Is This the End of the Fidel Castro Era?
Events in Venezuela, Cuba and beyond suggest that a particular brand of leftism is in its twilight in Latin America, writes AQ’s editor-in-chief.
On January 8, 1959, a 32-year-old Fidel Castro and his “Caravan of Freedom” triumphantly entered Havana in open-top Jeeps to a crowd so large and delirious that “it was impossible to differentiate the procession from the audience,” remembered an American photojournalist who lost a shoe—and, more disastrously, his camera—in the ensuing melee. “We have defeated tyranny,” Castro told the masses that day. “Now we must defeat lies, intrigue and ambition … This time, the revolution will truly take power.” He was right. Over the next half-century, Castro and his allies would...
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