Since 1990, the Castro regime has spent a total of $1.36 billion on Cuba's Olympic program. Can there be any justification for such an expenditure? Castro boasts in his latest "Reflection" in Granma that Cuba once had the highest concentration of Olympic medals per capita of any country in the world. I think that Cubans would have been far happier and prouder if milk were available to Cuban children after the age of 7. The $1.36 billion certainly could have made that possible and much more. Instead it was squandered so that Cuba could be an "Olympic power," which is something that matters to Fidel and nobody else. Ironically, Fidel laments in his "Reflection" that even the splendor of the Olympics cannot make us "forget the hunger, the malnutrition, the lack of schools and teachers, hospitals, doctors, medicines and other vital necessities from which the world suffers." Yet Cuba's participation in the Olympics is intended to be just such a soporific (for Cubans and the world) at the cost of aggravating all those social ills.
Even such an indefensible waste of scarce resources was not enough to achieve the results that Fidel expected in Beijing. Why? Because "the mafia" robbed Cuba of some of its laurels. Although the fraternal venue of the 2008 Olympics made it impossible for "the mafia" to entice Cuba's athletes with promises of freedom and just compensation for their talents, Castro alleges that the same sports agents that "prey upon" his athletes elsewhere bribed IOC judges and referees to assure that amateurism itself would be defeated in the only nation that still enforces it.
Oddly, it was the case of Ángel Valodia Matos which Fidel claims precipitated him to denounce "the mafia's" latest machinations against Cuban athletes. According to Castro, Valodia Matos, the taekwondo gold medal winner in 2000 who was banned for life (along with his trainer) for kicking a referee in the face after forfeiting the bronze medal match, was upset not only on account of the call against him but also because "the mafia" had tried unsuccessfully to bribe his trainer and, he presumed, had succeeded in bribing the Swedish referee. Under such provocation, Castro writes that Valodia Matos "could not contain himself." The impression is left, moreover, that he should not have been expected to contain his rage, that his conduct was a natural reaction to such "provocation." Castro pledges his "total solidarity" with Valodia Matos and his trainer and urges his subjects to receive them as heroes on their homecoming and do everything in their power for them, as well as for all other Cuban athletes who "held high the country's honor" despite "the repugnant mercenary actions" of Cuba's enemies.
By 2012, hopefully, Cubans will see other marvels that will interest them more than the Olympics. Freedom is a medal that every man wears in a free country, and it's real not electroplate.
8 comments:
MAt,
during the USA-Cuba baseball game ther was an incident also where a Cuban pitcher pushed a US baseball player when he batted a ground ball and the player was running towards first base. As a consequence of this uncalled for action the US player fell to the ground after being pushed without any provocation. The lack of sportsmanship from the Cuban players is a demonstration of the type of behavior of the New Man, a byproduct of the Revolution.
Dear Fidel,
Please Die Already.
Signed,
Cuba
Could not contain himself, just like Sotomayor could not contain himself from using cocaine, twas the Miami Mafia and the CIA dontcha know! ah but all was forgiven by his tyrant papa.
Fidel comes across as the clown he is, wasting good money on sports, money that could have fed the population, wish he would take his "Reflections" to the grave, enough already!!
Did we expect sportsmanship from this THUG regime? Fidelito need not worry about the 2012 Olympics; he should be worried about burning in HELL instead.
Mansuelo cuando se celebro aqui en PR el clasico Mundial de Beisbol 2006, los thugs de castro quisieron arrebatarnos los carteles de la mano, ellos se pensaron que estaban en cuba y no en PR. Todos los deportistas y losde la seguridad que los acompañan a cualquier pais estan obligados a defender la revolucion a como de lugar incluyendo el uso de la violencia si es necesario
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Lo que dice agustoin es verdad el pitcehr cubano empujo al pelotero norteamericano sin necesidad y hubo otro incidente en ese juego donde LAZo le dio un pelotazo en la cara a un pelotero norteamericano
Recuerden para fidel castro una confrontacion en el deporte entre Cuba y EEUU es una batalla en lo politico tambien
Same crap from the same source, they always say the same things ad nauseam, this is of course, a telltale sign of the Left, it is globally disseminated, indoctrinated and cultivated by every one of them, the members of their "community" - "comrades" would be more appropriate - are expected to toe the line and recite the platitudes and "bumper sticker" lines as if they are substitutes for thoughtful analysis and intellectual and morally superior principles, in reality they are the results of indoctrination and subterfuge which is the reason why when challenged with facts, their responses are usually highly emotional ones laced with either profanity, or avowed and vacuous elitist arrogance, sometimes they employ all of them to defend the indefensible, but we know who they are and that for which they stand, it is not possible to miss their telltale signs, for they are constantly present in, within and with them, whether in our oppressed homeland of Cuba, the imperially minded nations of Red China and The Commonwealth of Independent States; or North Korea, Belarus, Venezuela, Bolivia, Ecuador, Nicaragua and the Democratic Party of the U.S.A., the signs are inescapably there for all who posses discernment and wisdom to detect.
Great post, MaT. The only problem with your writing is that it's dissuading me from writing about Cuba - you usually say it better than I could... ho hum. ;)
Hello my name is Maritza I live in Miami Fl and I came across your bloggs and must say I appreciate the way you express your thoughts and opinions on this blogg. I wanted to copy and paste it on Myspace for others to read, giving them your perspective as well as so many others. Just wanted your ok first.
Maritza
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