The passing of Fidel Castro at 90 years of age provided opponents of the Cuban Revolution with an opportunity to pick up their ideological mantra in favour of some abstract notion of democracy, while ignoring the Revolution’s social achievements and human development. But Cuba’s foreign policy has also been of a remarkable consistency, and its impact has been lauded by many people, including its enemies. What were the revolutionary principles that guided Fidel Castro after 1959 and which remain the target of so much vicious coverage from the media? We posed this question, and many others, to Piero Gleijeses, a renowned expert on Cuban foreign policy.
Ricardo Vaz and Alex Anfruns: In the Cuban Drumbeat your main message is that the Cuban foreign policy under Fidel Castro is unparalleled. Why is it so?
Piero Gleijeses: Well, because of its generosity. Because Cuba and Fidel Castro, for instance played a decisive role in changing the course of history in Southern Africa, in the struggle against apartheid. They saved Angola from the attack of apartheid South Africa, they helped the Namibian guerrillas, they helped the South Africans, asking for nothing in return. And when I say for nothing I really mean absolutely nothing. Not only this, but Cuba paid a high price to help the Africans, because that meant increasing the enmity of the United States. There had been secret negotiations to normalize relations between Cuba and the Ford administration. Obviously by…