In Miami thousands of Cuban-Americans in the neighborhood of Little Havana took to the streets on Saturday, Nov. 26 and commemorated the death of a man that many view as a tyrant and others a liberator.
Fidel Castro, a revolutionary who governed the Republic of Cuba from 1959-2008, died on Nov. 25 at the age of 90. The cause of his death has not been disclosed.
In Cuba, thousands of students gathered in rallies, waving flags and chanting “I am Fidel” to honor his life.
However, junior Juliet Villegas, who grew up in Miami, thinks that Castro’s regime left a lasting negative impact on the Cuban people.
“I believe that, for the most part, he’ll be remembered as the monstrous tyrannical dictator he was,” Villegas wrote in an email to The News-Letter. “Unfortunately, a lot of people — even non-Cubans who aren’t being controlled by the government — believe that he was a great leader.”
Although Castro’s government succeeded in abolishing racial segregation laws and providing universal education and healthcare, his administration has also been criticized for restricting civil liberties and bringing the world to the brink of nuclear war.
Senior Ashleigh Samlut, whose grandparents went into exile after the revolution, believes that many will remember Castro as a powerful leader who stood up against the U.S. However, Samlut stressed that by standing up to America, Castro’s regime had to rely on other world powers for support.
“As a communist country, Cuba has been forced to depend on other states to sustain itself, namely the former USSR and Venezuela, to subsidize key industries,” Samlut wrote in an email to The News-Letter. “Fidel should be remembered as a tyrannical dictator that oppressed the Cuban people for decades: restricting freedoms, destroying the land, tanking the economy, and murdering thousands in the process.”
Fidel Castro ceded most of his power in 2006 to his younger brother, Raúl Castro, due to his own declining health. He formally resigned his presidency in 2008. Raúl Castro has governed Cuba since then, although he has told the Cuban people that he plans to resign in 2018.
Although Castro’s government succeeded in abolishing racial segregation laws and providing universal education and healthcare, his stay in power was plagued by widespread destitution. His administration is also criticized for taking many basic freedoms away from the Cuban people and for pushing the world to the brink of nuclear war.
During the nine days of mourning following Castro’s death, alcohol sales were suspended, flags flew at half-mast and all shows and concerts were cancelled. Villegas cited this as evidence that change will come slowly.
“Unfortunately, because Cuba continues to fall under the communist Castro regime, I don’t see much rapid change happening any time soon. The people of Cuba were forced to mourn the death of a tyrannical dictator, which is a clear sign of the horrible situation,” Villegas wrote.
Villegas emphasized the Castro government’s autocratic nature and how this will affect how he is remembered in Cuba.
“Because of the way the education system works in Cuba and the control the government has over everything, living in Cuba you are trained to idolize Fidel,” she wrote. “Luckily, most Cubans see beyond that and understand how horrible of a person he truly was, but sometimes being able to have that insight is a privilege. Those who do believe that he was a monster and want to celebrate in Cuba can’t, because they’re not allowed to.”
Senior Corey Payne, who studied abroad in Cuba last semester, disagreed. In his experience, he found that free speech existed and that people did question the government in Cuba. Payne said that many of the people he met believed the revolution was a progressive force that needed reform.
“I found it interesting and unsurprising that there were such divergent reactions to Fidel’s death in Havana and in Miami,” Payne wrote in an email to The News-Letter. “But while there is real happiness and excitement among Cuban Americans, I think it’s also important that we see the real sorrow and mourning among many Cubans on the island. The real story of Fidel’s life won’t be found in Cuban state propaganda or in U.S. anti-communist propaganda.”
Sophomore Camila Montejo-Poll thinks Castro’s death came at an important time in Cuban political history. Montejo-Poll was born in Havana, and still returns regularly to visit family.
“His death... was important in a time like this when more people are standing up to the government and counter-revolutionary organizations are gaining traction in Cuba,” Montejo-Poll wrote in an email to The News-Letter. “It acted sort of as an impulse for many people that their efforts might see actual results sooner than they thought. It’s also sparking a conversation not only about what kind of man Castro was, but about the current conditions of the Cuban people.”
Under the Obama administration, steps have been taken toward better relations with the Cuban government. Since 2014, U.S. President Barack Obama and Cuban President Raúl Castro have aimed to normalize relations. The nations established the Bilateral Commission to facilitate diplomatic dialogue.
The American embassy reopened in Havana on July 20, 2015, and the Cuban embassy was reopened in Washington. On Mar. 20, 2016. Obama was the first sitting president to travel to Cuba since Calvin Coolidge in 1928.
Although President Obama believes that change is possible while working with the Castro administration, senior Steven Sosa, whose parents emigrated from Cuba, thinks that good relations can only be established between the two countries if Cuba undergoes major changes.
“Only once Cuba becomes a truly free, democratic state can relations between Cuba and America become truly better. Cuba to this day still refers to us as ‘imperialists’ and other Cold War era terms. As long as the same regime stands, we can never truly be allies,” Sosa wrote in an email to The News-Letter.
Samlut believes that the diplomatic relations between Cuba and the United States will actually harm the Cuban people more than it will help them.
“Fidel’s death is symbolic; It represents the end of an era, but not necessarily the end of the regime, especially because he was no longer in power at the time of his death,” Samlut wrote. “The possibility of regime change is not only unlikely, it will certainly not occur given the current international climate, specifically, President Obama’s executive orders that have ‘opened up’ the island.”
According to Samlut, Raúl Castro’s economic reforms and greater global tourism will keep the communist government in power.
“Raul’s economic reforms have fostered state-led capitalism, privileging certain party members and incentivizing them to limit competition by keeping the market closed, “ Samlut wrote. “As long as the outwardly communist regime remains ‘open’ to tourists, American or otherwise, it will continue to generate sufficient capital, either directly (through dollar penalties), or indirectly, such that it will only become further entrenched and more able to continue its daily oppression of the Cuban people.”
Sosa hopes that Fidel Castro’s death will cause people to look into what he did during his time as “El Comandante.”
“I hope the world as a whole becomes more educated on who Fidel actually was, so that someone like him doesn’t come into power again,” Sosa wrote.
