From: rjv@a2.cim.cdc.com (Rene Valdes)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.latin-america
Subject: Re: Human Rights in Cuba
Date: 9 Jan 93 01:07:55 GMT
Reply-To: rjv@a2.cim.cdc.com (Rene Valdes)
Distribution: usa

Unfortunately, I don't have enough time for lengthy commentaries, but
I'd like to answer a question and make a couple of points based on
my own life experience:  I lived under the Cuban Revolution of Fidel
Castro for 22 years, I have very close relatives in Cuba, and I last
visited the Island in August 1992.  

In article <103561@netnews.upenn.edu>, julio@upenn5.hep.upenn.edu
 (Julio Gonzalez) writes:
|> 
|>     Anybody knows which are the constitutional powers of Fidel ?

To any Cuban who has lived in the Island for any length of time, this
question is irrelevant.  Castro has ALL the power, he has been deciding
practically EVERYTHING that happens in Cuba for over thirty years.  He
decides how much sugar to produce, what kind of cattle to raise, when and
how "elections" are held, what is taught in any school, how much money 
everyone is allowd to make.  He is the constitution, he is the Revolution,
and (in the eyes of many people - most of them outside Cuba -, sad as it 
sounds) he is Cuba.  Nobody dares question anything he decides.  The few 
who have expressed disagreement have been removed from their positions 
and some probably even from the face of the planet.

|>    Are you telling me that Cuba's constitution
|>    institutes hatred against minorities ?  Does it discriminate against 
|>    homosexual individuals? 

Again, what the constitution says or doesn't say is irrelevant.  The 
government of Fidel Castro does discriminate against certain minorities,
particularly gay people.  Cuba has one of the worst records when it comes to
discrimination for sexual orientation.  For many years, the Cuban state
security would raid Havana at night, pick up suspected homosexuals and
deposit them in the UMAP (Unidades Militares de Ayuda a la Produccion)
camps hundreds of miles away without any further legal procedure.  These
people stayed in these camps for years until they were closed due to the
international outrage they generated.  Students found or accused to be in
a homosexual relationship of any kind have been expelled from Cuban 
universities for years.  Many committed suicide after being exposed and
humiliated in front of classmates, family, and friends.  People have been
fired from their jobs over and over again accused of being members of
"homosexual networks" who either "endanger a strategic industry such as sugar
production", "ruin Cuban culture" as artists, actors, writers, or musicians,
or "endanger the purity of the new generations" as teachers or instructors.
Homophobia in Cuba has a long and sad history. 

|> The closest to nazism I have recently heard
|>    was Buchanan's speech at the Republican convention. To be nationalistic
|>    for leftist has usually meant Latinoamerica for the latinoamericans, contrary
|>    to the USA doctrine that reads Latinoamerica for the gringos. 

I agree with you about Buchanan.  The Republican Convention was downright scary.
However, "Latinamerica for the Latinamericans" should not mean that any Latinamerican
leader should be applauded and excused for any attrocities they may commit against
their own people as long as they oppose the USA.  And that is precisely what often 
happens among the left in this country.  It is extremely simplistic thinking:  Castro 
hates the USA government and dares to oppose and challenge it; I think the USA 
government is evil; so Castro is good.  The world is much more complex than that.

-- 
+-----------------------------------+------------------------------+
|     Rene J. Valdes                |     rjv@a2.cim.cdc.com       |
+-----------------------------------+------------------------------+