U.S. Flag
Raising a Victory for the 'Undying One' Fidel (Folha, Brazil)
"It was
Fidel who pulled down the U.S. flag in front of its embassy in Havana, and it is
a victory that the regime he embodied survived 54 years of confrontation and destabilization
efforts. … But his victory, with the return of that flag to its mast, appears so
fallen, so fragile, that one feels moved to pity. If I were Cuba propaganda
minister, I would keep Fidel in hiding to maintain his image as it was 40 years
ago - thick black beard, victor of Sierra Maestra – and not the stubble of
ancient grey and white we saw last week."
The image of Fidel Castro [above] exiting a van with the
help of [Bolivia President] Evo Morales on the day of his 89th birthday (Aug.
13), triggers two opposing sensations.
First, of a winner.
After all, it was Fidel who pulled down the North American [U.S.]
flag in front of its embassy in Havana, and it is a victory that the regime he
embodied survived 54 years of confrontation and destabilization efforts.
But his victory, with the return of that flag to its mast, appears
so fallen, so fragile, that one feels moved to pity.
If I were Cuba's propaganda minister, I would keep Fidel in
hiding to maintain his image as it was 40 years ago - thick black beard, victor of Sierra Maestra
[photo below] - not the stubble of ancient grey and white we saw last week.
Fidel
Castro near his newly-established rebel base in the mountains of Sierra
Maestra between 1952-1953. For Folha
international columnist Clóvis Rossi,
this is the image Havana should have maintained, rather those of Fidel at 89.
Unless Cuban propagandists were trying to
say that Fidel is "immortal," as was said 40 years ago of [Spain
dictator] Francisco
Franco Bahamonde, the “Caudillo [Commander] of
Spain by the grace of God,” as he lay dying in his Pardo Palace.
The agony went on so long that Spaniards used to say:
“Franco isn't immortal; he is "undying." This was exactly the feeling
I got seeing the photos of Fidel with Evo Morales.
After all, it was I who had already
forecasted his final agony in 1997, i.e.: nearly a quarter century ago.
All because I encountered him in Geneva after 50th
anniversary celebrations for GATT (the General
Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, later renamed the World Trade
Organization).
He was pale, his beard was already showing huge patches and he
had the color of a sick person - exactly as he looked in the photos on this
August of 2015.
As has been said ad infinitum for the past week, the handshake and talks of President Obama and Cuban leader Raul Castro...
Moreover, he was briefly hospitalized in the Swiss city at the
time.
When I returned to Brazil I wrote a report for the editorial director reporting my
impressions of the encounter with Fidel, suggesting that they send someone to
Cuba to start finding material for after Fidel, which I thought would be soon
in coming.
It took 11 years for the illness to really hit, forcing him
to transfer power to his brother.
Of course, a 71-year-old man with a diseased appearance,
like was the case with Fidel in 1997, is not the same as the same man looking even
more decayed at 89.
Posted by Worldmeets.US
So it's possible that Fidel Castro will in fact soon pass
away. Yet I continue to think he is "undying."
Clovis Rossi is a special correspondent and member of the Folha editorial board, is a
winner of the Maria Moors Cabot award (USA) and is a member of the Foundation
for a New Ibero-American Journalism. His column
appears on Thursdays and Sundays on page 2 and on Saturdays in the World
Notebook section. He is the author, among other works, of Special Envoy:
25 Years Around the World and What is Journalism?
