In Hopes Of Castro's Death (Cuban Tyrant's Passing Worth Celebrating Alert)

"Death comes equally to us all, and makes us all equal when it comes," English poet John Donne famously wrote. In his death, Fidel Castro may finally achieve the foolish dream of communism: full equality. He certainly didn't achieve it in his life, despite his policy of murder, torture and mass starvation. Castro, like all other tin-pot dictators, was always happy to reap the benefits of dictatorship while his people suffered its pains.

This week, Castro handed the reins of power over to his brother, Raul. Reportedly, 79-year-old Fidel is suffering from "a sharp intestinal crisis with sustained bleeding that obligated [him] to undergo a complicated surgical procedure." Castro may survive, but freedom-loving people the world over hope and pray that he does not.

We cannot count members of the Hollywood elite among those freedom-loving people. In November 2002, Steven Spielberg flouted the American travel ban to Cuba by visiting Castro personally. According to Cuban state newspapers (an unreliable source, at best), Spielberg called the hours he spent with Castro "the most important eight hours of my life." Spielberg would later deny he made such a statement, though his decision to hang with Fidel certainly tarnishes his own credibility.

Oliver Stone's sycophantic documentaries "Comandante" and "Looking For Fidel" portray Castro as a sort of old-school hero, standing against Western aggression. "Castro is isolated in the hemisphere, and for those reasons I admire him because he's a fighter. He stood alone, and in a sense he's Don Quixote, the last revolutionary, tilting at this windmill of keeping the island in a state of, I suppose, egalitarianism, where everyone would get the break, everyone gets the education, and everyone gets good water," Stone ridiculously stated.

Ted Turner claims that his decision to found CNN International stemmed from a conversation he had with Castro. "He said, 'Ted, the whole world needs CNN. I use it all the time, and it's very important to me.' So I said, 'Well, if Castro needs it, certainly the capitalists around the world could use it, and perhaps some other communists, too.'" Apparently it never occurred to Turner that if the leading communist thug in the Western Hemisphere loves your news channel, perhaps you're doing something wrong.

The mainstream media continues to portray Castro's monstrous regime as a bastion of hope and freedom, supported by its citizens. The New York Times reported that Cubans were keeping up "a brave face." The Associated Press, in reporting on Castro's weakened condition, asked Cuban waiters their opinions. "He'll get better, without a doubt," Agustin Lopez, 40, told AP. "There are really good doctors here, and he's extremely strong." AP took Lopez's comments at face value, completely ignoring the fact that Lopez is a citizen of a country that would quickly lock him up if he expressed any joy at Castro's fall.

In the end, though, the jails will open. Cubans will once again be free. The greatest tragedy, however, is that Cubans had to undergo a half-century of oppression. Ninety miles off the coast of Florida, millions have lived in chains for decades. For decades, Castro exported his communist mercenaries around the world, spreading misery and chaos wherever they went.

It is a blot on America's moral record that Fidel Castro will die a natural death. We are at least partially to answer for failure to free Cuba. Half-hearted attempts to depose Castro only strengthened his grip on power. The leftist desire to treat Castro as a friend – see Gonzalez, Elian – only magnified Castro's presumed legitimacy.

God will wreak His justice on the godless thug who terrorized his nation and plagued the world. May it happen as soon as possible.

In '59, NY Times Called Castro 'Conservative,'
Justified Killings ...Excerpt

[This item, by Rich Noyes, was posted Tuesday afternoon on the MRC's blog, NewsBusters.org: newsbusters.org ]
Herbert L. Matthews wrote the article, headlined "Castro Aims Reflect Character of Cubans," which the Times Web site indicates originally appeared on page E6 ("Week in Review" section) of the January 18, 1959 edition, just a few days after Castro seized Cuba. The Times's subheadline on Castro: "He Is a Creature of His Country and He Is Followed as a Hero."

Here is an excerpt, beginning with the first paragraph:

The hunted young man who for three hours whispered his passionate hopes and ideals into my ear in the gloomy jungle depths of the Sierra Maestra at dawn on Feb. 17, 1957, is now the chief power in Cuba. In the eyes of nearly all his compatriots, Dr. Fidel Castro is the greatest hero that their history has known.

People in the United States are now disturbed by the executions of men who, Cubans are convinced, were torturers and killers under Gen. Fulgencio Batista.

The Cuban point of view can be simply stated. For seven years, Cuba lived through the most brutal reign of terror in recent history. Cubans know this, because there is hardly a family in Cuba that did not have a member at least arrested and at worst tortured and killed by President Batista's soldiers and police. Moreover, in every city, town and village, the killers and torturers are known.

Then came the revolution, and much to everyone's surprise, especially the Cubans, there was no blood bath. In the first twenty-four hours in Havana, the riff-raff and gangsters ran around looting; but as soon as the 26th of July Movement and the other organized rebel groups got going, order was restored. It had been taken for granted that there would be fearful mob violence because of the bitterness and hatred of the people against the tormenters. Nothing of the sort took place.

However, Fidel Castro and the new Provisional Government felt, in the first place, that justice must be done and, in the second place, that, if the authorities did not mete out justice in an orderly way, the people would exercise lynch law and in the process there would be some private vengeance and some innocent victims....

The sensational stories [about the executions] that some American correspondents sent and the reaction in the United States astounded and hurt Cubans greatly.

To anyone writing about Cuba at this moment it's necessary to keep a basic fact in mind. Dr. Castro is not in any sense different in character from his fellow Cubans. Those who want to condemn him must condemn all Cubans, as there are very few Cubans indeed who would disapprove of the executions that have been and are taking place.

Two years ago Dr. Castro was a revolutionary pure and simple. He was then 30 years old. As an undergraduate of 21 at the University of Havana, he had been a wild harum-scarum, so careless of politics that he was involved with student organizations containing Communists. Neither the Batista regime nor the United States Embassy in Havana was ever able to present proof that Fidel personally had been a Communist. He himself always denied that he knowingly had anything to do with communism....

The ministerial Cabinet in office today consists mainly of older men and, by any standard that can be applied, it is economically and politically conservative....

Whatever one wants to think, everybody here seems agreed that Dr. Castro is one of the most extraordinary figures ever to appear on the Latin-American scene. He is by any standards a man of destiny. Cubans wish that the United States would realize he is the creature of his race, his history and his traditions, and above all of the horror and tyranny of the seven-year reign of Fulgencio Batista.

END of Excerpt

That's online at: www.nytimes.com

Matthews' homage to Castro makes today's bias seem downright objective. Why the New York Times would want to post such a sycophantic embarrassment is beyond me.

CUT

Andrea Agrees - Cubans Support Fidel, Roker's Fresh Air on Global Warming
Posted by Mark Finkelstein on August 2, 2006 - 08:17.
The uniformed Cuban military officer pictured here barks commands at a smallish crowd in Havana that responds with pro-Fidel chants. Imagine you're an objective journalist. How would you report it? "The Castro regime orchestrates a public show of support," perhaps? Not Andrea Mitchell. Appearing on this morning's Today show, here's how she characterized what you have to imagine was a less-than-spontaneous event:

"In Havana, Cubans turn out to show support for their long-time leader."

Today's Gaggle: August 2, 2006 -- http://www.newsbusters.org/

No surprise. I did ask you to imagine how an 'objective' journalist would report it.

Andrea managed to get through her segment without mentioning Communism, repression or anything else that would cast aspersions on Los Hermanos Castros. She even obligingly passed along this bit of Castro propaganda: "He [Fidel] is calling on Cubans to remain calm, and they seem to be." Despite all the conjecture as to the state of his health Fidel hasn't made any public appearances. How can Mitchell know that it was indeed the great leader who was 'calling on' the Cuban people? And was it Fidel's reassuring words, or living in a police state, that had that calming effect on the Cuban people?

http://newsbusters.org/blog/40 --More MSM adoration of Castro

Wonders if Walters is by his bedside....

Just back from interviewing dictator Fidel Castro in Cuba for a segment set to air on Friday’s 20/20 marking the 40th anniversary of the Cuban missile crisis, on Wednesday’s The View Barbara Walters heralded how “he's done great things for education and he's done great things for health.”

Walters recalled how when “we went to a school with him” the “children were sobbing just to see him.” (On The View Walters played video of students cheering Castro and yelling “Fidel!, Fidel!”)

Thursday October 10, 2002

http://www.mediaresearch.org/cyberalerts/2002/cyb20021010.asp

“The big question you want to ask is can't you have education and health and freedom?" A very good question. But did Walters ask it?

Barbara Walters Interview with Castro ABC's 20/20.. Friday, Oct 11, 2002...http://www.cubacentral.com/todaysnewsdetail.cfm?ID=12

A Man and His Island: Castro Still a Force after Four-Decade Rule

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.