- (May 2003)
Invading Cuba.
The USA has always been obsessed with Cuba. During the Cold War, that
obsession was not justified: the USA was supporting Latin American dictators
who were as bad and sometimes much worse than Castro. Now that the Cold War
is over and all of Latin America has become more or less democratic, the
old American obsession for Cuba would be reasonable, except that the USA
seems to be much more indifferent than it used to be. The problem is that
the end of the Cold War (of the Soviet Union)
also marked the end of the USA's interest in improving
the lives of millions of Cubans. The USA has no economic interest in Cuba,
which makes it even less appealing to the main Washington lobbies.
Castro has always been a crazy and demented dictator, but now he is also
senile. He lives in a world that doesn't exist anymore. The Cuban people
are desperately left behind by a world that is rapidly advancing towards
democracy and capitalism. The damage that Castro is inflicting on Cubans
is gigantic.
Millions of Cubans have fled Cuba, possibly the single largest refugee case
in the world. Millions would leave if they only could. Cubans die every year
trying to escape Castro's regime.
A U.S.A. invasion of Cuba would be welcome by the Cuban people. The only
obstacle against such an invasion comes from the United Nations, pretty much
the only organization in the world that recognizes Castro as the legitimate
ruler of Cuba. Castro's only friends are mad dictators like Kim Jong Il and
Qaddafi. He is an embarrassment to everybody else.
He is an embarrassment to his own people.
An invasion of Cuba would cost very little, last very few days, liberate
millions of desperate Cubans and remove the last dictator of the Americas.
If Saddam, why not Castro?
TM, ®, Copyright © 2005 Piero Scaruffi All rights reserved.
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- (March 2003)
Cuba's crackdown on dissidents.
Cuba, the last dictatorship in Latin America, is taking advantage of the
distraction created by the Iraqi war and is arresting dozens of dissidents.
Many of them had been encouraged by the visit of Jimmy Carter to speak up.
A few of them were fasting in support of detained dissidents.
The authorities themselves have confirmed that none of the dissidents
were committing any crime. Their crime was to protest against the jailing
of other dissidents, particularly Oscar Elias Biscet.
When Jimmy Carter visited the island, he did not know that he was unwillingly
being used to smoke out dissidents. Many of the people arrested by Castro are
the ones who communicated with Carter their desire for freedom.
Carter, basically, acted as a Castro agent.
Dissidents are accused of "undermining the government".
Sentences range from 15 to 25 years in prison.
The tribunal, which, of course, did not admit journalists or observers,
gave 25 years to legendary opposition leader Hector Palacios,
20 years to Ricardo Gonzales (who ran the only independent newspaper in Cuba) ,
20 years to poet Raul Rivero,
20 years to economist Oscar Espinosa Chepe,
20 years to Hector Maseda,
18 years to Osvaldo Alfonso, etc.
Castro thinks that he is taking advantage of the war in Iraq to strengthen
his power in Cuba. The truth is that he is providing George W Bush with
an excellent reason to depose him. And he is providing the Cuban population
(desperately tired of 40 years of communism) yet another reason to welcome
the liberators.
TM, ®, Copyright © 2005 Piero Scaruffi All rights reserved.
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- (May 2002)
The difference between Bush and Castro.
The clown who is currently president of the USA never misses an opportunity
to shut up.
At a time when America desperately needs cooperation from the rest of the
world, Bush has decided to attack first Iran and then Cuba, two countries
that could be strategic allies in the war against terrorism.
This may be due to Bush's complete ignorance of history and geography (it
wouldn't hurt if presidents of the world's superpower had to take a test
before they take office) or it may be due to crass stupidity..
It certainly does not help the chances of peace
and does not increase the security of the American people
On Cuba, specifically, Bush was angered by Jimmy Carter's momentous trip
to Cuba. Cuba has been a victim for 40 years of a USA embargo that has no
legal status. Cuba did not attack the USA. Cuba is recognized by the United
Nations and by all countries in the world. All countries in the world (except
the USA) have regular relationships with Cuba. Millions of tourists from
every part of the world have visited Cuba, except Americans (who still think
that Castro does not allow foreigners to see how Cubans live).
Bush has decided to spin a new lie (that Cuba is helping rogue states
manufacture biological weapons, whereas the truth is that America has helped
Iraq manufacture biological weapons). Bush has also rediscovered the old
propaganda against Cuba, based on the idea of "human rights". Coming from
the vary man who is so friendly with the brutal dictatorships of Saudi Arabia
and Egypt (where thousands of dissidents have been summarily executed and
where the September 11 terrorists were born and indoctrinated), this is
not much of a sermon, likely only to backfire against America and entertain
the bored audience of the world.
Bush questions the legitimacy of Fidel Castro's rule because he was not
elected democratically. Hello? George W Bush
is president of the USA not because the majority of Americans voted for him
but because of a technicality in the constitution of the USA.
Fidel Castro is the president for the very same reason: not because the
majority of Cubans voted for him but because of a technicality in the Cuban
constitution. Where is the difference between Castro and Bush?
One has a beard and one doesn't, that's all.
Even the most naive of observers knows the reason Bush came out with his
attacks against Castro: because some very wealthy and very crooked Cubans
in Florida control millions of precious votes, votes that could decide the next
election just like they decided the past one.
The USA is hostage to a bunch of dishonest Cubans, who basically decide who
becomes president and what that president will say.
On may 15, Cuba let Jimmy Carter speak live on tv to million of Cubans.
Now let us see if the USA will let Fidel Castro speak live on tv to millions
of Americans. What is the USA afraid of?
TM, ®, Copyright © 2005 Piero Scaruffi All rights reserved.
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- (April 2000)
The American obsession with Cuba and the kidnap of a six-year old boy.
The world is laughing at America's obsession with Cuba. If Elian Gonzales were
a Rwandan child, nobody would care: the Immigration department would simply
return him to his father in Rwanda. Case closed. But Cuban-Americans constitute
a powerful mafia that has managed to keep the USA on a collision drive
against Castro (mainly because this Cuban mafia represents political and
economic interests, i.e. aspiring dictators, that cannot prevail as long as
Castro is in power), while countless dictators around the world were free to
slaughter, imprison, torture, cleanse and wage wars (often using US military
equipment).
Elian's case is almost comic. There is no doubt that the child (legally
speaking) has been
kidnapped. The kidnapper's justification is that the child would be better off
in America than in Cuba. This is also the opinion of distinguished politicians
of the far right like Newt Gingrich and the mayor of Miami.
What makes them think that America, the
homeland of serial killers, the land of overweight people, the land of guns
and drugs and AIDS, the land with 1.8 million people in prison, the last
bastion of the death penalty, and the home of 40 million uninsured people,
is a better place to raise children than Cuba, where there are no serial
killers, no drugs, no AIDS, no guns, education and health care are free, and,
by all accounts, crime is almost non-existent?
And if society is allowed to decide where a father should raise his child,
why can't America take the children of Newt Gingrich, the children of the
mayor of Miami and the children of all the Cuban-Americans and deport them
to a safer country, where education and health care are free and the average
salary is much higher, such as Switzerland?
Who are Gingrich, the mayor of Miami and the kidnappers to decide the future
of every child of the world based on their preferences?
Especially since all of them have in common a somewhat psychotic and neurotic
attitude.
What would happen to Elian if he stayed in the US is easy to predict: he would
go to a lousy school, because education is expensive in the US; if he survives
high school (given the current rate of school shootings), by the time he is
16 he will be involved in a drink and drive accident, by the time he is 18 he
will have tried drugs, by the time he is 20 he will have bought a gun.
By the time he is 30 his chances of having been in jail will be very high.
By the time he is 40 he will be overweight like most Americans.
By the time he is 50 he will have his first heart attack.
By the time he is 60 he will be diagnosed with cancer.
And he may very well end up being one of the 40 million Americans who do not
have health insurance.
Let Elian's father decide if this is the right future for his child.
Cuba is not a free country, but, by all accounts, its citizens (people who were
once six-year old children like Elian) are extremely kind and honest people.
The country is poor and life is difficult under communism,
but very few kids are shot dead in high schools,
streets are safe, nobody has guns, drugs are rare. Let the father, not
a bunch of demented fascists, decide what is best for Elian.
Newt Gingrish and the mayor of Miami, Joe Carollo, and the conservative politicians in
general, do not realize it but they are the worst fears of communism come true.
Here is a government that wants to decide where and how people should live.
Here is a government that wants to take a child away from a father and
decide where and how it should grow up.
Stalin and Mao would love to see this.
Carollo behaved like a southamerican dictator when he fired his city manager
and his police chief (both white officials who offered mixed support to the
kidnapping of Elian) and replaced them with close friends of the Cuban
community. Miami is becoming an old-fashioned fascist dictatorship.
The last to preach Castro should be Carollo, since Carollo uses the same
style that he accuses Castro of. And this reflects the idea of "democracy"
that is widespread among the Cuban exiles.
For Cuban exiles, Elian Gonzales has become a nightmare. Their orchestrated
campaign to exploit Elian against Castro has backfired: most Americans are
now ashamed that they still keep sanctions against Cuba when they trade
freely with China. Even Iran enjoys better ties with the USA than Cuba.
What has Cuba done to the USA? It is unbelievable that the USA government
is still hostage to a few thousand anti-Castro Cuban fascists who
have become registered voters.
-
Shame on Cuba: (October 1998)
The United Nations voted 157-2 against the United States
embargo of Cuba.
This is the record of all time: 157 countries sided against one country
(and Israel) for the very first time in the history of the world. The United
States embargo against Cuba is not only unethical and criminal,
it is plain ridiculous. Castro is obviously not a threat to anybody, and,
albeit far from being a democratic leader, cannot be compared with any of the
crazy dictators of our age. Boycotting Castro's Cuba is like
persecuting a shoplifter in a neighborhood of murderers.
The reason Fidel Castro is so hated by American presidents is that he
is vastly more popular than any of them. Not only has he often enjoyed the
favor of most of his citizens, he has also become a universal icon.
Thanks to the American
embargo, Fidel Castro has become a hero and a martyr. Besides, he is by no
means the worst dictator in the world, and he never was the worst in the
Americas. As a matter of fact, plenty of much worse dictators were installed
and supported by the C.I.A. Castro has provided his citizens with first-rate
universal health care (something that still eludes the U.S.) and free universal
education. Far from being a ruthless murderer, he has created a system that,
once the American boycott is ended, may well turn Cuba into a miracle of
social and economic progress. This may be the true reason why American
presidents are so determined in keeping him confined.
TM, ®, Copyright © 2005 Piero Scaruffi All rights reserved.
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