"I saw yuour homepage about Fidel Castro and i was very amused..."
"You are an American and ever since i came to this country i saw one thing in common between all the people here.You do not use your brains.You do not read books."
Subject: Castro
To: cybrgbl@deltanet.com
Date: Wed, 1 Apr 1998 15:09:40 -0500 (EST)
From: Pooja Pant (pantp@email.uc.edu)Hi,
I saw yuour homepage and i was very amused at your answers to the kids questions.
I am not a Communist;neither am i a supporter of Castro but what you were teaching th eyoung kid was disgusting.
The American government WAS and i say WAS because they have a better enemy now;Iraq...anywyas the American gov was damn scared of Castro.NOT becasue he is a Communist.Not coz he is a Dictator.Not coz they think that they should not let Cuban people suffer with a Dictator; BUT becasue they were damn scared of his potential..at what he could do.
During the Bay of Pigs invasion the Americans got thier ass kicked by Cuba. They have treid to assasinate him more than2 dozen times.BUT????
The CUbans DO NOT keep Castro because they think he is a "MAN" or whatever yuou tried to say BUT because they like him and they like what he is doing for thier country.The same way the Iraqi keep Saddam because they like him and they will fight with thier lives for him.
Anywyas i do not blame you for thinking this way.You are an American and ever since i came to this country i saw one thing in common between all the people here.You do not use your brains.You do not read books.You do EXACTLY what your governtment says.YOu beleive in all thier propoganda and you teach your kids to be the same,
Hope one day you will learn better.
Till then....grow Up.
Dear Pooja Pant,
Castro does not care terribly much what the rank and file Cuban people think of his regime; he need not heed opinion polls, explain himself or his government, win open elections, or earn any mandate from voters. He is in power because he has the guns, and his rule is unqualified and unlimited. The only thing which matters in Cuba is Castro himself and his vision of where his country should go; and the people and whatever they might think are strictly subordinate to the will of Castro. You seem to argue that all Cubans love Castro. That seems to me a bit simple. It ignores the thousands of Cubans in jail and millions exiled from the country for their politics. It also ignores the many Cubans who even as we speak contemplate leaving their country for more propitious climes. It ignores those who will undoubtedly leave in the coming months and years.
During the Cold War the United States cared about Cuba largely because of the Soviet presence. The vast majority of Americans - such as myself - even in those days did not pay much attention to so small a country. And after the Cold War, America cares even less about Cuba than before. They are poor, outside of the global economy, and it does not appear that will change anytime soon. Cuba is at best a thorn in the side of America. America can afford to ignore Cuba; Castro and his regime cannot afford to ignore the United States. America - like all countries - respects power, technological prowess, markets, trade, etc. Cuba has none of that going for it.
The current U.S.-Cuban situation is stuck, and most likely will remain so until Castro dies. Castro, Khadaffi, Hussein, Kim Jong Il: they are throwbacks, anachronisms - permanent outsiders in a world changing faster all the time and becoming more open and pluralistic everyday. You are of course free to move to Cuba, Libya, Iraq, or North Korea so as to enjoy the high quality of life in those countries. They are so visibly on the cutting edge of the future.
If you look at more of my website, you might recognize that I have read more than a few books. That is why I find humor in being chastised by an engineering college student from Nepal - most likely knowing no Spanish or any Cubans - who tells me I am ignorant and know nothing of books or using my brain.
Pooja, stick with the slide rules and calculus equations. I suspect they suit you better than the written word and ability to discern truth through the mist of human contentiousness.
Sincerely,
Richard Geib
