CUBA BRIEF
FALSE COMPARISON
Re the Oct. 8 letter “Trump’s words and actions echo Castro’s:” This comparison failed to focus on the historical differences between Germany, Cuba and the United States, and on the nature of German and Cuban societies.
During and after World War I, Germany’s collapsed political institutions, armed forces and economic depression created the vacuum for Hitler to organize his movement, providing false hope to the German people.
Similarly, Fidel Castro rose to power in Cuba through violence, after seven years of Batista’s military leadership, which destroyed congressional and judicial powers, and the media, leaving Cubans hoping for a charismatic messiah to lead them.
The United States has strong judicial and congressional institutions, a free and dynamic press, and an intact military institution.
The rise of a Nazi or a Castro-like leader in America would require the destruction of the military, the collapse of the economy, the transformation of political and religious institutions, and the national rejection of a robust democratic past.
Not likely in the foreseeable future.
Jaime Suchlicki
Director
Cuban Studies Institute
Coral Gables
Published in the Miami Herald on October 12, 2020.
