So it has drawn to a close. Castro has submitted his resignation. Triumphant politicians across the globe have reiterated their demands for the democratisation and liberalisation of Cuba. To their displeasure the Cuban people appear to be resistant and the regime resilient. I am interested to see what shall happen, but we can be sure that the West shall continue to proselytise.

Neoliberals and neoconservatives become radicalised when they are confronted by the persistence of social democracy. They are baffled by its popularity and consistent re-emergence, its power as an agent of social mobility. In the past Washington’s reaction to the left in Latin America was militant, but today it is largely rhetorical.

But the reactionary sentiments are haunted by an uncomfortable reality - Raúl and Chavez both enjoy overwhelming popular support. Across the world such credentials become irrelevant as soon as a leader begins to oppose Washington.

All of our assessments must be reasonable. Hugo Chavez, whose democratic credentials are indisputable, is persistently undermined by the received wisdom that he is a dictator. Castro is certainly more authoritarian, but the benefits of Cuban ‘communism’ are ignored and its flaws exaggerated by the western media.

Credible critical engagement with these anomalous ideologies or governments is non-existent.

These figureheads have come to symbolise resistance; they epitomise that tendency within all of us to envisage a better world.. Utopianism has an abstract appeal that cannot be easily dismissed - communist, anarchist and socialist thought and parties survive because they represent an alternative to a dominant and dysfunctional system.

We need to take a look at our own neoliberalism and how it leads its leaders to act unfairly on the world stage. The flourishing Islamism in Iraq and across the region is a direct result of our foolhardy intervention. And for what? Oil, power and new markets. Even school children predicted the outcome of that one.

Consider Kosovo, where an area smaller than Northern Ireland has been allowed to declare unilateral independence for the sake of belittling Russia and Serbia. In reality, Kosovo will serve as a repository for western capital and arms. The spread of democracy, a noble idea indeed, only corresponds to its usefulness to American and European expansion. Where democracy does not serve these economic or political interests, it is castigated and assaulted. What we can be certain of is this - our leaders are not wise and not moral, they are self-interested and often ill-informed.

It is condescending and rude to infer that the Venezuelan, Russian or Cuban people are indoctrinated or coerced into making certain conscious decisions. Might it have occurred to them that rampant materialism, inequality and the gradual erosion of civil liberties are not that wonderful?

We must be free to criticise Cuba, Russia or Venezuela. We must, however, accept that our own systems are extremely deficient. If they weren’t then they would be adopted wholesale and worldwide.

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international, Politics