Cuba held a two-day memorial on Monday and Tuesday for Fidel Castro, who led the country for 49 years before officially ceding power to his younger brother, President Raúl Castro, in 2008. While some world leaders and Cubans criticize the elder Castro for risking nuclear conflicts and treating his people — especially dissidents — harshly, others praise his revolutionary policies, particularly those involving healthcare and education. What do you think of Castro, and how do you think his death will impact the future of Cuba?

Prof. Faith Smith (AAAS)

When Colombians rejected a peace-keeping referendum last month, the news that it had been carefully hammered out in Cuba for the past five years was a reminder of Cuba’s mediating presence in the region. Cuban doctors supplemented the Jamaican health care system of my youth, and some Jamaican doctors studied in Cuba. These are the quieter, quotidian aspects of the extraordinary Cuban experiment that began in 1959. Its insistence that everyone deserves food, housing, education, medical care and training in the arts continues to elude US and Caribbean projects of emancipation. I hear in the condemnation of Castro mainly this: Cuba failed to behave like other Caribbean territories in what Ronald Reagan termed America’s “backyard,” as orderly havens for tourists and offshore banking. If the social change envisioned by Castro’s generation became outmoded, we must figure out how to make its best elements workable for the many, rather than the few.

Prof. Faith Smith (AAAS) is an Associate Professor of African and Afro-American Studies and English. She also teaches in Latin American and Latino Studies.

Prof. Brian Fried (POL)

Castro has long been an iconic figure, respected — and even revered — for leading a revolution against a corrupt and oppressive regime and his resistance to U.S. influence, both domestically and internationally. Under his tutelage, Cuba made huge strides in combatting poverty and illiteracy and providing quality healthcare to all. However, this progress came at a price: economic gains depended on subsidies from foreign powers; central planning did not yield prosperity. Furthermore, Castro’s regime imprisoned and killed thousands that it deemed threatening. After decades under Castro, change is unlikely to come quickly. Most Cubans have no memory of anything different. Brandeis has students whose families were political and economic refugees from Cuba, and many continue to flee the country in an effort to attain greater freedom. Those who remain presumably would like to gain the freedoms and opportunities available in more open societies without giving up the gains made in past decades.

Prof. Brian Fried (POL) is a Florence Levy Kay Fellow in Comparative Politics of the Developing World. He also teaches in Latin American and Latino Studies.

Prof. Cristina Espinosa (Heller)

Castro gave hope to those fighting oppression and injustice. The fall of bloody Batista to Castro’s guerrilla was supported by a broad coalition of workers and teacher unions, Catholic youth and workers’ organizations, priests and nuns, small business and farmers and lower ranks of the police and army. The myopic hostility of the USA turned Cuba to the URSS and into a more ideological and party-controlled process, where state repression was complemented by “grassroots repression” through the Neighborhood Committees’ reporting of anti-revolutionary behavior or attitudes of common citizens. Paranoia and repression were hard to ignore or support, and they tarnished the amazing accomplishments in the fields of medicine and health services, education, land reform, redistribution of wealth and urban agriculture. Cuban people managed to survive 50 years of embargo with remarkable ingenuity, creativity and pride. The fall of the URSS forced some opening of the economy since 1990, and the blooming of tourism has already spread inequalities, in a country where a well-trained scientist can now make more money catering to tourists. Castro’s death might facilitate inevitable further opening. I hope the spirit of the Cuban Revolution will respond to this challenge.

Prof. Cristina Espinosa (Heller) is an Associate Professor in Gender, Culture and Development at the Heller School for Social Policy and Management.

Kimberly Tellez ’17

I do not endorse everything about Fidel Castro and the Cuban Revolution; there is certainly a lot to be criticized and a lot of failures to be looked on. Moving forward, I think it important to reflect critically on his legacy so as to build better movements. However, because liberal/conservative media in the United States and elsewhere are celebrating his passing, I think it is also incumbent upon us to give an alternative narrative and highlight how important Cuba and Castro were to millions around the world whose struggles Castro’s Cuba helped support. Nelson Mandela himself visited Cuba after his release to thank Castro for helping the African National Congress defeat Apartheid. Further, Cubans have excellent education and healthcare systems despite U.S. attempts to isolate their country. I think Fidel Castro represented an era of global struggle, and I think that is worth celebrating.

Kimberly Tellez ’17 is an Latin American and Latino Studies Undergraduate Departmental Representative.

Jessica Goldstein ’17

Cuba would never have reached the state it is today had it not been for the revolutionary leader, Fidel Castro. While his revolutionary policies may have stood ahead of others and upended the Cuban political status quo, revolutionary policies do not excuse a record that consistently fails human rights. While in office, Castro sought to stamp out any semblance of dissidence. This lack of political freedom soon led to a lack of human rights. According to a Nov. 26 Human Rights Watch article, in 2003, the Cuban government infamously cracked down on human rights activists, journalists and others critical of the government. In fact, the same lack of freedom barred rights groups and intergovernmental organizations from monitoring the country’s practices. Although Castro no longer remains in power, his legacy persists. In order to reach a Cuba that upholds human rights, we must look beyond Castro’s Cuba and move away from his repressive policies.

Jessica Goldstein ’17 is the president of STAND on campus and a Politics major. She is also an associate editor for the Justice.


—Editor’s Note: This piece has been updated to correct the spelling of "Colombians" in Prof. Faith Smith's response.