From: puerta@mcs-next-10.stanford.edu (Angel Puerta)
Subject: Re: Are we crazy in Spain?
Reply-To: puerta@camis.stanford.edu
Organization: Stanford University, California, USA
Date: Thu, 16 Apr 1992 18:47:10 GMT

In article <kuqiliINN519@paducah.cs.utexas.edu> cpg@cs.utexas.edu (Carlos M.  
Puchol) writes:
> [I am posting this message in spanish and english because I would
> like to get some input from non-spanish speaking people in order to
> share the views of more diverse people]
> 
> Buenaaaassss,			    Helloooooo,
> 
> Ayer por la noche  me  entere  que  Last   night   I   learned	  that
> parece	 ser   que   el	  gobierno  apparently the Spanish  government
> espanyol  ha  invitado	 de  forma  has	 invited  Fidel	 Castro to the
> oficial	 a Fidel  Castro a la Expo  World Expo in Seville  and to some
> de   Sevilla  y	 a  varios   otros  other  events  taking  place  over
> eventos	 que se	 estan	celebrando  there.
> alli.
> 				    Once again,	 unfortunately,	 I was
> 				    ashamed of my Spanish  origin  and
> Una vez mas,  lamentablemente,	he  the	 kinds of  things  that	 occur
> sentido verguenza por ser espanyol  there.  In particular, when I meet
> y por  las  cosas  que	pasan  por  someone  here and I	 mention  I am
> alli.  En  concreto,  cuando a uno  from Spain,	 everyone says "Ooohh,
> se lo  encuentran  por aqui y dice  nice  country,  Spain  ..."	 and I
> que es de  espanya,  todo el mundo  feel  happy and  satisfied;	 well,
> le comenta  "Ooohhh, nice country,  the	   conversation	   cannot   go
> Spain ..."  y queda uno satisfecho  further, without topics popping up
> y    contento;	  claro	  que	la  which  make me  feel  sad for  not
> conversacion no puede ir mucho mas  being  able to do  anything	 about
> alla sin que  surjan  temas  que a  the	   goings-on	over	there.
> uno le	hacen  sentir  pena  de no  Moreover,	this  year  news  from
> poder  hacer nada al  respecto	de  Spain  is  surfacing  much	faster
> las  situaciones  que se  dan  por  than usual.
> aquellos lares.	 Mas este anyo, en
> que las noticias vuelan.	    I THOUGHT Castro was a dictator, a
> 				    murderer. 

Instead of feeling ashamed of Spain, you should be proud of belonging to a  
civilized country. What Spain is trying to do is to offer a reasonable exit to  
Castro, which would most benefit the Cuban People. What the US is trying to do  
is to cripple the Cuban economy and foment subversion so as to cause a coup or  
a revolution that no doubt will pit Cuban against Cuban with the resulting  
blood bath.

I believe Castro is still in Cuba THANKS TO THE US!. They have made every  
effort to stop the Spanish initiative because there is a lot to gain by  
claiming credit for toppling Castro and they want to be the ones to brag about  
it and reap the economic benefits.

Another example of the barbarism of the US Government: One thing that has not  
had any publicity in the US is the fact that Spain had all but arranged a  
peaceful exit for Noriega before the Panama invasion. Again, the US blocked the  
deal deciding instead to invade with the consequent huge loss of life and  
property and the added misery for the Panamanian people but with the great  
infusion of positive propaganda for a Bush who wanted to shed his 'wimp' image.
Yes, with the Spanish solution Noriega would not have stood trial but also no  
Panamanian lives would have been lost and I'd much consider Noriega not worth a  
single life.

Thus, next time you meet people here and talk about Spain you could explain to  
them how civilized countries handle international relations.

--
Angel Puerta
puerta@camis.stanford.edu