In the midst of liberal journalists praising Fidel Castro it is refreshing to hear a member of the media tell the brutal truth about the murderous dictator.
Fox News contributor and Washington Times columnist Mercedes Schlapp told the story of how her father and his compatriots were treated in Castro’s Cuba on Monday’s edition of FBN’s Varney & Company: “My father stood up against the regime and he was thrown into jail for six years. He was a political prisoner for speaking up against the Castro regime. He saw many of his friends die, they were executed by a firing squad.”
Schlapp relayed the harrowing but ultimately inspiring story of how her father escaped and found a new life in America. “My father had a clear vision as to the fact that communism would destroy his homeland and it is one of the reasons when he did come to the United States, he will always say he is American now first and foremost because he loves this country for embracing him and allowing him to succeed and raise his family here and he’s forever grateful to America.”
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The following is the relevant exchange as it was aired on the November 28 edition of Fox Business New’s Varney & Company:
STUART VARNEY: Mercedes Schlapp is with us, Republican strategist and I believe Cuban-American. I want to start, Mercedes. You have a personal story about your dad in Cuba. Tell us, please.
MERCEDES SCHLAPP: I do. My father lived, grew up in Cuba, owned several businesses was very successful entrepreneur when Fidel Castro came into power back in 1959 during the revolution. The military and the regime took over my father’s businesses, took over his home. My father stood up against the regime and he was thrown into jail for six years. He was a political prisoner for speaking up against the Castro regime. He saw many of his friends die, they were executed by a firing squad and it was very clear that Fidel Castro and his thugs were very much focused in getting rid of anyone who spoke against the communists.
And I think my father had a clear vision as to the fact that communism would destroy his homeland and it is one of the reasons when he did come to the United States, he will always say he is American now first and foremost because he loves this country for embracing him and allowing him to succeed and raise his family here and he’s forever grateful to America.
But I have to say when I broke the news to my father on Saturday, he did smile, he cried, there was a sense of relief. There was a sense that someone who has done so much damage to this island, and to the people, is now gone. That doesn’t mean it doesn’t change things in Cuba, there is still much work to be done obviously, but it is just the death of someone who has just been so destructive.
