Ok. Castro is an authortarian ruler who has created a communist dictatorship and refused Cuba the free elections it was promised back in the 50's. Freedom House gives Cuba a rating of seven--the lowest rating available--for political rights and civil liberties.

On the other hand, one must keep in mind that this same country has guaranteed healthcare (not the best, but still pretty decent) for all of it's citizens, despite the fact that the embargo has driven the Cuban people into extreme poverty. Ironicaly, Cuba has a stronger record of supporting freedom in other countries than the United States does. When President Clinton visited South Africa in the 90's and told them they should stop trading with Cuba, the South Africans replied "He came here a couple years ago to visit Mandela and speak to our Parliament, and he told us South Africa should cut its ties to Cuba because Cuba was a bad government. Well, when we needed help during our liberation struggle, Cuba gave it. When we needed food, Cuba provided it. For someone who did not help our struggle to come now and ask us to distance ourselves from someone who did, that is very arrogant behavior."

Cuba helped South Africans fight apartheid. They helped win independence for Angola. The United States backed the oppressive South African regime. So who is the bad government?

Since the early 60's, the US-led embargo on Cuba isn't punishing anybody but the Cuban people. Now, I understand that it did make SOME sense back in the 60's, when Cuba was allied with the Soviet Union. But the Soviet Union collapsed 13 years ago. Is the embargo still neccesary? The people are starving. The UN has denounced it. The international community has criticized the United States for continuing the sanctions on Cuba when it is obviously no longer a threat. When we tried to get Mexico to go along with the sanctions, they replied: "If we publicly announce that Cuba is a threat to national security, forty million Mexicans will die laughing."

Even more disturbing are the claims made by Cubans that the United States government has funded covert operations in Cuba ranging from arming squads of "banditos" who attacked villages and murdered women and children to funding groups of exiles who carried out terrorist attacks in Cuba.

Then there was the failed Bay of Pigs invasion, which claimed the lives of 176 Cubans in 72 hours, and wounded 300 more. in 1976, a Cuban airliner was bombed off the coast of Barbados. 73 people were killed. Cuban exiles, beleived to be funded by the government, have mrudered Cuban diplomats all around the world. In 1997, they blew up seven hotels in Havana.

Is all this really neccesary? If we lifted the sanctions and resumed normal relations with Cuba, couldn't we encourage democratic reforms peacefully? There are plenty of underground organizations in Cuba that favor non-violent change. Shouldn't we be funding them, instead of a group of exiles that murders civilians?

What do you guys think? Is this a neccesary method of destabilizing the Castro dictatorship, or is this just a grudge match by ex-cold warriors who want to show the the world how big their collective dicks are?

-- Anti-bush (Comrade_bleh@hotmail.com), September 03, 2004

Answers

You watch waaaaaaaaaay to much Carlin, dude.

If Cuba is such a wonderful place, why don't you move on over there, huh?

Commie! j/k

-- ProudAmerican (ProudAmerican@whoopityfuckindoo.com), September 03, 2004.

I'm not saying Cuba is a great place. I'm saying it's a shitty place and that the sanctions are only making things worse.

-- Anti-bush (Comrade_bleh@hotmail.com), September 03, 2004.

I don't think the Cold War ever really ended. I think that the US has gotten more "laissez-faire" with the rest of the world since being embarassed in Vietnam, but I still think we're very anti-Red. We're not going to be funding a Communist regime under the Bush administration or any other, I wouldn't think.

See, we use Cuba and China as examples of why Communism wouldn't work, and perhaps in it's Maoist form, it wouldn't. But Castro is far from Mao. I think a watered-down version of Communism could work if left to it's own devices (China), but the big Republican spenders and Democratic socialists probably wouldn't ever admit it. It's too much fun being rich.

-- Jaidev (j-jaster@yahoo.com), September 04, 2004.

Every time a system shows that it can work outside of the IMF and the World Bank, without giving in to globalization and American Corporations, the U.S. is quick to shut it down. Whenever a leader comes along proposing real change, the U.S. is first on the scene to try to stop him. Look at Venezuela. Chavez stoped letting American corporations fuck his country in the ass, and look what happened. Literacy went up. Crime went down. Unemployment went down. Healthcare improved. Obviously, this madman had to be stopped.

Look at Haiti. After centuries of bullshit, somebody came along who actualy started to change things (pretty impressive, considering the limited recources they were working with). As they say, give the poor some food, they call you a saint, ask why the poor have no food, they call you a communist. We backed the richest one percent of Haiti to ovcerthrow a wildly popular leader.

-- Anti-bush (Comrade_bleh@hotmail.com), September 04, 2004.

simple answer, NO. Cuba survives ona dripfeed for the past thrity years and since communism collapsed its even worse. THe us govt and cuban 'exiles'(mostly criminals) have been waging a vindictive economic war on the island out of little more than spite and some sour grapes too. Castros not long left and the sharks are hovering round. Wait to see the place turn back into a mafia holiday island and haven for scum when america has its way.

-- joe (joe@meri.can), September 05, 2004.

wow, then we can turn it into another little pseudo american wannabe state. Its inhabitants can shed their 'old' culture for a real one like americans have. Then they can import american food and become fats sweaty obeese tent wearing macdonalds eating slobs. They can open up casinos, have the mafia take over and then build ghettos where peo0ple can buy and sell crack and heroin and turn whole areas into shit. cuban music can be disgarded in stead they can have hip hop and wear blings and talk like theyve never had an education.

Hell, what are we waitin for , lets get castro out now.

-- uba (cub@cuba.cuba), September 07, 2004.