From: Fred B. Moseley (fmoseley@MTHOLYOKE.EDU)
Date: Fri May 16 2003 - 18:39:16 EDT
I also mostly agree with Hans. I clearly do not want capital punishment is my ideal socialist society, free from US aggression. However, in the current circumstances of unrelenting and escalating US aggression against Cuba, I think such punishment may be at times necessary, as an act of self-defense, essentially in a time of war. In defending these actions, Fidel told a story last week about a traitor in the Sierra Maestra mountains during the revolutionary struggle in 1957, who tipped off the Batista army of the rebels' location. They shot him, because he was endangering their lives and the whole revolution. Fidel said that is what it is like today - the hijackers are endangering the lives of Cubans. I may not be completely persuaded by this argument, but I can certainly understand why the Cubans - under the threat of invasion by the US for over 40 years - would be persuaded. However, I think that this harsh punishment was a mistake politically. It weakens the support for Cuba around the world, and within the US. The US congress has actually been moving closer to ending the boycott on Cuba, although such legislation would still face a Bush veto. Even some Miami Cubans seem to be changing their mind. But now it will be much more difficult to gather support to end the boycott. Since I think ending the boycott would be a great economic benefit for Cuba, I would make that a top priority, and try not to upset the momentum toward ending the boycott, to say nothing of avoiding a pretext for US invasion, if I could help it. I am sure that the Cubans were aware of this possible negative political effect, and they must have felt that they nonetheless had no choice. This is a tactical, political decision, but it seems like a mistake to me. Comradely, Fred
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.5 : Sat May 17 2003 - 00:00:00 EDT