University of Virginia Library

Unfair Comparison

Let me say first that while I
hold no ill feelings towards Mr.
Portuondo or most other refugees
from Cuba, self-exiled or otherwise,
I do very much want to voice an
opinion here concerning his letter
of Feb. 18. While many of the
things Mr. Portuondo related about
Cuba are true, he continually finds
them to be wrong by comparing
them with the American system.
Naturally, suppression of freedom
of speech, murder, and injustice
cannot be excused as being part of
any country's "culture". However,
we cannot judge the Cuban
Government simply by measuring it
against our own.

This attitude of the typical
American and Cuban refugee is
painfully illustrated by Mr.
Portuondo himself when he states
"The regime...has been in power for
more than twelve years without
bothering to hold a single election,
not even a fake one as in other
Communist countries." The idea of
holding phony elections was put to
Castro by Nikita Khrushchev in 1960,
who couldn't understand why, who
wouldn't follow this strategy which
had worked so well in Eastern
Europe. But this was exactly the
kind of thing Castro stood against,
the kind of thing that had plagued
Cuba before the Revolution.

Mr. Portuondo's memory fails
him when he states that it was Cuba
who severed the ties with the U.S.,
when in fact it was Eisenhower who
broke diplomatic relations on Dec.
12, 1960, and it was he, followed
by Kennedy, Johnson, and Nixon
who have tried to isolate Cuba from
this hemisphere.

Again Mr. Portuondo's memory
fails him when he fondly
remembers Cuba as "...one of the
most prosperous countries of Latin
America..." This grossly misleading
statement suggests that Cuba was
better off before the Revolution,
which is simply not the case.
Furthermore, it is impossible to
measure the standard of living of a
nation by examining their G.N.P.
Nor is it effective to examine per
capita income in a highly socialized
state such as Cuba.