During the past two weeks Fidel Castro has made several public appearances in Cuba. Significantly recovered from his prolonged illness, the 84 year old Secretary General of Cuba’s Communist Party appeared at the National Assembly on Saturday, propped-up by one of his aides, and spoke an unusually short 15 minutes.

The intensity and frequency of Castro’s appearances seemed to have puzzled Cuba analysts. He spoke about the U.S. and the possibility of an attack on Iran or North Korea that would unleash, according to him, a nuclear holocaust. It is clear that Castro is trying to reassert two of the main pillars of the Cuban revolution: anti-Americanism and internationalism. He wants to reinvigorate the revolutionary ranks with a renewed vision of what “his” revolution is all about.

Castro reiterated his long-standing anti-American posture, accusing the U.S. of waging economic war against Cuba and calling for military preparedness against imperialism. Although on Saturday he backed off somewhat from his apocalyptic scenario that the Obama administration and Israel would launch an attack on Iran, he continued to warn about a U.S. orchestrated nuclear holocaust. It is ironic that the same leader, who in 1962 during the Missile Crisis called upon the Soviets to launch their nuclear missiles against the U.S., is now trying to “save humanity.”

Yet, Castro’s new campaign has little to do with saving humanity. It has more to do with supporting Ahmadinejad, his friend and ally in Iran. Castro is launching a major public relations effort to pressure the Obama administration into rejecting any attack on Tehran and accepting a nuclear Iran. Castro has instructed his ambassadors, as well as other allies throughout the world, to engage in a campaign of support for Iran to pressure the U.S. and weaken its resolve.

Castro sees his support for Iran as an integral and critical part of Cuba’s foreign policy. Internationalist solidarity is a revolutionary commitment that ensures that Iran, Venezuela, North Korea and other allies will come to Cuba’s aid in times of need. But more importantly, political campaigns, such as the one Castro is launching against the U.S. and its supporters, weakens the U.S. and diverts its attention and resources and ultimately may force the Obama administration into concessions not only on Iran but also on Cuba.

The Castro brothers’ calculated policies remain obtaining major concessions from the U.S. while maintaining a totalitarian system in Cuba. The pressures from the Spanish government, the Vatican, and others should not weaken the Obama administration’s resolve to see a free and democratic Cuba. Castro’s international campaign in favor of a nuclear Iran should only strengthen American resolve to prevent an enemy of the U.S. and Israel from developing nuclear weapons.

* Jaime Suchlicki is Professor and Director, Institute for Cuban and Cuban-American Studies, University of Miami. He is the author of Cuba: From Columbus to Castro, now in its fifth edition;Mexico: From Montezuma to NAFTA, now in its second edition and the recently published Breve Historia de Cuba.

Source: Cuba Transition Project