Fidel Castro has yet to face justice
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> by BONNIE ANDERSON
>
>
>
> Bonnie M. Anderson is a 27-year veteran of print, radio, Internet
and
> television journalism in English and in Spanish. She has worked on
camera
> for local, national and international news organizations, including two
> decades with NBC News and CNN. Anderson won seven Emmy Awards, was a
> finalist for the Pulitzer Prize and has been nominated for the María
Coors
> Cabot Lifetime Achievement Award which is sponsored by Columbia
> University.
> Capt. Anderson is now following a family tradition and is running a
chart
> er
> fi****ng operation out of Culebra, Puerto Rico.
>
>
>
>
>
> It is deeply wrenching to witness a week of lavish celebrations
> honoring Fidel Castro's birth when most likely every day, somewhere in
the
> world, anguished families quietly mourn the death of a loved one at the
> hands of this heartless, evil man. That Fidel, himself, may be dying is
> not
> much comfort to me. I believe in justice and while he will be judged by
> God
> when he dies, he has yet to be judged on Earth for his crimes against
> humanity.
>
> My father, Howard F. Anderson, was only one of 20,000 people
tortured
> and executed by Fidel Castro. Before my Dad's execution by firing squad,
> he
> had most of his blood drained from his body to be used for transfusions
> for
> the revolution ary troops. Other political prisoners who watched the
> execution from their cells told me years later that my father refused a
> blindfold. And he whistled as the bullets tore into his body. One of the
> few
> memories I have, since I was only 5 years old at the time, was that my
Dad
> whistled when he was angry. With the ''ready, aim, fire'' order, I, too,
> was
> wounded forever more. This ruthless dictator robbed me of a lifetime
with
> my
> father, a lifetime of fatherly advice, a lifetime of memories.
>
> So no, I don't want to see him die this way, of natural causes, or
at
> this time. I have always hoped the world would recognize him for what he
> is
> and that Fidel Castro would be judged, convicted and sentenced for his
> crimes against humanity in an international court of law. A death from
old
> age is far, far too lenient a punishment for a man who has killed so
many
> people, destroyed the lives of literally millions.
>
> As a jour n alist, I refrain from generalities. But I do believe
> there
> are few Cubans on the island and even fewer Cuban exiles who have not
had
> a
> family member either executed or imprisoned by this megalomaniac. What I
> fail to understand is why there seems to be little national compassion
for
> the pain that Cuban exiles have experienced. Americans show compassion
for
> cancer survivors, for DUI and rape victims, for people suffering from
> depression, physical and mental abuse. We show compassion for famine
> victims
> in Africa; as an NBC news correspondent, I broke stories about genocide
in
> Ethiopia, and the world -- but especially the United States -- responded
> with millions of dollars of money, but most im****tant, with compassion.
> Organizations have sprung up to defend and champion the victims of all
> these
> issues, and rightly so. There is public acceptance that these people hav
e
> suffered and have been wronged. It is morally right. So why, I ask, are
> Cuban exiles not afforded the same sup****t and compassion?
>
> I was a CNN network executive when the Elián González issue was a
> major story. I was horrified by the coverage by my network and all
others.
> It pained me deeply to see sound-bites by people who said about the
> Cuban-Americans in this country, ''Why don't they just get over it? It
> happened so long ago.'' I spoke up to my superiors at CNN. And I'm no
> longer
> there. What I told them was this: Would anyone dare tell a Holocaust
> survivor, or the sons, daughters and grandchildren of the Holocaust to
> ''just forget about it'' because it happened so long ago? Of course not.
> Castro did not kill as many as Hitler did, and I would never diminish
the
> horror and huge dimensions of the Holocaust, but Castro was -- and is --
> our
> Hitler in Latin America.
>
>
>
>
> BORN IN CUBA
>
>
>
> Despite my Anglo name, I was born in Cuba. My mother was born
there.
> Her parents are buried there. My father was buried there until Castro
was
> so
> ticked off by an article I wrote in 1978 as a Miami Herald re****ter that
> he
> had my father's remains dug up and thrown out. I am most proud of being
> Cuban American. And I want the rest of the world to understand our pain.
> It
> is part of our daily lives, no matter where we live. It is the ache of
> losing a country, but it is more than t hat, too. It is a loss we feel
in
> our blood and in our bones. It is also clearly an emotional demise in
many
> ways -- a void in our pasts which continues to the present and will
> continue
> through the future. You can't make up for years of lost family
> experiences -- norm al, human experiences that most other people enjoy.
> These are memories that have been stolen for all time. For myself, I
have
> only two memories of my father and what saddens me is that I can't be
> absolutely certain that they truly are recollections or whether I've
> simply
> grasped onto scenes from the few home movies we managed to smuggle out
of
> Cuba and morphed them into memories. When I think of this, it provokes a
> deep, dark cutting sadness in me.
>
> Cuban exiles can't expect others who have not experienced what we
> have
> to actually know our pain and understand our passion for wanting to
> address
> the wrongs done us. Rape victims can't expect that. Neither can the
> parents
> of children who have been killed by drunk drivers, or family members who
> have lost loved ones in the current Iraq conflict. Or family members of
> the
> victims of Columbine, or 9/11. The people who survived the genocide in
> Ethiopia and in so many other places can't expect anyone to truly know
> their
> pain. Our pain is part of our spirit. The most we can hope for is
> compassion. The day that Castro's illness was first re****ted, I woke up
> very
> early and was watching CBS. On their early morning shows, they
repeatedly
> said that ''Castro is considered a ruthless dictator by some in Miami.''
>
> I fired off an e-mail to CBS President Sean McManus. What I wrote,
in
> short, was this: If a man who murdered 20,000 people, imprisoned for
> decades
> hundreds of thousands of others, caused countless hundreds of thousands
to
> flee the country (ma n y losing their lives in desperate attempts to re
> ach
> freedom on flimsy rafts) and has repressed a nation for nearly five
> decades - - denying them the most basic of human rights -- is not
> considered
> a ruthless dictator by all, who the hell is? I haven't heard back from
> him.
> I don't expect I will. In fact, I suspect he, and other network
> executives,
> will continue to cozy up to the Cuban government (whoever leads it) in
> order
> to make sure that when Castro dies, their networks have access to the
> coverage. That's the way it is in the cor****ate news world. But I have
> faith
> in my fellow American citizens. And I know, in my heart and spirit, that
> when the truth is known, those of us who have suffered at the hands of
> Fidel
> Castro will finally receive the compassion we are due.
>
>
>
>
> IN MOURNING
>
> While Fidel is celebrating a birthday, my brothers, sister and I
are
> mourning the death not only of our father but also of our mother,
Dorothy
> Stauber Anderson McCarthy, who died less than two months ago. She was 39
> years old when Fidel made her a widow. She struggled to raise us and
give
> us
> a new life, and she was most successful. But her greatest triumph was to
> instill a sense of right and honor in us, to teach us strength and
> morality.
> A month after her death, a New York judge ruled that we should receive
> millions of dollars of the frozen Cuban assets held in this country
> because
> of Fidel Castro's murder of my father. It is a very welcome decision but
> very bittersweet. Fidel Castro is alive and he knows he has been tried,
> convicted and sentenced to pay for his heinous act. But the fact that my
> mother isn't alive to see this final measure of justice is a soul-deep
> wound
> that I will live with for the rest of my life. I weep for her. I weep
for
> us, and I weep for all who have been the victims of Fidel Castro. Happy
> Birthday? Please.
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