"Castro is no Stalin but he is hardly benevelant."
Castro is no choir boy. But, in comparison to Batista, he is not too bad. That, and his charisma and intelligence, is what has kept him in power. Realistically speaking, Cuba could have done a whole heck of a lot worse, just look at some of the other Carribean countries or even Mexico. It might have been a lot different for Cuba if the US had a more rational policy towards Cuba, but we don't and it hasn't been.
In Castro's favor, what little Cuba has is more or less shared equally. Though granted, some are more "equal" than others, the disparity is a whole lot less than in the US. Now Cuba, as a system, hasn't worked all that well since the collapse of the Soviet Union, but because of European tourism it is still is lurching along. If the US would go ahead and normalize relations and wait for Castro to die, maybe they would have a chance as a productive country...
For what it is worth, I favor pure capitalism about as much as I favor pure socialism. Neither works well for most people unless everyone is altruistic, or thoroughly computerized. On the whole, I don't think I would like either case, those societies would be pretty static. I am pretty anarchist in my basic philosophy... |
