I started out trying to settle an argument between my friend Jose and my friend Richard about Che, whether he was a good guy or a bad guy, whether he was a hero or a vicious killer.
I don't know about that. But I have settled my own attitude toward Che and toward his cause. I think he and Fidel -- who was an overbearing horse's ass, by most accounts, even when he was young -- made several fundamental errors and some immoral choices.
First, and perhaps most important, I think it's wrong to take away people's businesses, farms and properties.
If a man or woman, or their family, has worked for years, in some cases for generations, to build up a farm or a ranch or a business, I think it's immoral and unethical to take it away from them.
If these business owners or land owners have treated their employees or their tenant farmers badly, and paid them almost nothing, I think the aggrieved employees should be compensated justly for past inequities and raised up to a decent standard of living, whether the owners want to do that or not.
In other words, free the slaves. Force the owners to do the right thing. The rich should have certain moral restraints. Regulations, if you will.
Second, I think too many people were killed. The tribunals, firing squads and summary executions were too frequent and too many.
But it's a fascinating biography. I recommend it. Che and Fidel, and their followers, accomplished amazing things. They changed Cuba forever. In some ways, for the better, in some ways for the worse.
I am a reformer, not a revolutionary. A social democrat, not a communist. I would not have gotten along well with Che or Fidel.
Oh, well. You can't get along with everyone.
-- Roger
© Copyright 2011, Roger R. Angle
4 comments:
Fidel's actions also changed Miami, which was transformed from a sleepy southern town into an international city and hub of international commerce, largely because of the efforts of the Cuban professionals who fled there after Fidel's revolution.
I never thought of that. Interesting. Thanks, Tim.
Latin America is the reason why Miami has become an international hub.
Fidel and Cuba were only responsible for the criminals they brought here in the Mariel boat lift.
I don't understand your comment, especially "only responsible for the criminals."
Do you mean they were not responsible for sending the professionals (doctors, lawyers, business people) that helped develop Miami?
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