Fidel Castro, who led Cuba for decades
after staging a socialist revolution in 1959, died last weekend. Many world leaders will attend his funeral,
but Britain is sending only a low level diplomat. Britain does not want to show support for a
country where some political opponents of the government are still in prison.
Even though Fidel made Cuba an ally
of the Soviet Union, and was considered to be an enemy by the British
government, I think we should show him more respect.
It’s hard to be a small island nation when
your bigger and stronger neighbour is bitterly opposing you.
Things didn’t happen this way for
Britain. But let’s imagine for a moment
that our history had been like this:
After a referendum vote, Britain declared a
revolution to overthrow the corrupt leader Cameron who had been running
the country.
But the European Union refused to accept
the result. They had been making lots of
money trading with the old, corrupt regime whilst ordinary British
people suffered.
So the EU began a total economic
blockade of Britain. They made it
illegal for any country to trade with the small island nation, and put pressure
on all their allies to do the same.
In desperation, Britain’s Prime Minister
May declared that the revolution was Maoist, and made trade and military
deals with China in order to protect the country.
But the EU gathered British citizens who
had voted to remain in the EU, and gave them guns and training in Belgium. They then sent an invasion force up the River
Thames in an attempt to overthrow the new government. But Teresa May, with great popular support,
fought off the invasion.
So the EU then spent years trying to assassinate
the Prime Minister May. They made dozens
of failed attempts to kill her, including a bizarre plot
involving a pair of exploding high-heel shoes.
As I said, history wasn’t really like this
for Britain. But if it had been, don’t
you think that Prime Minister May might also have put some political opponents
in prison? If the most powerful country
in the world kept trying to assassinate me, I might become a bit paranoid too.
The history I have described, of course, is
actually a slightly changed version of Fidel Castro’s relations with America. The USA trained his Cuban political
opponents, and launched a failed invasion of Cuba at the Bay of Pigs. The CIA tried dozens of times to assassinate
Castro, including a bizarre plot involving an exploding cigar. Castro, who initially tried to avoid becoming
an enemy of America, and who said that he was not a communist, was forced to
turn to the Soviet Union for help.
I’m not saying that Britain has to agree
with everything that Castro did. But as
a small island nation hoping to make a success of our mini-revolution, and
hoping that the EU doesn’t punish us too severely for snubbing them, I
think we might have a little more sympathy for someone who guided his small
island through much tougher circumstances.
Farewell Fidel.
Vocabulary:
a decade – a period of 10 years
an ally – especially of countries, a friend
to bitterly oppose – to fight strongly or
desperately against
corrupt – using illegal or unfair means to
gain money or power
a regime – a government; a system of
authority
an economic blockade – an attempt to stop
all trade, especially in order to damage a country
Maoist – supportive of former Chinese
revolutionary leader, Chairman Mao
to overthrow – especially of a government,
to get rid of by force
to assassinate – especially of a political
leader, to kill
bizarre – strange or unbelievable
a plot – a conspiracy; a secret plan
to snub someone – to deliberately ignore
someone, or to deliberately cause offence
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