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Originally posted by zombiewhacker

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Originally posted by Neville

As a Western leftist of sorts, I think you're overstimating Castro's popularity in Europe. As the former colonial power, my country has a closer relationship with Cuba than other European countries, and neither Castro nor his regime are exactly popular in here. For decades we've seen the island become an attraction for sexual tourism, and testimonies of repressed dissidents are well known.

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Not to mention the fact that one of Castro's heroes was Francisco Franco. I'm sure that goes over real well in Barcelona.

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Originally posted by Sardu

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Originally posted by Neville


Let's face it, not only is not working, it's also hurting the wrong people.

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Why in gawd's name would anyone think if there was no embargo the money would somehow wind up in the hands of the people and not the centralized coffers? Especially given that A) for years they had the full economic might (snicker) of the entire communist bloc behind them and B) as pointed out, can trade with pretty much the entire rest of the world now as it is?? You know who the embargo hurts- ME, that's who. I can't buy a good cigar unless it's contraband.

In any event, isn't saying that it's the fault of the American embargo that Cuba is dirt poor just a blatant admission that only capitalist dollars are plentiful and/or powerful enough to change the situation down there??

"Meeting you makes me want to be a real noodle cook"
--Tampopo

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Originally posted by zombiewhacker

Re: Barcelona. It's sort of our equivalent of "How will it play in Peoria?"

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Four dissidents freed this week after five years in inhumane conditions in a Cuban prison have revealed the dark side of Fidel Castro’s regime.

The four - José Gabriel Ramón Castillo, Omar Pernet Hernández, Alejandro González and Pedro Pablo Álvarez - described regular beatings, humiliation and arbitrary punishment with long periods of solitary confinement in cramped cells with cement beds.

They said they were deprived of food and water in conditions which resembled "a desert".

Arriving in Spain to be reunited with their families, they exposed the routine abuse of political prisoners which marked Castro’s five decades in power...

Mr Castillo, 50, a journalist who wrote articles critical of the regime, told The Sunday Telegraph: "It was terrible. It was like being in a desert in which sometimes there is no water, there is no food, you are tortured and you are abused.

"This was not torture in the textbook way with electric prods, but it was cruel and degrading. They would beat you for no reason even when you were in hospital.

"At other times they would search you for no reason, stripping you bare and humiliating you. There was one particular commander at a jail in Santa Clara who seemed to take delight in handing out beatings to the prisoners."

Mr Castillo, who claims he was denied proper medical aid for diabetes and heart problems, added: "We are nothing more than a reflection of the human cost of the fight being waged by the Cuban people."

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