Castro’s Cuba Part II

August 29, 2006

[Cuban exile Luis Garcia] Garcia says he’s not sure how he feels about the fact that Castro will soon be dead. “I am apprehensive,” he says. “Who knows what might happen next? But then I think: whatever happens, it can’t be worse.”

Check out Caroline Overington’s Land of rum and rumba blighted by communism. Ms. Overington is, or rather, was a self-described apologist for Castro’s Cuba, the communism’s last stand:

“It was a terrible shock because, like many people, I’d believed the hype about Cuba: that it was a socialist paradise; that Castro was a visionary leader; that the Cuban people were happy communists.”

She goes on to describe, in great detail, the abject poverty and complete oppression under which most Cubans live today, which reconciles quite well with the first-hand account that I heard a few years ago.

We’ve known for years in the West that Communism is a doomed system, yet for years we provided aid and subsidies to communist nations the world over. I can understand the humanitarian motive behind this. But it was utterly misguided benevolence, that served only to prolong the oppression and prevent reformation. And along the way, many of us (myself excluded) became sympathizers - with the people, fooled by the charade of the leaders’ ambitious, utopian dreams. Some of us, like Ms. Overington may have bought into them.

It was a terrible shock because, like many people, I’d believed the hype about Cuba: that it was a socialist paradise; that Castro was a visionary leader; that the Cuban people were happy communists … Yet across the West he continues to be celebrated as some grand, visionary leader…

Despite the fact that it’s been demonstrated that Communism must fail, many people never recognized it for the fraud that it is. Castro is not a visionary. He never was. An idealist? Maybe. A dreamer? Perhaps. A coward, an oppressor, and a thief? Without a doubt. Communism’s ends do not justify its means, especially considering that its ends are ultimately unable to ever be realized. Make no mistake: Communism is an abysmal failure and the absolute antithesis of freedom.

What they need is a shot of freedom, straight-up, not aid. Freedom, not financial support for the latest coup-attempt; Freedom, not socialism; responsibility, not paternalism. When men have been freest, they have prospered the most. And one can only hope that with Castro’s eventual passing, Freedom will flow like wine err, rum, and Cuba will seize the opportunity for progress.

hat tip: Cuba behind the Curtain @ Catallarchy.


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