The future of Cuba should be decided by Cubans alone

[Say_What]

Interesting comments at the end of the article as well.

<clips>

'It may be as the pages of history are turned, brighter futures and better times will come to Cuba," wrote Winston Churchill in 1895. "It may be that future years will see the island as it would be now, had England never lost it - a Cuba free and prosperous under just laws and patriotic administration, throwing open her ports to the commerce of the world, sending her ponies to Hurlingham and her cricketers to Lords."

It is nearly 250 years since Britain briefly occupied Cuba in 1762, but the island is still the object of ambitions entertained by more powerful nations. As Fidel Castro celebrates his 80th birthday with a picture and a message from his hospital bed, in frail health and with rumours as to the future governance of the country swirling around him, it is worth considering why Cuba has exercised such a fascination over the world for so long.

Last week both President Bush and Condoleezza Rice were holding forth about Cuba, the latter in a personal address to Cubans on the island. Both have denied that they have any plans for a military intervention, despite the presence of a suggestive classified annexe to their recently published US report from the Commission for Assistance to a Free Cuba. Changes to US immigration rules for Cubans announced over the weekend are likely to trigger well-publicised defections and long queues outside the US interests section in Havana at a sensitive time. But there would at least seem to be some recognition of the reality that the US public, with the exception of a dwindling band of exiles in Miami, would not countenance such a move and that any force would meet a much stronger response than, for example, Grenada was able to muster when it was invaded by the US in 1983.

But it is also worth recalling - as we learn from a new Channel 4 documentary, 638 Ways to Kill Castro - that the CIA has over the years been involved in numerous plots to kill the man who has been their bete rouge for half a century. This, in itself, tells us much about why relations between the two countries are so grim, and one can well imagine the shock and awe that would have been visited on any country that had tried to bump off a US president so assiduously.

Cuba has tended to be seen either as a socialist paradise (great health service, great schools, great supporter of revolutionary movements, great music, great beaches) or as close to a totalitarian hell (no free elections, no free press, no free movement, persecution of homosexuals) with little in between.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/story/0,,1843937,00.html

[Judi Lynn]

1. I just tried to recomment this post, but got here too late!

Missed by a couple of hours, it seems.

This is a WONDERFUL appraisal of the situation. It is worth everyone's attention.

Thank you so much for posting it.