Fidel Castro 1926-2016

My distinguished contemporary Fidel Castro died last week. Cuba is rightly mourning his passing, but Cuban exiles in Miami, many allied with the corrupt criminal gang led by the arch criminal Battista, are rejoicing at the death of a man they regarded as a tyrant, and slavering for a renewal of their opportunity to pillage and rape their homeland. It's hard to get an impartial view of Cuba. American perspectives are warped by their paranoid hatred of communism. Amnesty International has published evidence of political repression, with suppression of dissident political views, but the situation would appear to be no worse than in many other non-democratic nations, and indeed better than many.

Fidel Castro transformed health and education in Cuba, elevated his small, isolated nation to a leading position in the rank order of health indicators and educational achievement not only in the region but also in the wider world. Moreover, he exported Cuban health workers throughout Latin America and parts of Africa, where they did much to improve health, set educational standards and helped establish public administration free of graft and corruption. Above all, Fidel Castro and his government stood up to the economic embargo and enormous might of the USA for half a century, so his David versus Goliath struggle evokes reluctant respect and admiration even from enemies. He had the respect and friendship of many social democratic nations in Europe, as well as here in Canada

Wendy and I had two splendid holidays in Cuba. It's a beautiful country with a graceful old capital city, Havana. This is rightly listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.  But it is dilapidated,  and widespread repairs and renovations are urgently needed. I've met and interacted with Cuban health workers and staff members of the excellent medical school and school of public health. They impress me greatly. It is most regrettable that Cuba has been the victim of the mindless American "anticommunist" paranoia. History would be very different if successive American administrations from Eisenhower onward had reached out a helping hand to Cuba, rather than doing their utmost to bring the regime down. On the other hand, it's refreshing to visit a nation free of American fast food outlets, golden arches, pizza huts and the like...