One hundred lies told by Cuba’s Fidel Castro: Part 1

This is the first installment in a 15-part series written by Cuban American engineer Humberto (Bert) Corzo exclusively on Babalú (see Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7, Part 8, Part 9, Part 10, Part 11, Part 12):

“The word is not to conceal the truth, but to say it” – José Martí.

Why this topic is called One Hundred Lies told by Fidel Castro?  Because he affirms the opposite of what is in his mind, he disguises his thinking by making his pronouncements look like another thing. Because the fake promises he made breaking his word. Of him we can say that “He lies more than he speaks the truth.”

In order to understand Fidel Castro’s actions, it is necessary to understand him as he really is, not as people want him to be. He is a man with two faces, one is the face of a revolutionary who promise prosperity, democracy and the restoration of Cuba’s 1940 constitution. The other is the face of a consummate liar who says and promises anything in order to stay in power for life.

The following infamous lies were used by Fidel Castro to coax the Cuban people, to later betray the true principles of the revolution by turning the island into a satellite of the Soviet Union.

1. “There will be freedom for those who speak in our favor and for those who speak against us and criticize us”. Speech, January 1st, 1959, Santiago de Cuba.  

He prevented all expressions of thoughts which did not conform to the line set by his tyrannical regime. He eliminated those who dared criticize the revolutionary process, forcing them to leave the country under threat, sending them to prison or executing them.

2. “The most serious problem in Latin America has been the continued presence of dictatorships in the hemisphere. Those who still remained, deserve our specific attention.”  Interview with Manuel Camín from the daily Excelsior of Mexico, January 1959.

The Castro regime has 60 years of harsh dictatorship. Blood, sweat and tears have been for the unfortunate inhabitants of the prison-island the fruits of 6 decades of the Castro tyranny.

3. “He who says freedom of the press, says freedom, says freedom of assembly; freedom of assembly and the right to choose freely, not only the President, but also for the workers to choose their leaders. Rights which cannot be taken away”. Speech, January 5, 1959, Camaguey.

All these rights have been taken away from the people by the Castro tyranny. On January 15, 1960, he had begun the purge, persecution and jail of more than 50% of the labor leaders, most of them members of the 26th of July Movement, democratically elected in the 10th Congress of the CTC on November 1959, thus destroying the rights attained by the workers and the labor movement as a whole.

4. “When one right is suppressed all other rights end up being suppressed, ignoring democracy. Ideas are defended with reason, not with arms. I am a lover of democracy.” Press declaration, January 7, 1959, Havana.

In fact, that has been his real goal, he started by suppressing one right, and ended up suppressing them all, with the objective of satisfying his desire for absolute power. To reach this goal he initially used the democratic banner.

5. “Now that there is no censorship, and the press is completely free, freer than it has ever been, and has also the assurance that it will continue to be free forever, without having censorship here again.” Speech, January 8, 1959.

Fidel Castro, January 8, 1959, at Camp Columbia

Since he took power in 1959, freedom of the press and information ceased to exist. The regime has controlled and censored newspapers and magazines, radio, television, film industry, and access to the Internet almost in its entirety.

6. Today there is no torture, nor political prisoners, nor assassinations, nor terror. Today there is only joy.” Speech, January 8, 1959.

Statistics for the past 60 years: 7,700 documented deaths; more than 475,000 political prisoners have gone through the jails, more than 96,000 deaths in the Straits of Florida trying to escape; around 18,000 Cubans killed in “international solidarity” wars, Bay of Pigs invasion, Escambray Insurrection and in Latin American guerrilla actions. During many years the Human Rights Commission of the UN has denounced the tortures of the Cuban political prisoners.

7. “Weapons for what? To fight against whom? Against the revolutionary government, that has the support of the whole people?” Speech, January 8, 1959, Habana.

He took away the weapons from the Cuban people, their right to keep and bear arms, one of the guarantors against tyranny, in order to control them and remained in power. Weapons for what? For the guerrilla movement which he initiated in April 1959 throughout Latin America, and later in the wars in Africa and the Middle East.

In order to satisfy his ego-centrism and to struggle against the United States, he turned the island into a giant headquarters, ended up with more than 500,000 men under arms during the decades of 70s and 80s. During this period it was the largest military force in Latin America.  The book “Secret of Generals”, published on April 1997, Havana, boasts of the military involvement with troops, weapons and cash in over a dozen countries by the Castro regime.

8. “To install a Dictatorship, only a few are needed. A few generals commanded thousands of soldiers, they had the soldiers deceived, and had prohibited them from thinking…” Speech on January 12, 1059, Rotary Club, La Habana.

To install his dictatorship, only a few were needed. Fidel, his brother Raúl and their closest generals command thousands of soldiers whom they have deceived, jailed, executed and prohibited from thinking. Dictator is somebody like him who makes individual decisions, who has oppressed his people, imposing his will and whims on them, in order to stay in power indefinitely.  

9. “I am not a Communist and neither is the Movement, but we don’t have to say that we are anticommunists just to please foreign powers”. Press declaration, Habana, January 13, 1959.

He made this Machiavellian declaration in order to buy time, since the conditions were not favorable at the start of the regime to declare himself Marxist-Leninist.

10. “Those who talk about democracy should start by realizing what it means to respect all ideas, all beliefs, the meaning of others’ freedom and rights… we don’t persecute anyone… If we persecute a newspaper and we shut it down, Ah!, when one start by shutting down a newspaper, no daily will be able to feel safe, when one start to persecute a man for his political ideas, no one will be able to feel safe, when restrictions begin to be made, no right will be able to feel secure.”. Press declaration, Habana, January 13, 1959.

He suppressed all ideas which criticize his way of governing, he persecuted all religious beliefs, he closed down all newspapers, all radio and TV stations. He persecuted and sent to the wall (executed), sent to prison or to exile everyone who dared oppose him or disagreed with his ideas, thus abolishing political rights, social rights, labor rights, and every other human right.

11. “The country can achieve a standard of living so high, that I calculate that within a few years the standard of living in Cuba, if the plans go ahead and they do not trip us, will be higher than in the United States and that in Russia.” Speech at the Institute of Architects, February 16, 1959, Havana.

Fidel Castro assumes the position of Primer Ministro, February16, 1959

In 1958 Cuba’s GDP per capita was $ 356, ranking fourth among the countries of Latin America behind Chile with $ 360 (Comparación estadística del PIB cubano, español; English). The prestigious British magazine The Economist, in its World in Figures of 2013, listed Cuba GDP per capita at $6,040 (the real per capita is lower, since the regime manipulates the statistics by including spending on education and health in the determining of GDP) and Chile with $ 16.370 in 2012. Cuba’s GDP dropped to rank 15 among the countries of Latin America, and Chile raised up to the first rank.

Utilizing the GDP annual average growth of 3.0% of the Latin American countries and a rate of inflation of 7.89%, Cuba’s per capita in 2012 with relation to the one in 1958 should be: 356x (1+ 0.03)54x7.89 = $13,859. That is to say, a per capita 2.3 times higher than the one of 2012.  Chile’s per capita with respect to Cuba had varied from practically an equal value in 1958 to a value 2.7 higher in 2012.

12. On March 2, 1959, 43 members of the government air force who had been accused of murdering civilians in the deliberated bombing of towns were acquitted by the court for lack of conclusive evidence. Fidel Castro, who has called the officers the “worst criminals of the Batista regime,” rejected the decision and said that the “criminals would be retried.”  He emphasized that “revolutionary justice was based not on legal precepts but on moral conviction.”  In a second trial on March 5, without providing new evidence, the pilots were convicted and sentenced from 20 to 30 years of prison.

Castro, a lawyer, with his decision to order a second trial for political and vengeful reasons, has breached the Cuban law, and started the destruction of the legal system in effect since Cuban independence. This second trial violated the central premise of the rule of law, signaling the beginning of the end of the rule of law in Cuba. From this time on the law would be what Castro wants it to be without regard for the legal system.

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Humberto Corzo was born in Matanzas, Cuba. In 1962 he graduated from University of Havana with a degree in Civil Engineering. Since coming to the United States in 1969, he established his residence in Los Angeles, California, where in 1972 he obtained the registration as a Professional Engineer. He has over forty five years of experience in the field of Structural Engineering. He is a Member of the American Society of Civil Engineers and the Cuban-American Association of Civil Engineers.

1 thought on “One hundred lies told by Cuba’s Fidel Castro: Part 1”

  1. His target audience not only swallowed his lies but practically begged for them–the con job was too easy to resist. Besides, some people lie because that’s simply what they do–it’s intrinsic, meaning they do it automatically and, in a sense, naturally. To them, it feels perfectly normal, and when you add the incentive to lie, well, you’d better believe they’re going to do it.

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