The final review of Fidel Castro's audio autobiography, Fidel Castro, My Life. A review of his life's work and the future post-Fidel.

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A Spoken Autobiography; - Fidel Castro and Ignacio Ramonet

Cuba has forged ahead in providing disaster relief around the world. The Henry Reeve Contingent plans to have over 1,000 doctors at the ready to respond to any crisis anywhere in the world. In the area of first aid and under the ALBA principles, Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas, over 100,000 Latin Americans will be trained and certified as doctors at no cost to the student.

Cuba's health care system is among the best in the world and certainly in the very top of all of the Americas. Cuba's infant mortality rate rivals that of Canada and the US and the life expectancy is almost as high as Sweden or Japan. When the revolution took over in 1959, the life expectancy in Cuba was 60. There are fifteen doctors today for every doctor that existed in 1959 and these physicians are equitably distributed throughout the country, not amassed in only the richest areas.

Cuba has released tens of thousands of prisoners convicted of sabotage and terrorism against the Cuban people before their sentences had been completed. Cuba returned every single prisoner taken in the Bay of Pigs invasion to the United States. Yet, the man convicted of blowing up a Cuban civilian airplane in 1976, Luis Posada Cariles, remains free in the United States. The United States constantly accuses Cuba of incarcerating political prisoners, yet refuses to acknowledge the thousands inside its own jail system.

Foreign journals, foreign television stations and the entire internet are open to the Cuban people. They can read what the world has to say about Cuba and they can formulate their own opinion. There are local newspapers and other media outlets provided by all the various organs of society including the unions, the armed forces, all government organizations, and many citizen organizations. These groups are not run by media conglomerates and are not forced to print news only favorable to certain owners of their organizations such as Fox News, CNN and MSNBC in the US as well as other similar organizations around the world.

President Fidel Castro has personally fought against any and all attempts at a cult of personality settling in and has expressly forbidden any statues, monuments, schools, factories, hospitals, buildings or other artifacts from being erected or named in his honor. While there are many pictures of him in offices around the country, he forbids any official permanent process dedicated to his personage. In fact, he prefers being addressed simply as “Fidel” by the citizenry.

Today, the unilateral, bellicose role that the United States plays on the international stage needs to be curbed for the good of all nations. The United Nations needs to be able to control all of the various members through its current charter and the internationally binding treaties that they have signed. Having a rogue nation loose, especially one that has not only the largest world economy, but owns the world currency and is directly responsible for over half of global military spending, defeats the very purpose of the existence of the United Nations. [aut. note – while I am completely against any institution founded by the Rockefellers and their cabal, I would agree with Fidel that having a superrogue state roaming free to unleash its tyranny on other nations is even worse].

Cuba throughout the years has been an outspoken critic of injustice wherever it occurs. Cuba was one of the first to send a condemning letter to Saddam Hussein in 1990 denouncing the Iraq invasion of Kuwait. Likewise, Cuba has strongly protested the illegal war in Iraq as well as the torture chamber set up at Guantanamo Bay, a piece of Cuban soil that the US refuses to liberate.

But ever since the Cuban Revolutionary War, President Fidel Castro has enjoyed a love/hate relationship with the world perhaps more than any other figure in modern history. He is loathed and condemned by my Western countries while being considered a modern hero in many third world countries. Yet, even though many people condemn Cuba's actions as being Fidel's Cuba, in reality, the executive branch yields little power in the country and he was but the figurehead of the Cuban government. The National Assembly of People's Power actually acts as the supreme parliamentarian power in Cuba, with the Council of State assuming that role when they aren't in session.

And the way that Cuba has met its dilemmas has been through the same group. They're the ones who decided to stop sugar cane planting in the early 1990s, for example, when oil prices had skyrocketed and sugar cane was at rock bottom and the Soviet Union had just collapsed. Some 70 different sugar cane centrals had to be shut down as a result. But Cuba reacts differently than other Western nations to such changing needs and rather than just firing the employees of the unneeded plantations, Cuba has actively pursued finding them another job or sending them back to school for additional training at government expense. During the entire transition time, the workers are given their previous salary by the government.

The amount of transformation that President Castro has seen over these past 50 years is nothing short of staggering. It has turned out to be far greater than even his own dreams allowed him to contemplate in 1959. To begin with, his forces which numbered in only a few thousand at best, along with the will of the Cuban people, brought down a vicious tyrant who had more than 80,000 troops at his disposal and who was a complete puppet to the biggest superpower at the time.

One of Cuba's first acts was to turn the land over to the citizens. It then defeated the imperialist forces at the Bay of Pigs and has withstood countless continual threats from the US as well as all the chemical, biological and bomb attacks they backed.

Even though Cuba has been under a strict economic blockade for nearly 50 years, it still managed to end illiteracy, provide free education to 100% of all children, increase the overall educational level from 9^th grade to 12^th grade, and provide computers and computer technology to all schools. Cuba has brought its infant mortality rate down from 60 to 6, increased life expectancy by over 15 years, and brought its health care system to a level that can rival any nation in the world. Cuba has the highest number of physicians per capita in the world.

There are no paramilitary death squads in Cuba. Torture and extra-judicial executions are forbidden. Illicit drug use is all but nonexistent. At the same time, the entire country has been educated in the ecological necessities of our times and works fervently to maintain an eco-friendly environment.

At the behest of Algerian patriots, Cuba sent troops there to combat continued French colonialism, and sent them again when Algeria was threatened by Morocco's King Hassan II. When Syria requested help, Cuba sent a brigade of tanks to stop the Israeli advance beyond the Golan Heights. Where patriots around the world called out for help to repel colonial imperialism, Cuba was there. Where newly formed countries cried out for justice to beat back White mercenaries bent on destroying them, Cuba was there.

When we helped free Angola, the army of South Africa attacked and wiped out over 500,000 innocent men, women and children, while laying millions of antipersonnel land mines throughout the country. But 40,000 Cuban soldiers joined the Angolan army and pushed the invasion back until peace could be reached and South Africa was forced to sign an armistice whereby they promised to stop attacking the innocent people of that country.

Over three thousand Cuban holistic general practitioners are in more than 18 third world nations saving hundreds of thousands of lives every year. Cuba has developed a technique for using the radio to teach people to read and write. This system is now in five languages, Creole, Portuguese, French, English and Spanish. And Cuba has just created a system to get similar results with the TV. And all these systems are offered to everyone around the world free of charge. Cuba has never charged anyone one thin dime for any of these services that it has created and built. These methods could reduce the illiteracy rate of the 800 million illiterate people around the world by as much as 80% with minimal cost. Much more could have been accomplished in a Cuba free of an immoral economic embargo.

And throughout the years President Fidel Castro has become known as “el crítico número uno,” or number one critic of the revolution. After every public event, surveys are immediately taken to assess how the common person saw the event. All negative critics must be published so that others can see what may have been done incorrectly and needed to be improved upon. While President Castro refuses to read any critics praising him or his government, he does read passionately those critics that point to flaws in the system. Through these honest assessments of public happenings, improvements can be championed and President Castro has become the biggest proponent of all positive changes in public life.

But the economic blockade along with the special period after the collapse of the Soviet Union has created an inequality in the country that is both legal and stressful for the whole country. Citizens who have family in foreign countries, such as the United States, can and do receive foreign currency from them. This free money gives them a decided advantage over the rest of the population and many use this advantage towards ill-gotten gains in privilege and services. While it is okay to exchange the money normally and use the proceeds to purchase goods and services as a result, it is not okay to exchange the money on the black market for up to 10 times the amount.

But theft and pilferage, especially with regard to rationed items such as petrol and other goods and services, are still rampant across the country. Human nature to take personal advantage of scarcities doesn't end at the shorelines of Cuba. Hidden petrol stations and illegal government vehicle usages exist everywhere. Yet at the same time, there is a new generation that has stepped up to the plate to combat these crimes and put an end to these illegal practices.

This new group of social workers is showing a will and a desire to improve the quality of life that has been missing among the older generations. One group of a few thousand of these young enthusiasts who started monitoring petrol stations in Havana discovered unreported sales which doubled the total amount. The fervor and eagerness of this new generation will bode well for the post-Fidel Cuba of the future.

And even if the political structure of a one-party system has often been criticized by other nations, it must be said that the one party in Cuba neither nominates nor elects government officials who run in the general elections. The candidates are nominated by the general public and voted on by them, not the party.

While it's a financial farce in the US to believe that anyone can become president, in Cuba literally anyone can be elected to office. All it takes is the will of the people and enough votes. There is no multi-billion dollar campaign required or unwritten promises to corporate hierarchies necessary. While abuse of power exists in any governmental system, in Cuba there has been relatively little of it and most of it has been uncovered quickly and dealt with accordingly.

President Fidel Castro's salary is $30 per month. Along with other party members, he pays his party dues, rent (which is a standard 10% of a person's salary, regardless of how much the person makes), and uses the rest for food and other services. The salary has not changed over the years. Of course, he can't sleep in the same room two days in a row as a matter of course, or he'd be dead, but the routine has become commonplace for him.

The gifts he receives from visiting dignitaries, over 17,000 at last count, are turned over to the country museum curator for storage and display. Some were donated to others. President Castro owns no personal bank account, no secret offshore fund, no hidden safe full of treasure. He doesn't carry money when he goes anywhere. Although he's been offered millions for his personal memoirs, he has staunchly refused them all, and has publicly stated that he will accept such an offer only if the monies provide financial aid to the schools of Cuba.

His life has been dedicated to the liberation and amelioration of the individual life of the average Cuban and he will go to his grave with that same conviction. He harbors no hatred, no vengeance, and no desire for injustice towards others. He feels that all true revolutionaries, including El Che, feel like that.

It has been the destiny of Cuba to promote Socialism and the basic welfare as a right of all people. On May 20, 2002, American President Bush demanded that Cuba renounce Socialism and adopt Capitalism similar to that of the US. In response, massive demonstrations were held across the country for two months and within four days over 8 million citizens, over half of the voting population, signed a petition denouncing Bush and his request.

The future of Cuba will be the same as it has been for the past 50 years. Cuba has struggled mightily against the immoral economic blockade and has proven itself worthy of heroic stature in many ways. Just one example, the ability of eliminating illiteracy through the use of a common radio, demonstrates how Cubans have been more than equal to the challenges the world has given them.

The role that President Fidel Castro plays in today's Cuba is largely symbolic. He holds no executive power per se, and has but one vote in the Council meetings. But more than a single replacement of him when the time comes, it is better to look at his successor as being an entire generation of Cubans who have grown up understanding the goals of Socialism, the right to personal dignity, general health, welfare, social and economic worth, and the right to a dignified life in society, and they will be the ones to carry on the revolution beyond Fidel.

The revolution in Cuba has always been based on ideas not cult of personality. Regardless of who is considered at the top, the ideology of the revolution has always been the overriding factor and still is today. Even though any society can self-destruct, implode, or crumble, the revolution in Cuba has as good a chance as any at keeping its original goals of liberty, equality and justice for all, with or without Fidel.

[ed note: none of these articles could have been possible without the dedicated effort of OpEdNews to allow such a prolonged and determined review of the book, Fidel Castro, My Life. I am humbled that they would allow an unknown author such as myself to create this series and give it the light of day on the internet. A second thanks must go to my good friend Pancho who sent me the book to review and who has been constant and constructive in his critique of my work].

Authors Bio:

66 year old Californian-born and bred male - I've lived in four different countries, USA, Switzerland, Mexico, Venezuela, and currently live in the Dominican Republic - speak three languages fluently, English, French, Spanish - have worked as a journalist for Empower-Sport Magazine. I am a retired Supply Chain Specialist.