Another annotated article....
A friend just sent me a copy of an article by Otto Reich, "Funeral for a Tyrant" which he published on NRO, and which I feel deserves a few marginal notes in order to set the record straight.
Mr. Reich doesn't need an introduction, since he was one of the top policy advisors for President Bush regarding Cuba and Latin America.
Funeral for a Tyrant
A morally disorienting gathering in Havana.
By Otto J. Reich
This time the rumors are real: Castro is dying of stomach cancer. He may have already died, even before the funeral preparations were finished, so the news is not out. Confirmation of the terminal illness comes from the usual sources but in a non-conventional manner. The Cuban government has been summoning to Havana representatives of the major international media to negotiate the best seats, camera angles, and interviews with the despot’s political survivors, and to inform them of the ground rules for coverage of the state funeral.
Our sources in Havana report the gathering of some Colombian terrorists for peace talks. No Evo, no Chavez, and no Lula. Our sources who are connected to the MSM in Havana are telling us that the American outfits with whom they have professional contact are in the dark. The only ones who were, are and will be in the know are the upper echelon of the Party, the Cuban Armed Forces Protocol Unit (they perform in every parade and ceremony, including big bang commie honchos funerals) and of course el Granma.
The foreign media are being told that the model for Castro’s funeral is that of Pope John Paul II a year ago. (Mr Reich, please, the lyturgy is not Catholic, it's communist, the models are the ones set by the old school soviet funerals, give me a break with that one!) The Cubans actually believe — or pretend — that the death of a tyrant deserves the same attention as that of the world’s great men of peace. This is a very insulting generalization. Mr Reich actually mistakes the Cuban people for the file and rank of the communist party. Again, they are giving kasstro's death the importance the Soviets gave to the deaths of Lenin and Stalin, or the Commies in China to Mao's, or the Commies in Viet Nam to Ho Chi Mihn's, but the comparison with the Pope is just off track. Why? because kasstro thought that he was more important than the Pope, he thinks of himself as a Hitler, Mussolini or Lenin, he thought of himself as much more important than Stalin.
This is one of Castro’s lasting legacies to his countrymen: moral disorientation.
The Cuban ruling class has been so isolated from reality for so long by fear and Castro’s airtight press control that they equate the burial of a mass murderer with that of a prince of the Church.
No, they are not disconnected from reality, the Communist Party in Cuba created a reality, in which they are the ones who repress the rest of the population.
No doubt there will be “dignitaries” at the funeral: fellow revolutionary leaders from the last repressive regimes on Earth: Iran, North Korea, Syria, and Sudan, for example; and leaders of failed states like Zimbabwe and Bolivia; and representatives of the world’s resentful Left and the Hollywood Left (pardon the redundancy).
Some examples of distinguished invitees will include terrorists whose organizations once instilled panic in entire populations but are now forgotten except to their victims. Many of them were trained in Cuban camps back when Castro called for world revolution and predicted he would outlive capitalism: Argentine Montoneros, Uruguayan Tupamaros, Nicaraguan Sandinistas, Salvadorean FMLN, Colombian ELN, MIR, FARC, and others; Chileans, Brazilians, Guatemalans, Angolans, Ethiopians, Palestinians, Syrians, even Vietnamese. The list is virtually endless. I think that it will be more of a nationalistic pride affair, imagine the funeral of Hitler if he had passed away on his bed at old age. The majority of those people are most likely not going to be invited because, hello Mr. Reich, the powers to be in Cuba are looking to ingratiate themselves with the U.S. of A. Maybe they invite a few heads of State terrorists and non-terrorists, and that will be it, they are more interested in inviting those who can give them a leverage, so maybe we will be seeing some Western world leaders, who are also interested in attending because they are the ones who are the contenders for the pieces of the pie in a free Cuba. Offer and demand, the universal rule.
Not long ago, Castro himself admitted publicly to having “supported wars of national liberation in every country in this hemisphere with the exception of Mexico”. I believe everything except the exception; his hand has been present in much of Mexico’s violence as well. (Mexico has been kasstro's accomplice since day one, and he has done damage in Mexico with the complicity of both their goverment and the oposition) One security problem the Cubans (it's not the Cuban people, it's the Cuban government they are not exchangeable terms, for Godsakes! it gives the impression that the Cuban people supports the tyranny!) will face is that some of the “revolutionaries” who they trained in techniques of assassination, torture, kidnapping, bank robbery, explosives, and other tricks of the trade now hate each other and may use the occasion to settle old debts. The explosions heard in Havana may come not only from ceremonial cannons. The guests will have to be carefully screened for poisoned-tipped umbrellas and other Cold War artifacts.
Mr. Reich, slow with this one please! This is not a movie, those people are not going to go to Havana to wage a war against each other. I don't know how far removed are you from the real happenings of Cuba, but do you seriously think that the commies at the helm in Havana will allow this gaggle of idiots to show up with full body armor and weaponry? Are you reading too much Spy Vs. Spy?
If that were the case, maybe you can talk the government of the U.S. into firing a few missiles into that awful bunch. And the tyranny will end right there for good, and by killing all those terrorists the world would be a better place, but you don't seem to eager to do that....
Among the guests coming to Havana for the Third-World Burial of the Century (maybe not that different from Peron's funeral, now that I think about it) will be Western capitalists anxious to see how they can exploit Cuban workers, who are assigned to the employer by a Cuban state entity which then collects the salary and delivers five percent — yes, five percent — to the worker and keeps the rest to pay for the expenses incurred by the generous socialist state. (as an American "entrepeneur" eager to make a buck in Cuba told me once -in Cuba- "I don't run a charity here") There will be the bottom feeders of the capitalist world willing to go anywhere or do anything for the Almighty euro (Are you forgetting the Almighty dollar of the American agrobusiness and pharmabusiness? Why?) or peso. You know the ones, those who have given capitalism a bad name, the exploitation of man by man, and whose example is in turn used by the revolutionaries against the good capitalists. (Maybe you will see there some of the Governors of the 34 States who trade openly and legally with kasstro, as well) There will recognizable faces of American and other TV, oblivious to the irony of “covering” a press event orchestrated by a government which has not allowed a single free or independent newspaper, magazine, radio or television station for almost five decades. (don't forget that the New York Times practically invented fidel kasstro)
Caught up in the spectacle of the funeral, the smiley faces of the free world’s morning shows, the “serious” news readers of evening newscasts, of 24-hour news channels and “prestige press” will unlikely mention the “Ley Mordaza” (literally muzzle law), law number 88 of 1998, which calls for penalties of up to 30 years in prison for any Cuban caught telling the foreign press of any flaw in Cuba’s economic or human-rights record. (and still balseros are being sent back to Cuba, even today, by the present government) It is unlikely they will ask to interview the prisoners who have violated Castro’s Orwellian laws and are serving terms of as much as 27 years for committing journalism without a license or stating that the economy does not produce enough to feed the people.There may be international labor leaders in attendance, who will equally disregard the absence of any but the official Cuban Communist labor organization. (most of those labor organizations around the world are from the left, remember that detail?) Not wishing to offend their hosts, they will not mention the Castro law which condemns to eight years in prison anyone guilty of even attempting to establish a non-government labor union. On second thought: Why should they mention it now, when they have been silent for so many decades? Some of those leaders present may even be government officials from democratic states, having been elected in free elections such as the ones which disappeared in Cuba half a century ago. That irony will escape them also. Then there will be some genuinely elected Christian or social democrats, from Europe and Latin America. (I already said that they will be there trying to get a participation in partition of the goods of a free Cuba)
Those who have been silent about, and therefore complicit in, the longest dictatorship in this hemisphere’s history. (in your description, you don't give any signals or hints of believing that the dictatorship will one day end) A wise man once said that “All it takes for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing.” The history of Cuba in the past 50 years proves him right. — Yes, especially when the air cover and support for the 2506 was denied by an American president. Also, when the fighters of the Escambray were abandoned, and when many blunders have been commited. Also, when the U.S.A. returned Elian, when 4 Cuban Americans were shot over the Florida Straits, and when the balseros are returned to Cuba. That's what Evil triumphed in Cuba, Mr. Reich, because nothing has been done. Because the Left in this country has dictated the policy towards Cuba and because the malice of Bill Clinton and the lack of resolve of George W. and due also to the fact that Cuba is the last of priorities, we better go to the other end of the world, but we don't do jack about Cuba. Because, as you well know, a free Cuba will destabilize the economics of the region.
Otto J. Reich served President Bush from 2001 to 2004, first as assistant secretary of state for the Western Hemisphere and later in the National Security Council. He now heads his own international government-relations firm in Washington. (There's not a single word in this article on how to help the Cuban people to break the cycle of opression or on how to break free from the system that exploits them, no wonder there are so many failures in the policies against the tyranny!)
Mr. Reich doesn't need an introduction, since he was one of the top policy advisors for President Bush regarding Cuba and Latin America.
Funeral for a Tyrant
A morally disorienting gathering in Havana.
By Otto J. Reich
This time the rumors are real: Castro is dying of stomach cancer. He may have already died, even before the funeral preparations were finished, so the news is not out. Confirmation of the terminal illness comes from the usual sources but in a non-conventional manner. The Cuban government has been summoning to Havana representatives of the major international media to negotiate the best seats, camera angles, and interviews with the despot’s political survivors, and to inform them of the ground rules for coverage of the state funeral.
Our sources in Havana report the gathering of some Colombian terrorists for peace talks. No Evo, no Chavez, and no Lula. Our sources who are connected to the MSM in Havana are telling us that the American outfits with whom they have professional contact are in the dark. The only ones who were, are and will be in the know are the upper echelon of the Party, the Cuban Armed Forces Protocol Unit (they perform in every parade and ceremony, including big bang commie honchos funerals) and of course el Granma.
The foreign media are being told that the model for Castro’s funeral is that of Pope John Paul II a year ago. (Mr Reich, please, the lyturgy is not Catholic, it's communist, the models are the ones set by the old school soviet funerals, give me a break with that one!) The Cubans actually believe — or pretend — that the death of a tyrant deserves the same attention as that of the world’s great men of peace. This is a very insulting generalization. Mr Reich actually mistakes the Cuban people for the file and rank of the communist party. Again, they are giving kasstro's death the importance the Soviets gave to the deaths of Lenin and Stalin, or the Commies in China to Mao's, or the Commies in Viet Nam to Ho Chi Mihn's, but the comparison with the Pope is just off track. Why? because kasstro thought that he was more important than the Pope, he thinks of himself as a Hitler, Mussolini or Lenin, he thought of himself as much more important than Stalin.
This is one of Castro’s lasting legacies to his countrymen: moral disorientation.
The Cuban ruling class has been so isolated from reality for so long by fear and Castro’s airtight press control that they equate the burial of a mass murderer with that of a prince of the Church.
No, they are not disconnected from reality, the Communist Party in Cuba created a reality, in which they are the ones who repress the rest of the population.
No doubt there will be “dignitaries” at the funeral: fellow revolutionary leaders from the last repressive regimes on Earth: Iran, North Korea, Syria, and Sudan, for example; and leaders of failed states like Zimbabwe and Bolivia; and representatives of the world’s resentful Left and the Hollywood Left (pardon the redundancy).
Some examples of distinguished invitees will include terrorists whose organizations once instilled panic in entire populations but are now forgotten except to their victims. Many of them were trained in Cuban camps back when Castro called for world revolution and predicted he would outlive capitalism: Argentine Montoneros, Uruguayan Tupamaros, Nicaraguan Sandinistas, Salvadorean FMLN, Colombian ELN, MIR, FARC, and others; Chileans, Brazilians, Guatemalans, Angolans, Ethiopians, Palestinians, Syrians, even Vietnamese. The list is virtually endless. I think that it will be more of a nationalistic pride affair, imagine the funeral of Hitler if he had passed away on his bed at old age. The majority of those people are most likely not going to be invited because, hello Mr. Reich, the powers to be in Cuba are looking to ingratiate themselves with the U.S. of A. Maybe they invite a few heads of State terrorists and non-terrorists, and that will be it, they are more interested in inviting those who can give them a leverage, so maybe we will be seeing some Western world leaders, who are also interested in attending because they are the ones who are the contenders for the pieces of the pie in a free Cuba. Offer and demand, the universal rule.
Not long ago, Castro himself admitted publicly to having “supported wars of national liberation in every country in this hemisphere with the exception of Mexico”. I believe everything except the exception; his hand has been present in much of Mexico’s violence as well. (Mexico has been kasstro's accomplice since day one, and he has done damage in Mexico with the complicity of both their goverment and the oposition) One security problem the Cubans (it's not the Cuban people, it's the Cuban government they are not exchangeable terms, for Godsakes! it gives the impression that the Cuban people supports the tyranny!) will face is that some of the “revolutionaries” who they trained in techniques of assassination, torture, kidnapping, bank robbery, explosives, and other tricks of the trade now hate each other and may use the occasion to settle old debts. The explosions heard in Havana may come not only from ceremonial cannons. The guests will have to be carefully screened for poisoned-tipped umbrellas and other Cold War artifacts.
Mr. Reich, slow with this one please! This is not a movie, those people are not going to go to Havana to wage a war against each other. I don't know how far removed are you from the real happenings of Cuba, but do you seriously think that the commies at the helm in Havana will allow this gaggle of idiots to show up with full body armor and weaponry? Are you reading too much Spy Vs. Spy?
If that were the case, maybe you can talk the government of the U.S. into firing a few missiles into that awful bunch. And the tyranny will end right there for good, and by killing all those terrorists the world would be a better place, but you don't seem to eager to do that....
Among the guests coming to Havana for the Third-World Burial of the Century (maybe not that different from Peron's funeral, now that I think about it) will be Western capitalists anxious to see how they can exploit Cuban workers, who are assigned to the employer by a Cuban state entity which then collects the salary and delivers five percent — yes, five percent — to the worker and keeps the rest to pay for the expenses incurred by the generous socialist state. (as an American "entrepeneur" eager to make a buck in Cuba told me once -in Cuba- "I don't run a charity here") There will be the bottom feeders of the capitalist world willing to go anywhere or do anything for the Almighty euro (Are you forgetting the Almighty dollar of the American agrobusiness and pharmabusiness? Why?) or peso. You know the ones, those who have given capitalism a bad name, the exploitation of man by man, and whose example is in turn used by the revolutionaries against the good capitalists. (Maybe you will see there some of the Governors of the 34 States who trade openly and legally with kasstro, as well) There will recognizable faces of American and other TV, oblivious to the irony of “covering” a press event orchestrated by a government which has not allowed a single free or independent newspaper, magazine, radio or television station for almost five decades. (don't forget that the New York Times practically invented fidel kasstro)
Caught up in the spectacle of the funeral, the smiley faces of the free world’s morning shows, the “serious” news readers of evening newscasts, of 24-hour news channels and “prestige press” will unlikely mention the “Ley Mordaza” (literally muzzle law), law number 88 of 1998, which calls for penalties of up to 30 years in prison for any Cuban caught telling the foreign press of any flaw in Cuba’s economic or human-rights record. (and still balseros are being sent back to Cuba, even today, by the present government) It is unlikely they will ask to interview the prisoners who have violated Castro’s Orwellian laws and are serving terms of as much as 27 years for committing journalism without a license or stating that the economy does not produce enough to feed the people.There may be international labor leaders in attendance, who will equally disregard the absence of any but the official Cuban Communist labor organization. (most of those labor organizations around the world are from the left, remember that detail?) Not wishing to offend their hosts, they will not mention the Castro law which condemns to eight years in prison anyone guilty of even attempting to establish a non-government labor union. On second thought: Why should they mention it now, when they have been silent for so many decades? Some of those leaders present may even be government officials from democratic states, having been elected in free elections such as the ones which disappeared in Cuba half a century ago. That irony will escape them also. Then there will be some genuinely elected Christian or social democrats, from Europe and Latin America. (I already said that they will be there trying to get a participation in partition of the goods of a free Cuba)
Those who have been silent about, and therefore complicit in, the longest dictatorship in this hemisphere’s history. (in your description, you don't give any signals or hints of believing that the dictatorship will one day end) A wise man once said that “All it takes for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing.” The history of Cuba in the past 50 years proves him right. — Yes, especially when the air cover and support for the 2506 was denied by an American president. Also, when the fighters of the Escambray were abandoned, and when many blunders have been commited. Also, when the U.S.A. returned Elian, when 4 Cuban Americans were shot over the Florida Straits, and when the balseros are returned to Cuba. That's what Evil triumphed in Cuba, Mr. Reich, because nothing has been done. Because the Left in this country has dictated the policy towards Cuba and because the malice of Bill Clinton and the lack of resolve of George W. and due also to the fact that Cuba is the last of priorities, we better go to the other end of the world, but we don't do jack about Cuba. Because, as you well know, a free Cuba will destabilize the economics of the region.
Otto J. Reich served President Bush from 2001 to 2004, first as assistant secretary of state for the Western Hemisphere and later in the National Security Council. He now heads his own international government-relations firm in Washington. (There's not a single word in this article on how to help the Cuban people to break the cycle of opression or on how to break free from the system that exploits them, no wonder there are so many failures in the policies against the tyranny!)
1 Comments:
You know, you just gotta love selective history man. I mean Jesus H Christ; the USA comes out SO CLEAN in the Cuban tragedy according to this guy!
And it is NOT that we BLAME the Cuban tragedy solely on the USA, but we can lay about a 20% culpability ratio to the USA (and that is being generous)
You point out the RECENT complicity by omission or just plain bad policies but let us go back to Batista and his request for weapons and the now famous US ambassador answer " When a president can NOT take care of his people it is time to leave.. NO WEAPONS, Fulgencio get yourself an island off Portugal”
In the meantime KaSStro was receiving daily supplies from the USA food, medicine weapons. The USA press IDOLIZED this motherfucker .
The mere "nationalization" of American companies and the USA just sat there with a thumb up their asses . The Kennedy assassination. ‘MON Mr. Reich, the USA has been the most loyal ally KaSStro ever had!
Every god damn move the USA has made in the 47 KaSStro History has resulted in beneficial results for KaSStro. So if it has not been by design, have we been THAT fucking stupid?
An ex-CIA agent I met at a Cuban-American affair told me ages ago that the USA would NEVER willingly get rid of KaSStro because KaSStro was the CIA's best ally! How, I asked? Well, he said.. Every two bit dictator, despot, terrorist, or possible anti American politico, will eventually make the pilgrimage (I am assuming he didn’t count the Pope) to see their IDOL! so KaSStro is a good barometer as to what a certain leader or would be leader is up to, besides KaSStro's intelligence is easily tapped.
Motherfucker! What a peachy deal , fuck 12 million people , we can eavesdrop on KaSStro who sits only 90 miles away , why would the CIA wanna loose THAT ?
All the poison fountain pens, the cold cream poison, the beard falling powder all TOTAL bullshit, he continued.
Years later I read of an international and well known hit man who APPROACHED the CIA and asked for total immunity if he was able to kill Castro. His deal was simple . Drop me off any place within the shores and I will kill him, this guy had the kindda reputation The Jackal had.
Well the CIA , “seemed” to like the idea with ONE condition , he could NOT just go on a roof and sniper KaSStro , he had to get 2 feet from him and stab him with a special fountain pen (very James Bond shit) that would gradually kill him. A sniper shot to the noggin' would be TOO easily traced to the USA. The hit man's answer was a resounding FUCK YOU, I’ll stay in business ya twits !
Imagine that “get two feet from Castro and prick him with a fountain pen !”
And THAT has been the extend of the “attempts” to get rid of KaSStro, but as the end nears , how easily they forget!
Hey ya know GOT to carve their way BACK in and have us forget that the ONLY thing the USA ever did to get rid of KaSStro was to try to kill his slaves!
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