Credit Where Credit is Due

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Take a look, these young ladies, mostly from Spain, who joined the ladies in white, are the heroines of this weekend, along with Manuel Benito del Valle Ruiz, a Spaniard who undertook the gauntlet/march with Dr. Ferrer on Monday. The true heroes are, of course, the Cuban men and women who take their lives into their own hands and face down a brutal regime. But for the first time I can remember, instead of reposing on their lounge chairs, sipping mojitos, or attempting to make a buck off the backs of the oppressed masses, foreign nationals have stood in solidarity with the Cuban people. Although the potential repercussions they faced were considerably less than those of the Cuban nationals involved, excepting the beating Manuel took, their actions took courage. And I applaud them for it.
A number of thoughts arise. Out of all of the millions around the world who have visited the island, these are the only tres gatos who gave a damn about the people? What if all those wonderful social justice types stopped serving as shills for the regime, what if the scales fell from their eyes? What if Pastors for Peace stood in solidarity with the Cuban people and not with their oppressors? Can you imagine if the do-good wing of activists were unleashed? Where were those who willingly served as human shields for Saddam? Why was there no cordon of well-meaning peace lovers interposing their bodies between the faux mob and Darsi?

8 thoughts on “Credit Where Credit is Due”

  2. Someone seriously should try to get a hold of one of these ladies. Their experience needs to be AMPLIFIED to the world!

  4. I applaud these Catalan women, as well as their counterparts from Sweden, Peru and Bosnia who had the courage to stand up for freedom.
    You ask an excellent question: where WERE the cordon of well-meaning peace lovers, or more specifically, the Americans? Oh, that’s right — they’re BANNED by their own government from traveling there, a product of a failed 45-year-old blockade that only serves two purposes: keeping the island dictatorship in power, and with such, keeping the Miami Republicans in power as well.
    Too bad – how nice it would have been to see hundreds of Americans supporting the dissidents against that “grupúsculo” of “government supporters”!

  5. Sorry, Coop, this is one you don’t co-opt. You would have seen hundreds of Americans sunning themselves at Varadero and nowhere near the march. Part of the point is that of the millions who go down to Cuba only a handful in nearly two decades have seen fit to care about the Cuban people. So don’t give me the Americans would have been with them.
    When the American Left convinces me that they give a flying God-knows-what about the Cuban people, the people and not the government, and that they are not going down to Cuba to act as useful idiots for the regime, then and only then am I willing to let loose the tourist hordes. Study the statistics and yours is a loser’s bet.
    By the way, illegality did not stop the human shields from going to Baghdad, so why not Cuba? Answer: because nobody except us gives a damn.
    This is as far as I’ll meet you. I would have loved to have been able to do what they did. But how many would?
    And I won’t get into the embargo, which by the way was enacted when American properties were seized and not in the interests of Cuban freedom, because that is fodder for a longer comment.

  7. I’m afraid the only ones who have “co-opted” this issue are the right-wing self-appointed anti-castristas here in South Florida who feel that only a Republican has a legitimate voice when it comes to human rights in Cuba. But I and many of my friends—Democrats all, and many from Cuba—are proof that that is not the case. We are sincere in our beliefs, feeling no need to convince anyone. And we enter into this debate for exactly the same reason—because we care about the Cuban people. But I’m curious: just what have the Republicans done to advance freedom in Cuba anyway?
    You’re right—I have no doubt that hundreds of Americans are there right now enjoying the fruits of being a tourist. But I would wager as well that as those handful of brave Spanish women made their stand, many hundreds of Spaniards were also there on those same beaches. The point is that the ability to freely come and go without fear of (American) government reprisal could greatly enhance freedom’s cause. I say “could,” for without that ability, it’s all speculation.
    I also have a different answer for your Baghdad question: to try to stop the unjustified hegemony of their own government and stave off a needless war. That’s human nature, to care the most passionately about that which affects your own. Your blog is living proof of that.

  8. Sorry but you speak in stereotypes. Y’all love to carry on about them right wing Miami Cubans. It might surprise you to know that I and most of the posters on this blog are as American as you are, my fellow native born citizen. We are as entitled as you are to cast our votes how we see fit and express our opinions where we see fit. And no amount of blustering can change that, so deal with it.
    That you feel the need to convince is evidenced by your commenting in the first place. Of course, it could be that you need to vent your spleen. In either case, you point out that there are probably hundreds of Americans on the beaches now. Funny, I didn’t see their democratizing influence at the demonstration. But then you don’t care, do you? You’re not your brother’s keeper.
    Your bigotry is evident in your comments. Your references to political parties are superfluous. They played no part in the original post. However, I’m glad that “some of your best friends are…” But I do have to point out that the last time I came across the word “hegemony,” it was being misused by some representative of the USSR. I have to wonder if you are as you would have us take you.
    I did you the courtesy of responding. But, as you obviously come with your own unassailable agenda and are not interested in a reasoned dialogue, perhaps you should betake yourself to the huffingtonpost or some such. I believe there are plenty of Democrats there. And you should have plenty of opportunity to pontificate.
    In any case, I will give you up as incorrigible and end it here. And if you ever need the support of your fellow man, pray that he or she is an American, else he or she might come vacation over your corpse.

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