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How Castro uses the U.S.
Carlos Alberto Montaner,
www.firmaspress.com. Posted on Tue, Apr.
05, 2005 in The
Miami Herald.
Twenty-five years ago, in April 1980, a
spectacular event took place: Tens of thousands
of desperate Cubans sailed aboard anything
at all, headed to the south of the United
States. It began a poignant migratory adventure
that came to be known by the name of the
place that the Cuban government provided
as a port of departure: Mariel. In a few
short weeks, while Castro permitted the
mass flight of its citizens, no less than
125,000 people succeeded in crossing the
Florida Straits.
At that time, it was said that if the comandante
had not halted the exodus, it was likely
that several million more individuals would
have escaped from the socialist paradise.
In general, this new wave of exiles constituted
a cross-section of Cuban society, with a
more or less reasonable representation of
professionals, workers, peasants, students,
whites, blacks and mulattoes. There were
only two categories of persons that had
a proportionately greater representation
than what was statistically predictable:
homosexuals and persons convicted of common
crimes.
Why? In the former case, because the Cuban
government banished thousands of homosexuals
at bayonet point, ongoing victims of the
macho-Leninist hatred led by Castro and
his homophobic backers, who since the 1960s
had cruelly gone targeted anyone who didn't
fit the definition of the Cuban "new
man.''
In the case of the common criminals, the
dictator did something that fell within
the definition of a serious international
act of aggression: He selected the worst
psychopaths and criminals locked up in Cuba's
jails and put them aboard the vessels along
with others emigrating to the United States.
With that vile deed, Castro sought three
objectives: to tarnish the image of his
domestic adversaries, whom the rabble called
escoria (scum) and beat in the streets;
to punish the United States; and to empty
out his crammed prisons, ridding them of
a few thousand undesirables.
During the early days of the arrival of
that striking human wave, generously taken
in by the Carter administration and the
state of Florida, some analysts opined that
those Cubans would have a difficult time
adapting to the United States, whereas they
had undergone 20 years of Communist indoctrination.
Source of stability
The prediction, however, proved to be erroneous.
The bulk of this group of immigrants managed
admirably to become well-integrated into
American society and, within a few years,
made up part of the success story of Cuban
exiles in the United States.
Castro is wont to portray himself to the
world as a poor victim of the United States.
But objective facts show that exactly the
opposite is true. Washington has been a
source of stability for his dictatorship.
Consider:
o During nearly half a century in power,
Castro has succeeded in transporting 15
percent of the Cuban population to supposedly
enemy territory.
o American farmers are his main providers
of food supplies.
o The remittances from Cuban-American émigrés
constitute the prime source of foreign currency
that comes into Cuba.
o Powerful U.S. religious organizations
are the most generous donors of humanitarian
aid to Cuba.
o Ever since the rafter crisis of 1994,
a U.S. promise to grant 20,000 visas a year
to Cubans acts as a ''political Prozac.''
It keeps hundreds of thousands of people
who are opposed to the government sweetly
sedated, while they impatiently await the
results of the (visa) lottery that will
perhaps allow them to liberate themselves
from the communist nightmare.
'Migratory bomb'
The only question for which there is no
easy answer is why the United States, despite
its immense power, has always been so timid
in its confrontations with Castro throughout
several decades. If some North African country
were to launch a ''migratory bomb'' against
Europe -- poisoned, moreover, with criminals
released from its prisons -- the EU's reaction
would be immediate, categorical and would
have the backing of almost every sector
of society.
Evidently, the lion is not as fierce as
his enemies depict him. And Castro knows
it.
©2005
Firmas Press
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