Castro lives to see another Christmas -- like it or not

Jimmy2 · December 21, 2007

Castro lives to see another Christmas -- like it or not

Les MacPherson, The StarPhoenix

Published: Thursday, December 20, 2007

Like him or not, you have to admire the extraordinary durability of Fidel Castro. He is 81, he has ruled Cuba as absolute dictator since 1959, he's languished in hospital for the last year and a half after major bowel surgery and only now is he thinking about retirement.

He's just thinking about it, mind you. This is like thinking about winter tires when your car is in the ditch.

In a written communique issued the other day from his sickbed, Castro allowed for the first time that retirement is even a consideration. What, exactly, he's waiting for, he didn't say. Castro is a sick old man who, if not at death's door, is certainly on the front step. He was losing it even before this protracted health crisis. If Castro was your dad, you'd have taken away his car keys 10 years ago, but the keys to Cuba, he'll give up in his own good time.

In spite of his chronic ill health, Castro continues to make occasional pronouncements in writing or on video. His appearance is that of a nursing home patient. But retirement, he's only thinking about. He doesn't trust anyone else to run the impoverished police state he worked so hard to build.

At least Castro is conceding now that he won't rule forever. The old tyrant said it is his "elemental duty" not to impede the advancement of younger people. His chosen successor is his younger brother Raul, 76. That his septuagenarian brother should be Castro's idea of the younger generation says all you need to know about how progressive he is.

Cuba's problematic succession reminds me of a store where I occasionally shopped when I lived in Prince Albert. This was a small, family owned department store, with the creaky wooden floors and the hot water bottles in the display window. The father ran the place while his two sons did the grunt work. As with many family-owned businesses, the understanding always was that dad would retire one day and the boys would take over. The problem was that the old man hung on to the bitter end. He died in his 90s, still in the harness. The boys, when they finally got their chance, were in their 70s. Still, it could have been worse. Had Castro been running the store, they would still be waiting.

I always think of Castro around Christmas. He makes the Grinch look like Bing Crosby.

It was in 1965 that he tried to abolish Christmas. The festivities, he said, were interfering with the sugar cane harvest. Never mind that the crop was always in by Christmas before the revolution. Castro cancelled the holiday, expunging it from the calendar and banning the public display of Christmas trees, nativity scenes and the like. He was moved to reinstate Christmas 30 years later after a visit from the late Pope John Paul. Sadly, Castro was not likewise moved to reinstate democracy or basic human rights.

At least Cubans won't be subjected to any more of his infamous, seven-hour speeches. Who but a tyrant with a runaway ego would subject an audience to a seven-hour speech? It should come as no surprise, perhaps, that his ego is the last thing to go.

Castro got away with six- and seven-hour stem-winders, and a lot more, because he's charismatic. In spite of an appalling record on human rights, he projects an image of intellectual benevolence. A more realistic appraisal comes from James Bartleman, the retired diplomat who served under Pierre Trudeau as Canada's ambassador to Cuba. Trudeau, to his enduring shame, was Castro's bosom pal, but their friendship brought little in the way of diplomatic dividends. When Bartleman dared to ask about political prisoners, Castro's secret police had his family's beloved dog poisoned and a dead rat nailed to the front door of their official residence.

Bartleman has no doubt this was done on Castro's orders. For almost 50 years, nothing significant has happened in Cuba except on Castro's orders. It figures the only thing that really works there is the brutal apparatus that keeps him in power.

Granted, Cuba has made progress in some areas under Castro. Cubans joke that the three main achievements of the revolution are health, education and sports. The three main failures are breakfast, lunch and supper.

When Castro fell ill, Conan O'Brien said he was rushed to hospital in a '55 Oldsmobile.

With Castro's end drawing nigh, there is no imminent prospect of change for the better. Raul is reputed to be even more oppressive than his older brother. Poor Cuba can expect a smooth transition to more of the same.