Letters to the Editors

Castro's lecture on U.S. swindlers is hypocritical

Re: Castro praises House travel vote, July 27.

With reference to Fidel Castro's July 26 "I told you so" attacks on U.S. capitalism, I must state that Castro's condemnation of corporate "criminal swindling" reeks of hypocrisy and opportunism at its worst.

While I do not contest the moral wrongdoing of certain U.S. business leaders, I find it odd to exempt Castro from the category of criminal swindlers.

Here we have a man who once appealed to Cuban dreams of freedom and liberty as a democratic reformer but then turned to Soviet-style Communism. Here we have a man who, while he and his cohorts live in a level of abundance that would make an Enron CEO blush, forces his fellow Cubans to live in abject poverty and constant fear, thanks to persecution and local spy squads which localize the worst tendencies of the J. Edgar Hoover-era FBI into common Cuban neighborhoods and schools. This is a man who has cheered the Communist firing squads of Vietnam, China, Cambodia, the Soviet Union and North Korea.

The Castro cult of personality and regime are kept alive not by the will of the people but, rather, through religious and political persecution, attacks on the family and fear-mongering. It is a system so frail that it cannot withstand principled dissent by Catholic clergy, educators or common laborers.

How can a man who runs such an island, which on a monthly basis has God only knows how many people leaving on rafts in search of freedom, lecture any nation on the general welfare?

Glaring American problems in health care, education, race relations and poverty show that our system is not perfect. But our system, however flawed, is heaven on earth compared to Castro's Cuba.

When in 1959 my family left Cuba in fear of the impending Communist threat, they came to a nation that affirmed their basic desire for dignity and freedom. These most basic human impulses, which are welcomed as a part of the American experience, are mocked as "counter-revolutionary" in Castro's Cuba. I will be forever thankful to this country, which I love so dearly, for its open arms in times of trouble.

May God bless the oppressed people of Cuba in their inevitable struggle toward freedom.
-- Luis Viera, Tampa

Heed Castro's words

Re: Castro praises House travel vote.

The U.S. House has voted to lift the travel ban to Cuba. Well, it's about time, considering it does not work. The only U.S. citizens it ever kept from Cuba were those either unable to afford a stay in another country preceding travel to Cuba or those unwilling due to inconvenience. And there are also those cowards too afraid of the repercussions from our own over-reaching government.

Fidel Castro has to be one of the greatest leaders of the modern era. Congratulations to him and the entire Cuban population -- the ones who have stayed to rally to the cause of their country's greater good.

Fidel had some wise words for his populace regarding the evils that capitalism nurtures and the quagmire created from loss of controls. These are true words of wisdom from a leader with unparalleled resilience and integrity for his country. Many a man would be wise to acknowledge the value of his words.

The shame of this news is that our narrow-minded view of Cuba and Castro will live on in spite of this vote. Our president has said he will veto any changes to the sanctions currently in place. This is a presidential action that few true Americans actually support.

We previously have apologized for dropping the A-bomb on Japan and forgiven the citizens of Germany who were part of the Nazi era. When are we finally going forgive our grievances with this tiny island neighbor?
-- Jason LaCroix, St. Petersburg

Don't belittle plight of Cubans

Re: Greco, leaders take Cuba trip, July 30.

As a Cuban-born American, I am always suspicious of American-born Americans going to Cuba in search of business opportunities. To do so purely in the name of riches belittles the suffering and oppression (not to mention baseless imprisonment, torture and murder) of Cuban citizens.

Americans have been spared dictatorships and homeland war (until recently). They are, therefore, largely unaware and often insensitive to the plight of others. Business should expend its efforts to dealing directly with the Cuban businessman and exclude the government whenever possible. The government there will steal funds and deposit them in Fidel Castro's domestic and offshore bank accounts . . . always has, always will.

We exiled Cubans need to come to terms with the failure of the embargo. Castro doesn't care if the Cuban people suffer (neither, it appears, does the world) and the Cubans in Cuba will never be powerful enough to mount an effective uprising in this starving, totalitarian system. (Remember, hungry people want food not freedom.)

Those of us lucky enough to have escaped need to clear our minds of all hatred for anything non-U.S. Cuban. Largely, those left behind are either offspring of deceived, misdirected individuals or the under 45-set which has known no other system and believes many of the lies fed them.
-- Rafael Miguel, M.D., Tampa

Thought-provoking writing

I hate to think that Susan Taylor Martin's excellent series on Saudi Arabia might go unremarked by your readers. It provided a fascinating insight into this closed society. Combined with Robyn Blumner's account of her encounters with Egyptian political and intellectual leaders, these important articles should give us all a better sense of the critical dividing line between Western societies and those that are still held captive to medieval intellectual structures and corrupt political elites.

Two thoughts these articles stimulate. First, we should be grateful for that which distinguishes Western society from the Saudi Arabias and Egypts of the world: To me, that is first and foremost our capacity for self-criticism. Beginning in the 16th century, Western Europe opened itself, however grudgingly, to its internal critics; while a Benedict Spinoza may have been ostracized by the community, he was not put to death -- as he might have been 100 years previously. As a result of its openness to criticism, in the space of 200 years, Europe achieved scientific, economic and political successes that eclipsed Confucian China and the Muslim Ottoman Empire, which had been the dominant cultures in the world for almost 800 years. A society that cannot accept criticism is a society with no hope of change, innovation or progress.

Second, we must ask whether it serves America's interest for us to continue to tie ourselves to the future of these regimes, which are mired in political corruption and autocracy, and increasingly hated by their citizens. And the thing that ties us to them is the need for oil to fuel our growing economy. Isn't it time that we recognized that self-sufficiency in oil resources should be a focus of our national interest -- and that it is chimerical to believe we can solve our energy needs by wind turbines and government mandates?

After Sept. 11 we should have learned the lesson that freedom requires sacrifice -- and the setting of priorities. And we need to be serious about whether we should continue to place off limits the oil reserves off our coastal shores, and in the uninhabited wilds of Alaska -- and therefore continue our commitment to regimes that hate us, and whose peoples hate us because we support those regimes.
-- Barry Augenbraun, St. Petersburg

Much more needs exploring

I commend your recent series on Saudi Arabia. At this point in history a good deal of Americans are thinking about the Arab world, and the religion of Islam. The quality of that thinking is vital to our future, and improved public knowledge is the only way to increase the quality of our thinking.

Sadly, for all the time, space and resources you expended in putting together that series, there was so much missing. The topic of oil supply, petrol-politics and Saudi Arabia alone could have been a whole series. Looming in our future there will be a day of reckoning with this matter that will make the oil shocks of the 1970s seem tame. Our children will have to deal with this; I can only hope they will not have to fight and die for it.

Curiously, the last installment made passing reference to the Vinnell Corp. Here again is another subject that would be well served by another long series. Since the end of the Cold War there has been alarming trend toward privatization of military units. Vinnell is one such company. This privatization is a way of going around Congress and not telling the public. Foreign policy is made by default by private military consultants motivated by bottom-line profits. These private military firms are operating across the globe and profit not only by sanctioned U.S. military objectives, but also by those of other nations and private corporations. In short, these private companies are tending toward becoming our very own version of rogue states working inside our borders.
-- David Horning, St. Petersburg

Prize-worthy material

Re: Five-part series on Saudi Arabia.

Susan Taylor Martin deserves a Pulitzer Prize for her report on today's Saudi Arabia because of her excellent research, interviews and observations written in a most fluid and captivating style without preconceived, prejudicial notions. Hopefully one of the editors of the Times will nominate her. She is a beacon of truth.
-- Arthur Hebert, Largo

Another area for Spratt to explore

Re: Spratt's fresh approach, editorial, July 20.

Although I agree that Steve Spratt has been doing a very good job as Pinellas County administrator, I would like to point out an area where he could do something else positive for the county.

You state that he is exploring ways to increase revenues ("Why not sell hot dogs and drinks in county parks?"). Tampa Area Naturists (TAN) presented a proposal to the Park Department Board in April that shows how a clothing-optional beach could earn the Pinellas County Park Department as much as $1-million per year and bring in 50 times that much in tourist revenues.

While Spratt was an assistant county manager in Miami-Dade, part of his responsibilities was oversight of Haulover Beach, a clothing-optional county beach. It has been there for more than 10 years, has been very successful, has earned the county approximately $1-million per year in parking revenues and untold more in tourist dollars, and recently won county approval to be enlarged and improved. The success of Haulover Beach was the basis of the TAN proposal to the park department.

If he is willing to "attack sacred cows," why not attack the notion that Pinellas County is too narrow-minded and provincial to tolerate a clothing-optional beach? In a Roper-Starch national poll in 2000, 80 percent supported having designated beaches for nude sunbathing; I suspect that Pinellas County residents would feel the same.

Tampa Area Naturists would welcome the opportunity to discuss this with him at his convenience.
-- Will Perras, board member, Tampa Area Naturists, Inc., Tampa

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