Castros a big teddy bear?

This thread is an opportunity for anyone with any special incite into the situations surrounding Cuba, both before and after Castro's takeover to provide them....please.

Anyone with any real experience/knowledge about Cuba? I am looking for something other than the anti-communist babble that infects our television and school books, as well as the pro-communist garbage that smears a lot of music and movies.

Let story time begin children...lets learn for real.

[edit on 1-8-2006 by DaFunk13]

A big Teddy Bear? Where did you get this info?

Anyway, i did answer you on the other thread(s) but here's more:

www.dogpile.com... /1/-/-/-/1/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/417/top/-/-/-/1

Honestly DG, I wasn't satified with your reply. You are in a unique place to offer info and you seemed more content just regurgitating. Same with your little link. I am sorry they counted your spoons. My gov't listens to my phone calls. You gotta do a little better than that. Especially if he is indeed so evil. Do I really gotta twist any arms to provide me credible evidence that Cuba (under Castro) is that bad?

Do you think me incapable of using Google?

A few of my good friends are Cuban, but unfortunately they have conflicting views, so I figured I will give the fine folks of ATS a go. Please don't link an article I could have found on my own.

Lemme hear personal experiences.

Lemme hear YOUR story.

a few of your friends are Cuban? Why not ask them? Not satisfied either? What kind of information are you looking for? The EXACT amount of people he killed?
What?
Ask Muaddib, he's cuban. Maybe he can have an answer no other Cuban has.
Sorry, but i dont know what you want.

REGURGETATING??? You're funny as hell

[edit on 1-8-2006 by dgtempe]

Pardon me, it just dawned on me that you must be a communist if you dont want ANTI-COMMUNIST BABBLE.

Sorry- didnt mean to offend your way of thinking. as far as history, i gave you a page full of links...did you look???
Cuba has a long and interesting history. Try not to miss it.

[edit on 1-8-2006 by dgtempe]

Originally posted by dgtempe
Pardon me, it just dawned on me that you must be a communist if you dont want ANTI-COMMUNIST BABBLE.

Hold on, I think you might be jumping the gun DG

Anyone with any real experience/knowledge about Cuba? I am looking for something other than the anti-communist babble that infects our television and school books, as well as the pro-communist garbage that smears a lot of music and movies.

I think DaFunk13 really wants to hear both sides of the story, from real people who have been there and have differring takes on who Castro really is. He obviously does have supporters, it would be interesting to hear why.

Then again, I don't know if ATs has any pro-Castro people to really have a decent dialogue on this, but I think a dialogue is all DaFunk13 wanted and you kind of shoot from the hip when it comes to your feelings, sometimes without any real meat. - Not that there's anything wrong with that.

I personally would like to hear it (first hand experience) from yourself and others no matter where they stand on the issue as oppossed to a link to links. I think that's what this thread was after, but I fully expect DaFunk13 to correct me if I'm wrong.

Let's just not get personal about it.

But of course now I really need to know (inquiring minds ya know) - DaFunk13 - are you a commie?

Lets get this one straight shall we?

Fidel Castro does not have any supporters here in the United States. No one who supported him left the island. What for? That's an unreasonable question and you wont find anyone of Cuban origin HERE who supports him.
I gave explanations on one of the other threads and that was not good enough.

So then i provided some links pointing to Cuban history and that was not good enough. All i got was i was blabbering, etc. Its offensive, to say the least.

If you want Castro supporters, you will have to look for people of another nationality who sympathize with Castro. Some Americans think he's great. I was under the impression the opinions of a Cuban were more believable, having lived under the tyranny.
You wont find a Cuban who sides with him unless you travel to Cuba...they side with him out of fear or they side with him because he's all they know.

I tried explaining "MY experience, and all i get is put down.
Relentless- it all started on another thread.

Good luck in your search for the truth.

dg, that has got to be the weirdest looking URL I've ever seen. Did your keyboard stutter or something?

But anyway, as dg said, ask Muaddib about Cuba. He'll give you the straight scoop.

Originally posted by jsobecky
dg, that has got to be the weirdest looking URL I've ever seen. Did your keyboard stutter or something?

But anyway, as dg said, ask Muaddib about Cuba. He'll give you the straight scoop.

Certainly a more coherent answer than mine, for sure.

Jso,

Isnt that something?? I thought it looked a tad peculiar

[edit on 1-8-2006 by dgtempe]

Originally posted by DaFunk13
You gotta do a little better than that. Especially if he is indeed so evil. Do I really gotta twist any arms to provide me credible evidence that Cuba (under Castro) is that bad?

Well, how about the thousands of people who try to escape from Cuba each year, sometimes on innertubes or makeshift rafts?

What kind of "Benevolent Dictator" prohibits his people from leaving the island at will?

And why are they trying to leave if things are so good over there?

Originally posted by DaFunk13
This thread is an opportunity for anyone with any special incite into the situations surrounding Cuba, both before and after Castro's takeover to provide them....please.

castro is no "teddy bear"...

BTW...it is kind of hard to "not talk about Communism" when talking about Cuba, because from an early age children have to recite the following words "Pioneros por el Comunismo seremos como el Che".... Which translates to "Pioneers for communism, we shall be like Che."...among some of the other things children and adults have to recite....

BTW, one of the "titles" of fidel castro is first secretary of the Communist Party.

Anyways, you want to know how it is in Cuba? Imagine this.

Imagine if in your everyday life there is always indoctrination in "all that is good of the revolution"..

Imagine if whenever fidel castro decides to make one of his 4 hour speech, if children in schools around the place where the speech is going to be made and everyone that is working close to where the speech is going to be done had to attend.

Imagine if you are a working father/mother and you had to leave your work with the rest of the "herded Cubans" to listen to "el comandante", or if you refuse your name will be written and you will lose any or all the few benefits you might have. And if you continuosly don't go to listen to "el comandante" you will lose your job and you won't be able to find any job since they are all owned by the government. Not only that but you will be harrassed and attacked by some of castro's thugs, you will also surely find yourself often times in prison for saying anything against the regime or castro.

Imagine if every child from 11 years old onwards had to go to summer labour camps.

Imagine if you had to harvest food in these labour camps since 11 years old and you could not eat any of the food harvested because all that food is sold to other countries to "expand the revolution to other countries..."

Imagine going with your parents to visit your older sisters on Sundays for a few hours in these camps, and imagine if you saw your sisters thin from lack of proper food, and crying asking your parents to take them back home...

Imagine if after returning from the camps often times your sisters had diarrhea and were always returning with lice and other ailments....

Imagine that you are born in a country where in order for you to buy food you have a "libreta" (ration booklet) which tells you how much food and other necessities you can buy, and what kind of food you can buy.

Imagine if you go with your mother to a "bodega" (store) to find most of the shelves empty, and if for some miracle there is some food, or other necessities imagine people fighting to get the first in line.

Imagine if your mother had to decide to get either a bar of soap, or one of the worse toothpastes you could ever find to use for three months per person in the family, if there is any of either....

Imagine if all children in this country you were born in, could only have milk up to 6 years old. Noone else can have milk unless they have dollars and have a family member who is a resident/citizen from another country and can take some of their family to a tourist store, or dollar store.

Imagine if you could buy beef only one time a year, and one quarter of a chicken per child until they are 13 years old.

Imagine if you parents, or one of them decides it might be better for you both, or however many will try to, brave the seas in an often home made boat, and try to leave the shark infested waters of Cuba to make a better life for you and your family.

Imagine if after surviving the shark infested waters of Cuba there is a possibility that you and your family get lost at sea because you don't have any equipment to help you navigate.

Imagine if most people who try to leave Cuba in this manner die at sea....

You don't believe me?

How about the thousands of people that are right at this moment are demonstrating all over South Florida because they believe castro is dead?.... There are a lot of people that are not sure yet whether or not he is dead, because many times in the past Cubans believed astro was dead or about to die.

Supposedly castro just gave power to his brother and some of his commanders because he is "supposedly recovering from surgery". I am not so sure someone at his age could recover from surgery in the stomach, and all Cubans, or most of them, in the U.S., in Cuba and around the world would be happy the day he dies.

You might not see people in Cuba celebrating, because the regime is opressive, and there are people who for the favours and honors that castro bestows upon them, would oppress their own people, including members of their own family.

DAVIE, Fla. -- Across South Florida, on the streets, in restaurants and in coffee shops, the air is electrified by the possibility of momentous change in Cuba, and Cuban-Americans are not the only ones watching.

Even north of Miami, in Davie in Broward County, where the Hispanic population is smaller, the overwhelming feeling is that people want to see the fall of Fidel Castro's regime.

www.nbc6.net...

There are about 800,000 Cubans living in the states, and you will find most of them, if not all, despise the tyrant and his regime.


[edit on 1-8-2006 by Muaddib]

DG, sorry I missed your responses in the "other" thread.

Muaddib, thanks for a really graphic picture of what it is like to live in Cuba. I'm sure a lot of us had no idea about the half of it, and I seriouly doubt we shall see an oppossing side of that story in this thread. It paints a horrible picture beyond what I imagined.

My question to American Cubans is this though. Why would they think the death of Castro might mean change when he has his successor in line (who from some reports I've read may be even more hard line than Castro himself)?

Anyone who thinks Castro is a 'teddy bear' or that Cuban Communism is wonderful
needs to DISCONNECT from Hollywierd and th Hollywierdos who promote him.

When I was in the U.S. Army I worked with a fella who escaped from Cuba when
he was younger. He and his family became good friends of mine. Juan escaped
along with his mother and two siblings. His father, who was a doctor, arranged
the escape for his family but the doctor got stuck behind in Cuba. His fate wasn't
so good. He basically sacrificed his life to get his family safely out of Cuba to
freedom.

They are Catholic. They had to be Catholics in secret because to openly worship
God ment torture and poverty - even for an educated doctors family.

Juan is a wonderful human being. He and his wife have raised a beautiful family.
They worship God; they contribute to American society; and their children have
gone on to college and/or trade schools and are good people. One son is studying
to be a priest. Another son is serving America in the military. One daughter is
entering a convent. Another daughter has gone to college and is studying business.

If Juan's father hadn't sacrificed his own life to save his wife and children then
Juan and his family wouldn't be alive ... they wouldn't be worshipping God and
they wouldn't be serving this country and serving God.

Many whacks in Hollywood have come out praising Castro. They are sick.
That's all there is to it. They are sick. They should all take a boat ride to the
waters off Florida and go scuba diving ... let them count the bones at the bottom
of the ocean of those who have died by drowning and/or sharks while trying to
flee Castros death squads.




[edit on 8/2/2006 by FlyersFan]

Originally posted by Relentless
Why would they think the death of Castro might mean change when he has his successor in line ...

I'm not Cuban Relentless, but I do have a little information for you. Castro's
brother is next in line. He is 75 and frail. He doesn't have the power that Castro
has even though he has the name. The TV talking heads (all claim to be experts)
say that he wouldn't be in power long and what power he has is too little to control
the nation.

Originally posted by DaFunk13
anti-communist babble

Sorry DaFunk .. but when discussing communism the truth can't be called 'babble'.
If communism was so great then there wouldn't have been (and continue to be)
all those people who risk death to escape it.

Another escape communism story (you said you wanted personal stories) -

When I was in the US Army I knew a fella who had escaped from EAST Germany.
He had been a guard at the wall. It took him a lot of planning and it took him
three days to get from East Germany to West Germany. When he was a guard
it was his job to shoot anyone who tried to escape into West Germany. He never
hit anyone who tried but the other guards mowed people down. He used his
position to learn about the system at the wall and to plan his own escape. He left
family behind and he always feared what had happened to them after he escaped.
He knew his family wanted him free ... but he still felt guilty because he KNEW
they would be tortured or killed (or both) because he escaped.

After his escape he made his way to America and eventually entered the US Army.
He wouldn't ever be able to have a security clearance, but he wanted to serve
freedom and did so as a supply clerk in the US Army.

If communism was so grand then these people wouldn't be risking death to escape
it. If communism was so grand then we'd all be fighting to get IN instead of people
dieing to get OUT.

Speaking the truth about communism isn't 'babble'. It's just the truth.

Thank you all for emphasizing what i explained on another thread. I explained the hardship, how hard it was to leave Cuba, what you were expected to leave behind, businesses, homes, all your worldly possesions, etc. It was certainly traumatic for all Cubans. I also EXPLAINED how doctors, in particular could not leave Cuba- they were not allowed.
Anyhow, this was called drivel and blabbering nonsense.

DaFunk, are you now satisfied with these answers or are you still looking for that someone who "really" knows the "real" story?????

Flyersfan- you know very well what Cubans have gone through. Thank you for your imput also.

When Castro goes, and may it be soon, there will be change in Cuba...what form that change will be, God only knows. I know two Cubans, a husband and wife team, they run a little restaraunt in Alaska. I got to know them over the course of a couple of years, several years back. They had to flee Cuba, in 1970, because the big "teddy bears" secret police didn't think much of their being Catholic. When a government forces two of the sweetest kindest people I know to flee their own homeland, my definition of teddy bear, and yours are at odds.

DG, we agree again....

Originally posted by dgtempe
Flyersfan- you know very well what Cubans have gone through.
Thank you for your imput also.

Absolutely. Another escape communism 'PERSONAL' story -
(not from Cuba .. but it is still communism)

My BEST FRIEND escaped with her family from Bolivia when it was communist.
This was many decades ago.

Her family was rather wealthy. They lived in Cochibamba. Her father was a pilot.
Her mother was a wealthy stay at home mom. They were Catholic and had four
children. Then the communists took over. Everything changed for the worse.
Peaceful citizens were dieing and being put to death for no reasons other than
planting a vegetable garden or not sharing shoes with other families ...

All of them managed to escape. Their church smuggled people out and they
were able to get out. The fate of those church officials that helped smuggle people out is unknown. They left behind EVERYTHING. They arrived as refugees
in America with nothing. They were wealthy people in Bolivia and yet they arrived
dirt poor here just to save their lives from the communists. If communism was so
great they would have stayed there and not given up everything and risked their
lives to escape.

My best friend is now married and has two (adopted) children. They contribute
to society; worship God; have adopted children who had no homes; raised those
children to contribute to society and worship God; and her husband has a good
productive job that contributes to society.

BTW .. they all LEARNED ENGLISH. But that's for another thread



[edit on 8/2/2006 by FlyersFan]

Originally posted by dgtempe
Pardon me, it just dawned on me that you must be a communist if you dont want ANTI-COMMUNIST BABBLE.

Sorry- didnt mean to offend your way of thinking.

as far as history, i gave you a page full of links...did you look???
Cuba has a long and interesting history. Try not to miss it.

[edit on 1-8-2006 by dgtempe]

Whoa girl!

I don't want the "anti-communist babble" I have been fed since grade school, since a lot of it is lies and propaganda. This isn't saying you can't mention communism. I just mean I don't want the tired, "its terrible BECAUSE its communist" rabble. I understand communism is a failed system. I understand it is not helping the people of Cuba. I also understand that a huge amount of the economic discomfort the average Cuban feels is due to a stranglehold embargo imposed by the worlds sole superpower. Makes it a bit hard to survive, much less flourish. Does this make me communist? You lean further to the left than I most days, darlin. I am still pretty neutral here. I want some real stories, examples, lessons....not regurgitated web sites and tripe.

Methinks you left Cuba a little young to have any real personal experiences to relate? My one friends english isn't real good, and my espanol is pretty aweful so we have a pretty big language barrier we have to work around when dealing with stories and what not. He also immigrated here as a child and has very, very anti-Castro feelings, but I feel a lot of that has just rubbed off on him. My other friend came over during the invasion and he is rather hard to open up on the subject. Its obviously a painful subject with him.

And again, I am well aware of Cuba's history. I would just rather hear personal accounts about life in Cuba under Castro rather than some watered down anti-communist text book or Che Guevara bio. But thanks...

Mauddib got it right...thanks.

Your guy's selective reading speaks volumes. Please do not polorize this. I know it is a touchy subject, but keep in mind I am here to educate myself, not argue with you guys. Its called a quest for knowledge, and I find the best way is through other folk's experiences as well as my own.

And the "Teddy Bear" quip was ment to draw people into this thread. I never ment to co-sign to the idea. Its psychology guys....sheesh.