Cuba marks anniversary

ON NEW Year’s Day in 1959, President Fulgencio Batista of Cuba fled into exile and Fidel Castro took over the post. Castro nationalised American interests and established collective farms to help the poor. The notorious Bay of Pigs invasion on April 17, 1961 ordered by US President John F. Kennedy was a fiasco and strengthened Castro’s hold on the island nation.

Last year, Castro voluntarily ended 49 years of power when he passed the reins to his brother Raul, who became the 21st president of Cuba on Feb 24, 2008. Incredibly, Fidel Castro has outlasted no fewer than 10 American presidents, despite all of them not seeing eye-to-eye with him. Cuba can hold its head high as it has survived more than 45 years of US sanctions.