Undermining Cuba from within
This from Jay Nordlinger's Impromptus, lest you think that all the Bush Administration was doing was making life uncomfortable for average Cubans. Yes it is uncomfortable, but the answer is not to alleviate the discomfort, but for the average Cuban to bring about the end of the Castro dictatorship. Anyway, Nordlinger writes:
As readers of this column know, President Bush has been very strong in Havana — and he has been strong in his representatives there. The latest is Michael Parmly, who appears to be doing a bang-up job. Last weekend, he arranged for Lech Walesa to speak to dissidents by video hookup. The event took place at the U.S. Interests Section. Walesa told the Cubans that "the system will fall because nobody believes in Communism. You are close to your goal." He also told them to be prepared for a democratic transition — a most difficult task.Freedom is coming to Cuba, and it will not com without sacrifice. That's something that must be faced by Cubanos in the U.S. who are angry that they can't visit more than once every three years—the money they have to pay Castro to enter for their visits goes to prop up his oppressive regime—or angry that they can't send money back home to make life bearable for their relatives.Castro, of course, was furious. And we saw, once again, a clear truth: The U.S. Interests Section in Havana — certainly in the time of George W. Bush — is also the interests section of the Cuban people.
Some of them think that President Bush is waiting for Castro to die. Bush is not. Instead, he is hastening Castro's downfall, and the dictator knows it and is enraged. Case in point, this:
Bulldozers dug up a street in front of the U.S. diplomatic mission in Havana on Wednesday apparently preparing to block the view of an electronic billboard carrying human rights messages that has angered President Fidel Castro.Think of how Russian dissidents behind the ironn curtain were heartened by VOA messages. Well, this electronic billboard is the new unjammed VOA, and those allegedly marching against it must have had the cockles of their hearts warmed because they know that, in spite of President Bush's restrictions on travel to Cuba and remittances, that the people of Cuba are not forgotten by the President of the United States.Brigades of workers began the task on Tuesday night, hours after Castro and hundreds of thousands of Cubans marched past the mission to protest against the five-foot-high (1.5- meter) ticker that streams messages across the facade of the U.S. Interests Section.
U.S. diplomats said Cuba's communist authorities were building a concrete wall or screen to obstruct view of the ticker, which displays messages to the Cuban people, news headlines and quotes from Abraham Lincoln, Mahatma Gandhi and Lech Walesa.
As Calypso Merchant sang a long time ago: "I hear them people talking about revolution day, changes on the way"!
Undermining Cuba from within | CaribPundit
