Paging Michael Moore: Cuba Won't Send Boxers To US For Fear Of Defections - Political Forum

superdude17* · #1 (**permalink**) 08-29-2007, 02:40 PM

Source: NewsBusters

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Anyone who follows the MSM knows that Cuba is a virtual paradise. A land of free health care, universal literacy and low infant-mortality rates where, as Andrea Mitchell has explained to us, kids don't care about freedom and the only big problems are those caused by the U.S. Yes, Cuba is the sort of place no one would ever want to leave. Certainly not to go to live in the United States, where, as everyone knows thanks to Michael Moore's "Sicko," health care is so bad that 9-11 heroes are forced to seek help from Havana.

And yet . . .

According to AP:

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uba won’t send a boxing team to the world championships in Chicago, heeding Fidel Castro’s fears about future defections after two fighters abandoned their teammates during the Pan American Games.

The competition is one of three qualifying tournaments for the 2008 Olympics.

“We will not expose anew a Cuban boxing team to the abuses and provocations that in this case will be present in Chicago, American territory, the perfect location for marketers and traffickers to act freely and with the total complicity of U.S. authorities,” the Cuban Boxing Federation said Wednesday.

But the federation insisted Cuba won’t forgo next year’s Olympics, stating that there will be “other opportunities to win qualification for Beijing 2008.”

“That’s a right that all members of the Cuban sports movement have and one we will exercise at the appropriate moment,” boxing officials said in a statement published in official newspapers.

Guillermo Rigondeaux, Cuba’s top boxer and a two-time Olympic bantamweight champion, and Erislandy Lara, an amateur welterweight world champion, vanished for about two weeks last month in Brazil, only to be arrested and deported. The fighters say they never intended to defect and asked to return to Cuba, but a German promoter insists both signed five-year contracts and officials at the German Embassy in Brazil claim the pair sought visas.

The 81-year-old Castro has not been seen in public since emergency intestinal surgery forced him to cede power to his younger brother 13 months ago. But he proclaimed in an Aug. 7 essay that Rigondeaux and Lara would never fight for Cuba again, saying “the athlete who abandons his delegation is not unlike the soldier who abandons his fellow men in the midst of combat.”

Castro hinted the boxing federation would pull out of the worlds, which begin Oct. 21 at the University of Chicago, saying “just picture the mafia sharks lurking about in search of fresh meat,” referring to would-be promoters who could try to persuade Cuban fighters to desert.

“Cuba will not sacrifice one bit of honor, nor any of its ideas, for Olympic gold medals,” Castro wrote.

The Cuban boxing federation said “many factors” influenced its decision, but Castro’s defection worries carried the most weight.

“The robbery of everything that stands out in Cuban society, it doesn’t matter if its an athlete, teacher, doctor, artist, scientist or anything else, has been the practice of different U.S. governments in their permanent political aggression against our people,” its statement said.

In reaching its decision, the federation wrote, it “profoundly analyzed the threats of groups that with teams of negotiators serve one of the most vile interests of the United States and some of its allies, the theft of athletes.”

The federation also criticized the International Amateur Boxing Association for failing to stop promoters who lure fighters into deserting during international tournaments, and looking the other way in the face of “permanent aggressions against Cuba and its athletics.”

"Abuses and provocations." Commie-speak for the lure of freedom and opportunity.

Wonder how the MSM will explain this one away?

I guess some people just hate having free, high-quality health care.

Aegis · #2 (**permalink**) 08-29-2007, 04:29 PM

I think that this calls for intervention by that lefty lover of S. American dictators, the one and only liberal moon bat Cindy Sheehan. Hell, she hasn't polished Castro's knob yet so that would be her big chance to give Fidel a BJ.

iTaliAN_ICe · #3 (**permalink**) 08-29-2007, 06:50 PM

Who cares? Cuba sucks, but it's no business of yours or mine.

Aegis · #4 (**permalink**) 08-29-2007, 06:58 PM

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Originally Posted by iTaliAN_ICe

Who cares? Cuba sucks, but it's no business of yours or mine.

Sure it is. If Cuba wants to normalize relations with the US restricting its citizens freedom of movement isn't sending the right signals.

If Cuba is such a paradise why is it that so many Cubans are risking their lives to sail to Florida? I have yet to hear of anyone defecting to Cuba.

iTaliAN_ICe · #5 (**permalink**) 08-29-2007, 07:45 PM

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Originally Posted by Aegis

Sure it is. If Cuba wants to normalize relations with the US restricting its citizens freedom of movement isn't sending the right signals.

But do they want to normalize relations? Even if they do, look at some of our current allies, like the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia for starters. We befriended the Soviets (under Stalin, for god's sake) in the past. We've supported plenty of governments that mistreat their citizens. Apparently it only matters when they aren't friendly with us.

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Originally Posted by Aegis

If Cuba is such a paradise why is it that so many Cubans are risking their lives to sail to Florida? I have yet to hear of anyone defecting to Cuba.

Don't ask me. I never called it a paradise. In fact, I agreed that it probably sucks. I wouldn't want to live there.

Aegis · #6 (**permalink**) 08-29-2007, 08:06 PM

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Originally Posted by iTaliAN_ICe

But do they want to normalize relations?

I suspect that they do. During his tenure as head of Cuba, Raul Castro made reference to normalizing relations with the US if trade restrictions were lifted.

iTaliAN_ICe · #7 (**permalink**) 08-29-2007, 08:56 PM

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Originally Posted by Aegis

I suspect that they do. During his tenure as head of Cuba, Raul Castro made reference to normalizing relations with the US if trade restrictions were lifted.

Interesting. I personally don't see any reason not to normalize relations with any willing country, unless they're blatantly and actively abusing their citizens.

Kazikli Bey · #8 (**permalink**) 08-30-2007, 01:36 AM

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Originally Posted by Aegis

If Cuba is such a paradise why is it that so many Cubans are risking their lives to sail to Florida? I have yet to hear of anyone defecting to Cuba.

Lee Harvey Oswald was attempting too, so there's one

joep182 · #9 (**permalink**) 09-03-2007, 09:14 PM

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Originally Posted by Aegis

Sure it is. If Cuba wants to normalize relations with the US restricting its citizens freedom of movement isn't sending the right signals.

The US restricts it's citizens movements to Cuba so why shouldn't the Cubans do the same ?