9 hours ago, fredwiggy said:

Works for some, until a better solution comes along.

The best solution is free market capitalism.

7 minutes ago, TedG said:

The best solution is free market capitalism.

Exactly. The only way to freedom.

2 minutes ago, Yagoda said:

Exactly. The only way to freedom.

Yes, Socialism is for losers.

9 hours ago, unblocktheplanet said:

And Cuba would have been successful were it not for US revenge over the last 70 years. I still hope it's salvageable. Cuba's tertiary education is excellent, particularly in medicine and science.

How many times over the past 20 years have you visited and seen this excellent tertiary education, particularly in medicine and science? Or are you just relying on claims from the various socialist magazines that repeat the same claims repeatedly?

8 minutes ago, Patong2021 said:

How many times over the past 20 years have you visited and seen this excellent tertiary education, particularly in medicine and science? Or are you just relying on claims from the various socialist magazines that repeat the same claims repeatedly?

It's amusing how the original poster overlooks oppressive governments because they favor a system they have not experienced.

1 hour ago, Patong2021 said:

How many times over the past 20 years have you visited and seen this excellent tertiary education, particularly in medicine and science? Or are you just relying on claims from the various socialist magazines that repeat the same claims repeatedly?

I was in the original Venceremos Brigades, cutting sugarcane to support the revolution, I have been back seven times and given lectures at the University of Havana. The suffering I see in Cuba is 100% created by the USA.

2 minutes ago, unblocktheplanet said:

I was in the original Venceremos Brigades, cutting sugarcane to support the revolution, I have been back seven times and given lectures at the University of Havana. The suffering I see in Cuba is 100% created by the USA.

This is comical. Mr. I hate Israel supports a murderer's oppressive regime in Cuba.

21 minutes ago, unblocktheplanet said:

I was in the original Venceremos Brigades, cutting sugarcane to support the revolution, I have been back seven times and given lectures at the University of Havana. The suffering I see in Cuba is 100% created by the USA.

You are very good at saying something without saying anything.

Once again, how many times have you been to Cuba in the past 20 years?

Many economists and human rights campaigners believe that the suffering in Cuba is a direct result of the economic mismanagement of the Communists and the oppression of Cubans that forced some of Cuba's best and brightest to flee for their lives to taste the joys of freedom. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio is the son of such refugees. It is no wonder he has such resentment to the Cubans.

I was unaware that you were a supporter of human rights denial, but not surprising consider your supportive positions on Iran, Hamas and Hezbollah.. The Venceramos Brigades are known for their active support of the persecution of the LGBTQ community. Hardly something to be proud of. The Politics of US Feminist Internationalism and Cuba: Solidarities and Fractures on the Venceremos Brigades, 1969-89 authored by Karen Tice Professor of Gender and Women’s Studies and Educational Policy Studies at the University of Kentucky, USA is an eye opener. Have you ever read the expose on the mistreatment of trans people by these wonderful leftists?

I did a quick Google search to learn more and found that the phrase "a social pathology that reflects a left-over bourgeois decadence" (or very similar iterations) was used in the heyday of leftist excitement to describe homosexuality. This would have been the time when your Canadian PM Pierre Trudeau was having fun with Maggie in Cuba, extolling the virtues of leftist elites.

• The Venceremos Brigade Case: In 1970, the Venceremos Brigade (a group of North Americans visiting Cuba) explicitly used this rhetoric when they banned LGBT members from joining, explicitly citing homosexuality as "a social pathology that reflects a left-over bourgeois decadence".

• Systematic Persecution: This ideology was not just rhetoric but was implemented through policies such as the UMAP (Military Units to Aid Production) camps, which were forced labor camps where gay men, among others, were sent for "re-education"

How sad that you are proud to be associated with a group who terrorized nd enslaved your LQBQT brothers, sisters and gender fluid people.

10 hours ago, TedG said:

This made me laugh out loud.

Do you think I care?

Just now, JimCM said:

Do you think I care?

I know you care since you took the time to reply.

19 hours ago, Patong2021 said:

You are very good at saying something without saying anything.

Once again, how many times have you been to Cuba in the past 20 years?

Many economists and human rights campaigners believe that the suffering in Cuba is a direct result of the economic mismanagement of the Communists and the oppression of Cubans that forced some of Cuba's best and brightest to flee for their lives to taste the joys of freedom. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio is the son of such refugees. It is no wonder he has such resentment to the Cubans.

I was unaware that you were a supporter of human rights denial, but not surprising consider your supportive positions on Iran, Hamas and Hezbollah.. The Venceramos Brigades are known for their active support of the persecution of the LGBTQ community. Hardly something to be proud of. The Politics of US Feminist Internationalism and Cuba: Solidarities and Fractures on the Venceremos Brigades, 1969-89 authored by Karen Tice Professor of Gender and Women’s Studies and Educational Policy Studies at the University of Kentucky, USA is an eye opener. Have you ever read the expose on the mistreatment of trans people by these wonderful leftists?

I did a quick Google search to learn more and found that the phrase "a social pathology that reflects a left-over bourgeois decadence" (or very similar iterations) was used in the heyday of leftist excitement to describe homosexuality. This would have been the time when your Canadian PM Pierre Trudeau was having fun with Maggie in Cuba, extolling the virtues of leftist elites.

• The Venceremos Brigade Case: In 1970, the Venceremos Brigade (a group of North Americans visiting Cuba) explicitly used this rhetoric when they banned LGBT members from joining, explicitly citing homosexuality as "a social pathology that reflects a left-over bourgeois decadence".

• Systematic Persecution: This ideology was not just rhetoric but was implemented through policies such as the UMAP (Military Units to Aid Production) camps, which were forced labor camps where gay men, among others, were sent for "re-education"

How sad that you are proud to be associated with a group who terrorized nd enslaved your LQBQT brothers, sisters and gender fluid people.

I grew up in NYC. There were tons of gays, both in and out of the closet. I think the City was more of a gay centre than SF at the time. I had my ass grabbed in the bus station or a hand in my crotch in a darkened movie theatre from about the time I was 12, the era of the Mattachine Society and NAMBLA. I really didn’t worry about it much.

I had heard, of course, about Cuba's repression and even imprisonment of gays. But there were gays and my Brigade, and also women, and I never witnessed or even heard of any sort of discrimination.

Then, and during my subsequent visits, I met a few gay Cuban men--there were even gay prostitutes & ladyboys. They were discreet, of course, but not living in fear.  Do those camps even still exist? I would have thought views would have grown more enlightened by now.

In NYC, one could know a gay man or woman for years and never think about their sexuality. It didn't matter then and it doesn't matter now. <deleted> who you want! You don't need to tell me about it.

In any case, the 60s and early 70s were all about free love. The young men and women in the Brigades worked equally as hard and put in long hours.

Did we ball? Was that not feminist, too? Absolutely! Girls asked as often as guys. A brush on a bum or boob was friendly invitation not assault! These were different times. I certainly never heard of any rapes.

There was no #MeToo or LG-BLT+ (plus what, exactly? Next, Z, zoophiles will be included!) The sexes worked out sex on their own, and it was nobody’s business!

We were all young so we weren't really into booze yet. No smoking dope in Cuba--that was really bourgeois decadence!

I was last in Cuba in 2015. There were no blackouts and no fuel shortages. However, essential meds were in short supply as were foodstuffs. Excellent wine & rum, though. Most of the pharma came from India, some from Russia, and some from China. Not enough, because of the US blockade.

Cuban society was always fun (why I kept going back) but had lightened up a great deal and certainly no one seemed desperate to escape. I think my Cuban friends & colleagues would have told me so, if true.

I completely disagree that there was extensive flight of the best and brightest. There was great flight of the middle class. IMO, this was due to a desire to be part of American consumer culture. Can't live without Levi's.

I knew many scientists & other academics at the University who had no intention to flee.  I have never heard of a Cuban doctor, sent to the West for humanitarian relief, defecting to “live in freedom”, as you so quaintly put it.

The Med School was first class, certainly as good as Chula’s, but using antiquated Soviet diagnostic machines out of necessity…because of US sanctions and embargo.

IMO, the sanctions and embargo should have been lifted after the missile crisis. That incident showed Cuban good faith, standing up for themselves. It was not wholly the Soviet decision to withdraw; it was also Fidel’s. But then we got LBJ and Vietnam pushing Cuba again onto the back burner, where it has remained ever since.

Until, that is, the current US-created humanitarian crisis and bully Trump talking about a takeover. Yeah, friendly—not! Hehe, the joys of freedom, immigrants to the US, refugees, if you will, you must be joking. People of colour make such great targets!

Again, IMO, the original US sanctions were not due to any kind of Communism on our doorstep. It was because a huge number of US interests were nationalised, casinos, for example. Americans lost a lot of money. The blockade was vengeance, pure and simple. Would you really prefer Cuba go back to Batista-era corruption?

I have absolutely zero interest in or support for Iran, Hamas, Hezbollah. But...missiles for missiles! What a loser strategy that is! For both sides!

Leaving aside the terrorist factions (and yes, that’s what they are) for a moment, the attack on Iran was completely unprovoked. Yeah, right, more WMD—were people born yesterday, with their eyes closed?!? And sinking an Iranian ship 3,000 miles from the war zone. WTF! Can you honestly believe this was anything less than cold-blooded murder just like the Caribbean drug boats. The US don't take no prisoners!

What I’m for is an end to needless suffering caused by violence, state or otherwise.

You focus on LG-BLT, why? There was no such ‘persecution’ (whatever that means) in my Brigade or others I knew about, many of whom I networked with on my return to NYC.  In fact, we were more like the partisans in the Abraham Lincoln Brigade who went to Spain to fight the Fascists, including Hemingway. Those dudes were the original badass antifa.

None of us were big-C Communists. But we all believed the socialism of Cuba showed great promise and could be an inspirational example to other countries. I still do. It's only the US shackles are holding Cuba prisoner. Is Vietnam, another example, any kind of failed state?

It’s shallow to resort to left-right, beneath you, friend. Those labels are meaningless in today’s world.

“Leftist excitement”—hey, only in the sack! I was never part of the New Left, e.g., SDS/Weatherman. I did hear they didn’t like gays.

I was a core member of the pacifist movement and worked with many gays & lesbians. And you know what? Nobody ever talked about it! Why would they? Gay Pride—proud because of who you screw?!? WTF! Aren’t there more important things to champion??? Free abortion, for instance.

No idea where that phraseology came from. It certainly wasn’t the Brigades, though I did not follow their evolving ideology into the 80s. The thought that the Brigades would even ask you about your sexuality on signing up is completely ludicrous!

There ya go. Have I managed to say nothing yet??? Hehe…

1 hour ago, unblocktheplanet said:

I grew up in NYC. There were tons of gays, both in and out of the closet. I think the City was more of a gay centre than SF at the time. I had my ass grabbed in the bus station or a hand in my crotch in a darkened movie theatre from about the time I was 12, the era of the Mattachine Society and NAMBLA. I really didn’t worry about it much.

I had heard, of course, about Cuba's repression and even imprisonment of gays. But there were gays and my Brigade, and also women, and I never witnessed or even heard of any sort of discrimination.

Then, and during my subsequent visits, I met a few gay Cuban men--there were even gay prostitutes & ladyboys. They were discreet, of course, but not living in fear.  Do those camps even still exist? I would have thought views would have grown more enlightened by now.

In NYC, one could know a gay man or woman for years and never think about their sexuality. It didn't matter then and it doesn't matter now. <deleted> who you want! You don't need to tell me about it.

In any case, the 60s and early 70s were all about free love. The young men and women in the Brigades worked equally as hard and put in long hours.

Did we ball? Was that not feminist, too? Absolutely! Girls asked as often as guys. A brush on a bum or boob was friendly invitation not assault! These were different times. I certainly never heard of any rapes.

There was no #MeToo or LG-BLT+ (plus what, exactly? Next, Z, zoophiles will be included!) The sexes worked out sex on their own, and it was nobody’s business!

We were all young so we weren't really into booze yet. No smoking dope in Cuba--that was really bourgeois decadence!

I was last in Cuba in 2015. There were no blackouts and no fuel shortages. However, essential meds were in short supply as were foodstuffs. Excellent wine & rum, though. Most of the pharma came from India, some from Russia, and some from China. Not enough, because of the US blockade.

Cuban society was always fun (why I kept going back) but had lightened up a great deal and certainly no one seemed desperate to escape. I think my Cuban friends & colleagues would have told me so, if true.

I completely disagree that there was extensive flight of the best and brightest. There was great flight of the middle class. IMO, this was due to a desire to be part of American consumer culture. Can't live without Levi's.

I knew many scientists & other academics at the University who had no intention to flee.  I have never heard of a Cuban doctor, sent to the West for humanitarian relief, defecting to “live in freedom”, as you so quaintly put it.

The Med School was first class, certainly as good as Chula’s, but using antiquated Soviet diagnostic machines out of necessity…because of US sanctions and embargo.

IMO, the sanctions and embargo should have been lifted after the missile crisis. That incident showed Cuban good faith, standing up for themselves. It was not wholly the Soviet decision to withdraw; it was also Fidel’s. But then we got LBJ and Vietnam pushing Cuba again onto the back burner, where it has remained ever since.

Until, that is, the current US-created humanitarian crisis and bully Trump talking about a takeover. Yeah, friendly—not! Hehe, the joys of freedom, immigrants to the US, refugees, if you will, you must be joking. People of colour make such great targets!

Again, IMO, the original US sanctions were not due to any kind of Communism on our doorstep. It was because a huge number of US interests were nationalised, casinos, for example. Americans lost a lot of money. The blockade was vengeance, pure and simple. Would you really prefer Cuba go back to Batista-era corruption?

I have absolutely zero interest in or support for Iran, Hamas, Hezbollah. But...missiles for missiles! What a loser strategy that is! For both sides!

Leaving aside the terrorist factions (and yes, that’s what they are) for a moment, the attack on Iran was completely unprovoked. Yeah, right, more WMD—were people born yesterday, with their eyes closed?!? And sinking an Iranian ship 3,000 miles from the war zone. WTF! Can you honestly believe this was anything less than cold-blooded murder just like the Caribbean drug boats. The US don't take no prisoners!

What I’m for is an end to needless suffering caused by violence, state or otherwise.

You focus on LG-BLT, why? There was no such ‘persecution’ (whatever that means) in my Brigade or others I knew about, many of whom I networked with on my return to NYC.  In fact, we were more like the partisans in the Abraham Lincoln Brigade who went to Spain to fight the Fascists, including Hemingway. Those dudes were the original badass antifa.

None of us were big-C Communists. But we all believed the socialism of Cuba showed great promise and could be an inspirational example to other countries. I still do. It's only the US shackles are holding Cuba prisoner. Is Vietnam, another example, any kind of failed state?

It’s shallow to resort to left-right, beneath you, friend. Those labels are meaningless in today’s world.

“Leftist excitement”—hey, only in the sack! I was never part of the New Left, e.g., SDS/Weatherman. I did hear they didn’t like gays.

I was a core member of the pacifist movement and worked with many gays & lesbians. And you know what? Nobody ever talked about it! Why would they? Gay Pride—proud because of who you screw?!? WTF! Aren’t there more important things to champion??? Free abortion, for instance.

No idea where that phraseology came from. It certainly wasn’t the Brigades, though I did not follow their evolving ideology into the 80s. The thought that the Brigades would even ask you about your sexuality on signing up is completely ludicrous!

There ya go. Have I managed to say nothing yet??? Hehe…

No, you have not accomplished anything other than a massive word dump. Empty words that offer a meandering self important ode to your time in NYC that once again avoids the issue at hand your participation in a organization that was complicit in the denial of human rights of those who did not meet the Cuban Communist Revolution's definition of acceptable. Not surprising that you were "unaware" of the Cuban slave labour camps. You closed your eyes to injustice because, visitors over the past 25 years have documented the increasing level of brutality in the corrupt Cuban dictatorship. No different than your embrace and championing of other horrific human rights abusers, Hezbollah, Iran and Hamas. You know who else said they were unaware of slave labour camps? It all fits now. Your political views are bankrupt and rejected by those who fled the brutal repressive Cuban regime. Like other people of your era, it is all about you, as you carry on, oblivious to the damage you have caused and continue to cause.

1 hour ago, unblocktheplanet said:

Yeah, right, more WMD—were people born yesterday, with their eyes closed?!?

No, probably not WMD.

But the specifics don't matter.

The leaders of countries are all operating under a "kill or be killed" mentality. If the opposition gets too powerful, then they may dominate / crush / obliterate YOU and me and Trump.

And they are constantly operating under this premise.

But who is supposed to drop their sword first?

If you do nothing, your enemy gets increasingly powerful either militarily or economically and then you're dead.

Just being reliant on another country for oil is bad. If they cut you off or raise the rates, you're screwed. Cuba was reliant on USSR and then USSR collapsed and Cuba got really poor.

This is how geopolitics works.

They're constantly wheeling and dealing to not be left behind in the dust and dominated by enemies.

Iran was probably given options and they refused.

And they were deemed a threat.

But peace and love doesn't work in the game of geopolitics because all parties have to be kum-ba-yah and they ain't.

22 hours ago, unblocktheplanet said:

I was in the original Venceremos Brigades, cutting sugarcane to support the revolution, I have been back seven times and given lectures at the University of Havana. The suffering I see in Cuba is 100% created by the USA.

LOL. Says it all. An 80 year old revolutionary still seeking to impose a system that MANDATES mass murder.

28 minutes ago, Yagoda said:

LOL. Says it all. An 80 year old revolutionary still seeking to impose a system that MANDATES mass murder.

Trump is only 79!

6 minutes ago, scottiejohn said:

Trump is only 79!

What system mandating mass murder is he imposing?

You dont spend a lot of time thinking before you post, do you.

On 3/9/2026 at 11:28 PM, Patong2021 said:

You are very good at saying something without saying anything.

Once again, how many times have you been to Cuba in the past 20 years?

Many economists and human rights campaigners believe that the suffering in Cuba is a direct result of the economic mismanagement of the Communists and the oppression of Cubans that forced some of Cuba's best and brightest to flee for their lives to taste the joys of freedom. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio is the son of such refugees. It is no wonder he has such resentment to the Cubans.

I was unaware that you were a supporter of human rights denial, but not surprising consider your supportive positions on Iran, Hamas and Hezbollah.. The Venceramos Brigades are known for their active support of the persecution of the LGBTQ community. Hardly something to be proud of. The Politics of US Feminist Internationalism and Cuba: Solidarities and Fractures on the Venceremos Brigades, 1969-89 authored by Karen Tice Professor of Gender and Women’s Studies and Educational Policy Studies at the University of Kentucky, USA is an eye opener. Have you ever read the expose on the mistreatment of trans people by these wonderful leftists?

I did a quick Google search to learn more and found that the phrase "a social pathology that reflects a left-over bourgeois decadence" (or very similar iterations) was used in the heyday of leftist excitement to describe homosexuality. This would have been the time when your Canadian PM Pierre Trudeau was having fun with Maggie in Cuba, extolling the virtues of leftist elites.

• The Venceremos Brigade Case: In 1970, the Venceremos Brigade (a group of North Americans visiting Cuba) explicitly used this rhetoric when they banned LGBT members from joining, explicitly citing homosexuality as "a social pathology that reflects a left-over bourgeois decadence".

• Systematic Persecution: This ideology was not just rhetoric but was implemented through policies such as the UMAP (Military Units to Aid Production) camps, which were forced labor camps where gay men, among others, were sent for "re-education"

How sad that you are proud to be associated with a group who terrorized nd enslaved your LQBQT brothers, sisters and gender fluid people.

On 3/9/2026 at 11:28 PM, Patong2021 said:

You are very good at saying something without saying anything.

Once again, how many times have you been to Cuba in the past 20 years?

Many economists and human rights campaigners believe that the suffering in Cuba is a direct result of the economic mismanagement of the Communists and the oppression of Cubans that forced some of Cuba's best and brightest to flee for their lives to taste the joys of freedom. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio is the son of such refugees. It is no wonder he has such resentment to the Cubans.

I was unaware that you were a supporter of human rights denial, but not surprising consider your supportive positions on Iran, Hamas and Hezbollah.. The Venceramos Brigades are known for their active support of the persecution of the LGBTQ community. Hardly something to be proud of. The Politics of US Feminist Internationalism and Cuba: Solidarities and Fractures on the Venceremos Brigades, 1969-89 authored by Karen Tice Professor of Gender and Women’s Studies and Educational Policy Studies at the University of Kentucky, USA is an eye opener. Have you ever read the expose on the mistreatment of trans people by these wonderful leftists?

I did a quick Google search to learn more and found that the phrase "a social pathology that reflects a left-over bourgeois decadence" (or very similar iterations) was used in the heyday of leftist excitement to describe homosexuality. This would have been the time when your Canadian PM Pierre Trudeau was having fun with Maggie in Cuba, extolling the virtues of leftist elites.

• The Venceremos Brigade Case: In 1970, the Venceremos Brigade (a group of North Americans visiting Cuba) explicitly used this rhetoric when they banned LGBT members from joining, explicitly citing homosexuality as "a social pathology that reflects a left-over bourgeois decadence".

• Systematic Persecution: This ideology was not just rhetoric but was implemented through policies such as the UMAP (Military Units to Aid Production) camps, which were forced labor camps where gay men, among others, were sent for "re-education"

How sad that you are proud to be associated with a group who terrorized nd enslaved your LQBQT brothers, sisters and gender fluid people.

On 3/10/2026 at 8:28 PM, Patong2021 said:

No, you have not accomplished anything other than a massive word dump. Empty words that offer a meandering self important ode to your time in NYC that once again avoids the issue at hand your participation in a organization that was complicit in the denial of human rights of those who did not meet the Cuban Communist Revolution's definition of acceptable. Not surprising that you were "unaware" of the Cuban slave labour camps. You closed your eyes to injustice because, visitors over the past 25 years have documented the increasing level of brutality in the corrupt Cuban dictatorship. No different than your embrace and championing of other horrific human rights abusers, Hezbollah, Iran and Hamas. You know who else said they were unaware of slave labour camps? It all fits now. Your political views are bankrupt and rejected by those who fled the brutal repressive Cuban regime. Like other people of your era, it is all about you, as you carry on, oblivious to the damage you have caused and continue to cause.

2025 was Venceremos Brigades first Queer & Trans Brigade to Cuba

https://justseeds.org/venceremos-vbs-first-queer-trans-brigade-to-cuba/

SEARCH female revolutionaries in Cuba; Venceremos Brigades, how many prostitutes in Cuba before revolution and now, is brigadista male or female, were gay men allowed in Batista’s Cuba

Nothing can ever be truly objective. Writers’ biases inevitably appear in their work.

Dr. Tice is obviously a woman and a feminist.

The majority of combatants in the Cuban Revolution were male, but women held key leadership roles, participated in armed struggle, and played crucial roles in organizing, logistics, and as combatants.

In Batista's Cuba, there were up to 135,000 prostitutes. In 1961, during the transition period, there were 150,000. Currently, there are 6,714 but 190 pimps.

She writes about US ‘radical feminists’. Really? When were they active? Are they active today?

As radical as it got in my time, feminism meant burning your brassiere in the street. Those were the days before slogans and advertising appeared on t-shirts to give us an excuse to check out women’s tits!

As a VB participant, I disagree with a great deal of what Dr. Tice has to say. I can, of course, only compare my own experience and she did not interview me nor was she a brigadista herself. In fact, this paper seems to be the result of a single trip to Cuba.

I can’t speak for others but my Brigade was not organised by SDS. In fact, the Brigades were started by Quakers (I’m still a birthright member) and organised by the pacifist War Resisters’ League.

I had a giant laugh over the groups Tice considers “radical”; she includes the Quakers. Of course, I had contact with many of them.

I’m sorry you didn’t like my “ode to New York” as you call it. NYC was where I first became aware of gay men and my part in the peace movement.

Most lesbians of the time were better at fitting in. For example, it was not uncommon for two women to live together; two men, however, were suspect.

Many gays and lesbians were my friends, though I was completely unaware of their sexuality. They didn’t care, nor did I. (That may be perceived as saying some of my friends were Bluish.)

You’ve given me a new word for hate: homophobia in addition to antisemitism and Islamophobia. Ah, and misogynism. The Inuit have 70 words for snow. What a pity we don’t have more for love, though there are hundreds of compound words in Thai for heart.

That’s my point. Who cares who you <deleted>? It’s nothing to be proud of and equally nothing to hide or being ashamed of. But if that’s all we’ve got going for ourselves in the tragic condition of the world, I find it immeasurably sad.

This article makes me wonder about gays in the US Army and the North Vietnamese/NLF armies in Vietnam. Was there homophobia or was everybody more worried about getting their asses blown off.

My Brigade was very mixed by colour, ethnicity, nationality and gender though there were no gays I was aware of. Perhaps we were a uniquely pacifist Brigade—I was sponsored by the Quakers—but none of us thought violent overthrow would work in our own countries. No Weatherman among us!

If Cuban homophobia—exactly the same as it is in every South American country—negates the other positive benefits of the revolution for you, I can’t help you. Perhaps you think Cuban gays would be better off under free market capitalism. (Translation: American theft.)

If brigadier gays actually “paraded around in Cuban towns in drag”, that demonstrate enormous cultural insensitivity and appropriation. Holding a foreign country to our own standards of tolerance.

The Cubans were clearly wrong about gays being counter-revolutionary. The revolution needs everbody. By stigmatising gays in this way, you create counter-revolutionaries who were not so before. Power to the people means all people.

However, I ask myself, are gays accepted in the US? Really accepted? Sure there’s gay Pride parades but I would say gays are more accepted in Thai culture with no parades. Is there less homophobia today than when <most> gays came out of the closet? Maybe. But gays are a minority (transgenders are taking over our classrooms, snipped in an afternoon without parental permission, at least when they're not eating cats and dogs!) and minorities of any sort are always discriminated against by the majority.

Q: Are sanctions & blockades on Cuba more evidence of US imperialism? I would argue that Cuba was nothing more than a US colony and money-pot during the Batista regime.

It was one more colony, like Puerto Rico, which was never formally recognised or given any power. I am hopeful Puerto Rico will separate from the US rather than accepting statehood, an offer which may never come without threat to secede. Will the USA enact sanctions and blockade in revenge? I'd bet on it.

The revolution in Nicaragua was dependent on one revolutionary leader—like Fidel. I haven’t looked closely enough to see if their revolutionary goals have been accomplished. It was (of course) warred upon by the US.

VB was not only about Cuba. We would have gone to Vietnam had there not been a war on. VB was about solidarity against imperialism and for self-determination.

Is beauty and femininity not feminist? Is it counter-revolutionary to look good. Some of our brigadistas had liaisons with Cuban men though I did not observe the same for brigadiers with Cuban women, though some were definitely tempting.

Tice write we had to cross ‘enemy lines’ to get to Cuba. That’s the first time I’ve heard Toronto classed an enemy!

Perhaps America has already emasculated the Cuban revolution by attrition since 1959. Perhaps we’ll never be able to know the full flower of that revolution if left to Cubans without outside interference, both American and Soviet.

To read Tice’s article, I am immediately convinced of the potential of the Cuban revolution, had the USA not interfered…out of spite.

After all, the US has, historically to the present, not really been the “sweet land of liberty” except in our dreams.

To whit, Marco Rubio, rumoured to be gay. Why should a second gen Cuban know any more about the revolution than, for instance, I do?

Interesting to me upon observation is that the Cuban revolutionaries admitted their errors and worked to correct them. Have you ever heard this from the US govt?

Having said this, the successes of the indigenous Zapatista revolutionary movement in Chiapas has given me great hope that resistance is still alive and well.

This is not a leading question, but I’m most curious as to how you found this article and what made you interested in its content? I don’t mean in any way to pry.

I sure loved the Cuban pavilion at Expo67 in Montréal. What could be better than rum & cigars! Probably the reason I became excited about VB.

I got arrested there for climbing into the structure of the geodesic dome that was the US pavilion and unveiling an antiwar t-shirt. We were up there a long time. It took more than three hours to get us down during which time we were visible to every int’l visitor to the pavilion.

Let us not forget that Lee Harvey Oswald organised for the Fair Play for Cuba Committee. Hehe..