In a report posted on Misceláneas de Cuba, aptly entitled “Jean Ziegler en el país de las maravillas,” or “Jean Ziegler in Wonderland,” the vice president of a dissident organization professes that they are shocked and scandalized by the UN Rapporteur’s report that Cuba is doing well at feeding its people. They question if he even went to Cuba, the real one, or whether he fell down a rabbit hole.
He informs Ziegler in reference to his subject matter, the definitive phrase would be that Cubans “live to eat,” considering the chronic shortages and difficulty in obtaining food. He is most incensed at Ziegler’s assertion that prisoners are well fed and always have access to potable water. As to comparing Cuba favorably with Guatemala, Bolivia, Niger and Mali, those countries are truly different, although, he says, many a Cuban would not look askance at going to Guatemala or Bolivia.
Unlike those countries, he asserts, the problem in Cuba is a political and economic one, the lack of political freedom. It is a government that pays in one type of money and sells goods at prohibitive prices in another currency. It is a government that impedes the flow of goods and stifles the productive forces. And those who have raised their voices against the system are languishing in jails where in addition to receiving inhuman and degrading treatment, they lack adequate nourishment.
The response ends on a bitter note, hoping that the next representative will not follow in Ziegler’s footsteps.
I’ve translated quite a bit, but you can read the whole article in Spanish here
4 thoughts on “The Rapporteur Gets a Response”
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Sending this completely biased and rabidly partisan “observer” to Cuba is like putting Dracula in charge of a blood bank. What happened was exactly what one would expect. The UN, of course, knew this perfectly well. They got the result they wanted.
Cuba’s day of reckoning is coming soon. Soon thereafter, be prepared to hear ALL KIND of excuses from these parasites.
I’m not at all sure we’ll even get that much. Look at the situation with the Soviet Union. It’s as if all those decades of countless crimes, abuses, oppression and out-and-out evil never really happened, or didn’t amount to much worth mentioning. Look at who the whole world has accepted as Russia’s leader, a former KGB colonel. Remember the outcry over Austria’s Kurt Waldheim, how he was deemed totally unacceptable because of old Nazi ties? Who destroyed more lives, the communists or the Nazis? Why is a KGB operative somehow OK? In other words, don’t hold your breath.
Castro’s Company Store. Castro owns all the businesses, residences and supplies what little there is to buy – unless you have some of that evil American money. Then you can buy what you need in Castro’s Cuban K-mart where pesos are not accepted as legal currency. How would Americans feel if they were paid in worthless script usable only in the company store but all the while earning real money for the big boss of the company store?