There is a criminal lack of literature about Raúl Castro. What little exists tends to portray him as a colourless bureaucrat living in the immense shadow of his older brother Fidel. In this book, Hal Klepak expertly explodes this myth as he reveals Raúl as a highly original thinker, expert military commander and gifted political leader. Klepak demonstrates that Raúl’s government in Cuba is very much his own and represents the culmination of a long career of independent revolutionary conviction.
‘Raúl Castro and Cuba’ is a work of military history and casual readers looking for an accessible and personal biography are likely to be disappointed. As an academic essay – which locates Raúl as part of the less well-known tradition of Latin American military commanders who do not accept a historic link to domestic oligarchies and instead challenge institutional conservatism and U.S. hegemony – it is essential reading.
As a military history, the book is far-reaching and – divided into chronological chapters – spans Raúl’s guerrilla training in the 1950s to his Presidency. Klepak demonstrates that Raúl has played a leading role in every single challenge to the Revolution and had special responsibility for the defence of the state and revolution – without which no social achievements would have been possible.
The section about the struggle in the Sierra Maestra is a useful adjunct to theories of guerrilla warfare by Che Guevara and Regis Debray, and illuminates not only Raúl’s skill, courage, initiative and leadership, but also his social conscience. For instance, as ‘comandante’ of the second column, Raúl implemented agrarian reform, built and maintained schools, organised medical services and instituted Congresses of Farmers in Arms and Workers in Arms in areas liberated by the 26th July Movement.
Raúl became known as an efficient revolutionary who organised public services and “although there were similar initiatives … in other parts of the liberated zones, all authors agree that in Raúl’s sector the organizations were more solid and developed than anywhere else”. News of the social progress made under Raúl spread quickly and rallied many workers and peasants to Fidel’s movement. Furthermore, many of his initiatives foreshadowed similar nation-wide programmes introduced after 1959.
Although Fidel originally anticipated maintaining a small army, the solidification or U.S. threat and opposition from large land-owners to agrarian reform put pay to this – and Raúl was responsible for this powerful institution. Klepak investigates how Raúl revolutionised armed forces depleted by defections and riddled with pro-Batista elements and built popular militias to “make this army truly national and sufficiently large to contemplate real deterrence to a superpower”. These militias formed a crucial part of national defence strategy, as demonstrated by the American defeat at Playa Giron. Further chapters consider Cuban military actions abroad supporting liberation movements, the key role Raúl played in the rectification process and the challenges which arose during the Special Period.
Perhaps the most interesting section is the chapter which focuses on Raúl’s calm and seamless transition to President. “The soldier that Raul was has had an enormous impact on the political leader he is,” and has defined his attempts to transform government and streamline ministries in an attempt to institutionalise the Revolution.
Raúl has reorientated politics in Cuba in a number of key ways: a change to a performance-based system of remuneration (something which he had already introduced to the ‘Fuerzas, Armadas y Revolucionarias’, FAR/Cuban Armed Forces); a modernisation of Cuba’s democratic model; reform of agriculture and a widening of forums for public debate. Klepak discusses whether Raúl is best characterised as a reformer or conservative and concludes that he can more accurately be seen as a pragmatist with the maintenance of the Revolution’s achievements as his prime motivation.
Although there is scant biographical insight, there are a number of fascinating personal stories which illustrate Raúl’s military and political development. For instance, as a youngster, Raúl was expelled from military school and sent home to his annoyed father who put him to work on the farm’s accounts. Raúl’s keen sense of social justice is evidenced by the way he used the opportunity to foil his father’s attempts to collect debts due from peasant debtors.
This book provides a deep and thorough exploration of Raúl Castro as a military leader. Furthermore, it shows how the Cuban military – as a progressive force – has been a central pillar of the Revolution providing “ministers, economists, managers, teachers, doctors, nurses, professors, disaster relief specialists, bureaucrats, diplomatic servants, and of course sailors, soldiers and airmen to the Revolution”.
The FAR has been integral to the social achievements of the Revolution, both in terms of defending the Revolution against external threat, but also in the key role it has played supporting liberation movements abroad. To this day, the armed forces remain integral to disaster relief and the smooth functioning of government.
If Fidel was the strategist of the Revolution, then Raúl – overshadowed and underrated – was the architect.
Dan Smith (CubaSi Winter 2012/ 2013)
