What happens if Fidel Castro dies?
By Aurelio Pedroso
HAVANA – Last Saturday, round about noon, a Mexican radio station phoned me to ask if I’d be willing to participate live in some program and comment about the rumors of Fidel Castro’s death or worsening health.
I was asked to do it “right now,” an expression that means little to us Cubans but to the Mexicans means “right now.” I accepted and listened to the guests discuss English actor Boris Karloff until the topic of Cuba was tackled.
What did I tell them?
I said that when they used the word “rumors” they hit it right on the head. Rumors and more rumors that would never be news in serious journalism, though they might be in the world of show business. These rumors were so richly “spiced” that one newspaper cited a Venezuelan doctor who, from Miami, said he had in his hands the exact diagnosis of the Comandante’s illness.
Of course, the statements of this doctor (so well informed that he even gave the flight plans of President Hugo Chávez) were taken up by El Nuevo Herald to augment the expectations of death of someone who has changed the lives of many Herald readers who themselves are ready to go to another world.
The objective of the rumor is not to point to the physical death, which awaits us all and is inevitable. All the great leaders (and Fidel Castro is one, whether you like it or not) have two lives: the biological one and the one that has left its mark in history, the “before” and the “after” that survives in the imagination of the people who can meld history and legend. Fidel may be buried with glee by thousands of people in exile, but he will remain very much alive in the hearts of millions and millions of others, worldwide.
To keep it short: the former president’s health is and will continue to be a true mystery, under the official wrappings of a “state secret.” However, I have always said that his death will be very difficult to conceal. The news could be held back for 48 hours at the most, no longer, given the nature of Cubans, who are not known for their reservation but rather for announcing news of all kinds.
In recent days, and as a result of the rumors, some colleagues in the foreign press have walked the streets of Havana asking residents for their opinions and beliefs. They tell me that the answers cover the range of the spectrum.
One of the most frequent questions is what will happen after Fidel’s death. The answer they get from most people is “nothing.” The country will go on, I add, with more changes, beginning with those initiated during Fidel’s lifetime and approved by him. Wasn’t it he who, while still at the head of the government, urged Cubans to change everything that needed to be changed?
Fidel is so important that every so often his enemies report him dead or dying. Even when he was active and in full use of his faculties, they kept sending him to his final resting place. He himself said that when death really came to him, few people would believe it.
That’s what is going to happen, unless it is reported by an official channel.
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