Castro Talks Economics but the Focus Is on Jails
Re “Cuban Dissidents Reportedly Face Harsh Jail Conditions,” Feb. 15: The Times is acting like an apologist for President Bush’s inhumane Cuba policy under the guise of dispassionately reporting the news. Although Cuba’s President Fidel Castro is pictured addressing an economic conference, the first two-thirds of your article recites allegations from right-wing anti-Castro groups about jail conditions in Cuba.
Castro’s accurate assessment of the sorry state of the United States’ economy as well as his comments about Cuba’s universal healthcare and infant mortality rate are given short shrift at the end of the article.
There is no mention of the small wire cages in which juvenile offenders are housed in California’s Youth Authority, or of the inmate at Corcoran State Prison who bled to death, screaming for 10 hours while guards watched the Super Bowl. Let’s have some balance here.
Marjorie Cohn
San Diego
Regarding the comments of Chairman Fidel: I think Castro would be better served by not hypothesizing about the debating skills of our president and Cuba’s ninth-graders but being more concerned about his country’s ability to feed all of its students.
Randy Thompson
El Segundo
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