Castro Exits

Fidel Castro finally officially announced he will step aside as Cuba's dictator, ending nearly a half century of rule that saw him become an arch-enemy of 10 U.S. presidents as head of one of the world's last communist nations. Ha! It means something for you and me, our age group and the Cuban exiles who want to see their country free one day. But the striking thing about Castro finally exiting (I always suspected he would die in office first, but he outlived it) is how little it means to most of the world.
Castro was a dinosaur practicing the prehistoric form of dictatorship, communism. His resignation is only symbolic, and only for we who lived during the era of titanic struggles between communism versus democracy. The vast majority of people today have no clue what Castro's influence was in the 60's and 70's, so it is likely his resignation will go un noticed by most of the earth's people.
But for me he was a symbol of repression and lies. I well remember the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962, when the entire world was threatened with nuclear war due to three very unstable players in the confrontation- U.S. President John Kennedy, Soviet Premier Nikita Khruschev and Castro. Kennedy blockaded the Cuban coast because the Soviet Union had supplied Castro with missiles that were said to be "aimed at the U.S state of Florida" (That's as far as they could be shot in those days). After Kennedy demanded the missiles be removed or Cuba would be blockaded by U.S,. ships, he carried through the threat and on a winter day in 1962 Soviet war ships headed directly to the blockade to fire the first shot of W.W.III, until they backed down (the Soviet military was inferior atthe time) and war was averted.
But for we U.S citizens it was an exciting and mystifying time. I was just 12 years old but well remember the craziness during that period when the Soviets and U.S. almost fought over those missiles. In the weeks leading up to the confrontation of ships off Cuba's coast in Oct.of 1962 we were bombarded with both propaganda about the "evil Castro' and silly "war preparations' in case the ships from each country went to battle that day instead of staying peaceful.
Like everyone else in the neighborhood my family build makeshift "bomb shelter" in the house. Haha It was hilarious even to a 12 years old andI asked my mom repeatedly how putting plywood on windows and filling the hall in the main are of the house would save us from nuclear holocaust. She was not amused and probably would have sent me to Cuba if she could. My father just smiled and said, "Let her do what she wants, she'll do it anyway" (His lifelong motto in handling my mom's persistence). My mom was trying to reassure we kids that we were safe, as a mom is often to do any time there is a crisis.
Even 12 year olds like me knew that plywood was no defense against a nuclear weapon. But my fiends and I in the neighborhood loved the dangerof the time. I am certain that all kids alive then in New Orleans (we were just out of the missile range, but vulnerable to nuclear contamination in case of a firing) will clearly remember those Cuban missile crisis days.
In fact that is what I first thought when reading of Castro stepping down.Fidel's brother Raul Castro, 76, has run Cuba on a day-to-day basis since Fidel became sick, an arrangement that is likely to continue, followed by more dictators of equal or worse merit. Totalitarianism live son in Cuba even after Fidel. There is a second and third generation of hard-liners in the Cuban government that won't easily wither away. But his formal departure will deprive the Cuban regime of its most charismatic leader and could spark new calls for democracy from Washington and from Cuban Americans living in Miami and elsewhere.
As far as communism itself goes, this may be the real end of it. The last great communist has fallen, and the new dictators will have more motivation to practice "evil" capitalism as have regimes in Vietnam , China and the Soviet Union. It's a matter of survival today, for Communism is an empty economic model in the interconnected world in which we live.