Is Castroism a Political Religion?

Abstract

For 47 years, from his entry into Havana in January 1959 until July 2006 when he suffered a serious illness and turned power over to his brother Rav´ l, Fidel Castro presided over a one-party, personalistic dictatorship in Cuba. Given the longevity of his rule, it would appear that a dense network of beliefs, rituals and ideology — in short, a political religion — developed to justify and support the regime. Indeed, there are many dimensions to Castroism that resemble a political religion, both theoretically and in comparison to other empirical cases. Examples include the symbolic iconography of the revolution, from major holidays like May Day and the anniversary of Castro’s armed insurrection on 26 July 1953, to the veneration of revolutionary heroes, such as Che Guevera and, from another era, Jose Martí. Most important of all, of course, is the cult of personality that surrounds Castro himself. Communist ideology, itself one of the quintessential political religions, has provided one of the foundations for the legitimation of Castro’s regime, just as it afforded Cuban leaders the blueprint for political structures and policy. But Castro has also relied on other ideas to legitimate his rule. He constantly used and reinforced Cuban nationalism, replete with a clearly defined enemy, the capitalist United States of America. The latter was a haven for the ‘worms and parasites’1 who fled the island after 1959.KeywordsCharismatic LeaderSoviet BlocTraditional ReligionLiberation TheologyCuban RevolutionThese keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.