Cubans Walk Out In Protest During Bush's UN Speech

[RestoreGore]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070925/ap_on_re_us/un_cuba_protest

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Cubans walk out during Bush U.N. speech
2 hours, 28 minutes ago

UNITED NATIONS - Cuba's foreign minister walked out of the U.N. General Assembly on Tuesday in protest of President Bush's speech in which he said the "long rule of a cruel dictator is nearing its end" on the communist island.

The Cuban delegation issued a statement saying the decision by Foreign Minister Felipe Perez Roque to leave was a "sign of profound rejection of the arrogant and mediocre statement by President Bush."

In his speech, Bush looked ahead to a Cuba no longer ruled by Fidel Castro, the ailing 81-year-old leader who has not appeared in public in more than a year, since ceding power to a provisional government headed by his brother Raul.

"In Cuba, the long rule of a cruel dictator is nearing its end," Bush said. "The Cuban people are ready for their freedom. And as that nation enters a period of transition, the United Nations must insist on free speech, free assembly and, ultimately, free and competitive elections."

Cuba's U.N. Mission said the American president had no moral standing to criticize anyone.

It accused Bush of responsibility "for the murder of over 600,000 civilians in Iraq" and for "the torture of prisoners" at the U.S. Navy base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, where more than 300 men are being held on suspicion of terrorism or links to al-Qaida or the Taliban.

"He is a criminal and has no moral authority or credibility to judge any other country," the mission's statement said. "Cuba condemns and rejects every letter of his infamous tirade."
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What a sad reflection on this country as a whole.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

1. It would be nice if our congress would do the same the next he appears there.

heh-heh, smirk-smirk, uh-uh-uh.

[PDenton]

2. "cruel dictator" meme

See it being repeated over and over?

[burythehatchet]

3. The whole planet needs to walk out on this cancer on humanity

[partylessinOhio]

4. Who is more cruel than Bush and his minions?

Wouldn't it be appreciated if our country said nice things about other countries instead of throwing flaming bombs at them?

[riverdeep]

5. Sad to say,

Cuba's right. That doesn't make some of the things they do right, but having a dictator saying someone else is acting like a dictator doesn't really carry a lot of weight.

[againes654]

6. Well in the USA

the reign of a cruel dictator is coming to an end, and the American people are ready to have our freedoms back.

[killbotfactory]

7. Fidel doesn't rule Cuba

Right-wingers like Bush always think Cuba will crumble the minute Fidel is out of the picture. The problem is he has been out of the picture for about a year, and Cuba isn't crumbling.

[Solon]

9. I thought, since the Constitutional Reforms of the 1970s that Castro's position was honorary only...

kinda like the Queen of England, but with less power. As far as I know the parliament holds most of the power, and Castro is but one member of it.

[DFW]

10. Not quite

I've been to Cuba, and what Fidel said was as good as law,
and that was the word I was given by government and Party officials.

My Spanish is pretty much fluent, so it's not like I misunderstood them.

[Solon]

12. Really, well I could be wrong...

Though, if I were Castro, I would delegate most administrative functions to other people, its simply easier that way. In any event, I'm not saying that Cuba is a Democracy, I have huge problems with single party states, and, unfortunately, it may take a while for Cuba to transition to a true, multi-party democracy.

[DFW]

14. It's been a few years since I was there

Castro (Fidel, not Raúl) was in robust health then, and he really had his hand
into most every aspect of Cuban life, a very hands-on type. You know how his speeches
tended to run on for hours and hours? He was that involved in just about everything.
I never met him, of course, but I almost expected him to pop around into the room at
any second, and the government officials I was with told me to not be surprised if he
did just that, since he liked to know what was going on everywhere.

Maybe now that he has been forced to stick to his sickbed for a while, some other
people will get the chance to have a say, and just maybe blind party loyalty won't
be the only way to advance in Cuban society (much like it was in DC from 2001-2006).
He has been "da man" for so many decades, it will take time for the place to adjust.
But even China has drastically changed from the days of Mao, and they have over a hundred
times the land and population of Cuba. Nothing stays static. Cuba WILL change when he's
gone. To what extent, and at what speed, one can only guess.

[Solon]

16. My only concern is that I hope that any change brought about is done internally...

and not brought on by outside influences and interference, particularly from the United States, which will probably fuck it up, again.

[DFW]

17. As soon as Fidel's funeral is held, or even before,

You can believe we'll be trying, along with China, Venezuela, Russia,
and probably Lithuania and Burundi as well, to get our dirty little hands
in there. Aside from Mexico and Canada, Cuba is the closest thing there
is to a border to the USA and there are now millions of Cubans and their
descendants living in the USA. Influence Cuba, and you have a hand in
influencing the USA.

There will be more outside influences at work than Cuban influences, I fear,
and even if we butt out (which we won't), the others will not.

[Judi Lynn]

15. I've heard over the years Fidel Castro has been voted down on a number of issues he favored.

One which stands out clearly now, because I read about it again recently was his belief Cuba should NOT have adopted the dollar at any point, and Cuba went ahead and did it, anyway.

That's the only one I can think of at the moment, but I know there are DU'ers in Florida who have been in and out of Cuba a LOT, who maintain friendships with people there, have relatives there, who have discussed on this board and others the fact that Fidel Castro doesn't get his wishes met in every case, by any means.

Dollarization is only one of the issues he lost, although it has been a biggie.

On edit:
It would appear, in retrospect, that he was probably right on this issue, since they dropped the dollar fairly recently, I believe, under Raul Castro's watch.

[DFW]

18. They dropped the dollar a while before that, actually,

Although it was after I was there

[Clintonista2]

8. What did Bush say wrong?

The end of a cruel dictator IS nearing an end, Jan 2009.

[DFW]

11. I only wish

.....that something like 100 national delegations, including
those of major European and Asian countries, had walked out
on him as well. What's the harm in reflecting the views of
a majority of their populations, after all?

oops----if I use THAT as a criterion, then I've just given
a perfectly good reason for the USA delegation to walk out
on him as well!!!!!!!!

[Cha]

13. Recommended!~

"Cuba's U.N. Mission said the American president had no moral standing to criticize anyone.

It accused Bush of responsibility "for the murder of over 600,000 civilians in Iraq" and for "the torture of prisoners" at the U.S. Navy base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, where more than 300 men are being held on suspicion of terrorism or links to al-Qaida or the Taliban."

[tyedyeto]

19. *'s statement was mediocre? Not by a long shot if you are a Cuban

I'm ashamed to say that this man is my 'voice of the American people' once again. He has no idea of what the American public think, feel, or believe.

Where does he get off denouncing any country's leadership when he is holding prisoners in that same country with none of the rights afforded to American citizens? He is no better than the Cuban leaders he is denouncing. Habeous corpus? There is none for those being held at Guantanamo (on the island of Cuba). How can he think those held there are better off in 'our hands' than those of the Cuban Government?