U.S. Concessions on Cuba must be Thought-out Carefully
By Jerry Brewer
As former President Fidel Castro once again emerges as Cuba's moral
international spokesperson, it is important to ask and know if he truly
speaks on behalf of the Cuban people? U.S. President Barack Obama is
believed to be preparing to ease travel restrictions to Cuba, and
perhaps yield on other U.S. and Cuba conflicting issues.
Lifting the decades-old trade embargo, addressing the U.S. presence at
Guantanamo, and answering those who continue to charge "misguided Cold
War policies toward Cuba," should lead strategic think tanks and those
researchers with a hunger for accurate facts, to closely examine the
voluminous transcripts of Fidel Castro's words. Too, they must not
ignore or forget the true actions of Castro's dictatorial regime that
appear to live on.
Fidel Castro's alliances and nexus of revolution that he shares with
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez strongly continue. The venomous hatred
of the U.S. and their well-documented meddling in the political affairs
of those Latin American nations struggling to maintain democracy and
fight organized criminal insurgents with little resources, indicate a
complete disregard for human rights.
As Hugo Chavez was confronted directly with evidence of the Fuerzas
Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia (FARC) on Venezuelan soil, and with
Colombia's documented evidence of Chavez and Ecuadorian President Rafael
Correa's support of the FARC guerrillas, Fidel Castro put on his
olive-green fatigues and paraded to the world podium of words.
Castro began his rhetoric claiming nuclear war by the "U.S. Empire"
against Iran and North Korea was upon us. He expressed concern to keep
"U.S. children and youths from being harmed" by a U.S. launched nuclear
war against Iran. Both Iran and North Korea are countries which Castro
and Chavez strongly support, while too welcoming their diplomats to Cuba
and Venezuela.
In the second part of Castro's "Reflection" that is entitled "Global
Governance," Castro said, "It's terrible to think that the minds and
feelings of American children and youths will be mutilated by wars. We
must fight now to keep those young people [from being] taken into a
nuclear holocaust, to maintain as much as possible their physical and
mental health, and to create ways in which human beings can be liberated
from this terrible fate."
An incredibly heady statement for a dictator, given his tenure over a
much suffering Cuban people.
Castro's foreign policies have included the support of revolutionary
groups in Nicaragua, Bolivia, El Salvador, and ultimately Hugo Chavez's
Venezuela. In October 1973, Castro deployed thousands of Cuban soldiers
to fight against Israel alongside the Syrians during the Yom Kippur War.
Hundreds of Palestinians were believed to have received military
training in Cuba. All of the Cuban revolutions against democratic U.S.
allies have cost the Cuban people a quality of life so richly deserved.
Who is to blame?
Fidel Castro said that he knew of no solution for the financial crisis
in Cuba, but he told the people not to surrender to a capitalist system,
as riots of desperation by the Cuban people broke out in Havana due to
his misguided management and poor leadership. He did allow many to
exile. However, he chose not to impose freedom to his people or free
elections, and he continued a lengthy record of human rights abuses.
In lieu of political concessions to appease and feed a hungry nation,
and to survive beyond poverty, Castro's will forced him to turn to Hugo
Chavez and Chavez's generous Venezuelan petroleum wealth. In exchange
Castro has provided what he deems a most important asset — his Cuban
intelligence service and other military advisors for Chavez's Bolivarian
Revolution.
Corruption and malfeasance within Chavez's administration, as well as
massive spending on arms, military ordnance and political gifts, have
forced a former wealthy nation into dire economic situations in
providing food, electricity, and other necessary items for the
Venezuelan people. Venezuela has turned to China in an attempt to save
the the nation from more impending economic disasters.
As Cuba and Latin America's leftist regimes continue their efforts to
prevent the U.S. from assisting its democratic neighbors with drug
interdiction, and in the fight against transnational criminal
insurgencies — violence and deaths continue to soar. In Venezuela
alone, reports indicate a murder rate of 220 per 100,000 people. This
is a higher rate than Mexico's Ciudad Juarez.
Indeed, Caracas may currently be the most violent city in the world.
The U.S. must remember that Cold War espionage against us, by Cuba, is
still alive and well. Too, the Guantanamo base remains a strategic
observation hub for Caribbean activities that potentially threaten free
people within this hemisphere. And it is clear Fidel Castro wants us out.
President Obama holds the cards. To free the Cuban people is a decision
of the Castro regime.
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Jerry Brewer is C.E.O. of Criminal Justice International Associates, a
global risk mitigation firm headquartered in Miami, Florida. His
website is located at www.cjiausa.org.
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