Harry,
You certainly make your points. Basically, I'm not trying to defend Fidel
Castro as some saint who does only good in the world, or even mostly good.
I think the particular way in which he is demonized by the US is a bit
extreme...no, not just a bit. Stalinesque? Give me a break. To think that
the main purpose for any US sanctions of Cuba has anything to do with
democracy or human rights (though those are problems) is ludicrous. To
seperate corporate interests from political interests is also probably
misguided. To look at it from the perspective of a country concerned with
human rights, it's hard to condemn Castro's influence in the "communisation"
of Chile in favor of Augusto Pinochet, isn't it?
It's also interesting to bear in mind that Cuba was placed on the
Terrorist-Sponsoring States list (again, give me a break) after Iraq was
taken off in 1982. Why? So we could help out our good buddy and
humanitarian Saddam Hussein.
In any case, certainly Castro is an odious figure, but not to the extreme
that the average American thinks, and especially not in comparison to
dictators the US has installed/allied with. Also, it irks me to no end to
hear someone like George Bush speak of democracy and honesty while bashing
Castro, for obvious reasons. Finally, Cuba would probably have a chance
were it not for the restrictions on travel and the economic embargo. After
more than 40 years, it's served no purpose (I know you agree on this, as
you've stated), and right from the get-go, the US wanted Castro out (after
he came to power.) It takes no more than a cursory glance at early CIA
documents, which basically state, "We can't see him going commie, or allying
with the Russians, but he's not going to be able to be bent to our will, so
we've got to figure out some way to remove him." It's hard to argue that,
in this hemisphere, at least, America's red-scare led to the worsening
(extreme) in many countries.
Oh, I'm just rambling! What I really mean to say is this...I wish the
government would call a spade a spade, and not be so obviously two-faced.
But that's what governments are about, isn't it?
Take care,
Shaun
"Harry" wrote in message
news:cgFib.730$w_5.556@bignews4.bellsouth.net...
>
> "Mike McKinley" wrote in message
> news:bmf5ft$dt$1@geraldo.cc.utexas.edu...
> > Harry wrote:
> > > Politically speaking, I have lived in South Florida for 25 years. I've
> met
> > > mothers that had not seen their imprisoned sons for over 20 years.
I've
> met
> > > many people that have lost their loved ones on that 90 mile stretch of
> > > ocean. I have also seen, personally, the damage of Fidel's expansion
of
> > > communism to the rest of Latin America.
> >
> > Just out of curiosity, which others are you referring to?
> >
>
> Countries? Nicaragua, Chile, Venezuela (recently), and Colombia.
>
> http://www.geocities.com/CapitolHill/Congress/1770/UP.html
>
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