Che Obama?

SheikBen wrote:Well, sure Sam, but your anecdote (and even 59 dead insurgents) do not speak to whether Castro and Batista can really be compared favorably.

Mike, I was not attempting to compare them "favorably", .....

Me no think you are looking at the "big picture" of both Batista and Castro relative to "all the people in Cuba".

Batista maintained and enforced a "two (2) Class society", .... the very, very rich ...... and the very, very poor. Everything that he done was to enrich himself ...... and to do that he had to permit the very, very rich to keep enriching themselves. Thus, ....

Under Batista, Cuba became profitable for American business and organized crime. Havana became the "Latin Las Vegas," a playground of choice for wealthy gamblers, and very little was said about democracy, or the rights of the average Cuban. Opposition was swiftly and violently crushed, and many began to fear the new government.

Mike, for American businesses to be highly profitable ......... the rich Cubans had to provide them with "low cost goods, services and labor". Low cost goods were sugar, tobacco and nickle. The poor Cubans were forced to work as prostitutes, domestic employees and service personnel for the casinos, hotels, restaurants, etc. They were also forced to work as laborers which were needed for mining, growing, harvesting and processing the nickle, sugar and tobacco.

Batista did nothing to help improve “their way of life” of the Cuban poor. They lived in substandard housing, no infrastructure, no hospitals or medical facilities and no schools for their education. In essence, Batista had to “keep them barefoot, hungry and ignorant” to insure his needed “cheap supply of labor”. Such living/working conditions had to be responsible for THOUSANDS of deaths each year. And thus was the reason that ……..

Just over a year after Batista's second coup, a small group of revolutionaries led by Fidel Castro attacked the Moncada Army Barracks in Santiago on July 26, 1953. By late 1955 student riots and anti-Batista demonstration had become frequent. These were dealt with in the violent manner his military police had come to represent.

Now Mike, take a look at the “big picture” of Castro.

One of the 1st things he did was to start educating the poor, teaching the illiterates to be literate. Then he built primary/secondary schools and made attendance mandatory. College and trade schools were optional but all free of charge/cost. He built hospitals and provided health services to all the people free of charge/cost.

The Cuban people who were revolutionizing, rioting and demonstrating against Batista …… got what they wanted via Castro’ rule. They got better living conditions, healthcare and education. And with said education came “smarts enough” to know that it was/is not Castro’s fault for their “economic plight”, …… but the fault of the US Government and their imposed embargo.

And that is why the Cuban people have not been, …. and are not, …. revolutionizing, rioting and demonstrating against Castro. And they sure as hell are not going to support the “Castro Hating” Cuban millionaires living in Florida who want to “return Cuba” to the good ole days …… that was only good for themselves and their friends.

I accept that the folks in Florida likely represent Cuba's patricians, but if Cuba is such a socialist paradise, why do you people risk their lives on rafts to escape it?

ziggy wrote:

Keli wrote:Che Guevara Flags in Obama's Houston Office
Little Green Footballs ^ | Feb 11, 2008

It is not even an official Obama campaign office- just a place where some volunteers hang out. It would be akin to some unofficial Huckabee or McCain hangout where volunteers have an office adorned with a Confederate Rebel flag and KKK memorabelia- such as sheets and nooses.

http://www.snopes.com/politics/obama/chavez.asp

By their fruits ye shall know them.

SheikBen wrote:I accept that the folks in Florida likely represent Cuba's patricians, but if Cuba is such a socialist paradise, why do you people risk their lives on rafts to escape it?

Mike, that's akin to asking Sherman and Ziggy ....... "Why the hell didn't you all ever leave West Virginia?"

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I don't know if anyone ever risks their lives leaving West Virginia--unless it's into Stuebenville, Ohio too late in the evening.