On Why Many Mourn Castro's Death

Elliott Erwitt/Magnum Photos

Here in the U.S., it isn't necessary to list the real and alleged flaws of the Castro regime. They're known to all. But why are so many people mourning the loss of this "tyrant"? There are multiple reasons. One reason is the fact that Cubans have, in spite of our embargo against their country and repeated attempts to destabilize the Castro regime, enjoyed remarkable improvements in their living standards. Let's take two examples. Over time, the differences in infant mortality and life expectancy (two widely-used measures of health and well-being) between Cuba and the U.S. have been reversed; Cubans are living somewhat longer lives than Americans and fewer infants are dying in their first year.

Am I saying that these gains make up for the authoritarian and repressive manner in which the country is run (side note: according to the Political Terror Scale, Cuba isn't more repressive than the U.S.)? No. But there are many who are aware of and appreciate these gains, and credit Castro (reasonably or not) for them.

Another point: however authoritarian the Castro regime may have been, it is no more dictatorial or repressive than the Batista regime preceding it. Here's what JFK had to say of the latter:

"Batista murdered 20,000 Cubans in seven years - a greater proportion of the Cuban population than the proportion of Americans who died in both World Wars, and he turned Democratic Cuba into a complete police state – destroying every individual liberty. Yet our aid to his regime, and the ineptness of our policies, enabled Batista to invoke the name of the United States in support of his reign of terror. Administration spokesmen publicly praised Batista – hailed him as a staunch ally and a good friend – at a time when Batista was murdering thousands, destroying the last vestiges of freedom, and stealing hundreds of millions of dollars from the Cuban people, and we failed to press for free elections."

Past repression doesn't justify current repression. But it would be wrong to think that Castro toppled a peaceful, democratic government. Quite the opposite. Further, Cuba's greater independence from the U.S. (the world's most powerful country that nonetheless failed in its many efforts to assassinate Castro) is arguably a source of pride for many Cubans, which may have enabled them to overlook or excuse ongoing repression in their country.

Ozzie Guillen and His Comment on Castro

Ozzie Guillen, the manager of the Miami Marlins, was suspended for five games in response to his comment about former Cuban leader, Fidel Castro. As Guillen stated in an interview with Time: "I love Fidel Castro. You know why? A lot of people have wanted to kill Fidel Castro for the last 60 years but that [expletive] is still here."

"The pain and suffering caused by Fidel Castro", the Marlins stated, "cannot be minimized especially in a community filled with victims of the dictatorship." Cuban-American baseball announcer, Amaury Pi-Gonzalez, offered the following explanation for why members of Miami's Cuban community were so outraged by Guillen's remarks: "It's like going to New York's Jewish district and saying, 'Hitler wasn't so bad.'"

Although Guillen repeatedly apologized for his remarks, calling them the "biggest mistake so far in his life", he caused such an outrage that many within Miami's Cuban exile community have called for nothing less than his termination.

Hypocritical Backlash?

Would Guillen have elicited a similarly hostile response if he were to praise Fulgencio Batista, whose regime was overthrown by Castro and his fellow revolutionaries? I doubt it. And yet the Batista regime caused quite a bit of "pain and suffering" of its own. Criticizing past U.S. policy towards Cuba, John F. Kennedy noted that:

Batista murdered 20,000 Cubans in seven years - a greater proportion of the Cuban population than the proportion of Americans who died in both World Wars, and he turned Democratic Cuba into a complete police state – destroying every individual liberty. Yet our aid to his regime, and the ineptness of our policies, enabled Batista to invoke the name of the United States in support of his reign of terror. Administration spokesmen publicly praised Batista – hailed him as a staunch ally and a good friend – at a time when Batista was murdering thousands, destroying the last vestiges of freedom, and stealing hundreds of millions of dollars from the Cuban people, and we failed to press for free elections.

My sincere hope is that the Marlins and most members of the Cuban exile community are consistent, opposing any and all forms of dictatorship. But I can't help but feel that what many are effectively denouncing isn't dictatorship per se, but dictatorship of a particular (left-wing) sort. And to the extent that my hunch is correct, it's difficult to take their indignation at Guillen's remarks seriously.