Castro's Cuba

[John Simkin]

Recently George Bush promised to overthrow Castro if he is re-elected. Compared to Iraq, it would be very straightforward to invade Cuba. Why have American presidents over the last 40 been unwilling to order the overthrow of Castro? Will Bush really do this? I doubt it. It seems that Castro has got some hold over the Americans.

Maybe the Olympic Games provides a clue. With 103 medals the USA appeared to be the most successfully Olympic nation. This is not so surprising when you consider its superpower status. If you take into account the size and GNP of each country you get a very different result. Cuba tops the economic table with just $1bn of GNP per medal. Well down the table was the UK ($55bn per medal). The USA was near the bottom with over $100bn per medal. It seems that American sanctions against Cuba is having an undesirable impact. Cuba also has a higher literacy rate and a lower infant-mortality rate that the USA. Maybe Bush should send a fact-finding team to Cuba to find out the secret of its success.

[Paul Kerrigan]

Recently George Bush promised to overthrow Castro if he is re-elected. Compared to Iraq, it would be very straightforward to invade Cuba. Why have American presidents over the last 40 been unwilling to order the overthrow of Castro? Will Bush really do this? I doubt it. It seems that Castro has got some hold over the Americans.

Maybe the Olympic Games provides a clue. With 103 medals the USA appeared to be the most successfully Olympic nation. This is not so surprising when you consider its superpower status. If you take into account the size and GNP of each country you get a very different result. Cuba tops the economic table with just $1bn of GNP per medal. Well down the table was the UK ($55bn per medal). The USA was near the bottom with over $100bn per medal. It seems that American sanctions against Cuba is having an undesirable impact. Cuba also has a higher literacy rate and a lower infant-mortality rate that the USA. Maybe Bush should send a fact-finding team to Cuba to find out the secret of its success.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Does the United States really care about Cuba? If the US wanted Castro gone, he'd BE gone. If the US wanted Cuba, Cuba would be owned already. In my opinion, all that is transpiring is the same rhetoric that has always been going on between Castro/Cuba and any US President that happens to be in office.

[Pat Speer]

The Bush family is closely tied to Cuban exiles and has been involved with efforts to overthrow Castro since he first came to power. About a year ago there was a wave of negative publicity about Castro and I predicted that Bush would target him as soon as the skirmishes in Iraq died down. I haven't seen the quotes you allude to, John. What exactly did Bush say?

To an American, your attempts to tie economic and athletic performance doesn't hold much water. In Cuba, there are no professional sports, which allows their boxers and baseball players to flourish at the amateur level.

Due in no small part to American interference, the Cuban economy has suffered greatly under Castro. Nevertheless, he has delivered on many of his promises, particularly in regards to education and health care. I believe the U.S. has allowed Cuba to continue in part as a warning to all other western hemisphere countries which might stray to socialism--we want them to know that if they go that route they'll be driving the same cars for forty years or more.