Babalú's Human Pressure Cooker (patent pending) is not hissing as loudly as in the halcyon days after the hurricanes when the hope of Cuba's complete annihilation yet shone brightly in their hearts and fed their vicarious revolutionary fervor. Perhaps the Babalunians think that they have gotten all the "bang for their buck" from Val's "Cubans don't need money" proclamation in The New York Times, which was quoted by Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutiérrez as the vox populi of Cubans on the island and used to deny a proposed 90-day relaxation of restrictions on remittances and family visits. Can't you hear Cubans crying in unison: "¿Dinero, para qué?" Yes, it is the common appeal of the wretched everywhere: "Do not help us, let us die!"
Let it never be said that Fidel Castro is oblivious to the pleas of his people, or, at least, the pleas of Val Prieto; for he has listened and acted upon his recommendation, just as Secretary Gutiérrez did. Not, of course, to starve the Cuban people: Castro was doing that even before Val was born. But, as Charlie Bravo points at Black Sheep of Exile and Gusano reports at Babalú (without tracing its source), Castro is tightening his personal embargo on the Cuban people. Not content with rejecting on the Cuban people's behalf more than $100 million in humanitarian assistance from the U.S. and the European Community, and, in effect, establishing a cordon sanitaire around the island to protect Cubans from the nefarious effects of capitalist charity, Castro has now undertaken an internal purification campaign aimed at suppressing the new "kulaks" who sell their crops at food markets as well as the black marketeers who sell their wares everywhere.
To maintain absolute control of the population Castro knows that he must keep them perpetually on the edge of starvation: foreigners or locals who try to feed his human menagerie are not welcomed at his zoo. Castro must be all to his people or he is nothing. Even were he so inclined (which he is not) Castro cannot alleviate their suffering except by disappearing, which is the one thing he will never do. Therefore, he must use their suffering to his advantage. There are two ways for a tyrant like Castro to rule: by fostering the prosperity of his people or intensifying their misery. No need to say which path Castro has chosen.
Many have said that Castro learned all he knows about governance by aping Mussolini and Hitler; and it is undoubtedly true that these were his models when he was a student at the University of Havana. But before Hitler and Mussolini, and at a far more impressionable age, came Angel Castro, Fidel's father and greatest inspiration. A Spanish conscript who fought against the Cubans in our War of Independence and settled on the island at its conclusion, the elder Castro ran his plantation in Birán as Fidel would later run the entire country. His Haitian slaves (for so they were in everything but name) were never allowed off his plantation or ever heard of again after going to work for him. The pittance that they received as wages was paid to them in script which was only accepted at the company store and sufficed for only a few days rations. The rest was provided to them on credit at usurious prices. The monies "owed" to Angel Castro became the price of their manumission. Since they could not afford to repay him, their bondage to him was for life. Often Angel would hire them out to other planters and receive their wages as repayment for their imaginary debts to him. The more that Angel exploited them, the more the Haitians became dependent on him.
Sounds familiar?
Just as his father, the thing that Castro most fears are peddlers and do-gooders. Even if, ultimately, he can confiscate the stock of the former and the donations of the latter, it is the undermining of his authority, more even than a decrease in the bottom line, which Castro fears and abhors.
Market tanks.... in Havana.
Desobediencia civil
ReplyDeleteThat's the name of the game Mansuelo , ahora o nunca
Cubanos a la calle a exigir derechos adquiridos
fantomas:
ReplyDeleteThe demonstration may be civil on the part of the protestors; it is doubtful that it will be civil on the part of the counter-protestors or police (who are one and the same). Cuba is not India, and, more importantly, Castro is not British. Gandhi's movement was only possible because the British tolerated him and it. Only if you believe that the Castro regime will cede power to its enemies as the British did in India in 1947 can you suppose that civil disobedience has a chance in Cuba.
Este foro sigue abierto? Ya ni Vana viene por aqui
ReplyDeleteManuel 1000 o 2000 personas reclamando sus derechos a voz alta hoy, mañana pueden ser 10k y en par de meses 100k
ReplyDeleteSe pierde el miedo
Es lo que hace falta...
Y hace falta que esten un poco hambrientos tambien , para que griten con mas razon.
Nos conviene grandemente que el gobierno no pueda solucionar los problemas de los ciudadanos
tienes que apoyar esa idea no crees?
Nos conviene grandemente que el gobierno no pueda solucionar los problemas de los ciudadanos
ReplyDeleteMe referi a los 2 ciclones y al que viene en camino
fantomas:
ReplyDeleteThat the Castro regime cannot deal with the consequences of the hurricanes was never in doubt. I would go one step further and say that it doesn't give a damn about the consequences so long as it can maintain control.
I would go one step further and say that it doesn't give a damn about the consequences so long as it can maintain control
ReplyDeleteWhen Has Castro given a damn about cuban Mansuelo?
what i'm saying is that now is worse than ever, after the hurricanes, the conditions are ripe for a full blown island wide maleconazo
That should be our mission statement from now on Mansuelito ..
Tenemos que hacer todo lo posible por ayudar a la disidencia y alientar la CONTRAREVOLUCION DENTRO DE CUBA
QUE EXPLOTEN LAS BOMBAS DE LA LIBERTAD ... mansuelo El cañonazo de las nueve lo cambiamos de posicion y apuntamos al palacio de la revolucion con live ammunition
Do you get my drift Manny?
it is now or Never again
fantomas:
ReplyDeleteWho's going to smuggle the arms into Cuba?
Revolutions are not waged with rose water (not that there's any of that in Cuba either).
Who's going to smuggle the arms into Cuba?
ReplyDeletegreat question, but iam inclined to think that the weapons are already inside of Cuba
We only need the WILL OF THE MASSES. and that my friend is the most difficult task of all
Sorry you 2-I'm tired of this blog. I'm going to Babalu.
ReplyDeleteThere's is nothing at Babalu
ReplyDeleteOnly a bit of Intransigencia and Comemierderia
And much cheap lickstick
Seems fidel took Val's words to heart, he figures to show Val his pressure cooker works, but not in the way Val thinks, the more you starve them the weaker they become, if you want our country to revolt you must help make the people prosperous, no Maleconazo can possibly occur when one is hungry and worried about what tomorrow will bring.
ReplyDeletefantomas:
ReplyDeleteLet me see if I understand you: a people without weapons is suppose to wrest the weapons from their oppressors and then use those weapons against them.
Sounds so easy.
I wonder why no one ever thought of it before?
Maybe because corpses have never been known to handle weapons or wage revolutions.
Here is one liberal who would support a US Military intervention to finally end this Castro regime.
ReplyDeleteI don't think it would take a big one. Hitler said of Operation Barbarossa, "all you have to do is kick the door down, and then the whole rotten structure will collapse". Of course he was wrong about Stalin's Soviet Union, but Cubans are not Russians. They will throw their lot with whoever they think will win.
Get ready. Everything points to an Obama victory next month. This is great news for Manuel and the KillCastro amigos. Everyone here will get what they deserve:
ReplyDelete1) no wetfoot/dryfoot
2) unlimited remitances
3) unlimited travel
Oh, and a lifting of the embargo and unilateral normalization of relations.
All your dreams will come true in 2009.
Enjoy!
ps: And don't forget to vote Ileana Ros-Lehtinen and the Diaz-Balart brothers out of office next month, oka?
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