The people are afraid to speak openly. They might exchange the odd knowing glance or whisper but only that and no more.

Fear and hunger, the two weapons of that nation’s socialist government, exist in every household.

Cuba is a nation whose people are prisoners in their homes, on their streets, in their cafes and, day in and day out, are faced with every form of deprivation and humiliation.

The terror of state control reaches into every life. It denies every aspect of individual freedom, be it speech, assembly, travel, occupation or business. 

People are jailed for voicing an opinion.

Government sweeps into any seeming successful money-making venture, hauling away the workers to jails and putting in their place government stooges who provide the benefits to high ranking government officials or members of the military.

The skies may be sunny but beneath them is a dark wasteland of human misery and suffering.

This is the legacy of the socialist-communist revolution.

There are shortages in all manner of food and consumer goods.

Incomes are low and discourage any type effort.

Foreign debt is growing higher and is out of control.

Exports are way down.

Suppliers wait and wait for payments.

Investors, few as they are, have problems repatriating profits from Cuban banks.

The streets and yards are dirty and run down, illustrative of the people’s despair, lack of hope and poverty.

A system where there exists a dual currency is stunting any real type of economic growth.

The sugar industry is in ruins.

Tourism is down and emigration way up;

The reality of what Latin and South American left-wing governments create, the hunger and denial of human rights being principal characteristics, have led to further isolation of the Cuban government.

Topping all of this off is the blatant, widespread and massive corruption by the Cuban government and its lackeys. They steal actual goods and, perhaps more important, any measure of hope from the people. 

There is absolutely no freedom in Cuba. No right to choose how one wants to live, earn a living, develop a business and this is before we even consider the denial of legal freedoms we take for granted, the right to speak freely, choose those who will govern us, assemble as we see fit  and live such that we are protected from the tyranny of the state by a constitution of law. The Cuban people know none of these things.

Today, there is hunger throughout the country. An inefficient and backward system of rationing has grown more and more restrictive, limiting the amount of choice and quantity of goods to less than mere subsistence levels.

What does the Cuban government offer in return? No more than the barrel of a gun and the clank of jail-house doors.

The revolution has been an abject failure and Cuba needs a real one this time around.

One where the result lets people think on their own, earn what is their due from the sweat of their brows in choices they make, the right to speak and assemble freely, the right to hold in their hands a true constitution that guarantees their rights, the right to make plans and hold dreams so that their children may have a better way of life.

Cuba needs our  style of revolution which makes real the equal opportunity of all people. 

It’s time we help them make this real revolution come about. It’s time to let freedom ring across Cuba so that all of her people share in the rights and opportunities that are theirs ordained by God and protected by laws that triumph the right of the individual. 

Instead of letting socialism come to our United States, let’s join with freedom loving people in Cuba and beyond in the America’s and end its scourge so that people everywhere may be free.