Cubans ask: Why should Cuba be different?
BY JOE CARDONA
jccigar@aol.com
In the wake of former President Carter's recent visit to Havana I'm
amazed at how little the United States and other democracies around the
globe demand from the Western hemisphere's most totalitarian regime.
Carter's second trip to Cuba (his first was in 2002) happened amidst
political turmoil in the Middle East. As the winds of change blew
through Egypt and continue to swirl in Libya and Yemen, Cuba's regime
steadfastly remains rooted to a failed political and economic system
buoyed by old rhetoric reminiscent of "Flat Earth" theories. And yet, as
the free world supported the departure of Egypt's Mubarak and is
presently attempting to bomb Gadhafi into submission, the demands on the
Cuban government to modify its tyrannical rule are meager and anemic at
best.
For too long, Latin American and Western European democracies have
utilized their relations with the Castro brothers as leverage against
the United States. Neighbors in our hemisphere clearly understood
(particularly during the Cold War) that a nod in favor of Cuba's medical
system or an acknowledgement of the island's much celebrated literacy
rate would immediately ring alarms at the State Department, which would
generally wring concessions from the Americanos. Never mind that both
the Cuban medical and educational systems came at a high toll for Cubans
on the island — where you are taught to read but you can't read what you
want and the citizenry is offered "free" medical care albeit much less
sophisticated and thorough than foreigners who pay in cash.
Fidel Castro and the bloodthirsty Maoist, Ernesto "Che" Guevara, stood
as emblematic symbols of anti-Americanism. Sadly, for many allies of the
United States it was much easier during the latter half of the 21st
century to attack American values than to look inward and address the
political decay due to the rampant corruption within their own countries.
I recently almost fell out of my seat when I heard the French ambassador
to the United Nations, Gerard Araud, declare on one of the major Sunday
morning political talk shows that, "Libya was to France what Cuba is to
the U.S." — in plain talk, Moammar Gadhafi is a pain in their backside
and they reserve the right to deal with him any way they see fit because
he's within their sphere of influence. That's an outlandishly
hypocritical declaration from a country that has, over the last half a
century, frowned at the slightest anti-Castro language originating from
the White House.
I wonder what the United States would do if an uprising erupted in Cuba
and the regime fired upon its own people? There is no question in my
mind that the Castros' sole strategy remains what it has been for the
last 52 years, the preservation of power at all costs. Raúl Castro and
his doddering, murderous, older brother would no doubt fire
indiscriminately in order to quash opposition. Would the United States
military intervene like we have done in other hotspots?
One day we might learn more about what really prompted the debacle at
the Bay of Pigs. This month marks the 50th shameful anniversary of the
bleakest moment in Cuban history — a sordid event in American history
that produced catastrophic results for Cuba and its people. Some years
ago, former Secretary of State Alexander Haig said to me during an
interview, "You can't do foreign policy on the cheap. It should of all
been taken care of at the Bay of Pigs." Hindsight is always 20/20, yet
the criminally incompetent prosecution of the invasion plan by the
United States on the shores of Playa Girón in April of 1961 remains a
cruel puzzle for freedom-loving Cubans on and off the island.
I rhetorically question whether the Castros have not crossed the
threshold of indignity and inhumanity against its citizens. For many,
sustaining the mythology of a murderous, Third World dictator somehow
soothes their ethically and morally hollow conscience. As for seemingly
nonchalant indifference of some Americans toward Cuba, I remain as
confused and hurt as Esteban Bovo Sr., a betrayed veteran of the Bay of
Pigs who recently queried me, "Why us? Why are we different?"
http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/04/02/2145932/cubans-ask-why-should-cuba-be.html
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