Posted on 10/21/2011 2:36:00 PM PDT by Jet Jaguar
In Florida, where Cuba and Fidel Castro can be highly combustible political issues, Republican Sen. Marco Rubio is defending himself against allegations he embellished his family's story in saying his parents left the island after Castro came to power. So far, prominent members of the Cuban American community are standing by him, including the head of one of Miami's oldest and most respected exile groups, who said Friday he is willing to give the rising GOP star a pass.
The 40-year-old freshman senator has always publicly identified with the exile community and has a strong following within it. Rubio's biography on his Senate website says he was "born in Miami to Cuban-born parents who come to America following Fidel Castro's takeover." And in a campaign ad last year, he said: "As the son of exiles, I understand what it means to lose the gift of freedom."
But The Washington Post reported that Rubio's parents actually left Cuba in 1956, nearly three years before Castro seized power in a revolution against dictator Fulgencia Batista. Rubio's father was a store security guard when he and his wife left, according to Rubio's staff, and came to the U.S. for economic reasons.
Rubio responded to the story with a statement saying his parents had tried to return to Cuba in March 1961 but quickly left because they did not want to live under communism.
(Excerpt) Read more at breitbart.com ...
Are they kidding? Batista was every bit the dictator and criminal that Castro was.
As I recall the US paid for Castro's revolution, and to repay us after he assumed power, he announced he was a communist, to the utter surprise of Dwight Eisenhower.
Of course the Bay of Pigs under Kennedy was icing on the cake for Castro.
Note the word “denies.” An unprejudiced headline might have read “Florida Senator asserts facts which show he was not embellishing family history.” Of course, who would expect an unprejudiced report?
Marco Rubio is a politician of high ethics. The WaPost is doing nothing more than a hit piece trying to take out a rising star in the Republican Party. They also did a hit piece on governor Perry that was a non-story, but got Herman Cain to attack Perry on national TV. The WaPost is a trash paper.
That includes the United States government, who aided the Castro revolution and supported Castro enthusiastically as a nationalist leader before he dropped his mask and revealed his communist intentions.
I heard him speak a few months ago, and he told exactly this story: that his parents had come here before the Castro takeover, but when they tried to go back, they found that it was a Communist dictatorship and they then got out while they could.
I don’t think he ever lied about the story. His parents are Cuban refugees, part of the Cuban refugee community in South Florida, and many of those people got here at different dates and under different circumstances.
Thank you! I remember that for the first year or so after the Castro takeover, he was regarded as a hero in the US and even got a ticker-tape parade in Manhattan. He remained a hero to the leftists, of course, but his increasingly close alliance with the USSR and his growing anti-Americanism finally reduced his support in the US.
Interestingly enough, Batista came into power as a “reformer,” and to some extent he was. At the time of the Cuban “revolution,” led as usual by well-off university students claiming to speak for the poor, Cuba had the third highest per capita income in the hemisphere, after the US and Canada. It also had a literacy rate that was as high as or higher than that of the US, IIRC.
Havana was a glittery party town, full of the Las Vegas style corruption one would expect, of course, but it was known for its liveliness and sophistication.
Batista was definitely a dictator, but he was your basic Latin American strong man (autocratic, capricious and somewhat paranoid, although it turned out that he had some reason for this) and didn’t have the leftwing underpinning and support that made Castro such a repressive force.
The ASS Press is never going to report the truth on Obama HUSSEIN! NEVER!!
The allegations in this attempted smear of a news article are retarded.
That said, so is Rubio, if he continues to allow RINOs like McCain, Graham, and Kirk to co-opt his political brand (and the credibility of his supporters in the Tea Party movement) like he did recently while visiting Obama's Libya with the aforementioned RINOs and a Connecticut Democrat.
“As I recall the US paid for Castro’s revolution, and to repay us after he assumed power, he announced he was a communist, to the utter surprise of Dwight Eisenhower.”
There’s no truth to that.
Moreover planning for the Bay of Pigs invasion was initiated by Eisenhower. But Ike, knowing a good bit more about invasions than John Kennedy, included crucial air support.
Kennedy scrapped the air cover not wanting the world to know that the United States was backing the invasion, as if there was a problem with that. And unsurprisingly the invasion then failed.
“That includes the United States government, who aided the Castro revolution and supported Castro enthusiastically as a nationalist leader “
The New York Times, yes. I’ve not seen any evidence that the US government supported Castro.
“Born the illegitimate son of a wealthy farmer, Castro became involved in anti-imperialist politics whilst studying law at the University of Havana. Subsequently involving himself in armed rebellions against rightist governments in the Dominican Republic and Colombia, he went on to conclude that the U.S.-backed Cuban President Fulgencio Batista, who was widely seen as a dictator, had to be overthrown; to this end he led a failed armed attack on the Moncada Barracks in 1953. Imprisoned for a year, he then traveled to Mexico, and with the aid of his brother Raúl Castro and friend Che Guevara, he assembled together a group of Cuban revolutionaries, the July 26 Movement. Returning with them to Cuba, he took a key role in the Cuban Revolution, leading a successful guerilla war against Batista’s forces, with Batista himself fleeing into exile in 1959.”
You saying Ike knew Castro was a Communist? I doubt that.
“You saying Ike knew Castro was a Communist? I doubt that.”
I doubt that even the Castro boosters at the NY Times were fooled by Castro. Ike certainly wasn’t.
Castro seized power in January 1959. By March 1960 Eisenhower had already approved an operational plan to invade Cuba and overthrow Castro.
Castro first tried to overthrow Batista in 1953, which put him on some watch lists. In 1955 Castro formed a revolutionary movement in Mexico City along with his brother and Che Guevara.
Che had been an official in Jacobo Arbenz’ government in Guatamela, a suspected Soviet ally that was overthrown by the CIA in 1954.
Arbenz went into exile in various countries including the Soviet Union. Che went to Mexico City and joined up with Castro. Castro’s Communist ties would have been quickly discovered by the CIA if they weren’t already known long before.
Then I have to ask, why did Eisenhower, knowing this, ever let the invasion from our soil, financed by us, be launched. Only to then launch a plan to eject him??????????
I can't imagine it either. :)
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“Then I have to ask, why did Eisenhower, knowing this, ever let the invasion from our soil, financed by us, be launched. Only to then launch a plan to eject him??????????”
Well if I read your post correctly you think that Castro launched his invasion from our soil with American financing.
You’re mistaken on both points. Castro launched his invasion from Veracruz, Mexico. He had been living in Mexico since being released from prison in Cuba.
Castro did raise money in the United States but it wasn’t from our government. Castro raised money from revolutionary sympathizers, the same way rich Leftists donate money today. The ex-President of Cuba in exile in Miami gave Castro $100,000 which in 1956 was a lot of money.
I know Eisenhower Seemed Shocked at Castro's announcement. But I doubt that the Communist infested State Department was not aware of Castro's intentions.
Roosevelt's lasting Legacy was his loyal communist cadre within the government, especially the State Department. They certainly whipped Harry into line after he Nuked Japan, then manipulated him into giving more territory to the Commies. China, North Korea, and planted the seeds for Vietnam, which Ike temporarily held at bey with threats to use nukes, saying, "I will not get involved in a land war in Vietnam." with was clearly a threat.
I was a kid then joined the Army in 1954.
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