By Mitzie Stelte
Published March 19, 2008
It's been one month since Fidel Castro announced his retirement after
almost five decades of rule in Cuba, ceding power to his younger brother
Raul; just as local Cuban émigrés and experts predicted when Castro
stepped down, not much has changed on the island nation.
Castro, 81, who until last month was the longest-serving ruler of any
nation in the world, took control of the country in 1959, when communist
rebels overthrew the dictatorship of Fulgencio Batista.
The communist policies of Castro ran counter to the democracy of
America, and a trade embargo has been in place since 1960. Castro's
retirement has sparked hope that the trade restrictions might be lifted
and change could come to the Cuba citizens suffering from the long
effects of both the American embargo and their own country's repressive
policies.
But Professor of Latin Studies at University of Texas at San Antonio,
Ben Olguin, said that there is a myth in the U.S. surrounding Castro and
that his stepping down is not really a big issue.
"There is a culture of Castro in the U.S. cultivated by
Cuban-Americans," said Olguin. "They have mapped onto him all that is evil."
Cuba lacks basic goods due to the embargo, but conditions in Cuba were
bad before Castro took over, said Olguin.
'Essentially, Cuba was a brothel and sin city before Castro took over —
maybe worse," he said.
Cuba now has free education and health care, and those are two things
the people will never sacrifice.
"The important things are not going to change," added Olguin.
New Braunfels resident Romelio Carta, who said he was a member of the
pre-Castro military and spent 11 years in jail after being convicted on
trumped up charges, agrees that the ceding of power to Raul will not
change anything, but he has a much different view of the former leader.
"The whole country is a big jail," said Carta, who escaped Cuba in the
1980 Mariel Boat Lift which carried 125,266 asylum-seeking refugees to
Florida.
For the last 49 years, people have not been able to speak out against
the government, even in their own homes, said Carta. People have certain
advantages, but they don't have freedom, he said, and that's one of the
reasons Cubans come to the U.S. for a better life.
According to Carta, Castro is a murderer, but Raul actually may even be
worse; Raul personally killed 100s of military people in the late 1950s.
"It's just a change from a dog to another dog," said Carta.
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