Why the US Should Apologize for Fidel Castro

  Fidel Castro, Cuba’s bloody tyrant, has finally died at age 90 on Black Friday (!) While left-wing statist will be mourning his death, many people are already celebrating his passing – which will hopefully trigger fundamental changes in the island’s obsolete political system. 

And part of that change has been triggered thanks to Barack Obama – mark this day down on your calendars because it’s probably the only time I will praise him. Indeed he thawed the frozen U.S-Cuba by loosening the embargo imposed by John F. Kennedy in the 1960s. While it *may* have been justified at the time, its prolongation is the exact reason why the Castros were able to maintain their grip on the island for so long. 

Revolting Against the Master Puppeteer

Cuba, like so many other Third-World Countries, had been under a succession of imperialist-backed leaders for most of its existence. Right after obtaining its independence from Spain, the small country virtually remained under U.S. protectorate, with Uncle Sam intervening many times to install leaders of its liking. 

Ironically, once the leaders were installed they set the stage for the communist revolution with over regulation of the economy and positive “rights” like healthcare and labor. So when Castro came to power it was relatively easy to push the communist ideas further. And for a long time he was seen as a hero opposing imperialism, especially in South America. With each succeeding president maintaining the embargo, Castro’s “resistance” only reinforced his power.

 Burn in Hell, SOB 

But don’t think for a moment that I defend Fidel Castro or his regime. In fact I agree with this Hispanic Facebook user and want him canonized so he can be called “Saint SOB.” 

While his people wallow in abject poverty – there’s a joke on the island that people don’t need diet soda since most people are as thin as a rail – he bathed in wealth. His “favorite” son Antonio had a very tumultuous vacation in Turkey last year, chilling on his 50-meter yacht while one of his bodyguards punched a paparazzo.  

Cuba’s totalitarian regime has a vast history of human rights violations. A non-profit called Cuba Archive’s Truth and Memory Project has been keeping records on the regime’s executions, imprisonment and other violations of human dignity. Even Raul Castro (Fidel’s brother) has a rather bleak record. 

But what about Cuba’s “achievements” like its state-of-the-art “free” healthcare preached for by useful idiots like Michael Moore? It is just a façade. Panam Post journalist Belen Marty visited a Havana hospital and reported that they basically look like the ones in Venezuela: lacking basic material, rundown, filthy and equalizing people in their misery. 

Finally, like many left-wing dictators’ deaths, a slew of people are praising Fidel Castro. Among them, highly placed politicians are talking about a hero and a champion of social justice… who executed gays, political opponents and even criminalized leaving the island without prior government permission. 

With the soul of the Cuban Revolution dead and with relations with the U.S. greatly improving, the future is looking brighter for Cuba. But we must remain very careful; president-elect Donald Trump’s mercantilist rhetoric are likely to cool down the warming relations pretty quickly. 

Let’s hope that Washington finally realizes that a commercial embargo and trade sanctions do nothing more than consolidate the sworn enemy they want to defeat while making the people suffer.