PrintMay 6, 2010
'¡Cuba Si! - Arizona No!' Says Mexican President Felipe Calderón
Mexican President Felipe Calderón can hardly contain his revulsion and rage against Arizona's SB 1070. He's "deeply troubled," reports the Associated Press, over a law he denounces as "discriminatory and racist," not to mention "a dire threat to the whole Hispanic-American population."
This new Arizona law "opens the door to intolerance, hate, discrimination and abuse in law enforcement," sputters the Mexican president.
Indeed, this "threat to Hispanics" and these "abuses in law enforcement" have been ongoing for years. The Associated Press carried a story where one Maria Elena Gonzalez reported how female migrants were "forced to strip by abusive police officers, supposedly to search them, but the purpose is to sexually abuse them."
Jose Ramos, 18, reported "that extortion by border police occurs at every stop on their migratory route, until migrants are left penniless and begging for food."
According to this Associated Press story, "Others said they had seen migrants beaten to death by police, their bodies left near the railway tracks to make it look as if they had fallen from a train." "If you're carrying any money, they take it from you," said Carlos Lopez. "Federal, state, local police -- all of them shake you down. If you're on a bus, they pull you off and search your pockets, and if you have any money, they keep it all and say, get out of here."
All of the above "hate" and "abuses in law enforcement" as reported by the Associated Press befell Central American migrants who enter Mexico. So perhaps Mexican President Calderón knows what he's talking about?
But what he's also talking lately -- rather than getting his own house in order -- is an economic boycott of Arizona.
"Commercial ties between Mexico and Arizona will be affected by this law," vowed President Calderon in a speech last week to the Institute for Mexicans Abroad. "We are going to act."
The hear-hears, toasts, and tinkling wineglasses after Calderón's pronouncement have been many. Arizona Congressman Raul Grijalva, for instance, took a few minutes off from denouncing American economic sanctions against Stalinist Cuba to champion American economic sanctions against his state.
The Rev. Al Sharpton hails Fidel Castro as "one of the three most impressive people I have ever met" and deplores his "demonizing" by the U.S. After all, while Fidel Castro's guest in 2000, Mr. Sharpton saw "absolutely no human rights violations in Cuba." So impressed was Mr. Sharpton by Fidel's fiefdom that he even tried organizing a hip-hop concert in Havana to "bring down the embargo [against Cuba]!" Now he plans a "freedom-walk" to help erect one against Arizona.
South African Bishop Desmond Tutu also advocates unfettered commerce with the regime that jailed political prisoners at a higher rate than Stalin's and executed more people (out of a population of 6.5 million) in its first three years in power than Hitler's executed (out of a population of 65 million) in its first six. These Cuban political prisoners, by the way, included the longest-suffering black political prisoner of the 20th century, Eusebio Penalver. As I write, Oscar Elias Biscet, another black Cuban, suffers a sentence of 25 years in Castro's torture chambers. His crimes consist essentially of quoting the U.N. Declaration of Human Rights and the works of Martin Luther King in a Cuban public square.
"¡Viva Fidel!" bellowed embargo-opponent Rev. Jesse Jackson during a speech at the University of Havana in June 1984, while trailing a 300-person entourage that included Rev. Jeremiah Wright. "¡Viva Che Guevara!" he yelled again with fists raised high. "Long live our cry of freedom!"
"He [Jesse Jackson] is a great personality," reciprocated a beaming Fidel Castro, whose regime ranks among the U.S. State department's State Sponsors of Terrorism. "Jackson is a brilliant man," continued Castro. "His main characteristic is honesty. He is sincere, and there is no hint of demagoguery in his speech" (italics mine).
"He [Jesse Jackson] is a great personality," reciprocated a beaming Fidel Castro, whose regime ranks among the U.S. State department's State Sponsors of Terrorism. "Jackson is a brilliant man," continued Castro. "His main characteristic is honesty. He is sincere, and there is no hint of demagoguery in his speech" (italics mine).
While calling for an embargo against Arizona last week, Jesse Jackson denounced SB 1070 as "terrorism for the innocent."
At a European summit last year, Mexican President Calderón explained his fastidious "no sanctions" policy towards Stalinist Cuba. "Respect for the decisions of the Cuban people should mark the political future of the Caribbean nation," he declared to loud applause.
Yes, Señor Calderón, but as you undoubtedly realize, the "decisions of the Cuban people" are not precisely in line with those of the Stalinist regime that enslaves them and prevents them (under penalty of firing squad and/or torture) from expressing their decisions as Arizonans did -- as the latter recently sided by a margin of almost 70% with SB 1070.
(P.S. I've used the incorrect term "embargo" for simplicity's sake. Despite what you constantly read and hear from his agents [on the payroll and off], the U.S. has been Castro's main food-supplier and fourth-biggest trading partner for close to a decade now.)
Humberto Fontova is the author of four books, including Fidel: Hollywood's Favorite Tyrant and Exposing the Real Che Guevara. Visit hfontova.com.
