OPINION:
On its website, the so-called Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) celebrated the 100th anniversary of the birth of the late communist ruler of Cuba, Fidel Castro. Tell us again how the DSA is socialist but not communist.
The DSA described the man largely responsible for 67 years of abject misery on the island as “a stalwart symbol of the anti-imperialism struggle and self-determination.” In Cuba, self-determination is nonexistent.
Castro turned one of the most prosperous nations in the Western hemisphere into an economic basket case. More than 2 million people have fled the island since the 1959 revolution.
Without highly subsidized Venezuelan oil, there are rolling blackouts. The average Cuban worker earns the equivalent of $16 a month. Garbage piles up in the streets. Cars have vanished from the roads.
Before Castro came to power, Cubans had the third-highest caloric intake in Latin America. Today, the average Cuban exists on half a pound of chicken and 10 to 12 eggs every 10 days. The only fat Cubans are in Miami and points north.
The repression is brutal. The communist regime has an estimated 1,200 political prisoners. Based on population, that’s the equivalent of 40,000 in the United States.
Castro came to power promising free and fair elections. Sure, Cuba will get them — right after North Korea does.
Over the course of seven decades, Cuba has been allied with almost every U.S. adversary on the planet, including Russia, China, North Korea, Iran, Nicaragua and Venezuela under dictator Nicolas Maduro.
When Venezuela was communist, Cuba sent security agents to Caracas to train their counterparts in brutalizing the civilian population.
Is there any enemy of freedom that the DSA does not drool over? The term democratic in its title is a ruse. The nation ruled by Kim Jong Un is officially known as the People’s Democratic Republic of Korea.
Once in power, the DSA would never relinquish it. After it abolishes the Senate, the Supreme Court, the borders and the police, there will be no checks on its rule.
If Republicans are wise, they will publicize the DSA’s admiration of Castro as widely as possible before the midterm elections.
Communism has brought untold misery, including starvation and brutal repression to the Cuban people. Given half a chance, the Democratic Socialists of America will do the same for the United States.
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