Having just read the petition, “US Hands Off Cuba,” being circulated online by the International Action Center, I’m moved to respond. I cannot fathom that anyone can seriously believe the drivel you are disseminating here.
President Bush’s speech of the 24th details the realities of the Cuban regime. Where are the “lies and slanders” you invoke? Did the revolution not promise individual freedom, freedom of the press, free elections (you know, the kind where more than one party will win)? Did they not promise economic advancement? Has a single one of these materialized for the Cuban people? No, they live in a society where they are constantly watched, where to deviate from the party line is to risk retaliation, imprisonment under substantially less humane conditions than exist in Guantanamo, where they are forced to eke our a bare subsistence living and are fortunate if their roofs to do not fall on their heads. So who is lying here?
The Cuban people, which is in itself a misnomer in that the Cuban people have absolutely no say in what their government does, may have shown kindness and generosity to the United States, but the government most assuredly has not. Were there not missiles pointed at the United States? During the missile crisis, did Castro not urge the USSR to use the same missiles? Were there not, according to Che Guevara himself, plots to blow up populated venues in NYC. At every turn, has the government not worked against the interests of the US? Has it not slapped the outstretched hand of every President from Reagan to Carter who has tried for some sort of rapprochement, both publicly and privately?
And if they have been “kind and generous” in offering humanitarian aid, we have been so much more. We provided humanitarian aid after a particularly devastating hurricane years before. We further left that loophole in the embargo open. There is no true embargo, let alone the “blockade” you cite. We are the number one supplier of food to Cuba. The only qualification is that it pay for its goods. Given Cuba’s credit record, that is nothing but a wise business decision. Remittances from family members are one of the largest inflows of cash on the island. Humanitarian aid is allowed to flow unimpeded. Pharmaceuticals are not restricted. You could even say that the infamous wet foot/dry foot policy we have in place makes the Coast Guard collude in policing their borders and preventing the escape of those imprisoned on the island.
If Bush has no chance of convincing the Cuban people of rising up against their oppressors, it is only because of the fear instilled by the regime’s ubiquitous machinery of repression. Your petition is correct that it is time to stand with the people of Cuba but to demand for them the same God-given rights you enjoy. If your glorious workers’ paradise were in the United States, you would now be facing a hefty prison term for your little petition.
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Just working out the kinks, folks. Sorry.
Come on guys, you should know this:
The International Action Center is a front for the World Workers Party.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Workers_World_Party
Very well funded group. These people are Maoists.
Throwing pearls before swine, I’m afraid.
Ruth,
You may not even want to link to their petition. They don’t need out help in promoting their agenda.
International Action Center “founded by Ramsey Clark.” That about says it all.
Nevertheless, in the interest of “scholarship” I tried to actually read the petition. I got so disgusted that I had to stop. These people truly have no shame.
Hands off? It’s like saying, gee, I can hear my neighbor beating his wife and kids , but, its none of my business, so I should shut up and mind my own business, right? The difference is the victims of abuse in this case are my brothers and sisters in and out of Cuba.
I will fight to ban the communist part in cuba forever. And I will support putting cagastro collaborators in prison for, how about 49 years. Cubans have the unalienable right to help free Cuba and ‘hands on’ is the only way. This fascist/communist petition is simple obstructionist propaganda.