Cuban Govt. Journalist and I Discuss Cuba on Intl. Radio

I participated in a roundtable discussion this morning on Global Radio, sponsored by the University of Missouri. Joining me on the panel were Peter Kasperowicz, managing editor of Inside U.S. Trade, Eduardo Ulibarri, a journalism professor at the University of Costa Rica, and Rogelio Polanco, director of the government-run Juventud Rebelde newspaper in Cuba. It is extremely rare for a Cuban government journalist to discuss Cuba on a U.S. media outlet. Listen to it here. Polanco was towing the communist party line, praising Fidel Castro's leadership. I had to remind listeners that there is no freedom of the press in Cuba. Very interesting discussion.

If you want to cut to the back and forth between Polanco and I in the 28-minute broadcast, here are the exact times in the recording that Polanco and I speak:

Polanco: 3:00 minutes

Me: 5:53 minutes

Me: 13:14 minutes

Polanco: 16:32 minutes

Me: 21:39 minutes

http://www.globaljournalist.org/radio/2006/2006-08-03.html

Comments

[Carlos]

Well said, Oscar. Great discussion.

[Manuel A. Tellechea]

I have just finished listening to the discussion on Global Radio. Congratulations to Oscar on his eloquent presentation. I think you will all agree with me that he has done us proud. I only regret that the code of journalistic ethics prevents him from participating more actively on his own blog.

As to the Cuban government representative, Rogelio Polanco, editor of "Juventud Rebelde" (Rebel Youth), let me just say that he did not sound very young to me. Polanco was pretty much skewered to one degree or other by everyone else on the broadcast and chose not to dispute many of the most serious accusations made against his employer or did so ineffectively.

[gansibele]

Polanco must be in his late 60s by now. His daughter went to collegue with me.

Extreme hardliner, he was placed at the paper to counteract a wave of young journalists in the 90s that concentrated on covering cultural and social issues, outsid of politics. He made JR into Granma lite.

Very few people in Cuba are media savvy enough to hold their own in a debate, plus their real audience is in Cuba evaluating what they say. That's why they are either over their heads, repeat the Party talking points or resort to insults.

[Andy]

Nicely done, Oscar.

[CubanRocket]

Funny thing with Cubans...They are partying in Calle 8 for what? I would stand in Miami airport holding free boarding tickets to whomever wants to leave Miami for Cuba once it becomes the hipocritical land it was before castro. I guarantee you no one will take the free tickets. Although Castro is a splinter in their sides (Cuban americans), they lost their country just like Venezuela lost theirs, and soon, Mexico. When you have racist policies, where only "white" people hold the power and richness, and over 70% of your population goes hungry...you will get a Castro...or Chavez. Learn from your mistakes Cubans, only then can you understand why Castro has been in power longer then any other head of state...congratulations! You kept him in there thanks to your Miami Mafia...tsk-tsk...You will never get the "Property" you owned 50 years ago, because poor people finally have a stake (As little as it may seem) in cuba...definetly more then they had before Fidel.

By the way...noticed anything weird in the cuban population here in the states? 85% of them are white, while 80% of blacks are still in Cuba...mmmmhhhhh?

Que come mierdas...

[cubanpatriot]

Dude, have you seen the make-up of the Cuban government? Talk about WHITE. The dual economy in Cuba has killed blacks who are not hired into the tourist sector and many of whom do not have relatives outside to send them money. The Cuban revolution was not fought by blacks for greater civil rights. That's jusr revisionist history. It was fought and funded by the Cuban upper and middle classes that wanted democracy to return.

Oscar did a nice job. I love to hear those commie bastards squirming. You notice the old tactic of dodging the question by saying that the accusing party is guilty of the behavior being accused. The Miami Herald is the newspaper where reporters are censored not JR. Yeah right. What a measly attempt to defend the ridiculous behavior of the regime in the last week.

[Quijote]

Cuban Bucket sorry Rocket please name a few blacks that are in power in Cuba.

See yesterday Herald front page photo or are you also color blind.

The 50 year old properties and only worth the land it sits on and any way according to your way of thinking we are all rich and living so well we do not want to go back.

Cuban people need also an steak and not a stake in a bankrupt economy thanks to the Marx brothers I mean Castro brothers

[CubanRocket]

exactly...whites dominate even in the worst cases. Every sides has their gripes, but you can't deny that the ones that "se la comieron doble) were the people that the cuban government - past and present - have sistematically thrown into gettos...blacks..not whites. Whites had all the power, land, and industry...when Castro came down from the mountain..who did you think the blacks were going to back up? the ones that putthem in missery? or the ones that would put "Everybody" in missery? simple math "dude"...or else...explain why Argentina, Uruguay, Chile, Brazil, etc...has gone Leftwing????? BECAUSE THERE's MORE POOR PEOPLE controling the vote! ask Chavez idiot...and Mexico? only by less than 1% did they almost become left wing...and all thanks to ??? I'll live that up to you...leave your hatred behind and see things for what they really are...politics is just a veil...reality hurts when you loose your country...in Cubans, that was 50 years ago...start thinking like americans instead of the double standard. Why is it that no one can say anything good about Cuba now? because you don't want debate...all you want is Cuba back...well then...organize and go out there and FIGHT! or...go to Versailles and smoke, eat, laugh, and think of cuba as a past dream...Cuba will never be for the exiles in Miami...it will be for those "que se la comieron doble"

I rest my case...by the way...I hate castro, and Chaves, but I am realistic in that communism, or left wing, or whatever u want to call it, comes when a democratic gvernment starves it's people...or at least 70%..face "Dude"...You all lost cuba a long time ago...

[nonee moose]

Rocket:

You know, I was reading your post about only whites in power and the substantial poverty and the rest... I thought you were talking about the USA... LOL

Judging from you tone, those were one-way tickets, right? Nah I'll just stay here and sign your paychecks...

Punk.

[Manuel A. Tellechea]

Before Castro came to power, the daily caloric intake of Cubans was higher than that of most European countries. I have already reproduced that chart from the UN Statistical Yearbook and will not do so again.

In 1962, Castro instituted the rationing of food at levels which made it impossible for ordinary Cubans to supply even their most basic needs. 100 years before, Spain also regulated by law the amount of food that slaves in Cuba were fed. Spain alloted six times as much food per day for slaves than Castro did for his hapless countrymen.

[a different thought]

Like I have said before, only a country that has a working means of production can sustain a Communist revolution.

At the time of Castro's overtake, Cuba enjoyed the highest standard of living in the American hemisphere with the exception of the U.S. Castro was able to do what he did not because the black population joined him (he turned this around later and made his Revolution a race based one ex post facto), but because Fulgencio Batista disrespected the rule of law and completed a coupe de etat.

In my opinion, Batista's coupe made the Cuban population focus on personality and not process. The process (Cuba's Constitution) was thrown aside and disrespected. That's why I believe that if anyone truly expects Democracy to evolve on the island post-Castro (Fidel or Raul), we need to be prepared to wait and teach (if asked to) the islanders how self-rule and democracy work. Remember, 70% of those folks were born under Castro and can't even fathom the concept of self-rule and respect for a process and rule of law. All they know is a government based on the whim of a meglomaniac.

And, for CubanRocket, Batista's government was not a democracy, and it wasn't starving anyone,...Castro was successful because he was initially supported by a middle class who was fooled. Castro did not declare himself a Communist to the people until much later. When the people realized who Castro was, it was too late he had already consolidated military power, and a hold on the country.

[Manuel A. Tellechea]

Fidel dies and goes to heaven. When he gets there, St. Peter tells him that he is not on the list and that no way, no how, does he belong in heaven. Fidel must go to hell.

So Fidel goes to hell where Satan gives him a hearty welcome and tells him to make himself at home. Then Fidel notices that
he left his luggage in heaven and tells Satan, who says, "No hay problema, I'll send a couple of little devils to get your stuff."

When the little devils get to heaven they find the gates are locked — St. Peter is having lunch - and they start debating what to do. Finally, one comes up with the idea that they should go over the wall
and get the luggage.

As they are climbing the wall, two little angels see them, and one angel says to the other, "My goodness! Fidel has been in hell no more than ten minutes and we're already getting refugees!"

[a thought...]

In case CubanRocket missed it, Fidel was not from a poor family himself. He was one of the "rich whites" that CubanRocket deplores. What Fidel did was a supreme con job, no more, no less. He promised everyone would be equal...and they are. They are all equally miserable. The only one living in comfort and with cash is....why, Fidel himself and last time I looked the man was white.

So much for communism (and Cuba is not a "true" communist nation; it is a dictatorship)being the hero of the common people. It is a failed system.

CubanRocket, those are some mighty sour grapes you chew on!!

[Manuel A. Tellechea]

Did God, who has turned his back on the Cuban people for 47 years, more concerned with feeding the sharks than us, finaly, at long last, cut Cubans a break?

Raul Castro has not been seen in public since his brother's demise. Could it possibly be that he too has been dispatched? Did some intrepid bodyguard, rival or discarded lover, decide that the two brothers, who had shared a common life of thuggery, should not be separated in death?

Let's us say a prayer. Perhaps He is finally listening.

[Quijote]

Manuel I hope you are correct, but Raul might be tying to consolidate his power.

[Cuban American!!!!]

Manuel
I agree with you once again. I do hope they are not part of this world any-longer.

I will tell you a short story about my family!! Grandfather went to prison in 1960 for not agreeing with Castro's ways, So he was sent to prison for many years.. Years passed they had to clean the prison system at one time. So Fidel asked his borther Raul how to go about it without any blood shed, because these men where not going to be let free even if they had been in prison for over ten years now, So Raul Fidel's Castro brother hung them all. Never new my grandfather Raul Castro hung him.

[a thought...]

Oooh, but we shouldn't rejoice that such a "frail old man" is dying....I hope Raul is next in line para el dia de la quema. Cuban American, you have my sympathy for never knowing your grandfather.

[Pee Wee Herman]

wao longjohn is nowhere to be found
this is better that castro's death

[Manuel A. Tellechea]

John is everywhere on this blog. He has simply adopted other monikers, such as "Harry" and "The Truth."

[Manuel A. Tellechea]

Cuban-American:

Your grandfather's tragic fate illustrates the absolute contempt that Communists have for other people's lives as well as the underlying stupidity that informs all their actions. There is a famous case similar to your grandfather's which illustrates the extent of both their stupidity and barbarity: Faced with the problem of what to do with the inmates while their prison was being enlarged, the warden's solution was to shoot the prisoners and restock the jail when the expansion was complete.

The loss of your grandfather, of course, cannot be remedied; but some day you will enjoy that same relationship, from the other side, with your own grandchildren. Teach them to be the kind of men who will never allow injustice to thrive unchallenged, and you shall have paid the best tribute possible to your grandfather's memory.

[another view]

Where are Cuba's dissidents?
Despite Fidel Castro's illness, the small, fragmented opposition is reluctant to challenge the regime's powerful security apparatus


By Gary Marx
Tribune Foreign Correspondent

August 5, 2006, 12:01 AM CDT

HAVANA -- They have received tens of millions of dollars in U.S. assistance. Many have spent years in prison. And the moment they have been waiting for has finally arrived.

But Cuba's tiny and divided opposition is largely invisible as Fidel Castro is convalescing after undergoing major surgery and the nation faces a historic moment that could determine whether Cuba remains a tightly controlled one-party state.

"Fidel Castro may be sick, but neither the Ministry of the Interior nor the state security is sick," said Vladimiro Roca, a prominent dissident and head of a small opposition political party. "The only thing we can do for the moment is wait."

While joyous celebrations have given way to a more somber mood among Cuban exiles as the regime appears far from collapse, the island's fractious and widely scattered opposition appears powerless to effect change in a police state that has used a combination of repression and skillful political maneuvering to neutralize its opponents.

So far, there have been no opposition demonstrations related to Castro's health problems, and none is planned for the near future, according to several dissident leaders. In Cuba, very few people even know who the dissidents among them are.

"I find it completely understandable that they are keeping their heads down," said one Havana-based diplomat. "Every step that they could take over the years to get popular support has been blocked."

Diplomats and analysts say it is unrealistic to have expected a Solidarity-like group to emerge in Cuba where the Roman Catholic Church is cowed, every major institution is under government control and the dissidents lack the ability to tap into the desire of many Cubans for some sort of economic, if not political, change.

In addition to facing incarceration and harassment, opposition leaders have no way to reach a wider audience with their views on the merits of democracy and economic liberalization because all Cuban media are in the hands of the state.

"I don't have any means to call the population to a protest, not newspapers, television, radio, not anything," Roca said. "And even if I could, I'm sure the population would not show up because they know the state of repression in the country."

U.S. support undermined

Castro also has crippled the opposition by emphasizing the revolution's very real accomplishments while characterizing U.S. funding for dissidents as an attack against Cuban sovereignty and an affront to the nation's deep nationalism.

Castro describes the dissidents as "mercenaries" of an imperial U.S. government out to reassert hegemony over Cuba. But Castro also plays to Cuban fears by telling them that a democratic and capitalist Cuba would mean the loss of jobs, homes, health care and education.

"Fidel has been very effective in building a regime that has kept control of everything based not only on fear and security but also a very efficient set of ideas," said a second Havana-based diplomat.

"Whenever there is a group or movement that is beginning to gain any traction, they of course crack down ruthlessly," the diplomat said. "But he also is using the natural soul of the Cubans."

Some experts even cite Cuba's proximity to the United States as an explanation for the island's weak opposition movement.

The thinking goes that if Cuba were 900 miles from the United States rather than 90 miles, there wouldn't be more than 1 million Cuban exiles in Miami. They would, instead, be in their homeland agitating for change.

Cubans also receive 20,000 residency visas from the U.S. each year, which some diplomats suggest is a convenient safety valve for Cuban authorities to dispense with residents dissatisfied with life on the island.

Many of Cuba's most prominent dissidents also flee. In recent years the list includes writer and poet Raul Rivero, who is living in Spain, and journalist Manuel Vazquez Portal, now a Miami resident.

Diosmel Rodriguez, head of a Miami-based group that received U.S. funding to assist Cuban farmers aligned with the opposition, said a half-dozen leaders he once sent money and other assistance are now in exile.

"We decided to end the assistance because we trained a lot of leaders and after that they immigrated to the United States," complained Rodriguez, himself a Cuban exile. "The help we were giving was not having the impact we wanted."

Today, many Cubans are fearful and uncertain about where the nation is headed nearly a week after Fidel Castro temporarily ceded power for the first time since the 1959 triumph of the revolution.

Castros not seen in public

On Friday, Cuba's health minister, Jose Ramon Balaguer, announced during a visit to Guatemala that Castro is "recovering satisfactorily." And the government assured Cubans that it was continuing to function normally.

Castro has not appeared in public since Monday's announcement and neither has Raul Castro, his younger brother and longtime defense minister who is acting president and head of a committee of top officials running the nation.

On Friday, Raul Castro's only appearance was on the front page of the Communist Party daily Granma, which published a grainy, black-and-white photo of Castro in his early 20s along with an article citing his revolutionary credentials.

"What cannot be ignored," the headline read, referring to Castro's role in the 1953 assault on a military barracks that signaled the start of the Cuban Revolution.

The article is part of an effort by authorities to get Cubans to warm to Raul Castro, who some island residents say does not have the charisma or leadership skills of his older brother.

But even Cubans critical of the government are not looking to the opposition to lead them.

"Most people don't know who they are," said one Cuban who asked not to be named because of fear of government reprisal. "They don't have a leader."

Another Cuban asked simply, "Where are the dissidents? Where are they? This is the moment we've been waiting for many years.

"If I were an opposition leader, I'd be out on the street calling for change," said the Cuban, who also asked not to be identified.

But Laura Pollan, a well-known human-rights activist, said it would be too risky for Cuba's tiny opposition to take to the streets demanding an end to the socialist system.

"They would put us in prison or kill us," said Pollan, who leads a group of mothers and wives seeking the release of political prisoners.

Pollan's husband, independent journalist Hector Maseda, is one of 75 opposition leaders jailed by authorities in 2003 in the most sweeping crackdown in decades.

Pressure on dissidents

Today, Cuba has 316 political prisoners, but authorities use other means short of incarceration to stifle dissent, according to Elizardo Sanchez, an opposition activist who heads the Havana-based Cuban Commission on Human Rights and National Reconciliation.

In the past 18 months, pro-government crowds have besieged the apartments and homes of more than 100 dissidents, shouting insults through megaphones, throwing rocks and sowing fear.

One protest in March lasted four days, trapping activist Katia Martin inside her rooftop apartment to prevent her from participating in opposition events.

Yamile Llanes, the 37-year-old wife of imprisoned activist Jose Luis Garcia Panaque from eastern Cuba, said about 100 pro-government militants surrounded her home Thursday evening.

The demonstrators threw rocks and hurled insults for about an hour. They carried a large portrait of Fidel Castro.

"My children were afraid because of what they were shouting," said Llanes in a telephone interview. "It was very threatening. One woman shouted that she was going to burn the house down."

Government officials say the demonstrations are spontaneous acts of support for the revolution.

But Sanchez and others say Cuban authorities are behind the protests, which he said are also aimed at dissuading dissatisfied Cubans from crossing a dangerous line and actively joining the opposition.

Infiltration of opposition

Cuban authorities also have sowed distrust by infiltrating the opposition.

In recent years, Cuban state-run media have published e-mails written by dissidents, broadcast photographs and videotapes of their meetings and even played private telephone conversations.

Several well-known opposition activists revealed themselves as state security agents during the dissident arrests in 2003.

One of the agents worked alongside Martha Beatriz Roque, a former political prisoner and prominent activist.

Another was Manuel David Orrio, a Havana resident who spent years undercover writing articles for a U.S.-government funded Web site in Miami that publishes articles critical of the Castro government.

"You can be sure that there are other infiltrated agents," Orrio said in an interview last year.

But the opposition also has suffered self-inflicted wounds stemming from personal and political differences.

Roque, a hard-liner who opposes reconciliation among Cubans, and Osvaldo Paya, a prominent dissident who seeks consensus and dialogue, have been feuding for years and don't speak to each other.

Even the U.S. program aimed at assisting the dissidents has come under attack from the very people it is meant to help.

While dissidents credit the program with providing food, computers and other valuable aid, they say most of the estimated $50 million spent over the past decade never makes it to the island.

gmarx@tribune.com
Copyright © 2006, Chicago Tribune

[another view]

Cuba for Dummies

By Lisa M. Wixon
Sunday, August 6, 2006; B07

I lived in Havana for nearly a year without permission from the United States. I talked to Cubans and found out what they had to say. Nothing bad happened to me. I took notes.

1. Cubans Love Fidel. Cubans also hate Fidel -- and with good reason. Love plus hate, Cuba-style, equals ambivalence. And that ambivalence unsurprisingly turned to concern when it was announced Monday that, on the eve of his 80th birthday, the autocrat underwent serious surgery and provisionally handed power to Raúl, his brother and Cuba's military chief.

Fidel embodies the Cuban persona: bright, scrappy, intense and shrewd. He is hated and loved precisely because he is Cuban.

2. Cubans Want to Meet You. The White House proclaims it can't "assess" the "situation" in Cuba because it's a "closed society."

The society would not be so closed if the current administration hadn't tightened restrictions that ban Americans from visiting Cuba and meeting locals. More egregious is the U.S. economic embargo, which has served only to empower Castro while impoverishing Cubans.

The Cubans aren't sore at the United States; they just want to enter the 21st century already. They're educated, driven and energetic. Cuban exiles, in a short time, built Miami into a world-class city. They became the United States' greatest immigrant success story. Imagine what Cubans could do in their own country.

3. Cubans Do Not Want to Leave Cuba. White House spokesman Tony Snow also said last week that he wants Cubans to realize that "this is not a time for people to try to be getting in the water." Well, the last thing the majority of islanders want to do right now is to try to get in the water.

For one thing, there are hurricanes and sharks. For another, that beachfront colonial they've been hanging on to for 45 years -- which is illegal to sell -- may finally be on the road to being worth something.

But most important, Cubans adore their country. Why would they leave? What they want is to stay home and have economic and political reforms. They know the United States can be scary for immigrants. Our poor are much worse off than theirs.

The White House frets over Mariel: The Sequel. The 1980 Mariel boatlift was certainly a spectacle -- a logistics nightmare in both countries. Yet, despite a six-month window of permission to leave Cuba and be received in the United States, only about 125,000 accepted the invitation. That was only about 1 percent of the population at the time. Hardly a mass exodus. Why would now be different?

4. The Revolution Will Continue. An ideology -- no matter how twisted or righteous -- cannot be ripped away without being replaced by another. Slow reforms and changes that come naturally are what Cubans think is best.

Raúl Castro may or may not permanently inherit Cuba's presidency in the coming weeks. And the Cubans are certainly steeped in Fidel's ideology -- the propaganda machine never ends in Cuba. But the political inheritor of Fidel's fortune is Venezuela's President Hugo Chávez, who rips off Fidel's playbook with increasing regularity.

Politics, a la revolución cubana , is on the planet to stay.

5. In a Transition, the Main Chaos Will Be Among Exiles. Cuban Americans have been lusting for the fall of Fidel -- and from their perspective, understandably so -- for such a long while that they forgot to organize past the oft-fantasized funeral. If last week's enigmatic play in Cuba has taught exiles anything at all, it is that the celebration may well be anticlimactic.

There are property claims, lawsuits, split families, and widely varying views on how and when exiles should reinsert themselves into Cuban politics. Without a consensus, the community will splinter.

6. Fidel Will Die -- Sort Of. On the island, the martyred Ché Guevara is the revolution's main icon. This is no accident. Fidel has not allowed any statues of himself to be erected in Cuba (a stunning display of discipline from a long-serving autocrat). When Fidel does go, there'll be no Hussein-like toppling of his marble likeness to symbolize the end of his era.

7. If You're Not Cuban, It's None of Your Business. The Cubans in Cuba will make up their minds how to handle the coming years and inevitable transitions.

Fidel and his ragtag forces were capable of taking Cuba in 1959 because its people were fed up with the system under U.S. proxy Fulgencio Batista. The whole mess will happen all over again if the Cubans are not left alone to determine their own political and social fate. If you do not believe this, read the poems of national hero José Martí.

Politics in Cuba is a family thing. Unless you're part of the family, stay out of it.

Lisa M. Wixon is the author of the novel "Dirty Blonde and Half Cuban."

© 2006 The Washington Post Company

[Manuel A. Tellechea]

"Cuba for Dummies" written by a Dummy. At least Lisa M. Wixon is only half-Cuban, and that half is visible only when she advertises it. Which she shouldn't. We have enough of a cross to carry.

Where to begin? This one is even a bigger fool than Shasta Darlington, CNN's latest girl ace reporter in Havana.

1) "Cubans love Fidel."

Fidel Castro is obviously not as sure of their "love" as Ms. Wixon is. That is why he has never submitted his rule to a popular vote, as did Pinochet. Of course, Pinochet allowed a democratic transition in Chile when the people repudiated him at the polls. Castro never did.

2). "Fidel embodies the Cuban persona: bright, scrappy, intense and shrewd."

For "bright" read diabolical; for "scrappy" read sadistic; for "intense" read monomaniacal; for "shrewd" read treacherous.

After a year's residence in Havana, does Wixon really think that we are all like Fidel? I guess she's only half as bad because she is only half-Cuban.

3). "Cuban exiles, in a short time, built Miami into a world-class city. They became the United States' greatest immigrant success story. Imagine what Cubans could do in their own country."

You don't have to imagine it. It happened already, and it was called pre-Castro Cuba. Before the Revolution, Cubans enjoyed the highest standard of living in Latin America, higher, in fact, than half of Europe. Let your Cuban mommy tell you about it.

4). "In a Transition, the Main Chaos Will Be Among Exiles."

No. It won't be the exiles who will be killing one another on the streets of Havana. The pent-up frustration of 47 years of tyranny will result in an even greater bloodbath than followed the fall of Machado or Batista. This will be Castro's posthumous legacy to his people.

5). "Fidel Will Die -- Sort Of."

No. He is already dead and will stay that way for the indefinite future.

6). "Fidel has not allowed any statues of himself to be erected in Cuba (a stunning display of discipline from a long-serving autocrat). When Fidel does go, there'll be no Hussein-like toppling of his marble likeness to symbolize the end of his era."

Fidel Castro has put his effigy on Cuban stamps, coins and paper currency. The whole country is plastered with his image. Perhaps the reason that he hasn't put up statues of himself is because he knows what there eventual fate would be.

7). "If You're Not Cuban, It's None of Your Business."

Since Wixon is only half-Cuban, I guess it's only half her business.

8). "Fidel and his ragtag forces were capable of taking Cuba in 1959 because its people were fed up with the system under U.S. proxy Fulgencio Batista."

9). Soviet proxy Fidel Castro and his ragtag forces didn't "take Cuba in 1959." They were handed Cuba on a silver platter by Eisenhower's State Department, which declared an arms embargo on the Batista regime and refused to recognize the results of the Cuban elections of 1958.

Castro declared a general strike in Cuba in March 1958. Only ten percent of the population complied.

Castro ordered the Cuban people under threat of death to boycott the elections of Nov. 1958. Half did. The other half elected Batista's handpicked successor.

What had happened between March and November 1958 to increase Castro's support among the Cuban people from 10 percent to 50 percent? The U.S. arms embargo.

And what finally won for Castro the support of the Cuban masses? The U.S. ultimatum to Batista to quit office before the new elected government had an opportunity to take office.

Castro and his rebels, which had never won a single battle against Batista's troops, would never have been able to take control of Cuba without the support of the United States.

10). "Politics in Cuba is a family thing. Unless you're part of the family, stay out of it."

How cynical can you be, Ms. Wixon. Politics in Cuba? There hasn't been any politics in Cuba in 47 years. I guess you are part of the family, too, though your own "dumminess" hardly does us credit.

[a thought...]

My fervent wish is that all Castro's supporters, here and on the island, have their pictures and names made public so when the regime does topple, we all know who stood where....

[WTF]

"What had happened between March and November 1958 to increase Castro's support among the Cuban people from 10 percent to 50 percent? The U.S. arms embargo."

Is this quote directly attributed to Manuel. Am I reading this correctly, that a US Embargo in 1958 helped Castro's cause and so is that line of reasoning to say that the current embargo will is supposed to hurt him. Doesn't make much sense to me.

AT: Why do you want the pictures and names of Castro supporters here and on the island, do you want to just stick you're tongue out at them and say I told you so, or do you have more diabolical and treacherous intentions in mind?? I don't understand what would make you any different from him but yet you claim to be for democratic reform.

Manuel and AT are the same kind of people that would try to convince Americans that Castro's regime, listed as terrorists by the US State department is a threat to the US both physically and idelogically, as in no different from Al-Qaida. I don't understand that twisted logic. Wixon is right, if I'm not Cuban it's none of my business.

[usambcuba]

A.T. - then all of us have to stand up including you and especially the hardliners in Miami because our U.S. government, which we elected, and through supporting this insane embargo, actually supported Castro by propping him up and giving him an excuse to exercise his authoritarian regime.

[a thought...]

WTF, you don't know me, so don't start...I said that because I'm tired of seeing pictures of people on Cuba, the same people that are supposedly so oppressed by Castro, chanting in the streets with signs to support him and wishing him 80 more years while the dissidents are being harassed. These are the same people that complain they don't have anything on the island, but want to be supported by their family in Miami. Talk about having your cake and eating it too. By the way, I'm far from a hardliner. If you had bothered to read my other posts, I have repeatedly stated that there is no way that the U.S. should get involved in events on the island. If the Cubans on the island want change, they need to stand up with the dissidents ON THE ISLAND and make the change themselves.

And I see that the Ambassador has decided to bring up the embargo again because of what I posted. You know what? I have tried time and time again to understand you and see your point of view. But you have decided that now, somehow, I need to stand up. Fine. No problem. Here, how's this for standing up....If you are on the island chanting away for Papa Fidel and not helping the dissidents who are risking their lives, don't you dare drop your Fidelito or Raulito sign at the first sign of liberty and come running screaming "libertad." Hypocrites. They want the freedom, but they want someone else to do the work for them. Or maybe they prefer to sit on their butts at home and let the "revolution" take care of them. Why not? Maybe they're getting all their clothes, medicine, etc. from Miami. Why work? Let their poor relatives bust themselves over here to support two families. They deserve it, right? After all, they are "suffering" on the island.

DISCLAIMER: This is meant for the ones actively supporting Fidel, whether in the streets with signs or parading around for him. This is not for the dissidents!!!!

[usambcuba]

A.T. - what do you expect of the Cuban people and living in an authoritarian communist society? They cannot chant anything else. Maybe if they were not so isolated, something would be different. Maybe if we did not participate in that isolation, there would be a different outcome?

Because of our policies, we have complicity in the madness that is present United States Cuba policy. And it is illogical madness. My point is that it is not exclusive to Fidel Castro and his authoritarian regime. This embargo is a double edged sword because it hurts the average Cuban and limits the ability of Cuban Americans here and Americans in general to positively influence things in Cuba and in a nonviolent constructive manner. And now with a succession taking place in Cuba, the reality of our ineffectiveness and playing this policy to its worst and polarized ends should be more clear and in the face of Miami. How does it feel to be unable to do anything than talk alot and hope a handful of dissidents on the island will be able to do much? You cannot ignore the laws of power. Government by its very nature in exercising power seek all ways to perpetuate that exercise of power, ideology aside. Castro's government will seek to remain in power and survive and they are trying to find the way to do so. Whether it will succeed is the ongoing question. But we unfortunately have only hobbled ourselves with our own policies because we isolated ourselves from them.

President Bush should lift the travel ban now and allow Cuban Americans and all Americans who want to go to Cuba to go. And Castro asides, people need to begin speaking with each other on both sides. Cubans on the island actually believe that a military invasion is imminent. And given the paranoia that has been fostered by our policies and taken advantage of by the regime there, (again to tighten their grip), it would be wise to ease tensions. Cubans would not believe their country is going to be invaded by the military if U.S. citizens and residents were visiting their island normally, especially now.

There will be some kind of change. The question will be whether it will be intelligent and peaceful or rash and violent. I choose the first. Everyone has a choice and a voice in this matter. This is not just about Fidel Castro, who is probably not going to be the same as he was before if he survives his convalesence. It is also about this community and our country and how we want to show up for the Cuban people and the international community.

[cubanpatriot]

Sorry the people that have complicity are Sol Melia, Barcelo, Iberostar and all the foreign companies that have given aid and comfort the regime. The US has prevented the investment in the Cuban gulag even though the lobbyists like you try hard.

[usambcuba]

Patriota - this is where we disagree. The embargo ironically has been the biggest investment in the Cuban gulag. By propping up the regime, and exacerbating the misery of the people, we made things worse not better for the Cuban people. I know this is a difficult reality for you to accept because of its implications. But simply watch right now how the community in Miami can do little now under the current situation. The embargo isolates us more than it does anything else.

[Manuel A. Tellechea]

AT:

You have outdone yourself; your post of Aug. 8 at 8:39 AM is one for the history books.

Finally, someone has had courage to say that the Cuban masses (like the Emperor) aren't wearing any clothes:

THE CUBAN PEOPLE ON THE ISLAND MUST BE HELD RESPONSIBLE FOR THEIR OWN FATE. IF THEY WOULD SHAPE CUBA'S FUTURE, THEN THEY MUST DISAVOW ITS PAST. PERIOD.

For 47 years, a lonely band of political prisoners and dissidents have fought the regime while the vast majority of the Cuban people have cowered in fear, or, worse, assisted the henchmen in persecuting them.

No more excuses.

Now is the time to decide.

Are you the peons of tyranny or the redeemers of our country?

Forty-seven years should have been long enough for the Cuban people to decide once and for all.

[a thought...]

Thank you, Manuel....I'm tired of hearing excuses of how the embargo is responsible or the U.S. is responsible (I give you Bay of Pigs, though; ahi si pifiaron)...if there are dissidents who are courageous enough to stand up to this monster, they deserve the backing of their countrymen. THE U.S. CANNOT INVADE CUBA TO LIBERATE IT! How much lower will that plunge our reputation in the world community? That is why Castro constantly taunts us; he knows we cannot go in there.

Pero, it's nice to sit back and let la familia from Miami work and send you everything you need. It's harder to get up and go and fight for your country. I'm not blaming them if they don't, but then don't expect everyone else to do it for you.

Where would the U.S. be if some colonists didn't turn around and say to England "enough is enough, we want the right to govern ourselves?"

Nonee, where are you? And where's my chocolate???? Give me chocolate or those pictures of you with the rubber chicken, the clown makeup and the guy in the creepy Burger King suit go on the Internet....

[nonee moose]

AT:

"Pifiaron" ? Jeez, I haven't heard that since Flagami Little league... I love it!

Te estoy rayando el Menier, as we speak.

Please, don't talk to me about the Burger King... I was young and needed the onion rings...

[a thought...]

Nonee, you were so cheap in those days.....

[a thought...]

By the way, Nonee, do the initials H and K mean anything to you? I don't want to give too much away here....

[nonee moose]

I am easy, not cheap...

And are you in the habit of giving away stuff for free? LOL

[a thought...]

No, not at all. That's why I was trying to be discreet....apparently, it didn't work!

[nonee moose]

Relax. But, you could be in the wrong line of work. LOL

[a thought...]

Watch out, V.I. Warshawski....here comes A.T. Herald!!!

[a thought...]

Ambassador, what do I expect? Well, if they want change, I "expect" them to side with the dissidents and rise up. That's what I "expect" if they are so desirous of change. If they lift the travel ban tomorrow and everyone over here runs over there to vist, where do you think the money will go? Straight into the pockets of the very revolution that the dissidents are trying to overthrow. So now you have provided funds to the Fidelistas and don't try to tell me the "revolution" doesn't get that money. They own everything!!! He has choked his own people, he has denied them the very basics while he lives in luxury and somehow this is still our fault. How about some personal responsiblity falling on him? He CHOSE this route in order to blame us for all his country's ills.

As far as the people on the island fearing an "invasion", well, when it doesn't happen, I guess they'll be able to figure it out for themselves. Maybe then they'll do it for themselves. But, again, some are very comfortable sitting at home and receiving aid from Miami. After all, what is there to work for in Cuba? There is nothing to buy, but in Cuba "no falta nada."

By the way, a "peaceful" transition (while I wish that were possible) is not likely to happen unless the military turns on Raul and fights for the people instead of against them.

[Manuel A. Tellechea]

Well said again, AT.

In fact, for 47 years, the fondest wish of the Cuban people has been to be liberated by the United States. The U.S. has not obliged, but the hope has not died.

The simple fact is that our countrymen on the island "no quieren poner los muertos," that is, they no longer believe, in the words of our National Anthem, that "morir por la patria es vivir."

They prefer to spend their lives on their knees rather than stand-up and risk having their heads lopped off.

It was not so in the time of the glorious mambises, our 19th century liberators, who sacrificed everything to be free, who charged artillery with machetes, who fought without allies or supplies, who had mothers like Maceo's, who died by the myriads but prevailed. My God, they set fire to their own houses with their own hands rather than let them fall in the hands of the enemy: the entire island on fire from one end to the other!

Where, where is the revolutionary spirit of the Cuban people?

Castro's "greatest achievement" may have been to kill that vital spark that once united all Cubans.

[a thought...]

My maternal great-grandmother was a mambise; she used to hide the rifles under her skirts since the women wouldn't get checked. My grandfather's dad was from Spain, but he was in Cuba studying when he met her. His family back in Spain disowned him.

I agree with Manuel in that Castro seems to have effectively neutered the Cuban people. While they may not have grown fat under his regime, they have grown apathetic and lazy...again, save for the few that actually work for change and, in doing so, risk their lives.

[Perplexed]

You say his people have not grown fat under his regime. WHy is it everytime I see a generic picture, in AMERICAN media, of random Cubans in the streets of Cuba, fat people are alway is the picture. I can't believe EVERY picture the Miami Herald or what ever American media outlet puts out was staged to show the plump side of Cubans. Oh wait, you're going to say that Castro requires photographers to include a certain number of fat people in the pictures before those pictures can be printed outside of the island. Wow, this guy is omnipotent!!!

Also, what makes you think US soldiers would care to invade Cuba, to "liberate" the Cuban people. There's no vested interest for the farmer in Nebraska or any other Americans to get involve in such matters. Sadaams misstreatment of his people and the "liberation" of Iraq was not the sole reason the US invaded, don't get it twisted, it was just a convenient excuse. You probably were being sarcastic when you stated that the Cuban people fondly wished to be liberated by the US. Not happening in anyone's lifetime, mi amigo!!!.

[Manuel A. Tellechea]

Perplexed:

I was not being in the least sarcastic. Whether in 1961 or today, Cubans would welcome American soldiers as liberators.

Not since Paris in 1945 would there have been such scenes of exultation and gratitude, such a mass outpouring of love, as would have greeted the American flag as it was paraded down the Malecon. What you don't seem to understand is that Fidel hates Americans, but Cubans do not.

As for Cubans being fat, why should that surprise you? It's not possible to eat a balanced diet in Cuba. All there is to eat in Cuba is sugar water. Try downing a few galloons of that a week and see what it does to your physique.

[Manuel A. Tellechea]

AT:

I was born less than 20 years after the end of Cuba's War of Independence (1898). I had the privilege to know hundreds of patriots from that generation, men who themselves knew and fought alongside Martí, Maceo and Gómez. What magnificent men! Even the humblest soldier carried himself with the dignity of a general.

"Men of marble," as Martí called them.

[Perplexed]

Manuel, being a man that had such a great privilege to be associated with outstanding figures in Cuban history you deserve all of the respect and priviliges that come with it. Kudos on your amazing vitality, I applaud you and I sincerely hope you can maintain that intensity until your final days...but with all due respects sir, Somalians, Ugandas, North Koreans and people from many other nations living under a repressive regime would show the same kind of love to American troops landing on their shores, as a lot of Iraqi's did after the toppling of Husseim, I never said Cubans wouldn't. But I do say that there is no reason that the US should and would engage in such actions. There isn't any massive amounts of proven oil reserves there to justify our presence, as sad as it may seem, seeing people live freely is really not enough for the powers that be. It would be nice, if there is something else in it for us...It's the American way. Altough, we would sell counter-revolutionaries all the military equipment they want and need and once they have suceeded in dismantling the regime we will be brimming with Patriotic pride to assist in the "re-building" of your infrastructure. Capitalism is beautiful.

[Perplexed]

By the way, downing a few gallons of sugar water a week would make my stomach look bloated not plump...

[Manuel A. Tellechea]

Perplexed:

Thank-you for your kind words. Longevity is a privilege, but it is hardly a blessing, not when you must witness for half your life the triumph of iniquity.

I can say nothing to compel your country to come to the rescue of Cuba if you feel it is not in your national interest.

44 years ago it was in your national interest to enter into an accord with the Soviet Union, the Kennedy-Khruschev Pact, whereby the U.S. became the guarantor of Communism in Cuba, pledging not only not to invade the island, but to hinder those that would.

If it is now in your national interest to witness Cubans languishing in slavery 90 miles from your shores for another 50 or 100 years, so be it.

The responsibility, ultimately, for reclaiming their freedom lies with the Cuban people. The only thing you should do for them is not hinder them.

[Manuel A. Tellechea]

"By the way, downing a few gallons of sugar water a week would make my stomach look bloated not plump..." — Perplexed

But if you were compelled to do so for 10, 20, 30 or 40 years, you would grow fat.

[Manuel A. Tellechea]

Perplexed:

And by the way, you have no common history with Somalians, Ugandans or North Koreans. The common history of the U.S. and Cuba stretches from the earliest days of the American Republic to San Juan Hill and half a century of alliance.

Cubans and Americans have fought shoulder-to-shoulder in the cause of freedom before. Although the U.S. has intervened in our country many times and not always with honorable motives, and even though at one time it claimed the right to intervene against our objections, Americans have always been welcome peaceably as friends by the Cuban people.