On Sun, 22 Aug 2004 06:18 pm -0600 UTC, dxAce posted:
MM



LewBob wrote:

"Mike Terry" wrote in message
...
Cuban-American lawmakers cheered Saturday as U.S. military aircraft
transmitted Radio and TV Martí to Cuban audiences -- one of the Bush
administration's new tactics to undermine the Castro regime.

''For the people of Cuba to get an unfiltered transmission of
information
is
a great thing,'' said U.S. Senate candidate Mel Martínez, who
co-chaired
the
presidential commission that recommended the flights.

Martínez said White House staffers called to deliver the news that
C-130 cargo planes had managed to override jamming efforts by the
island's communist government.

President Bush allocated $18 million in May to pay for the flights,
though lawmakers said the frequency and timing of future broadcasts
would remain classified.

''It's a wonderful day for the enslaved Cuban people, and I'm sure
Castro
is
enraged and finding new and devious ways to block the transmissions,''
said
U.S. Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, R-Miami.

http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/9463711.htm?1c


I expect that there are a lot of Americans, descendents of slaves, who
would question whether the Cuban people are "enslaved." They may be poor,
some even impoverished, and they live under Communist rule, but they are
not enslaved.

Semantics perhaps, but they are indeed 'enslaved' to Fidel's Communist
rule.

They cannot come and go freely, whenever and wherever they choose.

Neither can the impoverished millions throughout latin america. Freedom
requires means to do things. When you are desperately poor, you have
freedom to starve, to be ill w/out health care, to have your children be
illiterate. There is no convincing evidence than the lives of the average
citizen would be better under a US dominated free market. Just ask a
Salvadoran, Guatemalan or Nicaraguan.

I think as an American, you can't go everywhere you want either, nor can you
even phone Cuba, or smoke a Cuban cigar.

They cannot operate freely in the global marketplace.

The US operates freely in the global marketplace and bullies those who try
to compete. Talk to a coffee, rice or cotton farmer for details. You
could even ask a Canadian logger or wheat farmer. Richer countries want
access to poorer countries' markets, their resources, so they can profit.
Cuba won't play ball, and of course there is the Florida Cuban vote which
might be thought of as important given Bushie's last election result.

I'm guessing that internet activity is also tightly controlled.

No. You can go to an internet cafe and surf where ever you want. Suggest
you don't post about assumptions. The real problem is self righteousness
and ignorance of things beyond your front door.