Letter to the editor
Dear Editor:

Many of your readers would know of the achievements of the Cuban revolution but many others continue to criticise Comandante Fidel for what they see as oppression by the Castro regime.
Please allow me at this time to remind Fidel’s detractors of what he accomplished while hitting the exploiters, oppressors and reactionaries where it hurt the most.
He closed casinos and turned them into schools, colleges and health care centres. He closed brothels and turned them into homes for the homeless.
He made free food vouchers available to all Cubans to guarantee every Cuban a daily meal.
He made health care free and available to all of Cuba’s population of eleven million and made affordable housing accessible to all citizens and residents in Cuba. Cubans pay a maximum of ten per cent of their monthly income for rent.
Fidel made education free and available from preschool to the highest university level to all Cubans without prejudice or discrimination.
Today, Cuba has the highest number of doctors and teachers per capita in the world.
Despite Fidel’s achievements, the capitalist media continue to tell the world that Fidel Castro was a dictator who killed thousands of his own people and that Cubans have no freedom.
What happened on January 1, 1959 when Fidel and his revolutionaries came to power, was not a church gathering. It was a Revolution.
Revolution means change. Most people do not welcome change, especially when the old order benefits them.
It is the nature of revolution to remove opponents by force when they stand in the way of progress.
During the American revolution, many of those who wanted to remain loyal to the King of England and remain under colonialism, were slaughtered by George Washington and his revolutionaries. Most of the survivors’ properties were seized and many fled to Canada.
The American revolution was not a peaceful tea party. It was a bloody revolution.
Those people who are now jumping up and down in Miami rejoicing over the death of Fidel, were themselves and their ancestors from the privileged class in Cuba. They were from the wealthy and property-owning class that was living an affluent lifestyle, while the vast majority of Cubans remained in abject poverty and illiteracy.
Let us not forget that the Caribbean has also benefited tremendously from Fidel’s generosity and concern for the poor.
As a grateful Grenadian, I would like to convey a special “thank you” to Fidel and the Cuban people for a new Grenada General Hospital; I say “thank you” again for your contributions towards our international airport, known as the Maurice Bishop International Airport, and on behalf of the large number of Grenadians who were given scholarships to receive free training in Cuba in various fields.
I would like to offer my condolences to the families of Dr. Castro’s and those Cubans who were killed in Grenada by American soldiers when the United States invaded the island.
Long live the memory of Dr. Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz ! Long live the people of revolutionary Cuba!
Yours truly,
Lennie Fleary