‘It’s important to protect our democracy and call out tyranny wherever it exists’
To the Expositor:
The 30 November issue of this paper featured both an editorial opinion and a letter commenting favourably on the legacy of Castro. This is an alternate point of view.
In 1997 Ry Cooder released a music album entitled ‘The Buena Vista Social Club.’ He had heard of the musical talent of the Cubans who participated in the album but was concerned that he wouldn’t be able to locate them or age (most were in their eighties) might have diminished their talent. His concerns were unfounded. The beauty and grace of the music stunned the music world. My first reaction after listening to the music was, “where have these people been for the last forty years?” The answer was that they and the Cuban people were and are isolated by a blanket of communist ideology courtesy of Castro.
Like Joseph Gold, the fan of Castro, I have been to Cuba and I have seen firsthand what Fidel has done for the Cuban people. The economic depravity is apparent everywhere, from the water front in Havana to the country side. This however is but superficial compared to the damage done to individuals and families due to oppression and the lack of freedom. Does free speech, freedom of the press, freedom of assembly, an independent judiciary and all that goes with these concepts hold any meaning for the past and present dictators of this world? History will tell us that they are all principals that threaten tyrants and so freedom is suppressed. Castro was no different. A survey of Cuban jails would confirm this. And he doesn’t get a free pass to stifle freedom because he ousted Batista. One dictator replacing another is no cause for celebration.
Back a few centuries to 1215. The Magna Carta was agreed to by the despised King John, I and the Barons who opposed him. It still stands as a symbol of liberty and was an inspiration for the establishment of democracies the world over. One article that is particularly salient and remains part of British law reads as follows. “No free man shall be arrested, or imprisoned, or deprived of his property, or outlawed, or exiled, or in any way destroyed, nor shall we go against him or send against him, unless by legal judgment of his peers, or by the law of the land. “My wish for the Cuban people is a version of The Magna Carta protecting them from tyrants.
I think that it is important to protect our democracy and to call out tyranny wherever it exists. Castro may be a hero to some but was no less a tyrant for it.
Shane Desjardins
Mindemoya