether raul is really gay–oops you’re right –both are stupid points
August 3rd, 2006 at 4:43 pm
I agree with Marc that the future of exile politics in Miami lies wtih the underepresented moderates. However, moderates of Duran’s visibility are still rare and that is not necessarily the media’s fault. Yes, all the polls point to the majority of exiles are interested in a peaceful transition yet time and time again when given the chance to vote (Cuban’s vote in higher percentages than any other Latino group) in more moderate voices into local and national leadership those who represent the hard line.
While dissidents on the island are cautious, the exile community’s democratically elected leaders like Rep. Lincoln DÃaz-Balart crow, ”The time has come in Cuba for a campaign of civil resistance, civil disobedience,” Not to mention Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen vow that the US will not deal with an assassin (Raul) Mel Martinez has kept his cool but even top Dem strategist Joe Garcia came from the Cuban American National Foundation.
Sure dems and liberals can start giving moderates some more support, but for this very insular community however they’re way behind on this issue having written off the Cuban vote. Just as the push for change in Cuba has to come from within, so will the change that will come when the Cuban American community have to choose whether they want to be immigrants or remain exiles.
August 4th, 2006 at 5:36 pm
The moral and democratic bankruptcy of the US was supremely displayed in Condoleeza Rice’s staement broadcast over Radio Marti: “We will stand with you as you…choose your leaders…freely and fairly, in democratic elections’ [unless you do like the Palestinians and choose someone we don't like, in which case we will shun you, label you as terrorists and subject you to our own terrorist attacks].
Rice also urged the release of all political prisoners in Cuba. Officials at the State Dept. later issued a clarification: What Ms. Rice meant to say was, release all political prisoners except the ones held at Gitmo.
Pathetic isn’t it? Almost as pathetic as the rabid hoardes of Miami Cubans cheering an opportunity for the US to turn Cuba into another Haiti.
August 5th, 2006 at 1:41 pm
Reporting (or not) on Cuba and Castro: http://tinyurl.com/fj7nt
August 5th, 2006 at 2:31 pm
Response to GM:
Perhaps the reporter could try his luck at reporting on the situation at Guantanamo Bay…