Fw: Cuba/response
telebob x
telebob98@hotmail.com
Wed, 21 Nov 2001 15:17:48 +0000
Actually Jeff, the graph was a quote from that wacky guy that is so beloved
by Jon Ford...David Horowitz. I love to bring up his name, since he gives
certain people such shivers. Certainly no worse than Jerry Rubin of course.
Perhaps Horowitz was wrong to call Fidel a 'lunatic'....monomaniac would be
more like it. If you read the Tad Szulc biography or the book written by
his daughter Alina, the portrait of the completely self-involved bully comes
shining through.
But you are right, he has not been a particularly vicious dictator, though
he can be quite vindictive when he feels like it. What he did to Ochoa and
the LaGuardia brothers is only a tiny taste of what he can be like. He had
Ochoa (his winning general from Angola) drugged for his trial and forced to
make his confession publicly, before they dragged him out and shot him. All
evidence points to Ochoa and the LaGuardias as fall guys to take the heat
off Fidel for allowing Cuba to be a shipping waystation for those sweeties
from the Colombian/Medellin coke cartel. Again I recommend the book by
Cabrera Infante called "Mea Cuba". Most of Fidel's 'sadism' is strictly
personal. He is relatively benign to the normal proletarian
anti-revolutionary...he just makes their lives miserable rather than jailing
people....I mean why bother to put someone in prison...when the whole island
is already a prison?
As for your portrait of Fidel as a "well-intentioned (but) misguided
Socialist"...Jeff you are either being disingenuous, or naive. All of
Fidel's behaviour has been that of a total pragmatist doing what is
necessary to retain power at any cost. His ability to manipulate public
opinion and to exploit the gargantuan stupidity of US policy is to be
admired. He really is a genius in that department. Your friend Jesus
Jimenez and I were discussing that very topic and we are hats off to Fidel
for being the spinmeister of the century. But make no mistake, Fidel would
have ridden any pony that would take him to the fair.
If Fidel had cared anything about Cuba, he would have bought them some paint
during the 40 years he has been in power.
See you soon,
tele
>From: "Your Libertarian" <nightbyrd@nightbyrd.com>
>To: <austin-ghetto-list@pairlist.net>
>Subject: Fw: Telebob on Cuba
>Date: Wed, 21 Nov 2001 01:47:05 -0600
>
>
>Sent: Tuesday, November 20, 2001 1:40 AM
>Subject: Ahem: Telebob on Cuba
>
>
> > Gang,
> >
> > As many of you know I've visited Cuba 29 times. Much of what telebob
>argues
> > is true, In fact he could add that the greatest source of income for
>Cuba
>is
> > transfer payments from the Untied States i.e.. relatives of
> > Cubans here sending money to family members in Cuba. The net payment is
>over
> > one billion dollars per year. It could be argued that without the
>blockade
> > it would have been hard for Cuba to earn that much per year in trade
>with
> > the United States.
> >
> > Where Telebob weakens his argument is with his old ultra right wind
>rhetoric
> > that Fidel is a "lunatic and sadist". Cuba jails a far fewer percentage
>of
> > their population than most of central America and certainly the United
> > States.There are no firing squads in Cuba nor are the children dying at
>the
> > rate of Washington DC let alone Haiti.
> >
> > As for the lunatic part, Fidel is one of the most cogent and thoughtful
> > leaders on the world stage.
> > His brilliance is what makes the problem so difficult. Fidel is a
>committed
> > Socialist and it doesn't take many visits to the island to understand
>that
> > Socialism doesn't work. Fidel as a young man adopted a visionary and
>utopian
> > system of thought that, as is well argued here, doesn't conform to
>human
> > nature. Even a few months examining Cuba on ground level underscores the
> > brilliance of the Jeffersonian distrust of power, the need for checks
>and
> > balances, and systems to vote the bastards out.
> >
> > I can't think of a little "d" democratic socialist country - unless we
> > want to count Norway. Socialism as it's worked out in the real world
> > concentrated the economic and political power in one elite even worse
>than
> > the Capitalist systems.
> >
> > Fidel is not a sadist or lunatic. He is proven to be mistaken. It much
> > harder to reform a world full of well intentioned leaders who are
>idealists
> > and mistaken than it is to rid the world of lunatics and sadists.
> >
> > Nightbyrd
> >
> >
> > ----- Original Message -----
> > From: "telebob x" <telebob98@hotmail.com>
> > To: <austin-ghetto-list@pairlist.net>
> > Sent: Monday, November 19, 2001 11:28 PM
> > Subject: and furthermore etc.
> >
> >
> > > Take a current example like Cuba, which has not been bombed and has
>not
> > > suffered a war, but is far poorer today than it was more than forty
>years
> > > ago when Castro took power. In 1959, Cuba was the second richest
>country
> > in
> > > Latin America. Now it is the second poorest just before Haiti.
>Naturally,
> > > Chomskyites will claim that the U.S. economic boycott is responsible.
>(The
> > > devil made them do it.) But the whole rest of the world trades with
>Cuba.
> > > Cuba not only trades with all of Latin America and Europe, but
>receives
> > aid
> > > from the latter. Moreover, in the 1970s and 1980s, the Soviet Union
>gave
> > > Cuba the equivalent of three Marshall Plans in economic subsidies and
> > > assistance -- tens of billions of dollars. Cuba is a fertile island
>with
>a
> > > tropical climate. It is poor because it has followed Chomsky's
>examples,
> > and
> > > not America's. It is poor because it is socialist, Marxist and
>Communist.
> > It
> > > is poor because it is run by a lunatic and sadist. It is poor because
>in
> > > Cuba, America lost the Cold War. The poverty of Cuba is what Chomsky's
> > > vision and political commitments would create for the entire world.
> > >
> > >
> > > yeah...whut HE said....
> > >
> > > tele
> > >
> > > _________________________________________________________________
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> > >
> > >
> >
>
>
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