On November 25th, the world was shocked with the news of the death of the ex-President of Cuba, Fidel Castro. He was 90 when he passed away, and the 90 years of his life were nothing short of impressive.
14 years after the end of the Second World War, in the midst of the struggle for supremacy between the United States and the then USSR, known as the Cold War, Fidel Castro and his July 26th Movement overthrew the US-friendly military dictatorship of Fulgencio Batista. This caused Cuba to turn and lean heavily on the Soviet Union, which in turn lead to even stronger tensions between the two Cold War powers, as the USSR had firmly established a foothold a mere 90 miles off the coast of Florida.
As tensions mounted between the United States and the Soviet Union, Cuba became increasingly more Communist in their way of thinking. Throughout Castro’s regime, which lasted from 1959 to 2008, when he stepped aside to put his brother Raul in power, he was often criticized for his harsh way of running his country. Additionally, Cuban ties with the United States suffered dramatically in 1960 when Castro nationalized all of the US businesses in Cuba without compensation. Thus, the United States imposed a trade embargo on them and swiftly ended all diplomatic relations.
Attempts by the United States to overthrow Castro were relatively regular, with perhaps the most well-known being the Bay of Pigs Invasion. In April of 1961, 1,400 Cubans exiled from the country by Castro were trained and ready to land near the Bay of Pigs. This, like the many attempts on Castro’s life, failed miserably, and ended with over 100 Cuban invaders dead, and nearly all of the rest of them captured. After a year and a half in captivity, Castro freed his captured people in exchange for almost $52 million worth of medical supplies and baby food. Throughout all this time, Castro’s Cuba became more and more dependent on the Soviet Union, as well as becoming increasingly Communist.
Life under Castro in Cuba did have some positives, believe it or not. In addition to the abolition of legal discrimination, the Cuban government brought electricity to the countryside, enjoyed full employment of its people, and advanced education and health care through the creation of new schools and medical facilities. However, it is hard for me to envision the normal Cuban citizen enjoying these advances when I take into consideration the negative impacts of a Communist Castro regime.
As is usual in a Communist state, one party ran the government—there was no two-party system like here in the United States, and elections, when they happened, were not full of choice. If you voted, you had one choice, and that was Fidel Castro. However, over time, even the idea of choice through elections was taken away, as the government stopped elections all together. Additionally, Castro jailed any political opponent that came up, leading to thousands of people being jailed for voicing their opinion. He closed down opposition newspapers, effectively making the country dependent on the government to give them their news. This allowed for major uses of propaganda, and much like in North Korea today, lead to a completely ignorant populace. Finally, Castro’s government limited how much land an individual could own, abolished private businesses, and presided over the housing. All of this political repression led to hundreds of thousands of Cubans fleeing the country, often heading for their close neighbor the United States.
To me, it is hard to imagine being happy under the rule of a Castro. While it is undeniable that there were some advancements to the country, it is impossible to believe that the Castro rule has been a good one. In the United States, we routinely take for granted our ability to complain about the President, our ability to protest, or our ability to decided how much land we’d like to own or which house we’d like to live in. If we were in Cuba, all of this would be denied of us.
Imagine, for just a second, that the America we knew and loved, with all of the perks we take for granted, was overthrown by a man who thought he knew what was best for us. Imagine that, as the years went on, we began to notice people disappearing, our favorite magazines or news channels being shut down, and we were no longer able to vote for our future President. Imagine that the business you have been working so hard to get up and running was taken over by the government, and you were forced to go work somewhere else. But don’t worry—more people around you were becoming literate, and everyone had a job that they were forced to work at.
Sound enjoyable?
I don’t think so either. So I, for one, will not be caught mourning the death of Fidel Castro, nor will I be sending my condolences to the repressed people of Cuba for the loss of their leader. I will, however, be sending my condolences to the people of Cuba for their inability to escape the power of Castro while his brother is still leading. I will pray for the people of Cuba, and ask that they be able to overthrow the Communist regime that has been felt for decades, and I will pray for the end to the oppression felt by the average Cuban. And once again, I am thankful for the wonderful gift of living in America, as opposed to Cuba, where I would have been jailed or killed for the content of this article.
