Luis Aguilar León. Published Thursday, May 24, 2001
in the Miami Herald
The most potent drug in the world, hence the most enticing, can't be bought
on the street or in a pharmacy. It is power.
Neither liquor, nor sex nor money can equal the strength, taste and pleasure
of power -- es- pecially ab- solute power, which, as Lord Acton wrote, corrupts
absolutely, offering the fruits of all vices and even some virtues.
Throughout history, many have been corrupted by power and very few have
willingly renounced it. Consequently, it falls upon the world to restrain
tyranny. Instead, all too many support it, such as those who laud the "accomplishments''
of Fidel Castro, despite his more than 40 years of despotism, recent signs of
dementia and almost single-handed crushing of the Cuban spirit.
Such people ignore the testimony of thousands upon thousands of Cubans about
their oppression and torment. They prefer to cite as "accomplishments'' the
fine education enjoyed by Cuban children, which can be summarized by their
obligatory motto, "We shall be like Che!,'' or the free health care, a real
bargain, given the absence of even the most basic medical resources.
In all fairness, no one can deny the true positive accomplishment that
Castro managed in his initial revolution: the rise of nationalism, fueled by his
call for honesty in government, his promise to give land to the peasants and his
vow to ensure freedom for all. But these proved early to be nothing more than
planned steps toward absolute power.
Cuba has only one type of education for children: brainwashing. It lacks
housing for its people. Its sugar crop consistently falls below the direst
predictions. Its peasants are denied land ownership. And none may question the
government.
History provides plenty of examples of just how fragile and relative are the
"accomplishments'' of a despotic government. Consider one totalitarian
leader, deemed mad by many, who ended unemployment, gave his people national
pride, modernized communications and inspired the production of cheap cars, well
within the financial reach of most. The same man also moved to protect the
environment, adopting laws to reduce chimney smoke and clean the air. Should we
not cheer such a leader and hail his accomplishments as a model?
Decidedly not. For his "accomplishments'' took place during the
fleeting time in which he had the absolute power to enact his most minor ideas.
This same leader also decided to purge his people of an "inferior race,''
sent its members to concentration camps and exterminated six million of them. He
plunged the world into a global war that killed millions more and left his
country in ashes and ruins.
Few men exposed this sort of leader more honestly than the great German
novelist Eric Maria Remarque. Remarque made a film documentary on Adolf Hitler
that premiered in Cuba in 1956. It begins with some glorious music by Brahms and
Wagner playing over beautiful scenes of pre-Hitler Germany. Soon appear the
fanatical Nazi rallies with thousands of young people saluting with outstretched
arms while shouting, "Sieg heil!'' Then follow the early military victories
won by the Third Reich. Suddenly, the music stops, as the camera tracks slowly
through a city in ruins, over which appear the words Berlin 1945, along with a
vague, barely visible shadow that forms the profile of Hitler. Finally, a solemn
voice breaks the silence by repeating a single line: "If you seek his
monument, look around.''
Some day, the Cubans will embark on the reconstruction of their homeland.
They might be wise to leave for posterity one small part of it in shambles, and
within this a statue of Castro marked by the very line: "If you seek his
monument, look around.''
Copyright 2001 Miami Herald | 