Sunday, June 03, 2007

What will happen when Castro falls?

Let me start by establishing some basic facts. My fellow Floridian Randy Wayne White explains things as follows:

"It is discussion that all Cubans enjoy, but most of them know it will not go as smoothly as some would like to pretend. By air and boat and inner tube, more than two million Cubans have immigrated to the United States and, when Castro falls, the return migration will not be as peaceful, nor as massive, as some believe. The Cubans are one of the great American success stories. They are brilliant people: smart, industrious, family-oriented, goal-oriented. In the space of less than two generation, they have accumulated extraordinary wealth and power in the wealthiest and most powerful nation on earth. Were they really going to abandon that?

A few years ago, the Miami Herald ran the results of the poll which indicated that, even with
Castro gone, only one in five Cuban-Americans would return to their native island. Although the poll did not supply demographics, it is not unreasonable to assume that, of that number, most would go expecting to recover their old properties and resume their old lives. It's a pipe dream. It will never happen. The life they knew, in homes and on the island they loved, is gone forever...
Another fallacy is that, after the fall, Cuban_Americans will receive a warm welcome from their long-suffering countrymen. Despite the lengthy political separation, weren't they still brothers? Nope. They are not brothers ... and never were.

It is a ticklish problem; one seldom discussed, but the fact is that ninety-five percent of the Cubans who fled the island were white. With their exodus, blacks became a racial majority in Cuba... and it was Cuba's black population - historically used as little more than a slave labor - who rushed to take over the homes and properties abandoned by the exiles. On the day that Castro came to power, Havana's Miramar and Vedado neighborhoods were made up of tasteful mansions and estates. Now most of those mansions are black tenements and slums.

On the day that Castro took control, Catholicism was the national religion. Today the most widely practiced religion is Santeria, and Afro-Cuban belief very similar to Haiti's voodoo. Santeria plays prominently in Castro's political decisions. The predictions of Santeria priests are even reported in state newspapers.

Is this new Cuban majority eager for the return of teh Miami exiles? Absolutely not. Indeed, they are terrified at the prospect. In Castro's essentially all-white puppet government, blacks have very little input. But they had absolutely no influence at all when the people who fled Cuba were in control. That's why they don't want change. And that's why they will probably fight it when change comes knocking on their door.

The what-will-happen-when-Castro-falls is an enjoyable conversational game, but the reality is much darker. It will be a difficult and painful transition... and it also may be very bloody indeed..."

The above seven paragraphs were quoted directly from Randy Wayne White's book "North of Havana." He is perfectly right on target. How do I know? There is a precedent for it. It has happened before. Let me introduce you to a sample of comparable geopolitical analytical analogy.

It has happened in Czechoslovakia - after the so-called Velvet Revolution. Czechoslovakia was under the communist boot for 42 years, Cuba for 48 years (and still counting). During that time over a million people left Czechoslovakia and settled all over the world. Their properties were distributed by the communists to the lowest scum imaginable in their nation - and this scum is supporting those communists to this very day. Just look at the May Day celebration in Prague this year and the photographs of who was celebrating!

There was no black population in Czechoslovakia, but ethnic cleansing happened there on a big scale. It started after WWII with the forceful removal of ethnic Germans from Czechoslovakia - to the tune of 3 million people (and 270 thousand murdered during the process). By that time several thousand ethnic Jews had been removed from Czechoslovakia (with about a hundred thousand murdered during the German occupation - Czechs happily blame it on the Germans, even if Czechs are anti-semites par excellence themselves) and now came a wave of one million (over the years, of course) ethnic Czechs fleeing the country to escape communism and their jails. Add the numbers and get a very decent number of houses, apartments and other properties available for re-distribution among lower rabble and communist-supporting cretins. I even have a very un-scientific (but tested) theory that as the malnutrition in North Korea caused a decrease in average male height by almost 2 inches (5 cm) (and that is scientifically proven!), that in the same way this massive 42 year long brain drain caused an average decrease of 10 points on the Raven IQ test of the average Czechoslovak citizen.

When the infamous Velvet Revolution in November 1989 happened, Czechoslovak exiles rushed back to their perceived "homeland" and were slapped hard in the face with a "Cuban surprise" - they were not about to get their properties back. The above-described cretins now living in their houses and properties were not about to return what they considered "theirs" and had the full support of local Czech laws and the Czech government, who was populated - thanks to celebrated fake-humanist Vaclav Havel - almost exclusively by communists! Communists and communism took extremely deep roots in Czechoslovakia and even if it may sound a bit harsh (as our well-meaning Dubya is finding out about Iraq) - some nations are not sufficiently civilized to accept freedom and democracy. They do not like freedom and democracy in Iraq, they do not like freedom and democracy in Czechoslovakia, they do not like freedom and democracy in Cuba. And you can not force freedom and democracy on anybody.

So the Czech exiles had to leave their properties in the hands of commies and commie-supportive rabble again and leave the country for the second time with a tails between the legs, all the while Vaclav Havel was collecting honorary degrees and awards worldwide. Liberal universites did not care that Havel's humanitarian credits were comparable to those of Idi Amin Dada. Why should they? Leftwing Vaclav Havel is historically responsible for not punishing communist crimes in Czechoslovakia and for keeping former communists in positions of power. The Czech Republic's army's officer's cadre was exclusively communist - yet they were accepted as regular members of NATO and have rendered that once great alliance virtually incompetent. Czech allegiances are split in the best case - and favor Russia's direction every time Putin starts threatening with new missiles (which was last week as of last count). The world would probably be better off if the Czechs were still behind the barbed wire of the Iron curtain.

Tomorrow, June 3, 2007, our well-meaning (and perhaps a bit naive) president George W. Bush will be in Prague, Czech Republic. Over ninety percent of the Czech dignitaries he will meet there, from current Czech president Klaus down, are either former communists or people extremely soiled by collaboration with the communist regime. By the way - historians generally agree that while the Nazis are responsible for at least 20 million deaths, the communists are responsible for at least 100 million deaths. I wonder if Dubya would be so gladhanding in Germany if he knew that 90 percent of the German dignitaries were former Nazis? Yes, freedom and democracy is still a very foreign concept to many nations - including the post-communist Czechs.

There is no reason to expect that the situation in Cuba after Castro's departure will be much different than it is today in the completely screwed up, allegedly "post-communist" Czech Republic.

Do we need another Czech Republic ninety miles south of Key West?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cuban_exile