Shades of Castroism
PRESIDENT Rodrigo Roa Duterte is uncannily and inadvertently showing shades of Castroism without being a communist which Fidel Castro readily admits, and tyrant which Castro vehemently denies.
As role models go, it is better, say, for Pres. Digong Duterte to emulate the history and performance of Fidel Castro, or Malaysia’s Mahathir, or Fidel V. Ramos, rather than Pres. Donald Trump who is not only a loose cannon but is also a white supremacist and chauvinist.
Pres. Rodrigo Roa Duterte’s emphasis and focus are on patriotism, Filipino masses, especially the youth, integrity, education, health care, unity, and peace, which are the ingredients of sustainable growth and greatness.
Commandante Fidel Castro of Cuba, which is only 90 miles from the tip of Florida in the United States, endured and triumphed in the last five decades of hardship and struggles, US sanctions embargo, blockade, subversion, invasion, assassinations, deprivation, calamities, and ostracism.
Notwithstanding austerity and hardship, Cuba, Fidel Castro said, can take pride and boast of the extraordinary achievements of the Cuban Revolution which continue till today under the leadership of brother Raul Castro.
Cuba, in the words of Fidel Castro, has accomplished the following: “Cuba has 10 percent literacy and will have the best health system in the world whose services will continue to be provided absolutely free; social security covers 100 percent of the country’s citizens; 85 percent of the population own their own homes, tax free; only a tiny percentage use drugs, and we are resolutely fighting against that problem and lotteries and other forms of gambling are prohibited so that no one would stake his or her hopes of personal progress on chance.”
Castro adds that “there are no paramilitary forces, or death squads, no extrajudicial killings, and no torture.”
To Fidel Castro, “ignorance is the root of many ills. Knowledge must be the funda- mental ally of nations.”
On the personal side, Fidel Castro never had an increase in his salary of $30 per month, and “I’ll have the glory of dying without a penny of convertible currency.”
Ignacio Ramonet, author and professor at Dennis Diderot University in Paris, described President Fidel Castro of Cuba as living modestly, austerely, Spartan-like, and frugal like a soldier-monk whom. Even his enemies will admit that “he was one of the very few heads of state who has not taken advantage of his position to enrich himself,” he said.
“Fidel has a profound sense of history, and an extreme sensitivity to everything touching on national identity.”
As we have opined at the beginning of this column, the persona, traits, vision, and reforms being contemplated by President Rodrigo Roa Duterte display shades of Fidel Castro’s Cuban revolution that succeeded, and stunned the world.
You be the judge.
“History will absolve me.” — Fidel Castro