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Cuba: Life without the eternal shadow

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castro-endWaking up without Fidel: Around 12 million Cubans have just spent their first day without the Máximo Líder.

The morning after the news of Fidel Castro’s death, Cuba’s best-known blogger, Yoani Sánchez, reached for her camera. Her photograph depicts a still-sleepy Havana at sunrise. For whole generations of Cubans, it is the first morning without the man who determined every detail of their lives. “A strange lightness lies over the city,” Sánchez remarks.

Cuba without Fidel Castro. Cuba without the Máximo Líder. Something that was always unthinkable has now become reality. Sánchez writes of nervous security personnel and incredulous Cubans who couldn’t believe the news delivered by the head of state, General Raúl Castro, in a televised address to his compatriots.

Sánchez is part of the small section of the Cuban population who dared to publicly defy the leader of the revolution. For this, the online rebel has been threatened, spat on and humiliated by the security forces. Sánchez has paid for her courage with ostracism, official degradation and hatred. Now, her generation hopes that something is finally changing in Cuba. For a few years now, Sánchez has been allowed to publish her blog “14ymedio.com”. It’s primarily popular with Cubans in exile and with foreigners, because Cubans themselves don’t have internet.

Depleted opposition mostly in exile

Little remains of Cuba’s opposition. Oswaldo José Payá, one of the most prominent opposition politicians, died four years ago in a mysterious car accident. To this day the Payas family claims it was an assassination. Many others cracked under the tremendous pressure from Cuba’s domestic intelligence service and decided, after years in jail, to spend their lives in exile. But whether from Miami or Madrid, they have almost no influence over political developments in Cuba. They aren’t present in state media reports, and they can’t reach their compatriots because of the lack of internet.

Even the leaders of the civil rights movement “Ladies in White” were in Miami at this historic juncture. They were taking part in a ceremony to name a street after them – Damas de Blanco Way. Many Cubans in exile celebrated the death of their former tormentor, but in the camp of the depleted opposition there is almost no hope, and no united strategy for a life on the island without Fidel Castro.

“Resist foreign domination”

Argentinean Nobel Peace Prize laureate Adolfo Pérez Esquivel also warns people not to expect too much. In an interview with DW Online he said he didn’t believe that there would be changes any time soon. “Cuba has a right to self-determination, and I believe the doors are starting to open a little there now as well. Cuba has always had to fend off aggression, and the embargo has still not been lifted,” he said.

Pérez Esquivel, who himself resisted a dictatorship during the rule of the military junta in Argentina, sees the communists’ fear of intervention from abroad as the main brake on further development: “After more than 50 years of resistance, people have to respect the fact that Cuba still intends to resist foreign domination.”

Source: dw.com

Fidel Castro A revolutionary the CIA couldn’t kill: How survived ‘638 assassination attempts’ as Cuba’s leader,

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Wealthy farmer's son whose politics were shaped at university

Wealthy farmer’s son whose politics were shaped at university

Look back at life of man who led Cuba for decades and was a key player in a crisis which almost led to nuclear war between the Soviet Union and America.

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The Communist revolutionary Fidel Castro has died at the age of 90, it was confirmed today.

Castro led Cuba for decades and transformed the country into one-party socialist state.

He courted controversy throughout his reign, with the United States becoming increasingly alarmed in the early 1960s with his friendly relations with the Soviet Union.

Castro became a central figure in one of the defining moments of the Cold War by allowing the Soviets to place nuclear weapons on Cuba.

It sparked the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962 leading to fears of all-out nuclear war between the Soviet Union and the US.

The CIA reportedly attempted to assassinate Castro on an incredible 638 occasions.

Here, Mirror Online looks back at his life and how he survived numerous attempts on his life.

Wealthy farmer’s son whose politics were shaped at university

Castro was born in 1926, the son of a wealthy farmer.

His left-wing politics were developed during his time studying law at the University of Havana.

He then become a revolutionary, plotting rebellions against right-wing governments.

Along with his brother Raul Castro and Che Guevara, he formed the revolutionary group the 26th of July Movement.

evolutionary becomes young leader of Cuba

Castro became Cuba’s Prime Minister in 1959 after playing a key role in the Cuban Revolution to overthrow Cuban President Fulgencio Batista.

He then transformed the country into a one-party socialist state under Community Party rule.

This led to concern in the US, deeply suspicious of communism, not least when Castro started getting close to the Soviet Union.

Among the reforms Castro introduced in the country included expanding healthcare and education.

But he also suppressed criticism of the regime within Cuba and introduced state control of the Press.

How Castro almost caused nuclear war between US and Soviet Union

With the US increasingly concerned with Castro’s relationship with the Soviet Union, it attempted to remove him from power.

This included assassination attempts, economic blockades and counter revolution including the Bay of Pigs invasion.

This resulted in Castro forming an even closer relationship with the Soviets.