MIAMI — Fidel Castro didn't meet with President Obama during his visit to the island last week, but the retired Cuban leader responded Monday with a long, testy letter that concluded: "We don't need the empire to give us anything."
Castro's missive, titled "Brother Obama," rejected the idea that his country needs U.S. assistance to stay afloat, arguing that Cuba is perfectly capable of producing the food and economic prosperity needed by its 11 million citizens. Responding to Obama's suggestion that his visit should allow both countries to "leave the past behind," Castro bristled, citing the failed Bay of Pigs invasion and the five-decade-old economic embargo as realities that can never be forgotten.
"I suppose all of us were at risk of a heart attack upon hearing these words from the President of the United States," Castro wrote in Cuba's state-controlled newspaper, Granma. "Nobody should be under the illusion that the people of this dignified and selfless country will renounce the glory, the rights or the spiritual wealth they have gained with the development of education, science and culture."
Obama's historic trip to Cuba, the first by a U.S. president in nearly 90 years, was designed to solidify the recently re-established political relationship between the Cold War foes. During the trip, Cuban President Raúl Castro met several times with Obama, conducted a joint press conference hailing the new relationship and seemed at ease and jovial with the U.S. president as they sat and watched a baseball game together.
Many have wondered how Fidel Castro has been reacting to the rapid changes that have taken place in Cuba since he stepped down due to an illness in 2008. His brother, Raúl, has since changed many aspects of Cuba's communist system, allowing people to own, buy and sell their homes for the first time, allowing half-a-million state workers to become private entrepreneurs, and ultimately shocking everyone by beginning the process of normalizing relations with the U.S.
The revolutionary leader didn't mince words on the final point, mockingly referring to Obama as "our illustrious guest" before dissecting and criticizing various aspects of his speech to the Cuban people.
Castro quoted a section of Obama's address where he discussed the shared history of Cuba and the U.S. — both colonized by Europeans who depended on slaves brought there from Africa. Obama was trying to make the point that people in both countries are descended from slaves and slave-owners, but Castro focused on another population.
"The native populations don't exist at all in Obama's mind," Castro wrote.
Obama also mentioned several challenges facing the U.S., including "racial bias" in communities around the country and within the criminal justice system. Castro ignored that section, instead blasting Obama for failing to recognize the advances in race relations Castro and his government feel they've carried out.
Castro wrote that Obama did not "say that the Revolution swept away racial discrimination, or that pensions and salaries for all Cubans were decreed ... before Mr. Barack Obama was 10 years old."
Frank Mora, the director of the Latin America and Caribbean Center at Florida International University in Miami, summed up his reaction to Castro's letter in two words: "Who cares?"
Mora said the elder Castro is "literally in the history books" and that his influence over Cuban politics has long since passed. He said Raúl Castro can't stop his older brother from arguing on the changes taking place, but is clearly moving on despite Fidel's objections.
"(The letter) made him look pretty insignificant as to where this relationship is heading," Mora said. "He represents a different era, a different stage in the history of the relationship. He's trying to resuscitate the past, but people will ignore it."
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