Archived: Dec 10, 2007

> Editorial

Cuban wonderland not all that it seems

A response

By Aaron Jeske

There is no doubt that many of you have read the pro-Cuba article concocted by Erik Sperling; and I am sure the majority of you who haven’t studied a lot about Cuba said to yourself, “Wow I never knew that!” I am all for learning new things, but I take everything I learn with a little grain of salt; and in this case I took the whole shaker. What Sperling managed to spin and spit onto a piece of paper was nothing but a frustrated attempt of Bush bashing. Apparently success in Iraq forces these people to try even less soundly based attacks on a heavily misunderstood administration.

Unfortunately I am not here to argue the political motivation of the editorial, just the legality of its content. ’Tis the season of giving, and I am feeling very generous at the moment. I will not challenge any of the facts that Mr. Sperling claimed, despite the absence of any sort of citations (Aside from the Cuban Ambassador). I will take his word for truth, I will accept that Cuba has amazing healthcare, a “high standard of living”, high educational standards and is pristine in its ability to feed its population. Even though I know these facts are twisted to the extreme.

I am going to instead focus on what Cuba is renowned for worldwide: human rights violations. All the wonderful government-provided necessities in the world mean nothing if you cannot live a free life. The wonderful nation of Cuba severely limits its citizen’s basic rights; the rights that we Americans hold with the highest respect and admiration. Thomas Jefferson beautifully wrote on the Declaration of Independence, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” Cuba does not have that. They might say they do, but instead of listening to a corrupt government you should listen to the people it governs, something some people cannot quite seem to do these days.

To begin with, Cuba has no due process of law. According to Human Rights Watch, an organization with a great amount of experience in the area, “Although in theory the different branches of [Cuban] government have separate and defined areas of authority, in practice the executive retains clear control over all levels of power. The courts, which lack independence, undermine the right to fair trial by severely restricting the right to a defense.” Political dissidents are thrown in jail without trial, and stay there for undisclosed amounts of time. “Of 75 political dissidents, independent journalists, and human rights advocates who were summarily tried in April 2003, 61 remain imprisoned, serving sentences that average nearly 20 years...” Sperling chastised the United States government for not allowing Cuban-Americans to travel to Cuba and meet their families; a fair argument. However Cuba does not allow its citizens to leave the country at all and often, “bars citizens engaged in authorized travel from taking their children with them overseas, essentially holding the children hostage to guarantee the parents’ return.

Reporters without Borders, a renowned non-governmental organization (NGO) focused on freedom of speech and the press, reported that the Cuban government censors its citizens’ use of the Internet. Access to the Internet can only be obtained through government permission, and private e-mail is constantly monitored. The American Library Association also reported “…it is difficult to find materials that do not support the Castro government in Cuban libraries”

The list goes on and on, but unfortunately I do not have a lot of space to put it all down here. Here’s the point of my argument: Would you trade your God-given right to freedom, your ability to govern your own actions and to say what you want to say, for a “high standard of living?” Would you willingly face unjust political persecution and risk going to jail to have “a great healthcare system?” I hope that the answer is “no,” but if it is not I encourage you to go and live in Cuba yourself. And not the fictional Havana fairyland that Sperling enjoyed. Go to the real Cuba, as described with photos at http://www.worldisround.com/articles/161733/index.html. As fair and balanced students, I encourage you to get the real story about Cuba.

> Comments

Benjamin Clark on Dec 11, 2007 at 05:54 PM:

I can't go to the "real" Cuba. The United States government forbids me to travel there. God bless our freedom.

Johanan Raatz on Dec 11, 2007 at 09:07 PM:

Yeah well that's probably because we don't want any fat stupid film-makers going over there and making propaganda films about how much better Cuba's socialism and socialized healthcare is than out system while completely ignoring all of Castro's human right's abuses.

At least in our case we are being kept out of the island. It could be worse we could be Cubans and coercively prevented from ever moving off the Island.

BTW Nice article Aaron.

Jacob Flom on Dec 14, 2007 at 02:32 PM:

"Success in Iraq forces these people to try even less soundly based attacks on a heavily misunderstood administration." When you say this administration is heavily misunderstood, I think most normal people would agree with you, we don't understand a fucking thing they do.

I would also ask you sir, where you get your news. I would love to live in the fairytale dreamland where we there is success in Iraq. How do you judge success? Is is the amount of money Cheney has earned through war contracts? The loss of our own civil rights? Or do you think the lost lives of 1,220,600 human beings is success?

"you should listen to the people it [Cuba] governs, something some people cannot quite seem to do these days" Erik Sperling has spent time in Cuba living with Cuban citizens, yet you are telling him to listen to these people?

I do agree that Cuba's system is broken, and there needs to be freedom of the press. However, keep in mind that the United States is guilty of the same problems. The only difference is our nation claims to be the land of the free. According to your own sources, America ranks lower than all of these countries in freedom of the press: Iceland, Norway, Estonia, Slovakia, Belgium, Finland, Sweden, Denmark, Ireland, Portugal, Switzerland, Latvia, the Netherlands, the Czech Republic, New Zealand, Austria, Hungary, Canada, Trinidad and Tobago, Germany, Costa Rica, Slovenia, Lithuania, the United Kingdom, Mauritius, Namibia, Jamaica , Australia, Ghana, Greece, France, Taiwan, Spain, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Italy, the Republic of Macedonia, Japan, Uruguay, Grenada, Chile, South Korea, Croatia, Romania, South Africa, Israel, Cape Verde, Cyprus, Nicaragua.

Jacob Flom on Dec 14, 2007 at 02:33 PM:

Aaron Jeske on Dec 16, 2007 at 12:25 AM:

Interpretation of Liberal BS:

I'll change the subject to make this guy look bad, even though this has nothing to do with my actual editorial. I'll just focus on the negatives to get my point across because people shouldn't hear about success in Iraq. Every one agrees with me that war is bad and therefore we should leave millions more Iraqi civilians to face the doom of Islamo-fascism. Throw in some attack on Cheney because he is evil. oh and I'll add a random number of people who died too, people don't like to hear that either.

Now that I made this guy look stupid and unlikeable I'll continue with my clearly inferior knowledge. Support random communist because he actually went to Havana despite the fact it is a big tourist trap is no real representation of Cuba as a whole.

Find some random tidbit of knowledge on a website that he used to disprove my whole argument. Forgot that Cuba is not above the US on the list but is in fact is 165 out of 169. Oops well I wont mention that because it will make me look like an imbecile. Doesn't matter because this guy supports war and therefore I am more righteous than he is. I sure showed him!!

Erik S. on Dec 16, 2007 at 09:51 PM:

Hi Aaron,

I was very confused by the angle you took in your piece. I never claimed Cuba had a perfect human rights record. What I said was "Cuba respects human rights far more than dozens of countries who receive support and even aid from the U.S." You didn't address this, but groups like Human Rights Watch certainly have. For example, the U.S. government is quite friendly with Communist China, who Human Rights Watch says carries out "approximately 10,000 executions" every year. HRW also documented China's internet censorship, explaining that "Journalists, bloggers, webmasters, writers, and editors, who send news out of China or who merely debate politically sensitive ideas among themselves, face punishments ranging from sudden unemployment to long prison terms. Censors use sophisticated filters, blocking, and internet police to limit incoming information."

Another example we could look at would be Bush's close friend, Saudi Arabia. A January 2007 HRW report had this to say:

"Overall human rights conditions remain poor in Saudi Arabia, an absolute monarchy... Saudi law does not protect many basic rights and the government places strict limits on freedom of association, assembly, and expression. Arbitrary detention, mistreatment and torture of detainees, restrictions on freedom of movement, and lack of official accountability remain serious concerns. Saudi women continue to face serious obstacles to their participation in society."

"Saudi judges routinely issue sentences of thousands of lashes as punishment, often carried out in public. The beatings lead to severe mental trauma and physical pain, and the victims do not receive medical treatment."

"Amnesty Int'l and Human Rights Watch both issued statements of concern and condemnation today about reports that 14 girls have lost their lives and dozens of others were injured following a fire at their school in Mecca, Saudi Arabia... after the religious police prevented them from escaping from the fire because they were not wearing headscarves and their male relatives were not there to receive them." Sadly, this type of occurrence is not an isolated case in Saudi Arabia.

So how does the U.S. feel about having free trade with these two countries, who are widely known to have far worse human rights records than Cuba (and without the advanced healthcare, education, or general quality of life that the U.N. repeatedly insists Cuba has)?

According to the Congressional Research Service, "Saudi Arabia was the largest U.S. trading partner in the Middle East in 2004... this high volume of trade is a result of U.S. imports of hydrocarbons from Saudi Arabia and U.S. arms exports of arms..."

Regarding China, the U.S. Census Bureau says that the U.S. did over $300 billion in trade with China in 2007 alone.

*So the critical question is, why does Bush continue to harshly punish trade or travel to Cuba while increasing economic and political ties with far more brutal regimes? Couldn't the U.S. trade with Cuba, as it does with China and Saudi Arabia, and use that to help promote more freedoms on the island? What accounts for the difference? I look forward to your thoughts on this.

Other issues: As I already tried to make clear to you, let me know which statistics or information from my piece you think are questionable and would like sources for. A lot of it is from the United Nations, and others are just from mainstream U.S. news reports.

Not that I expect you to know these details, but contrary to your claims that Havana is "no real representation of Cuba as a whole," Havana is actually known for being the most anti-Castro part of the island! I didn't stay on some beach resort, we were right in the heart of the city, and I talked with many residents and got all sides. Let me know if you'd like to hear more about my experiences down there. Have you ever talked with a single Cuban resident?

Erik S. on Dec 16, 2007 at 10:02 PM:

Hey Aaron, I forgot to ask if you would be so kind as to email me your response in addition to posting it. I would greatly appreciate it. My email is sperling@uwm.edu. Thanks!

Norman Godfrey on Jan 09, 2008 at 12:24 AM:

Oh Aaron, did you conveniently forget the crimes against humanity the U.S. has committed? You know, Nagasaki and Hiroshima. Ring any bells? Unacceptable conditions in Guantanamo Bay? Oh, and the fact that the Bush administration has a policy for legitimizing torture?