LETTER TO PRESIDENT BUSH

President George Walker Bush
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, D.C. 20500

March 30, 2002

Dear President Bush,

There have always died soldiers in war. The nature of war has demanded it. And though some wars have appeared "necessary," to those who might have preferred to remain at peace, there is little doubt that going to war has always been an individual choice made by every one of those who has fought.

As necessary as any war might seem, the killing of another human being, no matter how guilty he might be, does not edify or improve the one who killed him. It has often occurred that neither the killers nor the dead had truly wished to come to the battle; neither had they truly understood the reason for the conflict or felt that the stated reason made sense.

A new type of war is taking place today in Cuba, one without guns, tanks or other deadly arms, unless the truth may be said to be deadly. Armed with only the truth, soldiers in this war must continue to run toward the fight, flinging only facts and words at an enemy who has spent the last 43 years rewarding such bravery with imprisoment, torture, execution, and starvation.

Men, women and children have died in this war against tyranny, while the world has looked the other way, as though the tyrant were not a murderer. If the freedom fighters in this conflict had been armed with guns, the world would have labeled theirs a civil war. But in the absence of shooting, and while the only casualties of the last 43 years have occurred among the oppressed population, the world has pretended that the Castro regime somehow has been magically transformed from a bloody revolutionary band into a legitimate government.

They like to call the bloody, megalomaniacal dictator "President Castro," as though the people had elected him. The war in Cuba is escalating. People are coming forward in unprecedented numbers to publicly make known their dissent and discontent with a regime that has always despised the rights common to all humanity. It is a civil war, and one which will continue to result in death, torture, imprisonment, and starvation for the opposers of Castro and his band of slave overseers.

But history might as well already have been written. The Castro regime is in its final days. Freedom will come to Cuba, and those who enslaved her for so long will fall from power. Just as every tyranny throughout the history of the world has fallen, so will that of the Castro regime, which will hold a place in history as the longest-lived totalitarian regimes.

The question has to do with your place in history with relation to this war, and this tyrant, and the general apathy surrounding Cuba's enslavement that has for so long been condoned by the United States. While the brave opposers of the Castro regime in Cuba continue to put their necks on the chopping block, will your administration continue to make well-worded statements against the regime, but no more?

Will you continue to remain silent in the face of the conduct of certain Americans, some of who are congressional representatives, who call for normalization of relations with the Caribbean's counterpart of Hitler, or for free trade with a man who starves his nation? The least you could do would be to counteract the silence of the media by yourself putting the issue in perspective for the American people, who do not realize that they are not being told the truth.

Will you continue to look the other way, while American yachtowners and others who ignore the ban on tourism and commerce in Cuba continue to travel to Cuba for enjoyment alone, bringing the tourism dollars that keep the regime alive? If the Coast Guard can stop the vessels of Democracy Movement from holding memorial services for Cubans massacred by the Castro regime, they should also stop American vessels traveling to Cuba for pleaure.

Will you continue to make periodic statements, demonstrating your insistence that Castro democratize Cuban society, and take no further action to pressure him to do so? Will you allow American farmers to sell products to Castro, and not first insist that Castro abolish restrictions on food purchases by Cubans, which restrictions were instituted before the embargo?

These are the questions that some voters wish to see answered. Voters often have little power or influence beyond the ability to refuse to contribute to or vote for candidates of whom they disapprove. Some voters feel that, if you fight terrorism in the Middle East, you should fight terrorism in the Caribbean; that you must do what is right all the time, not only when forced to do it.

It is not easy to continue to throw words into the void, wondering whether men like you pay attention. But those who do so will continue to do so. What will you do?

Sincerely,
David L. Rosenthal
5701 Forrest Street
Hollywood, Florida 33021

Logo

Organización Auténtica