Castro's Hostage Politics

[citizen snips]

For more than a half century the Castro dictatorship has put new American Presidents to the test. Those who fail invite trouble. Think of JFK and the Bay of Pigs, or Jimmy Carter and the election-year Mariel boatlift.

Now Fidel is testing President Obama by playing hostage politics with an American aid worker.

Alan P. Gross of Potomac, Maryland was working as a contractor on the island for the U.S. Agency for International Development when he was arrested by state security on December 4. Two months later he still hasn't been formally charged with a crime, but Cuba claims he is a U.S. intelligence agent and won't release him. Last week Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez announced that Mr. Gross had committed "serious crimes" and is "under investigation."

Mr. Gross's real offense seems to have been trying to help Cubans communicate with the outside world. In particular, he had been aiding the island's small Jewish community in using the Internet to contact Jews abroad.

The staying power of Castro is in part explained by the dangerous, shark-infested sea that has kept the population physically isolated. But the dawn of cyberspace has let Cubans learn more about the outside world—for example, that 90 miles away milk for children is not a luxury. Yoani Sánchez, a 32-year-old Cuban mother who chronicles her daily struggles on her "Generation Y" blog, has achieved international notice.

The State Department says Mr. Gross hasn't signed a privacy waiver so it cannot speak publicly about his case. But it is no secret that Castro wants USAID's Cuba "democracy program," which Mr. Gross was part of, closed down. Sources in Washington say Fidel and brother Raúl want this as a quid-pro-quo for Mr. Gross's release.

more...
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704107204575039273612998384.html?mod=WSJ_latestheadlines

[Peace Patriot]

1. The Wall Street Urinal strikes again--sending streams of piss over the oceans and

into our brains. What reason have they given us for believing any of their bad smelling excretions?

None.

We can safely assume that this is a toilet of lies and toxic substances. Best strategy in reading it--if you must--is just reverse everything they assert and you will get approximately the truth. And then wash your hands.

[bemildred]

2. Yep, the feared Cuban legions will be landing in Miami any day now.

In a matter of weeks they will be besieging Washington, DC and calling for Obama's head on a plate.
:sarcasm:

[Doctor_J]

4. Ha! Don't forget they're the Soviet Bear's foothold in our Hemisphere

We'll all be saluting Medvedev by Easter. :rofl:

Edit: unrec for posting right-wing propaganda at Democratic Underground.

[bemildred]

10. Exactly, the dominoes are going to fall any day now, and then what!!!!!@

[mudplanet]

3. That horrible dictator! How dare he arrest people we send over there

to work to undermine the Cuban Government. We welcome foreigners who come to America to work to overthrow the government, don't we? Oh, you mean, when a representative on a foreign govt or organization that seeks to overthrow the US government comes to the U.S. we arrest them and imprison them without charge or benefit of lawyer, sometimes torturing them over a period of years and executing them by hanging them in their cells and claiming it was suicide! And we do this in Cuba at Guantanamo Bay?

I'm confused.

I thought we were the good guys and the communist Cubans were the bad guys. But the Cubans don't torture their prisoners and the U.S. does. And the Communist Cuban government gives people accused of treason and terrorism trials according to law, and the U.S. government doesn't. And the Communist Cubans don't allow terrorists to hide in their country and continue to seek funding and support to carry out more terrorism, while the U.S. government does.

But, but, America is good. America is the best country on earth. Everything America does it does in the interest of fairness and justice.

[Judi Lynn]

5. Hasn't anyone at Rupert Murdoch's WSJ learned Fidel Castro is NOT the President?

What's the point of publishing this whopper:

Now Fidel is testing President Obama by playing hostage politics with an American aid worker.

Pathetic, just embarrassingly cheap, stupid, and dirty.

He hasn't been making the decisions there for several years, as we ALL know.

No one who can read would believe this sludge, and whoever decided to post it here is showing complete contempt for DU'ers.

[citizen snips]

6. I think you have contempt for facts

If you don't believe the article then debunk it entirely, and not just one line from it.

[Vidar]

7. What utter bullshit!

[mbperrin]

8. Seems fair enough: we hold prisoners with no hope of trial or release

in Cuba. Why shouldn't the Cubans?

We're the big example in the world, so why bitch when others follow it? Now if only the Cubans would torture the man, we could be happy that they have completely adopted the American Way.

Right?

[bemildred]

9. Indeed, we taught them everything they know about repressive tactics.

We're the experts.