Generación Y-Exposing the Corruption of Castroism

Despite the shift of power from Big Brother to Little Brother, the Cuban regime remains as oppressive as ever. Raúl Castro’s government is now making greater use of a provision in the criminal code that allows indefinite detention for what is called ‘dangerousness’, this being defined as conduct “in manifest contradiction to the norms of socialist morality.” In other words, it allows for the incarceration of anyone who dares offer a criticism of this paradise in the sun and the gangsters in charge.

So far some forty Cubans have been jailed under this invidious provision for such crimes against ‘socialist morality’ as organising peaceful marches or writing critical articles. At the beginning of November Yoani Sánchez, who runs a blog called Generación Y, dedicated to exposing the political and moral corruption of Castroism, was forced into an unmarked car, after which she was beaten and threatened before being dumped in the street.

We don’t know exactly how many political prisoners there are in Cuban jails. The Economist says that there are at least two hundred, probably many more. The exact figure cannot be determined because Cuba is one of only eight countries in the world that deny the International Committee of the Red Cross access to its prisons.

What strikes me about this is the sheer hypocrisy of the Organisation of American States which suspended Honduras after the coup against Manuel Zelaya, while holding out an invitation to Cuba to rejoin. There is no evidence at all of human rights abuses in Honduras; there is plenty in Cuba. Oh, and incidentally, Raúl Castro was one of those who joined in the parrot-like call for an economic embargo against the Hondurans, seemingly unaware of the irony that this invoked.

Socialism is a filthy doctrine in whatever form it comes; oppressive, miserable, thuggish and essentially anti-human, anti anything that makes life worth living. In Cuba and North Korea the doctrine has achieved its ultimate expression, that of tyrannical and self-perpetuating nepotism.