Cuba Revisited

Washington, DC (TLS). Cuba has warned the United States against using the airwaves to send 'illegal' anti-Communist messages into the country. As one of the world's last remaining Communist dictatorships, the Cuban government is cracking down on citizens who use satellite dishes, which are illegal in Cuba, to gain access to American programming that contains messages of freedom and liberty.

In December of last year, the United States began using Florida television stations to get around the Cuban jamming of 'TV Marti,' the American owned station aimed at undermining the Communist Cuban government. The move by the U.S. government has made anti-Castro programming accessible to thousands of Cubans who otherwise would not be able to get it.

Under the U.S. plan implemented by the Bush administration, persons can pay commercial television stations in Florida to carry TV Marti programming, which by law cannot telecast anti-Cuban messages inside the U.S. These commercial stations are among those that can be picked up by satellite dishes inside Cuba.

The manufacturing and production of black market satellite dishes is a growing cottage industry in Cuba. Government officials have caught citizens operating satellite dish manufacturing and distribution centers out of bicycle tire repair shops and other small businesses that are among the few allowed by the Cuban government. Those caught engaging in this activity face fines and jail time. One Cuban citizen who was caught with 14 satellite dishes he had made was fined $44,390.

A bit of history is in order to fully understand the Cuban problem. Fidel Castro came to power in a Communist revolution in the country in the early 1960s. President John F. Kennedy purported to use the force of the U.S. military to prevent Castro from taking power. However, at the now-infamous debacle at the Bay of Pigs, Kennedy reneged on the promises he had made to provide U.S. military officials with reinforcements. Thus, our servicemen were left hanging on the vine with no help. The result was the fall of Cuba to the Communists, and Fidel Castro took power as the first Communist dictator within the Western Hemisphere to be right at the doorstep of the United States--a mere few miles from the Florida coast.

The consequence of Kennedy's striking failure was dire. The world was brought to the brink of nuclear war as the Cuban Missile Crisis loomed. The Communists of the USSR brought their backing to the new Cuban regime by bringing in nuclear missiles aimed directly at the United States. What most within modern America today fail to grasp, however, is that the entire scenario would have never happened had Kennedy kept his word to support the fledgling troops on the ground at the Bay of Pigs with reinforcements, back-up, added troop strength, and a replenishing of ammunition.

Kennedy's abject failure at the Bay of Pigs resulted in Communism coming right to our doorstep. We also came to within a hair's breadth of nuclear war.

It is most interesting that very few scholarly books have been published that delve into the murky reasons for Kennedy's failure to follow through with the plan, leaving our military personnel in a dangerous bind. Why would a Commander-in-Chief who had laid out a strategy for stopping Castro suddenly scrap that strategy after our soldiers had been sent into harm's way?

This is the million-dollar question. We do know, however, that Democrats have always had a cozy relationship with Castro. Bill Clinton rolled out the Red Carpet for him when the Communist dictator visited the United States in the 1990s. Dan Rather treated him like an elder statesman to be revered. Democrats have been calling for a normalization of relations with the Communist country for years.

Why?

According to a special report compiled by David Wallechinsky, Fidel Castro has been one of the most oppressive dictators in the world, regularly engaging in throwing journalists into jail, suppressing facts concerning his human rights violations, and the like. Last year, Castro was ranked Number 15 among the world's most oppressive dictators. The only reason he is not on this year's list is that he relinquished power to his brother in the wake of his life-threatening illness.

Miami, Florida is ample testimony to the carnage Castro has wreaked in Cuba. The Cuban-American community in Miami is the direct result of the rise of Communism in that nation. Seeking refuge here in the U.S., Cubans settled in Miami, many of whom still have family members back home. The Miami Cuban community is overwhelmingly anti-Castro, and for good reason. Most of them saw first-hand what Communism can do to a society.

The Bush Administration is to be commended for devising a strategy that allows anti-Communist programs to be telecast into Cuba. And for heaven's sake, we DO NOT need to normalize relations with this evil regime until it grants human rights to its citizens.