Comments on: The Castro Dictatorship After Fidel: Now New and Improved!

By: Theodore J. Scotes

Theodore J. Scotes — Sat, 23 Feb 2008 02:09:34 +0000

Fidel and Raul Castro and their cabal of thugs are nothing but a bunch of cold-blooded murderers. I was stationed at Gitmo in 1968-69, after returning from VietNam. Christmas Eve, 1968, over one hundred Cubans risked their lives to escape Castro’s Communist paradise. They were part of a larger group of people fleeing Cuba over a period of several years who found life intolerable under Castro. It has been estimated, in intelligence reports of that period, that upwards of over three hundred thousand Cubans were executed between the periods of 1960-64. Just as Stalin liquidated his enemies of the revolution, so did Castro and his killers. I am personally aware of scores of individuals who attempted to escape and were shot in the process or were eaten by sharks as they attempted to swim to freedom at Gitmo. It never ceases to amuse me that Hollywood’s love affair with Fidel does not include any of Fidel’s admirers taking up residence in Castro’s Cuba.

By: Gringo

Gringo — Wed, 20 Feb 2008 21:10:41 +0000

@ Bruno

guess nobody remembers the awful Batista dictatorship Castro liberated Cuba from in 59

On the contrary, those who have the most knowledge about Cuba before 1959 have the most negative view of Caudillo Fidel. Certainly Cuba and the world were glad to be rid of Batista’s dictatorship. Unfortunately, what followed was worse than Batista. Contrary to the picture that Caudillo Fidel and his band of useful idiots paint, Cuba before Caudillo Fidel was one of the best-off countries in Latin America, a country that Caudillo Fidel has run into the ground.

In 1957, Cuba had ~ 1000 inhabitants per MD, comparable to the US and Western European countries, better than many countries in Europe and all the “Third World” countries with the exception of Argentina, Uruguay, and Hong Kong.(UN, World Health Organization yearbook) While Caudillo Fidel may have contended that he inherited a banana republic, those bananas were pretty good.

Perhaps one way of looking at Cuba under Caudillo Fidel is to look at how Cuba kept up with technological progress. Back in the 1950s, TV was the next big thing. In 1957, Cuba’s number of TVs per 1,000 inhabitants was first in Latin America and fifth in the world (see previous link). We fast-forward a half century, where Internet access is now the next big thing. For 2004, Cuba was last in Latin America and 171st out of 211 countries in Internet access per 1,000. (World Bank Development Indicators)

Another good statistical source on pre-1959 Cuba is Carlos Montaner’s Secret Report on the Cuban Revolution.

I for one have no hopes that a government the US approves of would in the end solve the extreme poverty problems of Cuba.

I thought Caudillo Fidel had had long solved the problem of extreme poverty in Cuba. After all, that is what Caudillo Fidel and his band of useful idiots have been shouting for a half-century.

By: Ollie

Ollie — Wed, 20 Feb 2008 17:58:26 +0000

Have a look at the following:

http://frontpagemag.com/Articles/Read.aspx?GUID=1108FA89-5019-4FE5-A2FA-612C1B38C9D5

That is the reality in Cuba today. Most of what you have heard from the media for 50 years is not true.

There is no social redeeming characteristic of Castro in Cuba. It was a far better place before Castro. But that is all purposefully erased by the Left in most history books.

We are told by the Cuban propaganda machine that the US is bad, that Batista was bad… the Cubans are far worse off today than ever before 1960.

By: Hotpatch 6

Hotpatch 6 — Wed, 20 Feb 2008 17:24:43 +0000

The only real difference between Fidel and Raul is that Fidel is nearer to assuming room temperature. Raul is a murderous thug, like his older brother, who rules through fear but is not quite the self-promoting blowhard that Fidel is. He can be counted on to continue to spread the poverty among Cuban citizens, with the ruling elites being exempt (of course!) But this is merely socialism in action as we have seen so many times. The only truly good Castros are dead Castros.

By: el chino

el chino — Wed, 20 Feb 2008 10:30:37 +0000

Bruno, no dictatorship is good but Batista was a walk in the park compared to Castro. Batista was a thug, interested mostly in getting rich. At least people were free to come and go as they pleased under Batista. And in those days, Cuba had a standard of living comparable to Italy’s. The “extreme poverty problems of Cuba” were caused by Castro. Just give the Cuban people freedom and they will solve their own poverty problems. You need look no further than Miami to see what the Cuban people can do.

By: Susan Katz Keating

Susan Katz Keating — Wed, 20 Feb 2008 02:20:24 +0000

Hmmm… looks as if Fidel has finally stubbed out his own cigar.

By: Curly Smith

Curly Smith — Wed, 20 Feb 2008 01:01:20 +0000

Bruno, you’re quite right. After living through the brutal Batista dictatorship (the bad deed) the Cuban people deserved 50 years of Castro (the good deed). I think the cure was worse than the disease but I didn’t major in journalism. Or maybe you meant Batista was the good deed?

By: Pantera

Pantera — Tue, 19 Feb 2008 21:59:35 +0000

Yah, I’ve never understood how having an embargo against you forced a country to become a dictatorship. Especially since the reason for the embargo in the first place was because he had been a dictator and posed a strategic threat.

By: Bruno

Bruno — Tue, 19 Feb 2008 21:28:15 +0000

I guess nobody remembers the awful Batista dictatorship Castro liberated Cuba from in 59. We also have another saying in Spanish: “una de cal y una de arena”, which means more or less “one good deed, one bad deed”. I for one have no hopes that a government the US approves of would in the end solve the extreme poverty problems of Cuba.

By: legion

legion — Tue, 19 Feb 2008 21:02:12 +0000

Have you noticed how much Barack Obama resembles Che Guevara?

If he has bad luck next November, neo-Che (he is the one) might try his luck down in Havana.

Michelle has never been jazzed about America anyway. Cuba may just be the cure.