Castro lived simple life

I VISITED Cuba in 2003 with Rob Davies, then chairman of Parliament’s trade and industry committee (who, with his knowledge of Portuguese got us through some pretty hectic Spanish interactions), Alistair Ruiters, then trade and industry DG and the then Limpopo premier, Ngoako Ramathlodi, who loved Cuban cigars…

It’s never as plain and simple and obvious as we would wish it to be. Sure, Cuba was a closed country with a fixed mindset, but it was also a nation of great human wealth and amazing talent. There was a lot of bad. But there was plenty of good too. It’s always a shade of grey. I never saw a single person without a job, a child not in school nor a citizen without a full stomach. Everybody had a home and a purpose, however humble. I’m not, for a moment, ignoring the obvious or saying it was perfect but, when I look at nearby Haiti and so many countries in Africa, there is simply no comparison. Castro was a true revolutionary and remained one all his life. However “bad” he may have been, the corrupt Batista regime was far worse. The US has much to answer for too in the story of the Cuban people.

There are no statues of Castro in Havana or Cuba, no roads or buildings named for him. No flags. Nothing. He lived a simple life and did his best, as he saw it, for his country.

There have been far worse. I wish him peace. And his country prosperity. MARK LOWE DURBAN