Nostalgia in Cuba

Nostalgia in Cuba

By Robert T. McLean
FrontPageMagazine.com
Infosearch:
José Cadenas
Bureau Chief
USA
Research Dept.
La Nueva Cuba
February 11, 2006

Fidel Castro must feel that he has returned to his golden age. Latin
America’s tilt to the left has left the Cuban dictator in a position he
could only dream of a decade or two ago. Thanks in large part to the oil
wealth from Venezuela fueling socialist policies throughout the region,
Castro is once again in the position to actually play a considerable
role in shaping events in Latin America and beyond.

The prevailing sentiment in Havana’s propaganda machine is that the
revolution is alive and well. In fact, so much so that Cuba’s official
news service Prensa Latina entitled a recent piece “Latin America
Winning 7-0.” The work proclaims: “The United States, the European Union
and the international financial institutions are watching their economic
order being bashed in Latin America, where popular sectors are having
their demands met for the first time.” The report goes on to state that
Venezuela, Bolivia, Argentina, Brazil, and Chile are leading a
continental revolution against the unjust fiscal policies of the United
States. Naturally, “great strides” have been made and “social justice”
has emerged in the absence of any of the usual interference from the
Northern Colossus.

The economic performance of Cuba, however, remains dependent on foreign
subsidies. Take, for example, the words of Cuba’s official news agency’s
optimism for a prosperous 2006: “Cubans celebrated the arrival of the
New Year … hoping the recovery of the national economy and overall boost
given by Venezuela and China to the island make their lives better.”
Isn’t it anomalous that after nearly half a century of socialist rule
that the Castro regime still relies on outside actors to bailout its
stagnant planned economy?

Nevertheless, too a degree, Castro’s nostalgic ambitions to reclaim the
clout attained after the Cuban Revolution – and the subsequent
realization of the communist bridgehead in the Western Hemisphere – are
being fulfilled. Whereas just a few years ago Castro was tumbling off
stages following his irrelevant tirades, he now appears to be in firm
command of an ambitious agenda. The “Maximum Leader” is pulling no punches.

In a recent speech in Cuba’s Jose Marti Anti-Imperialist Plaza, the
Cuban dictator proclaimed George W. Bush to be “an out-of-control
lunatic” more sinister than Hitler. “Hitler looked for pretexts,” Castro
announced, “but Bush attacks with more audacity and a far greater
arsenal; he is a nut and the world is running a real risk. Only truth
will save this species.”

But is it truth that Castro is looking for? Fine, perhaps he can start
saving the species by allowing a minimal degree of freedom of expression
in his own revolutionary paradise. Let’s just examine a few recent
examples from the last week or so.

Late last month the United States Interest Section in Cuba devised an
innovative plan to facilitate open debate. They decided to erect a news
ticker on their building in Havana that would provide an alternative
source of news to the citizens of Cuba. The U.S. Interest Section made
it a point that the United States does not censor news as even stories
critical or unflattering of American actions made their presence on the
wire. However, messages of human freedom have also been frequently
displayed. Abraham Lincoln, Lech Walesa, and Jose Marti – the Cuban hero
who was martyred in 1895 during Cuba’s War for Independence against the
Spanish – are just some of the examples of the originators of quotes
furthering liberty that were featured.

However, Castro did not seem interested in the truth in this instance
and called the news ticker an “outrageous act.” An American diplomat
correctly identified to ABC News that “[o]nly a dictator would be
upset.” This dictator was more than upset. As a Washington Times
editorial noted, the Maximum Leader promptly ordered the obstruction of
the news with Cuban flags littering the view of the ticker. By February
7, 138 black flags with white stars were flying in front of the ticker
with the number chosen to match that of the Cubans supposedly by the
United States since the 1959 revolution.

Another attempt to bring truth and transparency to Cuba resulted in the
arrest of two foreign supermodels who happened to shoot a few photos of
Cuban slums. Czech model Helena Houdova and psychologist – also a model
– Mariana Kroftova were detained by the Cuban secret police without
access to Czech embassy officials in the county. As Cuba’s Charge d’
Affaires Aymee Hernandez explained, the two were arrested for
cooperating with Cuban dissidents in waging a campaign against the Cuban
government. According to the Czech News Agency, the two women “were
released after they pledged in writing that they would not join any
‘counter-revolutionary activities’ in the country.” Nonetheless, the
secret police maintained surveillance on the women until they left the
island.

These examples of the duplicity of Castro’s government are only the
latest. In this instance, the past need not be reexamined as the
nefarious nature of the Castro regime has been more than adequately
illustrated on these pages in the past. However, Cuba’s reemergence as a
hemispheric player, and indeed a word player, cannot go unnoticed.

On February 3, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez visited Cuba to receive
his International Jose Marti Award. Whether it should be a surprise or
not depends on one’s already existing view of the United Nations, but
this award was in fact created by the UN Educational, Scientific, and
Cultural Organization in 1994 at the request of Havana. The verity that
Fidel Castro is honoring Hugo Chavez with this award probably matters
little to many within the UN. Nevertheless, this does more than
illustrate the strategic geopolitical difficulties the United States
faces at a time of moral relativism and international consensus – i.e.
the containment of the United States – in the global community.

At a recent gathering of many of those in the international community,
the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) had to make a choice of
whether to refer the Islamic Republic of Iran to the United Nations
Security Council. The only three countries to vote in opposition to the
referral were two of the three members of Latin America’s Axis of
Socialism in Cuba and Venezuela, and the state sponsor of terror in
Bashar al-Assad’s Syria.

As was noted by the British Broadcasting Corporation, shortly following
the vote, Iranian President Mahmud Ahmadinejad thanked Cuban Foreign
Minister Felipe Perez Roque – who happened to be visiting Tehran at the
time – for displaying that “there is no consensus about Western states
allegations against Iran.” The Cuban foreign minister reciprocated by
proclaiming that “Cuba admires Iranian strong determination to defend
its rights” and defended his country’s choice to support the Iranian
nuclear program. Perez Roque also invited Ahmadinejad to attend the
Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) summit set to be hosted by the Cubans in
September.

Castro is once again finding that rogue regimes across the world with
substandard relations with the United States are prime candidates to
extend his influence. And his government’s support of Iran is only one
example. Prior to arriving in Tehran, Perez Roque’s trip to gain support
for the NAM summit also landed him in the failed and repressive state of
Zimbabwe. Accompanying the foreign minister was a personal note from
Castro to President Robert Mugabe inviting the horrid leader to attend
the NAM summit in Cuba. An additional item topping the agenda in Harare
was the possible gifting to President Mugabe of an advisory role in the
organization.

Although Malaysia – the current chair of NAM – has sought to reassure
concerned parties that it sees no cause for alarm that Havana will
assume chairmanship in September, their reasoning is less than
persuasive. The Malaysian analysis is that countries such as the United
States should rest assured that the Cuban leadership will be responsible
as it has held the post once before, beginning in 1979. The problem is
that it was at exactly this time that Castro became reenergized about
his standing in the global arena and optimistic over possibilities for
the revolution to spread throughout Central America.

Christopher Andrew and Vasili Mitrokhin, the authors of the recent book
The World Was Going Our Way: The KGB and the Battle for the Third World,
note in that comprehensive work: “For Fidel Castro 1979 was a year of
both economic failure and international triumph.” Despite Cuba’s
struggling economy – vastly supported by the Soviet Union – the Maximum
Leader “seemed more interested by increasing international recognition
of his role on the world stage, newly signaled by his election as
Chairman of the Non-Alignment Movement.” Successes in Angola and
Ethiopia in Africa and Granada and Nicaragua in Latin America emboldened
Castro to reach for further socialist victories in El Salvador,
Guatemala, and Honduras. It is hard not to notice similarities to recent
events with Venezuela and Bolivia firmly in the Cuban camp, socialists
winning in places such as Chile, and Havana back in the driver’s seat of
the Non-Aligned Movement.

Cuba’s communist dictatorship yearns for nothing more than the return to
their glory days where their longtime identity was that of the thorn in
the side to the United States. The political situation in Latin America
has provided Fidel Castro with hope. The regime is just as repressive as
ever and its ambitions are equally as bold. The last time Castro was
flying this high the United States was forced to send troops to Granada
and the Iran-Contra Affair emerged to embarrass the Reagan
administration. Here’s to hoping our current leadership will be just as
adept at handling Cuba and the situation in Latin America as the Reagan
administration turned out to be.

http://www.lanuevacuba.com/nuevacuba/notic-06-02-1121.htm