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Castro's image of bravery
doesn't match reality.
By Andres Oppenheimer,
aoppenheimer@MiamiHerald.com. Posted on
Thu, Jul. 27, 2006 in The Miami Herald.
MADRID -- Watching Cuban president-for-life
Fidel Castro's visit to Argentina while
on vacation here last week, I couldn't help
thinking about one of the greatest ironies
of our time: The 79-year-old leader is still
regarded by many as an icon of courage,
when in fact he is the biggest coward among
Latin American leaders.
Fidel Castro a coward? You bet! Consider:
o Unlike every other Latin American and
Caribbean leader, Castro has not had the
guts to allow a free election in 47 years.
o Unlike all other Latin American and Caribbean
leaders, Castro is the only leader in the
region who doesn't have the courage to allow
independent political parties. In his island,
only one party -- his -- is allowed, and
whoever doesn't join it is suspected of
being an ''anti-social'' element. According
to the latest Amnesty International report,
there are nearly 70 prisoners of conscience
in Cuban prisons, while Human Rights Watch
puts the figure at 306.
o Unlike all other regional leaders, Castro
doesn't have the confidence to allow a single
independent newspaper, radio or television
station, or to allow people with different
ideas to even appear on Cuban media. Cuba's
laws specifically bar anybody in Cuba from
publishing ''non-authorized news'' abroad,
making those who do it liable to ''enemy
propaganda'' charges that carry several
years in prison.
o Unlike all other leaders in the region,
Castro is afraid of allowing most of his
people greater access to the Internet. According
to the World Bank's 2006 World Development
Indicators, only 13 of every 1,000 Cubans
have access to the Internet, compared with
267 of every 1,000 people in Chile, and
59 of every 1,000 people in Haiti. Regarding
what Cubans can read on the Web, Reporters
Without Borders, the Paris-based advocacy
group, says Cuba's Internet censorship is
worse than China's.
o Unlike all other regional leaders, Castro
bars his country's citizens from leaving
the country without an official permit,
which is most often denied. Non-authorized
efforts to leave are punished with prison.
o Unlike most of his colleagues in Latin
America, Castro is so afraid of uncomfortable
questions that he denies interviews by potentially
critical reporters, and packs press conferences
with his lackeys when forced to hold them
during his foreign trips.
Last week, when Miami's Channel 41 reporter
Juan Manuel Cao asked him at an improvised
press conference in Argentina about Hilda
Molina, a renowned Cuban doctor who is being
denied a permit to visit Argentina to see
her son and grandchildren, an infuriated
Castro asked the reporter, ''Who is paying
you?'' and later accused him of being ''a
mercenary'' for President Bush.
o Unlike other leaders in the region, Castro
refuses to allow most foreign financial
institutions to measure Cuba's economy by
international standards.
So why is Castro so popular in Latin America,
you may be asking yourself. Two answers
come to mind:
First, Castro is less popular than generally
believed. While a new poll of 17 Latin American
countries and Spain by the Colombia-based
Ibero-barómetro firm shows that Castro
is seen ''with sympathy'' by 67 percent
of Ecuadorans, 46 percent of Argentines
and 45 percent of Brazilians, his popularity
is pretty low almost everywhere else.
Only 33 percent of Venezuelans, 30 percent
of Chileans, 29 percent of Peruvians, 26
percent of Mexicans, 19 percent of Spaniards
and 17 percent of Costa Ricans see Castro
with sympathetic eyes. By comparison, the
same poll shows that the presidents of Brazil,
Chile and Mexico enjoy much larger support
throughout Latin America.
Second, dubious election-season U.S. foreign
policy moves, such as the Bush administration's
recent $80 million plan to help democratic
forces in Cuba or the recent Florida measures
banning state funds for academic trips to
the island, provide Castro with much needed
propaganda fodder to keep the illusion alive
that he is under serious threat from the
empire.
My conclusion: By almost every standard,
Castro is the least courageous leader in
the region. If he were that brave or that
popular, he would have long ago allowed
free elections. If he doesn't, it's because
he doesn't have the guts, or because he
knows that he would lose them, or both.
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