#FidelCastro, the Other #Name for #Dignity

Salim Lamrani

One year after his death on November 25, 2016, the leader of the Cuban Revolution lives on in our collective memory as the hero of the disinherited.

Throughout the centuries there have been those who, because they personify certain principles, have been inscribed in the ledgers of eternity. Maximilian Robespierre, the incorruptible apostle of the poor, dedicated his brief and intense existence to the struggle for the freedom of the human race, for equal rights for all citizens, for fraternity among all peoples of the world. In so doing, he aroused the fierce hatred of the Thermidorians and their heirs, a hatred that continues to this day. Fidel Castro, another name synonymous with dignity, took up arms to claim the right of his people and all of the wretched of the earth to choose their own destiny, thus inevitably provoking the hostility of retrogressive forces across the planet.

For six decades Cuba, constantly humiliated in its efforts to attain sovereignty, served as no more than the backyard of the United States. Despite the three wars of independence and the innumerable sacrifices of the people of José Martí, the national hero and spiritual father of Fidel Castro, the Caribbean island continued to suffer from the oppressive yoke of its powerful neighbor, a force always eager to establish its domination over the region. Occupied militarily and then transformed into a neocolonial republic, Cuba witnessed its governments of the time forced to comply with the injunctions of Washington. The proud and valiant Cuban people endured affront after affront. In 1920, for example, following the political and financial crisis that struck the country, President Woodrow Wilson, without deigning to inform Cuban President Manuel García Menocal, dispatched General Enoch H. Crowder to Havana. The Cuban president expressed his surprise to his US counterpart. Washington's response was humiliating: "The President of the United States does not consider it necessary to obtain the prior authorization of the President of Cuba to send a special representative." Such was pre-revolutionary Cuba.

Severely weakened in their struggle for freedom, the Cuban people welcomed the triumph of Fidel Castro's Cuban Revolution in 1959 as the culmination of a long effort begun in 1868 during the first war of independence. As the architect of their national sovereignty, Fidel Castro proclaimed, arms in hand, the inalienable right of his people to self-determination. By shattering the hegemonic chains imposed by Washington, Fidel turned a small island in the Caribbean into a moral authority, admired and respected by the peoples of the South for its unwavering determination to follow its own path. He also became the symbol of resistance to oppression and the hope of those denied a decent life, praised for his steadfast courage in the face of adversity and his faithfulness to principle.

Despite extremely limited resources and a cruel state of siege imposed by the United States for more than half a century, Fidel Castro has made Cuba a model for Third World nations by universalizing access to education, health, culture, sports and recreation. It has thus proved to the world that it is possible to construct an effective social protection system for an entire population, and to place the human being at the center of the social project, in spite of material limitations and the pernicious hostility of Washington. In this sense, Cuba today is a world reference that demonstrates the possibility of placing the most vulnerable categories of the population at the center of the liberation process.

"Motherland is humanity," said José Martí. Fidel Castro, in addition to defending the right of his people to live with dignity, has demonstrated himself to be a committed internationalist by providing generous support to all noble causes of human emancipation. Cuba contributed decisively to the independence of southern Africa and to the struggle against the segregationist apartheid regime. The unforgettable Nelson Mandela synthesized the unfailing support of Cubans in this reflection: "What other country could claim more altruism than that which Cuba has shown in its relations with Africa?” Even today, Cuba, still under siege by Washington and despite a difficult economic situation, continues to provide education, health and technical assistance to the countries of the South by sending them tens of thousands of doctors, teachers, engineers and technicians.

History will remember Fidel Castro, the other name for dignity, as the hero of the disinherited, someone who defended the rights of the masses to an honorable destiny, who made the sovereignty of Cuba an inalienable reality, who at all times expressed solidarity with the oppressed. Despised by the powerful of his time - much like Maximilian Robespierre - for having dared to evoke a more equitable distribution of wealth, history will pay him the tribute that it reserves for the great men who fought against injustice and defended relentlessly the fate of the humiliated.

¿#Verdadero o #Falso? #SalimLamrani Analiza los #Clichés sobre #FidelCastro

Numerosas personas en el mundo, empezando por millones de cubanos, rindieron tributo a la memoria de Fidel Castro. Pero el fallecimiento del revolucionario también fue la ocasión para sacar otra vez algunos clichés de propaganda anticastrista que uno pensaba que estaban sepultados con la Guerra Fría. Otra vez surgen en los medios de comunicación. Castro condenó a los cubanos a la miseria mientras tenía millones escondidos en una cuenta secreta; Castro hizo de Cuba una cárcel al aire libre; Castro era homófobo… Y, obviamente, el inevitable “Era un dictador”. Sometimos esto a uno de los mejores especialistas de Cuba, Salim Lamrani, para un cuestionario “¿verdadero o falso?”.

-Fidel Castro condenó a los cubanos a la miseria

Salim Lamrani: Los indicadores de las instituciones de las Naciones Unidas sobre Cuba desmienten esta afirmación. Uno de los grandes logros de Fidel Castro y de la Revolución es haber creado un sistema de protección social que se considera unánimemente como el ejemplo a seguir para las naciones del Tercer Mundo, universalizando el acceso a la salud, a la educación, a la cultura, a la vivienda, a la seguridad, al deporte y a la recreación.
Algunas cifras ilustran esta realidad. La tasa de alfabetización es de más del 99 % y la UNESCO subraya que los alumnos cubanos tienen los mejores resultados escolares de toda América Latina en todas las asignaturas. Cuba dedica cerca del 14 % de su presupuesto a la educación. Ningún país en el mundo invierte tanto en este sector. A guisa de comparación, Francia dedica alrededor del 7% de su presupuesto a la educación. Desde luego, todas las carreras son universales y gratuitas para todos los cubanos.
En cuanto a la salud, la esperanza de vida es de cerca de 80 años y la tasa de mortalidad infantil es de un 4,6 por mil. Ningún país del continente americano, incluso Canadá y Estados Unidos, tiene una tasa de mortalidad infantil tan baja. Según la UNICEF, Cuba es el único país de América Latina y del Tercer Mundo que ha erradicado la desnutrición infantil. Cuba es el primer país del mundo que ha eliminado la transmisión materno-infantil del virus del sida. Obviamente resulta imposible alcanzar semejantes indicadores sin un acceso a una buena alimentación, a condiciones de vida decentes, un sistema de educación eficiente y atención médica de primera calidad.
Podríamos disertar también sobre la importancia de la cultura en Cuba, que se ilustra mediante numerosas manifestaciones cada año. Podríamos evocar el espacio central que ocupa el deporte que contribuye al bienestar físico y moral de los ciudadanos y que les inculca valores de repartición, de generosidad, de altruismo y de solidaridad, fundamentales para el equilibrio de la sociedad.
Conviene recordar que estos extraordinarios logros, únicos para un país del Tercer Mundo con recursos limitados, se consiguieron en un contexto de hostilidad extrema. Cuba sufre sanciones económicas sumamente severas que afectan a todas las categorías de la sociedad y todos los sectores de la economía. Han costado más de 120.000 millones de dólares a la isla desde hace más de medio siglo.

-Fidel Castro tenía una fortuna personal estimada en 900 millones de dólares.

SL: La revista Forbes dio la estimación y confesó haber otorgado de modo arbitrario una parte del PIB cubano a Fidel Castro. Por consiguiente la cifra no es creíble. Por otra parte todos los observadores y todas las personalidades extranjeras que tuvieron el privilegio de conocer a Fidel Castro expresaron su asombro por las condiciones de vida austeras que se imponía el líder de la Revolución Cubana. Sucede lo mismo para todos los cuadros que tienen un cargo.

-Fidel Castro hizo de Cuba una prisión al aire libre y no vaciló en masacrar a quienes intentaban huir.

SL: Ninguna organización internacional señaló alguna vez un caso de asesinato político, de ejecución

#FidelCastro Ruz Passes, An #Era Ends / #MediaScoundrels on Fidel’s #Passing

Stephen Lendman

Fidel Castro Ruz Passes, An Era Ends

He’s gone. His revolutionary spirit lives. He redoubtably resisted yankee imperialism for half a century, surviving hundreds of US attempts to kill him and the revolution he led.

He withstood the machinations of 11 US administrations, from Dwight Eisenhower to Obama - leading Cuba from January 1959 to his February 2008 retirement for health reasons, passing the baton to brother Raul while remaining intellectually active and influential to the end.

Washington dominated Cuba from the William McKinley era to the Eisenhower administration. Fidel liberated it, transformed it from a mafia-infested brothel to a populist state serving all its people, providing benefits most Americans can’t imagine.

Article 50 of Cuba’s Constitution mandates “the right to health protection and care” for everyone.

By “providing free medical and hospital care by means of the installations of the rural medical service network, polyclinics, hospitals, preventative and specialized treatment centers.”

“(F)ree dental care. Promoting the health publicity campaigns, health education, regular medical examinations, general vaccination and other measures to prevent the outbreak of disease.”

“All the population cooperates in these activities and plans through the social and mass organizations.”

Cuban healthcare is among the world’s best, shaming America’s pay or die system, with double the number of physicians per 1,000 population as its northern neighbor.

Article 51 guarantees free universal education to the highest levels - for children, youths and adults. Cuba’s Constitution states:

“Everybody has a right to education. This right is guaranteed by the extensive and free system of schools, part-time boarding schools, boarding schools and scholarships in all types and at all levels of education, by the free provision of school materials to every child and young person regardless of the economic situation of the family, and by the provision of courses suited to the student’s aptitude, the requirements of society and the needs of economic and social development.”

Castro virtually eliminated illiteracy. Students learn math, reading, the sciences, arts, humanities, social responsibility, civics and participatory citizenship.

They’re taught skills to make them productive citizens - able to contribute to national development.

In one of his “reflections,” Fidel said “(w)e have a powerful…adversary, our closest neighbor: the United States…There is no greater price than capitulating to an enemy…(I)ts relegation to the dustbin of history will not be delayed.”

“Would it not be preferable to struggle to produce food and industrial products; build hospitals and schools for billions of human beings who desperately need them; promote art and culture; struggle against epidemics which lead to the death of half of the sick, health workers and technicians, as can be seen; or finally eliminate illnesses like cancer, Ebola, malaria, dengue, chikungunya, diabetes and others which affect the vital systems of human beings?”

“Just ideas will triumph, or disaster will triumph,” he stressed. Gone at age 90, an earlier article said his intellect remained keen, his judgment sound and passion for keeping Cuba free from US dominance uncompromising to the end.

Last March, he said “(w)e don’t need the empire to give us anything. Our efforts will be legal and peaceful, because our commitment is to peace and fraternity among all human beings who live on this planet” - anathema to America’s ruling class.

On August 13, he began his 10th decade. In an article honoring him on his 90th birthday, I said he represent(ed) redoubtable resistance against imperial repression, exploitation and ruthlessness.

Legendary in his own time, one day he’ll be immortalized more than already. On Friday evening at 10:29 PM Havana time, he drew his last breath. Now he belongs to the ages.

Media Scoundrels on Fidel Castro’s Passing

They spend over half a century denigrating him - now dancing on his grave to their shame.