An arrest in itself can be a death sentence. As Milloy?s own newspaper reported in February, ?At least 20 Cuban dissidents, part of a group of 75 journalists, librarians and economists arrested nearly a year ago, are seriously ill in Cuban prison cells where they are being held under inhumane conditions, according to their wives, friends and human rights activists in Cuba.?
The columnist notes he had meals with average Cuban families. He should have asked to speak to some of the detained journalists, as well.
As to health care, again, Milloy?s own newspaper reports Cuba?s system is in decline. Drugs are becoming scarcer, and it?s difficult for the system to obtain disposable medical supplies.
Those factors, Karen DeYoung wrote, ?have resulted in increases of treatable conditions such as acute respiratory infections and intestinal infectious diseases, among others. Food intake in Cuba has fallen below nutritional requirements in recent years.?
As for school, well, part of the reason Castro loves education so much is that it?s a tool for indoctrination. Witness Elian Gonzalez after his return to the island, dressed in his school uniform and chanting with his classmates.
?From primary school to university, we Cubans learn that to dissent from the Communist Party line means our marginalization,? Claudia M?uez Linares, vice president of an independent association of Cuban journalists, wrote in The Los Angeles Times last year. ?What use is education if we have no freedom, what use is education when it turns into a weapon of mass indoctrination??
That lesson is lost on Milloy, it seems. ?The United States has much to teach. But from what I saw in Cuba, we also have much to learn,? he concluded.
Clearly, certain columnists have much to learn about the evils of communism, past and present.
Apparently, it?ll take more than a single, closely supervised, trip to impart that lesson.
Maybe Milloy could also sit down with a few of the Cubans who have risked their lives to escape their island home.