Fidel and Raúl Castro's Heroic Myth Debunked: "They Didn't Fire a Shot at Moncada"

In a candid interview with CiberCuba, historian Jorge Luis León dismantled the heroic narrative surrounding Fidel and Raúl Castro, describing them as "cowards lacking courage" and challenging the foundational myths of the Cuban revolution.

León delved into pivotal events in the official castrismo history, from the 1953 attack on the Moncada Barracks to the military missions in Africa, ultimately concluding that the entire heroic narrative is a fabrication.

Regarding the Moncada assault, the historian was unequivocal: "Fidel was armed, yet he didn't fire a single shot. Despite being from Santiago de Cuba, he got lost and never reached the Moncada Barracks."

As for Raúl Castro, León highlighted that a paraffin test conducted after his capture following the assault came back negative, confirming he didn’t fire a weapon either. According to León, Raúl didn't identify as a combatant but rather as a farmer, only being recognized as a participant when his athletic underwear, atypical for rural men at the time, was discovered.

"They are miserable individuals without real courage. That's why they portray themselves as patriots and heroes ready for anything," León asserted, extending this assessment to the current regime leaders.

"Fidel was neither intelligent nor brave. Never. Neither of them was. And today's leaders are just more of the same. All trash," he remarked, referring to Díaz-Canel and his associates.

On the iconic image of Fidel Castro atop a tank during the Bay of Pigs invasion in April 1961, León was equally scathing: "The famous tank scene at Playa Girón, with Fidel posing, was staged after everything was over. It's all a farce," he stated about a photo that became one of the regime's most widely propagated icons, though critical historians have questioned its authenticity for decades.

León further debunked the narrative of the so-called proletarian internationalism in Africa. According to him, the Cuban military missions on the continent, which involved over 300,000 fighters from 1975 to 1991, were not acts of solidarity but rather business ventures.

"The African wars under the guise of internationalism were nothing more than selling Cuban blood for resources in gold, silver, and money, with soldiers paid $1,000 each and $2,000 for officers. It was a business." He also noted that there are over 7,000 documented deaths attributable to the regime.

The same exploitation scheme, León denounced, is repeated with the medical missions: "They arrive in a country and have their passports confiscated to prevent escape. The government does this openly, shamelessly." International organizations and several governments have documented these practices, which the International Labor Organization and some countries have labeled as forced labor.

León also criticized the meeting held in Barcelona on April 18, where Claudia Sheinbaum, Lula da Silva, and Gustavo Petro gathered at the so-called IV Meeting in Defense of Democracy convened by Pedro Sánchez. The historian pointed out the contradiction of leaders claiming to defend democracy while remaining silent about the Cuban dictatorship: "A meeting where there was no mention of a dictatorship that is killing, murdering, and suffocating a people. And it was a meeting to defend democracy. But Cuba is not a democracy."

"Justice must indeed come to Cuba," León concluded, cautioning that the European Union is "starting to realize belatedly the entire farce, all the shamelessness" of the Cuban regime.