Peace in a nutshell: Fidel

The extent of Fidel Castro’s humanism is infinite but its basis is the battle he waged throughout his life to save Mother Earth from the serious dangers that threaten it as well as our human race.

As early as 19 March 1962, the Soviet Union, now disintegrated, awarded him the Lenin Peace Prize.

Although the bulk of his work was doing this, the revolutionary leader made very clear what his path would be.

Although from his infancy Fidel observed events that, etched on his mind, helped him understand the world as it really was. For instance, he saw soldiers striking people with the bottom of their guns. Young and already at University, his life experiences prepared him for the long and difficult path that he would tread, as a follower of Marti and a Cuban revolutionary.

As articulated in his most recent reflections of 14 February, struggling for peace is the most sacred duty incumbent on all human beings – whatever their religion or country of birth; whatever their skin colour, maturity of years or youth.

And this was, precisely his line of thinking: to save humanity from an apocalyptic destruction that would result in hundreds of millions of invalids, mutilated, injured by an atomic war.

For the historic leader of the Cuban revolution fighting for peace also means never giving up his promise to free the colonies, free the people from exploitation and imperial domination, not with a passive attitude but with an active attitude promoting real independence.

Fidel knew how to articulate clearly and to denounce the different scenarios that imperialism needs: the danger of war to justify using weapons and imposing on the masses, heavy taxes on their lands, aimed at preserving monopolies, their privileges, protected though blackmail, oppressing and looting.

While governments of other countries work to catalyse armed conflicts in different parts of the world the Commander-in-Chief always has been characterized for his love for his fellow man, improving health and education to the remotest places on the planet so that not only would men and women smile but so too would the elderly and children.

To nations such as Venezuela, Nicaragua, Bolivia, Brazil, Ecuador, Haití and islands as small as Jamaica, there came the solidarity that Fidel for more than 55 years has inculcated in his people, that together with him learnt how to live and to dignify human existence.

Missions such as “Barrio Adentro”, “Operación Milagro” and his literacy program “Yo sí puedo”, are just some of his contributions to the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America (ALBA) to reach a better world, conscious of what is possible.

For many, Fidel was the strategic conductor of the old continental revolution and the challenges of the new one that is driven through the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States. (CELAC).

The ethical and humanist content of his thought process becomes an invitation for political leaders that assume the responsibility that these complex times demand to reduce extreme poverty, hunger, illiteracy, unhealthiness and inequality something that can only be reached through the application of economic and social development programmes for the benefit of people,

Fidel is a living symbol of this effort at integration; he expresses the continuity of the ideology of José Martí by demonstrating that our Fatherland is humanity and his dreams of justice represent the light of peace just like a giant sun rises to infinity to shed light on everyone.