National Post (National Edition)
Castro was no kindly uncle
Trudeau’s eulogy displays simple incompetence
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s unfortunate and sadly hilarious Fidel Castro moment may not do him or the Liberal government much lasting harm. That’s not to say it has been anything but a colossal cock-up.
There is a simple formula for officially eulogizing authoritarian-yet-important political figures, which Castro — a revolutionary leader, dictator and deliverer of extremely long speeches — clearly was. It boils down to saying as little as you can, while not obviously lying.
Consider the terse comment issued by Stephen Harper’s office in 2013 on the death of Venezuelan strongman and darling-of-the-left Hugo Chavez. After first offering condolences, Harper said “at this key juncture, I hope the people of Venezuela can now build for themselves a better future based on the principles of freedom, democracy, the rule of law and respect for human rights.”
Implicit, of course, was that Chavez had denied Venezuelans freedom, democracy and the rule of law, which he did. But out of deference to the feelings of any who might be genuinely mourning the man, Harper’s criticism was indirect. The Venezuelan government issued a diplomatic protest. No one else, that I can recall, noticed.
Now fast-forward to Trudeau’s statement about Castro Saturday, issued while the PM was knocking around Madagascar, lecturing African heads of state about gender.
“Fidel Castro was a larger than life leader who served his people for almost half a century. A legendary revolutionary and orator, Mr. Castro made significant improvements to the education and healthcare of his island nation.”
Cuba does indeed have a surfeit of doctors and other PhDs. If you visit the Communist paradise you may encounter several as staff in its hotels, where many Cubans moonlight to obtain precious hard currency denied them in their day jobs. But I digress.
“While a controversial figure,” Trudeau’s statement continued, “both Mr. Castro’s supporters and detractors recognized his tremendous dedication and love for the Cuban people who had a deep and lasting affection for “el Comandante.”
Tremendous dedication and love? Yes. Dictators are often partial to their absolute dominions. Some might even call this love. And such adoration can be returned. It’s called Stockholm Syndrome.
Then: “I know my father was very proud to call him a friend …” Here the eyerolling went viral and soon metastasized on Twitter as #trudeaueulogies. A sample: “We mourn the passing of Henry VIII, who kept his head, while all around were losing theirs.” There’s more, much of it wryly funny.
Not everyone can laugh, though. Here’s why.
From the U.S. Department of State’s 2015 human rights report: “Cuba is an authoritarian state led by Raul Castro, who is president of the Council of State and Council of Ministers, Communist Party first secretary, and commander in chief of security forces … the principal human rights abuses included the abridgement of the ability of citizens to choose their government; the use of government threats, physical assault, intimidation, and violent government-organized counter-protests against peaceful dissent; and harassment and detentions to prevent free expression and peaceful assembly.”
From Amnesty International’s 2015/16 report on Cuba: “Government critics continued to experience harassment, ‘acts of repudiation’ (demonstrations led by government supporters with participation of state security officials), and politically motivated criminal prosecutions. The judicial system remained under political control. The government continued to control access to the Internet and blocked and filtered websites, limiting access to information and criticism of the state. Activists reported that mobile phones were without service during the Pope’s visit …”
And from Human Rights Watch, which published the following Saturday: “During his nearly five decades of rule in Cuba, Fidel Castro built a repressive system that punished virtually all forms of dissent, a dark legacy that lives on even after his death. During Castro’s rule, thousands of Cubans were incarcerated in abysmal prisons, thousands more were harassed and intimidated, and entire generations were denied basic political freedoms. Cuba made improvements in health and education, though many of these gains were undermined by extended periods of economic hardship or by repressive policies.”
Yes, that’s right: Back in 1976, as Pierre Trudeau, apparently Castro’s brother from another mother, declared “Viva el Primer Ministro Fidel Castro” (Long live Prime Minister Fidel Castro), el Comandante was just coming off 17 years of rule by decree, and engaged in jotting down his own constitution. The transfer of some power to his brother in 2006 was, of course, dynastic and despotic, just as Raul Castro’s control is now.
Was it too much to expect someone in the PMO would have flagged this little cyclone and managed a tweak, to avoid wholly conveying that the prime minister of Canada considered the dictator tantamount to a benevolent, grizzled old uncle? Apparently.
Considering the furor in 2013 after Trudeau praised Communist China’s “basic dictatorship,” it is stupefying. Given this government intends to continue to engage with Beijing, a task now made more difficult, it is simply incompetent.