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<a href="http://www.counterpunch.org/eckardt02202008.html" eudora="autourl">
http://www.counterpunch.org/eckardt02202008.html<br><br>
</a></font><font face="Times New Roman, Times" size=4><b>February 20,
2008<br><br>
</font><h1><font face="Times New Roman, Times" size=5><b>No News is Big
News<br><br>
<br>
</i></font><font face="Times New Roman, Times" size=5 color="#990000">
Cuba Sans
Fidel</b></font></h1><font face="Times New Roman, Times" size=5>By STEVE
ECKARDT<br><br>
</font><font face="Verdana" size=6 color="#990000">I</font>
<font face="Verdana" size=2>t's big news in the U.S. that Fidel Castro
has declined to accept election when Cuba's Parliament meets this Sunday
to select the country's Ministers--it's the headline story in every form
of media, along with more than the usual background and opinion
pieces.<br><br>
But it's the media brouhaha itself that's the real big news, for the
<i>actual</i> top story is that there's almost no news here at
all.<br><br>
Look: despite half a century of U.S. portraying Fidel as the Western
Hemisphere's Stalin and the Cuban people as both suffering and ready to
explosively grasp freedom the moment his totalitarian grip slips there
are no demonstrations, let alone riots, in Cuba today.<br><br>
Nor are there any prospects of them.<br><br>
Nor was there any form of unrest or disruptions of daily life when Fidel
first handed over his posts to a team of seven leaders after falling ill
at the end of July 2006.<br><br>
Indeed Cuba just completed an immense and thorough-going Parliamentary
election process where some 96% of the electorate (voting age begins at
16) cast secret ballots--and 92% of them chose the united slate put
together by union, women's, youth, small farmers' and other popular
organizations (the Communist Party cannot field candidates).<br><br>
This puts the percentage opposing what Washington calls the 'Castro
regime' read the Cuban Revolution at 10% under the most liberal
possible interpretation.<br><br>
With the vast majority of Cubans solidly backing their revolution and
government, the effect of Fidel's reassignment to regular columnist for
Juventud Rebelde (the newspaper 'Rebel Youth') goes little beyond ache at
the tragedy of human aging, especially of the world's greatest leading
political figure -one so popular that he's almost universally and
uniquely referred to by his first name.<br><br>
Without Fidel, is the Cuban Revolution about to collapse? What are the
chances that Cuba's about to go down either the Soviet, Yugoslav, or
Chinese roads?<br><br>
The old phrase "slim to none" is a too generous an
answer.<br><br>
What about U.S. policy toward Cuba? Without Fidel and, for that matter,
without Bush what are the chances that will change?<br><br>
Call that one slimmer and none-er.<br><br>
Look no further than the statements by the Democratic candidates (even
granting the far- from-certain assumption that one of them will be the
next U.S. president) responding to yesterday's news, statements solidly
fixed in the past half-century of Washington's obdurate hostility to the
Cuban Revolution:<br><br>
Declared Hillary Clinton: <br><br>
</font>
<dl>
<dd>"As you know, Fidel Castro announced that he is stepping down as
Cuba's leader after 58 years of one-man rule. The new leadership in Cuba
will face a stark choice continue with the failed policies of the past
that have stifled democratic freedoms and stunted economic growth or
take a historic step to bring Cuba into the community of democratic
nations."<br><br>
</dl>Declared Barack Obama: <br><br>
<dl>
<dd>"Today should mark the end of a dark era in Cuba's history.
Fidel Castro's stepping down is an essential first step, but it is sadly
insufficient in bringing freedom to Cuba."<br><br>
</dl>(For their complete statements, along with those from other leading
U.S. politicians, go to
<a href="http://www.lawg.org/countries/cuba/candidate%20_statements.htm">
http://www.lawg.org/)</a><br><br>
Of course no surprise here after all, if there's been one eternal
bipartisan constant across the past fifty years, ten U.S. presidents, and
23 Congresses, it's the unwavering agreement on crushing Cuba's socialist
revolution, on the demand that (as the 1996 Helms-Burton Act puts it)
Cuba "return property taken on or after January 1,
1959."<br><br>
(Want to guess which country's corporations owned most of Cuba's valuable
land and infrastructure then?)<br><br>
This is a central and inescapable fact that all those favoring
restoration of travel rights to Cuba and normalization of relations need
to grasp. Washington is no more about to recognize Cuba's government and
allow its citizens to travel there with Fidel out any more than it did
after Cuba met all of Washington's previous demands: that the island end
its special relationship with the Soviet Union, that it remove troops
from Africa, that it halt support for rebel movements in Central America,
that it sign on to international anti- terrorist and nuclear
proliferation treaties, that it deploy forces to halt drug trafficking in
its waters, or that etc, etc, etc.<br><br>
When it comes to U.S. demands on Cuba, one thing is certain: the goal
posts always move.<br><br>
It's not enough that Fidel is no longer part of Cuba's government, he
needs to be dead. Until and even after then, Raul Castro needs to go
as well. And when that inevitably happens, it'll be "well, the
Castro brothers might be gone, but their regime lives on."<br><br>
And so on and so on into eternity until Cuba returns "property
taken on or after January 1, 1959."<br><br>
Cuba's free and universal healthcare? Its free education through college
and beyond? Rent-free home ownership? Guaranteed foreclosure-free farm
land? Twenty-eight thousand (28,000) volunteer doctors providing free
medical care in 67 countries?<br><br>
All that has to go.<br><br>
Property relations must be restored to their pre-January 1, 1959
condition.<br><br>
Unfortunately for Washington, as the most recent events and the past 50
years have clearly demonstrated, the chances of that</i> happening goes
all the way to slimmererer and none-erer.<br><br>
And it's that 'no news' that's the big news.<br><br>
Steve Eckardt</b> produces
<a href="http://www.CubaSolidarity.com/">CubaSolidarity.com</a> for the
National Network on Cuba. He can be reached at:
<a href="mailto:seckardt@aol.com">seckardt@aol.com</a><br><br>
<br><br>
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