Baba-Bull Watch: El Maleconazo

Alberto at Babalu has a good post marking the 16th anniversary of the Maleconazo - a fleeting moment in which Cubans expressed their displeasure with the way things were. My only problem with the post is the conclusion where Alberto posits that the real story of the Maleconazo is how close Cubans came to freedom that day. Uhhhhh, not really. I think he exaggerates the promise and possibility of el Maleconazo. He can't be blamed for that since examples of street protests and demonstrations are so rare in Cuba. Regimes that have regimes that are usually dislodged by street protests are usually pseudo/quasi democracies and even some of them survive, see Iran. In addition to topple a regime it requires a sustained mass effort, something obviously lacking in el Maleconazo. The last outright totalitarian government to fall due to the strength of public demonstrations was Romania.

I also believe that the greater story is that el Maleconazo was the first mass public display of discontent on the island since the storming of the Peruvian embassy that gave rise to the Mariel Boatlift - over 14 years before. There also has not been a significant uprising since then, another 16 years. That is the big story - two mass signs of protests in 30 years. That is not a very inspiring record.

Baba-Bull Watch: Corn Crappers

It's hard to rip Babalu, seriously it is. Sure the rant on Nebraskan leaders kowtowing to the Cuban commies is a bit over the top...c'mon if the Cubes actually are paying cash what harm does it do? Yes they are a bunch of rubes from corn country but despite our desperate hopes it is unlikely that the next Cuban government will turn them away just because they did business with Castro. If that was the case then the free Cuban government would only be able to trade with the US and no one else.

So just when I think that Baba-Bull is a waste then comes a great post on the plight of political prisoner Normando Hernandez. It is a must read...

Those Nasty Right-Wing Cubans

I read this piece in the WSJ the other day and meant to comment on it but Babalu pretty much covered it all. I will say this, I came out against the embargo quite publicly in a piece I wrote for a college paper here in Miami. It had started as a pro-embargo editorial but as I worked on it I found flaws in my thinking and I took a radically and unexpected turn. So I warned the parents and braced myself for the onslaught...the onslaught that never came. My fellow College Republicans chided me, my Bay of Pigs vet uncle bugged me and my childhood buddy's dad bombed me with literature but no one reproached me or threatened me. My mom, who worked at the school did not even get nasty comments from co-workers. Perhaps my conservative and anti-Castro activities shielded me from criticism but why didn't I get ripped by people who had no idea that I had once traveled to DC to lobby for continuing the embargo? Maybe we aren't so bad. Maybe we are more tolerant than we are made out to be.

Babalu Before Sunrise

I was wrong (savor that for a moment because it does not happen often) I said Babula Blog would nail Oscar Corral before sun up. Well sun up came and went at 7:09 but Val @ Babalu did not get around to it until 7:14.