Their man in London
Here is another name to add to the list of high-profile, well-educated and otherwise rational Western Europeans who retain a soft spot for Fidel Castro and his henchmen.
His name is Brian Wilson (no, not that Brian Wilson). This one is a former Labour Party minister in Great Britain who retired from Parliament a couple of years ago.
Described as “the only member of the [Blair] government to maintain regular contact with Cuba between 1997 and 2005”, Mr Wilson has written an opinion piece in today’s edition of The Guardian newspaper.
His central premise is that the US is totally wrong about Cuba. And that the British government should disassociate itself from Washington when it comes to approaching the Castro regime in its current incarnation.
Dialogue is all we need to make things right.
And he describes those supposedly in charge in Cuba at the moment - Raul Castro, Carlos Lage, Felipe Perez Roque, etc - as people “I have met and respect”.
“Believe me, these are high quality people who would be assets to any government - and are now firmly in control of Cuba,” the former minister opines.
“Each of them is ideologically committed to maintaining Cuba's independence and political system. But none of them is the unbending ideologue of Washington caricature, far less an authoritarian denier of human rights.”
Bet that's news to most of you: Raul Castro, defended of human rights.
As for Fidel Castro, Mr Wilson predicts that when the seriously ill dictator finally kicks the bucket, “there will be outpourings of heartfelt sorrow among the Cuban people”.
He may be right – just as there was an outpouring of “heartfelt sorrow” in the old Soviet Union when Joseph Stalin died. It still didn't make him less of a tyrant.
Anyway, you can read his views here.
His name is Brian Wilson (no, not that Brian Wilson). This one is a former Labour Party minister in Great Britain who retired from Parliament a couple of years ago.
Described as “the only member of the [Blair] government to maintain regular contact with Cuba between 1997 and 2005”, Mr Wilson has written an opinion piece in today’s edition of The Guardian newspaper.
His central premise is that the US is totally wrong about Cuba. And that the British government should disassociate itself from Washington when it comes to approaching the Castro regime in its current incarnation.
Dialogue is all we need to make things right.
And he describes those supposedly in charge in Cuba at the moment - Raul Castro, Carlos Lage, Felipe Perez Roque, etc - as people “I have met and respect”.
“Believe me, these are high quality people who would be assets to any government - and are now firmly in control of Cuba,” the former minister opines.
“Each of them is ideologically committed to maintaining Cuba's independence and political system. But none of them is the unbending ideologue of Washington caricature, far less an authoritarian denier of human rights.”
Bet that's news to most of you: Raul Castro, defended of human rights.
As for Fidel Castro, Mr Wilson predicts that when the seriously ill dictator finally kicks the bucket, “there will be outpourings of heartfelt sorrow among the Cuban people”.
He may be right – just as there was an outpouring of “heartfelt sorrow” in the old Soviet Union when Joseph Stalin died. It still didn't make him less of a tyrant.
Anyway, you can read his views here.
posted by Luis M Garcia at 1:17 pm
1 Comments:
Por Laura Wides-Munoz
Exiliados piden relajar restricciones de viajes
Prensa Asociada December 9, 2006 MIAMI *
Veinte organizaciones formadas principalmente por cubanos exiliados,hicieron un llamado al gobierno de Estados Unidos para que este suavice las restricciones impuestas a los cubanoamericanos que desean visitar a familiares en la isla y permitir a los estadounidenses enviar ayuda humanitaria a esa nacion caribena.
La peticion del grupo integrador Consenso Cubano ocurre dos semanas despues que algunos dirigentes de la disidencia cubana hicieran peticiones similares.
La peticion tambien destaco las visiones politicas contratantes que tienen las organizaciones de exiliados cubanos sobre como responder a las restricciones del gobierno de Cuba a la libertad de expresion y movimiento. Entre aquellos que exigen los cambios esta el Cuba Study Group, una organizacion sin fines de lucro, apolitica, formada por empresarios y lideres comunitarios de origen cubano que comparten un interes y vision comun de una Cuba libre y democratica y que tiene su sede en Washington, asi como la asociacion de Bibliotecas Independientes de Cuba. "Vine desde la posicion de linea dura", dijo el copresidente del Cuba Study Group, Carlos Saladrigas. "Pero aislar a las personas no nos ha brindado ningun cambio en 47 anos. Aislar a las personas solo ayuda a apoyar la dictadura". Saladrigas anadio que la tactica opuesta fue usada para promover el cambio en Europa oriental. "?Por que creeriamos que esas medidas que no fueron usadas en ninguno de los procesos de transicion en los paises de Europa oriental podria funcionar aqui?", se pregunto Saladrigas.
La peticion se dio en una epoca de gran incertidumbre politica en Cuba, donde un Fidel Castro de 80 anos cedio el poder temporalmente a su hermano Raul, ministro de defensa, hace mas de cuatro meses tras someterse a una cirugia intestinal. Tambien ocurre dos dias despues de que Raul Castro se acercara a Estados Unidos durante un importante desfile militar, ofreciendo discutir las diferencias de los dos paises en iguales terminos. Fidel Castro no aparecio en el desfile tal como habian anticipado muchos cubanos, haciendo parecer mas probable que Raul Castro sera el lider cubano con el que tendra que lidiar Estados Unidos en el futuro.
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