OP/ED: Biography Of Castro; The Lie.

Being 10 miles away from Canada, since I work on a rig in the middle of nowhere, most of the tv channels we get are from Canada. I saw a biography program on a Canadian station about Castro, and decided to watch and see what they had to say about castro. I wasn't surprised to find that they portrayed castro as a good man, ignoring and dismissing the voice of the Cuban dissidents who live in the US and whose numbers have swollen to 1,596,000 according to the latest US census released in 2004, 95% whom hate Castro.



As I watched the documentary, at first I did find some of the information was accurate, but the more I watched, the more I realized a lack of real information about the true state of Cuba, the oppression and the suffering the Cuban people go through because of fidel castro.

I even watched as the Canadian documentary changed facts to present Castro as a good man, a humanitarian that helped other countries, but the documentary never showed the real reasons why fidel helped those countries, never trully for free, and only if it would help "la revolucion."

According to the Canadian show, education is free in Cuba, but education is not really free in Cuba, as children beginning at the age of 10 years old, and until they graduate, at whatever age they finish their studies, have to go to labor camps in the summers, to do manual labor every summer; collecting food which they can not eat and which is reserved for other revolutionary countries. To help bring the communist propaganda and put in good light the image of castro in the world community.

Children, for the rest of their years of study, and some even beyond that time, if they do not show support towards the totalitarian regime, are forced each year to go to these labor camps.

I still remember visiting my two sisters in those labor camps, families are allowed to visit their children on Sundays for a little while.

I still remember them crying and begging my parents to take them home, most other children did the same. But not one of their parents could do anything about it.

Since i was 5 years old, until i was 8 years old I saw this every summer, when we visited my sisters. Yet they didn't mention this in the Canadian documentary.

But, as i said, those labor camps are not reserved only for those who have an education. If anyone is found to be against the communist propaganda and against castro, they recieve the free invitation to others of the many labor camps created by castro's regime since the 1960s. These camp were called UMAP (Military Units to Help Production).

Castro ordered that his agents - at night - go house to house to apprehend at gun point all the males that fit the profile of what he called, "the scum of society," for example: gays, Catholics, Jehovah’s Witnesses and members of other Protestant religions.

Castro's thugs went through every city, neighborhood and city block, arresting thousands of men (17 years old and up). The arrested were taken to police stations with the excuse of checking their personal ID cards – cards that all citizens of Castro's Cuba are required to carry.

At the police station, they were thrown into overcrowded cells and later taken to secret police facilities, movie houses, stadiums, warehouses, etc. In those detention centers they were photographed, fingerprinted and forced to sign under duress a confession declaring themselves the "scum of society," in exchange for their release. The ones who signed were released until they were summoned to the dreaded concentration camps. Those who refused to sign remained in jail and endured physical and psychological torture until they did sign.

The concentration camps were built in isolated areas of the province of Camagüey. They were like Hitler's camps, but without crematoriums. They have the electrified barbed wire fences, guards with machine guns and police dogs, etc. Something never seen before in Cuba's history.

Beginning in November 1965, people already classified were summoned to the camps. They arrived by train, bus, truck and other police and military vehicles. And so began the humiliation, suffering, torture and hard labor for those thousands of unfortunate men and boys. Many committed suicide while others died as a result of hunger and disease - with no medical attention - torture and execution. Many suffered solitary confinement, beating, rape and mutilation. The traumatized survivors remember that in the UMAP, "they never received humane treatment."

In July 1968 the name "UMAP" was erased from the camps. Castro's regime cosmetically transformed them into "Military Units." And all the paperwork associated with the UMAP was destroyed. New plans were created to continue confining young men discontent with Castro's communist revolution, selecting people for the same reasons as before. But this time they would receive a pitiful salary for their long and harsh working hours while living under very difficult and inhumane conditions – Castro’s lame attempt to satisfy international pressure.

Excerpted from.
www.nocastro.com...


People in the island are indoctrinated, real indoctrination, into the marxist ideology. There are no buts or ifs, everyone gets the same indoctrination, and those who try to express their free opinions against the dictatorship are punished, by any and sometimes a combination or all of the following; incarceration, their "libreta" is taken away (the ration book by which Cubans can buy some necessities, if they are available) they lose their jobs, they are harrased by castro's thugs and even by those Cubans who have embraced the communist propaganda just to survive, etc.

Here is an excerpt with some of the examples of the "free education of the communist system."

We did not need expert testimony to know that sending a child, or anybody else for that matter, back to Cuba is not the same as sending him to Mexico or France. The U.S. State Department’s 1999 country report on human-rights practices makes clear that "education is grounded in Marxist ideology." The report also points out that the Cuban state has assumed the right to interfere in the lives of the citizens, even those who do not actively oppose the Government and its practices. People are imprisoned for such crimes as illicit association, clandestine printing, and passing out literature.

We were nevertheless surprised to learn the extent to which the lives of Cuban children are dominated by the Communist Party and the government it controls. For instance, Article 39 of the Cuban Constitution provides that "[t]he education of children and young people in the spirit of Communism is the duty of all society." This duty is further elaborated in the Children and Youth Code, enacted in 1978, of which Article 5 requires all persons who come in contact with children and youth "to be an example to the formation of the communist personality." Article 11 requires that teachers show "a high mission to the development of a communist personality in children." And Article 23 limits eligibility for higher education to children who demonstrate "proper political attitude and social conduct." One of our witnesses testified that as a schoolteacher in Cuba he had been required to serve up "a daily indoctrination of communism." Cuban children are also strongly encouraged to be atheists. Ileana Fuentes, a feminist author and one of the "Operacion Pedro Pan" refugee children whose parents sent them away so that they could live in freedom, testified that "the Cuban Constitution and the Penal Code both call for sanctions, including prison terms, against individuals who put their religious beliefs before duty to communism." Elian will be forced to be a "young pioneer," which, according to the Children and Family Code, is ‘a volunteer organization that coordinates tasks and activities to complement the formation of the communist personality.’"

Fuentes continued by emphasizing the government’s role in monitoring every aspect of a child’s life. "The child’s progress will be charted in a personal file that will follow him or her through life. In that file will be recorded not only his young revolutionary zeal, but that of the parents as well. Only good communists will advance on the educational ladder, and only they will be able to pursue their career of choice." Fuentes and other witnesses also testified that children as young as eleven are taken from their parents during the summer months and sent to study and perform forced labor on government farms. Parents can visit only on the weekends, and these "schools" are mandatory. "Parents and children who violate this mandate forfeit their right to higher education, and their file will reflect 'deviant ideological behavior unbecoming a good Cuban revolutionary'," said Fuentes.

Excerpted from.
www.house.gov...

There are cases where children as young as 10 are taken to these labor camps, like my sisters were taken.

Until i was 8 years old, I was indoctrinated in that system. I remember having to chant in school "Patria o muerte venceremos" ( Country or death, we will thriumph) and other "revolutionary" songs and chants, indoctrinating people since childhood into accepting and believing all the lies from the communist propaganda.

Myles Kantor: Why did so many Cuban parents send their children into exile?

Victor Andres Triay: The lives of all Cubans radically changed when the Castro regime turned toward Communism. [On April 16, 1961, Castro declared the Cuban Revolution to be socialist and declared on December 1, 1961, "I am a Marxist-Leninist and I shall remain a Marxist-Leninist until the day I die."] No group was more vulnerable to the totalitarianism of the regime than children. The island's public and private schools were closed, and the children were forced to attend new, regime-run schools that acted as centers of ideological indoctrination.

Children in the Castro regime schools were inducted with a sense of fanaticism about the Revolution, an adoration of Castro, atheism, and an irrational and almost pathological sense of hatred for the USA. Anti-clericism and a mocking hatred for religion were also encouraged. Those children not overtly displaying Revolutionary values (neutrality was not acceptable) were persecuted directly and indirectly. [Many such youths would soon be sent to forced labor camps called UMAPs, or Military Units to Aid Production.]

In other words, the environment for children was repugnant for the parents. The fact that it was a totalitarian state, the parents had no way to shelter their children from the regime—its ideology and its repression.

Other parents feared the children would be taken off to the countryside for indoctrination (and Cuban children in fact were and are sent away to the countryside to separate them from their parents), or to Russia. Many others sent their teenage sons because they feared they would be drafted (the draft age was 15). Imagine that: anti-Communist parents having to watch their sons take part in Castro's expansionist military! [Georgie Anne Geyer observes in Guerrilla Prince: The Untold Story of Fidel Castro, "Cuba [in 1989], with slightly more than ten million persons, was probably the world’s most completely militarized country—57,000 troops in Angola, 5,000 to 7,000 in Ethiopia, and hundreds and thousands from South Yemen, to Libya, to Nicaragua, to Mozambique, to Syria, Equatorial Guinea, Tanzania, Guinea Bissau, North Korea, Sao Tome, Algeria, Uganda, Laos, Afghanistan, and Sierra Leone."]

Others had teenage kids who had already been involved in anti-Castro activities and they needed to get them out of the country. This explains why a disproportionate number of the Pedro Pan children were teenage boys, although there were thousands of girls and young children as well.

Excerpted from.
www.frontpagemag.com...

All of the above, and much more was excempt from the Canadian documentary.

I also watched with confusion and anger, as the Canadian show portrayed the dissidents living in the US, mainly in Miami, as a minority who only hate Castro because of the demonization that supposedly takes place only in the US. Something which all Cubans know is not true.

Cubans living in the US have swollen to 1,596,000, which is 4% of the Spanish population living in the US according to a 2004 US census, the majority whom hate castro.

www.census.gov...

Here are some of the stories by some of those Cuban dissidents who are now living in the US, and other countries, and whose opinions were not included in this Canadian documentary.

MIAMI—Ten years on, Felix Izquierdo vividly remembers the terror of looking a shark in the eye as he fled Cuba on an inner tube, the desperation of detention and eventually, the realization of his American dream.

Izquierdo, 31, was among the 36,000 Cubans who took to the seas aboard flimsy rafts, stolen boats or anything else that floated, desperate to flee the deepening crisis in Cuba and start a new life in the United States.

He was among the lucky ones who survived the 150-kilometer (90-mile) crossing over the shark-infested, unpredictable waters between Havana and southern Florida.

“There were three of us. We left on the inner tube of a tractor tire, with two oars. We had an old compass and headed north.

“A shark swam underneath us. It was bigger than our raft, we could even see its eyes.”

............

Even as the three cheered their arrival in US territorial waters, they were picked up by the US Coast Guard and taken to Guantanamo, where a detention camp had been hastily erected to house the thousands of Cubans detained at sea.

The exodus started in late July 1994 and gained momentum the following month as President Fidel Castro allowed the departures in a move many believe was calculated to force the United States to the negotiating table. Havana and Washington eventually agreed on September 9 that 20,000 Cubans would be allowed into the United States every year, and Castro again clamped down on illegal migration.

But for the next 16 months the United States remained a distant dream for Izquierdo and many of his fellow balseros as the rafters were called.

It wasn’t until December 1995 that he eventually was released from detention in Guantanamo and Panama, and allowed onto what he saw as the promised land.

“It was wonderful. It was like a dream.”

He admits the first years were tough. But now, he lives in a comfortable house in a quiet Miami suburb, has a wife, a baby girl, two cars and what he calls a good job as a trucker. Within a year, he says, he should get his US passport.

“Like all refugees, at the beginning, it was pretty difficult for those who came in 1994, particularly since they came in great numbers,” said Joe Garcia, who heads the influential Cuban American National Foundation lobby group.

“They’ve found their footing. They started working and are now productive members of the community,” he said.

“You can’t distinguish them from other members of the Cuban community here,” said Garcia.

“A Cuban, is a Cuban is a Cuban. Polls show all Cubans in the United States—95 percent of them—hate Castro.

Excerpted from.
www.manilatimes.net...

Date: Tue, 6 Aug 96 00:36:21 UT
From: "Sergio Fleites"
Subject: Your Page on Cuba
As Cuban born and raised, I appreciate your care and understanding for the well being of the people of Cuba. I myself was a Cuban citizen living in Cuba until just over a year ago. It is nice to see, and both Cuban and Americans can recognize this, that the historical and traditional friendly bonds between our two populations have survived the cold war and will definitely survive communism, the Castro brothers, and the embargo. Cuban affection and respect for everything that is American surpasses all propaganda that has been thrown at us for the past 37 years... and 37 years is a very long time! Ins't it? However, I can guarantee you that in the minds of most Cubans there is absolutely no doubt who is responsible for the desolation and poverty our country is living in. We Cubans know that there is no shortage of market partners in the world. We all know we could obtain computers from Japan, cheap automobiles from Spain or Korea, clothing from Taiwan or China, oil from Venezuela or Mexico. Just visit the dollar stores. We also know that the reason that common Cuban citizens cannot obtain these goodies have nothing to do with the US embargo. If Cuba indeed had good government administrators caring for its citizens, promoting the restoration of a healthy economy (instead of simply trying to stay in power after 37 years) there would be no lack of goods available to the Cuban people IN SPITE OF the embargo. The truth is that the responsible for the actual situation in Cuba is its government and specifically Mr. Castro. The opinions you heard from the Cuban people (either good or bad) on your trip is just a front, much darker and terrifying stories are kept quiet under fear of persecussion. After all is said and done, after the day of reconciliation arrives for the Cuban people, you will hear from the people themselves the evil deeds to which they have been subjected to by one of their own, and you will also hear from us Cubans that the only country who stood firm against their oppressor was the US.

Yes, if the United States government is guilty of anything regarding the Cuban situation, is that it has failed to overthrow Mr. Castro is spite of all its attempts to do so, and also made it difficult or failed to help Cubans overthrow Castro themselves, and by doing so has left its neighbor friends to suffer in dispair on the hands of an oppressor.

The trade embargo, if anything, is a symbol of the long struggle of the American peoples against one of the greatest oppressors in the history of the Americas. Lifting the embargo now will only taint the US position in regards to Mr. Castro.

Sergio
[email protected]

Date: Sat, 22 Jun 1996 16:21:58 -0700
From: Ernesto Rodriguez >[email protected]>
Subject: Embargo
Do you think that ending the American embargo (as you call it) will end the embargo that Castro has over the cuban people?. When you went to Cuba you probably talked to some cubans. Didn't you notice their fear to talk freele about their feelings. Every penny that the Cuban government gets is invested in exporting their revolution and maintaining their image of "Robin Hood" and that is at the cost of starving the population. The madicine that "Pastors for Peace" took to Cuba is been sold to tourists in Medical institutions that only Tourists (like you) can access, but at the same time, the Hospitals assigned to the population laks everything. You can get anything in Cuba. They have everithing that a tourist wants. The population don't. Just take a little time to search about the real Cuba. Many Germans fell for Hitlers carisma and when they opened their eyes, they found so many dead people that they are still counting them.

Pleas understand that most of the cubans that live in United States have reazons to hate Castro. He didn't get it for free. He deserves every bit of that hate.

Sincerely,

[email protected]

Take a look at //www.netpoint.net/~cubanet/ By the way, 1/10 of the Cuban population is in exile right now. There were not so many rich people in Cuba in 1959. The Cuban interest section in Havana got more than one million applications for the visa lottery. If each application is for a familiy of three, that makes another 3/10 of the population who wants to leave.

The two excerpts above were taken from.
www.leler.com...

There is human, and even children, traficking in Cuba, which the government has done nothing about because it brings more tourism to the island, for the pleasure of many repulsive, predators and rich westerners who want to escape the law in other countries against the criminal and inhumane rapes they want to inflict upon minors, only for their pleasure.

Cuba is a source country for children trafficked internally for the purposes of sexual exploitation and forced child labor. Trafficking victims from all over Cuba are exploited in major cities and tourist resorts. There are no reliable estimates available on the extent of trafficking in the country; however, children in prostitution is widely apparent, even to casual observers. These children are sometimes trafficked into prostitution by their families and exploited by foreign tourists. Anecdotal evidence suggests that workers at state-run hotels, travel company employees, taxicab drivers, bar and restaurant workers, and law enforcement personnel are complicit in the commercial sexual exploitation of minors. Cuban forced labor victims include children coerced into working in conditions of involuntary servitude in commercial agriculture.

The Government of Cuba does not fully comply with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking and is not making significant efforts to do so. In 2001, Cuban officials outlined an extensive plan to address the prevention and prosecution of trafficking victims on a national scale, but there has been no evidence to show that the plan has been implemented. As in previous years, Cuban officials over the past year dismissed as politically motivated any criticisms of the government’s failure to address trafficking in the country. Cuba has no strategy to address its trafficking problem and growing child sex tourism industry.

Excerpted from.
gvnet.com...

In the documentary, the Canadian speaker states that the "rationing" only began in Cuba because of the US sanctions, when the truth is far from what was said by this man.

The reasons for the introduction of a system of food rationing in revolutionary Cuba just three years after the revolution can be found in a combination of two factors. The first factor was the increasing demand for food as a result of more purchasing power for the public (increasing incomes and decreasing expenses such as rent and electricity). The second factor was decreasing food production as a result of the drastic changes taking place in farm ownership and organization.
Food rationing was officially established in Cuba by Law No.1015 on March 12, 1962, with the distribution of one rationing booklet (libreta) to every household. (The term used was núcleo familiar.) A household could be composed of one or more individuals and there could be more than one household per dwelling. The administration of the rationing system was placed in the hands of the Ministry of Internal Trade (MINCIN).

Practically all food items were included in the initial rationing scheme. Each household was entitled to purchase a specific quantity of the rationed items, depending on the number of consumers on the ration booklet issued to each household. The items subject to quotas have not remained static over time. As production of some fruits and/or vegetables increased, they were taken out of the rationing system and sold freely (por la libre); when they became scarce again, they were returned to the ration booklet. Eggs are perhaps the best example of items that have moved in and out of the libreta.
.............
While many supporters of the Cuban regime blame the U.S. economic sanctions (that the Cubans refer to as a blockade) against Cuba as the main culprit, almost all of the detractors place the burden on the inefficiencies of the socialist system. Given the importance of this issue in terms of the hardships it has represented to the population on the island for more than 40 years, the two points of view deserve careful analysis.
..........

(The Cuban government version)

In terms of the additional costs of the economic sanctions, the Cuban government has provided some figures. For example, in an official report submitted to the United Nations, it is reported that, in the year 2000, Cuba had to pay an additional 38 million dollars to purchase food as a result of the price differentials between the United States and alternative markets. In addition, the costs of financing around 63% of the food imports in the same year demanded expenses greater than $50 million. Under normal conditions, these expenses would not have been greater than $19 million (this information is contained in a report the Cuban government sent to the United Nations on July 17, 2001, and placed on the La Nueva Cuba website).

The version from a Cuban independant journalist and the real reason for the rationing and the suffering of Cubans.

The previous report was rebutted by a Cuban independent journalist (Espinosa Chepe, 2001). According to him, Cuba devotes between $800 million and $900 million, more than 20% of its import capacity, to the purchase of food that could be very easily produced in the country. Such purchases, which do not satisfy the needs of the population, are made abroad as the result of the inefficiency that exists in the agricultural sector. That state of affairs, he says, is not the result of any embargo but a consequence of the commanding incompetence.

Excerpted from.
edis.ifas.ufl.edu...

Yet none of the above was present in the Canadian documentary...and castro was presented as a humanitarian who helps other countries....

I saw as groups of people from other countries, including the US, who are obviously unaware, or do not want to believe, what really happens in Cuba, declare that fidel is an angel, and a good man.

Castro has even been nominated to the nobel peace prize...

OSLO, Norway (AP) - Cuban President Fidel Castro has been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize for his work on behalf of developing nations, a Norwegian politician announced Thursday.

Hallgeir Langeland, a left-wing member of Parliament, said he knew his decision to nominate the Cuban leader might be seen as controversial. But he said Castro deserved recognition for helping other nations despite the hardships of U.S. sanctions imposed on Cuba after his communist government seized power in 1959.

Excerpted from.
www.seattlecuba.org...

I had to watch with incredulity and sadness, how many people , including the Canadian documentary, portrayed castro as a good man.

Although the Canadians are not the only ones who have done this, even the American Oliver Stone, did a documentary and hid away the truth about Cuba, presenting the lies that many Cubans have to show in front of a foreign reporter, so they won't be punished.

It is a sad day indeed, when a dictator, an assassin and an oppressor of his own people, is seen by many in the world as if he was a savior....

[edit on 20-12-2005 by Muaddib]

Mod edit: Adding OP/ED to title

EDIT NOTE: Fixed category tag.


[edit on 12-22-2005 by Valhall]

[edit on 22-12-2005 by John bull 1]

Wow, excellent post. Voted way above.

Your right it is a sad day when the facts get so twisted and misconstrued like that.

One can only wonder why that documentary went on air.. but there will probably be complaints about it, and hopefully it won't ever have a repeat showing.

Originally posted by SteveR
Wow, excellent post. Voted way above.

Your right it is a sad day when the facts get so twisted and misconstrued like that.

One can only wonder why that documentary went on air.. but there will probably be complaints about it, and hopefully it won't ever have a repeat showing.

Thanks for the vote my friend, but i fear that documentary will be aired for a long time in Canada, nomatter if all Cubans send letters for them to stop showing the "docu-lie-mentary...."

Even in the US, Oliver Stone's documentary on Castro is seen once in a while in tv networks such as HBO, despite the fact that most of what was in that documentary, is a lie.

[edit on 20-12-2005 by Muaddib]

its all part of the pro-communist agenda to spread communism through denial, deflection and lies, one day i see the US vs a united coalition of communist nations, composing of every nation on earth with a massive population surge due to dissidents fleeing and we will welcome them and we will be the bad guys, i see it as if theres any nwo, it will be under communism.

i wish communism was banned and all its supporters were arrested, any ideal which calls for violent revolution of free states to install a system which directly contradicts the constitution, isnt and shouldnt have any protection by that same constitution.

[edit on 20-12-2005 by namehere]

You have voted Muaddib for the Way Above Top Secret award. You have one more vote left for this month.

Very powerful post indeed. As this information runs counter to the media and hollywood agenda, it unfortunately takes someone like you to bring it to light for all of us to see.

for the post
for the terrible information on castro it contains.

This episode of Biography is from 1996 and was directed by Bill Harris. Bill Harris is now a Senior VP at A&E Productions, USA. The narrator was Jack Perkins, who is American and does lots of works for A&E.

I guess what I'm saying is if it was directed by someone in the US, narrated by an American and produced for an American owned company, how does that make it a Canadian documentary?

It's still a really good OP/ED, I just think it would be even better if it wasn't referred to as a Canadian show.

www.buy.com...

hey, that was real, muaddib. i personally let people have it with both barrels when they talk about how great it is to vacation in cuba. a lot of middle-aged men from canada now have VERY young cuban wives. everything is dirt cheap, literally, down there. like for the same price i would buy a bag of dirt at a gardening store, i could get any number of wonderful goods and services in cuban resorts.

it makes me sick.

however, this is not 'canada's' biography. it is a private venture.

there is nothing honest on television, anywhere.

Originally posted by Duzey
This episode of Biography is from 1996 and was directed by Bill Harris. Bill Harris is now a Senior VP at A&E Productions, USA. The narrator was Jack Perkins, who is American and does lots of works for A&E.

I guess what I'm saying is if it was directed by someone in the US, narrated by an American and produced for an American owned company, how does that make it a Canadian documentary?

It's still a really good OP/ED, I just think it would be even better if it wasn't referred to as a Canadian show.

www.buy.com...

I have never seen this before, this is the first time i have seen it and it was run on a Canadian channel. Even the link that appeared when I made a search says it is from Canada.

I mistakenly thought it was Canadian since i haven't heard of this program on American tv, btw, i did say that even some American media has done the same, just like Oliver Stone's docu-lie-mentary was also about Cuba/castro and was full of lies and deception.

Although it is being run in the same channel over and over on Canadian tv.

I saw it announced at different times throughout the day in the satellite guide like 3-4 times in 2 days, until i decided to see what it was they were showing.

As billybob mentioned, it is happening all over the globe.

Such Commie Paranoia - and I thought Cold War was Over.

FrontPageMagazine? NoCastro.com?

Yeah Man - those are the sources for some serious anti-commie propaganda.

Meanwhile, in the United States... ah nevermind.

Originally posted by Muaddib
I have never seen this before, this is the first time i have seen it and it was run on a Canadian channel. Even the link that appeared when I made a search says it is from Canada.

I thought that it was probably a mistake. That's why it has a smiley at the end of the post.

That channel does show the same one 3-4 times in a few days, but it does that with all the bios not just Castro's. It's straight from the US programming with the occasional Canadian figure thrown in to meet Canadian Content rules.

I thought you might find this interesting: A&E Study Guide

A&E recommends this show for middle and high school students.

When I read the OP/ED I felt that the word Canada could have never been used and your article wouldn't have lost a thing. In fact, it would have gained something for me because I knew it was a US show and had to keep from getting annoyed at us being portrayed as big Castro supporters and propagandists. I know you mentioned that some American media has done the same, including the show in question, but Canada was mentioned 13 times and we didn't even produce this program. Americans did.

Other than this one small thing, I thought it was a very powerful OP/ED.

one day i see the US vs a united coalition of communist nations

I wouldn't hold my breath.

You may not have noticed, but communism is not doing so well these days...
There's what, North Korea, and Cuba? They're all that's left.

China is Communist in name only, they're hardcore capitalists these days... and Vietnam is going in the same direction.

The fortunate thing about communism is that it inevitably carries the seeds of it's own failure - command economies simply cannot and do not work, they lack the inherent flexibilty of market economies, and collapse within a few generations, or at best limp along in near-total poverty.

What history has shown us is that the economies that succeeed are almost all mixed economies, with a market driven economy buffered by "socialist" features like a limited welfare state. Every one of the planet's most prosperous nations now operates this way, without a single exception.

[edit on 12/21/05 by xmotex]

Originally posted by Souljah
Such Commie Paranoia - and I thought Cold War was Over.

FrontPageMagazine? NoCastro.com?

Yeah Man - those are the sources for some serious anti-commie propaganda.

Meanwhile, in the United States... ah nevermind.

....It is not commie paranoia Souljah, those are links which corroborate what I said.

But of course since you are a "revolutionary" you don't want to see your heroes' true faces being shown as to who they really are.

The propaganda comes from documentaries like the one I gave a link to, and Oliver Stone's documentary on Cuba. Which most Cubans would tell you it is BS.

I also couldn't help but notice that the few people who they interviewed were all living outside of Cuba and were mainly people who had worked with castro and still agree with him, which are fewer and fewer. ( those who have lived under the dictator's oppressive government)

Every one of those links tells exactly what is happening and what has been hapening in Cuba since castro took power.

You had to be one of the people who would try to dismiss this information and these "true stories"....


[edit on 22-12-2005 by Muaddib]

Originally posted by xmotex

I wouldn't hold my breath.

You may not have noticed, but communism is not doing so well these days...
There's what, North Korea, and Cuba? They're all that's left.

Not really there are some people who are trying to give the impression to the world that communism is dead... Even Democratic US senator Boxer, proclaimed that Cuba was not a communist country anymore last year....

Originally posted by xmotex
China is Communist in name only, they're hardcore capitalists these days... and Vietnam is going in the same direction.

China and Vietnam are still communist nations, China is "using" Capitalism to stay afloat, so their CCP doesn't die off, that's all.

Originally posted by xmotex
The fortunate thing about communism is that it inevitably carries the seeds of it's own failure - command economies simply cannot and do not work, they lack the inherent flexibilty of market economies, and collapse within a few generations, or at best limp along in near-total poverty.

In this we agree more or less. It is true that communism carries the seeds of it's own failure, but communists in power always seem to find ways to keep their oppressive government afloat for as long as possible, and they haqve lasted more than just a few generations.

Originally posted by xmotex
What history has shown us is that the economies that succeeed are almost all mixed economies, with a market driven economy buffered by "socialist" features like a limited welfare state. Every one of the planet's most prosperous nations now operates this way, without a single exception.

[edit on 12/21/05 by xmotex]

Is this is true then why is it that there are/have been riots in Europe, mostly from Muslims who say they can't get good jobs and are stucked in the worse parts of European suburbs?

Of course Canada, Europe and the rest of the entire world have got it wrong and the good ol' US of A have got it right.

Cuba should be invaded and governed by a "friendly" administration which will rule on behalf of a minority. Cuba can then become a holiday resort for rich Americans where they can play roulette in casinos run by some of the largest crime families in the USA.

Funny how US foreign policy is a complete failure. As every day passes South American countries are electing anti-US administrations.

As for these dissidents in Cuba, try not to forget that they are financed by the USA. For fifty years the US have been trying to take over Cuba by any means, military and economic.

The fact is that most Americans can no longer differentiate between US propaganda and the truth. "Dissidents" living in the USA just hope that if they stir things up enough they might leap from the bottom rung of the social ladder in the USA to inheriting the potential riches of Cuba.

But you guys continue to believe that everyone else in the world is wrong and you're the only ones who understand.

We, the rest of the world, can console ourselves that the USA is a minority of one on this issue and that no other UN security council member agrees, no other G8 country agrees, and the EU does not agree. So there is little chance that the continual interference by the US in Cuban affairs will come to much.

NB to self, buy a legal Cuban cigar for New Year's eve.

One last point, one thing that is a regular topic on ATS is school book texts and how they can be way out of touch with history as recognised by everyone else. This is one such case and I know I can't hope to change anyones mind on this because you've all been taught that Castro is an evil dictator.

Nice job, Muaddib. Canada has always sympathized with Castros cause and i am glad that you pointed out the real deal.

Its amazing how someone can take history and reshape it into something it isnt and never was.

Thank you for setting the record straight.

Originally posted by John bull 1
Of course Canada, Europe and the rest of the entire world have got it wrong and the good ol' US of A have got it right.

Many people in the US have got it wrong John, and not everyone in the world believes the lies that you have obviously fallen for.

Let's see if you got it right shall we John?....

16 April 2004
Human Rights Commission adopts a resolution criticising Cuba
The UN Human Rights Commission on 15 April adopted, by a narrow margin of 22-21 votes with 10 abstentions, a resolution condemning repression of political dissidents and journalists in Cuba. The resolution called on the authorities to co-operate with the UN and the French magistrate Christine Chanet, the UN High Commissioner’s special representative on Cuba and member of the UN human rights committee, by allowing her to visit the country. Chile, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Peru and the Dominican Republic voted against Cuba. Argentina, Brazil and Paraguay abstained.

Excerpted from.
www.rsf.org...

Cuba - Annual Report 2004

It was a grim year for press freedom in Cuba. A total of 27 journalists were arrested and sentenced to long prison terms in the course of a crackdown on dissent. Thereafter, they were held in conditions which their families described as inhumane. Fellow journalists who remained at large ran the risk of suffering the same fate.

In Cuba, 2003 will go down in history as a black year for press freedom and civil liberties in general. President Fidel Castro launched an unprecedented wave of arrests on 18 March, on the eve of the US attack on Iraq, jailing a total of 75 dissidents. They included human rights activists, trade unionists and peaceful political campaigners, as well as 27 independent journalists.
The journalists were given sentences ranging from 14 to 27 years in prison in summary trials that denied them the right of defence. They were convicted under Law 88 or article 91 of the criminal code. Law 88 protects Cuba’s "independence and economy." It punishes "subversive activities" that further US "imperialist interests." This includes working for foreign news media. Article 91 punishes "actions against Cuba’s independence and territorial integrity."

Excerpted from.
www.rsf.org...

IV. CIVIL AND POLITICAL RIGHTS
A. DISCRIMINATION ON POLITICAL GROUNDS RELATIVE TO THE LACK OF FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION, ASSOCIATION AND ASSEMBLY

15. The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights has referred in previous reports to the systematic practice of the Cuban State of discriminating against citizens under its jurisdiction for political reasons and the lack of freedom of expression, association, and assembly. During the period covered by this report, the practice of the Cuban authorities has not changed, nor have the constitutional and criminal provisions on which they rely in so acting. In other words, the harassment, accusations, adoption of disciplinary measures and prison sentences for persons who peacefully display their disagreement with the political regime in place have persisted. Such harassment is directed especially at groups geared to supporting human rights, including trade union rights, or political activity. These groups are characterized by their decision to use only peaceful means in pressing their grievances, despite which the authorities consider their activities illegal, and they are persecuted in various ways. The criminal offenses most commonly used to characterize these persons' activities include "enemy propaganda," "contempt" (desacato), "unlawful association," "clandestine possession of printed matter," "posing a danger," "rebellion," and "acts against state security."
.................
24. During the period covered by this report, the Inter- American Commission on Human Rights has received numerous complaints that demonstrate the conditions described in the preceding paragraphs, i.e. discrimination due to political motives and the violations of the rights to expression, association, and assembly. Following are some of the relevant complaints:

a. A mob of 60 to 80 people in civilian clothing and armed with pipes and chains surrounded the house of Victoria Ruíz Labrit, President of the Comité Cubano de Oposición Pacífica Independiente, so as to impede an alleged meeting of political dissidents. The events occurred at approximately 8:30 a.m., on August 10, 1995, in the city of Havana. Everyone who passed by the home of Victoria Ruíz was detained, searched, and asked to show their identification. At approximately 9:00 a.m. the district delegate for the Poder Popular mass organization and a representative of the Federation of Cuban Women, who stated that they had knowledge of a meeting of "counter-revolutionaries," in response to which Victoria Ruíz invited them to come in, stating: "I would like you to come in to see that the counter- revolutionaries who are meeting with me are three minors ages 11, eight, and six years." The state agents refused to enter, but they remained in front of her domicile until noon.

b. The Asociación Cívica Democrática reported that in Cuba criminal charges continue to be fabricated against dissidents and human rights activists, with a total lack of procedural guarantees. In effect, Ismael Morales, 17 years of age, the son of a dissident from the Isla de Pinos, Antonio Morales Torres, was sentenced to six months in prison for an alleged larceny, even though the prosecutor withdrew the charges when the witnesses he had proposed retracted. On appeal, the innocence of Ismael Morales was amply shown. Nonetheless, the President of the Chamber declared that they would convict him anyway, assuming full responsibility, since he neither studied or worked.

c. Marcos Gonzáles Hernández, María Elena Bayo Gonzáles, Ariel Lavandera López, Regla Tapanes Tapanes, Rodolfo Valdés Pérez, Carlos Denis Denis, Pedro Pablo Denis Blanco, Felipe Lázaro Carranza Díaz, Ileana Curra Luzón, Iván Curra de la Torre, and Jorge Heriberto Alfonso Aguilar were sentenced to three-year prison terms by the Provincial Tribunal of Havana in case 36/94 for the crimes of enemy propaganda and acts against state security. According to the judgment, it was proved that the accused "in discord with the Cuban revolutionary process and its guidelines, for the purpose of subverting the established social order and to destabilize the bases of our social and economic system...conceived of the idea of drawing up and distributing in different places proclamations, with counter-revolutionary texts, which they carried out by designing a rustic logo and printing up pamphlets with texts such as Abajo Fidel and Plesbiscito."

d. During the period covered by this report, the Partido Pro-Derechos Humanos de Cuba denounced the harassment by the Cuban authorities of independent attorneys who have taken up the defense of peaceful dissidents and human rights activists. According to the information provided, attorneys Leonel Morejón Almagro of the Marianao law office and René Gómez Manzano of the Casación law office were expelled after working for several years defending cases involving human rights violations. Morejón Almagro was visited at his home on February 9, 1995, by a delegation of the "Single System for Exploration and Vigilance," an agency created by the Cuban regime to intimidate people supposedly "dangerous" to society due to an "apparent deviation in their social conduct," which entails, as a consequence, the opening of a "dangerous status" file with the respective punishment of four years imprisonment.

e. The Fundación Solidaria Por la Democracia reported from Havana the cases of four Cuban citizens imprisoned after being convicted for alleged crimes of rebellion and acts against state security. The persons sentenced, all residents of the city of Minajarle, municipality of Jiguaní, province of Granma, are as follows: Leonardo Cabrera Arias, 31 years of age, sentenced to eight years imprisonment; Lino José Molina Basulto, 32 years of age, sentenced to eight years; Ramiro Angel Rodríguez Leyva, 30 years of age, sentenced to seven years; and Jorge Oscar Rodríguez Leyva, 32 years of age, sentenced to eight years in prison. The four were accused, along with other citizens who were released, "of grouping together and assessing the country's economic, social, and political situation, of hearing foreign radio broadcasts, make written propaganda, and seeking a new hideout for grouping people together." The accused have argued that their only crime was to meet weekly for Biblical studies. The investigating judge stated that they "were false religious." At present all four are at the Las Mangas prison, each on a different floor.

f. Also during the period covered by this report, Francisco Chaviano Gonzáles, President of the Consejo Nacional por los Derechos Civiles en Cuba, was detained by State Security agents in Havana and sentenced to 15 years prison. The detention occurred when state agents broke into his domicile shortly after an unknown person provided him with documents on human rights violations. The agents also took documentation of that Council, especially with respect to persons who had disappeared at sea when they tried to abandon the country. Chaviano Gonzáles was led to the Villa Marista barracks, accused of disclosing secret information on state security. Earlier, Mr. Chaviano had been subjected to frequent acts of intimidation. Three others, Abel del Valle Díaz, Pedro Miguel Labrador, and Juan Carlos Gonzáles Vásquez, were also tried in the same case with Chaviano. The trial was held before a military tribunal, even though all the accused were civilians. The attorney for Abel del Valle Díaz later wrote in the press in Miami, Florida,9 that the case was investigated secretly by the judge, i.e. without the participation of the attorneys, and that only three days prior to the celebration of the trial was he able to review the proceedings and meet with his defendant. In addition, the attorney was not given access to the two documents classified "secret" (that addressed how to combat crimes in the area of restaurants, services, and fuel) that were supposedly found in possession of the accused, and that were at the basis of one of the main accusations. In the course of the judicial process, held behind closed doors, access was denied to several defense witnesses, and friends and relatives were threatened at the entry to the building by members of the rapid action brigades. Some members of human rights organizations were arrested as they were heading to the court; they were later released.

Excerpted from.
www.fiu.edu...

The Call of the International Committee to Demand Justice for the Victims of the "13 de Marzo" Massacre
This is the initiating statement of the international campaign to bring justice to the victims of the "13 de Marzo" massacre. Our challenge is to go out to the international community and reach people so that many more people can speak out on this outrage, and also to deepen our campaign so that our goal can be accomplished. Justice for Caridad Tacoronte age 4, Marjolis Méndez age 17 who had their young lives violently taken away from them, and the other thirty nine who were brutally murdered on July 13, 1994.


In the early morning hours of July 13, 1994 the tugboat "13 de Marzo" was attacked by agents of the Cuban government. They repeatedly rammed the tug, used high pressure water hoses on the victims, and sank the ship killing at least 41 men, women, and children seven miles off the coast of Havana, Cuba.

Nearly two years later on October 16, 1996 the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights concluded that the Cuban government was responsible for the deaths of the 41 people shipwrecked on the tug "13 de Marzo", the emotional trauma of the relatives of the victims and survivors who lost loved ones. The Commission also noted that the Cuban government had refused to recover the bodies or allow others to recover them for proper burial by their families.

Excerpted from.
www.fiu.edu...

Here is a link where the two above links and many others can be found.

www.fiu.edu...

Human Rights in Cuba - Annual Report 2003
by ISHR Germany

1. Drastic measures taken against political dissidents

2. Draconian prison terms for independent publicists

3. Drastic Restrictions on the Freedom of Opinion, Movement and Assembly

4. Inhuman Prison Treatment
5. The International Society for Human Rights calls upon Cuba




--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


1. Drastic measures taken against political dissidents
The human rights situation in Cuba has dramatically worsened in 2003, in particular concerning free-dom of opinion, freedom of press and information, freedom of assembly and freedom of movement. Furthermore, Cuba violates the UN Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, which Cuba signed on 17 May 1995.

While the world followed events in Iraq, the government of Cuba arrested altogether 75 human rights defenders, independent journalists, economists and opposition members in mid-March 2003. In April they were sentenced to an average of 20 years and a total of more than 1,000 years imprisonment. ISHR believes that all 75 dissidents had only exercised their basic human rights.

The crackdown of spring 2003 was sharply condemned by the UN Commission on Human Rights, several democratic governments, human rights organisations and Pope John Paul II. In June 2003 the EU expressed its concern in form of a demarche to the Cuban government, decided to issue diplomatic sanctions and demanded the immediate release of the political prisoners. Following the demarche, Cuba declared that it will from now on refuse humanitarian aid from the EU Commission and the EU member states. In September 2003, Claudia Roth, Commissioner for Human Rights and Humanitarian Aid of the Federal Republic of Germany, was denied a visitor's visa. Christine Chanet, Personal Representative of the United Nations Commissioner for Human Rights, has so far not been able to enter Cuba in order to implement Resolution 2002/18 adopted by the UN Commission on Human Rights on 19 April 2002.

Excerpted from.
www.ishr.org...

Originally posted by John bull 1
Cuba should be invaded and governed by a "friendly" administration which will rule on behalf of a minority. Cuba can then become a holiday resort for rich Americans where they can play roulette in casinos run by some of the largest crime families in the USA.

Where did I mention anything even remotely close to what you are saying above?....

The post was to refute all the lies which are present in that program and other's such as oliver Stone's. Lies which you are obviously in love with as you also try to dismiss the stories from Cuban dissidents who have lived in that dictatorship and you haven't.......

Originally posted by John bull 1
Funny how US foreign policy is a complete failure. As every day passes South American countries are electing anti-US administrations.

What the heck does that have to do with what has been happening in Cuba?....

Originally posted by John bull 1
As for these dissidents in Cuba, try not to forget that they are financed by the USA. For fifty years the US have been trying to take over Cuba by any means, military and economic.

What the heck?....

Are you saying that the US government is giving money to 95% of the Cuban population living in the US to make claims about castro?....

That's bs john....

Where is your proof that about 1.5 million Cubans are being paid by the US to make claims about castro?....

I'll make it easier for you...prove that I am being paid by the US government, or anyone, to say the things i have said about Cuba....

Don't have proof?... Then perhaps you should do a bit of real research instead of speaking with your shoe in your mouth....

Originally posted by John bull 1
The fact is that most Americans can no longer differentiate between US propaganda and the truth. "Dissidents" living in the USA just hope that if they stir things up enough they might leap from the bottom rung of the social ladder in the USA to inheriting the potential riches of Cuba.

That's bs John, most Cubans would like the world to see what is really been happening in the country, and would prefer for change in the island without any intervention.

The intend of this post is to open people's eyes to the truth, instead of believing the dictator and the lies he likes to spread to make people like yourself believe he is the "Robin Hood' of the world and the Cuban people....

Originally posted by John bull 1
But you guys continue to believe that everyone else in the world is wrong and you're the only ones who understand.

Are you claiming that the people who have suffered under the communist dictatorship are blind, while people like yourself who have probably never seen what is happening in Cuba know the truth?.....

Originally posted by John bull 1
We, the rest of the world, can console ourselves that the USA is a minority of one on this issue and that no other UN security council member agrees, no other G8 country agrees, and the EU does not agree. So there is little chance that the continual interference by the US in Cuban affairs will come to much.

I proved you wrong by what the links I posted above show John...

Perhaps you are being paid by castro to defend him.... or perhaps it is just that you like to be ignorant and prefer to live in your fantasy world instead of believing what those who have lived in the island have to say about the conditions of Cuba and why it is in that state....

Originally posted by John bull 1
NB to self, buy a legal Cuban cigar for New Year's eve.

Go ahead and enjoy it, it is your right, as well as it is your right to swim and drown in ignorance as to what is really been happening in Cuba....

Originally posted by John bull 1
One last point, one thing that is a regular topic on ATS is school book texts and how they can be way out of touch with history as recognised by everyone else. This is one such case and I know I can't hope to change anyones mind on this because you've all been taught that Castro is an evil dictator.

You seem to be the one out of touch with reality John.....

Tell us, what is your knowledge and experience of castro's regime?.....

Where does your knowledge and experience of castro's regime come from?....

Of course, you must be right, along with the rest of the world who have not seen the truth as to what has been hapening in Cuba...meanwhile most of the Cubans who have escaped from the island must be wrong, because you know better....

You think you are denying ignorance John?....

[edit on 22-12-2005 by Muaddib]

Originally posted by dgtempe
Nice job, Muaddib. Canada has always sympathized with Castros cause and i am glad that you pointed out the real deal.

Its amazing how someone can take history and reshape it into something it isnt and never was.

Thank you for setting the record straight.

DG, i fear that there are people like John above that would rather believe the lies of castro and programs such as the one i watched instead of destroying their illusions about how good are things in Cuba and how humanitarian castro is....

Oh DG, btw, be careful, perhaps John Bull will try to claim now that you are also being paid by the US government, or anyone else, to agree with me even though you are a liberal, you are Cuban and know more than him about what is really happening in Cuba.


[edit on 22-12-2005 by Muaddib]

Originally posted by Duzey
I thought you might find this interesting: A&E Study Guide

A&E recommends this show for middle and high school students.

Other than this one small thing, I thought it was a very powerful OP/ED.

Look at some of the extracurricular activiities, which include: Create a victory poster for Castro's revolution.

Ahh, there's nothing like pre-forming the conclusions for these young minds, eh?

Originally posted by Muaddib
Oh DG, btw, be careful, perhaps John Bull will try to claim now that you are also being paid by the US government, or anyone else, to agree with me even though you are a liberal, you are Cuban and know more than him about what is really happening in Cuba.

[edit on 22-12-2005 by Muaddib]

Hee hee hee....WHERE IS THE MONEY? Am i being cheated?
John, Muaddib knows what he is talking about. Trust me.