Ja: Cuba is nice, Cuba is a paradise

Everyone, including CARICOM, seems to be distracted, oblivious of the new restrictions put in place by the USA to further cut hard currency inflows to Cuba, with the hope of crippling the Castro regime and inflict more hardship on the people of Cuba.

CARICOM and other international bodies need to be proactive in this situation and not be caught off guard as in the Haitian situation, which has caused an influx of Haitians into many Caribbean islands. It is the people of Cuba who must determine their destiny not President George W. Bush. A dangerous precedent has already taken root whereby the USA now sees it fit to shape the agendas of sovereign nations. One is then forced to agree with the notion that it is he who is the most dangerous weapon of mass distraction and destruction (WMD).

Cuba, despite their regime and the 43-year-old American embargo, has been a model society in terms of its education and health systems. While being ten times the size of Jamaica and operating on meagre resources, Cuba has managed to achieve 100% literacy and has a life expectancy that is even higher than that of the USA. Their areas of science and biotechnology can compete with that of any developed nation.

As a Caribbean Community, we simply must not allow our neighbour to be destroyed any further because of George Bush's myopia and arrogance.

I seem to remember the people of Cuba attempting to determine their destiny by sailing to the U.S. on rafts and boats made out of cars and trucks.

What's amazing about this letter to the editor is the writer's total disregard for the totalitarian, oppressive state that Cuba really is, for the jails that are filled with people whose only crime is speaking out against Castro.

The writer forgets also that the American embargo has not prevented other nations from trading with Cuba; yet, Cubans remained enmired in poverty ... unless they belong to Castro's ruling clique.

The writer also ignores that while the average Cuban is scrunting to make a living, Castro is one of the world's wealthiest men. Now, how could that have come about in a communist country devoted to egalitarianism? The U.S. must be to blame for that, too.

I'd suggest she reads this book, but it might shatter her rose-colored view of Castro and his Cuba.