September 16, 2000

5:28 PM

"Cuba maintains a prison system that is in many respects far more humane than Western propaganda would have the uninformed public believe."
While the New York based Cuban American Democracy Project does not agree with the views expressed by Professor Jill Soffiyah Elijah, the CADP web site lists tons of articles, testimonies and resources about "situation" in Cuba.
posted by tamim (4 comments total)

I know this will be perceived as a sweeping generalization, but I really think that for the most part anti-communist Vietnamese and Cuban immigrants should reflect on the fact that their rhetoric skills are no match against their respective countries' governments. I guess their persistence has to be admired though; how many wacky Ho Chi Minh and Castro conspiracy theories are there?
posted by kidsplateusa at 6:56 PM on September 16, 2000

I get a little peeved when people refer to things like "Western propaganda" in situations like this. It would be more accurate to say "Jesse Helms propaganda" or something.... they make it sound like every Westerner agrees with the "propaganda".

Incidentally, I've been to both Vietnam and Cuba, and neither one resembles what their U.S. expat community claims. Um, I should point out that these weren't package tours or anything -- it's not like govt agents told me where to go. I happen to like both countries, and I think that the U.S. Viet/Cuban communities are actually hurting their respective populations by manipulating our trade with both nations.
posted by aramaic at 7:30 PM on September 16, 2000

The thing that they failed to connect on was that the interests of the Cuban-American community are not necessarily those of the United States. The immigration policy that exists is there solely to keep Cuban-American relations from becoming a crisis for either side.
posted by dhartung at 12:20 PM on September 18, 2000