Surprise. Fidel Castro Acts Like a Communist!

April 13, 2006

By Tom DeWeese

For fifty years the American left has promoted the image of Fidel Castro as a great humanitarian who has saved his people in a workers’ paradise.

Here’s a fact: Fidel Castro is a communist. Period. Communists are not humanitarians. They are vile, brutal thugs who use their power to steal the rights and property of their people, forcing them to live in utter poverty and misery. One can look the world over and will not find a single communist regime that does not operate this way. And so does Fidel.

But the propaganda campaign for the oldest living beast has gained momentum in the past few years, describing in glowing terms the harmonious life of the happy Cuban people, forced to struggle against the unfair American boycott of their beloved leader and his communist utopia. That’s the story coming out of the international news media. There has rarely been a crack in the Castro legend. Until now.

The suffering Cuban people owe a huge debt of thanks to the courage of Czech super model Helena Houdova. She risked her own freedom by smuggling photos out of the Cuban gulag which clearly showed Cuban suffering and misery.

The former Miss Czech Republic took photos of Cuban Aids victims and the squalid conditions in a Havana shantytown. Said Miss Houdova, “The people are repressed and Fidel Castro’s government is in denial. People can’t do what they love. People can’t speak what they want. That’s what’s happening. The fact that the (government) says there is no poverty, makes a bad situation worse.”

As a glimpse into the police state that is Cuba, Miss Houdova’s own experience in taking the pictures makes it clear. She was arrested simply for taking the photos, then detained for more than eleven hours and denied access to Czech consular officials. In police custody, the model was forced to turn over a roll of 35 mm film from her camera, but was able to hide the memory chip from her digital camera in her bra. Miss Houdova brought more than 20 photos out of the country, which she is now exhibiting around the world.

Miss Houdova decided to take the photos at the urging of her Cuban guide who said, “please talk about it everywhere you can and let the world know what is happening here.” She is now very worried about his safety from Cuban security police. The Cuban government is efficient at slowly harassing and threatening anyone who speaks out against the government. People disappear into the penal system, never to be seen again.

Such is the reality of the Cuban workers paradise, where we are told daily that poverty and misery do not exist. Communism is not a human form of life and freedom fighters everywhere should renew efforts to stamp it out where ever it exists.

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Tom DeWeese
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Tom DeWeese is one of the nation’s leading advocates of individual liberty, free enterprise, private property rights, personal privacy, back-to-basics education and American sovereignty and independence.