March 29, 2016 Lloyd Billingsley
President puts time back on the clock for the Castro dictatorship.
In August, three months before the election that will determine the new President of the United States, the Games of the XXXI Olympiad will take place in Rio De Janeiro, Brazil. Who will prevail in the medal count is open to speculation. As fans ponder the prospects, a past Olympic moment offers a perspective on President Obama’s recent visit to Cuba.
During the 1972 Munich Olympics, a young United States men’s basketball team came from behind to defeat a more experienced squad from the Soviet Union by a score of 50-49. The buzzer sounded and the Americans began to celebrate. Then Renato William Jones, secretary-general of the International Federation of Amateur Basketball (FIBA), came out of the stands. Reportedly a good friend of the Soviets, Jones prevailed on Olympic officials to put time back on the clock. They did so three times and on their third try the Soviets scored a basket and stole the victory from the Americans. That outcome foreshadowed what would later take place in Cuba.
Under Fidel Castro, a Stalinist, sadist and economic crackpot, Cuba proved a loser on every economic indicator, not only in comparison to the United States but virtually every nation in the hemisphere. Cuba was a Soviet colony and the regime could not have survived without massive subsidies. A US trade embargo failed to gain reparations, dislodge the totalitarian regime, or promote democratic reforms.
In return for lifting the embargo, many observers would agree, it is reasonable that the Cuban regime should hold free and fair elections for the first time in more than half a century. Many would also consider it reasonable that the Castro regime, whose human rights violations take up so much space in Amnesty International reports, should allow freedom of speech, association, and assembly. The current President of the United States made no such demands.
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During the 1972 Munich Olympics, a young United States men’s basketball team came from behind to defeat a more experienced squad from the Soviet Union by a score of 50-49. The buzzer sounded and the Americans began to celebrate. Then Renato William Jones, secretary-general of the International Federation of Amateur Basketball (FIBA), came out of the stands. Reportedly a good friend of the Soviets, Jones prevailed on Olympic officials to put time back on the clock. They did so three times and on their third try the Soviets scored a basket and stole the victory from the Americans. That outcome foreshadowed what would later take place in Cuba.
Under Fidel Castro, a Stalinist, sadist and economic crackpot, Cuba proved a loser on every economic indicator, not only in comparison to the United States but virtually every nation in the hemisphere. Cuba was a Soviet colony and the regime could not have survived without massive subsidies. A US trade embargo failed to gain reparations, dislodge the totalitarian regime, or promote democratic reforms.
In return for lifting the embargo, many observers would agree, it is reasonable that the Cuban regime should hold free and fair elections for the first time in more than half a century. Many would also consider it reasonable that the Castro regime, whose human rights violations take up so much space in Amnesty International reports, should allow freedom of speech, association, and assembly. The current President of the United States made no such demands.
-go to links-
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