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Fidel Castro

Can somebody explain to me why Cuban Americans to this very day hate this man so much after most of them being relatively far removed from everything that happened? My MIL came to the US during the revolution with her parents and absolutely hates Castro. She was like 5 when the revolution kicked off so I'm not even sure how she really remembers anything. Hell my wife told me about this this morning and said she was happy about it. Is this just something Cubans pass down from generation to generation or? Yes I asked my wife, she said I wouldn't understand :x
 
JesasaurusRex said:
Can somebody explain to me why Cuban Americans to this very day hate this man so much after most of them being relatively far removed from everything that happened? My MIL came to the US during the revolution with her parents and absolutely hates Castro. She was like 5 when the revolution kicked off so I'm not even sure how she really remembers anything. Hell my wife told me about this this morning and said she was happy about it. Is this just something Cubans pass down from generation to generation or? Yes I asked my wife, she said I wouldn't understand :x
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Some of it is related to financial loss. Many of the original group that left during the revolution had been exploiting the rest of the inhabitants since before independence from Spain.

Cuban ex pats fall in the same category, in my experience, as certain Persian/Iranian ex pats, They lived well due to US/Western interference and lost everything during the revolutions.

Che and Castro were the logical end result of the post colonial world.

As an interesting aside, we've been trading goods to Cuba for decades through special trade deals hammered out by Congress to reward contributors. Some examples from the 2000s linked below.

http://billingsgazette.com/news/sta...cle_4fec1030-995a-522c-9944-000f063f7829.html

http://bismarcktribune.com/news/sta...cle_ba4e0801-d50a-55dc-adce-43b12e1e9762.html
 
mrmarklin said:
Yes, they were worse. They enslaved a whole island. Bad as Batista maybe was, people could come and go freely.

Cuba is one giant slave plantation run for the benefit of Fidel and his buddies. No one can leave. Forget any sort of rebellion. The people are essentially slaves. :rolleyes

Free medical? Yeah I want my workers healthy too. Of course they go to different hospitals than Fidel and friends.:thumbdown
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I think that is a simplified take.

Batista engaged in all kinds of crimes from murder, to public executions and censorship. I don't believe he was "Better" than Castro.

I am not a fan of Castro nor his brand of Communism, but I don't understand why folks can't acknowledge that military governments supported by the US are any more noble.
 
Meter Man said:
I think that is a simplified take.

Batista engaged in all kinds of crimes from murder, to public executions and censorship. I don't believe he was "Better" than Castro.

I am not a fan of Castro nor his brand of Communism, but I don't understand why folks can't acknowledge that military governments supported by the US are any more noble.
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Might be too simple? But it's true. Batista treated the people better than slaves.:wow
 
Its a very mixed bag. Castro made Cuba perhaps the most well-educated nation in Latin America. Cuban doctors have improved heath care in many nations. Cuban troops in Southern Africa helped to curtail South African expansionism and damaged apartheid.
 
mrmarklin said:
Might be too simple? But it's true. Batista treated the people better than slaves.:wow
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You are falling into the trap of simplification. I suppose we could walk down the crimes of Bautista.

You should be upset your government helped create Castro.
 
JesasaurusRex said:
Can somebody explain to me why Cuban Americans to this very day hate this man so much after most of them being relatively far removed from everything that happened? My MIL came to the US during the revolution with her parents and absolutely hates Castro. She was like 5 when the revolution kicked off so I'm not even sure how she really remembers anything. Hell my wife told me about this this morning and said she was happy about it. Is this just something Cubans pass down from generation to generation or? Yes I asked my wife, she said I wouldn't understand :x
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Maybe it's just the idea of being exiled from your home. While you may be able to make a new life and a new home, it doesn't erase that you were exiled.

I'm sure that many would not choose to live in Cuba should it become truly free.
 
mrmarklin said:
Yes, they were worse. They enslaved a whole island. Bad as Batista maybe was, people could come and go freely.

Cuba is one giant slave plantation run for the benefit of Fidel and his buddies. No one can leave. Forget any sort of rebellion. The people are essentially slaves. :rolleyes

Free medical? Yeah I want my workers healthy too. Of course they go to different hospitals than Fidel and friends.:thumbdown
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The idea that Castro turned his entire country into a slave plantation is so ignorant its laughable. It has no basis of reality. Medical care is very good in Cuba compared to the rest of Latin America. It would be even better were it not for the ridiculous US embargo. It took some steps backwards after the Soviet collapse.
Batista was elected President with the help of the communists. He even had a communist in his cabinet: Juan Marinello. Of course this was in 1943 when our own President was "friendly" with Stalin. Batista was also very good friends with Meyer Lansky and lived with him in Florida after Batista's first term as President. When he took control of the country in 1952 it was under a military coup. Under Batista, only the upper class had real liberty. Like most US backed dictators, Batista spent his time in power making himself wealthy, at the cost of the average Cuban.

The real reason Miami cubans hate castro? Prior to the mariel boatlift most ex pat cubans living in miami were the wealthy upper class that had it great under Batista. Castro ended that.
 
Meter Man said:
More like "Thank the US government for allowing Wealthy Batista Cubans to lobby and steer US foreign policy for decades"

Castro was not a good person, neither was Che, but they were no worse than Batista.
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this.

The US is culpable for Castro. It all started with the Platt Amendment. The US tripping over its own dick as usual.
 
enki said:
Its a very mixed bag. Castro made Cuba perhaps the most well-educated nation in Latin America. Cuban doctors have improved heath care in many nations. Cuban troops in Southern Africa helped to curtail South African expansionism and damaged apartheid.
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Cuba loaned doctors to other nations for pay. They don't even pay them a decent wage in the host country. For example Venezuelan oil goes to Cuba in exchange for health care.

Cuba does no favors. :thumbdown
 
elbacalao said:
The idea that Castro turned his entire country into a slave plantation is so ignorant its laughable. It has no basis of reality. Medical care is very good in Cuba compared to the rest of Latin America. It would be even better were it not for the ridiculous US embargo. It took some steps backwards after the Soviet collapse.
Batista was elected President with the help of the communists. He even had a communist in his cabinet: Juan Marinello. Of course this was in 1943 when our own President was "friendly" with Stalin. Batista was also very good friends with Meyer Lansky and lived with him in Florida after Batista's first term as President. When he took control of the country in 1952 it was under a military coup. Under Batista, only the upper class had real liberty. Like most US backed dictators, Batista spent his time in power making himself wealthy, at the cost of the average Cuban.

The real reason Miami cubans hate castro? Prior to the mariel boatlift most ex pat cubans living in miami were the wealthy upper class that had it great under Batista. Castro ended that.
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Not slaves? They can't escape, or protest. They must be content on their rations and around $20 per month.

Just like slaves. Education? Yeah, indoctrinated by Castros to accept their lot. If emigration was possible, everyone would leave, just like in the old East Germany. Once the wall went down, the commie government there became irrelevant without its slaves.:wow

All commie governments are essentially like this. See also North Korea.:rofl

Except it's not really funny.:nchantr
 
My next door neighbor is a Cuban travel guide who organizes trips and travel throughout Cuba, year round. He lives there 3 months a year on top of his travel sojourns

Its really not like they say in USA (or Cuban) propaganda.
 
Castro was the new flavor of dictator. He threw out Batista and his henchmen, threw the mob out of Cuba, and set up a nice state run dictatorship with him at the helm. And he was a nasty nasty man. Ask the tens of thousands he imprisoned, murdered and tortured to keep his power.

Just another tinpot dictator.

"Beggar on horseback, beggar on foot. The lash comes down.
Comes the revolution, the places change, the lash goes on."

William Butler Yates.
 
JesasaurusRex said:
Can somebody explain to me why Cuban Americans to this very day hate this man so much after most of them being relatively far removed from everything that happened? My MIL came to the US during the revolution with her parents and absolutely hates Castro. She was like 5 when the revolution kicked off so I'm not even sure how she really remembers anything. Hell my wife told me about this this morning and said she was happy about it. Is this just something Cubans pass down from generation to generation or? Yes I asked my wife, she said I wouldn't understand :x
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Did she leave the country when she was 5? I would imagine that if she did not experience the joy of living under an oppressive communist government first hand, she heard about personal experiences from friends and relatives.
 
teg916 said:
Did she leave the country when she was 5? I would imagine that if she did not experience the joy of living under an oppressive communist government first hand, she heard about personal experiences from friends and relatives.
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That's the funny thing. Very few people live under communist regimes and have good memories. I remember Europe in 1989-90, when the Russians were pulling out of Hungary in particular. The Hungarians were delirious with joy, literally walking around on the streets with huge smiles on their faces.
 
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