“They talk about the failure of socialism but where is the success of capitalism in Africa, Asia and Latin America?”
- August 13, 1926 – November 25, 2016
- Cuban
- Revolutionary, Prime Minister and President of Cuba, Communist Leader
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Quote
“They talk about the failure of socialism but where is the success of capitalism in Africa, Asia and Latin America?”
Explanation
This quote challenges the one-sided critique of socialism by turning attention toward the uneven and often devastating impacts of capitalism in the Global South. Fidel Castro confronts critics who declare socialism a failure by asking them to consider the evidence of capitalism’s performance in regions plagued by poverty, inequality, and underdevelopment. His rhetorical question—“where is the success of capitalism?”—calls into question the assumption that capitalism naturally leads to prosperity, especially for the world’s most vulnerable.
Historically, Castro made this argument in the context of post-colonial struggles, where many nations in Africa, Asia, and Latin America were subjected to foreign exploitation, debt dependency, and structural adjustment policies promoted by capitalist institutions like the IMF and World Bank. While capitalism enriched a few elites, many populations remained trapped in poverty, facing weak infrastructure, extractive economies, and social fragmentation. Castro’s point is that socialism’s failures must be evaluated alongside capitalism’s failures—not in isolation or through a double standard.
In today’s context, the quote remains deeply relevant amid growing global inequality, ecological crisis, and disillusionment with neoliberalism. It encourages a more balanced, critical evaluation of economic systems by highlighting that capitalism has not delivered universal progress, particularly outside the industrialized West. Castro’s challenge is not merely ideological—it is a call to assess success not by profits or markets, but by the real human outcomes of justice, equity, and dignity.
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