Peter Anthony Tariche, Staff Writer
I remember asking my grandfather when I was only eleven years old about his life growing up as a child. He immediately started crying and in his broken English, painfully described to me his hardships of starting to work at age eight, watching his mother tragically die in front of him and undergoing both the dictatorships of Fulgencio Batista and Fidel Castro in Cuba. But it was Fidel Castro who made a lasting impact on his entire life. Castro single-handedly displaced many Cuban families (including mine), violated many human rights, and executed many for their beliefs. As a result, many Cubans left their beloved homeland for a better life for their children.
So its no wonder that every time I hear the American left praise Fidel Castro, I’m left in utter awe. Some of these popular figures include Michael Moore and Congresswoman Diane Watson, both of which have continued to praise Castro’s dictatorships for its many so-called successes such as free universal “healthcare”and free universal “education” that has put Cuba on the map for its highest literacy rate. Whatever the reasons these pop figures seem to connect to their idolization for the Castro regime, they all seem to be sugarcoated and more importantly agenda driven. That leaves me with one question: What kind of world do we live in that a dictator is praised after he has displaced millions of Cubans and murdered ten’s of thousands of people? The actions of Castro and of other totalitarian dictators around the world are unjustifiable by all means! And its even more unacceptable, when Castro’s regime is a total myth, and yet still justified by the left!
One Canadian newspaper, The National Post, writes that Cuban “Hospitals are falling apart, surgeons lack basic supplies and must reuse latex gloves. Patients must buy their sutures on the black market and provide bed sheets and food for extended hospital stays.” However this information has yet to stop the left from justifying Castro’s “excellent” healthcare system. Many state Cuba lacks many of these pharmaceutical and medical materials because of the United States embargo placed on Cuba – another myth. According to Reuters in 2009 “nickel accounted for the 39 percent of exports, oil for 22 percent and pharmaceuticals 9 percent, followed by sugar and tobacco products each at 6 percent and other products 18 percent.” Did you just read that right? Cuba’s third export of pharmaceuticals! And guess what? The United States, despite continuing its economic embargo with Cuba, is the fifth largest exporter to Cuba. Moreover, almost every other country in the world disregards the the embargo and still trades with Cuba.
And what about Cuba’s “Free Education?” This is but another lie by the Cuban Regime! Cuba is not exempt from the famous saying that “There’s no such thing as a free lunch.” Although you could call Cuba’s education “free” if being sent to labor camps to work in the sugar plantations and tobacco fields is the cost. Not to mention that if you hope to receive a higher education in Cuba then you must be a member of the Cuban Communist Party and participate in Cuba’s Young Pioneer program. That only leaves me with Cuba’s Literacy rate. Prior to the Castro regime, Cuba’s literacy rate was already the highest growing in all of Latin America, with pre-revolution levels already at 80% in the 1950s! This is an extremely high number considering the remoteness of many parts of the country at that time.
So wake up leftists!!! Cuba is not a glorious socialist revolution as you have claimed! Cuba’s revolution primarily was motivated and followed by those who wished to re-institute the 1940 Cuban Constitution and re-establish democracy, not what it has turned out to be: an oppressive socialist disaster. The revolution was even fought and paid for by the Cuban middle class! In his own famous words said in 1959 (before his revolution), Castro deceived the country by saying “I am not a communist and neither is the revolutionary movement.” This proves that Fidel Castro and his socialist regime has been a lie and will always be one! Behind the pretty colors and the light shows that leftist teachers and politicians have presented you, the harsh reality is that Cuba is far from paradise. So go ahead be my guest. Take the next raft out to Cuba with Michael Moore to see for yourself, that is… if you don’t sink.
