Fidel Castro, the legendary revolutionary leader of Cuba is no more. The urn, containing his ashes has been driven to Santiago de Cuba, in the southeast, the reverse of the route taken by the revolutionaries in 1959, and laid to rest. Thousands of Cubans jammed into the square where Fidel Castro delivered his historic speeches to pay their last respect. The young Cubans almost outnumbered the old generation and gave a hero's farewell to Castro with tears in their eyes. Robert Mugabe, along with the Presidents of Mexico, Venezuela and Bolivia and other world leaders were in the Havana gathering. They paid their last respect to this great revolutionary leader of the world.
When the people of the world is mourning, the big media and the establishments of many western countries are describing Castro as a demon with vengeance. The London papers are no exception. The Sunday Times on 27th November published the news of Castro's death under the heading ‘Cold killer by day, insatiable womanizer by night’ and he was also described as a ‘murderous tyrant’. Those moderate western leaders who did not denounce but praised Castro were castigated by the big media of London. The Sunday Times condemned them in their editorial and commented "Brutal Castro has gone, his apologists remain among us".
Who are these apologists of Fidel Castro? They include Jeremy Corbin of Britain's Labour Party and Barrack Obama the outgoing President of the USA. Jeremy Corbin himself is a pro-people Labour leader and British establishment and the big media are all out against him. Corbin did not hesitate to say that Castro was a great leader of the century. Barrack Obama is now leaving White House; perhaps, that is why he spoke the truth. He said, "History will record and judge the enormous impact of this singular figure on the people and the world around us."
But Obama is no more the spokesperson of America's White establishment who are still under the influence of Bush's new world order with Trump's blatant ideas of bringing the world under the hegemony of America's White supremacy. The world populace still fear that Trump presidency in America may bring a dark age for the world. Forgetting his own image throughout the world he condemned Castro as a brutal dictator and said, "The world marks the passing of a brutal dictator who oppressed his own people for nearly six decades." It is the earnest hope of the peace loving people of the world that the majority Americans will not endorse this comment of Trump. If they endorse it that will be an ominous sign for the future of the world.
Now the question is why the western world is so much against a man who has liberated his country from a brutal dictator patronized by America and fought for social justice for the oppressed people of the world. His role and struggle made him popular to not only the people who were exploited but beloved to his own people also. The huge mass gathering in Havana by people to pay their last respect is a proof of how much he was loved by his countrymen. A brutal dictator who has oppressed his people could not have inspired this love and affection among the people around the world.
Those brutal dictators who came and were kept in power by American patronization, had to flee from their country or died in the hands of people in spite of huge American political and military support. What was the fate of Pinochet of Chile, Reza Shah of Iran, Bao Dai of Vietnam or Marcos of Thailand? All of them had to flee from their own countries to save themselves from the wrath of the people. American support with deadly weapon could not save them.
Pinochet abused human rights and was proved to be a mass murderer. After his fall he was supposed to be tried and hanged but the western leaders saved him and made a farce of arresting him in Britain just to hide their hypocrisy. Margaret Thatcher went to the 'prison' which was in reality a palace and had breakfast with this mass murderer. General Yahya of Pakistan was responsible for slaughtering 3 million people in Bangladesh but he was one of the great allies of America and was not condemned by the so-called human Right's authorities in the west. But the man who fought bravely to free his people from the brutal oppression of an American stooge and spread the ideals of revolution throughout Latin America is now being branded as a tyrant by the powerful section of western media. This is because he stood against the aggression and exploitation of global Capitalism under the leadership of America bravely and successfully.
Castro's only crime was that he stood against the exploitation of the people and he did not conspire to invade or to attack America. But America, time and again tried to crush the revolution and kill Castro. Of course Castro tried to save his country by successfully defeating American backed counter revolution and conspiracies and had to punish those conspirators and killers. If he was lenient like other nationalist leaders like Allende or Sheikh Mujib then he would have been killed long ago and the revolution of Cuba could not have lasted for more than half a century.
To destroy and kill Castro America even equipped some Cuban exiles with money and weapons and made the failed attempt which is known as the farce of the Bay of Pigs. When Castro was in sick bed London Guardian' Duncan Campbell reported in his paper that American CIA tried to kill Castro 638 times! Forgetting their own heinous crimes big western media tried to condemn Castro for the very crimes they themselves committed against him. Campbell’s report published on Thursday 3rd August, 2006 The Guardian describes the attempts of American CIA on Castro’s life:
The CIA's outlandish plots to bump off the Cuban dictator would put 007() to shame ... poison pills, toxic cigars and exploding molluscs. Once he even offered to shoot himself...
For nearly half a century, the CIA and Cuban exiles have been trying to devise ways to assassinate Fidel Castro, who is currently laid low in Cuba following an operation for intestinal bleeding. None of the plots, of course, succeeded, but, then, many of them would probably be rejected as too fanciful for a James Bond novel.
Fabian Escalante, who, for a time, had the job of keeping El Commandante alive, has calculated that there have been a total of 638 attempts on Castro's life. That may sound like a staggeringly high figure, but then the CIA were pretty keen on killing him. As Wayne Smith, former head of the US interests section in Havana, pointed out recently, Cuba had the effect on the US that a full moon has on a werewolf.
Attempts to kill Castro began almost immediately after the 1959 revolution, which brought him to power. In 1961, when Cuban exiles with the backing of the US government tried to overthrow him in the Bay of Pigs fiasco, the aim was to assassinate Fidel and Raul Castro and Che Guevara. Two years later, on the day that President Kennedy was assassinated, an agent who had been given a pen-syringe in Paris was sent to kill Castro, but failed."
Fidel Castro, with full support of his people, thwarted every conspiracy of the CIA. He was ruthless to crush the enemies of the people and their patrons. This defeat again and again made the western big media and American establishment bitterly angry against Castro and his success. They also tried to tarnish his image by slandering his personal character and his socialist rule. As much they feared the living Castro they also fear the dead Castro. Castro is dead but his revolutionary zeal will inspire the younger generation of the world for a long time to come.
London, Friday 02 December 2016
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Editor : M. Shamsur Rahman
Published by the Editor on behalf of Independent Publications Limited at Media Printers, 446/H, Tejgaon I/A, Dhaka-1215.
Editorial, News & Commercial Offices : Beximco Media Complex, 149-150 Tejgaon I/A, Dhaka-1208, Bangladesh. GPO Box No. 934, Dhaka-1000.
Editor : M. Shamsur Rahman
Published by the Editor on behalf of Independent Publications Limited at Media Printers, 446/H, Tejgaon I/A, Dhaka-1215.
Editorial, News & Commercial Offices : Beximco Media Complex, 149-150 Tejgaon I/A, Dhaka-1208, Bangladesh. GPO Box No. 934, Dhaka-1000.