Cuba: Sanctions through Cuba's eyes

It is enough to remember that six in every ten Cubans have been born and have lived their whole lives under the system of sanctions described, which has been further accompanied by military aggression, biological warfare, illegal radio and television broadcasting, terrorist activities, attempts on the lives of the country's leaders, the encouragement of illegal emigration, and other hostile acts promoted, financed, supported or permitted by successive U.S. administrations.

Was it not Castro himself who emptied his prisons and insane asylums with the Mariel boondoggle that saw thousands of Cubans land on American soil? So what's this about "encouragement of illegal emigration"?

Cuba claims a 12% increase in tourism, yet continues to speak of the depredations of U.S. sanctions. Now, how can the above image be reconciled with this?

With close to 40,000 rooms in dozens of new hotels and paradisiacal installations in various cays, the island achieved this degree of growth on account of the quality of its services, security within the country, and the variety of its tourist options.

For 2004, projects include further hotel construction, theme parks, nautical and other activities to be enjoyed by two million tourists, the target figure for this year.

In 2003 the flagship of the Cuban hotel industry had an income of $20 million.

Clearly, U.S. sanctions cannot be effective. Therefore, who is to be blamed for the plight and misery of Cuba's people but the great leader Castro himself?

The article is an interesting piece, but it's just self-expiating propaganda.