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PASTOR GENERAL'S REPORT, FEBRUARY 26, 1982
PAGE 9
These "aware" Americans, of course, were probably made aware of the situa
tion because of what Dan Rather tells them on CBS television news, or Frank
Reynolds on ABC.
Still, comments NEWSWEEK on the findings of its pollsters: "While 80 per
cent see an impending domino effect--with other Latin American governments
likely to fall if Salvadorian rebel forces prevail--nearly three-quarters
of those polled believe U.S. involvement there will escalate into another
Vietnam. Rightly or wrongly, the memory of Vietnam clearly is influencing
public perceptions--and adding momentum to�he ant1-interventTonalist move
ment."
Make no mistake. America's "pride in its power" was shattered in Vietnam.
Americans in general are afraid to act, as well as being too confused as to
what to do--even in the face of direct threats right at the nation's door
step!
The hue and cry is "no more Vietnams"--presumably meaning U.S. military
intervention and likely defeat. Yet few stop to think about what has hap
pened t0 Asia since Vietnam and surrounding mini-states fell to the
Communists--millions of lives lost in warfare and multiple thousands of
people cast upon the oceans as hapless refugees.
Americans don't stop to think, as the President warned the OAS, how many
thousands--rather millions--of people will seek refuge in the United States
if the "red tide" in the Americas is not stopped. { In fact, some of our own
brethren in the region may have to seek refuge as well--perhaps the first
full-scale relocation in this era of God's Church!)
It is rumored that Fidel Castro would like to, if he could, rid his island
of another three million people--cynically dumping them across the Florida
Straits into the United States. The last tirne he did so he emptied his
jails of criminals and perverts. This time it would be to relieve economic
pressure from his Caribbean "Communist showcase." (Police chiefs all along
the Atlantic coast are bitter about having to deal with all the problems
caused by the Cuban criminals Castro unloaded and former President Carter
let in.)
Despite four billion dollars a year in aid from Moscow, Cuba's economy is in
wretched shape--the very epitome of the colossal failure of Communism Mr.
Reagan pointed to. Leftist propaganda has pictured Cuba otherwise, as be
ing some sort of an egalitarian paradise, a bit short on food perhaps, but
with free medical service, compulsory education, etc., etc. People are
misled in believing, as one news source said, that Cubans live well these
days "by Third World standards." Few realize that before Castro, Cuba had
no "Third World" economy, but one that was far ahead of any other nation in
the Caribbean and any nation in the Third World.
"After 22 years of Castro ism," says Professor Norman Luxenburg of the
University of Iowa, "and d�spite large-scale infusions of Soviet bloc tech
nology and aid, the real gross national product per capita in Cuba is below
what it was more than 20 years ago. Indeed •..it is only massive Soviet bloc
aid of perhaps $4 billion a year that keeps the sputtering Cuban economy
alive."