What I thought facinating...was at the close of his message to the people of Cuba, he says he isn't saying farewell, but he will remain a soldier int he battle of ideas. Amazing.
He is a soldier in the battle of his own ideas...everyone elses ideas can be suppressed, bullied, changed by fear or lethargy, so long as Fidel's ideas win out. The battle for ideas means real intellectual, rational discussion. The cry of counter revolutionary as the means of political supression strangles ideas in their incubator.
Cuba will be well rid of him.
At the same time, we must not forget that Castro stands for ultimate Cuban nationalism. He fought the United States and kept them out of Cuba. And than he used that battle to keep control of his people who, in their national pride, are it seems as determined to have Cuban self-determination and a country that isn't the U.S. puppet it was when Castro lead his revolution.
Somehow, we in the U.S. need a new arrangement. I am convinced that our inability to move when it comes to Cuba and Castro -- i.e. perpetual embargo -- has resulted in the solidifying the regime and its long life. It is difficult to believe that were relations and trade normalized -- even more or less on Castro's terms -- that there wouldn't be more dissent. Young people exposed to more ideas and the inequities in Cuban life as well as the possiblities of a borader world. Rap music, skateboards and tourists would have a far more profound effect on the futuer of the Cuban revolution than gunboats and threats, IMO.
