I am just curious, at what date exactly did the CIA or NSA take over MotherJones? There are so many articles and headlines that simply scream the "party-line" that this has simply stopped being the hard-hitting bastion of factual journalism it once was. Fidel Castro, it should be said, left Cuba possibly poorer than it might have been but under constant sanctions, embargoes, assassination attempts, and culumny from the US and its toady supporters, I do not see how he might have done better. He also managed to create a society that has a higher literacy rate than the US, better health care, and a better international reputation amongst poor countries who received aid and support from Cuba without mandatory submission or purchase agreements for US armaments. It is clear to me that MJ has no interest in reporting the facts anymore. What a sad day indeed.

"I've often wondered why some American leftists have been soft on Castro."

Really?

They have their collective heads up their collective backsides.

Some seem to care more about 2 dozen in a prison than the hundreds that have been killed in Dumya's quest to spread de-mock-racy and save the middle east from itself.

I guess American leftists just aren't what they used to be.

Cuba has been off the foreign policy radar ever since the Cold War ended. We probably put the Balkans first in the 1990's, and the Middle East has come first in this decade. Cuba is down the list somewhere, so it should be no surprise even someone who generally thins outside the foreign policy box like Obama hasn't thought about Cuba. Though I'm sure relations with the US is at the top of the Cuban agenda, the fact is we have a bunch of issues and Cuba is way down there, at least until events push it to the top.

wow. let's guess how many of the comments were made by cubans. answer: none.

as someone from latin america, with family still in cuba, i find it repulsive and sadly amusing that people actually believe the literacy and health care statistics that come out of that fascit monster's mouth. It is not by coincidence that every Cuban that makes it out of the island has nothing but hate for the regime. Perhaps its time we listen to those that have the first hand experience, and not the ivory tower smugness.

Try wearing your little Che Guevara shirts around Miami and see what happens.

second of all- this was a post about Cuba NOT AMERICA. Bringing up another country's inadequacies to defend another, is very weak indeed.

Indeed, I have to agree, this coverage is disappointing. There is always much to critisize about any government and it is clear that Americans will not give up the smallest amount of freedom in order to raise levels of health, education and child care for all its citizens. But such is not the case everywhere and it has been a joy for me to see that Cuba, under Castro, has been able to resist the seemingly unending and powerful pressure of the United States to GIVE BACK THEIR CORPORATIONS (oil) "stolen" after Batista was cast out by the Revolution, and let the world's most greedy nation have its way with them.

I totally agree with you. If a small country like Cuba can stare down the intimidation and wrath of the mightest nation of the world and refused to be strangled in terms of sanctions, embargoes, assasination etc, I have to salute her. Yet, in the midst of these assaults, Cuba can offer universal helath care to her citizen and USA has 47 million unisured. This speaks volumes of this little country tenacity to fight the political/miltary/industrial/corporate interest of USA. It is really an achievement for 50 odd years.

Talking about moral standing of USA, is there any freedom left now in USA with the Patriots Act? Did not USA torture not convicted prisoners using waterboarding and have secret rendition, torture chambers like Guantanamo and Abu Grahib? Did USA not invade a country (Iraq) without any reasons and destroy a 4,000 civilisation society and want to force that country to accept "USA democracy" at the barrel of the gun?
USA, at this point of history, has no moral standing to lecture anyone on freedom, democracy, care for their own citizens or jailing and treatment of prisoners. USA must SHOW THE WORLD BY ACTIONS that it can abide by the rules of law and not ruled by the law of the guns and bombs.

Supreme Court Refuses To Review Warrantless Wiretapping Case (2/19/2008)

Ruling Allows Executive Branch To Police Itself, Says ACLU

NEW YORK – The U.S. Supreme Court today refused to review a legal challenge to the Bush administration’s warrantless surveillance program. The case was brought by the American Civil Liberties Union on behalf of prominent journalists, scholars, attorneys and national nonprofit organizations who say that the unchecked surveillance program is disrupting their ability to communicate effectively with sources and clients. The court’s decision today lets stand an appeals court’s ruling on narrow grounds that plaintiffs could not show with certainty that they had been wiretapped by the National Security Agency.

The following quote can be attributed to Jameel Jaffer, Director of the ACLU’s National Security Project:

“Congress enacted the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act intending to protect the rights of U.S. citizens and residents, and the president systematically broke that law over a period of more than five years. It’s very disturbing that the president’s actions will not be reviewed by the Supreme Court. It shouldn’t be left to executive branch officials alone to determine what limits apply to their own surveillance activities and whether those limits are being honored. Allowing the executive branch to police itself flies in the face of the constitutional system of checks and balances.”

The following quote can be attributed to Steven R. Shapiro, Legal Director of the ACLU:

“Although we are deeply disappointed with the Supreme Court’s refusal to review this case, it is worth noting that today’s action says nothing about the case’s merits and does not suggest in any way an endorsement of the lower court’s decision. The court’s unwillingness to act makes it even more important that Congress insist on legislative safeguards that will protect civil liberties without jeopardizing national security.”

*****

Amerika, WAY better than those communists. We do it electronically and legally.

I am also disappointed by Mojo's reporting on Fidel Castro's departure. Presidente . F. Castro and the Cuban people have made enormous social and political accomplishments since the overthrow of the U.S. supported Batistan government.

All nations have their faults and struggles. F. Castro can not and should not be demonized. The United States has more than its' fair share of political and journalistic prisoners still in custody. Need I mention the U.S. & Guantanamo Bay, the practices of Secret Rendition, warrant less wiretapping/ eavesdropping, preemptive military strikes upon independent and sovereign nations and the countless assassination attempts made of the life of Fidel Castro?

Cuba is an international beacon for ensuring that its' citizens have access to quality health care and education.

The country has been unable to flourish economically due in large because of the choke hold the U.S. has maintained against Cuba for half a century.

I could go on and on but the point is . . . Mojo WHAT"S UP WITH YOUR ARTICLE & THE IDEA OF FAIR AND BALANCED REPORTING?

you guys are all fucking idiots. yes, cuba was so wonderful that half my family and millions of other cubans have risked life and limb on a damn balsa to come over here. ITS NOT ABOUT AMERICA. We can criticize other countries without reverting back to the Evil Empire.
Please feel free to look through the wonderful conditions Fidel has offered.

http://www.therealcuba.com/Page10.htm

Yes, Cuba is a Stalinist country. It would benefit it to have working class democracy, which might save it from counter-revolution.

However, there are gains in Cuba, like guranteed housing, education, food and health care that even Corn can't take away. Of course, Mr. Corn is a pro-capitalist liberal, so being against Cuba is par for the course. I was in Cuba in 2000 and know, though, how poor and pinched life there was. However, I've been in Mexico and seen worse.

As for being ready for the 21st century, Cuba's agriculture has become the most organic in the world, due to their inability to rely on fossil fuels. I'd say that might be a 'bene' in the future.

When we criticize Castro, it cannot go without criticizing the US and its henchmen. Castro is an egotist who has built up a cult of personality, correct. The poverty of Cuba is in large part due to economic sanctions. When I hear 'democracy' and 'freedom' being brought to the people of Cuba by the US, I can only think of neoliberalism and 'free trade'. Just imagine of all the impoverished citizens eagerly awaiting their own exploitation. Castro's resignation has been a goldmine in the making for the IMF, the World Bank, and whatever other capitalist pigs that wish to set up shop. Let us not forget also, that while Castro isn't the best leader in the world, his discursive presence has partly stemmed the flood of US hegemony and capitalist repression in places outside of Cuba.

Additionally:
If we, the US, is going to bring freedom to Cuba, let's not forget not only the prisoners in Guantanamo who legally don't exist, but that the US claims to have no political prisoners. And for a country that locks up 1/4 of the world's prisoners, with a population something to the effect of 330 million in a world over six billion, it seems to me that the US is trying to repress more than criminal minds.

Ummmm... I'm from Canada... perhaps I should move to Cuba to take advantage of their 'gains' of universal health care and education :P

oh my god. what is with the instant ' i hate america ' reaction? is it impossible to have a discussion about the shortcomings of another country? Castro didnt GIVE anyone health care, as it was the Cuban people, through ridiculous taxation that paid for shitty care. There is no personal freedom there. THEY CHOOSE YOUR JOB. THEY DO NOT ALLOW PEOPLE TO USE THE INTERNET. You guys are to the left of Pol Pot; horribly insufferable 'let them eat cake' leftists that do not understand how a regime can possibly be bad because it redistributes income.

Total hypocrites...enjoying the wealth that a (semi) free and prosperous nation gives you while verbally denyiing those same freedoms to others. Cuba is great! For Cubans right? Not for us respectable Americans who have different needs and are just darned spoiled. Disgusting.

I invite all of you to come to Miami and state what you said in front of any Cuban. would love to see it.

Justin, there are more than 2 nations on this planet.

American leftists are every bit as insular and ignorant about the non-American world (history, culture, politics) as is the American right.

If, the words of Justin,

"When we criticize Castro, it cannot go without criticizing the US and its henchmen."

Then we have to extend the same logic to the Soviets, don't we? Did you know, Justin, that during the Cold War there was another super-power called the Soviet Union? See, Castro was a pawn, a minion of the Soviet Union who was in ideological conflict with the United States. The Soviets used Cuba as a proxy for their Latin American operations, just as the Americans used Greece and Turkey, for example. To pretend that there was this little lovely nation called Cuba that was just abused by the big bad USA is more than [deleted]. It is down-down incorrect. Context, nuance. Are you able?

Either way, Castro was an [deleted] to his own people. Final answer, full stop. If you think that this is excusable because you don't like Bush, then kiss my more-intelligent-than-you [deleted]. An intelligent person is able to hold two thoughts in your mind at once.

For example:

1) Castro was bad
2) Bush is bad (or whoever is the American boogieman de jour)

No contradiction.

If we are going to really challenge the mindless American leftist fools posting above, we can add a third (maybe even a fourth):

3) Bush's negative outcomes do not excuse Castro's negative outcomes.

Ok. I just lost some of you. I know.

And if we are really, really going to push these little American leftist minds to the extreme:

4) There are no American boat-people escaping to Havana from Miami. Castro has been worse to his own people than every American president since the 60’s.

WHOH!

Now. There are more than 2 nations on earth. Stating that Castro was, on balance, bad for his country is among the most self-evident things that can be said. Ditto for Bush.

But, when I criticise Bush nobody ever ever ever says OH YEAH WELL CASTRO IS BAD TOO. Even Rush wouldn't do that. I slam Bush all the time and not once has anybody said that Putin/Castro/Hugo/Hu or anybody else is “bad” too and we really need to keep that in perspective. Only leftists do this. Cause they are myopic.

So, American leftists, the lesson you need to learn if you want to be anything other than the ideological opposite (but intellectual equivalent) of Rush, Sean, Bill and Anne, it is possible to be critical of bad men. Even if they are not named George.

And being critical of a totalitarian government does not make one a puppet of the CIA. Are you [deleted] 4 years old Douglas?

If you really want to examine Cuba with international context, compare it to my nation of residence, Singapore. (All the posters above just said "isn't Singapore in China??").

Boy Brock!!!

You hit it on the head!

Elisabeth; I hope that you are not torturing yourself by living in the "world's most greedy nation" that you seem to find so abhorrent. Unlike those in, say, Cuba, folks in the United States are free to leave and to live elsewhere, somewhere where their "values" are reflected, free from the "horrors" of American freedom, captialism, consumer choice, and all the rest. Elisabeth: have YOU emigrated to Castro's Communist paradise???

Thought so.

If their healthcare system is so wonderful, why did they need to fly in doctors and equipment from Spain for Fidel's bellyache?

I remember reading a reporter's dialogue with Fidel and how he and his brother approached the U.S. for help in bringing down Batista while fighting in the mountains during the early days. The CIA turned them down. Out of desperation, they turned to the Soviets. With full trade status, Batista's Cuba was a haven for breeding revolutionaries and the U.S. kept him in power. I've seen reports that stated that Bush senior was the CIA operative who lined up the boats for use in the Bay of Pigs.
The pressure cooker which became Cuba under Fidel was helped by the embargo put in place because of the blowback of American policies. I'm certain that the Castro brothers and others of the "Revolution" believe "their" Cuba is better than the one of American doing which they were going to inherit. Just as we embargoed Iraq and cost countless deaths,,,, our "leaders" can't find anything wrong with that either.
What does it matter to humanity as a whole who does what to others versus doing it to their "own" people? I would venture to guess that under a world court system, it would matter little. Withholding trade and causing the death of others? Implementing disastous financial polices and forcing another country to accept those policies thereby causing the deaths through those policies??? Impoverishing nations other than your own just to stay on top of the heap? For a few pennies more?
What did the average citizen of the U.S. receive as a benefit for the embargoing of Cuba and Iraq? What did the average citizen of those countries' embargoed receive?
Many of the Cubans who left and lived outside of Miami faced discrimination right off of the bat. Miami became known in a short time as "Little Havana". And, as a colleague related to me in the Eighties after being forced to lay in the street while a full fledged fire fight took place overhead with automatic weapons, not a safe place to be.
One of my teachers in high school(northern Florida) was from Cuba and not only had known the Castro brothers but had gone to University with them. More than once, he told me, they would show up for class with bullet holes in their Cadillac.
This teacher was a lawyer in Cuba and spoke five languages to a varying degree and yet could only get a job as a replacement teacher for Spanish language. He'd worn out his welcome in Cuba after successfully defending a Florida National Guardsman for espionage. He was warned it would no longer be safe for him. All during that time with him in the classroom, he never once said anything bad about the Castros and he had lost everything except for his family.
Batista's Cuba was a very corrupt place and it was said to have many poor. American corporations owned a lot of the businesses and it was known in Florida locally as a place to stay out of due to the influence of the mob and so forth.
It is easy to demonize someone in a position of power but in the end, they are only humans reacting to the stresses presented to them of real or imagined significance.
The Bush's or the Fidel's of the world? Neither, but they do exist and not independently.

Castro quarantines people with AIDS. On the Isle of Pines, they have their separate quarters. It's also disappointing to see Che Guevara glorified . The man was a Marxist-Leninist of the worst kind: He presided over the Cuban Revolution's first firing squads; he assisted in the persecution of homosexuals, herded into buses and trucks, the 'unfit' would be transported at gunpoint into concentration camps organized on the Guanahacabibes mold.

re: "Cuba is an international beacon for ensuring that its' citizens have access to quality health care and education."

Ubetcha - that's why hundreds die every year trying to get from Florida to Cuba.

As regards Cuba, compare the production of food in Cuba with that of the USA, and bear in mind that quality and cleannliness of food is far more important to people in terms of health benefits and overall well-being, than access to consumer goods, on any measurble scale!

Cuban Food production is fundamentally based upon small scale organic farming, and most Cubans eat a diet that is low in processed foods, has no toxic chemicals and more importantly, many, many Cubans grow a fair amount of their own food in their cities. No joy for Wal-Mart there! Nor is there any joy for the Chemical Health Industry which thrives upon avoidable diet related diseases, the 'treatment' or 'suppression' of ensueing symptoms of which they rely upon for a large slice of their profits.

One of the 'side effects' of the tansition process from Industrial Pharming to Organic Food growing this was that community cohesion was increased, because people were trading both foods and useful information with each other as they learned what worked and what did not work. What we share enriches us all!

The fact that Cuba was forced to make these changes as a result of the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1989 is besides the point. They have made the changes and for the most part the people were willing participants (witness the large numbers of people who returned to the countryside to become small farmers!).

Americans and Europeans will have to do likewise, and the sooner they do the better for all concerned.

Whilst Cuba is not perfect or even idyllic, the same can be said of all nation states. And for every transgression people quote about Cuba, there are far larger transgressions on the side of the USA. 1 million dead Iraqis for a start!

Time for all people to get realistic, and to ditch ideology in place of what actually works!

It would help, Cornellius, if you would cite some- credible- evidence of your claim that the US has killed 1m Iraqis. Interesting- and telling- that you seem to have little concern for those murdered by Saddam's regime.

But since you seem to want to quantify regimes by their scale of people killed, never forget that Stalin killed more of his own citizens than Hitler, Mao killed more of his own citizens than Stalin, Pol Pot killed a greater percentage of his citizens than- perhaps- any regime, ever. The Krazy Kim family in No. Korea, anyone? What ideology do all of them share in common? I'll let you connect the dot. (And unlike Americans displeased w/ their government, few captives of the various and sundry- and cruelly titled- "People's Republics" were/are free to leave.)

Some here have at least had the intelligence to state the obvious; opposition to any- all?- US policies does not have to equate defending/amking allowances for a thug such as Castro.

I'm so tired of left anti-communism, though I guess it's better to see it in Mother Jones than in The Nation. Recall that the author of this post went on the O'Reilly show to redbait ANSWER in the runup to the Iraq war.

To the Castro bashers just how successful do you think Canada would be if it was embargoed by the US for decades? Just why do you think that America has the right to tell every other country what type of government they MUST have? The hubris, impunity, arrogance and violence of America is astounding.

"Red bait" ANSWER...lol. ANSWER is a red organization. Did you happen to miss their lunatic rallies?

Fearn,
99% chance you have a subprime mortgage and/or you are living off your parents' money. If you think Castro is a good person, perhaps you shoudl move to Cuba. After all, you'll have top notch health care and education.

So far I've seen Cuba compared to Miami and Canada. How about comparing it to similar countries in the region and compare them to Cuba. Only that's not possible because Cuba was embargoed by the United States for most of the past 50 years.

What has America's, um, 'friendship' brought to the people in Latin American countries showered with the approval of those blaming Cuba for not being like Miami? And, for the record, there have been plenty of people trying to flee those paragons of freedom and capitalism too, just they aren't welcome with open arms but with deportation and threats of the Bushlin Wall.

It's so funny to read blog posts like these and then hear liberals SCREAM whenever their patriotism is questioned. It should be questioned. Many liberals are unpatriotic to the core. Reds. Reds. Reds. Anti-American reds. Conservatives are not Orwellian; we simply judge you by your words and actions. Sucks doesn't it?

Just who is it that went around the world these last 50 years poking out so many third eyes? How many of those who responded to this Mojo blog have actually been to Cuba? How many 1st person accounts of life on this tragic island have each read? Has anyone talked to Patrick Symmes or Carlos Erie, or read their painful accunts about life in Cuba, both before and after the revolution? When it comes to American Foreign Policy in Cuba - all together now - FUBAR! JFK and W, and every American President in between has, with equal opportunity, gotton Cuba completely wrong. So here we read the Mojo that sticks a needle in the eye of both the left and right - both sides who have kept their collective heads up their keesters while the people of Cuba suffered Fidel's paraniod delusions of grandeur. If Obama is not careful, he will be lose his third eye, too. "Saludos" Mojo!

Camarada Douglas,

You love Fidel so much, move to Cuba!

Yubi, let me guess, your family were big fish in a small pond over there and now you have to work for a living? Cry me a river. Life's not perfect over there, life's not perfect over here. Life's not perfect anywhere. I guess I would rather have the good education and the health coverage even if it means the press has to think about what it writes once in a while instead of being a pack of irresponsible troglodytes selling pornography in code.

Wow. The fierce confrontational nature in most of the comments about the Cuba blog post say much about the polarization of American politics. The ignorance, and lack of context, in many of the statements is stunning. This Canadian wonders how America, "leader of the free world," is going to lead if even its literati are aggressive, mud-slinging combatants.
I've been to Cuba, traveling off the beaten track from big to rural agricultural areas. The guy with the machine gun at the airport didn't let me bring in my reading material. The families I visited ate mostly rice and beans. Their people lack the human rights we North Americans have. The last time I went they still used firing squads, an appalling situation given that every civilized country in the world long ago banished capital punishment.
But I've also been to slums in Caracus, to inner American cities, and to other impoverished Latin American places. There, I was struck by the dull eyes of malnourished (obese on US junk food or emaciated in the third world) children, by the crime and by the educational poverty of the adults.
In Cuba I was struck most by watching bright-eyed and fit children in Cuba, dressed in clean uniforms, walk along potted roadways each day on their way from homes North Americans would consider hovels to attend school each day. I was impressed by the articulate, fit adults. Among the few Cubans I met with wordly exposure, many thoughtfully criticized their autocratic government but were grateful that their kids were not begging for food in the slums of many other countries.
Cuba's an appalling place when considering many human rights, and it's far less than perfect considering many basic needs like food and shelter. But is it better now than it would be if Batista and the American free-enterprisers and organized criminals who ran the place before 1959 had continued in power, with CIA interference?
Are people in Cuba better off alive, healthy and educated without human rights, than dead in the slums of another place?
To ponder that question look at the recent history of any number of other Latin American countries under the sway of the U.S. since it first exerted power under its Monroe Doctrine, and ask yourself if people in Haiti, Chile, Nicaragua or Honduras are better off than Cubans.
There are some worthwhile issues to discuss in all these areas -- if people would bite their tongues and holster their firearms in order to think first -- and engage instead of fight.

This article is highly disappointing, racially charged, one-sided and very inaccurate. Fidel Castro has had a 50 year run of opposing oppression, occupation and refusing to sell-out to the U.S. or any other world power when it came to giving up their ideology. Keep in mind, the revolution in Cuba was won by the people and it has remained because of the people. Their 95% voting rate has proven that. And the journalists and individuals who have been jailed are there mostly because of their attempts to endanger and possibly end individuals LIVES through CIA funding. Trust me, as someone who's visited Cuba and had many conversations with the people on the island, there is such a thing as freedom of speech and thought. The thought is universal because it's an ideology of inclusion, equity and mental and physical prosperity. Has the revolution had its glitches - of course! But Castro has been very open to learning from their mistakes and has taken actions to tackle issues of racism, gender equality and has done loads for LGBTQ rights. The US embargo and travel ban has immensely limited the amount of material goods available in Cuba but it hasn't and never will hurt it's ideology. Cuba has transformed from a Communist country to a Socialist country because of the will of the people. Fidel was their chosen leader. Unlike Bush, twice. The ideas of the people will remain after Fidel. And even if they change, as they have over the last 50 years, they will be changed by the people.

Mother Jones should have a little more courtesy towards its readers and ensure that the articles they choose to post are accurate and respectful of our movements. This article is another example of faulty journalism. And I can't agree more with all of the previous comments opposing it.

You are correct. I'm really getting tired of this right-wing swing. Those of us who remember that Cuba was run by the Mafia and a U.S. appointed dictator for "far too long" gag on this anti-Castro BS Under Batista the people lived in poverty, had no health care, no schools, and the short lifespan of all the poor people under our boot heels.
Perhaps we could get a report on the number of times the C.I.A. tried to kill Castro and overthrow the Revolution.
Cuba Si, Yankee No!

OT: “RJ” challenged “Cornelius’s” claim of one million dead Iraqis since the U.S. invasion. In 2006 a credible study overseen by Johns Hopkins University's Bloomberg School of Public Health and published in the Lancet estimated there had been, at that time, a total of 655,000 estimated "excess deaths" from violence and disease and other causes, or about 500 unexpected violent deaths per day throughout the country. These were in excess of the deaths expected under Saddam Hussein’s regime, had there been no U.S. invasion. http://www.jhsph.edu/publichealthnews/press_releases/2006/burnham_iraq_2006.html
I’ll leave it up to “Cornelius” to explain the “one million” comment -- but it could be approximately reached by extrapolating from the 2006 study: add up 500 deaths per day for two more years, and you get 365,000 on top of the 655,000 in the study.

LOL at these pro-Castro comments! All of you guys need to get on TV immediately and declare your support for Barack Obama. Please let the entire country know what you stand for...we are a very educated people and we can make decisions for ourselves.

Sam North: where have you been? That study was just torpedoed by National Journal a few weeks ago. LOL, you guys are so much fun.

http://news.nationaljournal.com/articles/databomb/index.htm

Well, I'm not Cuban, so I guess the Cuban exiles would say I have nothing to say. But I have several comments and questions:

One: I lived in Miami for many years, and can state definitively that I've heard far more hateful and anti-American drivel spouting from the mouths of so-called Cuban Americans than I ever have from the Cuban govt. If, as the current version of history states (as taught by UofM, for example), all the original Cuban immigrants were poor and simply escaping Castro, why is the community as a whole not grateful to the US for helping them move so quickly up the economic scale?

Two: I've found other versions of Cuban American history that indicate the original Cuban exile community was largely made up of former privileged elites and mobsters who exploited the starving populace under Batiste, and whom Castro ran out of the country. Is that true? It certainly explains both the intensity of hatred for the American left and for Castro, and the unique political influence this group wields over our political process.

Three: If Castro's legacy is so repressive, why has there been no concerted mass effort at protest or revolution in 50 years? Even in the poorest Third World nations, the people only settle for so much pain before they start rioting in the streets. And why is the Cuban exile community here not actively funding and agitating for such change in Cuba? Why is it only in the US that we hear all these horror stories of overwhelming Cuban repression?

Four: Has everyone here forgotten the little boy, Elian, whom the Cuban exile community exploited for their own political purposes? How the exiles disregarded the values they say make them different from Castro, and then acted just like him for their own ends?

Five: Every Cuban I know is more literate, articulate and educated than their American counterparts, and the stats I found show a literacy rate far above ours. How does a dictator repress an entire population of aware, informed and literate citizens
without resorting to repeated armed force?

I'm not saying Castro was a saint, simply that the US govt and the Cuban exiles have failed to convince me of their arguments, and both have done much to indicate they're being disingenuous on the subject.

I whole heartedly agree !!!

even do castro ruz has resigned from power in cuba, we all know that as long as he lives, decitions will be his doing.
His brother has been along side him since the very beggining and knows exactly how to rule exactly like him.
after the castro regime, there is a lot of catching up for the cuban people to do.

BTW- Since MJ forged its much-touted connection to Washington DC, it sounds increasingly like a mouthpiece for the guilty liberal Beltway set. Why should we be surprised?

I've moved on to other, more credible journals.

Cuba discriminates against gay people and people with AIDS.

Refusal to support the idiotic American policy towards Cuba is not romanticizing a dictator. If we say Christian values are so important, and Capitalism is so effective, then why didn't we fight the Cold War, and Fidel, by letting our Christian values guide our Capitalist principles? The result would have been a much different war, with the United States co-opting communist cells and socialist agitators by working to improve the lot of the world's poor, and to end human suffering, all the while supporting Democracy, even when the results installed Socialist governments. The end product would be a powerful world leader in Washington, standing on the pinnacle of the moral high ground, instead of a tottering empire, wasting trillions of dollars on military hardware, and trillions more on unnecessary and empire sapping war. America's blockade did as much as anything Castro ever envisioned to keep Castro in power. And all to placate a minority of Cuban-Americans in Florida, who were originally supporters of a dictator who prostituted Cuba for American business, who had nothing to offer his people other than low paying jobs, prostitution for tourists, and poverty.

I was having breakfast at a little cafe one morning near Chicago a few years back. At the table next to me were 2 videographers from National Geographic. I asked them since they had visited nearly every country, which one would they like to live in, and they BOTH said Cuba. For the quality of life. Nuff for me !! They have more credibility than anyone in my book.

http://www.marxist.com/cuba/cuba-after-fidel-castro.htm

Tony, thanks for the url for the study critique.
BTW, who are "you guys," and why are whoever "you guys" are so much fun that you laugh out loud?
I don't understand -- I I were American maybe I would get the joke -- but such jokes seems limiting to any dialogue outside the inner circles or the borders of one country.

And I especially agree with the comment regarding the Latin American and Caribe Nations currently coalescing with the U.S.- it has gotten us nothing but bloodshed and has gruesomely hurt our educational, health and government systems. Let's face it - Cuba may not be a place for those wanting wealth and material goods but it's certainly a place for those who dream of equity, universal health care and an educational system that works. Miami Cubans are even divided on Cuba so be careful what you wish for - someone just may make it down to Miami and actually have Miami backing. And if you ask Haitians in Miami which they prefer, Haiti or Cuba they'd in the drop of a heartbeat reply "Cuba". But dry foot policy doesn't apply to them. Why do you think that is? And why is it that Haitian and Cuban doctors are partnering to fix the health epidemics occurring in Haiti. Let's not forget the doctors from the US, Congo, Ghana, Latin America, the U.S. colonized island of Puerto Rico who's teachers are about to go on strike and whose economy has gone bankrupt and who's hospitals you absolutely don't want to have to visit. Every country has its problems. But we have to give credit to those country's willing to learn from those problems and improve social levels of equity for all.

By 'guitly liberal', I mean, of course, not at all progressive or truly liberal. More of like 'rich-people liberal'. Lots of talk, little action, and a slow slide to the right.

Like many of our so-called Democrats.

Castro is bad, how he got in power is bad. Done. What struck me about the ariticle is that Cuba was second to China with jailing journalist and yet we still trade with China and talk to them to try and improve relations. With Cuba we emabargo. I will ask... How has that worked for US not just in Cuba but else where and How has opening up communications and trade worked for US.

Obama's toeing of the line on Cuba policy is no surprise and unfortunately must be done to win the presidency. He must appease the Cuban American community in Florida to have a chance at winning that state and its 45 electoral votes. Since Florida is, like most states, has a winner take all provision for electoral votes, and is one of the swing states it national elections, a small group like the Cuban community there can swing the election either way, and therefore must be catered to. This is the result of our archaic Electoral College system, which has outlived any usefulness it had and needs to be scrapped. Because it is provided for in the Constitution and constitutional amendments are very hard to pass, people should check out the National Popular Vote project at http://www.nationalpopularvote.com/index.php
which seeks to do basically the same thing through legislative action.

I think the general population has to understand that the political system in which we live under is not democracy. At least under a dictator you know that you are being suppressed,and you know not to speak out that there will be a gun by your head. except in our system, people are being coerced into believing that this is the way life is supposed to be. In actuality we are all being suppressed....

One thing we imperialists seem to have little respect for are the principles of self-determination and national sovereignty.

Cuba had a revolution and deposed a hated dictatorship backed by the US. Now they've had another dictator for 50 years. Apparently they like him better than what came before. If they didn't, surely they'd have found a way to have another revolution and depose him without our "help".

We find it despicable when foreign governments meddle in US political campaigns. So why do we have the CIA and other government agencies constantly working on regime and political changes in other countries, largely to benefit US corporations? We insist that foreigners keep their hands off our government and political process. Shouldn't we should apply the same rule to our own meddling?

Embargoes, such as we are applying to Cuba and Iran, and previously to Iraq, are simply another form of warfare. We should not be using these forms of warfare unless territorial sovereignty is at stake and war is properly declared.

Doug's remarks hit the nail on the head...what has happened to Mojo and The Nation that has caused their writers to have reached such a state of self-serving historical amnesia,
not to mention staggering degrees of narcissism. Who, really, does Corn take himself for?

Douglas has it right. This was a poor and poorly written article. Worthless. Fidel was actually pro-America until we stabbed them in the back, as we have done with all the Latin/Carib/Afr countries where we practiced our racist colonialist exploitative imperialism and death wars. Fidel is a hero to all Indigenous people because he was the David that stood up to the Capitalist imperialst Goaliath. Read a good book like, Empire's Workshop and ignore this mythical, propagandist article.

All I needed to do was look at the title of this article to know what was in store for me as a reader and someone who perhaps knows more about Cuba than the author of this article.

It seems that many right wingers and pseudo leftists have clogged this blog site. The vociferous nature of the insults and ad hominem commentary is typical of those incapable of serious discourse.

I give Fidel all the credit he deserves as well as all the blame he may also deserve for some of the problems facing Cuba. Perhaps one should also blame the victims in all situations where they appear to allow themselves to be abused? I think not. The absurdity of some commentators
comments is pathetic and plays into the hands of CANF and other right wing groups in favor of maintaining the Cuban embargo.

I know that the truth is something that is just as inconvenient to the right as it can be for the left.

The truth is that Cuba has been the victim long before Castro and if the US and the Miami gusanos have their way, Cubans on the island will continue to be victims.

Cuba SI! Yubi and his [deleted] buddies No!!!

Castro killed more than 4,000 innocent men, women, and children within a month of him seizing power (Che Guavara bragged at the lack of trials in thousands of summary executions), and Cuba imprisons more political prisoners per capita than in the darkest days of Stalin’s purges of entire Russian populations. That is the very tip of a bloody and brutal iceberg the likes of which the spoiled children here can’t even imagine.

The simple fact is that nothing less than pure ignorance or a willingness to believe in the most blatant propaganda could make a free person look at Cuba and believe that it is a superior society and culture to the vast quilt of America. Really, you must hate people, hate individualism, and hate the animating contest of freedom to actually want totalitarianism.

I choose to believe that the people who praise Castro and Stalinist Cuba are simply criminally ignorant, and just want to believe because they don’t know any better. The alternative is that there are monsters, in human form, walking among us who think that enslaving their fellow citizens, crushing everyone into poverty, and destroying any individuality is a wonderful thing to be emulated, and I simply can’t believe that many Americans could be monsters.

I am stunned by your comments?
Before Castro Cuba was the bordello of Americain governmental and criminal individuals.
Why do at home what can be done elsewhere.
The US have implemented all sorts of repressionary measures, starved the people, have been maintaining an illegall blockade for how long now.

The US of A have a tendency to have their wars run in other countries just like their questionning of suspect

Your a damm country of BS not the people the ones whom govern them in a mock democracy where secret agencies spy on every one.

I now know where you stand... soon you'll be kneeling in front of The cohorts of Bushes that empoison your country

Stunned, it's that exaggerated and inflammatory rhetoric of yours that betrays the silliness of your side position.

"Cuba imprisons more political prisoners per capita than in the darkest days of Stalin’s purges of entire Russian populations." Really? Can you point this monster to the source of that ridiculous statement?

"I choose to believe that the people who praise Castro and Stalinist Cuba are simply criminally ignorant"

I thought I read all the comments, but can't find one that praises Castro. Could you please point it out?

"believe that it is a superior society and culture to the vast quilt of America."

Can't find anyone saying that, either. Are you sure you're commenting in the right place?

"you must hate people, hate individualism, and hate the animating contest of freedom to actually want totalitarianism"

The one spewing the word hate here seems to be you. Like my grandma used to say, three fingers are pointing back at ya, comrade.

"who think that enslaving their fellow citizens, crushing everyone into poverty, and destroying any individuality"

Oh, you mean like US-backed Cuba in the 1950's.

Go read a history book.

Exactly. It is the old game of "hit the cripple"

They are impoverished because of the economic sanctions of the United States for the last 45 years not because of his internal policies per say. Lets not forget Castro came to us first and we turned down his request for assistance because the US government, Big Business and the Mafia supported the despot dictator Batista who spent his time brutalizing those who opposed him and getting rich off of American aid that was suppose to help the people of Cuba. What choice did Castro have but to go to the Soviets. And we wonder what went wrong!

Normalize relations = expand markets = deepen hold of global neoliberal order = INCREASE HUMAN RIGHTS ABUSES IN CUBA

It is appropriate to critique human and civil rights abuses, whether under Castro or under Saddam Hussein.

But when the effects of neoliberal policy intensify human suffering, then ANY EFFECTIVE resistance is arguably better and CANNOT BE WRITTEN OFF AT FACE VALUE.

The attempted unification of Persian Basra prior to the 1st Gulf War and Castro's Cuban challenge to Ameri-Euro economic hegemony can both be read this way.

This is a true progressive vision. It is also a true defense of leftism.

Without such insight, Mother Jones cannot point the light toward a truly sustainable and peaceful world.

But maybe that's not what Mother Jones wishes to do.

The people that lived in his kingdom were at least literate. We've been living under a most decidedly less beneficent government for years where people are so illiterate they believe this idiot is a war hero and anybody that opposes him is a fraud. Tell me again why Castro was so bad.

Sorry, I don't get it.

Anna Koester, you are correct to cite the cite the CIA for its attempts to kill Castro. I personally know somebody that was paid by the CIA to bomb Cuba in 1960. You are one of the few that has guts enough to put your name on your article.

David Corn's blog is not what I would call an article or a story. It's an opinion piece, a small one at that. Most opinion pieces are much longer and for good reason: they need a few more words to flesh out their argument, examine both sides and draw a conclusion. No, his piece is more like a letter to the editor. And should be treated as such, which most of the posts in reply seem to have done, although many with the kind of invective you might catch on a shock jock radio show. It would be informative to know why David Corn wrote so few words, because his argument is hardly improved by it. I expect better from a journalist, indeed from MoJo's Washington Bureau chief. Imagine if this piece were to grace the pages of Outfront in the magazine. Well it wouldn't because it doesn't stack up as a credible piece of reporting. That's because it is not reporting even though a number of posts treat it as such. Because it is coming from a senior MoJo journalist, it needs a disclaimer, saying the piece is "David Corn's opinion only and does not necessarily reflect the opinion of MoJo and its publishers," or words to that effect.

Yes, Fidel has stepped down. But you morally and politcally correct fools in America nedd to get a sense of reality. America globally is more repressive than Fidel could have ever been. Its time to lift the embargo against Cuba. The only reason it got imposed is because of the former Bastista Cuban supporters who fled to Florida 45 years ago. Its time to face reality. To help the Cuban people not to continue to punish them. And I have no problems with putting journalists in prison. Should be done more often. Give Bill O'Reilly, Hannity and Colm's and Anne Colter some K-Y jelly and send them off for a few months in stir. It might just change their attitude on many topics. A few months in prison may widen their views besides just widen their backsides.

You can not wear che t shirts in Miami bc an antidemocratic, extremist minority (so called hard line exile) does not tolerate freedom of speech, opinion or anything else.

Ain't that a fact, tho. I now tune into MJ to see what corporate amerika's sgenda is.
(u should never end a sentence with a prep, buuuhahaha)

Ain't that a fact, tho. I now tune into MJ to see what corporate amerika's sgenda is.
(u should never end a sentence with a prep, buuuhahaha)

Corn: This is the most superficial piece ever to come from your pen. You seem not to know of the history of Cuba from the time of the Spanish American War forward. You blithely overlook the leaden and heavy-handed policies of the United States in the years since 1959. You buy into the flag-waving of thugs and sleaze who beat it to Miami to save their skins when the Cuban people revolted. Boy, am I disappointed in your simple-minded gringoisms. I see your understanding of these warm and sensitive people to be on par with the JC’s of a generation ago who dragged the old car to the edge of town and wrote “commie” all over it and allowed whacks at it with a sledge for a buck.

Oh give me a break. If you think Cuba is a Stalinist country, you likely weren't born and certainly didn't see Stalinist Russia or know anything about it at all. In comparison, Cuba has to be called a relatively soft socialist country and not communist, as that has come to be understood, AT ALL. Yup, I'm sure there is repression and no doubt some of you could have done a much better job of running this poor country whose people were rammed into the ground by American corporate interests and deeply corrupt and oppressive regimes like US backed Batista but, for now, I'd like to give Castro a bit, just a little bit, of the credit.

How about this:

US backed repressive murderous dictator Batista was bad for Cuba.

Castro was good for Cuba. Though US did everything it could to stop him.

Hey Howee. To say that there are aspects of another country's political, economic, social, cultural system that I admire is not to say that I want to live there, though the reasons I don't are not related to any animosity. I don't live in the US either. And I don't want to. I'm glad for my perspective, standing outside. I would give up a great deal of freedom and economic well being to stay out of America. I don't hate americans, but I dislike what AMERICA has come to stand for. Including myopia and not being able to tolerate legitimate differences of opinion without telling people to go live somewhere else. There is a great big wonderful world outside of the US, though not unaffected by it, and I'm glad I get to live there.

Thank you Jay. A very balanced and informative opinion. There are others here too and I salute you all.

Thanks corneilius

A team of American and Iraqi epidemiologists estimates that 655,000 more people have died in Iraq since coalition forces arrived in March 2003 than would have died if the invasion had not occurred.
The American scientists were from John Hopkins University. The study was reported in lots of media, including The Washington Post. Of course, Bush disagrees, but what would you expect. The science used to generate the study has been reviewed and found valid. And please note, these deaths are OVER AND ABOVE the deaths that would be expected under Sadaam. I'm sure Iraqis have many reasons to thank America.

One has to look outside the US to find credible assessments of the morbidity statistics on Iraq. At the same time, it's difficult to know what stake John Hopkins University would have in fudging the stats. Further, whatever the study says, how does anyone think that Iraq could have been mercilessly bombed and invaded, had its infrastructure absolutely destroyed, suffered from lack of access to water, electricity, jobs, food etc., and been just as subject to IEDs as American troops, without suffering substantial casualties? Why is there so little interest (among some people) to even consider the issue? Could it be pangs of conscience or is it just denial?

Elizabeth, like other wealthy westerners your so deeply self absorbed that nothing cannot be not about you....the article is about Cuba, and a man that decided it was his vision of reality that would prevail, and no one else's. To all of you ego maniac westerners, it's very simple, you play politics and with my freedoms when you dont stand up for the most basic values, that is my right to chose. This has nothing to do with the U.S. or anyone else, it has to do with the right to chose. That simple, we dont know what Cubans have wanted for 50 years, because they havent chosen. Where I come from nothing like the comments above are spoken, by dawn you would be permanently silent speaking such things..get up everyday and cheer for america and everywhere else you can write what you write, because you have no clue how good you have it, and seems you care not a jot for those who dont, otherwise you would not take so much for granted.

Fidel Castro is a hero! His successful practice of socialism used limited resources to raise the standard of living for all of the people of Cuba. Opposed by the most powerful political, economic and military power on Earth, Castro was forced to take anti-democratic measures. The anti-communist hysteria that brought us the debacle of Vietnam and other disasters, was dedicated to quash Cuban freedom and hinder it's survival. All of Castro's policies must be viewed in this context.
Did anyone else appreciate the irony (and hypocrisy) of Bush's comment to the effect that Cuba could now have truly democratic elections, not ones manipulated by two brothers?

having traveled extensively in Cuba, with no limitations, I can say categorically that the people in Cuba are on a whole, much better off and then people in the Dominican Republic or Jamaica, both of which evidence abject poverty and violence. I have two questions in the nation some light on this issue if they can be answered by the writer.

1. How many of the "independent journalists"are funded directly or indirectly, by the US?

2. when making a comparison to Iraq or any place in the Middle East in conflict. It might be noted that the reason there are fewer journalists imprisoned is that they are more likely dead as opposed to imprisoned therefore any comparison is absurd.
having many close friends in Cuba at all levels from the street to the halls of academia, and having visited 17 times. I can honestly say that the image portrayed as modern day Cuba is vastly more positive, open, and safe then is routinely reported by the US press, which we also know. It is entirely free and objective.

Interesting how so many of the "open-minded" "diversity-seeking" "tolerant" "progressives" here spew such hateful venom toward those, such as Yubi above, who have first-hand experience w/ the depredations of Castro's Cuba that contradict the rosey Red descriptions of Western Lefties. Castro discriminates against gays and AIDS sufferers in a way the US and other Western- civilized- nations never would; doesn't that prick your oh-so-"progressive" consciences?

Unlike the captives of Kastro's Kommunist Kuba (see? It's not only "Amerika" that can be mispelled w/ a "K!") all of you who find his gulag so enthralling are free to leave the "prisons" of Western democracies and move there.

We can learn from Castro's Cuba on how to handle AIDS people and Gays. Let's start by implementing the Program in Frisco.

Wow! what happened to Mother Jones, did it sell itself to corporations like the rest of the media! or Mother Jones is hiring right wing cubans who wants to invade Cuba and turn it into a capitalist, destructive, who cares, we want to leave our grotesque, wasteful life like we do here in the USA. There is no wonder our empire is going down it must be because we are the greatest country in the world.

Dear Mr. Yubi, first you should learn to spell fascist. Second, in looking at the original posting, we see that there are 24 imprisoned journalists in Cuba. Well, how many dead journalists, dead as in assassinated, do you think there have been in the last five years in our very friendly allied countries Mexico and Colombia.The answer is many more than 24. And these nations must surely be our friends since we have given them billions and billions of our tax dollars over the last five years. While I don't defend everything Castro has done, I think you should be upset about what your own country has done. So let's put things in perspective, eh?

Yubi is a reactionary Cuban, I gather. Intelligent criticisms of Cuba and Castro are welcome, but his are not it.

The ex Batista proto fascist punks in Miami who want to bring bank U.S. Sugar, the vacation industry and the Mob are no improvement.

Hillary lined up with George Bush on the resignation of Castro. Obama actually said it was time for a change in U.S. policy, allowing Cubans and others to visit Cuba more easily. Are the dinosaur Gusanos on the political way out?

I don't care what any narrow-minded ahistorical North American says. Apparently too many of them believe all the propaganda issued their way.

Fidel is my hero. His philosophical and political orientation was to serve the people - not big business and the interest of profit-hungry capitalists. I love Fidel!!!

(Oh yeah, tell me how great the great USA is! Can you lie about that too?)

How dare anyone condemn Castro without relating imposed economic sanctions, the attempted assissination attempts and attempted coups from the USA? How can anyone condemn Fidel and the millions of Cubans who love him! How can anyone be so rude to another political orientation - one that is explicitly for the Cuban people?

Yeap, Mo Jones has suddenly became Mother F***** Jones!

I remember when Mother Jones published a cover article about going pop for gaining more mainstream access. That was back in 98'.

As far as Cuba goes, all American politicians (Dems and Rep.s) and powers that be are crap and the Cuban people need to be protected from any influence or even contact from the mind controlling mass media and elctronic, chemical warfare that US Domestic Psyops does to constantly lobotamize the American people, it's number one enemy in the world!

If you love Cuban freedom, I recomend that all Americans help the Cuban security to nip any US backed counterevolutions in the bud any way possible.

Isn't it time for a revolution back in the States anyway?

I suppose it's only natural for the media is more interested in itself, than the issues of real people, but really - what is so special about journalists?
I think an objective comparison of the prison populations of Cuba and the USA might well indicate that the USA has more to be ashamed about than Cuba. There certainly seems to be an awful lot of people in prison in the USA.

Mother Jones puts "YOBI" on the front page as their highlighted 'reader' comment.
Cracks me up.

Yobi and company are Bush supporters, sympathizers with terrorists in South Florida who the CIA has winked at for years, and to the right of nearly everyone reading this magazine on every other issue.

Is Cuba a paradise? Absolutely not. Should we take the advice of these reactionary Republican south Florida cretins? Absolutely not.

MJ is a liberal magazine, and pure anti-communism, in whatever format, is their hidden bread and butter. This is what they share with the Republican Party, evidently.

That said, would Castro put me in jail? Probably.

All kidding aside- do you pro-Castro people REALLY believe all of the tripe you are spewing? I understand, much of MoJo's readership are hard-core US and Western Marxists, folks who would likely find Jesse Jackson "reactionary" and consider Hillary Clinton absolutely conservative.

But c'mon, Mr, Corn is correct is his assessments of the Beard. Don't be so blinded by your hatred/paranoia of the US, the West, capitalism, and all the rest that you make fools of yourselves by not recognizing true evil when it reveals itself. Castro's regime was- and is- evil. Simply because he spouts the Marxist platitudes you so enjoy should not persuade thinking people of the Left to give him a pass; the Leftist sheeple, on the other hand, will praise the dictator Castro to the heavens, and excoriate such as their own brethren Mr. Corn for daring (to use the hoary cliche) to "speak truth to power."

Libertad!

All kidding aside- do you anti-Castro people REALLY believe all of the tripe you are spewing? I understand, some of MoJo's readership are hard-core US and Western neoconservatives, folks who would likely find John McCain absolutely progressive.

But c'mon, Mr, Corn is wrong in his assessments of the Beard. Don't be so blinded by your hatred/paranoia of Cuba, the socialism, communism, and all the rest that you make fools of yourselves by not recognizing true evil when it reveals itself (say Guantanamo Bay, Iraq). Bush's regime was- and is- evil. Simply because he spouts the capitalist and neoconservative platitudes you so enjoy should not persuade thinking people of the Right to give him a pass; the Right sheeple, on the other hand, will praise Bush to the heavens, and praise such "progressives" like Mr. Corn for daring (to use the hoary cliche) to speak "truth".

Conservertad!

Wow Gene, that was really clever.

Not.

I guess you support the murderous- and unelected- Castro regime. Sad. But typical of the unthinking Far Left (the same simpletons who assume anyone critical of Castro's predations must be a "conservative"; many are, some are also clear-minded folks center and left who see true evil- Castro's regime- for what it is, and call it as such. You criticize the Bush admin; how many US Leftists have fled Bush's America for Cuba? How many fled Clinton's? Now how many Cuban's have fled- and seek to flee- Castro's island prison, the one some of the Loony Left seem to find so wonderful... yet they themselves do not emigrate there? Unlike Castro's Cuba, Americans dissatisfied w/ the US are free to leave.)

Come back w/ some better stuff next time Gene, or stay home.

Aww Jack, thank you anyway! Now you see how silly you have been too, in sprouting reactionary, cliche lines? I just took it and hurl them back in your face!! Made no sense eh? I thought it might like to be at the receiving end of one of those diatribes.

I don't support Castro unquestioningly, if you really must know. I think that he has done some things that I would never condone - like his authoritarian rule, the lack of free elections et al. The corporate-control media all over the world seems to be just harping on that point. Valid, but hardly a fair commentary vis-a-vis whatever else he has done.

I think that there are some things that he did that people can (and did) commend him for - education and universal healthcare for one, in spite of the US embargo. I support him because those are things that should be the right of every single human being. That healthcare and education should not be reduced to the logic of capital and its value determined "naturally" (ha!) by the market. Many of the commentators above have already mentioned this point. That is where I support him in. And those are the things that SHOULD be mentioned alongside that as well. The bad and the good.

And of course I criticise the Bush administration! Not because it is "in vogue" but because there are actual reasons for doing so. You do know that right? =) Only those who are truly blind will continue to support him unwaveringly. Being non-American, I am pretty glad that I am not stuck in the US, being force-fed all the nonsense about "liberty", "freedom" and "democracy" from your corporate-controlled media (which by the way is hardly "liberal". I don't know why people say the media in the US is liberal. Hardly! They just report the news that sells because, hey that makes money. Cos hey, that's what capitalism is about, ain't it?). Those concepts have been hijacked by your president and turned into empty-sounding rhetoric that only operate along one dimensional lines now. Democracy (only if you choose the candidate WE choose)? Freedom (for free trade and for TNCs to come in to open the domestic market)? Do you all know exactly what those concepts mean, and where they originate from? Or is it really a case of what the US defines, goes?

It's always easy to sprout cliches and throw one-dimensional labels such as "Left", Jack. Might I suggest that you take your own advice in coming back with better stuff, like do a little more thinking, dig a little deeper, and perhaps read a bit more extensively about the outside world? Oh, and let's not forget history (since we are on Cuba, maybe Cuba pre-Castro during what you and the CANF would probably call the good ol' Batista days? Or maybe what about US interventions in Chile, El Salvador et al?) It's for your own education, which judging from the content and style of your writing, you seem to have not much of. I *really* think you should perhaps, help yourself out more here. Maybe then we can have a real debate. But you probably have quite a bit of catch up to do.

If and when you do, don't go tumbling down the hill okay? I know it can be blinding for your eyes to be suddenly open to the light. Have a good day! =)

I didn't know MOJO attracted so many uninformed imbecile readers who feel free to make such ignorant and outlandish comments. Where were you guys and gals mostly educated?

"Where were you guys and gals mostly educated?"

Moscow, in the '50s.

CUBA, JAMAICA, DOMINICAN REPUBLIC:

Living conditions within Cuba can be compared to living conditions elsewhere, but this is a different distinction as between Castro's use of power and the use of power by other entities. The cause of Cuban living conditions is more complex.

James Docherty's comparison between Cuba and other Caribbean nations, e.g. Jamaica, is a good one because it parses out the effects of Castro from other effects of other forces. Cuba and Jamaica have both been subject to forces such as the following:
Embargoes trade restrictions, loan strategies including debts payment, inter'l corporate power, tipping financial markets, colonial legacy, foreign military dominance (of trade routes or internal affairs), island geography/economy, resource management & ecology.
Castro's regime and the governments of the Dominican Republic and Jamaica have followed different paths. Why? Here are some differences between the countries:
1) CUBA: large land area allowing for more diversified production; combative responses to cooperation with foreign powers; strategic cooperation with Soviet power; multidimensional trade relations with global partners other than the United States; a focus on a strong domestic production and distribution system; tight regulation of imports and price controls on locally produced commodities; deep investment in health, education, etc.; tight and violently enforced social controls combined with a populist platform designed to circumvent elite or industrialist control over the so-called people's government; high social and health indicators.
2) Dominican Republic: Smaller island but without heavy colonial exploitation; heavy investment in maintaining ecological wealth; strong-armed one-family rule for last 50 year; violent repression of dissent and social control designed to maintain gov't program; open engagement with international markets and neoliberal norms; mediocre social and health statistics. Heavy dependence on tourist industry.
3) Jamaica: Smallest island. Heavier exploitation during colonial period; Constitutional monarchy with one elected house; full participation with neoliberal norms, open markets, competitiveness on global markets, etc. Worse health and social indicators. Heavy dependence on tourist industry.

The conclusion to be drawn here is not that civil rights cause us to lose our human rights. The Scandinavian social democracies stand against this fallacy.

Instead, it must simply be concluded that the presence or absence of democracy in small 3rd World island-states deeply dominated by global finance and Western militarism (from Teddy Roosevelt's big stick policy, through the bay of pigs, the WHISC-School of the Americas, the Contras)---does not naturally lead to freedom and happiness for the people.

It was by a similar logic that the Cuban revolutionary vanguard (as they saw themselves in Marxist terms) sought to combine undemocratic violence against the politically established elites IN COMBINATION WITH populist mobilization in order to FORGE THE POWER NECESSARY to make sweeping changes in the distribution of wealth in Cuba. This strategy anticipated that the richest and most power men on the planet---in Europe, in the United States, and in Cuba itself---would rally strongly against any such changes. Which is just what happened.

Unfortunately, the global elites have not forgotten their defeat in Cuba and they are waiting anxiously to buy up Cuba's beautiful country, over-work Cuba's healthy citizens, and socially reconstruct Cuba's strong national pride.

It is here that the dark-side of communist revolution---not nearly so dark in Cuba as in the Soviet Union or Maoist China but darker than Sweden for certain---proves its greatest weakness. For legitimate concerns regarding civil rights abuses and the terrible unfreedoms of Castro's professedly benevolent tyranny will be used to mobilize the world and Cuban hearts and minds into the service of an even-greater tyranny.

And some paltry bit of democracy, in Cuba as in Jamaica, will not easily overwhelm the forces of the global economic order.

Again, a Leftist viewpoint. Which is to say, a dreamers hope for true world peace.

PS: What American in their right mind would be stupid enough to leave the shelter of American power, this Candyland of Middle Class values, to live in a 3rd World country exploited by the global financiers whose great wealth has bought our two-party militarism for the sake of it's global domination.

When you drive your SUV, buy your children Nintendo Wii, and die of Meat-Lovers deluxe heart-attacks, don't think that the global leaders of finance have forgotten you on their list of bought votes, bought leaders, and bought governments. US Military power and the lost American sheep who vote for its wolf-like protection are complicit in the exploitation of Jamaica's democracy and in the US occupation of Cuba that precip