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Ahead of Cuba visit, Jesse Ventura says he won't be puppet of Castro (useful idiot is enough)
yahoo.com ^ | Sep 14, 5:01 PM ET | AP

Posted on 09/15/2002 3:38:15 AM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife

ST. PAUL, Minnesota - Gov. Jesse Ventura says he has enough experience in the world to avoid being used for propaganda purposes by Fidel Castro when he visits Cuba later this month.

"For these people that think I'm some babe in the woods, heading to Cuba, and would be totally ... transfixed or misled by Castro, guess again," Ventura said in a radio broadcast Friday.

Ventura and a group of Minnesota executives plan to visit Cuba Sept. 25-28 for an agricultural exposition.

The trip has been condemned by the State Department and Gov. Jeb Bush of Florida, where many anti-Castro Cuban-Americans live.

Ventura says his travels have made him a man of the world.

"I know what it's like to be under the rule of a dictator," said Ventura, describing his Navy years in the early 1970s when he watched as Ferdinand Marcos exercised dictatorial powers in the Philippines.

"When Marcos declared martial law, you didn't hear a peep out of the United States. Why? Because he was a puppet to us. ... As long as we pulled his strings, it seems, we're OK with him," Ventura said.


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Crime/Corruption; Culture/Society; Foreign Affairs; Front Page News; Government; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: usefulidiot
The Cuba trip / Jesse should ignore Bush bullying [ Otto Reich to Ventura: Cancel Cuba trip*** "First, I would ask them not to participate in sexual tourism, which is one of the main industries in Cuba," Reich replied. The reply stunned an official who monitors U.S.-Cuba trade. "It's disgusting and abhorrent that an official of this government would imply that representatives of U.S. companies would travel to Cuba to engage in such horrific activity," said John Kavulich, president of the U.S.-Cuba Trade and Economic Council, a nonprofit group. "He should apologize."***]
1 posted on 09/15/2002 3:38:15 AM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife
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To: Cincinatus' Wife
Ventura knows what it is like to live under the dictator Castro because he served in the US Navy in the Phillipines when Marcos was in charge? This guy is even dumber than I thought.
2 posted on 09/15/2002 7:51:58 AM PDT by thucydides
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To: Cincinatus' Wife
Excerpts of Jeb Bush's letter to Gov. Ventura


I want to share some information that I hope will provide you with a broader and more-realistic picture of life in Cuba. While I don't expect you to cancel your trip, I strongly believe doing so would be the right thing to do. I encourage you to consider other options as you look for opportunities to expand international trade for your state.

Recently, it has become politically popular for U.S. elected officials to travel to Cuba. But we should never forget that the people of Cuba don't share the same basic freedoms and rights that the residents of Florida and Minnesota enjoy. The reason: Fidel Castro denies them the opportunity to exercise the unalienable rights that we have come to take for granted in America.

Speaking out against government policies, fighting for what you believe, or attempting to change the established order to create a better society will make you an ''independent'' or ''maverick'' in the United States. In Cuba, you become a ''dissenter'' and an ''enemy of the revolution'' and are summarily thrown in jail.

As a strong supporter of worker rights, you should be aware of the abysmal conditions that hard-working Cubans must endure. For example, when foreign companies use Cuban laborers, the companies pay the Castro government in dollars or other hard currency, but the workers are paid in near-worthless pesos. In effect, Castro skims off the top and leaves the workers with a tiny fraction of what is rightfully theirs. He uses the difference to finance his oppressive regime and ensure its continued existence.

While in Cuba, ask about the Varela Project, a petition initiative --legal under the Cuban Constitution -- that calls for a referendum on open elections, freedom of speech, protection from state-sponsored political retribution and the establishment of free enterprise.

The initiative is led by the courageous Oswaldo Payá Sardiñas, who is being honored by the National Democratic Institute with its 2002 Democracy Award. The award is scheduled to be presented to Payá in Washington, D.C., on Sept. 30. So far, he has not been granted a visa from the Cuban government to travel to the United States. Ask every Cuban official you meet, including Castro, when Payá can expect to receive his visa.

Because your trip concerns the establishment of trade agreements, it should be noted that Cuba is not the economic windfall some U.S. companies are hoping for, nor is it the kind of business partner that Minnesota corporations are accustomed to working with. The Cuban government repeatedly fails to pay its bills, and many nations have stopped doing business with the island. The current business state of affairs in Cuba has been described as ''uneasy, unreliable and uncertain.'' That should not come as a surprise from a failed economic system that still considers private business and profits as evil. The result is a standard of living for Cubans that has gone in just a few decades from one of the highest in Latin America to one of the lowest.

Now is not the time to encourage expanded trade and grant unrestricted tourist travel to Cuba. Dollars generated from such activity are funneled into the coffers of the Cuban military and internal security forces. In fact, expanding tourism travel was exactly what Castro did in 1991 after he lost his stipend from the collapsed Soviet Union -- a stipend he earned by spying on the United States and inciting revolution throughout the Western Hemisphere.

Moreover, Cuba is a bad credit risk. Even the European Union, with many current and former Castro allies among its members, complained to the Cuban government about ''delayed payment, excessive government fees, and inconsistent and sometimes outlandish rules.'' France, Spain, Italy and Venezuela have suspended official credits after being left holding the bag filled with millions of dollars in IOU's.
3 posted on 09/15/2002 10:38:26 AM PDT by Cardenas
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To: thucydides
GREED VS. EMBARGO


By Agustin Blazquez
with the collaboration of Jaums Sutton
NewsMax
Colaboración:
Armando F. Mastrapa III
New York
La Nueva Cuba
Septiembre 14, 2002







The recent corporate collapses and scandals in the U.S. business community have exposed the evils of greed when it becomes the basis for decision-making. Greed is certainly a bad adviser, as it tramples the moral and ethical principles on which America was founded.

Greed and illusory dreams of profits were the foundations of the July 23, 2002, vote - 262 to 167 - in the Republican-led House of Representatives in favor of easing the economic embargo against the Castro regime and letting American tourists visit Cuba.

For some time now, Castro has been able to buy goods from the U.S. on a cash-only basis - no credit. But the legislation passed by the House will allow Castro to buy on credit.

In 1986 he began suspending all payments of his international debt, debt to both governments and businesses. Since he is the only businessman in Cuba, he can do that. As a result, many countries have withdrawn their permission for him to buy on credit.

Absolutely nothing has happened to suggest that he has changed his tune and will now begin to take his debts seriously. So, for the U.S. to now begin to sell to his regime on credit is an abysmal mistake.

Cuba's Foreign Debt

"Cuba's Foreign Debt," released on Aug. 19, 2002, by the Cuba Transition Project (distributed by La Voz de Cuba Libre), offers an accounting as of the end of 2001: owed to the European Union, $10.893 billion; to the former Eastern Europe, $2.2 billion; to the former Soviet Union, $25 billion; to England, $196 million; to Japan, $1.7 billion; to China, $400 million; to Argentina, $1.58 billion; to Mexico, $380 million; to Venezuela, $142 million; to Canada, $73 million; to Chile, $20 million and to South Africa, $85 million.

From the same report: "Cuba's foreign debt owed to numerous countries remains unpaid. The Castro regime lacks the resources to even pay interest on these obligations. Several European governments are now refusing to provide further export credit to Cuba. According to a Reuters report on July 6, 2002, 'the island is notorious for paying its debts late ... and public and private creditors report that the situation has grown much worse in recent months.' As The Economist noted in May 2001, 'France, Italy and South Africa have recently cut off further credit to Cuba, in a bid to claw back some of what they are owed.' "

I am willing to say it out loud: If the U.S. government allows farmers to extend credit to Cuba, and, true to form, Cuba doesn't pay, the U.S. government will be obligated to save the U.S. farmers who (seemingly) put their trust in the U.S. government by extending the credit. I say "seemingly" because, now that I've said it out loud, the U.S. farmers know the dangers of selling to Cuba on credit.

Once the U.S. government pays Castro's debts for him, then our tax money will be used to support a tyranny. Isn't there a little moral issue here?

But greed is very powerful. And apparently our businessmen and farmers don't care about who will eventually be paying, as long as they make their profits. Our politicians, supposedly, must protect the interests of their constituency, who are taxpayers and who ultimately will be faced with the bill for the irresponsibility of this small but powerful special-interest group.

Soon in Congress, with the help of the well-financed pro-Castro lobby on Capitol Hill, politicians will try to pass - and probably will, with flying colors - another similar action in favor of easing the U.S. embargo, giving another victory to the old and now "untouchable" tyrant-for-life of Cuba. That victory will be one more defeat for the Cuban people, since it will prolong their suffering.

But there are no moral principles driving our businessmen's greed. Just look at China, which, thanks to American businessmen, has become more powerful and threatening to the U.S. than ever and the three decades of "engagement" have not brought the oppressed Chinese people any closer to democracy.

Castro's 'Engagement' With the World

Usually unmentioned during times of "I know, let's lift the embargo!" the U.S. embargo says nothing about Cuba's trade with the rest of the world. Has his "engagement" with the rest of the world made him change his political posture, improve human rights or the living conditions for the Cuban people? Obviously not. Any benefit Cuba gains from the engagement are for Castro, not the people.

Has international business engagement brought a change in Castro's intentions about the future of Cuba? Obviously not, as he continues with his tired, old "Socialism or death!" which Cubans on the island changed to "Socialism is death!"

So, where is the logic in the argument that lifting the U.S. embargo, giving his regime credit and flooding his bankrupt economy with U.S. tourist dollars will encourage him to mend his ways?

The fallacious engagement theory that Castro's apologists, supporters and lobbyists on Capitol Hill, accompanied by the greedy U.S. business community, have been using to justify their despicable actions is that it will bring change and improve the living conditions in Cuba. Also the naïve concept that exposing Cubans to American tourists will bring new ideas and will foster a tilt toward democracy is simply unrealistic.

Cuba's Apartheid

Cuba is an apartheid society where ordinary Cubans are not allowed in the tourist areas - except as servants and security agents to keep tourists under control and separated from the rest of the population. Ordinary Cubans are penalized for mingling with tourists.

Cubans are painfully aware of who has been helped by "engagement." The ventures with foreign companies are all administered by the armed forces and the secret police. The payoff is only for Castro - keeping him in power and repressing the people. Ordinary Cuban citizens are not allowed to enter into partnerships with foreigners.

The Cubans who work in these international businesses are aware that these foreign companies pay salaries in U.S. dollars to Castro and he in turn pays them a very small fraction in worthless Cuban pesos. They are aware that as workers for these foreign companies, they have no bargaining rights. They are aware of the differences between the opportunities of foreigners and those of the ordinary natives - thus their hatred for the resulting apartheid.

This whole process sets up a hatred for the foreign exploiters, because ordinary Cubans are taken advantage of not only by Castro but also by the international business community.

Canadians, Mexicans, Spaniards and other Europeans vacation in Castroland and have the audacity to buy vacation places there while Cubans are risking their lives - 85,876 deaths so far - trying to escape from that "foreigners-only paradise."

And apparently the greed extends to U.S. businessmen, swamping the moral issues of the welfare of the expendable little Cubans.

The 'Politically Correct' Mantra

Many U.S. businessmen keep trying to join the herd of profiteers by pressuring the Bush administration to change U.S. policy toward Cuba. The efforts of the pro-Castro lobby in the U.S. have been to convince politicians, and the American people - with the full collaboration of the U.S. media and academia - that lifting the embargo against Castro will foster change in Cuba toward democracy.

That has become the "politically correct" mantra, while "politically correctly" maligning, censoring and discrediting those Cuban-Americans who oppose lifting the U.S. embargo.

This heavily orchestrated campaign has succeeded in thoroughly disinforming the American people to a point where they've become insensitive to the Cuban tragedy. And Americans traveling illegally to Cuba through third countries has become "chic." To encourage this illegality, Castro's immigration officials do not stamp their U.S. passports.

I often think how ironic it is for Americans to want to visit a country that 90 percent of the enslaved population wants to get the hell out of. The happy-go-lucky vacationers seem to have no problem with being served by the slaves.

American politicians have also fallen victim to the fad, as they have become a staple in Castro's anti-embargo propaganda ploy. The politician currently garnering favorable publicity by participating in this parade of fools is Minnesota Wrestler-Governor Jesse Ventura, who plans to be in Havana from Sept. 26-30 - and meet with Castro, of course.

In his elected position, Gov. Ventura, as well as other visiting U.S. politicians, must know that Cuba is a virulent anti-American terrorist country that for 43 years has been waging a covert war against the U.S. Cuba remains a threat to our national security. Castro's Cuba is a training ground for terrorists and is allied to international terrorism directed against the U.S. Castro's Cuba is not a friendly nation.

It should be considered un-American and unpatriotic to visit there, much less to lend an economic hand. There are a lot of reasons not to visit Cuba.

After 43 years of the most brutal tyranny in Cuba's history as well as in the Americas, it seems that the drive should be for the continuation of a policy based on moral principles and scruples against a criminal and illegitimate regime that has raped the Cuban people of their right to live with freedom and dignity.

Sadly, the Europeans and others have shown themselves totally insensitive to the Cuban tragedy and behave without principles and scruples in their dealings with the Castro regime. But I believe that America is different and we should not descend to those levels. We must not act like them.

'Disinvestment'

"Disinvestment" was the right moral principle for the international business community in the case of South Africa. Why do the opposite for Cuba?

Demanding a unilateral change of policy from the U.S. without demanding that Castro and communism must go from Cuba is hypocritical and a crime against the suffering Cuban people. Lifting the U.S. embargo is not the answer; disinvestment is the moral thing to do.

By exploiting the situation in Cuba because of greed, the U.S. business community becomes a collaborator and partner in Castro's crimes.

Cubans are crying for an end to their misery and are not going to forget and forgive those who collaborated with their oppressor.

The people who love freedom and democracy in the U.S. should want the same for Cuba. They should urge all those politicians responding to the pressures of the pro-Castro lobby on Capitol Hill and greedy U.S. businessmen yearning for the imaginary profits promised by the propaganda machinery of a bankrupt regime, to stop their immoral drive and instead help by disinvesting in Cuba to get rid of the last tyranny in the Americas.

© 2002 ABIP

*****

4 posted on 09/15/2002 10:59:34 AM PDT by CUBANACAN
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To: Cincinatus' Wife

You can tell a fool by the company he keeps.

5 posted on 09/15/2002 2:09:06 PM PDT by struwwelpeter
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To: struwwelpeter; CUBANACAN; Cardenas; thucydides
Bumps!
6 posted on 09/16/2002 1:52:47 AM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife
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To: struwwelpeter
Threshing Out a Deal Between the Farmers and Fidel
September 20, 2002

By MARY ANASTASIA O'GRADY

If recent opinion polls are to be believed, a slim majority of Americans have come around to the view that the U.S. embargo of Cuba should be relegated to the circular file of history.

What is less clear is how many Americans know that since 2000 Cuba has been able to buy as much food and medicine as it wants from the U.S. as long as it pays for it in cash. In other words, what the media broadly refers to as "lifting" the trade embargo is not about granting the U.S. farm lobby the right to sell its products to Cuba. It is about the right to provide credit to Fidel Castro.

The effort to allow credit to Fidel was advanced in July when the House attached an amendment to the general appropriations bill prohibiting funding to enforce any sanction on private commercial sales of agricultural commodities or medicines. The bill has two other amendments designed to withhold the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) budget for enforcing the ban on travel by U.S. citizens to Cuba and limits on monthly dollar remittances to the island. None of this changes the embargo law. It merely restricts the availability of funds to enforce certain parts of it.

Regardless of whether you are for or against the embargo, there are two huge problems with this approach. The first is that a conscious decision by the legislative body to simply end enforcement of U.S. law, rather than legitimately change it, undermines the rule of law. If Congress wishes to alter the embargo it should do so through the proper process.

Second, given Castro's inability to pay these days and the farm industry's addiction to federal subsidies and guarantees, it is logical to wonder whether U.S. agricultural interests aren't just teaming up with Fidel to stiff the U.S. taxpayer. That would explain why so many Republican politicians from farm states, who pay lip service to free markets even while funneling federal money to constituents, are so gung-ho about allowing "private" credit to one of the world's most notorious deadbeats.

For libertarians, the goal of ending embargo prohibitions is second nature. They say that U.S. citizens should be free to move about where they want and trade with whomever they like, even if it is distasteful to human rights activists. Many libertarians believe too that more engagement with Cubans would accelerate the fall of Fidel by removing his favorite excuse for the pathetic mess he has made of the country. Liberalizing remittances would mean that Cuban-Americans could legally send their imprisoned relatives the amount of money they need. The overriding effect of all of this would be less isolation of the Cuban people.

Such are the legitimate arguments against the embargo, which in no way can be construed as sympathy for the regime. The only question left is what the U.S. farm lobby, famous for its dependence on government guarantees, subsidies and protections, is suddenly doing on the side of free markets?

The farm industry's gargantuan push for the right to finance Fidel is especially strange because it comes at a time when other lenders are shutting him off. Indeed, this seems to be the reason why there is now an "opportunity" to sell to him on credit.

Earlier this month, a Reuters report said "France has frozen $175 million in short-term trade cover to Cuba after the island's government failed to pay back money owed from a similar 2000 agreement," according to a European diplomat. Cuba has also fallen into arrears with South Africa, Panama and Spain.

On March 10, Miami's El Nuevo Herald reported on an impounded Cuban ship sitting in Sheveningen Bay, outside The Hague. The Dutch had seized the ship for non-payment from the Cuban government. The story cited the Belgian newspaper Tijd which said that Cuban "cargo ships are poorly ventilated and poorly maintained, are environmentally contaminated, and leave behind them a trail of unpaid creditors at every port they visit."

The University of Miami's Institute for Cuban and Cuban-American Studies has compiled a list of Cuba's bad debts. It says that Fidel owes the European Union at least $10.9 billion and hasn't paid principal or interest on its Paris Club debt since 1986. The former Soviet Union lent some $25 billion. Cuba is in arrears to its single largest creditor, Japan, to the tune of $1.7 billion. Argentina is its next biggest creditor and is owed $1.58 billion. Cuba has debts to Chile of $20 million for unpaid fish imports, a "typical case of default on a foreign government's short-term food export credit program," according to the report. The United Kingdom's Export Credits Guarantee Program, it says, "has refused to underwrite any further British exports to Cuba due to the island's poor payment history." According to Juan O. Tamayo, in an April edition of the Miami Herald's Business Monday, Cuba "defaulted on $500 million in loans" last year.

We're supposed to believe that into this morass of defaults the U.S. agriculture industry wants to jump, taking on "private" risk and boldly going where so many have gone before and lost their shirts.

This is a little hard to swallow and even more so because the effort is being led by such heroes of government largess for farmers as Nebraska Senator Chuck Hagel. Throw in the plethora of farm export credits and guarantees in the federal system and even casual observers of Washington politics would know enough to be suspicious.

Critics of the amendment are concerned about the potential for abuse of the Overseas Private Investment Corporation, Export/Import Bank and various agriculture subsidy programs.

Virginia Democrat Jerry Moran who introduced the agricultural amendment says not to worry, that he has been "advised" that its language "sufficiently prohibits public entity financing." And Arizona Republican Jeff Flake, who introduced the other amendments, insists that if there is any effort to provide public financing he will fight it.

Mr. Flake might be believable if he were operating on his own in a land of limited government such as James Madison once envisioned. But he's in 2002 Washington and has teamed up with the farm lobby. He needs to do more than simply express his own pure intentions.

Updated September 20, 2002
7 posted on 09/20/2002 9:13:08 AM PDT by Dqban22
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To: struwwelpeter
And to think I used to like the guy. Oh well, live and learn.
8 posted on 09/20/2002 9:14:43 AM PDT by dfwgator
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To: dfwgator
What a statesman...
9 posted on 09/20/2002 9:19:35 AM PDT by ErnBatavia
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To: ErnBatavia
SEEING CUBA AS IT REALLY IS
FOUR DECADES AFTER THE REVOLUTION,
CUBA'S POLITICAL PRISONS ARE STILL FULL
AND IT SUFFERS FROM SELF-INFLICTED SHORTAGES
OF PRACTICALLY EVERYTHING

By Dennis Hays*
Guest Columnist
The Miami Herald
Florida
U.S.A.
Colaboración:
CANF News**
Septiembre 25, 2002







Gov. Jesse Ventura says he is a different kind of politician. I hope that he is. He will have a chance to prove it later this week when he travels to Cuba. Through his actions and his public statements, the governor has an opportunity to do something significant in Havana.

The governor believes in education. Well, the most exciting grassroots movement is Cuba today is the growth of the independent libraries — simple rooms in peoples' homes where average Cubans can find books and magazines otherwise denied them.

For their efforts, librarians are often beaten, arrested and thrown out of their houses by the Castro regime, but collectively they bring information and hope to a population that has little of either. The governor can help this movement by taking boxes of Spanish language books to Cuba and personally giving them to one of the independent libraries.

The governor believes in labor rights. He must then know that the International Labor Organization has repeatedly condemned Cuba for the systematic violation of practically every labor right there is.

Hotel jobs are reserved for the communist party faithful and there is rampant racial discrimination in hiring. The regime takes money from foreign partners in dollars and pays workers at an artificial rate in pesos, effectively confiscating over 95 percent of the workers' wages. Independent trade unions are illegal and labor activists imprisoned.

The Dutch human rights organization, Pax Christi Netherlands, notes in a scathing report that the vast majority of Cubans are physically barred from entering tourist areas, a practice known as "tourist apartheid."

The governor has an alternative to becoming complicit in these abuses. There are rooms available in private Cuban homes, known as "casas particulares." By staying with a Cuban family, rather than in a segregated "Sun City" style resort, the governor would register his clear support for the rights of the worker.

The governor wants to promote exports. I hope he has done his due diligence. If so, he knows that Cuba is a bankrupt, deadbeat nation — that Castro owes billions of dollars to every country that has ever been foolish enough to do business with him, that the current round of purchases of American agricultural products is being financed by the regime's decision to stop payment on the debts it owes to other nations, and that the Europeans and Canadians have lost patience with Castro and no longer want to throw good money after bad — thus explaining the Cubans' new interest in us. The regime needs a new source of credit, and we're the only one left.

The governor is justly proud of his service in the military. On his trip he may well be introduced to the Cuban Minister of Higher Education, Fernando Alegret, a man identified in congressional hearings as the infamous "Fidel," a Cuban agent who sadistically beat, tortured, and killed American POWs in Vietnam. Will the governor shake his hand? Or will he insist that Castro release a full accounting of the activities of his agents in North Vietnam?

Finally, the governor spoke movingly on Sept. 11 of how freedom is the foundation of all else. I know he believes this. He must also know that four decades after the revolution, Cuba's political prisons are still full. Cuba suffers from self-inflicted shortages of practically everything, but there has never been a shortage of Cubans who believe enough in freedom to risk their lives.

I urge the governor to go unannounced to the prison cells of Dr. Oscar Biscet, Francisco Chaviano, Jorge Luis Garcia Perez or any of the hundreds of other political prisoners identified by Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and other organizations. He will know nothing of Cuba if he does not hear their stories.

It is worth noting that the record of Midwestern governors in Cuba is not particularly inspiring. Last month, North Dakota's John Hoeven took the position that whatever the Castro regime does is not of concern to him — as long as Cuba buys his state's agricultural products.

This was practically a "Profiles in Courage" moment, however, when compared with Illinois Gov. George Ryan in 1999. While speaking at the University of Havana, Ryan deleted the entire section of his speech that dealt with human rights, so as to "not offend" Fidel Castro, as he later explained. Castro believes, with ample reason, that American politicians are too polite or too greedy to point out the obvious — that Cuba is a failed state and the single biggest impediment to any improvement is Castro himself.

Ventura has a reputation for being a maverick. Although the odds are against it, I hold out the hope that he earns this reputation and surprises everyone — starting with Fidel Castro.





*Hays, who served coordinator for Cuban Affairs at the State Department from 1993-95, is executive vice president of the Cuban American National Foundation.
10 posted on 09/26/2002 11:28:30 AM PDT by Dqban22
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To: thucydides
LETTER IN ENGLISH TO GOVERNOR JESSE VENTURA


Alfredo Vivanco González, U.S.T.I.C. National Coordinator

Syndicate of Independent Workers Union of Cuba,

Representing the Executive Board of this Organization makes public the following OPEN LETTER, addressed to the Governor of Minnesota, U.S., Mr. Jesse Ventura, for his announced visit to our country.



Havana, September 3, 2002



Our union and its representatives are glad to hear of your recent announcement to visit our country. We consider that the presence of so distinguished personalities in our land may be very beneficial, since they can closely verify the true and sad situation that our population is experiencing.



We take advantage of this opportunity, to request very respectfully from you that at the time of your visit to Cuba, you should consider the recommendations expressed to you by the Governor of the state of Florida, Mr. Bush. That you should try to meet above all with the Cuban opposition, and mainly with the independent syndicates, because of your well known and long time standing of defending the rights of the workers.



Once your visit is over, we hope that you take with you a real impression of what our working-class is undergoing, and not a fictitious panoramic view. It would be very sad if you leave with a false notion.



Our Union of Independent Workers of Cuba is in the best disposition to meet with you, in order to engage in a dialog, which would be quite beneficial for both parties. It is up to you schedule the date and hour for this meeting.



We await your response to our proposal.



Cordially,



Alfredo Vivanco González

Coordinador Nacional de la U.S.T.I.C















Octubre 2, 2002



NOTA ACLARATORIA DE PABLO RODRIGUEZ CARVAJAL:

Esta carta fue recibida por Martha Tamargo, desde Cuba. Betty Smith la tradujo, se la envió, y, también llamó a su oficina. Me estoy refiriendo al Gobernador Jesse Ventura. Se le dio el número telefónico (en Cuba) donde comunicarse con Alfredo Vivanco González, Coordinador de la U.S.T.I.C., todo esto con bastante tiempo. Yo, Pablo Rodríguez Carvajal, soy testigo de esto, puesto que fue mí decisión no hacer dicha carta pública hasta darle al Gobernador la oportunidad de hacer lo que hace un hombre que ama la libertad, como por ejemplo, como hizo (gústale a quien le guste y duélale a quien le duela) Jimmy Carter.
Para este señor hacer este comentario, "I don't know where they are. I mean, if they know, my hotel is here and if they want to come here and meet, I'll be happy to meet with them", y pensar que nadie va a salir a la palestra a desmentirlo, tiene que pensar que estamos viviendo aún en la era de las cavernas. Habrá algún que cubano por ahí que está aún en las cavernas, pero en nuestra patria, y también fuera de ella, hay muchos cubanos que hace tiempo salimos de las cavernas, pero ayudémoslo a él a que salga.
Traducción del comentario del Gobernador Jesse Ventura: "Yo no sé donde están. Digo, si ellos saben que mi hotel está aquí, y quieren venir a reunirse conmigo, yo estaría feliz en reunirme con ellos".
TEXTO DE LA CARTA AL GOBERNADOR JESSE VENTURA:

Alfredo Vivanco González, U.S.T.I.C. Coordinador Nacional Unión Sindical de Trabajadores Independientes de Cuba hace pública, a nombre del Ejecutivo Nacional de esta organización, la siguiente CARTA ABIERTA, dirigida al Gobernador Sr. Jesse Ventura del estado de Minnesota, EE.UU., , por la anunciada visita a nuestro país próximamente.

La Habana 3 de septiembre 2002

Sr. Gobernador Jesse Ventura:

Nuestro organismo sindical ve con beneplácito, su reciente anuncio de visitar a nuestro país. Consideramos que la presencia de tan distinguidas personalidades en nuestra tierra, son muy provechosas, ya que pueden constatar bien de cerca la verdadera y triste situación que atraviesa nuestra población.

Aprovechamos esta visita, para solicitarle muy respetuosamente que al momento de visitarnos, tenga muy en cuenta las recomendaciones hechas por su homologo, el Gobernador del estado de la Florida, Sr.Bush, a su persona, de que tratara por todos los medios de reunirse con la oposición cubana y sobre todo con el sindicalismo independiente, teniendo como referencia que Ud. siempre ha sido un fiel defensor de los derechos de los trabajadores.

No quisiéramos, a la vez que sería bastante penoso, que una vez finalizada su visita a nuestro país, se llevara una panorámica virtual y no real de nuestra sufrida clase trabajadora.

Nuestra Unión Sindical de Trabajadores Independientes de Cuba, está en la mejor disposición de reunirse con Ud., a fin de sostener un dialogo, el cual sería bastante provechoso para ambas partes. Sólo quedaría por Ud. fijar la fecha y hora, para sostener dicho encuentro.

En espera de su contesta a nuestra proposición.

Cordialmente,

Alfredo Vivanco González,
Coordinador Nacional de la U.S.T.I.C




The above is sent to you by
Chachi Novellas Bengochea
Fort Lauderdale, Florida
FOR FREEDOM & JUSTICE GROUP
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ForFreedomandJustice


11 posted on 10/03/2002 11:50:41 AM PDT by Dqban22
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To: struwwelpeter
Jesse Does Havana
Humberto Fontova
Friday, Oct. 11, 2002

They say pro boxing causes brain damage. Years of whacks and wallops on the head pound the brain into putty. This gradually corrodes the intellect, atrophies the powers of reasoning, and results in speech patterns that borrow the best from Rocky Balboa and Beavis and Butt-Head.

Pro wrestling must act quicker, and small wonder. Ever see that "pile-driver"? Whoo-boy. Hulk Hogan mastered the technique. The Junkyard Dog honed it to a science. They wore it out on Jesse "The Body" Ventura. First they'd grab Jesse in a full Nelson, then pick him up as the crowd roared with bloodlust. Then they'd turn Jesse upside down – BONG!BONG!BONG! – headfirst into the mat like a pile driver went ol' Jesse. His gray matter churned and whipped like a Piña Colada.

The crowd went nuts, shrieking and scowling and shaking their fists with bloodlust. At least boxing gloves are cushioned.
Anyone who doubts the ravages of this horseplay on the human brain didn't hear Jesse Ventura's comments in Havana last week. At first I gaped, blinked, removed my glasses and wiped them. Nope, I was seeing correctly.

Then tilted my head and pounded it smartly with my palm. Perhaps some Gulf water was trapped in there from my last dive trip? Nope. Nothing came out. I was hearing correctly.

Finally I chuckled. A minute later I guffawed. You see this a lot among Cuban-Americans. It's a defense mechanism we've evolved to keep from going completely (as opposed to partially) crazy when listening to celebrities, the Beltway media (and lately, Midwest politicians) expound on Cuba. I'm becoming a Darwinist as a result.

My wife (not Cuban) was angry, pointing at the TV screen incredulously. "He's worse than Jimmy Carter!" she gasped.
"Give him a break," I said, shaking my head. "How'd YOU like to be on the receiving end of the Junkyard Dog for five years? Poor guy, he can't help it. His brain was in a Cuisinart. It's pureed."

Before embarking for Fidel's Shangri-la Ventura was asked if he'd meet with any Cuban dissidents. "I don't know where they are," he replied. "I mean, if they know my hotel is here and they want to come here and meet, I'll be happy to meet with them."
"No!" I yelled. "No way! I didn't hear the governor of a populous and highly literate U.S. state say that? ... Did I?!"

I did. Right, Jesse. These dissidents (he probably thinks they're like Democrats when Republicans are in power) will just get in their Mercedes, drive over and chat it up with you, maybe get a coupla drinks at the bar. Perhaps the CDRs will even escort them over, Jesse. Perhaps Castro's G-2 would drive them over themselves as a good-will gesture.

UN-freakin'-REAL, this Ventura guy. But forget that part for a second. Does this imbecile realize that armed police bar all (non-Communist Party) Cubans from getting anywhere near the plush hotels the tourists infest?

U.S. celebrities and politicians wailed and moaned to high heaven about the identical thing in South Africa. The thing was an "outrage!" An "intolerable human rights atrocity!" It merited boycotts and embargoes. It sparked endless caterwauling at the Academy Awards, the U.N. , Capitol Hill, Democratic conventions, Harvard, Yale, Berkeley, MIT, ABC, NBC, CBS, PBS ... blah ... blah ... blah.

In Cuba? Well, it's a marvelous way to "open up the system," a dandy method of "supplanting a failed policy." Again, you figure it out. I've given up.

Ventura prides himself on "blunt speech," on "straight talk." In his own words, he "shoots from the hip." Well, he's got the latitude right. Now move the longitude over about 45 degrees to the rear. THAT area seems more like the source of much Ventura talk.

This guy is too much. . Ventura made Ralph Nader sound like John Foster Dulles. He made Jimmy Carter sound like Niccolo Machiavelli. "Mr. President," he asked Castro (apparently in all sincerity), "who assassinated JFK? Any ideas? Can you help me with that?"

Jesse says he learned a lot while chatting and chumming it up with his new "charming and spellbinding" friend, "President" Castro. He had many ideas confirmed, namely about JFK's death. Ventura even plans to go back to Cuba as – get this – U.S. ambassador. And all because of this visit. He's a diplomat now, on top of everything else. Another feather in his cap. You da man, Jesse! This guy can do it all. Get your foot in the door of the WWF and the sky's the limit, I guess.

Basically Ventura had his own fruitcake theory confirmed, which is identical to Oliver Stone's which is identical to Fidel's. One major difference: With "President" Castro it's not a theory. It's a very useful ruse, great cover.

He didn't snow Lyndon Johnson, though. LBJ had Castro's number from day one. "Castro was behind it," he said about JFK's murder. And he never wavered.

Whatever else we can say about LBJ, he was no fool. He sent the Marines and Army Airborne into Santo Domingo at the first sign of trouble. No more Caribbean Communism – not under his watch. Where was Secretary of State Dean Rusk on that decision, I've always wondered.

This same Dean Rusk blanched at the thought of a single U.S. plane over the Bay of Pigs in April '61. Helping Cuban patriots topple the regime that stole $6 billion from U.S. companies, murdered scores of Americans with firing squads and would point nuclear missiles at the U.S. would have been "U.S. bullying" and intolerable "foreign intervention."

But four years later, this same Rusk gave a gutsy thumbs-up to LBJ's decision to send 25,000 U.S. troops into Santo Domingo to quell a leftist riot. Again, you figure it out. I've given up.

According to the Star Tribune, Ventura "exhorted University of Havana students to dream big and work hard to achieve success!"
Again I gaped. Did I hear right? Does this oaf have a CLUE what communism is? I guess the WWF doesn't require that sort of knowledge. But didn't he serve in 'Nam?

Anyway, listen up, Mr. Ventura: Castroland is not an Amway or Mary Kay franchise, sir. Cuban Horatio Algers typically jump on rafts, sir. There's no place for individual initiative, positive thinking and hard work down there, sir. To achieve success in Castroland – to "get to the top!" down there – you join the Communist Party, you pucker up and stoop down behind Fidel and his toadies and smooch away.

So come to think of it, Jesse, you DO have much to teach those Havana U. students. You and your entourage performed brilliantly in Havana last week.

A real piece of work, this Ventura guy. His song and dance about being a "libertarian" gets a little old, too. There's a little more to it than favoring the legalization of prostitution and drugs, Jesse. It gets worse. I'll quote Ventura from his latest book, "Do I Stand Alone?"

"Corrupt corporations exert their power in ways that harm the average citizen. They understand supply and demand but they play by those rules only so long as they're good for their profits – if not, free markets be dammed."
This from the main jester at an event (the U.S. Food & Agribusiness Exhibition at Havana's Palacio de las Convenciones) sponsored by Archer Daniels Midland. This from the governor of a state where 65 percent of the farms get federal subsidies. Way to go, Jesse!

And did you catch the poster boys of the trade show? Cute, blonde, smiling, photogenic and perky Cliff (13 years old) and Seth (11) Kaehler of St. Charles, Minn. They were dairy farmers displaying their cows and chumming it up with Castro, cooing and smiling away. A smiling Uncle Fidel alternated between patting them and the cows affectionately on the head. It was something to see. Except that his whiskers were gray rather than white and his suit gray rather than red, you'd think you were looking at a Christmas photo.

I'll quote from the Star Tribune here: "The poster children for this new round of charm commerce were two boys from St. Charles, Minn., who became Castro's personal emissaries to their family's animal pens. They made headlines in Granma, Cuba's Communist Party newspaper."

Cliff, did you know that little boys just a little older than you were sent to the firing squad by that darling bearded gentleman you had dinner with? Yes, they were farmers too, Cliff, just like you. But Uncle Fidel stole all their cows, and land, and stuff. Yes, that's what Communists do, Cliff. They steal things. That's how they propose to pay for your family's cows, Cliff – with STOLEN money. I doubt they teach you about this in school either, but Communists don't actually PRODUCE anything, Cliff. They STEAL.

This was taught by ALL schools back in the '50s and '60s. But it's gone by the wayside lately. And if you try to stop Communists from stealing your stuff, they shoot you, Cliff. That's what happened to 15-year-old Carlos Machado, his twin brother, and their dad. They refused blindfolds, spat in their Communist executioners' faces and went down singing their national anthem and holding hands, Cliff. The bullets shattered their heads into pieces. They were only two years older than you, Cliff.

"Our cows were a little cramped on the way over," chirped little Cliff to a USA Today reporter at the Expo. "But they look okay now!" They certainly did, Cliff. Heck, your cows had a good 8-by-5-foot enclosure on the way over. That's plenty of room. Sometimes Uncle Fidel gave his political prisoners only 6-by-4-foot enclosures. Did you know that, Cliff?… I know, I know. They probably don't teach that in Minnesota's public schools either.

Heck, they don't seem to teach about it anywhere anymore. But here it is, from Contacto magazine, as reported by Uncle Fidel's ex-political prisoners themselves:
"One of the favorite places for the jailers to punish the inmates were in the infamous 'gavetas' (drawers), particularly in the prisons in Oriente. These measured 4 feet width by 6 feet in length. The prisoners had to remain in them kneeling. They suffered this torture in these cells from 5 to 6 months."

Six months, Cliff. And you were worried sick over your poor little moo cows because they spent two days like that. Maybe Barbara Walters will inquire (politely) about these things tonight, Cliff? Think so?

Humberto Fontova holds an M.A. in history from Tulane University. He's the author of "Helldiver's Rodeo," described as "Highly entertaining!" by Publisher's Weekly, "A must-read!" by Booklist, and "Just what the doctor ordered!" by Ted Nugent.
You may reach Mr. Fontova by e-mail at hfontova@earthlink.
12 posted on 10/15/2002 12:07:46 PM PDT by Dqban22
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