Opinion: From our all-star readers: True industrial freedom

Did I miss the larger point of today’s broadside against Fidel Castro, or was it really just about calling the international left ‘pathetic’ as well as naming and shaming those who dare visit Cuba? If so, one could be forgiven for having a different opinion about who is looking desperate and pathetic at this moment in time, particularly given the distortions and things left out of the piece. As an opening salvo, you inexplicitly call the leaders of Vietnam, Venezuela and Bolivia a ‘murderous row of left-wing luminaries.’ While this sort of baseless name calling is not new in the US press, I would not expect it from an editorial page editor of the LA Times. The leaders of the dozens of other nations that have visited Cuba this year are apparently not as exciting to mention. Neither is the fact that Cuba was elected to head the Non-Aligned Movement - still the largest, most important bloc of developing countries in the world. While you seem to certainly have some fascination with Cuba, it is a shame you apparently do not care to scratch the surface of the events you’re commenting on. If so, you’d would have found that the Vietnam visit was long in planning, and from the way Fidel went on and on about their country’s successes, it appears both countries see benefit from cavorting with the other. Ortega and Chavez on the other hand, were in Havana for working meetings based around the recent ALBA conference, whereby those country’s comparative advantages are able to be put to use. Thousands have sight, health care and affordable energy supplies for the first time out of the deals. Cuba is said to have produced a ‘catastrophic economic model.’ While this is certainly conventional wisdom, an actual glance at statistics might propel one to think otherwise. During the decades of great neo-liberalism, Cuba has been one of the best performing economies (even with a horrendous depression after the fall of the USSR). For three years in a row Cuba and Venezuela have had the top growing economies in the region (the CIA pegs it at 8%, using an outdated formula tailored for capitalist countries. Cuba says 12%). You call Castro’s writing ‘absurd and paranoid,’ apparently unimpressed by the US’ sordid history on the island or that the US maintains a policy of regime change, has recently spent millions on creating a ‘plan for transformation’ and created a new CIA office dedicated to Cuba and Venezuela. Never mind the illegal and immoral embargo that gets shot down at the UN by a new record landslide each year (184-4 this year I think). Sincerely disappointedMatthew GlesneLos Angelesaviewtothesouth.blogspot.com

Being Hispanic is not enough. Gonzales has violated his oath of office, the Constitution, the laws and treaties of the United States, and any reasonable standard of administrative competence. If that record is not enough to have him removed from office, by firing or impeachment, then we are no longer a nation of laws. Since the Bush Administration’s record shows that our President intends turn the United States into something other than a nation of laws, the impeachment process must begin. Political calculations are not enough; this is not business as usual. Eric Root