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http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=MjcxMGRjOWM0NjYwZGM1YzU3MDBkOTkzOGU5OTY2ZDA=

Lord have mercy on our brothers and sisters in Cuba...and may He, in His great kindness towards sinners, even have mercy on the merciless Fidel.

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Funeral for a Tyrant
A morally disorienting gathering in Havana.


By Otto J. Reich

This time the rumors are real: Castro is dying of stomach cancer. He may have already died, even before the funeral preparations were finished, so the news is not out. Confirmation of the terminal illness comes from the usual sources but in a non-conventional manner. The Cuban government has been summoning to Havana representatives of the major international media to negotiate the best seats, camera angles, and interviews with the despot�s political survivors, and to inform them of the ground rules for coverage of the state funeral.

The foreign media are being told that the model for Castro�s funeral is that of Pope John Paul II a year ago. The Cubans actually believe � or pretend � that the death of a tyrant deserves the same attention as that of the world�s great men of peace.

This is one of Castro�s lasting legacies to his countrymen: moral disorientation. The Cuban ruling class has been so isolated from reality for so long by fear and Castro�s airtight press control that they equate the burial of a mass murderer with that of a prince of the Church. No doubt there will be �dignitaries� at the funeral: fellow revolutionary leaders from the last repressive regimes on Earth: Iran, North Korea, Syria, and Sudan, for example; and leaders of failed states like Zimbabwe and Bolivia; and representatives of the world�s resentful Left and the Hollywood Left (pardon the redundancy).

Some examples of distinguished invitees will include terrorists whose organizations once instilled panic in entire populations but are now forgotten except to their victims. Many of them were trained in Cuban camps back when Castro called for world revolution and predicted he would outlive capitalism: Argentine Montoneros, Uruguayan Tupamaros, Nicaraguan Sandinistas, Salvadorean FMLN, Colombian ELN, MIR, FARC, and others; Chileans, Brazilians, Guatemalans, Angolans, Ethiopians, Palestinians, Syrians, even Vietnamese. The list is virtually endless. Not long ago, Castro himself admitted publicly to having �supported wars of national liberation in every country in this hemisphere with the exception of Mexico�. I believe everything except the exception; his hand has been present in much of Mexico�s violence as well.

One security problem the Cubans will face is that some of the �revolutionaries� who they trained in techniques of assassination, torture, kidnapping, bank robbery, explosives, and other tricks of the trade now hate each other and may use the occasion to settle old debts. The explosions heard in Havana may come not only from ceremonial cannons. The guests will have to be carefully screened for poisoned-tipped umbrellas and other Cold War artifacts.

Among the guests coming to Havana for the Third-World Burial of the Century will be Western capitalists anxious to see how they can exploit Cuban workers, who are assigned to the employer by a Cuban state entity which then collects the salary and delivers five percent � yes, five percent � to the worker and keeps the rest to pay for the expenses incurred by the generous socialist state. There will be the bottom feeders of the capitalist world willing to go anywhere or do anything for the Almighty euro or peso. You know the ones, those who have given capitalism a bad name, the exploitation of man by man, and whose example is in turn used by the revolutionaries against the good capitalists. There will recognizable faces of American and other TV, oblivious to the irony of �covering� a press event orchestrated by a government which has not allowed a single free or independent newspaper, magazine, radio or television station for almost five decades.

Caught up in the spectacle of the funeral, the smiley faces of the free world�s morning shows, the �serious� news readers of evening newscasts, of 24-hour news channels and �prestige press� will unlikely mention the �Ley Mordaza� (literally muzzle law), law number 88 of 1998, which calls for penalties of up to 30 years in prison for any Cuban caught telling the foreign press of any flaw in Cuba�s economic or human-rights record. It is unlikely they will ask to interview the prisoners who have violated Castro�s Orwellian laws and are serving terms of as much as 27 years for committing journalism without a license or stating that the economy does not produce enough to feed the people.

There may be international labor leaders in attendance, who will equally disregard the absence of any but the official Cuban Communist labor organization. Not wishing to offend their hosts, they will not mention the Castro law which condemns to eight years in prison anyone guilty of even attempting to establish a non-government labor union. On second thought: Why should they mention it now, when they have been silent for so many decades?

Some of those leaders present may even be government officials from democratic states, having been elected in free elections such as the ones which disappeared in Cuba half a century ago. That irony will escape them also. Then there will be some genuinely elected Christian or social democrats, from Europe and Latin America. Those who have been silent about, and therefore complicit in, the longest dictatorship in this hemisphere�s history. A wise man once said that �All it takes for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing.� The history of Cuba in the past 50 years proves him right.

� Otto J. Reich served President Bush from 2001 to 2004, first as assistant secretary of state for the Western Hemisphere and later in the National Security Council. He now heads his own international government-relations firm in Washington.

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well ........
really......

Lord have mercy

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Could the argument be made that the Catholics of Cuba became as "morally disoriented" as the Muslims in Sudan, Iraq, Iran, Syria, etc.? Could this explain why none of these countries' people have made serious efforts to overthrow the tyrants? Could this explain why German Christians were as inept at ridding themselves of Hitler or Russian Orthodox of ridding themselves of Stalin?

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Originally posted by carson daniel lauffer:
Could the argument be made that the Catholics of Cuba became as "morally disoriented" as the Muslims in Sudan, Iraq, Iran, Syria, etc.? Could this explain why none of these countries' people have made serious efforts to overthrow the tyrants? Could this explain why German Christians were as inept at ridding themselves of Hitler or Russian Orthodox of ridding themselves of Stalin?

CDL
You have hit the nail on the head. If you grow up with your parents telling you that you are stupid, as an adult you will believe that you are stupid. Repeat something often enough, and you will be believed. This is how dictators become dieties to their own people. The people of the former Soviet Union are just now realizing that for 70+ years, they had been living upside down, good is bad, right is wrong etc.
Very astute observation.

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Alexandr,

Thank you for your response.

Stick with me my friend. I'm only 59 yo so I've many things to learn. I'm writing as much to ask as to assert.

What troubles me, if you and I are right, is the apparent inabitity of people who are otherwise faithful to act with any courage or decisiveness in the face of evil. I don't stand against porn, e.g., any better than Cuban Catholics, or Russian Orthodox stood against tyrants.

Moreover, If Catholics and Orthodox don't stand against evil very effectively are we any better than Muslims who don't?

Finally, if the Church is the Kingdom of God on earth what practical effect does that reality have?

CDL

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Well, ah, maybe in the case of Russians some are still not convinced. According to sources I know personally, who have contacts in Russia, there are those who want to canonize Stalin (even in the Russian Church). That, I find hard to believe, esp since I have video of the 'Road of Bones', built on the dead of his dreaded 'gulag'. But, here in america, the radical left, abortionist, gay-mongering, deviant so and soes just 'love' Bush,...and I have some ocean front property in Arizona to sell you. mik

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Dear CDL you said:

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What troubles me, if you and I are right, is the apparent inabitity of people who are otherwise faithful to act with any courage or decisiveness in the face of evil. I don't stand against porn, e.g., any better than Cuban Catholics, or Russian Orthodox stood against tyrants.
I say:

We can stand against porn, etc. All we need is a little knowledge of what's going on in this country, not courage. Those that are under tyrants have some excuse, but we have none. mad

There is no comparison to what the Russians had to face when going against Stalin. There was a total indifference to human life in The Soviet Union...all one has to do is read the books on Father Arseny or on Saint Luke the Surgeon. The only reason the saintly doctor survived was because of his ability as a top surgeon.

Which makes me recall that during the Second World War, the Germans insisted that they were not the one's that killed all the Polish military officers. History has proven that they were right. It was the Soviets. Russia has also revealed that in 1933, in order to force collective farming, over ten million people died of starvation. frown

I guess Pres. Roosevelt was blind to the menace he was supporting, which only goes to show that without spiritual enlightenment, we all falter...no matter what our position. :rolleyes:

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As of yesterday, Fidel was sitting up and reading a newspaper (there is a published photograph to prove it). Since we are not responsible for planning his eventual funeral (he will obviously die sometime, as will we all, but we don't know either the date or the circumstances), I suggest that speculating about the man's funeral arrangements in utterly inappropriate - other terms also come to mind.

I suppose, though, that those who might wish to attend Fidel's funeral could approach the airlines and inquire about possible special flights for the mourners. Sometimes this can be done in advance - and sometimes one can obtain a bereavement fare.

Fidel was baptized, and we therefore have good reason to pray for him, both now and after his death.

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While on vacation in Washington, DC, with my wife and children, we visted the National Archives, the US Patent Office, Library of Congress, etc. I cannot remember the exact location, but on exhibit there is a letter from Fidel Castro in English to FDR. Appeared to be a writing project. Young Fidel, then in a Jesuit prep school, asked FDR to send him a brand new $10.00 bill. Legend has it that FDR did not honor that request...

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Originally posted by Deacon John Montalvo:
While on vacation in Washington, DC, with my wife and children, we visted the National Archives, the US Patent Office, Library of Congress, etc. I cannot remember the exact location, but on exhibit there is a letter from Fidel Castro in English to FDR. Appeared to be a writing project. Young Fidel, then in a Jesuit prep school, asked FDR to send him a brand new $10.00 bill. Legend has it that FDR did not honor that request...
Young Fidel went to Jesuit school?

Now THERE's an interesting factoid! biggrin

In all seriousness, I hope he finds conversion and salvation at the end. Perhaps Pope John Paul the Great is interceding for just such an event...

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Although Fidel and his 2 brothers and 3 sisters were illegitimate, their relatively wealthy father, an immigrant from Spain, subsequently married their mother, a household servant, when Fidel was 15 years old.

His legitimation carried over and he was educated by the Jesuits for his entire high school.

After graduating, he went on to the University of Havana and obtained a law degree. He practised law for a time serving the poor and the underprivileged.

He went back to politics and continued his "revolutionary" activities from his college days. The infamous Che Guevarra recruited him for the "socialist cause" and subsequently embraced Soviet communism.

He is one smart "a--", if you asked me! biggrin

Amado


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