The Hell of Fidel, Ninety Miles Off Our Coast

BlueStarBase.org ^ | April 29, 2002 | Barbara Stanley

[EveningStar]

When I was a young girl, new neighbors moved into the house next door.

I knew they were Cubans who had to escape Castro. They were, at one time, quite wealthy, had servants, lived the good life, did an honourable business and thought life would be that way for their children, too.

But then Castro came into power, murdered the woman's brother for being a Catholic priest, took over the home for his troops and my neighbors escaped with their lives. My mother had to teach Marianna how to use the oven and cook the basics. My father befriended the husband and my sister and I became friends with their son and daughter.

These folks were pretty much like us, middle class (new for them, not for us) decent Christians who became fast friends. Whenever I was in their home I would see the framed picture of the young, handsome priest who was killed by the murdering regime. It seems nothing has changed in Cuba after all these years. Matter of fact, things have steadily gotten worse.

Yet some entertainment types are blind to what Castro has done to a once beautiful island. Harry Belafonte, has-been calypso singer of days gone by, has made it his personal mission to trumpet whatever communist tripe the Dictator spews. And spew he and Castro do.

I have heard of the seven or eight hour speeches Fidel gives; of the Cubans who must stand in the hot sun while he rants and raves, in fear lest they collapse or show any hint of less than rapt adoration and attention, lest they are hauled off and thrown in a dungeon.

Nat Hentoff is poignant when he remarks about Steven Spielberg finding honour in his holocaust museum yet hypocritically turning a blind eye to what Fidel has done and is still doing to innocent people.

"One prisoner of conscience packed into the gulag is the internationally respected independent journalist Raul Rivero, director of Cuba Press agency, and a board member of the Inter American Press Association. In the Castro courtroom — from which foreign journalists and diplomats were barred — Mr. Rivero, suffering from phlebitis and other ailments, was sentenced to 20 years for being an independent journalist" in his excellent article at frontpagemag.com entitled The Cuban Sopranos (The Washington Times | April 29, 2003)

This hits home with me because I am also a writer and if I were living in Cuba today, would surely have been thrown in prison for my outspoken opinions. Yet CNN and the Hollyweird types find no fault in rubbing elbows with El Presidente Castro.

Hillary Rodham visited that once-lovely tropical paradise when she was a student at the start of her liberal leftist career, as one of the Macheteros, cutting sugar cane by day and attending Marxist Communist lectures at night. I wonder how blind she and her friends were to what was going on in Cuba then or now; I wonder how complicit and evil she is if not blind.

It was plain for all of us to see little Elian hiding in a closet and that goon with the gun in his scared little face. That was during the Clintons/Reno years of depravity in the USA. Maybe now things will change. I have hope. I have prayers. My hope and prayers are for the Cuban people who have, not unlike the Iraqis, lived under the boot of an evil dictator.

I have long ago lost touch with those neighbors from my childhood, but the impact has not lessened one whit of the sacrifices they had made. My prayers are with them, too.

[CJ Wolf]

Iraq took what? Cuba would take 20 minutes...

[Free ThinkerNY]

The Liberal-Left never met an anti-American dictator they didn't like.

[Beck_isright]

A sad, sad story. Cuba could become the jewel of Latin America, with the power and riches to dominate Central America and the Carribbean. Yet one dictator and the liberal left in the USA prevent the people from living a decent life of freedom.

[LaineyDee]

Good article. I worked at a bank in the early 70's and met several Cubans that told similiar tales. Two gals that I worked with, had well-to-do families that they hadn't seen in several years...and feared them dead. The janitor there, Pedro...had been a wealthy man, owning several businesses...when Castro came to power. His property and wealth were confiscated and he was thrown into prison. The stories of being a political prisoner....were sickening. I can't remember how he escaped......but he had no idea of the fate of his wife and son at that time. It was heart-wrenching.

[dighton]

.......

[MEG33]

Cuba has a seat on the UN human rights council now.I saw on H and C a professor from American U. try to explain it away.Coombs, a UN supporter was horrified.Disgusting.

[ccmay]

You know, it's time we popped this festering pimple. Why do we tolerate such wickedness 90 miles from our shores? We could have the place well in hand before lunchtime any day we chose.

-ccm

[wardaddy]

The best and brightest of Cuba are here. They will need to go back to help rebuild that country.....them or their grandkids....which is doubtful.

I'd hate to see em go actually.

[sasportas]

"Hillary Rodham visited that once-lovely tropical paradise when she was a student at the start of her liberal leftist career, as one of the Macheteros, cutting sugar cane by day and attending Marxist Communist lectures at night...I wonder how complicit and evil she is..."

Hillary did WHAT! Attending Marxist Communist lectures! Complicit and evil indeed. I am beginning to think you freepers have got her pegged. Imagine it if this Communist-in-disguise Senator ever comes all the way out of the closet. This vile Commie a presidential candidate? God help us.

[Beck_isright]

I'll hate to see them go to. But then again, I'm going. There is too much money to be made down there.

[friendly]

"Hillary Rodham visited that once-lovely tropical paradise when she was a student at the start of her liberal leftist career, as one of the Macheteros, cutting sugar cane by day and attending Marxist Communist lectures at night. I wonder how blind she and her friends were to what was going on in Cuba then or now; I wonder how complicit and evil she is if not blind. "

I nearly fell out of my chair upon reading this. Any evidence of these astonishing claims?

[small_l_libertarian]

I am fortunate to be from Tampa, which has a large Cuban population. The Cubans that I have known are such wonderful people. They came here with nothing and built beautiful, thriving communities. They make Tampa a better place to live by opening businesses, making their neighborhoods beautiful and making sure that their children have a good education and upbringing. In many cases, the children of Cuban immigrants have gone into local (and state) politics, so they're a very familiar presence here.

(I don't mean to make Tampa sound like it's segregated into Cuban and non-Cuban neighborhoods - it isn't. There are just several districts in town that are immediately recognizable as "Cuban," with shops and offices and clean streets with tidy houses and manicured lawns with statues and neatly trimmed plants. Anyhow...)

These are good people, and I can't wait until that evil old man dies. I know that lots of Cubans will choose to go home (and that's completely understandable), but we will be the poorer for it. Whichever FReeper above said that Cuba's best and brightest are here in the U.S. was absolutely right. They will leave a big hole in our community when they go home.

[EveningStar]

True. But they will make Cuba a better neighbor to the US (if that's any consolation).