Fidel Castro, long suspected dead by anyone with any insight into world politics, is stepping down. In the place of one brutal dictator that Hollywood fawns over and sucks up to will be the brother of the brutal dictator that Hollywood fawns over and sucks up to. Not much is going to change in Cuba. The people will still be poor, oppressed, and mistreated, and the Castro family will live like kings on their stacks of US Dollars all over the island.
In fact, Cuba has shopping malls where the only currency accepted at all is the US Dollar. Think about that. A country we can’t legally trade with prefers our currency to their own in a shopping mall.
Since Fidel Castro has taken control of Cuba, and the United States started its embargo, Cuba has fallen into disarray. Part of it is related to the fact that Fidel Castro is a brutal bastard who holds his power by maintaining an insane level of fear in his people. Part of it is that the tourism business that was fostered by being a few mere miles off the coast of Florida is now dead. Part of it is that, despite all logic, the US continues to keep this embargo going.
In China, journalists are regularly “disappeared” for writing anti government articles or postings on websites. In Saudi Arabia, women are stoned if they’re the victims of rape (this happens in other “friendly” countries like Pakistan as well). Russia continually strikes back at “separatists” with brutal and complete dominating force and with little regard for the human rights issues involved. Mexico’s prisons are some of the worst and most dangerous in the world. Indonesia is a country that’s so brimming with hatred that when their country was under 10 feet of water from the Tsunami, they wouldn’t accept money and medical aid from Israel. Today, George W. Bush’s White House announced that we’ll be increasing aid to Gaza and the West Bank, parts of the Middle East that are controlled by an elected terrorist government.
It defies logic that when taken into account all those facts that we choose to not do business with Cuba over its human rights record or the fact that their government is run by a brutal dictator. The idea that a brutal dictator like Castro is no good to do business with while a brutal government like Hamas is okay to talk to and send aid to is something we really need to reconcile.
As we stand on our high horse, Cuba is dying. Oh sure, you’ll never hear that from the media; they love Castro and love portraying him as a strong leader with a great literacy rate and free healthcare for all his people, but the truth is the truth. Cuba’s economy would get an instant boost from increased tourism from the United States. This is indisputable. The infusion of money into small merchants and shop owners would lift the economy up in a profound way. That is also indisputable.
Holding on to this embargo is accomplishing nothing. The Castros will never step down. The Cuban people are suffering and poor. In the meantime, we still deal with dictators and despots on a regular basis while chastising the Cuban government for being the same.
If that makes sense to you, then so be it, but that, to me, sounds more than a tad hypocritical.
It’s time to end the embargo and stop punishing the Cuban people.