Let me start by saying that this is not a site about the rock band “Coldwarkids.” Not that I don’t like them, because I do like their music a lot. If you have never heard them, you should check them out.

As I am writing this, I just reached my 50th birthday, and about a day ago, Fidel Castro resigned his post as leader, or dictator of Cuba. I was beginning to wonder if the guy would ever go!

Fidel Castro is one of the strange icons of the cold war era. A bit more of a pragmatist than his revolutionary, “true believer” buddies, he became ruler of the island nation after the overthrow of Batista in 1959, and has held power in one capacity or another since that time.

U.S. policy toward Cuba during Castro’s reign has been less pragmatic and more symbolic, and like the ruler himself it shows some signs of the somewhat confused nature of the coldwar period. In principle, the idea was not to deal with Cuba, so as not to support a communist dictator. This was to be carried out by means of an embargo. In practice, the best solution might have been to deal with them on an economic basis, and let the market win out.

One of the interesting side issues to the Castro saga, is that before the revolution, and probably as a result of the fear of the revolutionary spirit of the day, Batista had ordered the registration of all firearms in the country. By doing this, he effectively removed any means of ongoing resistance to the dictatorship since the new ruler now had access to the registration information, and was able to confiscate the tools of a counter revolution!