Miami to hold 'anti-Communist' concert after Sanders defends Castro regime

[Jose Garcia]

Miami will hold an “anti-Communist” concert in April in response to Democratic presidential front-runner Sen. Bernie Sanders’ defense of Fidel Castro’s authoritarian regime in Cuba, according to a report.

“Our city represents the stories of countless individuals who have risked their lives to flee communism,” Mayor Francis Suarez said, mentioning Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela, the Miami Herald reported on Monday.

“Each and every life that has fled communism has proven how the will to pursue democracy and freedom, even in the face of oppression, can never be suppressed or silenced.”

In an interview Sunday on CBS News’ “60 Minutes,” Sanders praised Castro’s literacy efforts when he took over Cuba in 1959.

More: https://nypost.com/2020/02/26/miami-to-hold-anti-communist-concert-after-sanders-defends-castro-regime/?fbclid=IwAR0cj4G62mQgyEdCftZSQQUOZRbJ3EJYvV43QQqQDrU1-4U4kllSGfk_0PM

[Rorey]

1. Didn't see that coming

[brush]

47. We've so lost Fla. if Sanders gets our nomination.

[riversedge]

2. Geez. what the fu8** is wrong with people.

[Cha]

50. What people?

[DanTex]

3. And the Red Scare returns...

[George II]

7. It's not a "red scare", how can you say that about these people. Some of them LIVED in Cuba....

....(many are gone now) or are the families of Cuban refugees who still love their country and their heritage.

Remember, the 125,000 to 150,000 Mariel boatlift people didn't risk their lives to flee their homes, the "good schools and healthcare" to come to the United States. The 250,000 Cubans who fled during the Freedom Flights didn't do so because life was good in Cuba.

Overall close to a million Cubans (between 10-15% at the time) fled those "good schools and healthcare". They all didn't come to the US because they wanted to.

So please, don't throw that "red scare" at us. Thanks!

[samnsara]

12. i still remember the young cuban girl who immigrated to our town..my age..

...her name was Anna.

[George II]

13. I knew several Cuban refugees back in the 1970s that I became close friends with.....

I remember one, Luis, a guy about 18-19 years old, who came to New York when he was young.

One night we were driving in the country out on Long Island. I had a convertible and we had the top down. It was a nice, warm night, and the air smelled great. I glanced over at him and he was crying! I asked him what was going on and he told me "this smells like Cuba when I was a little boy."

Damn, that was heartbreaking. I'll never forget it.

These people who blithely dismiss the hundreds of thousands of Cubans who left the horrible conditions of the Castro regime should be ashamed of themselves.

[Just_Vote_Dem]

28. Thank you George

I live in South Florida and I've worked with Cubans. The stories I've heard about living under Castro are sad and sometimes terrifying.

[LanternWaste]

32. Of course you tell yourself that. it can often be difficult to think beyond a juicy t-shirt slogan

[bucolic_frolic]

4. They will beat that drum all the way to Election Day and mix in some

anti-Bolshevism along the way.

Is Bernie's economics advisor a Marxist?

[Farmer-Rick]

5. All those filthy rich who ran out of Cuba when Castro

Threatened to take their wealth back will never get over it.

Let's just have a giant marathon fund raiser for the filthy rich who are afraid they may have to pay some taxes if Bernie is president.

[Jose Garcia]

6. Must have been a lot of filthy rich people in Cuba before Castro

[George II]

9. Sometimes the things people say about things they know little about make me shake my head.

[still_one]

51. +++ This is the very reason why Sanders will lose Floida in the primary and General Election if he

is the nominee

The insensity of some to the Cuban refugees who came after Castro took over is astounding, and why Sander's will fare badly in those places

[Farmer-Rick]

15. I never wrote ONLY the filthy rich. Cuba was a brutal dictatorship filled with corruption and abuse.

Before the revolution.

"Back in power, and receiving financial, military, and logistical support from the United States government, Batista suspended the 1940 Constitution and revoked most political liberties, including the right to strike. He then aligned with the wealthiest landowners who owned the largest sugar plantations, and presided over a stagnating economy that widened the gap between rich and poor Cubans.Eventually it reached the point where most of the sugar industry was in U.S. hands, and foreigners owned 70% of the arable land. As such, Batista's repressive government then began to systematically profit from the exploitation of Cuba's commercial interests, by negotiating lucrative relationships with both the American Mafia, who controlled the drug, gambling, and prostitution businesses in Havana, and with large U.S.-based multinational companies who were awarded lucrative contracts. To quell the growing discontent among the populace—which was subsequently displayed through frequent student riots and demonstrations—Batista established tighter censorship of the media, while also utilizing his Bureau for the Repression of Communist Activities secret police to carry out wide-scale violence, torture and public executions. These murders mounted in 1957, as Fidel Castro gained more publicity and influence. Many people were killed, with estimates ranging from hundreds to about 20,000 people killed.

Catalyzing the resistance to such tactics, for two years (December 1956 – December 1958) Fidel Castro's 26th of July Movement and other nationalist rebelling elements led an urban and rural-based guerrilla uprising against Batista's government."

"At the beginning of 1959 United States companies owned about 40 percent of the Cuban sugar lands—almost all the cattle ranches—90 percent of the mines and mineral concessions—80 percent of the utilities—practically all the oil industry—and supplied two-thirds of Cuba's imports.

In a manner that antagonized the Cuban people, the U.S. government used its influence to advance the interests of and increase the profits of the private American companies, which "dominated the island's economy". By the late 1950s, U.S. financial interests owned 90% of Cuban mines, 80% of its public utilities, 50% of its railways, 40% of its sugar production and 25% of its bank deposits—some $1 billion in total.[52] According to historian Louis Perez, author of the book On Becoming Cuban, "Daily life had developed into a relentless degradation, with the complicity of political leaders and public officials who operated at the behest of American interests." As a symbol of this relationship, ITT Corporation, an American-owned multinational telephone company, presented Batista with a Golden Telephone, as an "expression of gratitude" for the "excessive telephone rate increase" that Batista granted at the urging of the U.S. government."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fulgencio_Batista

"I believe that there is no country in the world including any and all the countries under colonial domination, where economic colonization, humiliation and exploitation were worse than in Cuba, in part owing to my country's policies during the Batista regime. I approved the proclamation which Fidel Castro made in the Sierra Maestra, when he justifiably called for justice and especially yearned to rid Cuba of corruption. I will even go further: to some extent it is as though Batista was the incarnation of a number of sins on the part of the United States. Now we shall have to pay for those sins. In the matter of the Batista regime, I am in agreement with the first Cuban revolutionaries. That is perfectly clear."

—?U.S. President John F. Kennedy, to Jean Daniel, October 24, 1963

I never said Only the filthy rich fled. I imagine it was a difficult situation with a society in turmoil. But that turmoil would NOT have been there if not for the filthy rich creating so much suffering. And No they were NOT the ones forced to flee in overcrowded boats.

Some of those organized crime members and abusive rich Cuban families still propagandize the Cubans in Miami, trying to get the middle class and poor to forget what happened to them with help and consent of the rich corporations in the US.

[George II]

8. Here are some of those "filthy rich" that you speak of....

You should be ashamed of yourself saying that:

[Farmer-Rick]

18. And Batista was better?

I never said ONLY the filthy rich fled. It was a society in turmoil made horribly worse by the filthy rich trying to suck all the wealth from the nation.

I am tired of teaching folks about Cuban history. Here is one excerpt that explains why the filthy rich and organized crime are still propagandizing Cubans today so they forget how the rich destroyed their wealthy country.

"At the beginning of 1959 United States companies owned about 40 percent of the Cuban sugar lands—almost all the cattle ranches—90 percent of the mines and mineral concessions—80 percent of the utilities—practically all the oil industry—and supplied two-thirds of Cuba's imports.

In a manner that antagonized the Cuban people, the U.S. government used its influence to advance the interests of and increase the profits of the private American companies, which "dominated the island's economy". By the late 1950s, U.S. financial interests owned 90% of Cuban mines, 80% of its public utilities, 50% of its railways, 40% of its sugar production and 25% of its bank deposits—some $1 billion in total. According to historian Louis Perez, author of the book On Becoming Cuban, "Daily life had developed into a relentless degradation, with the complicity of political leaders and public officials who operated at the behest of American interests." As a symbol of this relationship, ITT Corporation, an American-owned multinational telephone company, presented Batista with a Golden Telephone, as an "expression of gratitude" for the "excessive telephone rate increase" that Batista granted at the urging of the U.S. government."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fulgencio_Batista

Read history, it provides the reason why you see those people on boats.

[IluvPitties]

19. Yes, Batista was better.

Cuba had massive income inequality and political instabilty under Batista, but those issues could have been improved without their war against private property and free enterprise.

[Farmer-Rick]

25. I can't believe you wrote that.

Batiste had public executions.

"Batista's repressive government then began to systematically profit from the exploitation of Cuba's commercial interests, by negotiating lucrative relationships with both the American Mafia, who controlled the drug, gambling, and prostitution businesses in Havana, and with large U.S.-based multinational companies who were awarded lucrative contracts. To quell the growing discontent among the populace—which was subsequently displayed through frequent student riots and demonstrations—Batista established tighter censorship of the media, while also utilizing his Bureau for the Repression of Communist Activities secret police to carry out wide-scale violence, torture and public executions."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fulgencio_Batista

"It is clear that counter-terror became the strategy of the Batista government. It has been estimated that perhaps as many as 20,000 civilians were killed."

Better Dead then Red is your philosophy? You can't possibly believe that.

[George II]

30. Castro was worse:

https://www.miamiherald.com/news/nation-world/world/americas/cuba/article118282148.html

The late and widely respected University of Hawaii historian R. J. Rummel, who made a career out of studying what he termed “democide,” the killing of people by their own government, reported in 1987 that credible estimates of the Castro regime’s death toll ran from 35,000 to 141,000, with a median of 73,000.

[Farmer-Rick]

34. What Rummel counted in Democide were ALL deaths even those due to poverty, bad healthcare or in jail

So by his count, Trump is responsible for 483,750 people due to inadequate health care alone. And that is not counting the abused people at the border or people dying from lack of nutrition in the US.

Batista's 20,000 only includes state actor deaths. That is the deaths directly attributed to a state official carrying out orders to murder noncombatants.

But thanks for that link. I have forgotten about Rommel's ground breaking work.

[George II]

45. I thought Sanders was raving about their healthcare system.

[ck4829]

59. You got to remember, when people starve to death under a non-socialist regime...

They don't really matter. They're just insignificant, interchangeable nobodies.

... from me at least.

[brutus smith]

31. I can't believe he said that either.

I liken the Cuba situation with the Iraq situation with Saddam and the opposition.

[womanofthehills]

35. OMG! - people suffered badly under Batista - he turned Cuba into a police state

Enriching himself, the Mafia and the US. The rural poor had no healthcare or education. After Castro took over, the US kept bombing Cuba killing people working in the sugar fields. A great book on the Cuban Revolution is Aviva Chomsky's "A History of the Cuban Revolution."

[IluvPitties]

48. And Fidel and his cronies did not do just that

while also impoverishing his people and repressing the opposition in the process? Fuck that shit.

[ck4829]

58. Better? How? If Batista was truly "better", maybe he wouldn't have been ousted in the first place

Castro didn't have superhuman abilities, he was backed by people fed up with Batista's incompetence, corruption, and despotism. He made the choice to be a murderous dictator, and the Cuban people have paid for Batista's mistake ever since.

[IluvPitties]

60. Cubans under Batista were not leaving in droves.

There was massive immigration to Cuba from Spain, Jamaica, Haiti, the US, Puerto Rico and many other places. Since 1959, people having risking their lives to get the hell outta there- and to blame it all on the US is foolish.

The Cuban Revolution is a sham.

[ck4829]

61. He must have been pretty bad to have been toppled by a sham

I mean, if he was good enough, maybe there wouldn't have been a Cuban Revolution to talk about today.

It's a simple inequality... Life under Batista < Cuban Revolution. Castro didn't singlehandedly overthrow an entire regime, Cuban people had enough with what Batista was giving them. And apparently he did nothing to flip that inequality around because if he truly did, then a lot more Cuban people would be alive today. That's on him.

[IluvPitties]

63. The cure was worse than the illness itself.

Same thing happened in Argentina with the right wing dictators of the 1976-1983 period. There was a problem with left-wing guerrillas there that did not require the brutality and carnage of 30,000 people by the far right regime to be solved.

On both sides, authoritarianism needs to be rejected.

[Vogon_Glory]

14. It wasn't just the so-called filthy rich who left

A lot of Cuba’s pre-1959 middle class followed suit. And, as pretty as it might be for left-liberal Bernie-philes to think that they were all Batista fans, a lot of them weren’t. What they DID become were anti-Communist and pro-Republican, and their resentment helped Dubya become President in 2000.

This was a major Bernie blunder. We aren’t even to Super Tuesday and Bernie has succeeded in tipping electoral vote-rich Florida into the Trump camp.

Clearly it’s time for some people to get real and learn to think critically and learn to face unpleasant facts.

[Farmer-Rick]

20. Batista and a ruined Nation is why people fled. AND I never said ONLY the filthy rich

Propaganda and a white washing of history by the filthy rich and corporations in the US is why many have the wrong notion about how Cuba became what it is today.

Quit trying to insult and goad me for having a different opinion and listen with an open mind.

"At the beginning of 1959 United States companies owned about 40 percent of the Cuban sugar lands—almost all the cattle ranches—90 percent of the mines and mineral concessions—80 percent of the utilities—practically all the oil industry—and supplied two-thirds of Cuba's imports.

In a manner that antagonized the Cuban people, the U.S. government used its influence to advance the interests of and increase the profits of the private American companies, which "dominated the island's economy". By the late 1950s, U.S. financial interests owned 90% of Cuban mines, 80% of its public utilities, 50% of its railways, 40% of its sugar production and 25% of its bank deposits—some $1 billion in total. According to historian Louis Perez, author of the book On Becoming Cuban, "Daily life had developed into a relentless degradation, with the complicity of political leaders and public officials who operated at the behest of American interests." As a symbol of this relationship, ITT Corporation, an American-owned multinational telephone company, presented Batista with a Golden Telephone, as an "expression of gratitude" for the "excessive telephone rate increase" that Batista granted at the urging of the U.S. government."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fulgencio_Batista

[IluvPitties]

49. Tell that to all Cubans who have perished trying to be free from

that filthy totalitarian regime.

[womanofthehills]

37. Hello - maybe they left Cuba because our embargos left them without basic necessities

[Vogon_Glory]

54. Isn't it pretty to think so? n/t

[HarlanPepper]

16. What about those who are still leaving Cuba?

[Farmer-Rick]

21. Well, the wealth fled. The US has had sanction against the country for decades.

Those things have combined to make it very poor. I don't blame folks for fleeing the poverty.

But you need to know what really happened in Cuba.

[HarlanPepper]

22. Uh huh

And you have the answer I bet.

[Farmer-Rick]

26. Answer to what exactly?

I have the history of how Cuba became the country it is today.

You could have it too.

[womanofthehills]

38. People are still leaving Cuba because of our stupid embargos

[HarlanPepper]

44. Righhht

[awesomerwb1]

53. OK com****

Do you actually know any Cubans?

[showblue22]

24. WTF?

Is this sarcasm?

[Farmer-Rick]

27. Do you really think Batista was better?

He murdered over 20,000 civilians after he regained power.

[zackymilly]

39. I like how a lot of those filthy rich converted cars to boats and lost weight to look hungry. n/t

[oasis]

10. The Castro stigma will be difficult to shake. Dems need to nominate

a candidate who will be clear of any suspicion of being soft on communism. We can scratch Florida if we put forward the wrong Democrat.

[womanofthehills]

40. So saying that Castro was great for education and health care - is a horrible thing to say

Boy - Bernie has his nerve. Actually people in Cuba live a yr longer than people in US with fewer newborn deaths.

[oasis]

42. Education/indoctrination. Who would know better than those who fled

Cuba to take refuge in Florida?

[samnsara]

11. oh great!!

[HarlanPepper]

17. Bahahaha

Great job, Bernie.

[AGeddy]

23. Thanks, Bernie.

[William769]

29. I wish they would hold it before our primary.

[tirebiter]

46. iirc they tried this when Bill Clinton returned Elian Gozaiel to his father

It was ironic that Bill looked pro commie to some when he was upholding family values

[ibegurpard]

33. Really nice to see DUers cheering on McCarthyism

really, really special

[tirebiter]

36. Batista was bad enough for the CIA to hire Fidel to overthrow him

Last edited Fri Feb 28, 2020, 02:44 PM - Edit history (1)

-CIA helped fund Castro in the '50's-

https://www.cia.gov/library/readingroom/docs/CIA-RDP90-00965R000706570004-6.pdf

[Act_of_Reparation]

43. I've been reading these threads on and off for a few days now...

...and this is the first time I saw someone bring up Batista.

It strikes me as a little odd. I mean, we can't talk about the overall quality of Castro as a leader without comparing him to his predecessor. By pretty much all objective measure, Castro was an improvement. Far from ideal, yes, but better than the right wing junta kleptocrat mafioso asshole that came before him.

[Act_of_Reparation]

41. Wake me up when there's a communist running for office.

[evertonfc]

52. it dosent matter if Sanders is a communist or socialist

He will be painted as one with a billion dollar campaign if he is the nominee. Much of it is already baked in with Sanders..

[Vogon_Glory]

57. And some of the remarks here show

that certain Bernie-philes are adding the frosting.

[David__77]

55. Reminds me of "Rock Against Communism."

It was "white power" rock concerts a long time ago.

[samir.g]

56. GusanoFest 2020!

[Blue_true]

62. Saurez is a repugh. Of course he would put on such a concert.

Maybe Kid Rock will be the headliner.

[Gothmog]

64. For this thread

Link to tweet

?s=20