They do not accept rivalries, they reject dialogue or debate, force is the main argument in promoting the political model they defend.
14ymedio, Pedro Corzo, Miami, November 24, 2024 — Though eight years have passed since his death, we must acknowledge that his ill-fated legacy remains. The totalitarian regime that Fidel Castro built has fulfilled his sole purpose in life: to seize and preserve absolute power.
The Cuban dictator ruled like an ancient Egyptian pharaoh, with overwhelming power. He controlled the lives and properties of his subjects, projected an imperialist attitude and expected submission from his neighbors.
The totalitarian constitution of 1976 was drafted to institutionalize his will. This became all too obvious when the Castro legislators, on orders from their sovereign Fidel, decided to amend the constitution in reaction to the threat posed by Oswaldo Paya’s reform initiative, the Varela Project. They declared that socialism — meaning totalitarianism — was irrevocable.
Unfortunately for the Cuban people, Castro had a long and unproductive life, making his legacy even more pathetic. Totalitarianism has survived because it has been able to pass on to his followers the malevolence and inefficiency that characterized his life.
The totalitarian constitution of 1976 was drafted to institutionalize Castro’s will
Sadly for us, Fidel Castro has subjugated the country and its people for more than six and a half decades. His supreme mandate lasted forty-nine years, making him the longest-serving ruler of the 20th and 21st centuries.
It is true that the system’s never-ending state of decline has gotten so bad that it seems irreversible. Though the end may be in sight, the prolonged agony will make things even more disastrous for the Cuban people.
Perhaps the dictator-designate, Miguel Díaz-Canel, will be its gravedigger. Hopefully, the system and its fugitives will be buried together. Nevertheless, we cannot ignore the fact that the nation’s future is seriously threatened by the corrosive teachings and practices of totalitarianism.
Cuban totalitarianism gave itself new laws. Its parodies of legal proceedings allowed for public murders. Shootings were carried out in parks, cemeteries and schoolyards. Society was militarized. Terror took root. A framework that promoted hatred was adopted. Machine guns were used to resolve differences. The cultural and moral foundations of the nation — part of the National Plan, which sought to recreate civic awareness — were broken in order to introduce new values and dogmas that have left many without ethical principles, forcing them into moral bankruptcy.
Cuba’s crisis of civility runs very deep. Norms of coexistence, respect for differences and even common courtesy have been trampled by the government for more than six decades, a situation that can be seen in how large segments of the population are treated, including some of those who reject the regime.
Fidel Castro’s legacy is one long criminal rap sheet
Education was largely replaced by the culture of the barracks. Whoever had the biggest stick was right. The regime announced it intended to create a “New Man.” It denied parents the right to participate in the education of their children. It combined school with work, creating dysfunction in the family.
The consequences of an exclusionary system like the one imposed in Cuba are very pernicious. The island’s civil rights lawyers have a huge job ahead of them. They will have to work very hard to change the mentality of a large portion of the population, to make sure that citizens are aware of their rights and responsibilities.
Many Cubans, especially those who identify with the dictatorship, tend to react violently to those with different points of view. They are intolerant of rivals. They reject dialogue and debate. Force is their main tool for promoting the political system they are defending. This has led to a rise in crime which, despite brutal repression, is still not under control.
Castro’s supporters act as if they were defending a religion. The writer José Antonio Albertini was correct when he described the Cuban regime as more genuinely autocratic than that of Iran because it had a living god in the person of Fidel Castro and a high priest in the person of his brother Raúl.
Fidel Castro’s legacy is one long criminal rap sheet. His violent crimes are many but the most devastating, as Dagoberto Valdés has noted, are those that have caused human damage to young generations of Cubans.
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