Finally, Decent Treatment for Cuba

Long ago in Havana,  my mother and father would take me to the  famed “Floridita” bar to join a burly, white-bearded man and drink daiquiris.

He gave me his book, A Farewell to Arms, autographed to “Eric, from his friend Ernest Hemingway. Havana, 1953”

Those were the old days in Cuba, even before Fidel Castro. That’s how far back I go on this lovely island on the Spanish Main.

I’ve twice been in battle in the west African state of Angola against Cuban troops that had been sent by Fidel Castro to fight white South African forces.

1980’s, a senior KGB officer claimed that Fidel Castro had begged Moscow to fire its missiles at the United States – perhaps because CIA had tried to murder Castro more than a  dozen times?

Cubans suffered terribly and ate grass for decades but refused to bow to US demands. They had to become beholden to Moscow to stave off the USA.

Now, at the end of Fidel Castro’s life, tiny, proud Cuba has won its struggle for independence. Obama’s visit capped Cuba’s pyrrhic victory. US tourist will soon inundate the island, eradicate its seedy 1950’s charm, and see Cuba returned to American tutelage.

Ironically, when Castro revolted against Washington, Cuba was the vanguard of Latin America. Today, half a century later, most of Latin America has become democratic and relatively prosperous while Cuba lingers in dire poverty and authoritarian rule. But at least it was a clean authoritarian rule that genuinely cared for its people, providing high grade medical care and education that in some ways put the US to shame.

Republicans insist the US should not deal with authoritarian Cuba. What flaming hypocrisy. Washington gives billions to the uber ugly Egyptian dictatorship of ‘Field Marshall’ al-Sisi that tortures and guns down its people. The US supports repressive Morocco, Uzbekistan, Azerbaijan, Jordan, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, and, biggest malefactor of all, China.

President Obama did the right thing. Viva Barack!

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