Agustin Blazquez with the collaboration of Jaums Sutton.
Monday, Oct. 15, 2001. NewsMax.com
The overwhelming support for the current anti-terrorist military campaign
that the U.S. is receiving from the international community as well as the
American people, including Arab Americans, contrasts with the feelings and
actions of the forces of darkness that support anti-American terrorism.
The odd man out in our hemisphere is Fidel Castro. He is the most decrepit,
recalcitrant and criminal of all tyrants in the history of the Americas. Without
doubt, Castro has been public enemy # 1 of the U.S. for a long time. These are
not just unsupported words; since the 1940s his anti-American record has been
made very clear by his words and actions.
He was a rabid U.S. hater even before the Eisenhower and Kennedy
administrations clashed with his plans to convert Cuba into his absolute domain.
He joined the herd of terrorist fanatics long ago. And now, in conjunction with
them, he still insists on blasting the U.S.
The record shows that this strident anti-American tyrant, in October 1962,
asked Soviet Prime Minister Krushchev to launch an atomic attack against the
U.S. -- never mind the millions of Americans, Cubans, Russians and other
nationality deaths that would have resulted from such irrational action.
However, the U.S. media and his reactionary unconditional supporters in the
U.S., like the former Chief of the U.S. Interests Section in Havana during the
Carter administration, Wayne S. Smith, herald him for expressing his "sincerest
condolences to the American people" for the brutal terrorist attacks of
Sept. 11, 2001, which afforded him lots of kind press at an emotional time.
Castros execution and death record shows he doesnt even care
about the lives of Cubans, much less for the Americans he berates with gusto at
every opportunity. What credibility can we afford to Castro or his American
apologists and supporters?
After President Bush announced his resolve -- responding to the desire of
the American people -- to put an end to the terrorists' scourge and made
statements attacking all countries harboring such criminals, Castro (knowing of
his decades of involvement with terrorism) got worried.
So, he placed his military on high alert in Cuba. In his speech of Sept. 22,
he clearly warned the Bush administration not to attack Cuba.
Afterward, in the latest twist in his scheme to deviate attention from his
terrorist activities while generating hatred toward Cuban Americans, he
unleashed a campaign of character assassination against them by accusing the
Miami community of being "terrorists."
This smear campaign immediately found fertile ground in the U.S. media, as
demonstrated by the Sept. 25, 2001, article in The Washington Post, followed by
others of the same tenor in the Chicago Tribune and even in reports by The
Associated Press, among others.
This campaign was also echoed in two articles by the longtime loyal
pro-Castroite Wayne S. Smith. The articles follow Castros new strategy and
are simply based on the same propaganda emanating from Cuba.
How can Americans feel any admiration or friendship for a left-wing fascist
tyrant like Castro? After all, it is well documented that Castros real
heroes were Hitler and Mussolini. Why are the U.S. media and Smith so willing to
participate in the distribution of Castros misinformation in this time of
war?
Castro is also engaged in a campaign to discredit the real meaning and goals
of the U.S. war in Afghanistan. For example, Granma, the only newspaper in Cuba
and Castros mouthpiece, said in the Oct. 8, 2001, editorial, "The War
Has Begun," that the war against terrorism the U.S. is staging in
Afghanistan is, in reality,
against the natives, not against the terrorists. No matter what the pretext
is, it is a technological and highly sophisticated war against an illiterate
people. It is a war that will favor terrorism because its military operations
will encourage retaliatory terrorist activities. A remedy worse than the
disease.
To describe the U.S. war against terrorism, the Granma uses the word "massacre,"
describes the actions of the U.S. as "terrorism by the state," and
refers to the American soldiers as "terrorists dressed as freedom fighters."
Granma (Castro) maliciously forecast that the military campaigns in
Afghanistan would expose the U.S. "arrogance and spirit of cultural and
racial superiority." Those editorial comments appear to be made in order to
incite more terrorist fanatic actions against the U.S. They dont show any
concern for the safety of the American people.
Thus it is very difficult to believe the way Castro is portrayed in the
latest article by ally Wayne S. Smith titled "Keeping Things in
Perspective: Is Cuba a Terrorist Nation?" published on Oct. 11, 2001, on
the Center For International Policys website
(http://ciponline.org/cuba/main/perpectiveonterrorism.htm).
According to Smith, the U.S. policy is mainly at fault in relation to Castro
and it should be changed. He also says that the U.S. should cooperate with
Castros Cuba. It is clear to Smith that it is the U.S. that must change
unconditionally, not Castro.
This article is based, as usual for Smith, on Castros words and
versions of events, and on the assumption that Castro does not lie. However, at
the very beginning, Castro categorically stated to The New York Times
Herbert Matthews in the Sierra Maestra Mountains in 1957 and other American
newsreels of that era, as well as in a filmed press conference at the National
Press Club in Washington, D.C., in 1959 that he was "not a communist."
What he did afterward proved beyond any reasonable doubt that he was a liar.
He has since found that the technique continues to serve him well.
When we examine the motivations for this deceptive article, we must not
overlook the history of Smiths friendship with the tyrant of Cuba. While
Smith was Chief of the U.S. Interests Section in Havana, roughly from 1977 to
1982, Castro used to pick him up in his Jeep to go fishing together, and they
talked and talked. Smith genuinely seems to like him.
Apparently it is immaterial to Smith that before and during his tenure at
the U.S. Interests Section, his friend executed and assassinated some 26 U.S.
citizens. To date, the toll is 30, but Smith has no comment about that. The
names of all U.S. citizens executed and assassinated by Castros Cuba are
well documented by Dr. Armando Lago.
In spite of the murdering of his fellow U.S. citizens, Smith travels to
visit Castro with regularity and brings guests to Havana. He is part of the
show-and-tell effort of the "accomplishments" of Castros
revolution. (Those "accomplishments" are well-documented to be
fallacious.)
The outcome of these trips is to win more experts and defenders of Castros
paradise as well as to bring businessmen to keep his friend afloat in detriment
to the oppressed Cuban people. A very "humanitarian" mission indeed.
Of note is the long list of Smiths apologetic articles about Castro
and his constant derogatory labeling of Cuban Americans. He, an exponent of the
left-wing fringe views, always manages to add a negative connotation -- for
example, "right-wing fringe," "virulently anti-Castro," "fiercely
anti-Communist," "hard-line exiles," "strident
anti-Castroite," "Miami Mafia" and other epithets.
Obviously Smith is fiercely pro-Castro. But Castro claims to be a communist.
Does it follow that Smith is fiercely pro-Communist, too?
Whatever he is, Smith made a profitable career as a "Cuba Expert"
on radio and television, where he does not miss a single chance to continue his
negative labeling of Cuban Americans. That is why, for this one article, I have
purposely used similar labels for him.
Smith, apparently an extremist who pretends not to represent "a single
special-interest group" in the U.S. (but could it be Castro?), made some
recommendations at the end of his latest article. Among them:
It [U.S.] should also remove Cuba from the list of terrorist nations and
move toward a new and more cooperative relationship with the Cuban government.
And in the process, it should take a clear and uncompromising stand against
terrorism emanating from extremist exiles in Miami.
To stress Castros credibility for the uninformed reader, the far-left
Smith quotes Castro saying Cuba is "opposed to terrorism but also opposed
to war."
This is the quote of the millennium. For decades, the evidence to the
contrary is quite convincing. Castro has been involved with terrorist groups
from the Puerto Rican Macheteros and other groups in Latin America, Spain,
Ireland and Africa to the most violent ones in the Middle East.
And in relation to wars, Castro has been involved in all the wars of "liberation"
in Latin America, Africa (where he sent hundreds of thousands of Cuban soldiers
and introduced bacteriological arms to kill blacks) and the Middle East.
Blinded by his fanaticism, Smith ignores all the records in order to advance
Castros agenda of misinforming the American people in his attempt to turn
public opinion in his favor.
If you do not have a solid background or access to hard facts, after reading
Smiths propaganda article you are left with the impression that Castro is
a great man and that he wants the best for the Cuban and American people.
The Center for International Policy, which published Smiths recent
article, as well as the Institute for Policy Studies that he is connected with,
are notorious for their pro-Castro projects. Both of these organizations have
received thousands of dollars from the also notoriously pro-Castro Arca
Foundation for projects that advance Castros goals.
There is a special report by Pablo Alfonso published on July 5, 1998, in The
Miami Herald titled "U.S. Groups Spend Millions in Push to Ease Embargo,
Build Ties to Cuba," exposing the Arca Foundation.
Also, according to a paper by scholar Irving Louis Horowitz, the Arca
Foundation is a "highly pro-Castro and partisan" grant-giving agency.
From 1994 to date, Arca Foundation awarded more than $2,000,000 for pro-Castro
projects.
Smiths article attempts to discard the information presented in my
previous carefully documented articles published by NewsMax, Judicial Watch, The
Washington Dispatch, The Idler and other websites.
He gives the impression that I am some sort of fanatic bothering people on
the Internet. Apparently, when you write the facts about Cuba (in his "unbiased"
estimation), you are some sort of a nut and therefore should be derided and
dismissed, as he unsuccessfully tries to do. He dismisses me with a mere "Hmmm."
To my amusement, he says, "Agustin Blazquez, of Miami" -- of
course I have to be a Miami Cuban in his eyes to be dragged through the mud with
impunity, as the record shows he does with Cuban Americans.
But unfortunately for Smith, I have never lived in Miami. That city is too
hot for me. So, that is another inaccuracy of his propaganda piece. But do I now
qualify as an "Honorary Miamian"?
I refuse to collaborate with the enemy. And for that refusal I proudly carry
the badge of honor of gaining the wrath of a tyrant and the zeal of his fanatic
and vociferous friends.
My love and appreciation of freedom and democracy are more important. In
spite of the envy and hatred that many sick souls feel for America, I am proud
to be part of it and to say that the U.S. is the best country on earth.
It is wonderful to raise your head and be free. It is an extraordinary
relief to disassociate from a despicable tyranny.
The U.S. is the light in this struggle for freedom. The countries that
sponsor, promote and offer safe heaven to terrorists are the dark forces of
evil. I hope that the U.S. is victorious in this fight against evil and that
freedom and liberty will prevail.
© 2001 ABIP
Agustin Blazquez is producer/director of the documentaries "Covering
Cuba," "Covering Cuba 2: The New Generation," and the upcoming "Covering
Cuba 3: Elian" and author with Carlos Wotzkow of the book "Covering
and Discovering Cuba."
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