Some venerated him as a near-holy figure and mourned his passing. Others saw it as a liberation from the gloomy shadow of nearly five decades of systemic oppression and failed policies.
These were some of the responses to the death of former Cuban dictator Fidel Castro on Friday.
No Google search could conceivably tell the whole story of Castro’s reign.
Certainly, among most Americans, he is closely associated with the very antagonistic role he played in the U.S.’ shadow war against communism in the latter half of the 20th century. With just 103 miles separating the U.S. and Cuba, he was a very real threat to democracy. Vast numbers of Cubans fled the island to escape his blatant human rights violations.
To others — perhaps in markedly fewer numbers — Castro was the beacon of anti-imperialism, the lone brave soul willing to stand up to the U.S. His followers credit him with making Cuba great and cultivating the system that offers free health care and education to all.
In reality, though, these assessments are much too shallow. To refer to Castro simply as a polarizing figure who had a huge effect on today’s geopolitical and social climates while declining to take a stance regarding the ethical questions of his reign is to engage in a convenient but lazy analysis.
Lost in the ocean of praise and admiration for the late Cuban dictator is the fact that Fidel Castro was just that — a brutal dictator.
In the 1960s, Castro and his cronies rounded up gays, conscientious objectors of the revolution and followers of various religions and forced them into labor camps called UMAPs, or military units to aid production.
He also deported American beat poet Allen Ginsberg, a homosexual, for fueling claims current Cuban President Raul Castro was gay.
Let’s also not forget Castro’s complicity along another despot, Nikita Khrushschev, in the Cuban Missile Crisis, which nearly reached a catastrophic head. Nuclear war was narrowly avoided.
Of course, the U.S.’ hands were not clean, but this is not intended to be a commentary on the politics of the Cold War. But Castro’s cavalier arrogance very nearly killed hundreds of thousands of people — quite possibly including those Cuban citizens Castro apologists so dotingly claim he made it his mission to serve.
We could spend days deliberating the philosophy of Castro’s communist agenda, but the fact remains that in practice, he was, generally, an enemy to many and a friend to the few who served his personal interests.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, whose father and former prime minister Pierre Trudeau was reported to be close friends with Castro, issued a statement that drew ire from members of the right.
The statement, which expresses the deep sorrow Justin Trudeau felt following the death of a remarkable leader, is selective in its description of Castro’s regime.
While Castro may have contributed to a few successful reforms, his policies have decimated the Cuban economy and forced innumerable people into poverty.
If you choose to praise his work, don’t neglect to qualify your statements by acknowledging Castro for what he was — an unapologetic dictator.
dkilcull@indiana.edu
@daniel_kilc_
