Te toca a ti . . .
This coming Friday afternoon, Chilean President Michelle Bachelet is scheduled to meet with the body of Fidel Castro at an undisclosed mausoleum. The encounter will occur on the last day of her official state visit to Cuba, an event which will define Bachelet’s character and help the world to understand who she is.
Sound a bit heavy? It is.
Bachelet has always spoken quite openly about the horrible suffering her family endured under the dictatorship of General Augusto Pinochet – who despite being an ardent anti-communist – was anything but an angel. If she chooses to travel to Cuba for meetings with government leaders while refraining from meeting with any representatives of the dissident movement, she reveals herself as a phony “sufferer.” If however, she mixes her engagement with regime leaders with similar actions in the dissident community, she will no doubt, emerge as a true champion of the people, born amid the suffering of a nation once mired in the muck of another dictatorship.
It is time for Miss Bachelet to show the world what she’s made of. Will the meeting with Fidel include an urgent plea to free Cuba’s political prisoners – or will it simply be another photo-op meant to twist a spear into the dissident community’s side? Yes, I’m speaking to you Cristina.
The memory of Miss Bachelet’s father – the tortured General Alberto Bachelet Martínez – is on the line. Her actions in Cuba will serve to either bolster the memory of her father, a man senselessly murdered by the Pinochet regime, or to defame it.
Michelle – te toca a ti.
Anastasio,
Stop daydreaming and don't expect anything from her.
Bachelet is a lefty (and that's where her loyalties lie) and could care two shits about the Cubans dissidents if they rot in jail until kingdom come. If she would, she would have stood-up for them long time ago.
Today Latin America has these moderate lefties (Bachelet, Lula) plus the hardliner lefties (Chavez, Correa, Morales) and I don't have an ounce of respect for the moderate ones (never mind the hardliners, those deserve to be shot) because when push comes to shove, their actions and undying loyalties to Havana's "Mommy in Chief" are quite obvious.
I haven't heard Michelle Bachelet mention anything about the Cuban dissidents, so I doubt she'll mention anything in Cuba.
If we snap to judgment, we risk alienating any potential friend of the Cuban people. I am well aware of Bachelet's history however, one cannot discount her own past. That past is the very reason why I hold out hope for her. I'm not so sure she's ready to forget her own family's trials back in the 70's. We shall see.
It's my understanding that the Chilean government has already officially said it has NO plans to meet with Cuban dissidents during Bachelet's stay in Cuba for this visit. Assuming that's the case, Bachelet cannot escape the charge of hypocrisy and obvious double-standard (which is business as usual for practically all countries south of the US-Mexico border).
In her particular case, it simply looks worse, given how she's played up her victim status and parlayed it into becoming Chile's president. Bottom line: neither she nor anyone else can have it both ways; it's just that neither she nor anyone else seems to give a shit, because they feel they don't have to. After all, pretty much everybody has screwed Cuba, so what else is new?
Let's make it even simpler:
Anybody who condemns Pinochet, as Bachelet obviously does, and does not have at least equally strong condemnation for Castro, Inc. (as Bachelet evidently doesn't) is automatically a hypocrite, not to say FULL OF SHIT.
Anastasio,
I'm with asombra's views one hundred percent.
Believe me, I'm not snapping into judgment, the cruel reality is that for the last 50 years very few Latin-American leaders (except former President Flores of El Salvador, Vargas Llosa of Peru and former President Arias of Costa Rica) have had the integrity to stand-up to the tyranny in Havana, period.
Look what happened at the recent Grupo de Rio meeting. Please face the painful reality that we're on this battle alone and cannot count on Latin-America for support.
I hear you Asombra.
Here agenda on Friday however is completely clear. That could mean a meeting. I'd rather not think that every Latin-American leader is as corrupt and/or morally bankrupt as the next. Too pessimistic for me! I will reserve final judgment for the moment she departs from Cuba. Only then can I completely evaluate the merits or hypocrisy of her visit.
History makes me fear she may let the island down however, I'm not ready to believe she'd spit on her father's grave.
I’m not ready to believe she’d spit on her father’s grave.
Start believing.....
To the left, it's only a crime to torture, assassinate or otherwise incarcerate an individual if that individual's ideology is leftist.
To the left, it is not a crime to torture, assassinate or otherwise incarcerate those whose ideology is contrary to their leftist ideals.
Pinochet killed and tortured communists who tried imposing Castroism on Chile. (Most of Bachelet's exile was spent in Stalinist East Germany.)
The U.S. kills and tortures Jihadists who are still trying to impose murderous Islamic totalitarian...
It's a nasty world out there. I'm afraid, old Coke commercials about "teaching the world to sing in perfect harmony" won't cut it.
Giving totalitarians a brief taste of their own medicine seems to work, however.
Giving totalitarians a brief taste of their own medicine seems to work, however.
You're right on Humberto,
Our enemies deserve no mercy whatsoever as they won't have mercy on us when is their turn to attack us.
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