When the adversity gets worse, at a bad moment, when all our effort is not enough, and we must find another way; when a hopeful project is cut short, given the countless difficulties caused by the blockade, that anyone with any common sense can see, we ask ourselves: What would Fidel do? As if, in him, all answers can be found
The world is living hard times; Cuba, for its part, is, too. After a year of arduous battles, with our neighbor to the North holding our neck, attempting to force us to surrender and accept the imperialist yoke, in mid-March the pandemic reached our shores.
Horrendous images from all parts of the world of a desperate battle with death; a British cruise ship in trouble, with infected passengers aboard, which Cuba allowed to dock, to facilitate their safe return home; rich countries with health systems overwhelmed by the rapidly spreading disease; Cuban medical brigades preparing to save lives around the world, and the empire maliciously attempting to discredit what can only be described as glorious: a small island nation challenging Goliath, protecting its own, while making whatever it has available to all, without a single soul turning away from the task.
When the adversity gets worse, at a bad moment, when all our effort is not enough, and we must find another way; when a hopeful project is cut short, given the countless difficulties caused by the blockade, that anyone with any common sense can see, we ask ourselves: What would Fidel do? As if, in him, all answers can be found.
Wherever he might be – if in addition to breathing in the very essence of a people, he may live someplace else – Fidel is watching us.
The man who lived to return to his compatriots the dignity we were denied for centuries; who made sure all of Cuba could read, to ensure that ignorance did not prevent understanding; who made the happiness of children the homeland’s first priority, with no exclusions of any kind, offering all the right to shine as who they are and not what they have; who demolished barriers so no human being might believe him or herself superior to others; who trained doctors for Cuba and the world; Fidel knew how, with no other lesson than his own example, to create continuity.
It is no accident that President Díaz-Canel, who, with the sure guidance of Raúl, is today conducting the destiny of Cuba along a clear path, bases every one of his decisions on Fidel’s principles, those of the Cuban Revolution. Working very closely at his side in the last years was enough for our President to appreciate the rigor and value of Fidel’s essential teachings.
He knows that, to put an end to the neoliberal catastrophe that has cost us so much, the world needs a categorical change, and therefore upholds the banner of socialism, as the most just and humane of social systems.
His confidence in the people; his tested solidarity; his natural eloquence, always in front, calling everything by name; his hope for the future; his unassuming decency and willingness to work and build, leave no doubt. Fidel would do, in every new task, what Cuba, with the direction of our President, has reaffirmed.
Source: Granma
