Fidel Castro would rather have been born in a bigger country than Cuba. He knew Cuba’s economy would remain insignificant but he figured out how to make Cuba and himself noticed. No one man has shaped a country in modern times like Fidel. When he said ‘this time the revolution is for real’, he meant it. All that was in 1959. Now Cuba has lost its most famous son.
The difference is that Fidel, his ideas and methods stayed around for more than 50 years. Unlike Nelson Mandela, he never stepped down to give others a chance. And in the past decade his brother Raúl has been left to try to make Fidel’s system work in the 21st century.
For Cubans, Fidel was how they learnt the alphabet — F for Fidel, Y for Yanqui. He was how they thought, how they saw the outside world and how they earned their living. His government made them dependent because they all worked for it. It was Fidel or nothing. Socialism or Death. He never suggested he would ask the people what they wanted. He told them and they believed. Now it is not clear what the ‘or’ is for Cuba.