Castro Naming Ban Prevents Monuments to Late Cuban Leader

A Castro naming ban is in effect after Cuba has officially banned the naming of statues or public places after Fidel Castro.
 
Cuba’s National Assembly approved the law on Tuesday, which “bans commemorative statues of Fidel Castro and naming public places after him,” according to Reuters.

According to Cuba’s parliament, the law also “forbids any monuments to ‘El Comandante,’ who died in November, and titles, decorations, or awards bearing his name,” The News Nigeria noted.

Parliament said, however, that an exception to the ban could be made if an institute carried out sufficient historical research on Castro.
 
Castro, who died last month at the age of 90, was in favor of the ban.
 
He said he didn’t want a “cult of personality,” despite his name appearing at many public events, according to The Associated Press.

“The leader of the revolution rejected any manifestation of a cult of personality and was consistent in that through the last hours of his life, insisting that, once dead, his name and likeness would never be used on institutions, streets, parks or other public sites, and that busts, statutes or other forms of tribute would never be erected,” President Raul Castro, Fidel’s younger brother, said, according to the AP.

Despite Fidel’s sentiments, Raul told the Assembly that “His fighting spirit will remain in the conscience of all Cuban revolutionaries, today, tomorrow and always,” Reuters noted.
 
“All of us would like to put Fidel’s name on everything but in the end, Fidel is all of Cuba,” said Juan Antonio Gonzalez, a 70-year-old retired economist, the AP noted. “It was a decision of Fidel’s, not Raul’s, and I think he had to be respected.”
 

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