# Castro is so bad...why? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [October 20, 2004, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/castro-is-so-bad-why/270223 "2004-10-20T14:50:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2004, 1:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/castro-is-so-bad-why/270223/61 "2004-10-22T01:37:45Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > Same reason we like to burn Old Glory and fellate al-Qaeda terrorists, **ralph.** We hate America. There, the secret’s out. I feel so much better. 🙂 You fool! You gave away the plan too quickly! Report to Siberia for reeducation, comrade! 😉 I think that in forty years, after all the zeal with which we went after Castro (getting the Mafia after him?), while supporting and encouraging so many who were far worse, Castro’s just not so evil anymore. He’s more of a joke. Hey, we even named a street after him in San Francisco. _whispers_ It’s full of WHAT!?!?\* \*[sub]It’s a Simpsons reference[/sub] ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2004, 2:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/castro-is-so-bad-why/270223/62 "2004-10-22T02:06:20Z")
For what it’s worth, I’m against the Cuban embargo, for similar reasons that **BobLibDem** stated. They clearly do not have any effect on Castro himself, but they hurt the people. I also think the best way to turn Cuba into a capitalist country is to open trade with it. Let some companies move in. Let the people see how foreigners live and are free to travel. Let the people mix. That’s the best antidote to Castro’s archaic Communist rhetoric. The embargo is a relic of the cold war, when it was important to isolate Cuba and make it drain Soviet resources. It was also a time when Cuba was meddling in central and South America on behalf of the Soviets, and needed to be isolated for that reason as well. But the cold war is over. Cuba is no longer a threat to anyone. Nothing is gained by maintaining that trade embargo. ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2004, 1:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/castro-is-so-bad-why/270223/63 "2004-10-22T13:25:27Z")
I agree with every word that Sam wrote. But don’t hold your breath waiting for change. With any luck, the death of Castro will provide a good excuse for normalizing relations with his successor, providing he isn’t worse. ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2004, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/castro-is-so-bad-why/270223/64 "2004-10-22T13:56:38Z")
I do, too, Bob. And if Sam thinks that way could there still be hope that we can change the minds of the dentists\* in Miami? 😃 And Sam has been able to get Cuban cigars all along so he lacks our motivation to normalize US/Cuban relations while I got strip searched at American customs because the guy I was traveling with had a pack he tried to bring back from Thunder Bay. I know Cuba jams Radio and TV Marti but how important to the dismantling of the Warsaw Pact was beaming _Dallas_ reruns into East Germany and the Baltic states? - - Yeah, it’s a stereotype but it’s who I think of when I conceptualize the middleclass people who left Havana forty-some years ago. ---
**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2004, 1:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/castro-is-so-bad-why/270223/65 "2004-10-22T13:57:24Z")
Don’t hold your breath…while I sincerely hope this accident of Castros might lead to pneumonia and a quick death, there is always brother Raoul! As I mentioned, he’s a doctrinnaire communist (he even opposed allowing people to sell their garden produce in private markets). When the Cunab people finally revolt, wait till you see what luxury the elite appararchiks live in! Of course, I would love to see Raoul’s bullet-ridden corpse swinging from a lamp post…but, don’t hold your breath! ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2004, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/castro-is-so-bad-why/270223/66 "2004-10-22T14:27:32Z")
> [@ralph124c](#): > > . . . there is always brother Raoul! As I mentioned, he’s a doctrinnaire communist (he even opposed allowing people to sell their garden produce in private markets). He’s also 73. so he’s not particularly young himself. If Fidel dies, Raul isn’t going to take on the amount of responsibility his brother did. ---
**Author:** ![Declan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ecae2f/32.png) [@Declan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Declan)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2004, 5:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/castro-is-so-bad-why/270223/67 "2004-10-23T05:41:58Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > Since always. Eminent domain is one of the basic powers of a sovereign state. \*\* The Fifth Amendment\*\* (no seizure without compensation) is an American invention and not every country has copied it. Is that the right amendment ? I always thought the fifth was not to implicate yourself on the stand , testifying against someone else. Declan ---
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2004, 1:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/castro-is-so-bad-why/270223/68 "2004-10-23T13:12:36Z")
I remember watching a documentary about americans who were given 20 year jail sentences for opposing WW1 and what their lives in prison were like. I was watching this documentary around the same time that a handful of Cuban journalists were being given 1-27 year jail terms for being anti-Castro. This was back in an age where homosexuality was a crime and torture was common in prison. That made me think that Cuba is not much worse than the US was 80 years ago in regards to human and civil rights. Perhpas that is a false comparision though. However for some reason Freedom house has listed Cuba as one of the worlds 15 worst governments for political and civil rights. [http://www.freedomhouse.org/media/pressrel/040204.htm](http://www.freedomhouse.org/media/pressrel/040204.htm) ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2004, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/castro-is-so-bad-why/270223/69 "2004-10-24T00:41:41Z")
> [@Declan](#): > > Is that the right amendment ? I always thought the fifth was not to implicate yourself on the stand , testifying against someone else. It covers both, don’t ask me why. > [@](#): > > Amendment V > > No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a grand jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the militia, when in actual service in time of war or public danger; nor shall any person be subject for the same offense to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb; nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; **nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation.** But that last is not the law of every country, nor is it an established principle of international law. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/castro-is-so-bad-why/270223.md?page=3)