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By Andrew Cawthorne
Reuters, Nov. 19
HAVANA (Reuters) - Almost exactly four decades after a group of bearded
young rebels rode in from the hills to claim power in Cuba, their bloody,
epoch-making revolution continues to stir passion and polemics around the world.
Former guerrillas and supporters of Fidel Castro's fight to topple
ex-dictator Fulgencio Batista recall with fire in their eyes the extraordinary
events around the Jan. 1, 1959, Cuban Revolution that irrevocably marked Latin
American history.
But that passion is matched by current debate, both within and outside the
island, over the legacy and future of the Cuban revolution. Was it worth it?
What are its successes and failures? How has it survived? And will it last?
These are among the key questions being debated as Havana prepares an
official celebration of the 40th anniversary. Having given 1998 the unwieldy
name, ``Year of the 40th Anniversary of the Decisive Battles of the War of
Liberation,'' the ruling Communist Party has not yet revealed details of how the
actual anniversary will be marked.
But celebrations are expected to center on the ``cradle of the revolution,''
Santiago de Cuba province, where the rebels landed in 1956 and held out in the
mountains for three years.
Nowhere is the Cuban Revolution more vividly symbolized than in the tall,
bearded figure of its ``Maximum Leader,'' a fiery young idealist who threw down
the gauntlet in 1953 with a daring but abortive attack on the Moncada military
barracks.
After being jailed and then given an amnesty, Castro went to Mexico before
bringing a small fighting force back to Cuba on the yacht Granma in 1956. From
there, he led a successful guerrilla war on Batista from the Sierra Maestra
mountains.
'EVERYONE WAS A REVOLUTIONARY'
Batista fled in the early hours of Jan. 1, 1959. Two of the top rebel
commanders, Ernesto ``Che'' Guevara and Camilo Cienfuegos, entered Havana,
unkempt but joyous, on Jan. 2, and Castro rode in a week later to massive
acclaim.
``The day Fidel came was incredible ... a sea of people in the street.
Everyone was a revolutionary that day, everyone was with them,'' recalled
Virgilio Sanchez, who distributed propaganda in Havana in the days leading up to
the revolution.
``There was an effervescence ... enthusiasm, dynamism, idealism, in those
days ... it was a new dawn,'' added Sanchez, who is now retired, living in a
quiet suburb of Havana and still a die-hard ``Fidelista'' or Castro supporter.
Forty years later, the now gray-bearded Castro, who turned 72 in August,
continues to rule Cuba as one of the world's longest-serving leaders and the
head of the American continent's only Communist state.
In the decades between, he survived the 1961 Bay of Pigs invasion, many
assassination plots, the October 1962 missile crisis, a 36-year U.S. economic
embargo, long periods of foreign isolation and the enmity of eight U.S.
presidents.
Most recently, Castro has defied the many predictions of his downfall at the
start of this decade following the domino-like collapse of communism in the
Soviet Union and Eastern Europe and a severe economic crisis in Cuba.
``The world was wrong because they saw Cuba in Eastern European terms,''
said Antoni Kapcia, a Cuba specialist at Britain's Wolverhampton University.
``But this was a home-based revolution ... it did not share any of the features
of Eastern Europe, other than inefficiency.''
Kapcia attributed the government's survival to successful grass-roots
structures such as the ubiquitous Committees for the Defense of the Revolution,
a slow but noticeable economic recovery since 1994, Cubans' underlying
nationalism, the state's ability to adapt to circumstances and Castro's
perceived legitimacy.
``When you go through a crisis, you hang on to what you know,'' he said.
CASTRO: HERO OR TYRANT?
To his enemies, Castro is a dictator and tyrant who rides roughshod over
human rights with the jailing and repression of political opponents and ignores
democratic principles to impose a one-party socialist system and deny free
elections.
To admirers, he is a heroic symbol of revolutionary socialism in practice,
Third World solidarity and resistance to heavy-handed U.S. bullying. He is also
praised for providing free medicine and schooling for all, helping to raise
health and education in Cuba to First World levels.
``You have been an inspiration to the developing countries of the world by
your steadfast defense of the right of the people to determine their own
destiny,'' one unashamed admirer, Ghanaian President Jerry Rawlings, told Castro
recently.
Pinning the African nation's highest honor, the Order of the Star of Ghana,
on Castro's trademark military uniform, Rawlings gave thanks for the privilege
``of being alive to meet one of the most legendary personalities of our times.''
Humbug, cry Castro's foes, most notably the large Cuban American community
born in the flight from Cuba after the revolution. U.S. Rep. Lincoln
Diaz-Balart, a Cuban American and distant Castro relative, blamed him for
``unbelievable misery and destruction'' on the island and said, ``This is an
anniversary of blood and tears and shame and totalitarianism.''
Ninoska Perez of the hard-line anti-Castro lobbying group, the Cuban
American National Foundation, said: ``If you had told the Cuban people back then
that 40 years later they would be living in a totalitarian country where people
throw themselves to the sea in makeshifts rafts and risk the lives of their
children to escape, they would not have believed it.''
While criticism is common, such radical terminology is rarely heard inside
Cuba where, for different reasons, Castro is seldom referred to in flagrantly
disrespectful terms. Most people prefer to touch an imaginary beard or military
stripe on their shoulder instead of mentioning his name.
There are no public opinion polls but informal discussions with Cubans
across the spectrum show only a few other than government officials are prepared
either to defend the system to the hilt or oppose it actively. A larger number
seem weary of aspects of the system but nervous about radical change.
'WHAT'S THE ALTERNATIVE?'
``I don't say everything's perfect here and, yes, there have to be changes.
But what's the alternative? Let the Miami crowd come back and take over
everything that's ours? Let the United States control us? Nobody wants that
either,'' said Luisa, a 23-year-old student, sitting on Havana's seafront
Malecon and pointing across the water toward Florida.
Castro's own wish is for his most trusted allies to carry on after he leaves
power, presumably when he dies although possibly through retirement. He has
designated his brother Raul, head of the armed forces and a fellow founder of
the revolution, as his successor.
But many believe senior leaders such as Vice-President Carlos Lage, National
Assembly President Ricardo Alarcon or Foreign Minister Roberto Robaina are more
likely candidates to lead the system or be part of a collective leadership.
This assumes the system will survive after Castro, but some predict chaos
and possibly violence in a post-Castro scenario, with an upsurge of opposition
forces on a collision course with the Communist rulers who control the military.
For now, there is little sign of relinquishing power from a man who still
manages to give five-hour speeches without sitting down or pausing for a sip of
water.
``He keeps a high public profile but is gradually removing himself from
detailed decision-making ... I think he plans to remain as a figurehead, an
ideological conscience,'' said Cuba expert Kapcia. ``But whatever else happens,
he's sure to survive Bill Clinton!''
09:49 11-19-98
Copyright 1998 Reuters Limited |