What, you don’t want us to all go back to Russia anymore?
I’m no expert either, but Human Rights Watch is. I read all the entries, and only Cuba gets a section on political prisoners, or has that phrase even used. That may not mean that only Cuba has >0 political prisoners, but certainly means that they have the most severe problem with it in the region.
You can go wherever you want to, unlike those who live under the Castro regime.
Small island nations often don’t have much of an economic base. Too small & isolated to do much manufacturing; too small to have much agriculture (of an exportable scale, anyway). Tourism only gets you so far; all your neighbors have beaches, too. A few lucky ones have managed to become tax havens and attract a bunch of rich people. A few other lucky(?) ones have become banking centers of questionable repute (ie, the Cayman Islands). The web address “.nu” comes from a small island nation called Niue. Back in the day, I seem to recall seeing that on a large number or porn sites.
From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs.
Sounds good in principle, but if you have a great ability and can get paid better elsewhere, you leave.
If you have great needs, you expect to be taken care of, right? But now the talented ones you need aren’t there anymore, and the entire concept breaks down.
They were ‘full’ of people in the 1960s and 1970s, but they have only around a hundred today. But yes, Cuba has political prisoners. They aren’t a liberal democracy and have never purported to be. Given what they have achieved, on balance I think it was worth it. And given that those hundred political prisoners knew what actively opposing the government would get them, I’m not particularly sympathetic to their plight.
There is nothing I can say about the communist mindset that condemns it better than its possessors do themselves.
I assume this applies to all political prisoners, in all countries?
Here are some of the things that people are in prison for in Cuba.
Prior to 2012, being gay, transgender, or a transvestite was also on the list. The majority of LGBT people in Cuba were sent to special camps where they were literally worked to death as an intentional punishment. Many were simply executed as well. It is unknown how many people are still in prison in Cuba simply for being gay.
A majority of Russians now want communism back, according to the latest polls, so maybe the ‘go to russia’ phrase will come back into vogue.
Wrongo. Cuba decriminalized homosexual activity in 1979, and gradually dropped other legal sanctions against gays during the 1980s. (before Lawrence v. Texas, I might add. Castro also visited the sugarcane labour camps after a few years of operation, decided against them, and shut them down.
If you have a cite that UMAP workers were ‘worked to death’, or that anyone was executed by the state for being gay, or even imprisoned post 1979, then cough it up.
I’ll take the word of international human rights organizations and mainstream news sources over your propaganda for slavery.
That is chilling to read. As a middle-class American, it’s easy to forget that people with this mentality still exist. But, at least you acknowledge the terrible price paid for Cuba’s…whatever it is you think they achieved.
“Slightly higher life expectancy than Panama.” Like all those big cotton crops in the antebellum south and gaudy buildings that popped up in Berlin in the 1930s, it was all worth it, of course.
No, let’s send all the RWs, who will be sure to look at everything with undeceived eyes, and then you can report back to us with the Straight Dope on conditions there . . . oh, eventually.
The sad part is, this is actually kinda understandable, because modern-day Russia is pretty much run by the Mob.
Combine this with the results of the Arab Spring (see: Libya & Syria), and I’m starting to accept the idea that some cultures are simply not ready for democracy.
If opposing bloodthirsty tyrants like Fidel Castro is the exclusive domain of “right-wingers” then sign me up, I guess. You’re only discrediting yourself and any movements to which you belong by pledging your support to this monster.
No, the price was paid by some Cubans, the ones who ended up as political prisoners. I think most of them deserved exactly what they got, and that the achievements of Cuba were generally worth sacrificing political freedom, so I have very little sympathy for them.
Apparently, Hector_St_Clare has never been there, not even on one of those carefully supervised Potemkin village tours. Every one I know who went, who got off “the tracks” have said Cuba is suffering and not a great place at all. Mind you, they also often had a couple good things to say.
Everything I mentioned above was facts, that even the more reputable Cuban American exile organizations (abd that’s an extremely low bar) agree on. Your entitled to call me evil or whatever else floats your boat, but you aren’t entitled to make up spurious facts.