Hurricane Fidel Still Lingers

Wow! This has been a tough hurricane season! It seems like ages ago that I reported speculation that Hurricane Dennis could cause political instability in Cuba....

In any case, Cuba has, after being ravaged by Wilma, accepted, for the first time ever, an offer by the U.S. for aid.

Washington has routinely offered humanitarian relief for hurricanes and other disasters in Cuba, and Cuban leader Fidel Castro himself has routinely turned the offers down. After Hurricane Dennis pummeled the island in July, Castro expressed gratitude for Washington's offer of $50,000 in aid but rejected it.

Given that some from the Babalu Blog expressed concern (excerpted here) after Dennis that Castro would merely confiscate relief supplies, I wonder whether this acceptance of aid will do the Cuban people any good.

What I said last time stands:

Hoping for Castro's downfall in this context is hardly minimizing the tragedy of the hurricane strike. The other day, I thought of the hurricane striking Cuba and realized that the damage would still not surpass what Fidel Castro has already done to that island and its people during decades of despotism. What's worse is that in addition -- and in the meantime -- Castro will act to compound the tragedy.

Too bad the real disaster is still pummeling Cuba.

-- CAV

PS: Val Prieto at Babalu Blog finds this change "a bit enigmatic". So do I. I wonder if Castro hopes to return the favor some time by foisting his army of poorly-trained doctors on us in return after some future disaster.