Good deeds by Fidel Castro

   Friday 25 November, Cuban state television announced the death of ex-president Fidel Castro. The demise of the revolutionary leader was received with mixed reactions, as some viewed him as an evil dictator who oppressed the Cuban population.

But despite this widely spread image of him, a lot still argue that Castro saved Cuba and was actually beneficial for them. This belief was based on a lot of positive changes that accompanied his seize of control of the state. Some of the most notable changes are the reforms in both education system and healthcare.

   In his first years after the revolution was successful, Castro made clear in his speeches his intentions to expand healthcare, and later, in 1961, Ministry of Public Health was founded. Fidel Castro’s National Health System provides Cuban people with free health services, which proved to be a success as shown by numbers; Cuba has one of the lowest infant mortality rate and one of the highest life expectancies in Latin America at 79.07 in 2012, which falls slightly above the US.

But these reforms were very far from easy, as the embargo imposed by the US made medicines very hardtop import, and food became scarce, which resulted in many disease outbreaks. Despite all the efforts made by the US to punish the communist state, health care remained a priority, and positive results continued to manifest.

   Another objective set by the late leader was the improvement of the education system; in 1961, Castro set a literacy campaign, in which he sent "literacy brigades" to the rural areas to construct schools, train new educators and teach illiterate peasants to read and write. This campaign saw the national literacy rate jump from between 60% and 70% to 96%. Educational system was also made free at all levels, and although a large portion of it insures that Cubans embrace communism at an early age, it also focuses on teaching them life skills in the form of special monthly projects.

  

   Although Fidel Castro triggered the Cuban missile crisis, and gambled with his country by defying the United States of America, he cared for his people even long before he took control of Cube, an achieved  at least some of his promises.

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