Fidel turns 80 on 13 August - a few hours to go (Cuban time), but cheers to you, anyway, and hope you recover soon
Well, there have been quite a few articles about Cuba and Fidel on the internet over the past few days, and I want to share my thoughts on a couple of them - comparing the underlying biases.
The first is from the BBC:
Ailing Castro still dominates Cuba
Cuba's President Fidel Castro - the world's longest-serving political leader - turns 80 on 13 August. This week, the BBC News website is assessing his political life and his impact on the Caribbean island.
The BBC's Stephen Gibbs writes from Havana about how the leader's presence is felt there.
One of the many things that surprises visitors to Cuba is that there are no statues of Fidel Castro to be seen anywhere.
It is particularly frustrating to television journalists, who arrive hoping to film themselves in situ, next to an image of the iconic leader.
Cuba has a ban on statues to living Cubans. Fidel Castro has often said that he is determined that no personality cult should be allowed to develop around him.
So, there are plenty of grand images of Che Guevara, and other dead heroes of the Cuban revolution, but none of the man who has led this country for 47 years.
So far, so good. But then...
Yet Fidel is everywhere.
"That's one peso for me, and five for Fidel," jokes Hubert, a taxi driver in Centro Havana, as I hand him a tip. His meter earnings, supposedly, all go to the government.
If Cubans want to refer to their government, they tend not to say "government". They say "Fidel". Sometimes, through fear, or superstition, they do not actually utter the name.
Instead, with a subtle hand-gesture, they indicate his beard.
Hmm, yes... Now the poor taxi driver, whose earnings all go to 'the government'; don't we feel sorry for him? Don't we feel outraged? And 'the government', we are told, is 'Fidel' (the bearded one!). But oh, does Fidel have a personal bank account in Switzerland? Is this money going to him? Or does the money go into the excellent education and health systems that our taxi driver has totally free access to? And what about the rest of the article?
The effect Fidel Castro has on individuals when he comes face-to-face with them is extraordinary to watch.
In what turned out to be his last public appearance before his operation on 26 July, Fidel Castro inaugurated one of the many new generation plants that have recently been placed around the country, as part of his "Energy Revolution".
Before he spoke, a local official, a middle-aged woman, gave a speech outlining some technical details about the plant.
She then left the stage, and took her place, standing next to Fidel Castro.
The prim, neatly-turned-out lady, began to sob uncontrollably. She rested her head on the president's shoulder, like a child, close to its father.
Fidel Castro appeared quite used to this sort of reaction to his presence, and gently put his arm around the woman.
Reference:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/4779529.stmThen there's an article by Gabriel Garcia Marquez - he obviously admires Fidel (as do I, for his bravery and achievements, stunted as they are, against all the odds that the world's most powerful bastion of capitalism has thrown at the Cuban people). This article has a lot of information about the sort of person Fidel is; interesting.
THE FIDEL CASTRO WHOM I KNOWBY GABRIEL GARCIA MARQUEZ
HIS devotion to the word. His power of seduction. He goes to seek out problems where they are. The impetus of inspiration is very much part of his style. Books reflect the breadth of his tastes very well. He stopped smoking to have the moral authority to combat tobacco addiction. He likes to prepare food recipes with a kind of scientific fervor. He keeps himself in excellent physical condition with various hours of gymnastics daily and frequent swimming. Invincible patience. Ironclad discipline. The force of his imagination stretches him to the unforeseen. As important as learning to work is to learn how to rest.
Tired of talking, he rests by talking. He writes well and likes to do so. The greatest stimulus of his life is the emotion of risk. The tribunal of the improviser would seem to be his perfect ecological medium. He always begins in an almost inaudible voice, in an uncertain direction, but takes advantage of any spark to move on gaining ground, palm to palm, until there is a kind of bang! and he takes control of his audience. It is inspiration: the irresistible and dazzling state of grace, only denied by those who have not had the glory of experiencing it. He is the anti-dogmatist par excellence.
More:
http://www.granma.cu/INGLES/2006/agosto/lun7/33gabo.html sophia
