Che Guevara’s daughter Aleida says Cuba will stay socialist in a post–Fidel Castro era

Che Guevara's daughter Aleida says Cuba will stay socialist in a
post–Fidel Castro era
Carlito Pablo
By Carlito Pablo, November 7, 2012

Cuban doctor Aleida Guevara is confident that her country's socialist
system, which provides free health care and education to its people,
will endure in a post–Fidel Castro era.

"The revolutionary process will stay together not because of one
person," Guevara told the Straight in Spanish through translator Wilson
Munoz, a Vancouver community activist. "It's because there is unity in
the population."

Guevara, a pediatrician, was speaking on the sidelines of a four-day
conference organized by Vancouver Communities in Solidarity With Cuba.
The event is named after her father, the revolutionary icon Ernesto
"Che" Guevara.

"To live 90 miles from the U.S. and to keep the revolution going for 50
years is a great accomplishment," Guevara added.

In a warmly received talk on November 3 at the International Che Guevara
Conference at East Vancouver's Russian Hall, Guevara stressed that
Cuba's socialism has done good things for its people despite the
crippling economic sanctions imposed by the U.S. since the 1960s.

"We have less resources but we are capable of doing beautiful things,"
she said, noting that there are still millions without health care in
the U.S., the richest and most powerful nation in the world.

The ailing Castro, who co-led the Cuban revolution of 1959 with
Guevara's father, has been the subject of a death watch for years. Many
foresee a change in Cuba, as well as an improvement in the country's
relations with the U.S., with the passing of Castro.

Professor Jon Beasley-Murray, a UBC expert on Latin American affairs,
explained the strong local interest in Cuba and Che Guevara.

"In many ways, Cuba is an example of a country that previously tried to
do something different," Beasley-Murray told the Straight in a phone
interview. "For some people, Cuba is a model. For other people, I'd say,
it's a flawed model."

As for Che Guevara, Beasley-Murray noted: "People want to know why this
middle-class doctor in Buenos Aires finds himself first in Cuba, and
then in places like Angola, and finally Bolivia, where he ultimately
dies. What happens? How did that transformation take place? He's a
powerful figure from the '60s, and the reminder of a moment when there
was more of a sense of possibility."

Former Vancouver city councillor Tim Louis spoke at one of the
conference events. Louis, an ardent admirer of Che Guevara, told the
Straight by phone, "He's an internationalist. He believed that we have a
responsibility to fight for a better world, not just in our homes, in
our country, but to help other people that are trying to do the same thing."

http://www.straight.com/article-828276/vancouver/ches-daughter-says-cuba-will-stay-socialist