The case for change

Dear editor:

Most of us who speak Spanish and have actually spent time on the island of Cuba have long argued for a change in U.S. policy toward the communist regime -- not because we are sympathetic to the police-state tyranny and dictatorship existing on the island, but because we have seen firsthand how our policies of embargo and aggression have actually helped the communist rulers maintain their power over Cuba's population.

Cuba is a supremely classic "Animal Farm Island" for anyone familiar with the book by George Orwell. The pigs came to be in charge of the other animals with their promises and sweet talk of egalitarian "collectivism." In the end, they produced a social order of near-starvation, extreme suffering and struggle, and loss of almost all opportunity for advancement; a place where "all are equal ... but some are more equal than others." Don't fool yourself with the far left's brag about literacy and health care in Cuba. The educated have no opportunity for advancement and the health clinics have few supplies. Soviet-style communism does not work in the real world and the strangling effect of government over-regulation and over-control makes sure of that, as it did in Russia.

Ironically, our economic embargo, hostile aggression and attempts at overthrow have actually helped keep this monstrous, now antiquated dinosaur alive for the last five decades. How? By giving the beast exactly what it needs to survive -- someone else to blame for its multitude of failures in delivering even the most basic of human needs, an "enemy" intent on the overthrow of Cuban sovereignty and self-determination, a "David vs. Goliath" world sympathy, justification for its extremely repressive laws and restrictions, and isolation from American contact which only helps strengthen the propaganda of the ruling class. As we have witnessed since 9/11, when the castle seems under siege, civil liberties and freedoms are lost, and the rulers inside get more power, not less.

At a Good Friday Catholic Mass I attended in Trinidad de Cuba, some Cuban State Security Police were in attendance to "monitor" the words of the local bishop. Immediately after his talk, these four burly looking thugs abruptly stood up in the front pew, swung around and glared at the whole congregation in the overflowing church, then they slowly sauntered out, looking up and down each aisle as they passed. Their message was crystal clear: "Watch your step! We are here and we have our eyes on you, get out of line and you will pay dearly."

Blowback is a term used to describe the counterproductive and opposite effects one's actions may have in the world. Regrettably, our well-intended but short-sighted and hate-driven policies toward Cuba have given life, strength and longevity to los matones, the goons and enforcers in the Cuban State Security apparatus, which is at the heart of the communist corruption on the most beautiful island of Cuba.

Soon enough we should see Mr. Obama's courageous and enlightened change in our Cuban policies bear the fruit of freedom and democratic change for Cuba's oppressed, but grand-spirited people ... una Cuba libre en realidad.

John R. Bomar

Hot Springs

Editorial on 12/20/2014

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