This excellent editorial in today's Diario Las Americas, provides a much needed reality check on Cuba. Since it is apparent, forget words spoken to the contrary, that the new administration and congress has joined those who have chosen to publicly admit their complicity with the tyrannical dictatorship. Let this stand as record:
Diario Las Americas Publicado el 02-26-2009
Without much political or historic logic, there were some who thought that there was a new type of government in Cuba when totalitarian Marxist-Leninist dictator Fidel Castro ceased to be President and delegated his powers to his brother, General Raúl Castro. The truth is that a year has gone by with this travesty which in some political and perhaps protocol aspects has represented some changes in Cuba. But these in no way are substantial changes, or anything like it. The totalitarian Marxist-Leninist regime now is a two-headed regime, because in the past Fidel Castro was absolute. Now, evidently, the methods and opinions of Raúl Castro have to be taken into consideration although they do not differ much, to say the least, from his brother’s methods and opinions.
It must be remembered that Raúl Castro has been a full accomplice of all the most terrible manifestations of his brother’s tyranny, beginning with the horrendous and reprehensible executions which he supported from the very first day. It has often been said that he participated in some of them directly. Therefore, it should be no surprise that in the year that has gone by with him as the official President of the Cuban government, he continues the basic norms of the tyranny that has been in place for half-a-century. If someone in good faith thought that there would be substantial changes, he has had time to realize his mistake.
The foreign politicians and observers who thought that there was change actually were responding to personal sympathy with respect to the Castro brothers, assuming that a new era was beginning aimed at reducing the tyranny, presumably going to democracy. Those who believed this must rectify publicly unless they want to express their complicity with the tyranny of the Castro brothers.
Under this erroneous belief, some governments have expressed their support for Cuba’s communist tyranny, to the extreme that acting presidents have come merrily and anti-democratically to Havana to pay homage to the Cuban President and, when possible, to the supreme dictator on his sick bed, from which he gets up a few minutes to take a historic photo. Actually, this is a categorical statement that these rulers do not mind communism, but that rather they like it and support it, even if they do not say so. And they support it, although not necessarily in their own countries, since there might be circumstances not propitious to crystallize these intentions.
While all this happens, the Cuban people continue to be oppressed by the dictatorship that has been scourging them for half a century.
En español aquí
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