Fidel, Elian and the fight for the future of the Cuban Revolution

Fidel Castro with Elián González, July 14, 2011, Cárdenas, Cuba -- image via X

By Macdonald Stainsby

There are so many things about Fidel Castro that jump to mind. For me? The aspect that stands out more than his incredible charisma, the successes of the revolution in medicine and education, or even the battles won in the Bay of Pigs or Southern Africa? His skill and ability to see where a particular political struggle was going to go into the future, and what the long term would represent.

This is something that not even Hugo Rafael Chavez Frias contained within his repertoire (and is likely why Chávez called Fidel when he was surrounded during the failed coup of 2002-- because the advice Chávez took was prophetically correct there, too). Fidel Castro's ability to see way into the future, follow a line through to there and beyond from a moment in time was and is unparalleled. It's beyond that of Lenin; It's beyond that of Churchill. It's beyond that of any of our modern or contemporary heroes or historical figures of any stripe.

When it comes to understanding what that means, let's go back and see the number one place I want to make that argument: The struggles with Elian Gonzalez back in the 90s.

You know, when Janet Reno was working as the attorney general for Bill Clinton, the same woman who ended up helping burn the people of Waco. Yeah, she was also in charge of the ability to return Elian Gonzalez to his father and Cuban family, after his mother died at sea trying to get to Florida.

You might remember that back then, because that was when we across North America-- including the heartland centre of the US-- first learned in an obvious manner just how crazy and absolutely fascist the Cuban emigres in Florida are. We learned this for a very simple reason. At that time, Elian Gonzalez's mother had perished, along with a couple of others on a raft trying to go to Miami. When she died, the Elian Gonzalez situation became a cause celebre for the fascist contingent. They kidnapped the boy, and refused to turn him back over to Cuba, arguing that him going home to Cuba was akin to being served up to the Nazis as a Jew.

The thing is, is that even Americans with their vicious anti communist ideologies that they don't even understand, they still believe that a parent has the right to take care of their child no matter what, and in this moment, Bill Clinton, Janet Reno and the entire American administration had to climb down and accede to what was something like an 80% approval rating for returning Elian Gonzalez to his family back in Cuba, and when Fidel Castro first saw that there was a story developing in Florida where a woman who had decided to flee the island perished, and her child was left alone as an orphan and was requested to be returned to his father by his father and his Cuban family. Fidel had a quick little chat with Elian's dad, Juan, to make sure that they weren't going to find a surprise later on and after only a

couple of minutes, Fidel emerged from the discussion securely knowing that this man is a true Cuban patriot. We don't need to fear any kind of weird games along the line, and we're going to struggle as our very, very best to get this one boy returned to Cuba. And hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of Cubans protested in the street demanding that this boy be returned to his father, rather than to live with an uncle that he had never known and had zero

connection to and was now being held political hostage by.

Elian had been kidnapped, essentially on the premise that anti communism was more important than family values. The American People saw for the first time just how absolutely insane the right wing Miami Cubans are, and in that moment, they rejected this.

This went further towards normalization, and I almost can guarantee the kinds of openings that were started under the Barack Obama era started as a result of Elian Gonzalez and his story exposing just how insane it is to let this fascist contingent in Miami control foreign policy towards one small, harmless island that has done more for humanity than any other in its same size or strength.

What Fidel saw was that this would create an opening, that this would allow Cubans to come together and demand their most basic rights as parents and family members with their own children. It would allow Americans to actually see what's going on in their own country and their foreign policy being held hostage by one weird voting bloc from southern Florida. It also, over the long term, exposed whether or not the Americans opened up to Cuba as an American problem, not a Cuban one.

Fast forward to today. It has been roughly a bit more than a generation since Elian Gonzalez was returned to Cuba and keeping his promise Fidel kept him out of the limelight, and the Cuban government has never brought him forward in such a manner again, although he does appear very occasionally to speak to others once in a while.

In the long run, what went on with the Elian Gonzalez case was to open things up for the future, because Fidel could see very clearly where that was going. Even Americans think parental rights trump anti-communism.

Now let me try to expand upon this, admitting the obvious upfront: I’m no Fidel.

If we leave Marco Rubio and that same southern Florida and fascist group able to attack and decimate Cuba, it is not Cuba alone that will see pain and suffering.

People of the broadest left need to understand: Whether they are anarchists, whether they are social democrats, whether they are some kind of other left winger, liberal, hippie… if you believe in (the idea of) basic human justice, if you believe in international law, if you believe in human rights, you must side with Cuba. Now let me stand aside for a moment and go back to January of 2026, Mark Carney gave an already famous speech at Davos, where he called for reinvesting in international law, human rights, the rules based world order, and so on.

In that speech, there were many things that made all sorts of liberal minded people very, very happy, but the practice of these principles from the Canadian government since then has been absolutely unavailable. What we have done in that time is to realize that what we have is the continuation of the destruction of the rules based network. With Canada’s glaring, deep participation among the destroyers.

Canada had already endorsed the illegal kidnapping of the president of Venezuela, sent arms to indicted war criminals leading Israel, and since the speech has moved to support the war on Iran, to destroy international law when it comes to Palestine, Lebanon, Yemen and its redevelopment in Gaza, and now to assist in the isolation and threats against Cuba.

Yet, when you look at the Cuban government, and I'm going to quote here, and the way they speak about the United States and what they want to see go forward:

(a quote from Marco Rubio, Secretary of State, demanding regime change in Cuba. Deputy Foreign Minister of Cuba, Carlos Fernández de Cossío replies)

I don’t know what they’re insisting among themselves, but I can tell you in conversations with the United States and in dialogue with the United States, the nature of the Cuban government, the structure of the Cuban government, and the members of the Cuban government are not part of the negotiation. That is something that no sovereign country negotiates. I don’t know how many examples are there of countries that negotiate with a foreign power, their system of government or the nature of the government. I’m sure the United States is not ready to negotiate with another government its constitutional system, its political system.

Perhaps more importantly is that this is the standard Fidelista response, andhas been since Eisenhower. Most significantly, is that this still cuts both ways, for all states, all the time:

KRISTEN WELKER (Meet the Press, NBC Interview - March 22, 2026):

But on Secretary Rubio specifically, is he someone with whom you can negotiate in good faith?

MINSTER CARLOS FERNÁNDEZ DE COSSÍO:

We are ready to negotiate with the person that the U.S. government, as a sovereign nation, designates as their spokesperson, as their lead negotiator, and we’re ready to negotiate with whoever is designated by the U.S. government. They’re a sovereign nation. We don’t interfere with that.

The Cuban government are the only ones who are actively putting in practice the very same ideals brought forth by Mark Carney, then ignored in practice.

So if you are truly a liberal who believes in international law, the rights of states to negotiate bilaterally without interference in their domestic affairs, the do you believe in human rights as law, do you believe in an international charter?

Those are the things that you must use to stand up with Cuba on this day, because Cuba is putting in practice the values put forward by Canadian speeches in turn. Just as they have done since January 1, 1959. A removal of revolutionary Cuba from the world doesn't just mean a dramatic drop in the medical care of people at their most vulnerable across Africa,

Latin America, parts of Asia and elsewhere. It doesn't just mean even less education, as the students that have traveled to Cuba from all sorts of disadvantaged places around the world will be scattered and told to stay dumb and ignorant as long as possible, to maintain the white supremacist order.

No, it goes further than that. It means going further into a global fascist sewer. There is not a single country in the world, outside of the USA, that has any kind of contempt towards Cuba. Cuba is internationally respected, internationally recognized, loved, revered; Whether it's been in the Middle East or in Africa, when I have had Cuban insignia on my clothing during my international travel, the openness with which people embrace that is very, very rapid.

So we have to think long term here, not just will we lose the Cuban revolution, not just how many people are suffering as they shut down hospitals and break people's refrigerators, not just what's happening to everyone with the hard working doctors being removed, not just what's happening to higher education, with the most well educated population on the planet being under threat from one of the uneducated populations ever deliberately constructed by

humanity.

No, none of those things are the bottom line, the true bottom line is whether or not we see 50 years from now a world that can embrace the values that Cuba has held the flag for for 67 years-- we must hold it up and hold each other up and use the same long term thinking as Fidel Castro to prevent the destruction of Fidelismo, and so much more.

It’s so much more than one island, but about whether we understand what Cuba represents, keeps alive in our consciences, and can do for humanity if we only just get the genocidal oil blockade-- and the rest of the 65 year-old blockade as well-- decimated.

The US Empire is very rapidly destroying itself in Iran and elsewhere. There is no way out for them, but what emerges after the collapse of this Empire? We must think about that. This is WW3 now, and Cuba is suffering the Blitz. We must take that analogy from the past as serious as the demands of the future portend.

And yes, we must go full circle. What of Elian Gonzalez now? Today? He is an elected member of the Cuban National Assembly, representing the community of Cardenas. When asked if he regrets not becoming a Floridian, he answers:

"I grew up with my family. I grew up with those I had to be with and that makes me very happy," and that interview was conducted by The Belly of the Beast, from which you can always get some of the very best on the ground English-language reporting from Cuba.

Macdonald Stainsby

Caregiver, writer and social justice advocate

In the contradiction lies the hope.

-Bertholt Brecht.

Postscript:

I am Macdonald, and I've been a Canadian ally of the Cuban Revolution since the 1990s.

The current US Administration is trying to starve the island into submission through blockading all oil from entering the country. This affects the entire society.

I am focused on two things: first, bringing much needed aid to the island on my person and in my luggage.

Second, bringing the story of Cuba's near miraculous advances in treating dementia—in particular Alzheimer's.

I am flying in to the country on my own funds, but I need your help and solidarity to help Cuba and Cubans survive and thrive.

To learn more and donate visit: Lifeline to Cuba | A Solidarity Phamarcy for Cuba and Cubans, from Canada