5-yr.-old boys and girls in Cuba, pre-school and beyond, are repeatedly "taught" this at school:

The children in their classrooms are told to stand and instructed to:

"Close your eyes and hold out your hand… Ask God for candy…

Open your eyes… (No candy is given.)…

Now…

Close your eyes and hold out your hand… Ask Fidel for candy…

(Only then they are given candy)

Open your eyes. See your candy!

Who is more powerful, God or PAPA FIDEL"?

My mother was a Cuban schoolteacher who refused to "teach" as mandated above.

Before WW-I my grandparents had a small grocery shop on the Island of Pines. My mother came from this lower middle-class rural family on the Isla de Pinos (today Isla de "La Juventud".)

In pre-Castro Cuba, she earned a full scholarship and, from her secondary school, she attended the University of Havana. There, she qualified for a second full scholarship to attend Cornell University in Ithaca, New York.

So much for the marvels of post-Castro’s fabulous NEW Cuban educational opportunities! “Learn to read; and read this… only this.”

My father was a decorated USAA-CBI WW-II Veteran.

He and my mother met in Ithaca and were married in Cuba. Both of them became school teachers in pre-Castro Cuba. Like so many freedom loving Cubans, my parents refused to stay and bring up their family as the post-Castro state demanded. They left Cuba for the US, bringing my 5-yr.-old brother & me. Cuban mothers and fathers, who remained, have no choices as parents or otherwise.

Dr. R. L. Chacona