Dear Editor,
I respectfully disagree with the position of prof Percy Hintzen and former Prime Minister Donald Ramotar. Do not send help to prop up the Cuban State at this time. You may be indebted to your neighbor or friend for favours they rendered to you in the past and must return those favors when that neighbour or friend is in trouble. This Cuban story is a very different matter. This is about good governance and people’s rights to freedom of press and assembly etc; about gov’ts chosen by the free will of the people etc; about totalitarianism vs democracy. And much more.
The Cuban economy has already collapsed. And, the government will soon collapse. Normally the people will rise up and overthrow the government. This is an extremely repressive gov’t; just like the government of Iran. People are too afraid to protest; if they do they get killed. Once the government falls, the Cuban people will be able to recreate the Cuban State in the image of multiparty democracy and free market economics. Billions of dollars will flow to Cuba, a few million people will return. The economy will boom.
Ramotar’s and Hintzen’s argument does not make sense in the face of reality in Cuba. The Cuban people are fighting to abolish totalitarian rule. Also the Castro’s system failed to lay the foundations for a sustainable economy. Ramotar and Hintzen will argue the U.S. embargo prevented them from building that sustainable economy; the U.S. will counter-argue the embargo was imposed to end dictatorship and one man rule. Where are we going with this back and forth controversy – now for 70-years? Time to end it.