After the extremely laudatory Anita’s Revolution (LINK, review posted February 4 2019), readers will find this review offers a quite different “take” on the Cuban revolution. After Fidel, written by former CIA agent Brian Latell, colours the Cuban revolution with American political perspective.
In his analysis, Latell contrasts the characters and personalities of Fidel and his brother Raul Castro. To his credit, he also identifies some of the historic and root causes leading up to the revolution, even reaching farther back to the Imperialist American ideals that led to Guantánamo as U.S. territory and to the Helms-Burton law that rubbed further salt in the wounds of Cubans. These issues, along with the U.S.-enabled Batista dictatorship, set the stage for revolution. However, the bulk of After Fidel, focuses on Fidel’s leadership since the overthrow of Batista and the revolutionary government of the Castro brothers. The analysis is detailed and gradually builds to increased insight into Raul’s governance role and style projects into musings about Cuba and U.S. relations After Fidel as the title makes clear.
Published in 2005, projections were bases on informed analysis and the bias of governments. Now, with a bit of history on the reader’s side, we have a clear picture of the actions and reactions of a Raul-led Cuban government, along with the intricacies of U.S. unfolding policies. However, this does not take away from the intriguing story that the former CIA analyst sets out in the 289-pages, which includes references and index.
After spending much of four years in Cuba plus a subsequent visit, I have my own Canadian and personal biases. Nevertheless, I can recommend After Fidel for its documentation of events as well as for the analysis into the characters of the brothers and how their personalities and individual strengths played into a partnership that survived through to Fidel’s death and set the stage for the shift that has taken place as power was transferred. An updated afterward by Latell would be useful and it is now time for newer policy projections about both Guantánamo and the strangle-hold of the Helms-Burton law.
Available through your local bookstore or online: After Fidel: Raul Castro and the Future of Cuba’s Revolution
For a recent article that focuses on Guantánamo, please see “A Brief History of Guantanamo Bay, America’s ‘Idyllic Prison Camp’”
Kathryn MacDonald 