LFC Comments by T. Paine: As we continue to swirl around the drain of socialism, here is a warning from a Cuban citizen. Be sure to read how socialists maintain power! If any American says that will not happen here, they are rather delusional and misguided.

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Former Political Prisoner: Today’s America Has Lesson to Learn From Cuban Socialism

BY ELLA KIETLINSKA AND JOSHUA PHILIPP 
December 21, 2020 Updated: December 21, 2020

Excerpts from the article:

The United States is teetering on the edge of socialism, and the pattern of events is similar to what happened in Cuba when it fell from being a prosperous capitalist country into socialism, according to a former Cuban political prisoner.

He warned that, like what has been experienced in Cuba, those who are pushing the ideology may claim not to be socialists, but it’s only because “they don’t tell you.”

Cuban socialist dictator Fidel Castro and Venezuelan socialist dictator Hugo Chavez didn’t say they were socialists when seeking the people’s support for power, Zuniga told The Epoch Times’ “Crossroads” program in a recent interview. But they both imposed socialism on their countries.

A few months after Castro seized political and military power in Cuba in 1959, the dictator told the American media, “I have said very clearly—we are not communists.”

The U.S. Embassy in Havana reported to the State Department that Castro, in his 1959 speech broadcast on radio and television, said that he isn’t communist and “neither is revolution.”

In 1959, Castro seized power and promised Cubans that within 18 months, he would establish free elections and restore the Cuban constitution of 1940, which was considered one of the most democratic in the region. None of his promises were delivered.

In December 1961, Castro finally revealed in a televised speech, “I am a Marxist-Leninist and shall be one until the end of my life.”

“And when you realize that you are under the grip of a socialist regime, you’re done,” he warned America. “Take care of your democracy, because once you lose it, it will take decades—hunger, prison, misery, all the same experiences that all socialist countries have lived—will come over you.”

How Socialists Maintain Power

The socialist regime in Cuba has maintained its power using two means, Zuniga said. The first is violent repression against the populace, such as long prison terms and firing squad executions. Anyone can be sentenced to 10 to 15 years in prison just for speaking against the regime, he said.

The second means is keeping the society in poverty at the level of subsistence, Zuniga said. Many Cubans make ends meet because of remittances from their families living abroad, he added.

“Castro immediately started taking over the army, which is the real power. And with the support of a new army created by himself, he took over all the institutions, confiscated private property, and fulfilled all the tenets of the communist doctrine,” Zuniga said.

Socialism in Western Europe

“In reality, the Nordic countries [Sweden, Norway, and Denmark] practice mostly free-market economics paired with high taxes exchanged for generous government entitlement programs,” Jeffrey Dorfman, a professor of economics at the University of Georgia, wrote for Forbes.

Debunking China’s Socialist Economy

Many people also believe that China has adopted capitalism and achieved great success this way, Zuniga said. However, the Chinese communist regime only established several Special Economic Zones (SEZs) in the country after seeing the Soviet Union’s economic collapse, he explained, adding that the Soviet Union was “a military power without an economy to support that military structure.”

The SEZs in China are capitalist enclaves that attract foreign investments and are separated from the rest of China, where the state-controlled economy dominates, Zuniga said. Even Chinese citizens need “a special passport” to move to those zones, he added.

The regime uses the income from those special zones to fund the Chinese military and build its nuclear power, according to Zuniga.

Zuniga’s Message to Americans

“The United States is the beacon of freedom [and] democracy,” and that’s why other counties turn to the United States for help if they are in peril or need any assistance, Zuniga said. The United States is also often the first provider if there is a national disaster anywhere, he said, and this is why the forces that push for global socialism want to target the United States.

“If Americans want to live in poverty, all they have to do is proclaim socialism and vote for socialist people,” Zuniga said. But he warned Americans to first consider the lived experiences of those living under socialism to truly understand what it would mean for America, because “later, it doesn’t matter that you say: ‘Oh my goodness, I didn’t know. Oh my goodness, nobody told me.’”

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