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José Antonio Fornaris, Cuba-Verdad
HAVANA,May (www.cubanet.org) Former U. S. President Jimmy Carter, who
during his term in office was the beneficiary of the epithets traditionally
reserved by the Havana regime for U. S. presidents, was received with honors
befitting a head of state and even as a head of state friendly to Fidel Castro.
The questions What did Carter come to Cuba for? or Why did he come? lose
relevance when it becomes apparent that he shouldn’t have come.
With Carter just departed, his visit, on balance, must be scored as a
positive for his host. Carter spent his time here referring to Castro as "president"
or "Mr. President," when everyone knows that the Cuban ruler was never
freely elected to that job.
Just a few days before Carter’s visit, Fidel Castro made public a
conversation with Mexican President Vicente Fox which he had previously was to
be considered private. How is it possible that Carter came to meet with a ruler
that records and makes public private conversations, showing once again that
good form is not part of his repertoire.
Carter knows full well that terrorism was profusely used by the Revolution
led by Castro to reach power. On May 7, Domingo René García
Collazo told me: "This Revolution was based on terrorism." García
Collazo was promoted to Commander [the highest rank] of the Rebel Army by Fidel
Castro 17 days after coming to power on January, 1959.
Carter also knows full well that since the man he just played baseball with
came to power, there have been thousands shot for political causes in Cuba. The
exact figure is not known by the Cuban people.
This is not to say that it’s impossible to forgive, as Christians must
do, but what one cannot do is to forget, even if for Mr. Carter or for myself,
who didn’t lose any loved ones to the firing wall, this might be relatively
easy.
I am convinced that Fidel Castro does not deserve the support of people of
good will. I don’t sympathize with the administrations of Democratic
presidents of the U. S. When I was young I admired Kennedy, and I think Carter
is a good man, but a poor politician. Having come to Cuba at this time shows him
to be so.
In any case, I want to be mistaken and I wish Carter’s visit to be
positive, not for Castro, but for the Cuban people.
The only real accomplishment for Cuba would be democracy, and that is not
achieved coming to support Fidel Castro, even if that was not intended.
Versión
original en español
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