ABSTRACT
Fidel Castro met and overcame that challenge in a few years and filled the vacuum of a society devoid of strong middle-class institutions with new, radical values. Many changes have been wrought in the country since 1959 when a younger, slimmer, and more belligerent Castro spoke from the same historic site and conveyed to the people his dreams for their future. One of Castro’s biographers noted that his accomplishments are limited only by the degree of his vision. Castroism perpetuates the myth of the purity of guerrilla struggle, a concept some think almost alien to Karl Marx, which somehow enables Cubans to have higher moral self-perceptions. Cubans appreciate the fact that Castro has presided over a nation relatively free of drug addiction, gambling, prostitution, unemployment, extreme poverty, sexual exploitation, and social discrimination. Limited concrete evidence exists on decision-making in Cuba, and pro- and anti-Castro Cubanologists speculate on the subject.
