So despite the fact that the vital topic of cheeseburgers has only been touched on so far--and I know there is much more to hear about on this world-shaking issue--let's just hear a bit of what Human Rights Watch has to say:
Keeping in mind of course that all these restrictions are due to the US embargo, and that Human Rights Watch is owned lock stock and barrel by the Republican party.
"Cuba remains a Latin American anomaly: an undemocratic government that represses nearly all forms of political dissent" . Castro's government "continues to enforce political conformity using criminal prosecutions, long and short-term detentions, mob harassment, poiice warnings, surveillance, house arrests, travel restrictions, and politically motivated dismissals from employment. The end result is that Cubans are systematically denied basic rights to free expression, association, privacy, movement, and due process of law."
Operative word here is "systematically".
Sounds like paradise has lost just a bit of its glow.
Unless of course you wouldn't mind living under this. If you can't tell the difference between this and the UK or US, i suggest you take off your ideological blinders.
This is all from about 2005. I've not seen anything that indicates any of this has changed since. If anybody has official--non-anecdotal--information, please share it.
We are also told Cuba has great health care. I'd like to know the source of statistics confirming this--preferably not the Cuban government. If the Red Cross for instance says it, how free have the examiners been to travel the whole country?. And again, where did their statistics come from?
Also, please name one other state which requires its citizens to get government permission before leaving--and which makes that permission difficult enough to obtain that many citizens never get it.
"Unauthorized travel can result in criminal prosecution. "
"The government also frequently bars citizens engaged in authorized travel from taking their children with them overseas, essentially holding the children hostage to guarantee the parents' return."
But I suppose this is just peachy with Mudcat Cuba fans.
And it's interesting that some Mudcatters have such a positive impression of Cuba now. It seems to fit right into the tradition of visits of left- of- center Westerners to Communist states.
Some, like Emma Goldman--and Pete Seeger in fact--realized that their uncritical support of certain Communist regimes was not justified. And they learned better.