The reactions from the United States were mixed upon hearing of the transition of Cuba’s historic President Fidel Castro. Cuban exiles and their families living in Miami celebrated his death as the final demise of a brutal dictator, and stated that their only regret was that his brother, current President Raul Castro, was still alive. San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick, already the center of controversy for not standing during the national anthem at football games, was booed when his team traveled to Miami to play the Dolphins because of remarks he had made earlier which had praised Cuba’s free education and health care under Castro.
This attitude seems to echo the official stance of many in the US political establishment against Cuba because of its Communist leanings, and for its refusal to bow to Western pressure even after the demise of the Soviet Union. US President-elect Donald Trump has threatened to reverse the progress of the Obama administration toward normalizing relations with Cuba, and many on the political right wing still seek the extradition of Assata Shakur from Cuba to the US, which both Castro brothers have steadfastly refused to allow.
On the other hand, revolutionary activists on the political left mourned the loss, noting the Cuban leader’s struggle against the US-backed authoritarian regime of Fulgencio Batista, which had turned the country into a “playground” for the West’s well-to-do and enriched the island nation’s elite at the expense of the poor and Black citizens of Cuba. They also lauded Castro’s accomplishments as Prime Minister and later President, instituting free education and health care for citizens and establishing one of the strongest cadres of medical doctors in the world, all this in the face of a crippling boycott and blockade of the island nation by the United States and its allies. Cuba’s offer of medical assistance to the United States in the wake of the explosion of the AIDS epidemic, and later in the aftermath of the devastation of Hurricane Katrina, is also often noted, though the United States refused both offers of assistance, many say to the detriment of those who could have truly benefited from Cuba’s help.
Afrikan nations certainly have their own perspectives on Castro’s Cuba, especially since Cuban troops often fought on the side of Afrikan liberation movements against apartheid in South Africa, colonialism in Angola and in countries throughout the Mother Continent, while the United States stubbornly chose to take the side of the colonial oppressors in almost every Afrikan conflict.
There are numerous sources on the Web that will offer historical accounts of Castro’s life, some in favor and some vehemently opposed. Here, we will offer one commentary from the Justice Initiative, which has agreed to allow us to post occasional articles, and an accompanying commentary by scholar Piero Gleijeses. This may be only the first of many commentaries on the Cuban leader, so we will leave this particular commentary to Ms. Heather Gray of Justice Initiative and scholar Piero Gleijeses. Rest in Power, Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz.
— Bro. Cliff, KUUMBAReport.com
Cuban leader Fidel Castro, left, shares a laugh with South Africa President Nelson Mandela at the World Trade Organization held in Geneva Tuesday, May 19, 1998. Mandela and Castro said in separate speeches that the global trading system had failed to achieve its goals of bringing a higher standard of living to many developing countries. (AP Photo/PATRICK AVIOLAT)
Honoring Fidel Castro and the Cubans in African Liberation
by Heather Gray, Justice Initiative
Note: With the sad news of the passing of Fidel Castro I can’t help but be reminded of seeing him on the stage in Pretoria, South Africa at the inauguration of Nelson Mandela in 1994. I was blessed to be there for the event. What an honor and thrill that was. In combination with the African National Congress and South African liberation movement, it was the Cuban troops that demoralized and defeated the South African military that then, finally, led to the downfall of the apartheid state. Castro was remarkable and defiant throughout it all. Here is Mandela referring to this in 1991 while in Cuba:
“We come here with a sense of the great debt that is owed the people of Cuba … What other country can point to a record of greater selflessness than Cuba has displayed in its relations to Africa?” (Mandela – Global Learning)
Yes, countless South Africans wisely love him for his diligence and commitment in helping to end the painful apartheid system that oppressed the Southern African region altogether. Countless numbers of those of us involved in the anti-apartheid movement outside of South Africa also adore the great man. Not only did Cuba play a major role in the downfall of apartheid but in its aftermath, Cuba also assisted Africans in their advancement in education and in medicine. Here is some information about this:
ELAM (Latin American School of Medicine) Cuba Escuela Latinoamericana de Medicina (ELAM), formerly Escuela Latinoamericana de Ciencias Médicas (in Spanish; in English: Latin American School of Medicine (LASM), formerly Latin American School of Medical Sciences), is a major international medical school in Cuba and a prominent part of the Cuban healthcare system.
Established in 1999 and operated by the Cuban government, ELAM has been described as possibly being the largest medical school in the world by enrollment with approximately 19,550 students from 110 countries reported as enrolled in 2013.[1] All those enrolled are international students from outside Cuba and mainly come from Latin America and the Caribbean as well as Africa and Asia. The school accepts students from the United States – 91 were reportedly enrolled as of January 2007. Tuition, accommodation and board are free, and a small stipend is provided for students ….
Preference is given to applicants who are financially needy and/or people of color who show the most commitment to working in their poor communities. (Wikipedia).
Below is an article by scholar Piero Gleijeses about Cuba‘s important role in Africa. Thank you Fidel Castro and the Cuban people – we honor you for your service to freedom and justice. Peace, Heather Gray URL – Justice Initiative International
Why South Africa Loves Cuba
Piero Gleijeses
Piero Gleijeses is a professor of American foreign policy at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies. All quotes from the article are drawn from his latest book: Visions of Freedom: Havana, Washington, Pretoria and the Struggle for Southern Africa, 1976-1991, The University of North Carolina Press, 2013. January 14, 2014 Global Learning While the American news media recently focused on “the handshake” between President Obama and Raúl Castro, it is worth pondering why the organizers of Nelson Mandela’s memorial service invited Raúl Castro to be one of only six foreign leaders-of the ninety-one in attendance-to speak at the ceremony. Not only was Raúl Castro accorded that honor, but he also received by far the warmest introduction: “We now will get an address from a tiny island, an island of people who liberated us … the people of Cuba,” the chairperson of the African National Congress (ANC) said. Such words echo what Mandela himself said when he visited Cuba in 1991: “We come here with a sense of the great debt that is owed the people of Cuba … What other country can point to a record of greater selflessness than Cuba has displayed in its relations to Africa?” Many factors led to the demise of apartheid. The white South African government was defeated not just by the power of Mandela, the courage of the South African people, or the worldwide movement to impose sanctions. It was also brought down by the defeat of the South African military in Angola. This explains the prominence of Raúl Castro at the memorial service: it was Cuban troops that humiliated the South African army. In the 1970s and 1980s, Cuba changed the course of history in southern Africa despite the best efforts of the United States to prevent it. In October 1975, the South Africans, encouraged by the Gerald Ford administration, invaded Angola to crush the leftwing Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA). They would have succeeded had not 36,000 Cuban soldiers suddenly poured into Angola. By April 1976, the Cubans had pushed the South Africans out. As the CIA noted, Castro had not consulted Moscow before sending his troops (as is clear from later tense meetings with the Soviet leadership in the 1980s.) The Cubans, Kissinger confirmed in his memoirs, had confronted the Soviets with a fait accompli. Fidel Castro understood that the victory of Pretoria (with Washington in the wings) would have tightened the grip of white domination over the people of southern Africa. It was a defining moment: Castro sent troops to Angola because of his commitment to what he has called “the most beautiful cause,” the struggle against apartheid. As Kissinger observed later, Castro “was probably the most genuine revolutionary leader then in power.” The tidal wave unleashed by the Cuban victory in Angola washed over South Africa. “Black Africa is riding the crest of a wave generated by the Cuban success in Angola,” noted the World, South Africa’s major black newspaper. “Black Africa is tasting the heady wine of the possibility of realizing the dream of total liberation.” Mandela later recalled hearing about the Cuban victory in Angola while he was incarcerated on Robben Island. “I was in prison when I first heard of the massive aid that the internationalist Cuban troops were giving to the people of Angola. … We in Africa are accustomed to being the victims of countries that want to grab our territory or subvert our sovereignty. In all the history of Africa this is the only time a foreign people has risen up to defend one of our countries.” Pretoria, however, had not given up: even after retreating from the Cubans, it hoped to topple Angola’s MPLA government. Cuban troops remained in Angola to protect it from another South African invasion. Even the CIA conceded that they were “necessary to preserve Angolan independence.” In addition, the Cubans trained ANC guerrillas as well as SWAPO rebels, who were fighting for the independence of Namibia from the South Africans who illegally occupied it. From 1981 to 1987, the South Africans launched bruising invasions of southern Angola. It was a stalemate-until November 1987, when Castro decided to push the South Africans out of the country once and for all. His decision was triggered by the fact that the South African army had cornered the best units of the Angolan army in the southern Angolan town of Cuito Cuanavale. And his decision was made possible by the Iran Contra scandal rocking Washington. Until the Iran-Contra scandal exploded in late 1986, weakening and distracting the Reagan administration, the Cubans had feared that the United States might launch an attack on their homeland. They had therefore been unwilling to deplete their stocks of weapons. But Iran Contra defanged Reagan, and freed Castro to send Cuba’s best planes, pilots, and antiaircraft weapons to Angola. His strategy was to break the South African offensive against Cuito Cuanavale in the southeast and then attack in the southwest, “like a boxer who with his left hand blocks the blow and with his right-strikes.” On March 23, 1988, the South Africans launched their last major attack against Cuito Cuanavale. It was an abject failure. The US Joint Chiefs of Staff noted, “The war in Angola has taken a dramatic and-as far as the South Africans are concerned-an undesirable turn.” The Cubans’ left hand had blocked the South African blow while their right hand was preparing to strike: powerful Cuban columns were moving towards the Namibian border, pushing the South Africans back. Cuban MIG-23s began to fly over northern Namibia. US and South African documents prove that the Cubans gained the upper hand in Angola. The Cubans demanded that Pretoria withdraw unconditionally from Angola and allow UN-supervised elections in Namibia. The US Joint Chiefs of Staff warned that if South Africa refused, the Cubans were in a position “to launch a well-supported offensive into Namibia.” The South Africans acknowledged their dilemma: if they refused the Cuban demands, they ran “the very real risk of becoming involved in a full-scale conventional war with the Cubans, the results of which are potentially disastrous.” The South African military was grim: “We must do the utmost to avoid a confrontation.” Pretoria capitulated. It accepted the Cubans’ demands and withdrew unconditionally from Angola and agreed to UN supervised elections in Namibia, which SWAPO won. The Cuban victory reverberated beyond Namibia and Angola. In the words of Nelson Mandela, the Cuban victory “destroyed the myth of the invincibility of the white oppressor … [and] inspired the fighting masses of South Africa … Cuito Cuanavale was the turning point for the liberation of our continent-and of my people-from the scourge of apartheid.”