I have a query of those with more detailed knowledge of Cuba. Whitford writes: These achievements > don't begin to justify Castro's awful human rights record, but they > are astonishing feats of social engineering.
A distinction. There ought to be a distinction between "human rights" and "civil" or "political" rights. Human rights are violated by death squads, disappearances, torture, mass imprisonment in brutal conditions of some sectors of the population, random sweeps and arrests in a neighborhood with brualization of the inhabitants, deprivation of prisoners of minimal bedding or toilet paper, forced labor, systematic sleep deprivation, random rapes by police, military and other officials, punishment of relatives of offenders. These would be ordinary violations of human rights. "Appalling" violation of human rights would characterize such regimes as that of Rios Montt, Idi Amin, Pol Pot, Israel. Voting, a free press, right to demonstrate, transparent governmental procedures, police review boards, unions, universal access to public facilities, recall of elected officials, unrestricted movement, religious choice are important political rights but hardly violation of _human_ rights. How does Cuba measure up from this perspective? Carrol
