August 17, 2008

Some Canadians do get it when it comes to Cuba

At Babalu we've noticed that the people of Western Canada haven't been snookered by Fidel's propaganda. We've often been asked to appear on radio shows like The World Tonight with Rob Breakenridge.

Well today there's a great column in The Calgary Herald. Right off the bat, the headline made me smile:

Annoying Castro makes Edmonton my new favourite city

But the column itself is even better. Some excerpts:

Castro, perhaps depressed he long ago lost most allies besides the economically illiterate (Venezuela's Hugo Chavez), the ever-creepy (North Korea's Kim Jong-il) and the children of Pierre Trudeau, whined about how no one defects from rich countries.

"Japan and the United States are big countries," wrote Castro in Granma, Cuba's official online newspaper. "They do not have to deal with an economic blockade. Both countries have great resources. No one steals or plunders their athletes." True, but then Japan, the U.S., Canada, and my new favourite city, Edmonton, also don't steal or plunder private property, small and large businesses, or imprison people for insulting their country's leaders.

That would be unlike Castro's island prison where Jorge Luis Artiles Montiel was jailed in 2004 for shouting denunciations against Castro in his own home.

Montiel was once a trainer with the Villa Clara baseball team and belonged to a dissident group, Democracy Movement.

Prosecutors wanted a two-year sentence; Montiel received four. Perhaps the baseball players, Argueilles and Iglesias, knew about their leader's thin skin and decided to hoof it before they faced such a fate one day. But Montiel's sentence is hardly the only example.

In 2002, 75 journalists were imprisoned for up to 20 years for departing from the official Cuban line -- i.e., Castro's rule was a blessing.

That, along with far worse abuses, is the reality of Fidel and Raul's Cuba.


Thank you Mark Milke, thank you for getting it and trying to make it so that your fellow Canadians get it.

Posted by Henry Louis Gomez at August 17, 2008 11:52 AM

Comments

not terribly surprising since western Canada is the sole bastion of Conservatism in the country. The further east - the more leftist and Castro-loving.

Posted by: theCardinal [TypeKey Profile Page] at August 17, 2008 01:34 PM

and from the home of Canada's Prime Minister, thanks for noticing.

Posted by: marc in calgary [TypeKey Profile Page] at August 17, 2008 03:36 PM

Exceptions can be very nice, but they're rarely enough to overcome the effects of the majority.

Posted by: asombra [TypeKey Profile Page] at August 18, 2008 10:18 AM


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