Quote:
Originally Posted by Speleothem
Victory?!?
That's a good one.
Is Cuba what "victory" looks like?
|
Cuba looks exactly like one would expect a small Island nation to look like after almost 5 decades of economic isolation by the largest economic power in the world, and a government that had little choice but to respond harshly to political opposition, due to the constant threat of ongoing US funded covert destabilization efforts.
The embargo against Cuba and the consistently hostile stance of the US government toward Cuba is as much responsible for that political oppression, and economic hardship as is Castro, who understood all too well how quickly he'd have become a dead man were he to have been more tolerant of political opposition. The losers in this were the Cuban people ... a very noble, resourceful, and hardworking people of tremendous fortitude and character.
I'm not defending Castro's tactics, nor trying to paint an unrealistic picture of benevolence, especially when considering the early days and years of the Cuban revolution, and the psychopathic and murderous nature of Che Guevera ... whom I think surpassed most definitions of a maniac military tyrant as infamous as the worst. There is definite history of extreme criminality on that front. I'm just stating the "other" facts, which are not presented honestly by western media propaganda.
Honestly, it doesn't take a great deal of imagination to picture what Cuba might look like today in the absence of Castro's success in keeping the international gangsters from taking full control of Cuba decades ago. All one need do is look at several other Caribbean Island nation examples who's people, in vast majority, live in abject poverty on the outskirts of bustling commercial tourism and industry exploitation by large corporate interests, who reap great financial fortune at the expense of the commoners. Describing the prospects of the Cuban people in Communist-Capitalist terms can be summed up in one phrase "Stuck between a rock and a hard place".
Much is made of the political oppression and economic conditions, while ignoring some of the benefits ... such as a people who enjoy a simpler lifestyle, cleaner environment, and lower crime rates ... along with cleaner food, and a health care system that provides actual health care, rather than commercial mass poisoning of the population, such that we enjoy here in the US. Life expectancy in Cuba is well above averages for those not critical of the regime. The others, not so fortunate.
But let's not be blind hypocrites by ignoring the probability that the average Cuban would never have enjoyed a middle class American lifestyle under a capitalist model ... there are too many examples of western exploitation of indigenous peoples of small nations that would argue such fallacy.
Channeled in the proper way ... and in absence of an agenda to destabilize and overthrow the Cuban government for 49 years, American foreign policy toward Cuba could have helped improve the conditions of the Cuban people greatly, by means of economic incentives, rather than hostile isolation .... intent of which was ALWAYS to ensure Cuban failure, for western propagandist purposes.
The fact that this embargo is still in place is a classic example of US hypocrisy, given our full support of far more brutal and oppressive regimes around the globe during these 49 years ... many of which were actually put in place by the US.
I think JFK, who initiated the embargo would be appalled to know the long lasting implications of this, and would have firmly rejected it's continuation all of these many years.