Fidel Castro, the camaleon...

[El_Jibaro]

[i]The Strategy Behind Castro's Charm Offensive

Carlos Alberto Montaner
The Wall Street Jorunal, March 8, 2002

Fidel Castro is behaving as if a friendly space alien has taken over his body. He's making amicable gestures toward the U. S. He pays for imports with cash. He condemns terrorism. He accepts that Taliban and the Al Qaeda prisoners are to be kept at Guantanamo. He says he's ready to discuss shared immigration problems with Washington and he offers his cooperation on drug-trafficking issues.

The same guy who, just a few weeks before Sept. 11, toured radical Islamic countries boasting, as he did at the University of Tehran, that "Iran and Cuba could bring the United States to its knees," has adopted a new posture. Suddenly, this old, unrelenting enemy seems docile and obliging.

Three factors are driving the attitude adjustment. First, the health of El Comandante has deteriorated quickly. There is speculation that he will not live more than a year, two years at most. Second, the ailing economy is in crisis. And third, Castro and the governing elite reckon that the only way to keep the dictatorship alive, without making amendments that would endanger the authority of Fidel's successors, is to begin economic reconciliation with Washington while the old man lives. Ergo, a strategy designed to win sympathy in the U.S. so that Mr. Bush will be pressured into changing U.S. policy toward Cuba.

It is a brilliant ploy. Keep in mind that Cuba appears on the State Department's list of "terrorist" countries. If the conservative Bush administration in the middle of its war against the "axis of evil" begins to find common ground with Havana, it will help Castro in several ways. Cubans will get the message that the U.S. has no material objection to the dictatorship. Castro's heirs will understand that good relations with the U.S. do not require a transition toward freedom.

This will be devastating not only to dissidents and political prisoners who will see their hopes for freedom dashed, but also for the reformers inside the government who for now must hold their tongues. They would be condemned to silence. Foreign governments will read the message as U.S. indifference toward their own friendlier policies toward Cuba. In Latin America this will signal a return to the Cold War U.S. policy of "benign neglect" toward dictatorships. Such an impression would be dangerous on a continent with a history of military coups.

Castro is well aware that there's been a total loss of faith in his regime among members of the country's ruling class. He also knows that there is an absolute disbelief in Cuban communism. Some of his own children, grandchildren, and nephews have fled the country in recent years, and it is well known that many others -- relatives of his ministers and generals -- also want to leave. They sense that they are experiencing the last moments of the regime. With good reason they believe that the minute Castro disappears, the power structure will tremble and repressed ambitions will erupt.

The reaction to such uncertainty from abroad could be catastrophic for Castro's intended successors. Investors and financiers would likely cease operations and wait to see what happens. Visitors, except for journalists, would eschew trips to Cuba, preferring to tan themselves in one of the twenty other Caribbean countries. Western governments would adopt a studied detachment while they wait for the transformation. Castro's death would be a catalyst for change, as Franco's was in Spain and as occurred all over Eastern Europe. The resulting paralysis will exacerbate the internal crisis, until it becomes clear that democratic transition is the only alternative.

Unless, of course, the U.S. decides to give Castro a final embrace on his deathbed. That would facilitate the power succession to his brother Raul and revitalize a regime that has withered with its leader. The danger of this outcome is real.

Sen. Bryan Dorgan (D., N.D.) and other members of the U.S. Congress, Democrats and Republicans alike, have said that a policy failing to accomplish its goal after four decades should be modified. It's a beguiling argument. Yet Truman's 1947 policy of containment toward communism did not bear fruit until the Berlin Wall collapsed in 1989 . If President Reagan had not stood firm against the Soviets, something many allies disliked, it is possible that the USSR would still exist.

No one knows the exact moment a sound political strategy will meet its objective. But it seems clear that changing Cuba policy now, when Castro's death is near, would be counterproductive. A better approach would be to take up the 1997 Clinton initiative, which promised Cubans generous aid as soon as a transition to democracy began. Mr. Bush could promote this idea and explain to Cubans that the U.S. will reserve reconciliation for the moment after the death of El Comandante, when the changes begin.

The U.S. needs a coherent terrorism policy. It makes little sense to condemn terrorist states 10,000 miles away while encouraging one 90 miles offshore. Nor can the U.S. ignore the statements made by former Soviet colonel Ken Alibek, who was once in charge of Soviet biological weapons production. In his book "Biohazard" (Random House, NY, 1999) he says he believes that in the 1980s, Cuba, with the help of USSR, created a laboratory to produce this type of weapon of mass destruction.

Other anti-terrorism policy concerns deserve attention as well. It's absurd to expect the defeat of Colombia's communist narco-guerrillas while simultaneously improving relations with a government that for decades has nourished them. Cuba still serves as a refuge for the rebels, for the assassins of Chilean senator Jaime Guzman and for Basque ETA terrorists.

U.S. policy toward Cuba is a matter of patience. Acting rashly now could unnecessarily prolong the agony of the Cuban people and give new life to an enemy of the U.S. that is close to its natural demise.

--------------------------------
Mr. Montaner is a writer and syndicated columnist. His most recent books include "Journey to the Heart of Cuba," Algora Publishing, New York, 2001 and "The Twisted Roots of Latin America," Plaza and Janés, Barcelona, 2001.[b]

[El_Jibaro]

[i]ADV: CUBA – OUR TERRORIST NEIGHBOR TO THE SOUTH
Jerome C. Arnett Jr., M.D.
Tuesday, April 2, 2002

Ninety miles from our southern border, one of the world's wealthiest men (worth $1.4 billion, according to Forbes magazine) lives like a king, while his subjects, the Cuban people, live in abject poverty, facing chronic shortages of even the most basic commodities such as food, medicine, clothing and housing, writes Miguel A. Faria Jr., M.D., in his newly released book, "Cuba in Revolution – Escape From a Lost Paradise." (1)

Fidel Castro, the longest-ruling Marxist dictator in history, runs an island prison without an exit, a brutal repressive police state where individual rights are non-existent. Cuba now has over 300 prisons (up from 11 under Batista).

More than 20,000 Cubans have been murdered and more than 500,000 jailed. More than one-sixth of the population – 2 million people – have fled the island, with three-fourths perishing at sea. Child abuse, political incarcerations, torture and murder are rampant, as Faria points out and documents in his book.

The Cuban version of Big Brother, the thought police (or DGI), commits unspeakable torture both in the Havana Psychiatric Hospital and in Cuba's prisons.

In spite of massive Soviet aid ( up to $16.5 million per day), Cuba went bankrupt in 1986. Its economy worsened after the fall of the Soviet Union, and in 1997-98, the sugar harvest was the worst in over 50 years. The basic necessities of life had to be rationed.

Since the 1990s, Cuba's health care system – once one of the best in the Western Hemisphere – has been in shambles. Cuba's homicide rate is higher than ours, its suicide rate is triple ours, and its maternal mortality is four times ours. Its two classes of patients – the privileged communist elite and the "liborio," or working class – receive different levels of health care.

Castro's hatred for the U.S. and our way of life have been well documented. Since the 1966 Tri-Continental Conference of World Revolutionary Groups, held in Havana and attended by more than 500 delegates from terrorist and leftist groups, Castro has used cocaine trafficking as an instrument of war.

During the 1962 missile crisis he asked Khrushchev to launch a nuclear attack against the U.S., and during the Vietnam War he sent agents to Hanoi to torture U.S. POWs. Many U.S. criminals sheltered in Cuba are on the FBI's most-wanted list, including 66 violent hijackers, murderers and terrorists.

But Castro's support for international terrorism is not as widely recognized. He has trained and supported terrorists from Spain, Ireland, Colombia and Puerto Rico, and from the PLO.

Just last year, in an effort to forge an "anti-Western" front with terrorist states, he went on a tour of Algeria, Iran, Syria and Libya, when he met with Iranian president Mohammad Khatami, Syrian president Al Assad and Libyan strongman Muammar Qaddafi.

In fact, he made six trips to Libya last year and Qaddafi presented him with a "human rights" medal. In Iran, speaking at Tehran University, he announced, "The imperialist king will finally fall," to thunderous applause from students and faculty.

Cuba has an active bioweapons program, in collaboration with Iran. The CIA has found that Castro's pet genetic and biotechnology industry is a cover for developing biological weapons.

Cuban research has been centered on developing virus strains, which can be inoculated in migratory birds, such as the SV 1417 strain of the West Nile virus, which appeared mysteriously for the first time in the Western Hemisphere in New York, and which more recently has been found in Baltimore, Washington, D.C., Georgia, and northern Florida.

Cuba's study of migratory birds has been funded in part by the American Museum of Natural History, by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, by the Audubon Society and by a group supported by the MacArthur Foundation.

Even more shocking than this is the fact that our liberal politicians and national news media over the years consistently have supported Castro. Faria notes how such well-known reporters as Diane Sawyer, Peter Jennings, Dan Rather and Barbara Walters fawn over Castro and, by distorting and twisting news reports, hide the truth from American citizens.

Under President Bush's war on terrorism, should they be considered accomplices?

If the U.S. is serious about its new war on terrorism, it must come to grips with the threat posed by Castro. The enemy is a mere 90 miles south of Key West, not on the other side of the world. We continue to ignore Cuba, an active terrorist state, at our own peril.


***
Jerome C. Arnett Jr., M.D.
605 North Ave.
Elkins, WV 26241
TEL: (304) 636-8416

Dr. Jerome C. Arnett Jr. is a member of the Editorial Board of the Medical Sentinel, a medical ethicist, and a practicing pulmonologist in Elkins, W.V.

References

1. Faria MA Jr. Cuba in Revolution – Escape From a Lost Paradise. Macon, GA, Hacienda Publishing Inc., 2002, http://www.haciendapub.com .[b]

[yautiawoman2]

[quote]Originally posted by El_Jibaro
re the terrorist: USA – OUR TERRORIST NEIGHBOR TO THE NORTH

Cuba y Puerto Rico son dos alas de un mismo pajaro, y tu mi pana eres de otro pajaro, y ni siquierea sus alas. A ti en Gringolandia te tratarian como un mime. Bajate de esa nuve y ven aqui a la realidad.

On April 13th The navy attacked the civil communities of Vieques. On that day, in the early morning, military personnel cut the Navy fence and entered into the civilian neighborhood of Monte Carmelo. The military personnel threw incendiary devices and tear gas which resulted in large fires in many locations, on the Puerto Rican side, not on the Military Installation. At about 12:30 PM on the 13th of April, 2002, a white military pickup truck passed along the military road inside the fence and immediately thereafter a fire raged in the yard of a private home adjacent to the military fence. The Municipal Fire Department arrived to extinguish the fire. Because the land continues to smolder in this yard, this home and many othera are endangered of being destroyed.

Municipal ambulances and other vehicles were called to treat those affected by the fires.

Yes my Jibaro entregao, your friends, the USA Military are the terroritst! Basta Ya! Paz pa Vieques! Yautia

[El_Jibaro]

Originally posted by yautiawoman2
re the terrorist: USA – OUR TERRORIST NEIGHBOR TO THE NORTH

Cuba y Puerto Rico son dos alas de un mismo pajaro, y tu mi pana eres de otro pajaro, y ni siquierea sus alas. A ti en Gringolandia te tratarian como un mime. Bajate de esa nuve y ven aqui a la realidad.

On April 13th The navy attacked the civil communities of Vieques. On that day, in the early morning, military personnel cut the Navy fence and entered into the civilian neighborhood of Monte Carmelo. The military personnel threw incendiary devices and tear gas which resulted in large fires in many locations, on the Puerto Rican side, not on the Military Installation. At about 12:30 PM on the 13th of April, 2002, a white military pickup truck passed along the military road inside the fence and immediately thereafter a fire raged in the yard of a private home adjacent to the military fence. The Municipal Fire Department arrived to extinguish the fire. Because the land continues to smolder in this yard, this home and many othera are endangered of being destroyed.

Municipal ambulances and other vehicles were called to treat those affected by the fires.

Yes my Jibaro entregao, your friends, the USA Military are the terroritst! Basta Ya! Paz pa Vieques! Yautia

[b][i]Hey, you just validated my assertion that most independentistas are just robots on remote control from Fidel Castro in Cuba ...