Fatima Bhutto arrives in Cuba on invitation
Fatima Bhutto has arrived in Havana,Cuba, on the invitation of the Education, Health and Foreign Ministries of Cuba. The Daily Times reports that she is to speak at an international conference entitled ‘US economic bans on Cuba.’
One can only guess what her take on the subject will be. It is ironic that while her late aunt Benazir went over and above in her efforts to appease and forge close ties with the United States, her niece should turn to the “axis of evil.”
She is reported to be a fan of controversial Hizbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, with his poster hanging on her office door. She has visited Iran and has written about her experience: “Iranian women have not only successfully survived the Islamic conditions imposed on them since the Revolution, they have thrived under them.”
She has repeatedly said of her determination to stay clear of Pakistani politics. Indeed if she were to ever become the Prime Minister, Pakistan might have to take a U-turn on a lot of its foreign policies.
April 9, 2008 at 2:01 pm
Thanks very much for this note. After Pakistan’s earthquake, Cuba sent a large team of doctors there to help provide care for the survivors. That resulted in a great deal of news and information from Cuba about Pakistan as it followed the lives and work of Cuba’s medical aid workers there. A book and movie resulted, as well as lots of coverage in the Cuban media.
Cuban society today represents an effort to build an alternative to the way life was under the dictatorship of Fulgencio Batista, who ran Cuba before Fidel Castro led a revolution there. No one complained about a lack of human rights and democracy in those days, but U.S. businesses were protected.
Some things work, some don’t. Like any society, Cuba its flaws and contradictions, as well as having solid achievements. No society is perfect. But we can certainly learn a few things from Cuba’s experience.
Since August 2000, the CubaNews list, a free Yahoo news group has compiled a wide range of materials, pro and con, about Cuba, its people, politics and culture, and life within the island and affecting it in the Cuban diaspora abroad.
p.s., My father and his parents lived in Cuba from 1939 to 1942. They were German Jewish refugees from Nazi Germany, and not political left-wingers. That family history is where my own interest in Cuba comes from. If you want to learn more about Cuba, may I modestly recommend you check out CubaNews?
Thanks again for this note.
April 12, 2008 at 1:31 am
Hi Walter.
Many thanks for the comments. Yes Cuba’s contribution to the earthquake effort was immense and showed how people living in different ends of the world can help each other and be connected. Cuba clearly has a strength in the medical sector which other countries can learn from.
I have added CubaNews to my bookmarks.
April 14, 2008 at 4:55 am
any news? about fatima?
April 15, 2008 at 12:52 am
One eagerly awaits.