Actually Castro does hold 'elections', just not meaningful ones, so agreed with the sense of what you say, on that point ....... and among the majority it hasn't been for a long time due to 'plata o plomo' - there is precious little plata in the country, and not much plomo used anymore [three bullets for recent hijackers being a notable exception] ... but here again, agreed with the sense of what you say, because 'silver or lead' is standing behind all cubanos, all the time
Fact remains however, that the majority quite genuinely side with Castro against the Land-of-Plattismo .... the US is tainted here, quite badly tainted in its name, and not doing much to wash off the taint either ... freeing Elián was a good thing, that showed that the majority of norteamericanos found family values weightier than partisan political considerations .... gestures like this go a long way in hearts and minds - vacating Guantánamo and having your congress make an abject apology for occupying it all these years, that would be helpful .... drop the bloqueo, there's another, let your college kids go there for easter break, pollute those hearts and minds with libertine rhythms, even, sigh, that lamentable rap ...... send a piana to Habana - sendapiana.com
My favourite dance partner here is a cubana, her mother has been to visit twice, stayed the last time two months or more, she is from a village not far from a place important in the mythology of el movimiento 26 julio .... just a normal mother, from normal people, no position high in current hierarchy or anything .... she gets pretty candid once relaxed and familiar with you, and she allows that perhaps they could do better than Castro, but they sure as hell don't want John L O'Sullivan either
You'll recall him as the coiner of 'Manifest Destiny', the spokesman for slavers who wanted the US to take lands to its south, for the working of captive negros .... this movement got Tejas, then all the northern half of México, but they never got Cuba until much later, half a century, when the cubanos had all but completely shaken off rule by europeans, and then Hearst said to Remington, you supply the pictures, i'll supply the war ... which he did, and thusly was imposed on the cubano a man called Platt, from which comes plattismo, an obscenity as a cubanismo, and indeed by any reasonable measure
'If I'm a leader of a organized criminal enterprise and I move to your town, I'll eventually run it'
Precisely what Platt did ... well i guess the first Rooseveldt was actually the 'leader', but you know what i mean ... and Platt wasn't the last, there came a long line, with Batista at the end ..... Castro freed them from the Batistas, whatever else you say about him that remains true, and you can't soil that in the minds of the average cubano, no point in trying
You and i are not far apart on what we'd like to see for Cuba, not at all maybe .... it's on how cubanos get to that stage though, where any difference comes in .... the US as a state should just absolutely butt out, imho, its name is tainted and it can do no good here .... as citizens sure, along with your fellow americanos, invade the place, take some ideas and spread them, soak up some sun in exchange, make some friends by listening not preaching, this will work well ..... but the change itself must come from cubanos, the river is not yours to push, and it doesn't push so good anyway |
