07:13 PM CDT on Friday, October 23, 2009
Mike Hoss / Eyewitness News
mhoss@wwltv.com
NEW ORLEANS - Mayor Ray Nagin told a reporter in Cuba that the Cuban
dictatorship does a "much better job" in deploying resources in the wake
of a hurricane and that the Cuban police state knows its citizens on a
very detailed, block-by-block level.
His praise of the repressive government drew strong criticism.
"Well, it's another example of Ray Nagin putting his foot in his mouth,"
said Clancy DuBos, Channel 4 political analyst.
Dubos concedes that a dictatorship, because of its nature, can be more
efficient at forcing people to evacuate, which the mayor said, but Dubos
says it's what he didn't say.
"But it should have been immediately followed by the comment that nobody
we know in a democracy, certainly not in the U.S., would trade our
democracy for even that level of efficiency," he said.
The mayor was joined on the trip by New Orleans Police Department
Superintendent Warren Riley, who stands behind the decision to go.
"They have a system in place that works well. We have a system in place
that works well on paper, but the cooperation of their citizens, whether
they are forced to cooperate or they're just loyal to their government,
they cooperate""
City Councilwoman Cynthia Hedge-Morrell also attended the six-day
disaster preparedness conference. And while she acknowledges the U.S.
can't duplicate many of the Cuban government involuntary practices, that
doesn't mean there was nothing to gain.
"What do you do with the critically ill? What do you do with the senior
citizens who don't have family, who don't have ways? And what do other
agencies, I mean other areas do?"
George Fowler with the Cuban American National Foundation was both
surprised and disappointed by the trip. There were around a dozen in the
New Orleans delegation, mostly city and state employees. He feels there
was little to bring home from such an oppressive government.
"I know American's don't want that. I mean Americans have died over the
last 200 years for their freedoms. They're not going to give it up for
hurricane preparedness, so there's nothing for Mayor Nagin and his
entourage to learn in Cuba in my opinion."
N.O. city officials defend Cuba trip | News for New Orleans, Louisiana |
Top Stories | News and Weather for New Orleans | wwltv.com (23 October 2009)
http://www.wwltv.com/topstories/stories/wwl102309mlcuba.246ebffb0.html?npc
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