The Week in Letters – 126 Cuban Political Prisoners v. 10 Businessmen

The Week in Letters: 126 Cuban Political Prisoners v. 10 Businessmen
at 11:00 AM Monday, December 21, 2015

Last week, 126 Cuban political prisoners, who spent a combined total of
1,945 years in prison and labor camps for fighting for democracy in
their homeland, wrote a letter to President Obama.

It begins:

“Based on our history and experience as political prisoners under
Castro’s totalitarian regime, the new Cuba policy established by your
Administration has been a regrettable mistake. This will prolong the
life of the dictatorship, is worsening the human rights situation there,
marginalizing the democratic opposition and compromising U.S. national
security.”

These are men and women of extraordinary courage and principle, who
follow in the historical tradition of Havel, Mandela, Solzhenitsyn,
Sharasnky and Suu Kyi.

Not so — say ten mostly unknown Cuban-American businessmen, who have
never lifted a finger (perhaps with one brief exception) for any of
these political prisoners.

They contend that the former Cuban political prisoners, along with the
courageous dissidents being beaten and arrested on a daily basis, are wrong.

After all, these businessmen know better because they flew to Havana in
a private jet, stayed at a luxury hotel owned by the Cuban military,
strolled through a park and met with intelligence apparatchiks who run
Castro’s monopolies.

And now, they have paid for a full-page advertisement in The Miami
Herald arguing that they stand on the side of “the Cuban people” (or as
they say, “nuestra gente”).

These same businessmen fancy the argument that we should forgive and
forget the Castro dictatorship — not after it stops committing crimes
against the Cuban people, but during the commission of such crimes.

Therefore, why not bet on the Castro regime’s “good-will” and shower it
with billions in trade, financing and investment — and hope it will do
a “totalitarian trickle-down” to the Cuban people.

Perhaps that’s why — despite their rhetoric of supporting “the Cuban
people” — some of these businessmen were partying at the Castro
regime’s Embassy in Washington. D.C. this week.

(See how many of these Cuban-American businessmen you can pick out from
the picture below.)

After all, what better way to support “the Cuban people” than by
partying with their oppressors.

www.capitolhillcubans.com/2015/12/the-week-in-letters-126-cuban-political.html