From: ez007856@othello.ucdavis.edu
Newsgroups: soc.culture.latin-america
Subject: Re: Cuba: Torricelli bill passed!!!
Date: 29 Sep 92 18:59:01 GMT
Organization: Computing Services, UC Davis

Dice Lazaro Nuez:

>Since you ask me for more Edelmiro, I should tell you then that this is
>election year in the U.S.; and in an election year everything, no matter
>what, goes, if you don't know that by now. Neither Bush nor Clinton give a
>damn about the Cuban people. The ticket to the White House is the only
>thing in their minds right now.

Same thing I hear las night in Radio Havanna.  If they don't give a damn about 
the Cuban "people" why do they cave in to their lobby efforts as they just did 
with this bill?  Of course, I forgot that you don't consider the Cuban American 
Foundation a part of the Cuban "people"...

>   But if you ask me to continue, I could tell you that I'm sure Castro would
>starve the people to death before conceding an inch to such policies as the
>Torricelli Bill. And again, I repeat from one of my previous postings,
>the U.S. policy towards Cuba and that bill in particular, is designed to
>force the Cuban people to a bloody confrontation with Castro's army, to
>later go into Cuba, declare victory and collect the crop. I'm not saying
>that my people shouldn't rebel against Castro. They have the right and
>nobody should stop them when they choose to do so. But we shouldn't force 
>them!

I know of now rebellion in history which has been "forced" by some foreign 
power. A rebellion is a conscious act of political agression agaist an 
opressive state which requires that the hearts and minds of the rebelees are 
united over their goal of destroying the state's grip over their lives.  
Unless, of course you believe, as some other jerks, that populations can be 
duped into rebelling.

As to the "bloody confrontation" the bill is designed to achieve.  Yor are 
wrong on this one two.  One of the easiest ways to get rid of a dictatorship is 
by clampling down on the economy and frightening the military to the point in 
which they feel it is more profitable to take the dictators life than to 
continue hanging in with him. The clearest example of this in Latin America is 
the dictatorship of Trujillo, which, after loosing favor with the U.S., 
economic sanctions led someone to put a bullet through his head.  In Cuba, when 
you least expect it, either old age or a mysterious bullet, can wash away the 
dictatorship in a manner of minutes, and that's why Fidel must creat a state of 
paranoia equaled by no other government in Latin American history.

>   To add more, I may tell you that the Cuban American National
>Foundation (the main promoter of the bill), does NOT, as somebody said
>before, represent the exile community. They conduct "polls" in the best
>and right wing Cuban neighborhoods of Miami to come to the conclusion
>that they are our leaders. They launch campaigns, reminiscing of Castro,
>against newspapers just because they don't represent their point of
>view. 

As you know, our democracy, through its constitution, tolerates any political 
association who wishes to advocate for their community.  If others want to 
claim they "represent" the community they can go ahead and do so.  In fact, I 
would say that the only empowered representatives of the community in the U.S. 
are those who are elected to office (I believe they are two in the House), and 
who precisely happened to vote in favor or support the Bill.  As to all other 
groups, they have the perfect right to claim they represent somebody, for 
unlike Cuba here you can claim whatever representation you want.

>They never mention the leader of the inside-the-island "Comision de
>derechos humanos and reconciliacion nacional" (Commission for human rights
>and national reconciliation) Elizardo Sanchez in their supposedly
>impartial transmissions of Radio Marti because they consider him a
>communist Castro puppit. They think money can buy power (a sad truth),
>and have already prepared a "constitution" for the new Cuba, expecting
>Mas Canosa to be our next president. There is saying in Miami, New
>Jersey, Canada and Europe. Do you want to hear it? "Fidel y Mas Canosa
>son la misma cosa" (Fidel and Mas Canosa are the same thing).

And againg its their right to do all this, unless you want to take this right 
away from them and establish some other sort of controlled democracy, like the 
one Mr. Castro is searching for at present.  What matters is not what organized 
groups say about this or that individual, what matters is what the elected 
representatives of the people have to say.  And, as I said before, these chose 
to vote in favor or the Bill...

>   About the groups that look for other ways to bring democracy to Cuba
>from Europe, Canada, the U.S. and anti-Castro groups operating in Cuba,
>I don't think anybody has the right to dismiss their effort. They are doing
>as much, if not more, as the other groups that want to stick to the same old
>options. At least we try to keep the doors open for a change.

Of course nobody has the right to dismiss their effort.  They can continue 
lobbying Congress and even try to convince the American People that its 
decision with respect to the bill was dead wrong and that they should repeal 
it.  They can continue making "political statements" saying that the all we 
need it so shake hands with people like the now purged Aldana and all other 
sorts of puppets. They can continue to speak on behalf of the Cuban "people" 
all they wish, for as I stated before, in true democracies the right to 
assembly and free speech is guaranteed.

>   And if you want to know the names of some of the people who oppose
>the bill and are fighting against Castro inside the island, I'll give
>you Elizardo Sanchez, Gustavo Arcos, Maria Elena Cruz Varela among
>others.

And they are in their right to oppose it and not be imprisoned for what they 
say.  I would also note that in Cuba, if they happened to agree with the 
Toricelli bill they would be given a 15 year prison sentence (according to the 
latest standards), so it shouldn't raise eybrows if we hear that 100% of all 
those living in Cuba also oppose the Toricelli bill. Unlike in the U.S., a 
comment of support could cost them 1/4 of their "free" existence.

>   Marti! All very beautiful, but unfortunately since "independence" from
>Spain, everybody has used him as their symbol; from Machado, Batista and
>Castro to Alpha 66 and Mas Canosa. It's a shame. How we really need a
>Marti these days!

Well if you need him any more I'll give you some more:

"A los sietemesinos solo les faltara el valor.  Los que no tienen fe en su 
tierra son hombres de siete meses.  Porque les falta valor a ellos no se los 
nieguen a los demas.  No les alcanza el arbol dificil, el brazo canijo, el 
brazo de un~as pintadas y pulseras, el brazo de Madrid o de Paris, y dicen que 
no se puede alcanzar el arbol."

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Edelmiro Salas           |\.                     | "Estimo a quien de un reves
easalas@ucdavis.edu      |  \--------------------| 
Dept. of Spanish         |    \.                 | Echa por tierra a un tirano
University of California |../\..\----------------| 
Davis, CA 95616          | \../  >               | Lo estimo si es un cubano
"Puerto Rico y Cuba son  | //\\./----------------| 
de un pajaro las dos alas|   ./                  | Lo estimo si aragones"
reciben flores o balas   | ./--------------------| 
sobre un mismo corazon"  |/                      | --Jose' Marti'
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