Latin America

On Saturday, left-leaning politicians across the world remembered Fidel Castro and citizens paid tribute to one of the revolutionary icons of the 20th century.

Today, we say goodbye to one of the biggest patriots of Latin America, and why we lament his death, we evoke his example of humanity, we embrace each other and we continue walking the path of the undefeated leader of the Cuban Revolution and the unity of the peoples against colonialism and imperialism. Fidel definitively enters history with an

On Saturday at the annual Latin America conference, which took place at the TUC’s Congress House, a minute’s silence was observed. The former Respect MP George Galloway spoke of Castro’s legacy after tweeting a picture of himself with the late Cuban leader and declaring: “You were the greatest man I ever met Comandante Fidel. You were the man of the century. Hasta la Victoria Siempre. Orden. RIP.”

His enemies say that he exercised power by talking a lot and listening little, because he was more used to hearing echoes than voices. And in that his enemies are right. But some things his enemies do not say: it was not to pose for the history books that he bared his breast to the invaders’ bullets, he faced hurricanes as an equal, hurricane to hurricane, he survived 637 attempts on his life,

Cuba is an impoverished island that remains largely cut off from the world and lies about 4,500 miles from the West African nations where Ebola is spreading at an alarming rate. Yet, having pledged to deploy hundreds of medical professionals to the front lines of the pandemic, Cuba stands to play the most robust role among the nations seeking to contain the virus.

It can be expected that a lengthy period of mourning will take place in Cuba and that his funeral will see the record attendance of many worldwide leaders, President Obama included. The US leader will probably exploit the occasion to promote the rapprochement with Cuba, likely making positive and upbeat remarks about Castro's life and legacy in order to advance his agenda of winning the islanders' support.

Fidel: At this moment I remember many things: when I met you in Maria Antonia's house, when you proposed I come along, all the tensions involved in the preparations. One day they came by and asked who should be notified in case of death, and the real possibility of it struck us all. Later we knew it was true, that in a revolution one wins or dies (if it is a real one). Many comrades fell along the way to victory.

On 26 July 1953 an angry young lawyer, Fidel Castro, led a small band of armed men in an attempt to seize the Moncada barracks in Santiago de Cuba, in Oriente province. Most of the guerrillas were killed. Castro was tried and defended himself with a masterly speech replete with classical references and quotations from Balzac and Rousseau, that ended with the

The success of Cuba's revolution also meant facing down more than 50 years of a hostile and destructive U.S. blockade, while also surviving multiple CIA assassination attempts. Fidel and Cuba inspired a growing decolonization movement throughout the world, one which Fidel actively supported by creating networks of mutual aid throughout Latin America, Africa, and the rest of the Global South.

Fidel Castro’s last major public appearance was on April 19, 2016, at the seventh Congress of the Communist Party of Cuba. Known throughout his career for giving marathon speeches, some lasting upwards of 6-8 hours, Fidel’s final public speech was notably short, yet as defiant and hopeful as ever.