I find it hilarious to hear any American speak about Cuba and human rights

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9. Fidel Castro was a major Human Rights Abuser and Dictator

Do you seriously believe that Fidel Castro did not separate families or engage in dictatorial human rights abuses?

In 1980 Castro initiated he Mariel Boat Lift-mentally ill persons and developmentally disabled person were summarily taken from institutions in Cuba and sent to an uncertain future in the US without any planning or even any care for their well-being. Even if those institutions were as bad as many of ours, using dictatorial powers to expell persons in distress and create havoc in the lives of people unable to fend for themselves was a truly disgusting act-

https://www.miamiherald.com/opinion/op-ed/article209282994.html

The Mariel Boatlift started with a surprise announcement by Cuban President Fidel Castro on April 20, 1980. He said that he was opening the port for Cubans to leave the Communist island. The Carter administration had secretly worked to improve relations with Castro, but was caught unaware and unprepared for Castro’s decision.

After the start of the exodus, Castro shocked the world by opening Cuban prisons and mental health facilities, transporting the prisoners and patients to the port for the 90-mile trip to Miami. Floridians from Key West to West Palm Beach sent private boats to Mariel to be paid by families and friends to transport the fleeing Cubans across the dangerous Florida Straits. The flotilla that this spurred was described by the press as “Rag Tag Chaos.’

Read more here: https://www.miamiherald.com/opinion/op-ed/article209282994.html#storylink=cpy


Human Rights Watch report of 2005 details abuses and looks at the actions of both the US and Cuba

https://www.refworld.org/docid/45cb38452.html

Over the past four decades, hundreds of thousands of people have left Cuba, many of them seeking basic rights denied them by the government of Fidel Castro, such as the rights to freedom of expression, association, and assembly. Their ability to pursue these freedoms abroad has been curtailed, however, by Cuba's denial of another fundamental right – the right to freedom of movement.

Cuba routinely refuses to grant its citizens permission to leave their country and often denies those who have left permission to return. These restrictions have resulted in the involuntary separation of many Cuban families, violating the rights of children to be with their parents.

The emotional toll on family members is immeasurable. A Cuban physicist who now lives in Brazil, for example, has never been able to meet his six-year-old son. His ex-wife and son are in Cuba, but because he violated Cuban travel restrictions by refusing to return from an authorized trip abroad in 2000, the Cuban government has barred him from visiting the island to see his child. A Cuban mother in Mexico, who was separated from her sons for three years in similar circumstances, told Human Rights Watch that she felt like the Cuban government "tore out a piece of my life."


The dictatorial leaders, the human rights abusers, the anti-democracy strongmen can be found on both the left and the right.