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The Batista regime, which came before Castro, was much worse for the people of Cuba. The US supported the Batista regime because of commercial interests. I'm
by smutticus 13y ago
The Batista regime, which came before Castro, was much worse for the people of Cuba. The US supported the Batista regime because of commercial interests. I'm not going to argue that the Castro is a saint, but the people of Cuba are definitely being treated better than had Batista stayed. No thanks to the US of course, which did everything it could to reinstitute a more corporate friendly dictator in Cuba.
Now it seems hating on Cuba has as much to do with winning votes in Florida than it does with corporate interests. The history is still revealing, the US has never intended Cuba to become a democracy and would not welcome a Cuban democratic state. All past and presents efforts instead focus on Cuba becoming a vassal, puppet state to US commercial interests.
- kenrikm 13y agoWow, I'm speechless. You really believe that? My wife is Cuban I've spent a lot of time talking with her grandparents, parents, friends etc.. on the subject. Batista was no saint but things got 100X worse after the revolution. You won't hear the on the ground truth unless you speak with people who were there.
- kaonashi 13y agoWorse for whom? I'm not sure your second-hand anecdotal experiences are all that representative.
- kenrikm 13y agoDon't take my "anecdotal experiences" go, find the facts with an open mind. Many will not like what they find.
- kaonashi 13y agoI have; it's not clear to me that the Castro regime was any more oppressive than Batista (though different people were oppressed, that's clear). It's also seems like a lot of what is blamed on Castro is actually just the fucked-up poisonous choices left to them due to the blockade (though, not all of it).
- smutticus 13y agoIf Batista was so great, then how was Castro able to win? It's practically impossible to guerrilla movements to succeed without the support of the general populace. Even accounts of the revolution written by the CIA show that the majority of the population wanted the revolution to succeed. That wouldn't be the case if Batista was well loved.
- kenrikm 13y agoThe vast majority of the population did not know that after the revolution they were getting Communism. As is a common result throughout history after a revolution the people who take power are worse then those before. Batista was a bad guy, he was oppressive, but what they ended up with was a guy who was even more oppressive, their economy was even worse etc. Things did not go up and to the right after the revolution.
- smutticus 13y agoIsn't the stagnation of the Cuban economy atleast in part attributable to the US embargo? Castro himself didn't expect the US to snub him as much they did. He naively thought that the US would recognize his liberation of Cuba in the same light as the US Revolutionary War. Cuba had no choice but to turn to the Soviet Union for assistance. Again, I know Castro is not a saint, and modern Cuba is not a paradise. I merely want to point out that American interests in Cuba have rarely been aligned with the interests of the majority of Cubans.
- bayesianhorse 13y agoIs there any evidence that the US (whoever calls the shots, a question you conveniently left out) tried to "reinstate a corporate friendly dictator" rather than a democractic government? The "vassal, puppet state" rethoric seems hardly helpful... I grant you that in the cold war, the US were more interested in denying the soviets an ally on their front steps rather than to help the Cuban state to evolve. But back then there were all these puppet wars, nuclear missiles and nasty rethoric going on...