(S.Ravi Seshu)
The tallest communist revolutionary in the modern human kind and figurehead for armed struggles across the globe, Fidel Castro Ruz died aged 90.
Having survived umpteen number of assassination attempts and premature obituaries in the last five decades, the Cuba’s former president breathed his last on Saturday after suffering a prolonged illness. With this demise of the comandante, there comes an end to the golden chapter in Communism history. It also provided the “biological solution” the US sought for a long.
For the last one decade, Fidel confined to bed after undergoing an intestinal surgery. After ceding power to his brother Raul Castro, Fidel spent his time writing for the party newspaper, Granma, while making occasional public appearances. Most recently he attended the 2016 Communist Party Congress in Havana in April 2016.
Imperialism surged ahead, ten US presidents came and went, the Berlin Wall fell, the USSR collapsed, capitalism thrived, digital world emerged, attempts were made to topple him but Fidel remained steadfast in shaping Cuba a vibrant and powerful country.
Addressing the valedictory of the Communist party Congress in April, Fidel said: “I’ll be 90 years old soon. Soon I’ll be like all the others.”
Fidel went on to say: “The time will come for all of us, but the ideas of the Cuban communists will remain as proof on this planet that if they are worked at with fervour and dignity, they can produce the material and cultural goods that human beings need, and we need to fight without truce to obtain them.” His words are true.
The olive-uniformed rebel Fidel overthrew the dictatorial Fulgencio Batista in 1959 and flirted with nuclear armageddon during the 1962 missile crisis and turned out to be the figurehead for all revolutions in the world akin to his comrade Che.
More than anything, Fidel’s developmental agenda with a special focus on education and health is worth emulating. His political, moral and material support to the Latin American countries and other developing countries in the face of imperialistic tendencies of super powers is a message for leaders.
Leftwing admirers around the world are mourning the sad demise of the greatest leader. As put by Raúl castro, Fidel is irreplaceable but the legacy he has left is indeed immortal.
