FIDEL CASTRO: EXIT OF A REVOLUTIONARY AND LIBERATION ICON

His death was announced on the Cuban national Television on Friday. He died at the age of 90 after several years of illness. Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz was born on Aug. 13, 1926 or 1927 in formerly eastern Cuban province of Oriente, to a plantation owner, Ángel Castro, who was of Spanish origin.

Young people of this generation may not exactly know Fidel Castro or what he represented, but the former Cuban Leader took the whole world by storm becoming at some point a symbol of liberation struggle or revolution everywhere in the world, especially in Africa and Latin America.

To the Cuban people, he was “Saviour” who gave hope to the citizens and provided the much needed social, military and economic protection throughout his reign as Cuban President. To many young people in the world, Castro was revolutionary extra-ordinaries whose fighting ability, speech making and unparalleled communication skills and ideas about statecraft made him an idol, mentor and inspirer to all Revolutionary forces around the world. To the Americans however, Castro was an arch- enemy, a cruel dictator, Protégé of the defunct Communist- Soviet Union and an enemy of the Cuban people who had no little respect for human rights and personal freedoms of his people. He was one leader Americans loved to hate.

Castro made a huge impact on the world stage. His exit leaves a big lesson for humanity particularly for political leaders around the world. He has left behind lessons in courage, adventure, resilience, determination and single- minded pursuit of political causes.

Castro, a trained Lawyer who seized power from the Cuban dictator, Batista after an insurrection from Mexico with his compatriot, Chu Guevera and younger brother, Raul Castro on January 8, 1959, was for about 50 years a pain in the neck of Americans and their successive 11 Presidents all of whom sought to remove him to no avail.

On coming to power in 1959, Castro joined the world communist movement and made Cuba a Latin American outpost of Communism in which status he became a leading ally of the former USSR. His closeness with the Soviets angered US which saw his proximity to the American territory as a threat to national security. This formed the basis for the 1959 invasion of Cuba by America by some frustrated Cuban exiles in America with active support of the American CIA at what became known as the Bay of Pigs operation.

Castro successfully repelled the American onslaught. After consolidating his power, he extended the frontiers of the raging Cold War into Latin America and approved the Soviets’ use of his territory to establish missile bases. The opposition of the US to the Soviet menace heightened tension and drew the humanity close to a Third World War which would have probably seen the massive use of nuclear weapons with all the attendant consequences.

He was mentor to the likes of Hugo Chávez of Venezuela and Sub Commander Marcos of southern Mexico.

In Africa, Cuban troops fought in Angola in the protracted civil war and against South African mercenaries trying to topple the government in Luanda.

But it was not only troops that Cuba exported in support of revolutionary or liberation activities.  Cuba exported medical personnel to many developing countries in the same way her boxing champions became coaches and popularized the sport in many countries of the world.

Cuban doctors were the first to arrived the African continent to help African nations curtail the spread of the deadly Ebola virus.

Fidel Castro’s persona including his traditional beards and dress code of military fatigue wear was adopted by many guerrilla/ liberation warriors as much as his fighting techniques.

In 1991 when communism fell in Eastern Europe and the Cold War came to an end, Cuba faced tremendous challenges as aid no longer came from Russia, the successor state to the defunct USSR. Undaunted, Castro maintained his stiff neck approach towards America. It was Raul who eventually restored diplomatic relations with America after 18 months of secret negotiations assisted by Pope Francis, paving way for the state visit in 2016 by President Barack Obama, the first US president to visit Cuba in about 88 years!

When challenged by disease in 2006, Castro handed over to his younger brother, Raul Castro now 85 as President and later retired from public life. He remained relevant behind the scene as his brother governed the island country of 11 million people.

As Cubans mourn their departed leader, they will remember him as the Architect of the modern Cuban society.  His exit should be a clarion call to maintain the tempo of spreading revolutionary ideas and liberation struggles premised on socialist- progressive philosophy.

As we mourn this revolutionary/liberation struggle icon, our resolve to spread progressive ideas across the earth both as a system of governance and as a way of life would never ever ceased.