….and not all of them are from Miami.
From one of the coldest corners in America:
Reader’s view: Cuba’s communist tyranny can’t last forever
While a recent letter raised many questions about Cuba, its litany of questions was almost a regurgitation of the mantra Communists have at their disposal for the uninquisitive tourist (“Time for U.S. to get on the right side of history,” Dec. 21).
Cuba was a poor country, there were rich people and poor people, Batista was a dictator, the wealthy exploited the poor and so on, the letter said.
I would ask questions requiring more specific answers: Why is it a tropical island, where virtually anything grows, has to import 85 percent of its food? Why is it when young Cubans are asked what they’d like to do in the future, most respond, “Emigrate.”
I have relatives who are Cuban farmers; they say whatever is grown must be sold to the government at prices set by the government, which then turns around and sells the goods at five times the price to tourists or for export. Government officials get to make the profits at the expense of the poor farmers. Who are the slaves here?
After 50 years of tremendous economic mismanagement coupled with incredible political repression, the Communist mantra of class warfare just doesn’t cut it anymore.
As to who gets to choose the right side of history, remember that history is written by the victors, and up to now the Communists have been able to write the history of the past 50 years. Nobody gets to hear the history of the thousands who perished trying to escape the Communist island, the hundreds of farmers forcibly removed from the Escambray Mountains or the many thousands reportedly assassinated by firing squads.
To the Communists and their sympathizers I say no tyranny lasts forever and someday, much as happened in East Germany, the truth about Cuba will come to light. Then we’ll see who was on the right side of history.