"Let us now praise famous men. renowned for their power, giving counsel by their understanding. leaders of the people by their understanding. wise and eloquent" (Ecclesiasticus 44:1- 4). Fidel Castro, Cuba's former president, deserves such fitting words from one expanded Bible canon, having proved himself to be the boldest, most active and most successful leader of any people since Moses. If the Wisdom of Jesus the Son of Sirach, aka Ecclesiasticus, were written after the Castro era, then Fidel should have been listed alongside Enoch, Noah, Moses and the others.

Now that the biblical canon has been closed, history books, especially those used by the Caribbean Examination Council (CXC) in both their CSEC and CAPE exams, should highlight the unprecedented achievements of Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz (born 1926), leader par excellence, and Jamaica's truly compassionate neighbour 90 miles to the south. When Fidel's 49-year presidency ended on February 24 and the Cuban National Assembly voted his brother Raúl Modesto Castro Ruz as el presidente, another of Bob Marley's prophecies came true and God did "send us another Brother Moses" in Comrade Fidel, as oppressed Caribbean peoples continue their exodus across the Red Sea of American white supremacist imperialism. All people of goodwill, including political analysts not bitten by the bigotry bug, should now declare: "Thank God, history has absolved Fidel Castro. Viva, Fidel!"

Dr Castro's success in escaping US attempts on his life stands with similar biblical accounts, including the divine preservation of Yeshua Messiah (Jesus the Christ) from his infancy to his resignation to lynching on Good Friday.
Furthermore, that Fidel lived to see his sibling successor was quite miraculous, given the suspicions surrounding his sickness with diverticulitis, the same ailment that took the life of Jamaica's Prime Minister Michael Manley, Fidel's late friend, another famous freedom fighter, recently honoured on the walk of fame at the Martin Luther King Jr Centre in Atlanta, Georgia.

Fidel can now find consolation in the fulfilment of his own 1953 prophecy uttered soon after his arrest following the early stages of the Cuban Revolution: "I warn you, I am just beginning! If there is in your hearts a vestige of love for your country, love for humanity, love for justice, listen carefully... The regime will try to suppress the truth by all possible means; I know that there will be a conspiracy to bury me in oblivion. But my voice will not be stifled. It will rise from my breast even when I feel most alone, and my heart will give it all the fire that callous cowards deny... Condemn me. It does not matter. History will absolve me."

History has clearly exposed that George W Bush's United States, not Castro's Cuba, is now the world's most evil regime, inflicting death and destruction globally in a cooked-up terror war, while simultaneously undermining whatever civil rights remained in the US since slavery, and conducting concentration camps covertly worldwide and overtly in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Compared to Castro's 1959 overthrow of Batista (with US support), Fidel's subsequent strong leadership to advance the esteem of Cubans, Caribbeanites and comrades globally, and sharing of Cuba's meals, medical, military and other resources with friends and neighbours, the US leaders since the 1776 revolution, with their racist treatments of Native Americans, African Americans, other native minorities and non-white peoples worldwide (despite ostentatious aids), are revealed in history as crass, hypocritical white supremacists. When Castro refused to be a US pawn and was in 1959 denied audience by Dwight Eisenhower, God provided the Soviet Union's Nikita Khrushchev to help Fidel advance his socialist experiment. The US counter-moved with a sinful, oppressive and distressing embargo (still in place) on the Cuban population, while making numerous assassination attempts against Castro and developing huge potential anti-Castro Cuban exile populations in Miami and elsewhere in the age-old divide-and-conquer strategy. Gullible Americans fell prey to US propaganda which blamed Castro for the sufferings of the Cuban people. Michael Moore's Sicko has since proved otherwise.

History has shown that while so-called Christians in America were condemning Soviet atheism and Cuban communism, Americans in the name of Jesus were lynching black boys like Emmett Till, bombing little black girls sitting in Sunday school in Alabama and using any means necessary to promote segregation and exploit black labour to increase wealth for whites only. The documentary, Rush To War (2004), confirmed that US Cold War global atrocities were worse than communist abuses. Former Central Intelligence Agency officer, Philip Agee, who died in Cuba in January, alleged in the documentary, Rebel Music: The Bob Marley Story (2000), that Jamaica was a victim of US Cold War atrocities. At that time Castro was sending to Jamaica milk, schools and doctors. Compared to US leaders, Fidel Castro is a saint, and Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez can be justified in branding Bush as El Diablo. Critical analysis of events in the Middle Passage, Vietnam, Palestine, Iraq,
Grenada, Panama, Angola, Mozambique, and elsewhere, will expose the real axis of evil as the US, the Vatican, and Israel. Unbiased history will record that Karl Marx was right in promoting the liberation of the proletariat. History must show that while US forces were invading sovereign nations and bombing innocent babies, Cuban forces under Comandante Castro were helping to liberate people in Latin America and Africa, including Ethiopia. US presidents misused world leaders then deposed them and set up their demise, but Cuba's Castro was forever the defender of the oppressed.

Let us, therefore, praise famous men and women like Rosa Parks, Nanny of the Maroons, Michael Manley, Ernesto Che Guevara, Raul Castro, Evo Morales, Hugo Chávez, Nelson Mandela, and thousands of others, renowned for their bold stance against exploitation, bigotry and US imperialism. Let us not wait for his death to praise Fidel Castro, famous and renowned leader possessing the cojones to repel the Great Satan. Let us pray that from Castro himself the world will receive the words of victory: "History has absolved me." Viva, Fidel!

INMerv@hotmail.com

The Audacity of Art

Marjorie Whylie to receive Stella Gregory Award

Traditional Thanksgiving offerings at EVITAS