Cuba underwent a communist revolution in 1959, spearheaded by Fidel Castro, his brother Raul, and Che Guevara. At the time, many didn’t realize the ideology behind the revolution and saw it only as the rightful deposing of a dictator who had ruled for many years.
It didn’t take long for the truth to come to light. Those who disagreed with the drift of this new government were either executed or became political prisoners. Cuba became an outpost from which the Soviet Union could operate in the western hemisphere.
An attempt to overthrow the Castro government, the Bay of Pigs, was a disaster, largely due to indecision by President Kennedy. A year later, we discovered that the Soviets were building missile bases on the island with the intent of aiming nuclear missiles at most of mainland America. This Cuban Missile Crisis, which included a naval blockade of Cuba and the eventual removal of those missiles, again showed the Castro regime’s true colors.
Although the Soviet Union is no more, the ideology and practices of the Cuban government have not changed after all these years despite our economic boycott of the island. Cubans live the lives of those in all Third-World nations.
So what does President Obama do? He decides to normalize relations with a government that has never changed its ideology or practices. Then he becomes the first American president to visit since Calvin Coolidge back in the 1920s.
That would be fine if he had negotiated some real changes in that regime, but all continues as before. We are now to become good friends with those who still throw political opponents in prison and who execute those who are considered dangerous to the revolution.
Just prior to Obama’s plane touching down in Havana, peaceful protesters were arrested. People have no voice even today. Nothing has changed.
Neither has Obama sought to show any support for those who suffer for their opposition to tyranny. But he did go to a baseball game. He celebrates while others languish:
Then there was this photo:
That’s the image of Che Guevara in the background, the arm of Castro in those early days who had no problem personally overseeing the torture and execution of political opponents.
College students think it’s cool to wear Che t-shirts. I wonder how many of them really know who he was? Obama knows. He doesn’t care. In fact, he seemed quite at home in Cuba. Could it be because he views that government as more in line with his ideology? For Obama, America is always the problem.
I like the suggestion I heard while he was making his “historic” visit: if he likes it so much, why not encourage him to stay until January 20, 2017? That might be a great benefit to the nation he supposedly leads.
As for t-shirts, how about this one, which makes the point rather well?
