Posted on 02/20/2008 1:45:42 PM PST by knighthawk
After 49 years of ruling Cuba with an iron fist, 81-year-old Fidel Castro has formally stepped down as president and head of Cuba's armed forces. But there will not be any election to determine his successor. Power in the tropical tyranny is a family matter and Raul Castro, Fidel's 76-year-old brother, will take permanent control of a country he has run for 19 months while Fidel has endured a lengthy illness.
Little has changed during that time -- free speech is still suppressed, democracy is crushed, freedom of the press is forbidden, free enterprise is illegal, fair trails are the stuff of dreams, religious freedom is circumscribed, racism against blacks is rampant -- and there is no prospect for change in the days to come under brother Raul, who stood by Fidel even after their mother, Lina, could not and fled Cuba after their 1959 revolution.
Yet the departure of Fidel presents the opportunity for Stephen Harper's Conservative government to rethink Canada's policy toward Cuba, which is both opportunistic and unworthy of a country that pays great heed to human rights.
When Fidel came to Canada in April, 1959, Conservative prime minister John Diefenbaker refused to meet him, but he did not refuse to do business with him. When it was clear Fidel was determined to turn Cuba into a communist dictatorship, and that the United States would impose a trade embargo on it, prime minister Diefenbaker beat the Canadian nationalist drum and used the opportunity to win political points at home by playing on anti-American sentiment while generating opportunities for Canadian businesses. This policy helped save the assets of Canadian banks operating in Cuba -- the assets of U.S. banks, by contrast, were confiscated--and gave Canadian companies the chance to supply Cuba with goods they could no longer buy from the U.S..
Lester Pearson maintained this policy, while his successor, Pierre Trudeau, lent credibility to Cuba's communists through his personal friendship with Fidel. While Canada was trading with Cuba during the early years of his Fidel's regime, however, roughly 500,000 Cubans -- nearly 8% of the total Cuban population--fled the island, more than 77,000 died trying, tens of thousands were unjustly imprisoned and roughly 30,000 were executed by revolutionary firing squads.
Canadian leaders have often defended our Cuba policy saying it constitutes "constructive engagement." Yet little that is constructive has emerged. In 1998, for example, then-prime minister Jean Chretien visited Cuba to make the case for four imprisoned Cuban human rights activists. Mr. Chretien left with a picture of himself with Castro, while the activists continued to languish in jail.
Prime Minister Harper now has the chance to change a historic wrong. No longer should Canada turn a blind eye to the tyranny in Cuba and pretend our policy has been a principled one. Instead, Canadian trade policy should be tied directly to improving human rights and monitoring progress. Moreover, the Canadian government would do the Cuban people a favour by making clear to Canadians that Cuba is, as Theo Caldwell argued in these pages yesterday, an "island prison" -- one they should think twice about visiting.
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All this time people told me Cuba was communist, and it turns out to be a monarchy! Who knew?
To the wall, Fidel!
Heck, give ‘em a 10 billion dollar “economic stimulus package a.k.a. tax rebate” and make it the 51st state. Or 52nd state if you count Miami.
You mean those military rifles which turned up in Venezuela not long after with the Cuban coat of arms ground off. Castro’s gift to the Guerrillas.
Imagine coming to the end of your life and having to face the fact you are responsible for bring death and misery to so many people. To your own people no less.
I have sponsored several Cuban political refugees and their families over the years. Had 3 different families stay with me this year alone. Their stories about the REAL life under Castro is far different than anything you will see from the MSM.
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