FIDEL
1926 – 2016
The end of an era.
I will say what I want.
And you won’t stop me. I suffer poorly nitwits of your kind. But you still remain of value to me.
…never in the history of the last one hundred years of human life on Earth, other than the British Empire, has a single man had so much impact on the world.
What the Soviet Union, his then supporter, failed to achieve, Fidel Castro, achieved it in Cuba.
The man did it.
Fidel was greatness revealed; human will become manifest, uniqueness refusing to bow and lived, in full display like the brilliant plume of a peacock.
Cuba is a special country.
There is no country like it.
Some of its human development indicators are better than in the West.
…Cuba has touched/supported many ‘non-aligned States’ more than any other country of its stature in the world.
…Cuba has trained teachers.
…Cuba has trained engineers.
…Cuba has trained agronomists.
…Cuba has trained military strategists.
…Cuba has trained medical doctors.
Fidel was a friend of the poor.
Fidel was a friend of liberty.
There is no ‘poor country’ in the world that has given aid to other poor countries over the years more than Cuba […China is the other].
Please do not misunderstand me.
I am not a communist.
I am just Fidel’s friend.
Just a mourner.
…who happens to be a student of history.
…Black and white live as one in Cuba.
…Yes, Cubans may not have the Internet but they have life; their life expectancy is better than that of some Western nations including America.
Yes, Cubans live longer than Americans; yeah, so much for not having the Internet.
Fidel was our friend.
He was much bigger than himself.
He was an institution.
…there is no country of its kind that has been visited by the Pope, the most powerful institution in the world, other than Cuba.
Fidel’s spirit of brotherhood is immortal.
It will never die.
And the good thing with the past is that it cannot be changed.
Many will try to re-tell the life of Fidel, belittle and disparage it/him now that he is dead but they will fail. The world has been a captive witness to it all.
…we all know the truth he represents.
Hate him or not, Fidel touched the lives of millions.
Our own former Republican President His Excellency Dr Frederick CHILUBA named his own beloved son after him. Many others did.
Fidel inspired many.
He inspired the inspirers.
Fidel shaped the course of the world.
…He gave us another view of life – a life that treats all human beings as equal.
What Fidel saw is what became.
His vision is what is today’s Cuba.
Visionary. Revolutionary. Leader. Pilgrim.
You see Pilgrim, there are people or entities on Earth that just cannot be harmed until their purpose is done, until their appointed hour of closure comes.
Fidel was one such man.
Witnessing the passing of Fidel is akin to observing the end of an order, the departure of a gigantic actor from the stage of life; a reminder of what awaits all, that, even for gods, the time eventually comes to go.
Fidel lived a full life.
His death was NOT untimely.
Learn from it, Pilgrim.
…and that his life was different from yours does not make yours superior to his.
In the end, Fidel was just a man, warts and all.
Fidel is just an example that there are many different ways to live; and that then, even without Coca Cola and KFC, we can all win Gold medals, we can all have healthcare, we can all have family, and we can then all die at 90.
Fidel displayed that it is possible to be ‘poor’ and yet be successful. His existence will remain a living challenge to the Western definition of poverty.
He showed the world that, even without television or a personal motor car, life is still possible; that one man can still touch another.
…Cuba gave the world the finest sportsmen and women.
…Cuba gave the world doctors.
…Cuba gave the world education.
…Cuba gave the world longevity.
Cuba embraced all.
Cuba is an example of what true sovereignty means. Being oneself.
…right in the heart of the Western hemisphere a communist country was created; and thrived.
Such a feat is worthy of careful scholarly study, and has never been achieved by anyone, ever before.
Even America salutes Fidel. It has no option.
Not because of the Bay of Pigs, but because Fidel and Cuba remain a salient and astonishing visible lesson of human existence.
That those that he successfully defied when he was alive should claim victory today because of his death is evidence that they are only filled with folly of a gargantuan kind. It is schadenfreude. We must understand them as such.
And they are many.
Nothing will diminish Fidel. Nothing.
He leaves a successful man.
It is finished.
Farewell, comrade. Farewell, Commandant.
…your journey has ended, Pilgrim. Ours continues…thank you for the baton!
Adios amigo!
…you go. But then you stay…
Fidel.
Finished.
…human after all!
By Dr.Canisius Banda
Great Poem Pilgrim!!
Canicius Banda has wisdom, unfortunately he is poor. Best resolution for Canicius next year is remarry, he sounds depressed these days.
Just wondering how inconsistent the US government has been. The guy Fidel (Baptista) deposed was dictator who killed tens of thousands of Cubans, but because he sided with the US, he was supported through out. Fidel suffered embargoes and attempted assassinations because his interest was to uplift the common man which entailed the giving out land etc which previously belonged to the corrupt rich. To US this was dictatorship.
paralysis of analysis, go back to your history and conduct an unbiased research!
I only gave part of the history. Castro was also a brutal dictator and that’s we have to different reactions : joy and sadness. To me it’s not important either way.
I envy the gift of writng, Pilgrim!
You explain all it all. Let mourn the revolutionary who changed stood up to oppressors
”A murderous dictator is dead. Another country’s citizens may be ready to abandon the discredited and economically disastrous ideology of communism. Citizens can hope that free speech, a free press and human rights will become the order of the day.
Castro was also a manipulative demagogue, an oppressor and a relentless persecutor of those who dared challenge his will. Once in power in Cuba, he brooked no opposition. Violent abuses of accepted legal standards and human rights, initially excused as a revolutionary necessity, became the regime-sustaining norm. Indeed it was not a bed of roses for the victims of Castro’s black-hearted brutality.
He was among the world’s most repressive leaders, a self-appointed president-for-life who banned free speech, freedom of assembly and a free…
a free press and human rights will become the order of the day.
Castro was also a manipulative demagogue, an oppressor and a relentless persecutor of those who dared challenge his will. Once in power in Cuba, he brooked no opposition. Violent abuses of accepted legal standards and human rights, initially excused as a revolutionary necessity, became the regime-sustaining norm. Indeed it was not a bed of roses for the victims of Castro’s black-hearted brutality.
He was among the world’s most repressive leaders, a self-appointed president-for-life who banned free speech, freedom of assembly and a free press and killed up to 60,00 people or jailed thousands of political opponents.”
El Commandante. He is gone but will never be forgotten. The struggle continues..
only someon with a lot of time can write such a nice and long article ………….get busy Mr find something to do before you write 100 novels hunger will find you this is zambia
Truly, Truly Fidel Castro Ruz was a Maestro. For some of us he was like a parent – he gave us free education which is hardly available nowadays.
What utter rubbish. Why did Cubans risk their lives to escape their island prison? No Zambian would enjoy living in the oppression that was Cuba.
One thing you can learn from this is that poverty is not the end of the world you can strive and work hard to be who you want to be embargoes didn’t finish the Cuban people it. Strengthened them.
I guess you are fanatical about Castrol. But just ask the 5 million plus cubans whose parents were decapitated in their eyes. Either way, my beloved president and our founding father Dr Kenneth David Kaunda has outlived him. It’s a miracle that we give accolades to someone we rarely know than our own! But of course the angels are waiting for him whichever side he belongs.