Cuba has sent scores of aid and humanitarian expeditions to Angola and Ethiopia and other African and Latin American in the 1970s and 1980s. These included soldiers, relief and construction workers, doctors, nurses, farm workers, teachers and city planners. Thereby, it received global acclaim for its enviable national literacy and medical care programmes. A country of 11 million, it is still involved in African and Latin American countries in various 'internationalist' missions.
Its revolutionary leader, Fidel Castro has recently turned ninety. Albeit frail with age he still reads, writes and sometimes lectures to Cuban people - while Raul Castro, his younger brother, runs the affairs of the state.
Somewhat tempered by age and circumstances, Fidel Castro has not forsaken his revolutionary idealism derived from mentors such as Simon Bolivar, Jose Marti, and Che Guevara. He believes that history has carved out a special role for him to play on the world stage and his vision has been to lead his people into a "New Cuba" as a role model for developing nations.
Fidel Castro displayed an uncanny instinct to not only survive but also continue to guide Cuba's destiny despite all efforts to unseat him by neighbouring US. As conscience of the Third World he has been one of the experienced and longest surviving leaders, evoking contradictory images of admiration and contempt -depending upon one's ideological predilections.
Peter Bourne, as US psychiatrist who was one-time Presidential Assistant in the White House and later Assistant Secretary-General in the UN with experience of having met and seen many world leaders, drew Fidel Castro's psychological profile as "A man of extreme daring, astonishing charisma, a larger-than-life personality, a rare talent for survival, and an audacity and self-confidence to project himself on the world scene in a way that no leader of a country of such modest size and population has ever done before."
Born of moderately well-to-do Spanish immigrant parents in the Cuban backward, violent province of Oriente - Fidel developed resentment against authority structures and harboured a desire to achieve a place of historic dimensions in world history. Even his ally and protector the Soviet Union sometimes found it difficult to deal with his ornery independence. His Marxism was a conglomeration of native, European and Latin American socialist and anti-imperialist thought. In fact, the tropical brand of Cuban Communism bore a heavy imprint of his thoughts and experiences.
He relished in public appearances and standing ovations, made flamboyant, exhortatory and long speeches - encompassing all topics under the sun. There was a strong emotional, if not spiritual bond, between the leader and masses. Like other charismatic leaders, this was an artful way to wield cerebral power over the masses where they lose their own identity and surrender to the charismatic leader.
He held the self-image of a "redeemer" of past injustices against not only Cuba but the entire under-developed world. Nothing escaped his hold and attention in the country: with a manic pace, he moved from one corner of the country to the other addressing sugar cane growers, industrial workers, school children, teachers, doctors, nurses, sportsmen, and nuclear scientists.
Living and thriving on high drama he developed remarkable survival instincts. He challenged the colossus of the US by invoking the "David vs. Goliath" image in electrifying speeches. Attiring himself in olive-green battle fatigues, sporting a beard - reminiscent of the romantic days of struggle in the Sierra Maestra, he kept the memory of the Revolution alive. "Fidelismo," in contrast to Marxism Leninism, became the prevailing ideology in the 1970s and 1980s while other institutions ie, the party, state and armed forces gained importance; yet they remained subordinate to his fiat and control.