I like to add another condition. The right to freely elect anyone they want to govern them. Surely fidel won't mind, he's been on the job for 46 fucking years and he must be tired. Now is his chance to retire.

Youre right Kathleen. Surely, after winning election after election for the past 46 years, fidel castro is a shoe in for any election!

Where do I have to sign Val? Can I go with you to throw these conditions on top of the desk of the bearded vermin? Can we drop a page on the floor and kick him in the ass? Let me know and count on me!

Beautifully stated, Val! This should be enshrined in Free Cuba's coming constitution! Exquisite!

A "voluntary retirement" is not what I want for you-know-who...

Agree, given a chance at really free elections, the Cuban people would throw these incompetent , murdering thieves out on their asses! Let's hope we see that happen real soon!

On a related front, what can we do to help Martha Beatriz Roque and all those other brave souls who are risking their lives every day?

You know what irks me. Is that these are not unreasonable requests. Oh the Yankee agression! Imagine an uncensored media! Or not having political prisoners. Oh the libs all jump up and down like rumplestiltskin when they talk about the patriot act, which by the way has not affected one regular (non-terrorist) citizen, but they can't see that there aren't even the most BASIC of liberties in the country they idolize. I guess it just depends who is in charge of the despotic overreaching government?

Right on. 19 more are free people as of 0630 today.

http://news-press.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050726/NEWS01/50726006/1075

Sounds like VP should be on a committee to write the post-Castro constitution of Cuba.

Murel, Cubans wrote a perfectly good Constitution in 1940. We just had the misfortune of two consecutive bad leaders: one benign, the other satanic and mailgnant.

i would settle for release of all political prisoners and free and honest elections without the fear of political persecution. and oh yeah, the slow agonizing death of fidel (that would be a bonus).

george - some would argue that there were three consecutive bad leaders. each one succesively worse than the other.

I think all are more than fair. Except this pinko suggestion:

"Both parties must ensure there be no more disparity among available food and medical supplies on the island."

Other than that, all reasonable requests.

Meyer, you think the current system of good food and medical supplies for the party elite and the tourists while the Cuban citizens die and go hungry is okay? Suggesting that the average Cuban have the same access is pinko? I don't think Val was talking about applying the socialist model where everyone receives exactly the same handout from the state. He wants an end to the brutal apartheid,

Tony, you may be right. But at least the third you are talking about was elected. Not that it did much good...

Batista created Castro by staging a coup in 1952. The 1940 constitution was compromised at that point. Yes the previous governments were corrupt but they were democratically elected and they should have been voted out. Instead Batista took power by force and set an unavoidable set of events in motion. Castro was an opportunist who found his opportunity and has maximized it to the detriment of all Cubans. Let this be a lesson to us all. When the constitution begins to be disregarded, it means our liberties will surely follow.

And.. Batista was created by whom .. enlighten me here.

Val :
you lost the whole thing the SECOND you wrote the word CONDITION.. hell by COND.... the whole deal was off.
But... you KNEW that ya lil trickster ya !

Great suggestions but let's keep that thing easy:

NO BEARD NO EMBARGO

Too many conditions. Two things, get rid of castro and establish a democracy. The rest is up to the Cuban people.

And no, I wouldn't even stand castro up against the nearest wall - I'd establish a typical Cuban home for him to live out his days in (with bars of course). He'd live like every other Cuban lived, he'd eat like every other Cuban ate, and when he needed medical care he'd get on a waiting list and finally deal with the same nasty hospital conditions every other Cuban had to deal with.

GLM, I doubt that Cuba, once free, will attempt to return to an old (though good) constitution from a regime that failed, principally because constitution-writing is one of the civic ceremonies available to a freed people breaking with a past they want to repudiate (such as the entire lifespan of the devil Fidelzebub). Odds are they write a new one, even if it borrows heavily from the 1940 document.

KC,

I'm not sure I follow you. Of course Batista had taken power by force once before. Before the constitution of 1940. After the revolution of 1933. But later he was elected Democratically. He created Castro in 1952 when he decided that he couldn't live without the power. If the constitution of 1940 is the gold standard that's portrayed as (a genuinely simple to understand and very progressive document, as I have read it myself) it should have been respected. My grandfather was a doctor in the Cuban Army under Batista. That doesn't make him a Batistiano. A lot of people want to label us all Batistiano's. But I never lived in Cuba and was born in 1969 so I can't possible be a Batistiano. I understand however that the Revolutionary movement in the 50's was born out of resentment for the Batista dictatorship. We've done a poor job letting people know that after the Batistianos the next group targetted were the DR (13 of March) and all the other groups that fought side by side with Castro to remove Batista. We spend to much time in-fighting. "No I was with Batista, No I was with DR" Too much of that crap. Even here there are like 500 little groups that on their own can do very little. Just like FIdel united all the opposition of Batista we must unite all of the opposition of cagastro. Only this time, we'll be wiser and very weary of megalomaniacs who try to sieze too much power once castro is gone.

Conductor :
KaSStro was spawned out of the bowels of hell. Noone generated such prick.
This whole "Anti-Batista" movement is just absolute bullshit. Until KaSStro started bombing innocent people in restaurants and movie theaters Cubans could give two shits about Batista, okay maybe 3 % of the population. Under Batista Cuba was a thriving , economic powerhouse, under Batista there were little or none abuses of power until KaSStro comes into the scene, then and only then was that Batista's brutality began to show. AND it was generated NOT by Batista himself , but by the police force in La Habana who were ashamed at the military performance ( or NON-performance) actually. The police pretty much took over military action against KaSStro , and THAT was NOT pretty !
But by NO means was Cuba this 24 conflagration we see in pictures. Yes if you were an anti-Batista sympathizer and were caught in some shady deal , chances were you will find yourself in a ditch the next day. But REALLY what other choice did the Big guns at the police have , just capitulate like the military did ?
You had two guys running the Police Force , Mansferrer and Carratala who were tough as nails and not likely to sit down and have tea a crumpets with the enemy. But , I don’t know anyone , anywhere in Cuba who was killed, tortured or even detained by Batista forces, and I had an aunt who was up to her neck in the anti-Batista movement (NO pro-KaSStro – TWO VERY different things)
KaSStro would've had a "revolution" regardless of who was in power. It just happened that it was Batista. As I think I have told you the MAIN compliant about Batista in Cuba came from the uppity class because he was indeed a man of color and of little education, and the HIGH upper class of the time DESPISED him for this. Hence their unabashed support for KaSStro.
The newspaper of the time had cartoon where Batista was portrayed as a monkey! Wearing a military uniform! Yeah some fucking dictator! Try that during Franco’s Spain !

There is an anecdote of a group of industrialists coming to see KaSStro at the Hilton, telling him what great things they had done for him in ways of contributions, etc. On their way out KaSStro turns to an aid and says "They will be back when I take away EVERYTHING they own !”
That was the agenda; Batista just HAPPENED to be in power when the SUMO HIJO DE PUTA decided to raise his beastly head.
Let’s not forget that THERE HAD BEEN FREE ELECTIONS on Nov 3 1958! There by totally annulating the "Dictator" part of Batista's title.
So why didn’t KaSStro at that time put down the arms?. That was it, Batista was out. Oh yeah we all know the story that Rivero Aguero was just a puppet, well so was Batista a puppet of their political party. In the 50s politics EVERYONE was a puppet of someone with more money, not very different than the USA, where Old man Kennedy bought his kid the presidency !
Now if you tell me we owe KaSStro to Batista because of the utterly idiotic decision of given him amnesty and not pulling a bullet in his head when he was in jail, then Yeah , I agree with you. For that matter KaSStro is also a product of the USA, of Cuba’s highest upper class, of Cuba’s fragmentation regarding political parties. I mean did an island of 8 million people REALLY need 12 political parties?

Like ALL major fuck ups in history, KaSStro arises from the depth of some very polluted Petri dish with all the right ingredients to give him a platform and a pseudo-cause . He was also given the gift of oratory and boy, Cubans LOVE that! So KaSStro coming to power was inevitable. And just like Hitler, the wrong guy at the right place at the perfect time.

Good stuff Val, really good stuff. And I think you should take these "conditions" a step further. Get signatures (I'll be the first one to sign this if need be) and send this to Diaz-Balart, Condi Rice, James Mason, APSC, Democracia Ya, CID and even fidel castro and his goons; not so much that negotiations will happen (they won't), but so that there is an increased awareness of our firm, unwavering, position as Cubans, Cuban-Americans, and Americans against lifting the Embargo. Push this one beyond blogdom.

Oh... and f^@& the cherry on top thing...

KC,

You know that I didn't live through it so I can't comment from first hand experience, but it strikes me as obvious that Castro and other revolutionary forces could not have gained any traction unless there was an illegitimate (unelected) government in power. Cuba was a fledling democracy and Batista took it backwards (politically speaking). The sad thing is when you look at Cuba since independence and take out the castro years, the platt years, the batista dictorship years, and the machado years all you have left is 12 years from 1940 to 1952. That's truly sad. It's obvious that given the choice of dictatorships I'd choose Batista. Just like I'd choose Franco over some Spanish Stalin. But Cuba was in zero danger of becoming communist in 1952 and 8 short years later it was well on its way because castro seized an opportunity and hoodwinked enough people for it to happen.

Conductor -
The good thing about History, no the GREAT thing about History is that you dont have to be around to learn from it, if you do your homework correctly.
Cuba always had an uneasy rhythm with respect to politics. Like I have e said in the past "WE ALWAYS KNOW BETTER" 12 political parties do not represent a cohesive political foundation.
It wasn’t Batista who set this up , it was US .. All of US Cubans who for some reason or another felt they could do better than whoever was in charge. You see the guy working at a McDonalds who thinks the boss is an asshole, while he’s flipping burgers, so that was Cuba in the 30s, 40s and 50s . And there was a need for a Dictatorship. In Spain there was a need for one and so there was in Cuba JUST TO GET THINGS UNDER CONTROL.
In 1952 Cuba ran no risk of becoming Communist because KaSStro had not achieved any prominence in Cuba. But the communists were getting their dirty little hands in everyone’s business and they were being VERY well financed by SOMEONE.
Was there a concerted effort from the Communist world to get into Cuba .. I personally think so. It was a strategic country, and let's face it we were VERY naive about politics in general. I know you are a young man , but go sit with a few Cubans in their 60+ years , just listen to their debates and tell me what kind of democratic election is gonna come out of that! AND we were a model of democratic politics in comparison with the rest of Latin America.
Latin America in general had only one answer to political change. Coup’d tat..
In 1952 Batista takes over a floundering economy, a state of total political disarray and a level of corruption unheard of in Cuban politics.
He is SHOVED into the limelight, actually AGAINST his will and takes over Cuba. At what point does he get off that Bronco?. When you have the tiger by the tail, redecorating the parlor is just NOT the thing to do, so YES it was a dictatorship but it was GOOD for CUBA in general, economically , financially . Cuba GREW. EVERY major building, hospital and expressway in Cuba TODAY was built under Batista's auspices. And again, KaSStro uses two things, the technicality that Batista was a dictator , and the naiveté of the Cuban people at the time to sell them a bill of goods that TRULY did not in ANY way dove tailed with the Cuba reality they were living in. Populist politics sees its very first leader. “How dare you accept ONE chicken, you need 3 chickens” Yeah , fuck it I want THREE chickens” , Batista you prick where’ my three chickens?

Batista was a poor orator, KaSStro a great demagogue. Batista had enemies in high places while KaSStro had support at the highest levels.
On Nov 1958 Batista saw that Cuba was ready for him to step down. Best economy in Latin America and booming, all time low unemployment records , higher salaries, immense foreign investors, tourism and industries full steam ahead. In 6 years Batista accomplished one hell of a lot more that had been accomplished before him. BECAUSE he was a dictator!. So there were no distractions as to what the goal was. Stabilize Cuba economically and politically. So with a mature and stable Cuba there was an election, perhaps not planned as well as Franco set up his succession , but lets not kid ourselves , Batista was NO Franco.
So on Nov 3 1958 Batista ceased to be a dictator. AND there is when the USA should had thrown their FULL support against KaSStro because THERE HAD BEEN AN ELECTION. Most probably not very democratic, but what he fuck just happened in Venezuela, do we REALLY think Chavez won that charade???
You are measuring 50 year old politics with a yardstick that is pretty brand new as far as objectivity and legality is concerned.
What was the Nixon- Kennedy presidential race.. ? An election? Give ME a break it was a sham and the guy with the most bucks WON. He also got himself killed, That is what happens in the USA when someone buys an election, people do GET cranky.
Being the most democratic country in the world at the time and for such a blatalnt disregard for democracy in the USA, for this to happened Cuba paled in comparison and here is where we MUST be careful no to nonchalantly lay blame on this or that individual for the rise of the Beast. As I said before KaSStro was gonna raise against ANYONE, even a duly elected president who had won by 95% of the votes, because his campaign would’ve been the votes were FALSE! It was a plan that began way before Batista’s Coup’d tat and carefully orchestrated by Latin American and Soviet communism.
Now we get to that ever popular question, why did he RUN?
Well, based on his plans for New Years Eve 1958 he was NOT planning on leaving. In fact the pictures of the time showed his house with dresses that have been tried by his wife to attend the New Years celebrations. Batista got the ORDER to leave at one of these parties and left Cuba in a fucking tuxedo without an real destination until Trujillo gave him asylum, while he was over flying Santo Domingo ! So what happened that night of Dec 31 1958 we will never know, but physically or figuratively someone put a gun to Batista’s head and told him he had to leave. They could NOT allow Rivero Aguero to become a legitimate president in 3 weeks! Cause the USA would’ve had to step in.
So again my friend these are rather turbulent waters we are threading through here. Urge you to do a little more digging as the WHYS of a coup in 1952 and how this biggest insult to democracy, in actuality gave Cuba 6 years of MUCH needed economic growth and stability, In all likelihood , it was the exceptional growth that Cuba was experimenting that gave Batista and Cubans in general a certain degree of invincibility .”Look how wrong you can be”