There were many occasions when it was not clear what the best thing to do was, and sometimes no decision seems like the right decision. We need a song to sum up these ethical dilemmas of leadership. You can write about just one such dilemma or you can reprise the song in several places where dilemmas occur, just keeping the chorus and changing the verse depending upon the situation. The kind of title might be ‘Did I do wrong?’ where Fidel can question one or more of his confidants (e.g. Celia Sanchez, Che Guevara or his brother Raul). The title and tone could be quite academic e.g. ‘the ethical dilemmas of leadership’ or very informal e.g. ‘do you have to be a bastard to run a country?’ The musical tone and dissonant chords might be used in places to show uneasiness about decisions taken.
Whether to allow freedom of the press and artistic freedom (scene 20b)
What kind of political system to set up (e.g. scene 18b) – a US style multi-party democracy or a one-party democracy. This is one of the most common criticisms levelled at the Castro regime – that no alternatives were offered to the people to choose a different leader. Fidel countered this criticism by saying that they have chosen a system that is suited to the stage of political development the country is at, and that the system is democratic. He also challenges the legitimacy of multi-party democracy. More details on these arguments.
Issues like these can be summed up in song lyrics for example: “Accusing the accuser doesn’t absolve me from their criticism, It just exposes their hypocrisy, I must justify my position, I must establish my legitimacy”
How strong a leader to be e.g. ‘do you have to be a bastard to run a country?’ For this kind of song, you could draw on the examples of Lenin in the Russian revolution who had as much trouble with the different left-wing factions as he did with the capitalists. You could also mention that Jimmy Carter who is perceived to be one of nicer and most peace-loving US presidents was widely perceived to be weak and ineffective. Or you could refer to the scenes in the early 1960s where Fidel is juggling all interests and differing opinions around him trying to keep everyone sweet, playing one party off against another trying to maintain unity and a supply of funds and arms of recruits. This could be a turning point where Fidel stops trying to resist the different parts of himself – one the arrogant leader, the other the self-reflective person who is scared of the tendency to Caudillismo (charismatic strong armed leadership invested in one person). Fidel was keen to avoid becoming a leader like Stalin, but there did come a point where he decided it was necessary to be a strong leader. Scene 1b scene 3b and/or scene 20b might be good points for this kind of song. So the theme of the song might be about not wanting to be like Stalin.
Another place you can have a song is towards the end in 2006 when Fidel is getting ill and Raul is about to take over. This must have been hard for Fidel after being a leader for so long.