Stick to the facts

[This letter, written by Paul, is in response to Bob Connolly’s letter in the March 16 edition of the Walpole Times]

The first thing I want to say is that I’m not a communist sympathizer. I am the owner of a small business with 12 employees. I have been running this business for close to 23 years. I believe wholeheartedly in capitalism – it has allowed me to live a lifestyle that I never would have dreamed possible. I don’t believe, however, in the unrestrained, purely profit driven form of capitalism that the U.S. promotes. This results in inhumane sweatshops and a foreign policy that attempts to control other countries (usually poor ones) either politically and/or economically. So let’s stop with the commie name calling (which serves only as a distraction) and stick to the facts.

The facts about Cuba are: 1. The U.S. has been trying to overthrow the Cuban government for over 45 years by using an embargo that is causing severe economic hardships for the innocent Cuban people. 2. This embargo has been condemned by virtually every country in the world except Israel! 3. Despite this embargo, Cubans now have the highest quality of life when compared to any country in Latin America. 4. When I was in Cuba, everyone in our group was able to go anywhere and talk to anyone we wanted to. We never had to fear for our safety. We heard plenty of complaints about the Cuban government from many people (usually the younger generation), but on the whole the vast majority were very supportive of their government. In other words, Bob, these people were free to speak their minds! The majority of Cubans blame the U.S. embargo for their hardship! 5. As far as dissenters being severely punished goes, the Cuban government claims that the people who they have imprisoned were getting support and material aid from the U.S. What do you think Bush would do if the U.S. suspected that someone was working to overthrow our government? Hint: think Guantanamo, torture, etc. The fact of the matter is that until the U.S. stops its brutal, inhumane embargo, it is impossible to put the blame totally on the Cuban government. If we stop the embargo and Cuba then imprisons dissenters, I will then blame the Cuban government.

As far as the Venezuelan upper class complaining about electoral fraud goes, the fact is that the Carter Center, headed by Jimmy Carter, and the Organization of American States, observed the elections from start to finish and declared the elections were free and fair. It’s no surprise that the upper class would claim the elections to be fraudulent. Think about it. Here’s a country that has been a major oil exporter for decades, which should make it a very wealthy nation. And it is, but only about 20 percent of the people have enjoyed that wealth. The other 80 percent live below the poverty level. (We are talking extreme wealth as well as extreme poverty.) So Hugo Chavez becomes President and decides to implement programs to help the poor. Guess where the money came from! One main area was collecting the taxes that the rich had been avoiding under previous administrations. In 1997, before Chavez became President, the government collected $10.2 billion in taxes and in 2005, it collected $17.8 billion. So, here we have a situation where Chavez is making major changes in government programs that help 80 percent of the people who are poor and getting the wealthy 20 percent to pay their taxes to provide the money for those programs. Bob, do you still believe there was electoral fraud now? Or do you think that maybe the wealthy have an axe to grind?

One point worth noting here is the letter written on the same page as Bob’s by Lauren Doty. This was a heartfelt appeal to save the music program in Walpole. I find it ironic that Cuba and Venezuela are actively supporting the arts programs in their schools while in the richest nation in the world many towns are facing cutbacks due to lack of money. Maybe this is one of the things that the Bush Administration doesn’t want the American public to learn about. After all, getting the rich to pay for their fair share of the taxes has allowed Chavez to provide free healthcare for everyone and generally expand the educational programs for everyone as well. Not only has Bush cut back on taxes for the rich, he started the ill fated war with Iraq that has cost each person roughly $1,000, which translates into $23 million for the town of Walpole! Think what we could do with $23 million!

Bob, thanks for bringing Human Rights Watch (HRW) and Amnesty International (AI) into the debate. These are both very important organizations that I have been supporting for many years. They perform a vital service, namely, keeping a watchful eye on all governments, including the U.S. I don’t have the time or the space to respond to your other charges now, so let me leave you with this little bit of information. When you go to their websites you will see reports that express the concerns on various issues that they have for each country. HRW has about 25 listings for Venezuela, which is about the same as Canada and Italy, and Germany has about 50. The U.S. has about 1,200! AI has about 50 for Venezuela while Canada has 45, Italy has 65, Germany has 67 and the U.S. has 1,448! Not very good for the Bush Administration, Bob.

Bob, I’d be more than willing to address your other charges during the talk I’m giving on Venezuela at the Walpole Library on April 4 at 7:30 p.m. If you can’t make it, then I’ll respond with a letter on these pages at a later date.

Paul Peckham
Walpole