Only Change Can Save Cuba
By John Mendez
If one believes he is still alive, January 1st marked the 49th
anniversary of the uninterrupted, uncontested, tyrannical rule of Fidel
Castro. Five decades in power might just be enough for the perpetual
revolutionary. Granma, the state-run and not coincidently, only
newspaper on the island, quotes the dictator as saying he will not cling
to power. The monumental sarcasm of his statement is, unsurprisingly,
lost on the "Commandante." He will now impart grandfatherly advice to
the young leaders of the revolution. Exactly why anyone would care to
listen to the architect of one of histories great failures isn't
terribly clear. But such delusions are common in advanced stages of
"megalomania."
As Tenzin Gyatso (aka The Dali Llama) says, ""We each create our own
reality and for that we are solely responsible." And no one has created
a more demented sense of reality than the bearded one, who along with
his many apologists, has a sense of reality that departs radically
from...well, reality.
In his five decades of absolutist rule, Castro has created nothing short
of an utter disaster of which he is solely responsible.
During his tenure as Maximum Leader, Cuba has become an economic
sinkhole. Just ask the Russians, no experts themselves, whether Fidel
knows anything about running an economy. They doled out billions of
dollars annually in hard currency to supplement Fidel's command economy
totaling 35% of Cuba's annual GDP. Tack on another billion or so in
remittances from hard working Cuba Americans to family back on the
island prison and the financial windfall equals more than 40% of Cuba's
GDP! All generated outside its borders! Yet, Castro still managed to
indebt Cuba to the tune of US$36 billion.
No thanks, Fidel, but outside of Hugo "El Burro" Chavez, a moniker that
is not a reference to Shrek's lovable sidekick, no one is going to be
seeking economic advice from the man singularly responsible for the
devastation of a once flourishing economy. The irony is that Castro
himself seems amazed by Chavez's infatuation with the Cuban system; a
puzzled astonishment evident in most photos with the Venezuelan populist.
It truly says something about the US, that the American Marxist movement
is not rooted in poverty or deprivation but instead in privilege. It is
an ideology that appeals mainly to the affluent that are unable to find
fulfillment in their world of materialism, more often than not, the
spoils of a previous generation. Those who know real oppression rarely
seek answers from dictators even the mythical benevolent kind.
In the US, it seems, there are far more communists in the bourgeois
class than there ever was or will be in the proletariat. It is these
elitist communists who make up the bulk of Castro's apologists and they
perpetuate the misconception, however ridiculous, that the embargo is
the root cause of Castro's monumental failures. Some, of course, will
concede that it isn't but want it rescinded because it gives Castro an
excuse for the island's misery. Let's dismiss with the absurd by stating
the obvious: Fidel Castro doesn't rule by excuses. He rules through the
use of one of the world's most repressive command and control
structures. You don't need excuses on an island prison where you have
executed, imprisoned and tortured thousands. His is a rule by fear and
repression not consent.
The catastrophe that has befallen Cuba is rooted squarely in the very
structure of the command economy instituted by Castro, where private
property, individual rights and any semblance of freedom are
non-existent. Without fundamental changes in the economic and social
structure of Cuba, absolutely nothing would change on the island with
the lifting of the embargo. The people of Cuba are penniless serfs who
would remain economically paralyzed because capitalist ventures are
outlawed. Hard currency is tolerated but only in the strictest sense,
and at Castro's whim, criminal. Most of the slight liberalizations
undertaken immediately following the fall of the Soviet Union have been
rescinded with the advent of Castro's new welfare donor, Chavez. Gone
are the small neighborhood restaurants that were only marginally
profitable since Castro's thugs, much like street criminals, were
constantly coming around for shakedowns.
Employment with hotels and foreign ventures are done strictly through a
national agency run by Raul Castro and his military in order to screen
employees and siphon hard currency as employees are paid only a fraction
of what is charged to the foreign entity. Employees are then paid in
worthless Cuban pesos while, ironically and quite tellingly, Castro
demands payment in US dollars. Cubans are also constitutionally
forbidden to travel, even within the island and are strictly forbidden
to enter tourist areas. Unless, of course, you happen to be a prostitute
since that has become a cottage industry for Raul's military units.
Quite ironic, when you consider Castro's 1950s admonishments that Cuban
women would never again be forced to prostitute themselves to
foreigners. But when Fidel and the boys are strapped for cash there are
no depths to which they won't force everyday Cubans to stoop.
For decades, Castro has been clinging to a failed ideology that has
impeded Cuba's development and savagely impoverished its population.
It's easy for the Danny Glovers and Charles Rangels of the world to
idealize the worker's paradise from the comfort of their American homes,
quite another to live under Castro's tyrannical misery. So while these
apologists, who exhibit nothing but distrust and disdain for the
democratically elected government of the US, can somehow hypocritically
bring themselves to point to the unsubstantiated statistics of a
dictator as proof of his accomplishments, realists understand that the
collapse of the Soviet block exposed totalitarian figures for what they
are; completely worthless.
Yet nothing has stopped embargo opponents from continuing to promulgate
the misguided propaganda that engagement through economic activity leads
to an open, democratic society. The US has had unfettered economic
dealings with dictatorial regimes including the many thugs that run the
Middle East autocracies and yet the fortunes of their people have
absolutely not changed. We've been sun-shinning dictators for decades to
the detriment of their enslaved populations as liberals banter on about
soft power persuasion. The conspicuous silence from the left when it
comes to the lack of freedoms in Cuba is called hypocrisy.
While it is true that the embargo has failed to remove Castro from
power, it has been far from ineffective. In fact, the Cuban ambassador
to the Philippines recently claimed that the American embargo has cost
the island US$222 billion over its lifespan. Though, the figure is an
obvious over exaggeration given Cuba's economic activity throughout that
period (the figure is probably closer to US$80-90 bln), it's clear that
the embargo has been a stark success.
The embargo forced the Soviets to fund Fidel at a time when they were
fomenting unrest throughout Latin America attempting to establish
repressive regimes similar to those imposed on Eastern Europe. The
embargo was extremely effective in that it took Soviet monies that would
have otherwise been used to foment Cuban style revolutions and forced
the Soviets instead to spend hard currency to keep the Castro regime in
power.
The same remains true today where a temporarily oil-rich Chavez must
siphon billions to support Castro that he would otherwise use to create
Bolivarian dictatorships through insurgency, political intrusion as
appears to be the case in Argentina or buying political favors at home.
Castro himself does not deny that he was responsible for fomenting
"revolutions" throughout the Americas and Africa; to the contrary, he
relishes it. He openly admits he tried to topple governments. It's been
estimated that a lifting of the US embargo would add only US$1.8 billion
to Castro's coffers annually, the vast majority coming from tourism.
While it is hardly enough to fix what ails Cuba, it is however
significantly more than the nations of Latin America spend on their
military, allowing Castro to receive those funds would be disastrous and
irresponsible.
Ultimately, the embargo is in place because of Castro's many sins and
the danger he poses to the region. He has murdered tens of thousands;
imprisoned an entire population; funded and fomented Marxist revolutions
throughout Africa, Central and South America; given safe haven to
terrorists from FARC to the PLO to the IRA to the Weathermen; been
complicit in narco-trafficking with the likes of Noriega; and repressed
religion, individual freedom, and freedom of speech. Human Rights Watch
has dubbed his tyrannical government the repressive machinery and
Amnesty International has condemned him for his reprehensible treatment
of the Cuban people.
Yet those clear facts seem obscured as Castro, a gifted manipulator,
brilliantly plays upon the guilt and susceptibilities of the liberal
left in Europe and America where sanctimoniousness has replaced reason.
What else would justify the demonization of the Cuban exiled community?
Somehow Castro is excused and the hard working exile community in Miami
is denigrated; A community that for all its perceived faults has been an
integral part of reshaping the American landscape making far-reaching
contributions in business, science and the arts. If they have reached a
level of success here it because of hard work and stands as a testament
of what could have been accomplished in Havana if not for the misguided
policies of a deluded dictator.
The problem in Cuba is not a US embargo; it is Fidel Castro's failure to
produce a free and democratic society where there are no rights, no
freedoms and no rule of law. Blaming embargos or anyone other than
Castro will never change that fact. Few tyrannical governments fall from
the weight of economic pressure simply because they don't rule by
providing economic comfort to their people. But while Cuban leaders
scramble to find yet another handout, the rest of Latin America doesn't
need to worry about paid mercenaries toppling their elected governments.
Ultimately, the new Cuban leadership, along with their many apologists,
can no longer escape the reality that a communist-style command economy
simply doesn't work. There can be no economic prosperity without reforms
and liberalizations. Cuba has a "roadmap" for the lifting of the embargo
and the prerequisites contain nothing objectionable. Merely, free
elections and the freeing of political prisoners.
For the new leaders in Cuba, the only advice worth listening to
is........."Cambio!"
http://www.americanthinker.com/2008/01/only_change_can_save_cuba.html
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