Posted on 05/16/2002 3:01:30 AM PDT by JohnHuang2
Considering how hard the United States and Cuba have worked to torment one another over the last four decades, it was startling the other day to see Jimmy Carter in short sleeves and a baseball cap tossing the ceremonial first pitch at a game in Havana. Mr. Carter's visit to Cuba this week doesn't mean relations with Havana are about to come out of the ice age, but his trip has shown why it makes far more sense to engage in an open dialogue with Mr. Castro and his nation than to shun them as ideological lepers. It is a shame that President Bush still seems to think that preventing American trade and ideas from crossing the Straits of Florida will loosen Mr. Castro's grip on power. Continues.
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Carter, Castro and Lessons of History Unlearned
It was February, 1956. In Cuba, those were the days of Fulgencio Batista -- he was leader then. Relations with the U.S. weren't exactly picture perfect, strained by what the media here described as a 'brutal' crackdown on student protests, burgeoning at the time. The death in December of a prominent student leader during anti-Batista demonstrations became a rallying cry -- a cause celebre -- for leftists the world over.
But no-one -- no-one -- could've foreseen the political earthquake about to strike.
A private group of Cuban exiles, based in south Florida, flew routine search and rescue missions in small planes over the Florida straits, patrolling international waters for Cuban rafters fleeing the island. By then, the group had become widely-known, having conducted thousands of search missions. Over 4,000 refugees -- one of them a 5-day old infant -- were saved from shark-infested waters.
For Batista, the humanitarian group had become a thorn in the side, and it was no secret he was plotting revenge.
On February 24, 1956, the moment he'd been waiting for had finally arrived.
Around mid-afternoon, the rescue group made routine contact with Havana, detailing their intentions to conduct search missions below the 24th Parallel (in international waters). As their small planes approached the Cuban coast (but still in international waters), Batista ordered his air force into action. He instructed pilots to hunt down (shoot to kill) 'los invasores' -- the 'invaders'.
They followed his orders with deadly precision.
By 4:00 p.m. ET, two civilian planes, completely unarmed, over international waters, were blown out of the sky, by orders from Batista.
A third plane luckily managed to escape, but only by the skin of its teeth.
The crew in the two unlucky planes, however, were three American citizens, one U.S. resident. That's right: Dead American crewmen, slaughtered in cold blood, at the hands of the Cuban regime. All for no greater crime than for helping their fellow man.
The massacre sparked an international outrage, needless to say. Herbert Brownell, Eisenhower's Attorney General, announced plans to indict Batista and cohorts for multiple, First-Degree murder. Across America, scathing newspaper editorials called for revenge. 'Batista -- Murderer of innocents', the typical banner headline screamed. The New York Times dubbed Batista a war criminal, demanding his extradition to the U.S. for trial.
At Ivy-League campuses, students by the thousands from coast-to-coast marched solemnly, tears streaming down their faces, as they honored the murdered pilots and rescue workers.
President Eisenhower vowed justice would be done, strongly hinting military action in the offing. European and Soviet leaders called for international sanctions against Batista, as the OAS (Organization of American States) debated a regional blockade against the island.
Now, a Reality Check.
FReepers, of course, will know the narative above is mostly fictional. That is, except for the following:
1) The shootdown was real.
2) Cuba perpetrated it.
3) And all but one of the 4 murdered pilots and rescue workers were American citizens.
The dastardly act was commited -- not 46 -- but six years ago, on February 24, 1996, at the hands -- not of Batista -- but of Cuban dictator Fidel Castro, darling and icon of American liberals.
But where, O where is the outrage?
Five days into Carter's trip, and not a hint this issue has even been broached with Cuban officials.
Think about it: American citizens, murdered by Castro in cold blood, and nary a word of this in the press -- anywhere. It's as if it'd never happened.
Gee, I wonder, would the press be this silent were the perpetrator -- not Castro -- but "right-wing" Batista (per my fictional narative)?
I'd wager all hell would break loose. The reaction, both here and abroad, might've been not unlike the one in my fictional narative.
Carlos Costa, Pablo Morales, Mario De La Pena, Armando Alejandre Jr. -- these aren't household names, but all four were Brothers To The Rescue workers. All four were murdered by Castro that horrible afternoon. All four are heroes.
Carlos Costa, 29, U.S. citizen, lived in Northwest Dade county. He worked as Human Resources training specialist at Miami International Airport.
Armando Alejandre, Jr., 45, a Vietnam vet, was a Dade Transit Planner.
Mario De La Pena, 24, was born in New Jersey. At the time Castro murdered him, he worked at American airlines as a Pilot intern.
Pablo Morales, rescued in 1992 on a raft by the group he would quickly join, was a product distributor in Dade county. He was earning his pilot's license at the time Castro murdered him.
Jose Basulto, one of the few fortuitous survivors who piloted the third plane, believes Castro had accomplices in Washington. Among them, Bill Clinton. This all happened on his watch, lest we forget.
For Basulto, Castro is "the executioner. But he must have had help."
Miami Herald reporter John Dorschner, in a fasinating 1997 piece headlined, Brothers Unrescued, wrote: "Why, he [Basulto] wonders, was the FBI paying an apparent Cuban agent to spy on [the group] Brothers [To The Rescue] from within? Why was he [Basulto] never informed a Cuban air force general had told a U.S. envoy that Cuba was ready to shoot down the Brothers' planes? Why did radar operators around the country watch MiGs scramble towards his plane and never try to warn him?"
"There is now no question", Dorschner continues, "that U.S. officials had forewarnings that Cuba might attack the Brothers' aircraft", citing retired U.S. Navy Admiral, Eugene Carroll, who flew to Havana several weeks before the shootdown "as part of an American delegation to meet with leaders of the Cuban military."
According to Carroll, a Cuban air force general known as 'Cuba's Cosmonaut', Gen. Arnaldo Tamayo, blew a headgasket over the Brothers' flights, pointing to an episode in July 1995, especially. "Basulto had flown over the heart of Havana, dropping leaflets", writes Dorschner.
Tamayo complained bitterly that the U.S. was ignoring such "provocations" (his term), warning that unless the U.S. government put an end to them, "Cuba had the power to shoot down the planes."
"What do you think would be the United States' reaction if we did [shoot down the planes]?", Tamayo asked Carroll.
Dorschner: "Carroll responded that...Cuba would be 'branded brigands' by the world community, but he promised to take the question back to authorities in Washington. The admiral viewed Tamayo's word as a specific 'calculated warning'"
And, according to Dorschner, the admiral did exactly that, meeting days before the shootdown with "State Department experts on Cuba". Their response? A disinterested -- but telling -- "Yes, we know. We've heard."
Dorschner recounts how "warning signs" that the Cubans were serious included American intelligence that, "some weeks before the incident, MiGs had practiced shooting down slow-moving airplanes."
Bottom line: All evidence points in only one direction: The Clinton administration had ample warning, but did nothing.
Even after the shootdown, Clinton did nothing. He reluctantly signed Helms-Burton, but only after mile-wide loopholes were added.
Will the blood of the murdered Brothers To The Rescue workers ever be avenged?
I'm more hopeful than ever that the answer is yes.
Cuban-Americans have never had a stauncher friend and ally than in President George W. Bush.
Again, I say, stay tuned.
Meanwhile, Carter, in his much bally-hooed speech at Havana University -- carried live on Cuban television -- brazenly called for appeasement of the Castro regime (gee, surprise, surprise). Flatly contradicting long-standing U.S. policy, he suggested the U.S. -- not the dictator -- carries the onus to take the 'first step', easing pressure on Castro, undercutting the fledgling Varela Project. Carter also drew moral equivalence between liberty and totalitarianism, between a self-governed, free republic and Cuba's police-state.
Indeed, Carter's speech was a study in moral obfuscation -- a fog of hazy convolution. "My nation is hardly perfect in human rights", Carter said meekly. "A number of our citizens are incarcerated in prison" -- egregiously failing to mention these jailbirds are common criminals, not prisoners of conscious, as some in his audience might be wont to assume.
Carter blasted the U.S. penal system as racist and classist, claiming poor and minority inmates are targets of capital punishment. He offered no proof for the charge.
The speech -- 20 minutes of barely discernible spanish -- seemed impervious to lessons learned from the Cold War. Carter lavished praise on Castro for Cuba's socialist "healthcare" system, slamming the U.S. for failing to do adopt a similar approach. On Monday, he excoriated the U.S. for pursuing profit, rather than emulating Castro's glorious example.
Before the fall of the Berlin Wall, the Soviets, you'll recall, would boast of their 'world-class' healthcare system, too. The liberal media methodically would parrot the Soviet line.
We all know better now -- or most of us do.
Furthermore, Cubans -- last I checked -- were clamoring to come to America, not visa-versa. Jimmy, one would think, should know that better than most. (See the Mariel Boatlift).
Carter addressed Castro as 'President', while calling Fulgencio Batista, whose powers pale in comparison, a 'dictator'. "But some Cubans in south Florida", said Carter, in a clear swipe at the exile community, most of whom are proud citizens of the United States (many of them born here).
But Carter is not alone: Big Media calls them, derisively, the "Miami Cubans"; Castro, the "Miami Mafia". To liberals, refugees from Cuba are traitors to Castro's glorious "revolution", and can never become -- and must never be recognized -- as bonafide citizens of this country.
Any doubt liberals are racists?
So, what's the main headline from the event -- supposedly the highlight of Jimmy's trip? Carter calls for lifting the U.S. Embargo, that's what. (Interestingly, the Castro regime was a strong proponent of international sanctions on South Africa during Apartheid, insisting that trade only propped up the 'racist' regime in Pretoria).
And the thrust of Jimmy's message? Simple: The U.S. is "hardly perfect", Cuba is "hardly perfect." In Jimmy's eyes, there's nothing inherently wrong with communism -- just some minor imperfections. Alittle fine tuning here and there, and all would be bliss. Capitalism, on the other hand, is morally repugnant. As liberals see it, capitalism equals institutionalized 'bondage', pervasive 'racism'. Communism, by this twisted mindset, is liberation. The problems with communism are technical; with capitalism, the problems are moral.
It's why Jimmy refused in his speech to call on Castro to free political prisoners. Heck, to a liberal, what's wrong with jailing anti-communists, anyhow? Carter suggested, tellingly, how a little itsy-bitsy visit by the Red Cross "could help refute any unwarranted criticisms."
Amazing.
Small wonder the dictator was laughing.
Anyway, that's.....
My two cents.....
"JohnHuang2"
La-dee-dah. It's going to be a great day!
Their ability to hit all the talk shows with this absurd objection shows me, as nothing else could, that the dems strictly act as robots with talking points. Brain dead!
Jimmy Carter speaking English is bad enough, but Jimmy Carter speaking 'Spanish' is more than I can handle.
Cordially,
In Jimmy's eyes, there's nothing inherently wrong with communism -- just some minor imperfections. A little fine tuning here and there, and all would be bliss. Capitalism, on the other hand, is morally repugnant.
Yep.
I was disgusted by Carter's self-flagelation before the free thinking audience plants at his "unedited" conference with the Cuban peeples.
He coulda learned far more from a $20 Cuban whore. And his lust needn't have gone beyond his heart. All he needed to do was to ask why she charged fat Germans US dollars.
Then again, he bared himself in front of Castro's fabricated town hall. He may as well have gone all the way. Death penalty, universal health care, non-voting citizens, and... masturbation. Yu-da-man.
Was he paid, or was it a freebie?
I'm honored, thanks =^)
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