Cuba's brutality an eye-opener for a new generation*** For many young Cuban Americans who grew up in South Florida, the oppression, the mock justice, the summary executions that their parents and grandparents recall from Fidel Castro's dictatorship had become the lore of a hellish place that they had never known. But now, for the first time in years, the Castro government is exhibiting the same type of behavior that drove their families into exile -- giving the younger generation a glimpse of modern-day oppression on the island.
It remains to be seen whether the crackdown on human-rights activists and executions of accused hijackers are enough to inspire them to carry on the anti-communist spirit of their elders. But at the very least, they say they see for themselves what the anti-Castro feeling is about. ''When you're young, the only opinions of dictatorships like Castro's are formed from what your parents and grandparents tell you,'' said Christy Fojo, 21, an English literature major at Florida International University. ``But when you see it happening now, it does open your eyes to the brutality going on there.''***
A Purge With a Purpose - "Is it so bad to be a dictator?"***Propaganda," Fidel Castro instructed a comrade in a letter written in 1954, "is the very soul of our struggle." What, then, was Mr. Castro, champion spinmeister, thinking last week when he tossed some 75 Cuban writers and dissidents into prison for up to 28 years, after a grim procession of quickie show trials worthy of Stalin? Or on Friday, when he summarily executed three men who had hijacked a passenger ferry on April 2? Certainly, it would seem, his timing could hardly have been worse: Cuba has been lobbying to keep its place on the United Nations Human Rights Commission, and that commission has been preparing its annual list of violator countries - Cuba is certain to make the grade, once again.
Fidel Castro is many things - belligerent, Machiavellian, prideful - but he is not stupid. Nor would he have thought, as some human-rights groups assume, that these recent actions would go unnoticed with the world focused on Iraq. It seems more likely that this purge was intended to make a statement, and even to win Mr. Castro some advantage. The Cuban government, of course, claims the jailings were a response to Bush administration policy. It cited meetings held with dissidents at the residence of James Cason, chief of the United States Interests Section in Havana, which it calls "subversion by a foreign power." ***