This weekend a great friend took me to see this movie and it caused me to think about a man whom I give the utmost respect and deep acknowledgment to but still hold a sharp frustration towards some of his actions against my country. I also thought about all the social injustices in Cuba that spurred such a revolution to come about so I thought I'd give my two-cents about a hero of mine =)
Fidel Castro is one of the most controversial characters on the planet and of all history. Being motivated by the capitalistic injustices imposed by the US upon Cuba, he lead the Cuban Revolution and installed himself as President of Cuba, deposing the US-supported Cuban president Fulgencio Batista and cutting off unjust economic ties with the US. He fought for the indigenous, peasant people of Cuba who were voiceless politically and who were ridden of their lands by the Cuban government in favor of US businesses to use it and prosper, benefiting American interest and Cuban elites. Essentially, he fought for the marginalized people of Cuba who couldn't defend themselves.
But there is a group of people that were tremendously affected by Castro's new regime, the Cuban Exiles. A lot of these exiles were rich and prominent business owners who legitimately earned their prosperity in capitalist Cuba before Fidel, and they were forced to give up their private businesses because it contradicted with Fidel's imposed communist/socialist government. And while Fidel eliminated capitalism to make the playing field even for the educated and the peasant, the entangled Cuban middle and upper classes had all of their hard work, their education, their homes, their social lives and their connections squashed, giving them no choice but to leave Cuba and go look somewhere else to make a living, away from their homeland.
Now it's a very sticky situation because on one side the peasants who worked the land and lived off of it we forced off unjustly for the sake of capitalist Cuban and US businesses to thrive, and on the other there were many legit Cubans thriving privately, selling goods and services to the public market, buying homes and property, affording quality education for themselves and their children, investing in stock internationally, totally living the "American Dream" in Cuba. The idea to equal the slanted playing field was very worthy of praise and love but it's the communistic component that bothered the now exiled Cubans, killing their private, free market ambitions. But in the end, it's the marginalized peasants that were favored to be a part of Fidel's new Cuban national vision, but at the cost of kicking out American businesses negatively sucking economic power and resources from the island and it's people, and a lot of honest capitalist Cubans with their legit businesses and lives.
"The road to hell is paved with good intentions,"
and social injustice can still happen when you
try to be socially just.
We should judge and do
things carefully,
my friends.
-gs1r-
LISTENING TO:Falling Away With You
by: Muse
Absolution
No comments:
Post a Comment