Fidel Castro…Cuba Revolutionary Leader : Vanam Jwala Narasimha Rao

Fidel Castro…
Cuba Revolutionary Leader

Vanam Jwala Narasimha Rao

Fidel Castro, Cuba’s revolutionary leader, died at the age of 90 bringing an end to an epoch-making era for the country, Latin America and world. People all over the world who loved and adored him in several ways particularly in India mourn his death as the world has lost a revolutionary, a communist and a leader who pioneered many movements. Castro held power longer than any national leader other than Queen Elizabeth. His personal control over a Communist revolution made him perhaps the most important leader in Latin America since its 19th century wars of independence.

 Love him or hate him, most Cubans will not be able to conceive of life without Fidel. Though he stepped down from power, he continued to pull the strings behind closed doors. Fidel, the ideologue, quietly opposed anything that looked like a weakening of Cuba's socialist system almost until his death.

Fidel Castro, born in Cuba on August 13, 1926 was a rebellious boy and at the age of thirteen helped to organize a strike of sugar workers on his own father's plantation. After he had finished his education Castro became a lawyer in Havana. His experience as a lawyer made him extremely critical of the great inequalities in wealth that existed in Cuba. In 1947 at the age of 21, Castro joined the Cuban People's Party. In 1952 Fidel Castro became a candidate for Congress for the Cuban People's Party. When the party was all set to win the election General Fulgencio Batista, who was in power then, with the support of the armed forces, took control of the country.

Castro came to the conclusion that revolution was the only way that the Cuban People's Party would gain power. In 1953, Castro, with an armed group of 123 men and women, attacked the Moncada Army Barracks. The plan to overthrow Batista ended in disaster. He was jailed and was released after two years. He then left for Mexico where he began to plan another attempt to overthrow the Cuban government.

Castro, Chi Guevara, Juan Almeida, and eighty other rebels arrived in Cuba in 1956. This group became known as the July 26 Movement (the date that Castro had attacked the Moncada barracks). For the next few months Castro's guerrilla army raided isolated army garrisons and were gradually able to build-up their stock of weapons. Castro's guerrillas were able to inflict defeat after defeat on the government's troops.

The United States supplied Batista with planes, ships and tanks, but the advantage of using the latest technology such as napalm failed to win them victory against the guerrillas. Castro was now confident that he could beat Batista in a head-on battle and began marching to the main towns. After consultations with the United States government, Batista decided to flee Cuba. Castro marched into Havana on January 9, 1959, and became Cuba's new leader.

A day before Castro in his early 30s entered Havana the jubilant capital city, Washington was one of the first nations to formally recognize the new rebel government, stating that it "appears free from Communist taint," and "intends to pursue friendly relations with the United States." However, when he confiscated land and property owned by Americans, public opinion in the United States turned sharply against him.

President Dwight Eisenhower attempted to punish Castro and in the process Castro became closer to the Soviet Union. In 1961 Eisenhower retired and the problem of dealing with Castro was passed on to the new president, John F. Kennedy. At one point of time the Cuban Missile Crisis that was the first and only nuclear confrontation between the United States and the Soviet Union appeared like leading to a world war. The event appeared to frighten both sides and it marked a change in the development of the Cold War. Castro remained dependent on the support of the Soviet Union. Nikita Khrushchev was ousted from power on 15th October, 1964, but his successors, including Leonid Brezhnev, Yuri Andropov, Konstantin Cherenkov and Mikhail Gorbachev provided aid to his government. However, after the fall of communism in the Soviet Union in 1989 this economic help came to an end.

Thus the relations between the U.S. and Cuba were always strained. Castro had proven to be a master of imagery, a complex strategist who managed to turn U.S. attempts against him and his country to his own advantage again and again. Presidents Ford, Carter and Clinton all thought they would be able to get through to Castro, and took steps to ease relations while opening a window for discussions. In each case, Castro responded aggressively.  Castro embraced Communism and rabid anti-Americanism, and used both to hold onto power. He saw himself as Cuba's messiah, and he governed with an ideological fervor that bordered on self-destructive. Fidel Castro had many supporters both at home and in the United States.

On 31st July, 2006, Fidel Castro transferred his political responsibilities to his younger brother Rahul Castro. On 19th February, 2008, Fidel Castro announced he would neither seek nor accept a new term as either president or commander-in-chief of Cuba.

Fidel Castro and India had a special relationship. When once Castro was denied stay in New York five star hotels when he attended UN General Assembly at the age of just 34 years, the owner of Theresa Hotel, came and invited him and his delegation to stay there. The first person who came to see Castro then was Indian Prime Minister Nehru. The friendship that was first established with Nehru was later on developed with his daughter, Indira Gandhi, for whom the Cubans, particularly Fidel, had great affection. Whenever this bond of friendship is highlighted, the unforgettable image that comes to everybody’s mind is that of Fidel embracing Indira Gandhi while handing over the NAM chairmanship to her in 1983.

Another landmark of those friendly ties happened in August 1985, when Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi visited Cuba accompanied by Sonia Gandhi and held extensive discussions with Fidel Castro, who was so gladly impressed that he organized a farewell for Rajiv Gandhi by half a million people until he reached the plane.

Again, another non-aligned summit took one statesman to the other nation. This time it was Prime Minister Manmohan Singh who attended the XIV NAM Summit in Havana. Although Fidel was recovering from a difficult surgery and could not attend the proceedings, he did have time for India, and spent time with Manmohan Singh. After 40 minutes of discussions, Fidel requested him to have a photograph taken, “so that one billion people would see them together”.

In multilateral fora, India and Cuba have been stalwarts of the Third World and have played leading roles in NAM, a vision that is still nurtured by both nations. Cuba was one of the first countries to extend open support to the right of India to be a permanent member of the Security Council, which was announced by Fidel Castro at the Earth Summit of 1992. Both countries maintain that their friendship will stand any challenge regardless of changing circumstances in the present world. End