[nuke][doug]It angered me when I heard (a few years ago) that former President Bill Clinton shook hands with Fidel Castro at the United Nations. Were I President, I would have relished the opportunity to speak with Castro, but I would not have shaken his hand, and my conversation would have opened with, “¿Por que odias tu propio gente?†(Why do you hate your own people?)
One of the first Cuban exiles I ever met, Pastor Elmer Fernandez, has a lovely final memory of Cuba—he was able to flee to America to be with relatives when he was 8 years old—his last significant memory is his mother saying to him, “Do you hear that noise? Those are gunshots. They [Castro’s revolutionaries] are executing our pastor.â€
Modern-day Cuba should be a paradise. It has amazing agricultural and tourist potential, yet in all but a few areas it clearly demonstrates the absolute failure of Totalitarian Communism. We know a number of people who have visited Cuba, some on covert missions trips, who are able to provide a better picture than our media. Would you like to live in a large city that has running water only two hours a week? How about visiting a hospital emergency room with your infant, to find nothing but squalor and crying? Would you enjoy being part of a population that cannot buy aspirin? Or books? The people there don’t even mention Castro’s name—they merely make a sign with their fist like a beard.
It is a pity Castro has lived so long.
I was reminded by one of the covert missionaries we know that what Castro really needs is salvation and regeneration through Jesus.
My bad.