5.56X45mm

Part 3

CONSEQUENCES FOR CUBA

Three decades after the episode of the Bay of Pigs, the Cuban people find themselves in the worst of their crises. This is due to the rigid totalitarian control, both politically and economically. With almost 40 years of absolute power exercised through a single party, Castro refuses to make any political concession that may erode his control. He has mercilessly executed thousands that opposed his regime and has had the largest and longest running political prison system in this hemisphere. His refined repressive apparatus violates most of the human rights of all the people. Although he may be able to walk the streets freely, the average Cuban feels like he is living in a large prison. With the disappearance of the USSR and its huge subsidies to the Cuban economy, it can be said that the country has regressed to standards of living lower than that of the last century. The regime tries to blame the socalled American economic blockade (actually an economic embargo), but the truly responsible one is the internal "blockade" placed by Castro which has impeded the creativity and productivity of Cuba's people and its fertile land. He treats the country like a great feudal manor, thinking he is the lord of lives and lands.

Desperate for hard currency, Castro now tries to preserve his regime by selling the island to foreign enterprises, renting its manpower like indentured labor. He takes the dollars that these foreign companies pay for labor and in turn pays the workers in worthless Cuban pesos. The lack of items of first necessity, of which the island was self-sufficient in before 1959, has reached incredible levels. Cuba is the only country with a strict rationing of basic products, already lasting 36 years. To make things worse, the dollar has almost become the official currency, without which it is difficult to buy most of these goods that are plentiful in the dollar stores. The cities are falling to pieces because of disrepair due to governmental control of construction
materials, which the government exports.

While medication made in Cuba is exported, the average Cuban lacks a simple aspirin. At the same time, foreigners have the right to exclusive medical care not available to the average citizen. The same occurs with the new privileged class, called "pinchos", who don't have to endure the same penuries they have imposed upon the Cuban people. It is for the foreigner and with the complicity of the regime that a singular brand of prostitution has emerged that has turned the island into a quasi-brothel, because it serves the interests of the great señor. These women attract the tourists that bring the once hated dollar, trying to make up for the resounding failure of other industries like sugar production. This irrational political-economic system produced by a megalomaniacal evil genius, has not been effective at building or producing goods, but has been very effective repressing its people. In view of the impossibility of changing the system, the alternative for many is to escape at any cost. From this has surged the unusual phenomenon of the "rafters", unique in the world. For them, the expression, "I prefer to die at sea than keep living in Cuba," has become a common one since the people perceive that there is no other alternative to the unbearable nonsense imposed by Castro.


CONSEQUENCES FOR THE WORLD


Castro's consolidation of power after the Bay of Pigs episode also resulted in great negative consequences for the rest of the world. In 1962, the world was at the brink of nuclear holocaust due to the installation of those weapons in Cuba, but Castro didn't care that the island would be destroyed in a nuclear confrontation. On another note, Castro has recently confessed that he promoted subversion around the world, especially in Latin America, with its aftermath of death and suffering, as well as the open military intervention in Africa. There is solid evidence pointing to Castro's unscrupulous participation in drug trafficking since the early 1960's, particularly towards the United States, to which he swore he would wage his most important battle when he was still in the Sierra Maestra. It is also worthwhile to remember that Castro can be considered the creator of aerial terrorism while he was a guerrilla, with the hijacking of aircraft, one of which ended in tragedy.

In view of these realities one can only wonder how much blood, sweat and tears Cuba and the world would have been spared if Brigade 2506 had triumphed at the Bay of Pigs.



Brigada 2506 Memorial in Miami Florida, USA


Cross commerating one of the 114 dead Brigada 2506 members in Miami Florida, USA.