As Cuban-Americans discuss the “Cuba issue” with non-Cuban friends and colleagues, it does not take long before we hear something along the lines of:
“Yes, Castro was not ideal…but look what he managed to do for Cuban society! He eliminated income inequality, established a world class healthcare system, banished illiteracy, and generally rules over a content populace willing to sacrifice material ambitions for social harmony”
Needless to say, such third or fourth-person perspectives developed in the air-conditioned comfort of US living rooms irritates most Cuban-Americans, who have first hand experience and knowledge of reality on the island.
Pointing out the facts does not seem to help…inequality still exists, its just that the communists are now on top. That the much heralded low infant mortality rate is accompanied by one of the highest abortion rates in Latin-America. That Cuba was already a highly literate country before Castro took power. And that thousands risk life and limb to escape the island every year. No, this does not help. People still seem to want to believe that this is true.
Fortunately for Cuban-Americans, and unfortunately for Venezuelans, Chavez is providing a direct, clear, and unambiguous window on how dictators assume full control of a government and then use the levers of power to lie to, and manipulate not only their own citizens, but a good portion of the world at large.
In the latest issue of Foreign Affairs, Francisco Rodriguez (former chief economist of the Venezuelan National Assembly) dissects the data and reveals the gulf between Chavez’s claims (i.e., he’s helping the poor) and reality (i.e., he’s helping himself).
For those interested in better understanding how you start systematically fudging the data and lying to the world, I urge you to read Mr. Rodriguez’s essay. If Chavez continues to gain power, the ability of third-parties to conduct this type of analyses will be greatly reduced, and all we will have is a general belief that “Chavez helped the poor, improved healthcare and education, lords over a happy populace”, etc., etc..
The article can be found at:
http://www.foreignaffairs.org/20080301faessay87205/francisco-rodriguez/an-empty-revolution.html
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2 comments:
Great post Axel, thank you.
Any statements given by a country without freedom of press should be considered more propoganda than fact.
Independent studies and good investigative journalism to verify true measurables are key to the validity of any claim.
Any country who does not permit for either has something to hide and should be questioned every step of the way.
Does the CANF agree with State Representative Eddy Gonzalez on HB685?
In June 2000, a U.S. Congressional Caucus delegation visited Cuba to meet with Fidel Castro. The delegation was led by longtime apologist for Fidel Castro and communist Cuba, Congressman Charles Rangel (D-NY), who in 1995 welcomed the tyrant to Harlem with a hug and a prolonged standing ovation by a crowd of his supporters. Upon the delegation’s visit to Cuba, Castro offered 500 scholarships to U.S. nationals. The tyrant's offer to US students was classified as a “cultural exchange” program by the US State Department in order to avoid the restrictions of the U.S. embargo against Cuba.
In 2004, the legality of American students at the Fidel Castro School of Medicine was put into question by the tightening of travel restrictions by the U.S. Government. A strong lobbying effort led by Congressmen Charles Rangel, Barbara Lee (D-CA), and 27 other members of Congress persuaded Secretary of State Colin Powell to exempt the Castro Scholarship Program from the tightened travel restrictions.
Applications from U.S. citizens are administered through the New York City based Interreligious Foundation for Community Organization (IFCO), headed by longtime ally of the Castro regime, the Rev. Lucius Walker Jr. (http://www.ifconews.org/MedicalSchool/main.htm).
"Our students should not be contributing to, nor legitimizing Castro’s apartheid healthcare system, which gives high government officials and hard currency-paying foreigners state-of-the-art care, at the expense of ordinary citizens who are relegated to subpar, archaic, and quite frankly, abusive conditions," said Representative González. "Those who turn a blind eye to such basic human and civil rights abuses do not possess the basic judgment and character required for the ethical practice of medicine in Florida."
HB685 will prohibit US residents or citizens who received their degrees through the Fidel Castro Scholarship from practicing medicine in Florida.
"As Cuba continues its pattern of exporting an ideology of terrorism, tyranny, and communist revolution, we should not allow our children to be used as vehicles in Castro's relentless effort to export his failed, corrupt ideology," said Representative González."
Below are two videos of the first US class graduation from the Fidel Castro School of Medicine. "I encourage those who watch these videos to notice how most of the praise is not heaped on the medical program itself, but on Castro and his failed revolution," said Representative González.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=DZZbc9gufF8
http://youtube.com/watch?v=hMFGn2md7KE&feature=related
"I consider it a moral obligation to expose and challenge Cuba's system of healthcare apartheid and to prevent our students from being used to further it," said González.
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