A embargo is an act of war. For almost 50 years the USA has waged overt and not so covert war against Castro and Cuba. The only Latin American country to have given the finger to the USA. The only Latin American country to be truely free of the USA. What has this given Cuba? The best mortality rates for the new born, better even than the USA. The most doctors per population in Latin America. The highest litracy rates in Latin America. Those balseros who come floating in on rafts, are no starving people from Hathi.

Prositutes in Cuba, work for jeans, or dvds, not money for food or health care or housing like they do in Paris or Washington. Of course things would be diffrent in Cuba if the USA stopped waging war against her. But, the USA will not overcome its back yard mentality about Latin America. Cuba is a upstart that had to be made a example for the rest of Latin America so none would dare follow her example. Lay the blame for Cubas woes not on Castro, but on the USA. Lift the embargo, like it has against Vietnam, where over 50 thousand USA soldiers died. Lift the embargo against Cuba. Why trade with communist giant China, and not with tiny little communist Cuba? Want to help Cuba, demand an end of the trade embargo, a act of war against a tiny island. When that happens, Castro will be a non issue. He may even hang up his military garb. But untill that happens, Cuba has no choice but to defend itself from the ultimate big bully. The USA.

Why should an embargo by the US cause the Cuban government to put dissidents under house arrest?

Marxism-Leninism is a dead language. It's frozen in time and incapable of evolution. There is no dialog in Marxism-Leninism. It's all either celebration or accusation.

Right now Castro protects his dead language using prisons and guns and suspicion and fear. He makes each citizen betray the other so that no true personal boundaries exist to define the individual within the state.

Of course the national referendum couldn't happen. The language of the dead cannot be made to represent the interests of the living.

IT's not so much Castro or capitalism or socialism that's the issue. The real question is -- what language will these people speak once they realize that long bearded tongue in their mouths is composed of dead linguistic tissue?

Because the US has levied an embargo (wrong-headed or not) against Cuba, the Cuban government should keep someone who only wants to plan for a peaceful succession after Fidel leaves power under house arrest, and harrass anyone who has contact with him?

I was ready to give maya0 a piece of my mind (I loathe totalitarian apologists even more than I loathe Bush apologists). You gave the perfect response in a simple question that can't be answered.

This letter writer is an example of the naive and uninformed individuals that perpetuate a false idea of what it means to live in Cuba.

Lowest mortality rates? Why don't you check to see where those statistics are coming from?

Highest literacy rates????

Most competent doctors? Hmmm...in theory perhaps, but training will only go so far. My friend's fractured finger was wrapped in toilet paper. Regular cotton/polyester sewing thread was used to sew up someone's belly after an operation. Don't need to tell you what happened soon after.

Great that you have to bring your own aspirin or any other painkiller with you to the dentist's or the doctor's. But I suppose that's universal health-care for you.

I find it truly amusing that for many, the only reason they praise Cuba is because they have been able to "stand up" to the states - be a little more nuanced.

Do you really think that's enough of an argument? Maybe for a first year undergrad.... Read about J-P Sartre's and Albert Camus' positions during the Cold War. Their positions may shed some light on what I'm getting at.

Of course the US has done horrible things. Nobody is questioning that. But Castro has one-upped even the US.

When your house party gets raided for playing music considered to be "anti-revolutionary", you have to figure there's something wrong with that - when every move you make is being watched and controlled. Freedom of speech is something that is all too often taken for granted.

And yes, the situation in Haiti is awful, but again, why compare? We're talking apples and oranges and both situations are dismal.

Here's hoping for changes in Cuba soon,

MC

Wow, I had no idea. Cuba sounds like hell. Who would want to live in a Country where secret police listen in to your phone conversations without a warrant. A Country where you are searched and hassled before boarding a plane. A land where clearly any criticism of the Leader is considered traitorous. Clearly people don't have the freedom in this tiny Caribbean Nation to refuse the free health care of the Nanny State. Although this article does not mentioned it, I would not be surprised if people are being held in orange jump suits and tortured right there in Cuba itself. Why I bet they don't even have the right to a fair trial. I am so glad we live in a free country. Viva Bush!

There are plenty of severe problems regarding freedom and government intrusion in the U.S.. To suggest that they are anywhere near as bad as what's dished out by the totalitarian regime in Cuba is absolutely without basis in fact.

What are you talking about? I am with you. I too hate the Totalitarian Cuban regime with their gulag at Guantanamo. You would never find such a thing on US soil. And Castro has a long history of financing and arming foreign Dictatorships. His military has invaded other countries without provocation and he has maliciously stood by while his allies bombed innocent children as they slept in their beds. His cronies have pocketed billions while hundreds of Cubans died from neglect in the Hurricane last year. We are so much better than him. Viva El Presidente Bush!