The most important reason US audiences are generally so clueless about Cuba and the reason our government keeps getting out maneuvered by the Cuban government is that we listen to "experts" whose only aim is to smear the Cuban government.
And the Miami Herald is nothing but a conduit for the smears:
The Cuban American National Foundation said the moves were reminiscent of Russian Communist leader Joseph Stalin and are ``demonstrative of the regime's desire to place additional control of the government in the hands of the Cuban military.''
''I think this is Raúl definitely trying to put his own stamp on the government,'' said Sandy Acosta Cox, a political analyst at ECHO-Cuba, a Miami nonprofit that offers aid to evangelical churches on the island. ``I think this demonstrates that there were factions within the government: Fidelistas and Raulistas. . . . Positioning key Raulistas in place, especially before the major announcement everyone is anticipating -- Fidel's death -- ensures that there won't be a power struggle between the two factions.''
First of all, everything Raul does puts his stamp on the action, so that tells us nothing.
And everything one Communist government does is going to resemble the next. But CANF wants to make sure we associate the Cuban government with the worst of the worst.
I was in Cuba days before the elections that put Raul in power. At the time, there was a very small chance that the National Assembly might not pick Raul. So I asked people what they thought of Carlos Lage. I heard one cab driver describe Carlos Lage as harsh and undiplomatic.
And I've known that Felipe Perez Roque was a little over the top. So I'm wondering if these two men were replaced to put a softer, more empathetic face on the government.
But don't expect to get much deeper than that from the Miami Herald.
