Issues / Strengthening Latin American Allies and Confronting Tyrants

We should weaken the threat of the Castro regime.

Reasons to agree

1. Castro has political prisoners. We should not sit down for coffee with dictators when they put their citizens in jail for what they think.
2. Castro helped the Soviet Union sneak nuclear weapons into Cuba. JFK had to stand up to Khrushchev in order to get them out.
3. Castro was the leader of his country for 49 years. No one should have power that long.
4. Cuba only has one party. One party government is bad.
5. Governments should not be allowed to control the media. Castro controls the media, including the internet.
6. Cubans are rarely permitted to travel abroad. This country is a cage.
7. Cubans are never permitted to create political organizations
8. At best Castro has maintained Cuba's pre-1959 level of development, but at an "extraordinary" cost to the overall welfare of Cubans.
9. When castro was in school he apparently collaborated in an attempt on a rival's life: Masferrer. (Thomas, Hugh : Cuba the Pursuit of Freedom p.523-524)
10. Castro is a liar. In 1957, Castro signed the Manifesto of the Sierra Maestra in which he agreed to call elections under the Electoral Code of 1943 within the first 18 months of his time in power and to restore all of the provisions of the Constitution of 1940 that had been suspended under Batista. Of course, he did not do this. All dictators promise to limit their power once they no longer need it, but they never do. President Bush has expanded the power of the president, but luckily, because of two term limit, he will never benefit permanently from the expanded power. Also there is the possibility that his political opponents will benefit from this expanded power, which would make him think twice about expanding them too much. I personally think Bush's expanded powers are warranted. I think that it was stupid that a warrant to wire-tap did not apply to cell phones, but I am glad that they can be checked by the balance of powers. I am glad that we have congress and the courts to challenge him.
11. Castro almost destroyed the whole planet. No joke. Millions, or perhaps billions of people almost died. Well maybe it wasn't all Castro's fault, but why would somone choose the soviet union over the united states? Anyways Castro chose the Soviet Union, and let them move nuclear weapons onto Cuba, and let them build missile launching sites... So it was the Soviet Union's fault more than Casto's, but gosh, it was close... we are talking about Billions of lives, and he rose to power, and helped cause all these problems.. over throwing the government, and holding onto power, and not following the constitution that he said he would, and then helping the soviets point nuclear weapons at America... we were the good guys, how could he have done that? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cuban_Missile_Crisis. Castro urged Khrushchev to launch a nuclear first strike against the United States if Cuba were invaded. (Khrushchev, Nikita Sergeyevich (1962-10-27). Letter to Castro (PDF). The George Washington University. Retrieved on 2006-05-11)
12. It has been claimed by the Carthage Foundation-funded Center for a Free Cuba that an estimated 14,000 Cubans were killed in Cuban military actions abroad. Castro would send people overseas to fight in support of Marxist.
13. Just because people got along with Hitler, and Mussolini doesn't make them good people.
14. Thousands of political opponents to the Castro regime have been killed, primarily during the first decade of his leadership.138139 Some Cubans labeled "counterrevolutionaries", "fascists", or "CIA operatives" were also imprisoned in poor conditions without trial.140141 Military Units to Aid Production, or UMAPs, were labor camps established in 1965 to confine "social deviants" including homosexuals, Jehovah Witnesses to work "counter-revolutionary" influences out of certain segments of the population.142 The camps were closed in 1967 in response to international outcries.143 Professor Marifeli Pérez Stable, a Cuban immigrant and former Castro supporter has said that "There were thousands of executions, forty, fifty thousand political prisoners. The treatment of political prisoners, with what we today know about human rights and the international norms governing human rights ... it is legitimate to raise questions about possible crimes against humanity in Cuba."144
15. Castro acknowledges that Cuba holds political prisoners, but argues that Cuba is justified because these prisoners are not jailed because of their political beliefs, but have been convicted of "counter-revolutionary" crimes, including bombings. Castro portrays opposition to the Cuban government as illegitimate, and the result of an ongoing conspiracy fostered by Cuban exiles with ties to the United States or the CIA.145
16. Until 1992 Castro banned Catholics from membership in the Cuban Communist Party which was the only way to get a job and provide for your family. We cannot allow a world like this where you get jobs based on what you believe politically or religiously.
17. Until 1998 Cubans were not allowed to celebrate Christmas. Why do liberals love this guy so much? Liberals are fascist that want to control every aspect of society, just like their hero, Castro.
18. Castro promotes a cult of personality.
19. A lot of Nazis were smart. Just because Castro is smart doesn't mean he didn't almost contribute to millions of American's deaths by asking the soviet union to conduct a first strike on American cities, if things went bad in the Cuban Missel Crisis. All Castro cares about is power. He would rather have Millions of Americans die, than to have been removed from power. Castro and others say Americans are evil, but our presidents aren't willing to kill millions of people just to stay in power... they go out of power after 8 years.
20. Billboards with his picture are very common in the island.162. Castro was accused by American anarchist Sam Dolgoff of "basking in the adulation and servility of his subordinates" and "creating a regime built around the cult of the personality functions" encouraging "the illusion that only he and his select group of revolutionaries have earned the right to wield unlimited power over the people of Cuba."163 Castro has also been described as an example of the rise of a distinct "charismatic leader"164 common to developing nations, and of encouraging the "personality political regime". This theory contends that Castro has maintained power largely through highly visible, charismatic leadership and popular appeals to the Cuban people, though the administration is successful only as long as the leader's charisma lasts. Kind of like Mike Huckabee with all his appeal to the common folks, and hatred of successful people.
21. America hasn't always done well with Cuba, or South America. We have learned from our mistakes. We now want the same things that they want. We want to fight drugs. We want to fight terrorist. We want freedom of speech, we want freedom of press, we want good things on this planet. Just because we were bad in the past doesn't mean that the solution for these countries that don't like us, is to repress their people, and take away freedoms.

Reasons to disagree

1. If Canada and Europe can get along with Cuba, why can't we?
2. Castro gives longs speeches. He must be smart.

More info:

1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fidel_Castro
2. http://www.state.gov/p/wha/ci/14776.htm