Fidel Castro has survived countless assassination attempts and has almost managed to reach the venerable age of 80, but his recent illness proves that he's not invincible. I know he's not the kind of guy we can bury before he's dead, but even survivors like him are not immortal.

I'm worried about that. What will happen to Cuba when he dies? From what I heard, his brother Raul isn't much of a leader and may very well be pushed aside by his opponents. There might be a revolution (probably supported in some way by the CIA), and it will become just like it was when Batista was in power: Cuba will be the USA's lapdog, and even though the economy will go well again, it will be the end of socialism in this country.

I know Castro is a dictator and that he never hesitates to have innocent people killed or tortured, but I tend to be on his side: he's the symbol of socialism and resistance against the USA. I'm not really anti-American, but I do tend to admire those who defy them, because sometimes, Uncle Sam just goes too far.

I really hope Raul Castro is able to hold against his enemies. Since he's the Minister of Defense, he's probably even more ruthless than Fidel, but such men are sometimes needed in times like these, if only for a short time just to keep the government from being torn apart. He must make sure his big brother's struggle against poverty and pure capitalizm does not become worthless.

I can already see what will happen if the CIA manages to bring down Castro's socialism: it will be the end of Cuba's free health care and social welfare. A new era of capitalizm will start, and just like in Batista's time, rich people will get even richer and poor people will get even poorer.

Americans may plead that it will bring liberty back to Cuba, but can we be so sure about that? The CIA helped Pinochet to take the power from Allende (who had been democratically elected) in Chile, and Pinochet wasn't much of a liberal leader. A new dictator might very well take power in Cuba, but this one will be Uncle Sam's friend. Americans are very proud of their freedom, but they don't seem to feel any guilt when they ally with tyrants.


Somebody save Cuban socialism...

Right, because Cubans love how their country is run and don't want anything to change.

We can hope when he dies so does many of the horrible things hes done/does when in power die with him.

I don't see what the problem with his death would be, it would probably be a great thing for the cuban people.

As can be highlighted much better by blizzard (whos part Cuban btw) as in this post here: http://politicsandprose.net/index.php?showtopic=206&st=49

As long as there's another socialist who is competent enough to replace him. It would be really nice if Castro were replaced by someone more moderate and more open to the notion of freedom, but just as socially-minded, ambitious, charismatic and ressourceful than him.

But if the CIA have it their way, Cuba will fall indirectly under American control, with at its head a corrupt Batista-like dictator who will do whatever the USA tell him to do.


Some point out that Cubans are poor because of Fidel Castro, but, in my opinion, ...

1. ...it's the American embargo that made Cuba so poor, not Castro. Castro did all he could for his people, but the USA sabotaged his efforts and condemned millions of people to poverty in a vain attempt to prove that socialism is a bad system (which is not true anyway).

2. ...Castro managed to do a lot with what little he had. Even though he's a billionnaire, at least he spends most of the tax money to help the population. If there weren't the embargo, the Lider Maximo would no doubt have managed to get Cuba out of the sh*t by now.

3. ...Cubans might not be rich if you consider that richness is the money you have in your bank account, but at least they have access to free health care, a social welfare system, free education, etc., which was not the case when Batista was in power... and which will stop to be the case if the USA manage to get one of their ultra-capitalistic lapdogs in power.


I don't approve of totalitarism, but I think Fidel Castro is the best thing that has ever happened to Cuba. I think it's more than time he leaves power to someone else, but at least he managed to hold the fortress by the time a new leader takes command.

Are you Cuban?

I agree that the embargo has not done anything good. It did not force Castro out of power, all it did was make the Cuban people suffer.

Several things, in response primarily to Che Guevara:

The most important thing to do when discussing Cuba is to destroy the myth that Cuba is a pure socialist country. Cuba is not a socialist country in transition to communism in that it is not even close to being a classless society. With the continuing use of the US dollar, there are pretty wide gaps between rich and poor. Not to mention that over 40% of the economy operates through the black market. My sister told me recently that if it wasn't for the US dollar, the whole Cuban economy would collapse. Castro can rail against the US and declare Cuba to be a socialist country, but without US dollars from Cuban exiles, the Cuban economy would be in tatters.

The next thing to realize is that yes, the US has done many awful things against the Cuban people, which helps to explain why many Cubans still support Castro. I will admit right now that the last time I debated this topic (with Delta and Intifada in particular), I was a bit silly in so easily dismissing US terrorism such as Operation Northwoods and Operation Mongoose. Taking this into account, however, does not excuse Castro's dictatorship and its abuses. It also does not explain why Castro deemed it necessary to jail, say, political rights advocates and anarchists (as I posted in the link given by Delta).

Finally, the post-Revolution Cuban government has been able to do quite a bit of good in fields such as healthcare and literacy. If we're going to take a more holistic view of democracy and human rights (extending beyond narrow legal definitions of political rights and moving into economics), there's no doubt that the Cuban people have fared much better than say, those Central Americans under US-backed oligarchies. That said, Cubans still suffer from food shortages and other economic problems that cannot be easily attributed to the US embargo.

Anyways, I take the long-term view of a Cuban who wrote an article for the International Socialist Review (I forget his name). He basically alluded to a post-Castro government led by Raul Castro and the army. This government will probably function like China's- a command economy to a degree with further privatization. I doubt there will be civil war, and I further doubt that there will be US intervention. The US might fund right-wing movements through the National Endowment for Democracy, but as for military assistance and intervention I highly doubt it.

Cuban "socialism" hardly exists. Anyways, I'm not going to get into debates about whether state socialism can lead to a classless society, or other ideological debates. But I will say it's very depressing that whenever there is a revolution for good reason in the global South, it is overtaken by a vanguard party or movement that transforms the government into a repressive, overbloated bureaucracy. One might call it the peace of George Orwell's Animal Farm.I can't say it will necessarily be for the better when Castro dies, but I think the worst political abuses will have past. Poor Cubans, however, will probably suffer just as much, if not more, under Raul and the army in economic terms. Frankly, I'm quite tired of people who wear Che Guevara shirts and proclaim Cuba's government without fully appreciating Castro's abuses and the hypocrisy of a man who rails against the US for supporting dictatorships while running his own gulag.