Cuba's Fahrenheit 451

Fire of Liberty

It's rather interesting to hear all of these people who call-in on C-SPAN's Washington Journal and make bombastic statements like "America is a fascist country" or "President Bush and the Republicans are a bunch of book-burning theocrats," while they ignore actual book-burning and the suppression of freedom of thought and press that occurs daily in El Hefe's "Worker Paradise" of Cuba. Why aren't these people devoting more energy in decrying the actions of Castro who is locking up various librarians because they carry books that talk about freedom and democracy or are critical of totalitarianism in all forms. Just look at what Nat Hentoff wrote in his most recent column over at the Washington Times had to say about Castro's maximum security police state:

We were talking about Fidel Mr. Castro's recurring crackdowns on those remarkably courageous Cubans who keep working to bring democracy to that grim island where dissenters, including independent librarians, are locked in cages, often for 20 or more years. Mr. Bradbury knew about the crackdowns, but until I told him, was not aware of Mr. Castro's kangaroo courts (while sentencing the "subversives") often ordering the burning of the independent libraries they raid, just like in "451." For example, on April 5, 2003, after Julio Valdes Guevara was sent away, the judge ruled: "As to the disposition of the photographic negatives, the audio cassette, medicines, books, magazines, pamphlets and the rest of the documents, they are to be destroyed by means of incineration because they lack usefulness." Hearing about this, Mr. Bradbury authorized me to convey this message from him to Fidel Castro:"Istand against any library or any librarian anywhere in the world being imprisoned or punished in any way for the books they circulate.

"I plead with Castro and his government to immediately take their hands off the independent librarians and release all those librarians in prison, and to send them back into Cuban culture to inform the people." Among the books destroyed through the years by Fidel's arsonists have been volumes on Martin Luther King Jr., the U.S. Constitution, and even a book by the late Jose Marti, who organized, and was killed in, the Cuban people's struggle for independence.

Now tell me who's the real tyrant after seeing this information on Cuba. People can make all of these silly comments and try to tear this nation apart with such blind rage and hatred towards our duly elected leader, but they seem to forget that their is a real tyrant 90 miles off the coast of Florida who is keeping his jackboot on the necks of the Cuban people while throwing various books, manuscripts and documents on the "Communist Revolutionary" pyre to keep his police state like he wants it. So I recommend anyone who feels like making such horrific claims towards our President should turn their fire towards Castro where it truly deserving.

P.S. Check out Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451 too see what Castro is doing. Good movie as well.