An excellent LTTE regarding the Cuba embargo

A reader of the New York Times wrote an excellent LTTE (Letter to the Editor) to the influential and respected daily regarding an article which was published recently in their newspaper.

I found myself agreeing with him in his criticism of Roger Cohen's article about Cuba.

Here it is:

Letter

We Need a Fair Reappraisal of Our Relations With Cuba

Published: December 15, 2008

To the Editor:

Re “Paris vs. Havana” (column, The New York Times on the Web, Dec. 8):

Although I enjoyed Roger Cohen’s lyrical prose, I take exception to two descriptions he used regarding Havana, which I also have recently visited.

Mr. Cohen diminishes Cuba’s real achievements in raising the standard of living for all its people with phrases like “at a colossal price” and “thanks to socialist economic disaster,” and seems to lay the blame for Cuba’s limitations solely at its own feet.

Yes, Cubans are paying a price, but it is not “colossal” if you compare conditions for the majority of people there today to the conditions they endured during the Batista era.

And yes, while the socialist economy is responsible for the stagnation in living conditions, the United States’ economic embargo on Cuba since the early 1960s and the loss of vital resources after the Soviet Union broke up have also contributed to the “disaster.”

There will be a serious reappraisal of our relations with Cuba when Barack Obama becomes president. Let us conduct it in fairness and without the usual exaggerations and misperceptions.

Marvin Mantyk
Lathrup Village, Mich., Dec. 8, 2008

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JG: An excellent LTTE. Short, and to the point. I agree 100% with Mr. Mantyk's view. I love letters to the editor. I enjoy both reading them and writing them. I have had several of mine published about Cuba and also on non-Cuba issues.

Until very recently Cuban newspapers did not have LTTE's. Granma has started publishing some of them now, even critical ones which criticize the government, which goes to show you that my native country is moving in the right direction, while preserving its socialist system.