I have had the privilege of living in the era of Fidel Castro. That this man is Cuban and that I have his friendship grants me an even greater privilege.  Fidel is a true teacher of generations and a herald of the future.  I believe in him because he is honourable, intelligent, and patriotic and because he has designed a nation that was dreamed of by our apostle José Martí. The best of all is that while he is now a legend, he is of flesh and blood and his words are absolutely valid.  Nobody in this convulsed planet has risen up against injustice the way he has, nobody has done so much for a people as he has.  I feel the pride of being a Latin American and having him over there, alive, vital and unbending.  Fidel is a hope, an idea, a school.