Left I on the News

In an interview with Univisión's Jorge Ramos, Obama commented on a recent column by Fidel Castro in which Fidel commented on Obama's speech to the CANF. And what did Obama have to say about that column?

"I doubt that Fidel wrote his latest editorial. I think he's too sick to do so."

What's "sick" is American politicians, Democratic and Republican alike. What an utterly ignorant statement by Obama. What a complete ass. First of all, anyone familiar with Fidel's speeches and writings recognizes immediately from both the content and the style that Fidel, and only Fidel, wrote that column, as with all the others. Secondly, there is only one person in Cuba with the nerve to write an article in which the words "I" and "me" appear repeatedly referring to Fidel Castro, and that's Fidel Castro. Can you imagine someone else daring to think they had the right to speak in Fidel's name?

Although it may seem paradoxical, Obama's ignorant remark that the column was not written by Fidel stems from the long-standing American obsession, which Obama has absorbed along with 99% of the rest of Americans, that Cuba=Fidel Castro, Fidel Castro=Cuba. Surprisingly to Obama, and most American politicians, the Cuban leadership is actually composed of many people, and if the Cuban government wants to make a statement on something, as they often do, they can do it in a statement issued by the Foreign Ministry, or the U.N. Ambassador, or as a resolution in the National Assembly, or as a statement from the President (Raúl). They hardly need to disguise observations about Obama in the form of a statement in the name of Fidel Castro but not written by him.

In the same interview, Obama, as he has before, refers to "our enemies in Cuba and Venezuela." Wouldn't it be nice to see some recognition from Obama that Cuba trains American medical students (for free!), offered to send doctors to aid the Gulf Coast, that Venezuela offers low-cost heating oil to poor Americans, and that the only sense in which Cuba and Venezuela are "enemies" is because "we" (the U.S.) target them, and not the other way around. There is a one-sided war going on, and all Obama has to do to remove Cuba and Venezuela from the "enemies list" is to stop that war.