Vernon Walters-a second ex-ambassador to the U.N.-says that the indifference of the American press is "absolutely normal": "They would go to the death searching out Franco's or Pinochet's prisoners. But the attitude toward Castro's is, 'They probably deserve to be there anyway.' Anti-Communist prisoners are of no interest to anybody. A prisoner of the left-wing government is highly suspect, probably a fascist," Conquest points out that Western elites have always scorned resisters to, and refugees from, Communism: Accounts from Soviet Russia were "rumors in Riga"; refugees from Mao's China, when they staggered into Hong Kong, were bandits, warlords; "and the Cubans! They escaped and went to Florida, and started voting Republican, so they were clearly no good." The anti-anti-Communist mindset, says Conquest, remains fierce, above all with regard to Cuba. ***
WHY THE DOUBLE STANDARD FOR CASTRO?***Psychologists may be better able than political scientists to explain why many American liberals idealize foreign dictatorships with institutions or values that they find horrifying in milder forms in the United States. For some reason, many American leftists who loathe the military are not troubled by the fact that Castro appears in public only in a military uniform. American liberals somehow manage to support gay rights in the United States while ignoring Castro's vicious campaigns against homosexuality, which he has defined as a "bourgeois perversion" American liberals fret about the FBI and Internet censorship, while calling for the United States to befriend a regime where culture and religion are rigidly controlled by the secret police.***
Delighting in the Dictator***In the late 1970s the American writer Sally Quinn returned from Cuba having found it an Isle of Eros. Said she of the country that then housed thousands of political prisoners in dirty cells and torture chambers, "an attitude of sexuality is as pervasive in Cuba as the presence of Fidel Castro. You can feel sex in the atmosphere." Former Democratic presidential candidate George McGovern bounced around the Cuban countryside with Fidel in a jeep and survived to tell of it. Said he of a man who even then was sending arms and soldiers around the world to support Communist terror and oppose American policy, Fidel is "soft-spoken, shy, sensitive, sometimes witty….I frankly, liked him." And Senator Lowell Weicker, the Republican ever on the prowl for a presidential nomination, launched this line certain to illuminate his presidential qualifications. "Castro's been known to snow people but he didn't snow me," Weicker asseverated. He spoke of Fidel's "enormous intellect and idealism" -- yes, idealism! He questioned why the United States did not take Fidel's side, the side of progress.***
U.S. Media are Castro's Biggest Ally, Exiles say*** The documentary is critical of the reporting of Katie Couric on NBC's "Today" show, as well as NBC reporter Jim Avila and CNN's Lucia Newman. Geraldo Rivera was a disappointment especially, given his Hispanic and Jewish heritage. "You would think that he would understand the plight of these people."
Heavily emphasized was the fact that Castro effectively controls any U.S. media reporting from Havana. It is not complicated. You either report the stories as the Cuban government hands them to you, or your visa is pulled. U.S. reporters in Cuba never leave Havana. They don't get to see what life in Cuba is really like.
Reference was made to Couric's interview with the female cleric who accompanied the Cuban grandmothers on their visit to Elian Gonzales when the 6-year-old refugee was living with Miami relatives. When she told Couric of the fear she saw in their eyes, Couric's first reaction was to ask if the fear was caused by the crowds of Cuban-Americans outside. The correspondent was obviously unprepared for the response, which was that the fear was caused by the Castro regime, which was ready to retaliate against relatives left behind if the grandmothers stepped out of line during their visit to the U.S.***
Delirious Democrats***I can't help suspecting that Foxman's laughable critique is linked to the Democrats' efforts to slime Otto Reich and John Negroponte, nominated for top diplomatic jobs. Both men were exceedingly effective at advancing President Reagan's Central American policy. Negroponte was American ambassador in Honduras, and Reich ran a tiny public outreach office in State that greatly annoyed the Left, because he was very good at it. He was later a first-class ambassador to Venezuela.
These terrific men are under attack precisely because they performed extraordinarily well under exceedingly difficult circumstances at the great turning point in the second half of the 20th century. The defeat of Communism in Central America was deadly to the messianic vision of the men in the Kremlin, and to their many supporters and fellow travelers around the world, because it demonstrated that history was NOT on their side. The tide of events was running in favor of the democratic revolution, and Otto Reich and John Negroponte were among its most effective advocates.***
Arrested Cuban Dissidents Feel Betrayed by CNN.*** The oppositionists are desperate for their activities, and their very existence, to be known. They are certainly unafraid to challenge the regime; but they would naturally like some reward for their courage. There is no doubt that CNN filmed the protest; a network spokeswoman confirms as much. But, for reasons unknown, the network chose not to air the film, or to report on the matter at all. There was, however, a report from Cuba on CNN that day: It was about the return of Elian Gonzalez to Cuban society, where "he is a typical, happy-go-lucky schoolboy." Many of the Cubans who participated in the November 23 protest were later rounded up at a religious gathering. They were beaten and jailed.***
American Socialists and the Allure of Castro***Cubans constantly face Castro's tyrannical authority, from the non-existence of both individual rights and family rights -- no Cuban parent actually has custody of his or her child, since the state has ownership of everyone and everything -- to being unable to own private property. A prerequisite for liberty is ownership of oneself. It is contrary to slavery and Communism.
The essence of Communism is a total disregard for life and human rights. Communism confuses patriotism with party loyalty. They manufacture support through incessant repetition of empty slogans such as: "We are a fighting people" "We are the cradle of the revolution!" and "Socialism or death!" Their nations' histories are rewritten based on the communist process and their cultures are replaced with communist ideology. Cuba is a historical backwater in a world that has moved on, a relic of a bad idea whose time, whose century has come and gone. Yet, American socialists are in love with Castro and his regime of terror. As a result, they were instrumental in the return of little Elian Gonzalez to Cuba after his mother died to bring him to freedom.
Socialists and Communists deliberately seek to subvert the education process. Their objective is to eliminate independent thinking, replacing logic and reasoning based on empirical facts with memorized dogmas and clichés recited by the party in power. The result is empty-minded people unable or unaccustomed to think for themselves, who can be easily manipulated to support the agenda and policies of the vanguard of the proletariat, i.e., the Democratic Party.
Take for instance the Cuban embargo. The embargo does not keep food and medicine from Cuban children as the liberal media portrays --Castro does. Under humanitarian relief initiatives, the US spends millions of dollars per year on medicines sent to Cuba. Cuba deals with over half the world and is indebted to every country with which it trades. Its imports do not go directly to the people, but to Castro's Communist Party elite and military, and subsequently to the black market, where they are sold at very high prices.***
It's Cool Again to Be Communist-*** "Many of the international communist-front organizations are continuing to operate, but they now are hiding behind one level of cover - groups that are in the antiglobalism coalition," a veteran U.S. intelligence officer explains. "A lot of funding has come from the Communist Party of India. The North Korean Communist Party has taken over some coordination in recent years." Some analysts hypothesize that the People's Republic of China might be trying to jump-start the machinery of the old Soviet front groups, using North Korea as a "funding cutout." But the fronts have changed their terminology: Marxist-Leninist rhetoric is gone, replaced by antiglobalism themes. "It doesn't arouse the concern of Western governments or get stereotyped as being antidemocratic," says a longtime observer. "Though there is a considerable organizational structure behind the antiglobalist movement, it isn't totally coordinated. Much is spontaneous." Spaulding notes, "These rallies have been organized by a combination of Marxists, anarchists, ecologists, feminists and gay-rights activists. And nobody has been able to get control."***
TERROR'S SERVANT*** Whether Cuba currently is making bio-chemical weapons is a subject of speculation, but unknown. As Sen. Bob Graham, D-Fl., recently told this Editorial Board, Cuba allows no access to international inspection agencies. Troubling, too, are the regime's 40-year ties with the Middle East that include relations with fellow members of the terror blacklist: Libya, Iraq, Iran, Syria and Sudan. The friendships are no accident. As recently as this year, Fidel Castro saw fit to renew those relationships personally in a Mideast tour.
The importance of those relations was reflected in the rushed arrest of Ana Belén Montes, the Defense Intelligence Agency analyst accused of passing classified information to the communist country. The concern was that secrets passed to Cuba would be shared with unfriendly Mideast states, compromising U.S. anti-terror efforts.***
Soft stance strengthens Castro***Allowing Castro access to hard currency will not only strengthen his hold on the Cuban people, but also allow him to build up his military and continue his support of anti-American terrorist groups in Latin America and elsewhere. When Castro sees U.S. policy as weak and has cash in his pocket, he eagerly supports turmoil abroad. Nicaragua, Angola and Colombia are prime examples.***
Jesse Jackson and Castro 
Brazil's Lula and Jesse Jackson 
Brazil's Lula with Castro 
Castro and Venezuela's Chavez