Editor, Gazette-Journal:
The sudden announcement by Barack Obama of the recognition and establishment of diplomatic relations with Cuba and the Castro brothers’ regime belies the cause of human rights and slams shut the lid on the coffin of American exceptionalism. This totalitarian regime, just 90 miles from our shores, has firmly established itself as a grotesque violator of human rights every bit as virulently despotic as that of Mao’s China or Pol Pot’s Cambodia.
The regime of the Castro brothers has a long and pronounced record of torturing and killing Americans. During the Vietnam War, Fidel Castro sent his henchmen to North Vietnam to conduct interrogation and torture of American POWs. This torture occurred at the CuLoc Prisoner of War Camp in Hanoi. The torture and interrogation of Americans by Castro’s Cubans was referred to by the Army of North Vietnam as the “Cuban Program.” Americans simply referred to it as “The Zoo.”
The primary objective of this camp was to determine how much physical and psychological punishment a human being could withstand. American POWs were the chosen guinea pigs for these diabolical experiments. This torture resulted in the death of a U.S. Air Force pilot, Lt. Col. Earl Cobeil. Many other Americans were tortured within an inch of their lives by these despots of Fidel Castro’s Cuba.
The reign of terror by the Cubans against American POWs was not merely an aberration, but was typical of the treatment this regime inflicted upon its own people. The Cuban police state continues to deny its people such basic rights as freedom to travel outside of their own country. The people of Cuba are denied the right of free association, the right to form political parties, labor unions or cultural and religious organizations. Over half a million Cubans have passed through Castro’s gulag. This is remarkable when considering that the entire population of Cuba is about 11 million. This makes Castro’s Cuba the world’s greatest incarceration regime.
The Castro brothers also practice a rather virulent form of racism where 80 percent of the prison population is black while the government hierarchy is 100 percent white. Meanwhile, the gay and transgender community must be under deep cover to escape the puritanical despotism of the communists.
Under Castro’s regime, Cuba has become one of the world’s poorest nations. Cuba’s once thriving sugar, tobacco and cattle industries were once a source of export income. Now, however, Cuba can barely feed itself. Cuba has become a beggar nation that even the poor Haitian refugees avoid.
Fortunately, the work of reporter and journalist Humberto Fontova continues to expose the human rights violations of this repressive regime. With establishment of diplomatic relations with this regime, America’s enemies must be rolling in the aisles with laughter while our allies are likely shedding tears at the mockery that this administration has made of America’s once staunch dedication to human rights in an era when America was truly exceptional.
Andrew Maggard
Port Haywood, Va.