The Capital Times collects the best of the local Madison reaction to the coming death of Fidel Castro. The sentiment is basically: Cubans love their island paradise, so please keep the horrible, horrible freedom away. U.S. moves toward Cuba worry locals:
Ricardo Gonzalez, a former Madison alderman who was born and raised in Cuba and founded the Madison-Camaguey Sister City Association, said … he also is troubled by the reports prepared by the U.S. Commission for Assistance to a Free Cuba, … “(This) is nothing more than a plan by the United States for the annexation of Cuba”.
Robert Kimbrough, a retired UW-Madison English professor and prominent local Socialist who has gone to Cuba 16 times with Madison delegations: "It is disgusting". The 2004 report said, 'We pledge to help the Cuban people, and a new transition Cuban government, as you move away from the totalitarian Communist dictatorship and toward a free and representative democracy.'
Dr. Bernard Micke, a UW Health physician who heads the Wisconsin Medical Project that takes medical supplies to a hospital in Cuba: “The Cubans are capable of governing themselves whether Castro is there or not. It is not a dictatorship to the degree that our government would like to paint it. This is a very functional government at the local and national levels,”
I forget, which foreign government was the last one the United States “annexed”? I thought it was the Philippines but apparently that country is still a member of the UN. It might have been when we invaded Hawaii and forced a vote for statehood at the end of a gun. In addition, Dr. Micke is a fine physician but should seriously consider that many prison systems have well run healthcare services that require the input of medical supplies, because virtually nothing is manufactured internally.
