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By Dan Perry
.c The Associated Press, August 23
SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic (AP) -- For years, many have predicted the
fall of Fidel Castro as an inevitability in a new world where markets,
McDonald's and Madonna hold sway. But the resilient old revolutionary is still
very much around.
This weekend marked the Cuban dictator's crowning as the elder statesman of
the Caribbean, a region that longs for a role in a post-Cold War era, where it
feels adrift.
Castro, who three weeks ago toured Jamaica, Barbados and Grenada, was
invited to observe a Caribbean Community summit in the Dominican Republic -- a
country that shunned Castro during his four decades in power.
His real role was far greater. The 72-year-old Castro cast an imperious
shadow over the summit, projecting benign authority as he lectured against U.S.
domination.
In the streets of Santo Domingo, people professed support for Castro even as
they opposed communism. The thousands of Cuban exiles here limited their
protests to newspaper advertisements. In contrast, some streets were filled with
signs welcoming ``El Comandante.''
``Castro is a very important man, no?'' gushed Maria Torres, a 42-year-old
seamstress who lives on $200 a month. ``Maybe he can help us improve our
lives.''
For Castro, whose ambitions of fomenting armed global revolution were
frustrated in southern Africa, Central America and right here in the Dominican
Republic, the Caribbean is a scaled-back but satisfying arena for a comeback
late in life.
For the Caribbean, an alliance with the area's largest nation -- even in its
impoverished state under Castro -- offers much-needed diplomatic muscle. It is
an unmistakable signal to the United States, which has outraged Caribbeans by
reducing aid and even fighting the trade advantages enjoyed by their vital
banana industry in Europe.
There's real sympathy here for Castro the underdog, who has survived four
decades of U.S. enmity and outlasted his Soviet patrons. And sentiment in favor
of ending the 37-year U.S. economic boycott of Cuba -- perceived as U.S.
arrogance that only harms the Cuban people -- is overwhelming.
Castro himself has become more ideologically palatable.
His attacks on capitalism now are more muted as Communist Cuba courts
investors from Europe and the Caribbean. Now it is mainly an ``unbridled'' form
of capitalism that Castro rails against, and Caribbean togetherness he preaches.
Unless the Caribbean overcomes differences born of competing French,
Spanish, Dutch and English cultural influences, it ``confronts the serious
danger of marginalization,'' Castro warned Friday.
These ideas strike a deep chord in the Caribbean, where residents feel their
small, divided island nations cannot compete with global powers without
``uncapitalistic'' trade concessions like the banana benefits.
Nowhere has the rapprochement been more striking than in Santo Domingo,
which shares centuries-old historical ties with Cuba.
Former President Juan Bosch was once exiled to Cuba and led a failed 1947
expedition to oust Dominican dictator Rafael Trujillo in which Castro himself
took part. Their boat was stopped and the dissidents disbanded before they left
Cuban waters.
Cuban dictator Fulgencio Batista fled to the Dominican Republic after his
ouster by Castro in 1959. Castro then sponsored a small invasion against
Trujillo, whose military annihilated the invading force. Trujillo responded by
backing Cuban exiles in a frustrated attempt to overthrow Castro.
When Castro landed here Thursday, he seemed close to tears, saying he
``couldn't believe'' he was finally here. Many Dominicans felt the same.
AP-NY-08-23-98 1250EDT
Copyright 1998 The Associated Press. |