Cuba's legendary president retires but vows to remain "a soldier in the battle of ideas", writes Faiza Rady On Sunday, Cuba's National Assembly parliament elected Raul Castro as president of the Council of State and Council of Ministers after his brother, President Fidel Castro, announced last week that he would not accept another term as head of state, ending 49 years in power. Sunday's events made official what has been the de facto reality since Fidel handed over effective powers to Raul in July 2006 when he underwent emergency intestinal surgery. In a letter to the Cuban people published in the daily Granma, Fidel explained his decision. "It would be a betrayal to my conscience to accept a responsibility requiring more mobility and dedication than I am physically able to offer. My only wish is to fight as a soldier in the battle of ideas. I shall continue to write under the heading of Reflections by Comrade Fidel. Perhaps my voice will be heard," wrote Fidel. Upon accepting the presidency, Raul paid homage to Fidel, saying that he would remain "commander-in-chief of the revolution", a title he was given during the 1959 uprising against the US-backed Batista dictatorship. In his first address to the nation as president, Raul Castro said his government would consult Fidel on major policies, a move backed by the Cuban parliament who saluted Fidel with an emotional standing ovation. "Fidel is Fidel, as we all know well, he is irreplaceable," said Raul. A majority of Cubans agree. "I don't think much is going to change as a result of Fidel's resignation. He is still the leader of the revolution," says Eloy Daniel Guerra, from Santiago de Cuba. "A lot of people in Cuba still think of Fidel as the leader. He has the wisdom to make decisions." Following Fidel's decision to retire from the presidency, US President George W Bush appeared jubilant. Ominously, Bush announced that the US was ready to help the "people of Cuba realise the blessings of liberty", though he vowed to maintain the decades-long US economic blockade on the island. US "help" for Cubans to achieve "freedom and democracy" has been on the books since Bush established the 2004 Commission for Assistance to a Free Cuba, which boasted a budget of $80 million in 2006. The commission's aim is to destabilise Cuba and effect "regime change" by funding Cuban "dissidents" and broadcasting anti-Castro propaganda on radio and television. When it comes to Cuba, US politicians are univocal, regardless of party affiliation. Whether a Republican or Democrat wins the presidential election, the economic blockade against Cuba will remain entrenched -- a cornerstone of US policy for the last 46 years. Following the announcement of Fidel's decision to retire as head of state, Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton closely echoed Bush's words: "The new leadership in Cuba will face a stark choice; continue with the failed policies of the past that have stifled democratic freedoms and stunted economic growth; or take a historic step to bring Cuba into the community of democratic nations." Barack Obama, golden boy of the liberals and Democratic Party frontrunner in the US primaries, was equally quick in joining the uniform chorus: "Today should mark the end of a dark era in Cuba's history. Fidel Castro's stepping down is an essential first step, but it is sadly insufficient in bringing freedom to Cuba," he said. Notwithstanding his much publicised liberal posturing, Obama's hardline on Cuba reflects the politics of his corporate campaign donors. As revealed by Pam Martens in the US progressive daily Counterpunch, it turns out that the "Yes we can" candidate of the oppressed African American community and the US working class is bankrolled by Wall Street giants who, according to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, have the country's worst record on employing African Americans and women. Funded by 14 major banks and financiers, including UBS AG, Merrill Lynch, Goldman Sachs, Lehman Brothers, JP Morgan Chase, Citigroup, Morgan Stanley and Credit Suisse, the Obama campaign received a cumulative total of $2,872,128 through 1 February 2008. "These companies," writes Martens, "have been charged time and again with looting the public, and are newly implicated in originating and/or bundling fraudulently made mortgages." Obama's position on Cuba comes as no surprise when placed in the context of corporate Wall Street politics. But US aggression against Cuba predates Obama and the Bush administration; it is as old as the Cuban revolution. As expressed in a declassified State Department report dated 1958-60 ( Foreign Relations of the United States, Volume VI, Cuba), the US aim then -- as now -- was to damage the Cuban economy and starve its people. "Every means should be undertaken to weaken the economic life of Cuba to bring about hunger, desperation and [the] overthrow [of] the government," says the report. The use of "every means" to overthrow the Cuban government has led to innumerable terrorist attacks against the island. US-sponsored terrorism has included attacking civilian installations, bombing hotels, sinking fishing vessels, destroying petrochemical installations, poisoning crops and livestock (in 1971 a CIA plane dropped a container releasing an African pork virus unknown in Cuba; half a million animals had to be subsequently slaughtered), bacteriological warfare against the Cuban people (in 1981 another container was dropped releasing a laboratory-produced version of dengue fever, contaminating 350,000 people and killing 150), assassination attempts (638 against Fidel alone), murder, bombing airplanes (Cubana flight 455, 6 October 1976, where all 73 aboard the plane died), and bombing Cuban missions abroad. "What has happened is a level of international terrorism that as far as I know has no counterpart apart from direct aggression," says renowned writer and political activist Noam Chomsky. The US aim of weakening the Cuban economy to "bring about hunger" and desperation motivated a blockade which, Cuban government sources say, has cost the country over $89 billion in lost trade revenues. "There isn't a man, woman or child in Cuba whose life hasn't been affected by the blockade," says President of the National Assembly Ricardo Alarcon. "It began before the majority of Cubans alive today were born, meaning that they have spent their entire lives under the blockade." Yet despite the hardship of economic strangulation, the island's story is one of extraordinary success. According to recent UN human development reports, Cuba has the highest health and educational index in Latin America: life expectancy is 76 years and 97 per cent of Cuban women and men are literate. Education is universal and free from primary to graduate school. Cuba has the lowest student to teacher ratio worldwide, and Cuban children obtain the highest scores in mathematics and languages in standardised international tests. The tiny Caribbean island also has the highest ratio of physicians per capita in the world; some 30,000 Cuban doctors and health professionals currently work in impoverished African and South American nations. Indeed, the total number of Cuban health workers working abroad exceeds the medical staff of the UN World Health Organisation. What is more, Cuba has one of the lowest levels of HIV infection in the world: 0.07 per cent of Cubans are afflicted with AIDS. Along with Canada, Cuba's infant mortality rate was the lowest in the Americas in 2007. "Cuba is a kind of medical superpower," comments Ignacio Ramonet, writer, editor-in- chief of the French monthly Le Monde Diplomatique and author of Fidel's biography, Fidel Castro Biograf�a a Dos Voces. Like no other country in the world, the Cuban revolution has invested in its people. "It is human capital that gives the highest return," Fidel tells Ramonet. "It's a capital that allows us to help many peoples throughout the world. Our experience enables us to support others and, thereby help ourselves."
