More on Cuba

The BBC report the thoughts of Cuban dissidents on George Bush's planned 'democracy':

""I really appreciate the solidarity of the United States government and people, but I think that this report is counterproductive," dissident journalist Oscar Espinosa Chepe told foreign news agencies.

"I believe Cubans have to be the ones who solve our problems and any interference serves to complicate the situation.""

And according to Wikipedia:

"Oscar Manuel Espinosa Chepe (born November 29, 1940 ) is a journalist and economist in Havana. He had to shovel bat dung for two years after he first criticized Castro's economic policies in the 1960s. Sentenced to twenty years in Chafarina prison, Guant�namo on March 20, 2003 for his non-violent activities as a government critic."

Thanks to tjerk over at PofV for the tip.

Planning for the Re-Colonization of Cuba
by Tom Crumpacker
July 13, 2006

The Bush Administration's "Commission for Assistance to a Free Cuba," co-chaired by our Secretaries of State and Commerce, has presented a new report to our President this week. It's a lengthy and comprehensive plan, detailing the steps which US government and other "vital actors" will be taking to bring Cuba back into the family of overt US colonies, which now include some of the Pacific Islands, Puerto Rico, Kabul, and the Green Zone in Baghdad.

The Administration was roundly criticized for not having such a plan for Iraq after its conquests there. Some even claimed it was the reason for the failure of the occupation. One of the purposes of this Plan may be to forestall such criticism in Cuba's case.

Nevertheless this Plan is much the same as the one for Iraq (which was not publicly articulated beforehand.) By privatizing what used to be done publicly, it will bring Cuba into the modern, civilized world by creating a capitalist utopia where private entrepreneurs from the "international community" (mostly US corporations) and the "Cuban community abroad" (mostly US citizens), unencumbered by societal restraint, will unleash their full creative powers to save the long-suffering Cuban people from continuing poverty and tyranny, while incidentally benefiting themselves.

continued... ZNet