- by Bill Monahan

"History will absolve me," is a famous line uttered by Fidel Castro at his trial prior to his successful revolution. Can that be true? Isn't Castro a monster, murderer, dictator, who has kept the population of Cuba trembling under this thumb for sixty years? Is that how history will remember him?
The first thing any news story mentions about Fidel is his alleged human rights abuses. The next thing it mentions is the opposition in Miami that continues to this day. Then there's the Cuban Missile Crisis. There are many things that are either not mentioned or are far down on the list.
After a visit to Cuba I became so intrigued by the culture, which resonates with a sense of community and national pride everywhere that seems to directly contradict the picture of an oppressed people we've been presented, that I made a study of the island's history and particularly of what has changed since Castro's reign. And by that I mean a real study, based on reading books, not websites. I made a conscious effort to balance both negative and positive reports by journalists.
The vilification of Fidel Castro and his revolution all comes from the United States, the country that as a colonial power enslaved the Cuban people for the benefit of the United Fruit Company and other predatory corporations, and turned Havana into a playground for organized crime, gambling, prostitution and murder. The U.S had installed Batista as their puppet ruler, who governed by indiscriminate killings, leaving bodies in the streets of Havana every morning.
The country that Donald Trump is going to make great again doesn't believe in public education, which is entirely free throughout every level in Cuba, one of the most literate and highly educated countries in the world. The American voters have rejected Obamacare which would allow its citizens to access healthcare without losing their life savings. In Castro's Cuba, all health care is free and 25% of the population are medical practitioners.
In American democracy the laws are formulated by lobbyists and enacted by politicians who have been financed by corporations. In Cuban communism, laws are formulated through local organizations and several levels of expert discussion before reaching the highest levels where the dictator makes the final decision based on what he feels is best for Cuba.
The United States has the highest rate of incarceration in the world, housing 22% of the world's prisoners, with an evident racial bias. It is almost double the per capita incarceration rate in Cuba, the country that they incessantly criticize for its human rights abuses.
Fidel Castro has created in Cuba an experimental society that can be a model for the world. It has been thwarted but not eliminated by the U.S. trade embargo. As he aged his views were increasingly inflexible and he passed the baton to his brother, who has been as dedicated to the benefit of Cuba as has Fidel, right from the start. The changes that have happened since clearly indicate that Fidel was not exercising a despotic grip on government, having established the principles that can lead to a shared national wealth and the gradual reintroduction of capitalism that has the unique aspect of being free from corporate control.
I believe that history will not only absolve but will celebrate the accomplishments of Fidel Castro. Will history absolve the U.S.?