<font face=Arial color=darkred>Perhaps Carter has breathed too much peanut dust . . . or found an old stash of Billy-Beer. Naahh, just more liberal nonsense and lies eventually shown to be so. This time when the Butcher of Havana shows his true colors yet again. Note the parallels elsewhere with "blame America" for Castro's brutality.</font> -- The Philadelphia Talk Radio Politics and Opinion Forum

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Date Posted: 16:36:14 05/17/03 Sat
Author: SurveyGuy
Author Host/IP: pcp01422563pcs.lndsd201.pa.comcast.net / 68.81.153.209
Subject: Perhaps Carter has breathed too much peanut dust . . . or found an old stash of Billy-Beer. Naahh, just more liberal nonsense and lies eventually shown to be so. This time when the Butcher of Havana shows his true colors yet again. Note the parallels elsewhere with "blame America" for Castro's brutality.

Carter Silent On Castro's Crackdown
Dave Eberhart Friday May 16, 2003

Jimmy Carter is the self-appointed globetrotter on behalf of human rights.

But when Carter friend Fidel Castro unleashed a brutal wave of repression recently, that included extradjudicial executions, Carter�s reaction was silence, followed by muted criticism, and finalized with a stinging criticism of . . . the United States.

On just about the one year anniversary of Carter�s historic trip to Cuba, his new amigo Fidel Castro rounded up 75 political dissidents and independent journalists and packed them off to jail for 28 years each.

Although formally accused of conspiring with U.S. diplomats to undermine the socialist state, the apparent crime of almost all was their championing the so-called �Varela Project,� a petition calling for greater basic liberties � and the absolute centerpiece of Carter�s controversial mission-impossible-without-portfolio to the communist island.

The Cuban president followed up by ordering the execution of three men accused of terrorism in an unsuccessful hijacking of a passenger ferry headed to the United States. The three summarily went before a firing squad April 11 without so much as a final farewell to family and loved ones.

On March 21 when word of the initial arrests and detentions of the Varela dissidents hit the world media big-time, Carter issued only an anemic press release:

�I am deeply concerned about reports of detentions of Cuban citizens known for supporting the Varela Project, promoting human rights, and practicing independent journalism. The international community supports their rights to the protections afforded by the Cuban constitution. I call on the Cuban government to respect those rights and to refrain from detaining or harassing citizens who are expressing their views peacefully.�

But Carter also seemed to place part of the onus of Castro�s human rights abuses on the shoulders of the U.S.:

�I also am troubled by the rising tension between the Cuban government and the U.S. Interests Section in Havana. I urge my own government to work with the Cuban government to deflate those tensions and establish a relationship of mutual respect.�

Later, after the draconian sentences were handed down, Carter certainly did not rush onto the Sunday news programs to express the expected emotions of disgust, disappointment and betrayal-in-the-first-degree.

In fact, to this day there is still nothing on the Carter Center website about the Castro debacle � other than that same lackluster and dated press release quoted above.

�Needless to Say�

Although Carter says he has written a letter to Castro condemning the dictator�s tidal wave of repression and urging him to cut back the sentences, he adds that he has no plans to revisit Cuba.

Other than that, there�s not much more that Carter has put on the record, and what there is remains strangely bloodless:

�Needless to say, I have been very disappointed by what has occurred in Cuba,� Carter said when he finally broke silence. �The dissident movement has been severely crippled, and I would presume Draconian measures adopted by Castro will be maintained.�

�Many of the dissidents, democrats, freedom fighters and human rights heroes with whom we met have been arrested and given extremely severe and unconscionable punishment,� Carter added. �This has been an indication, I believe, that people working for improved human rights situations in Cuba have become more effective and more of a threat to Castro. It is obvious that he has decided to clamp down with extreme severity and, I have to admit, with a great deal of success.�

Carter opined that Castro�s �deplorable� actions have meant a real setback to efforts of moderate voices on both sides of the Straits of Florida to improve relations between Washington and Havana.

When asked to comment about potential administration moves to further sanction Cuba by cutting off personal remittances � estimated at $1 billion a year � sent by Cuban-Americans to their families living in Cuba, or to cut off charter flights from Miami, New York and Los Angeles that shuttle Cubans back for short visits to the island, Carter said:

�All this hurts the people of Cuba. None of it hurts Castro. As a matter of fact, it just strengthens his hand and gives him an excuse to punish the people and also blame the United States for [Cuba�s] economic failures.�

�Certainly for the time being, everything is coming to a halt,� Carter summed up.

The Past is Prologue

When then President Carter signaled his hopes of normalizing U.S.-Cuban relations, Castro responded with the unseemly and insulting 1980 Mariel exodus, in which the dictator sent criminals and psychiatric patients to the United States along with thousands of other fleeing Cubans.

Out of office in 1996, the ever-hopeful Carter stood on the sidelines and applauded President Clinton�s reluctance to support a bill tightening the embargo. Castro responded by shooting down two unarmed planes operated by the Miami-based Cuban-American Brothers to the Rescue. The thaw quickly went back to the chill.

The great Carter pilgrimage to Cuba was to follow the same pattern � only this time the wily Castro was only a bit more subtle and circumspect before plunging the dagger into Carter�s back and twisting.

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