Cuban facts

House Speaker Paul Ryan’s claim that “the Castros’ continue to jail pro-democracy activists at a rate of hundreds per month” is true, only that the other half of this truth is that the same Castros who jail hundreds release most of them just hours later.

Of course, the antiques of the Cuban government cannot be justified: suppressing opposition by expediently, even if briefly, jailing those brave enough to publicly express their opposing views is simply despicable.

But Mr. Ryan’s parroting of half truths — fed to him by “experts” on Cuba who are among the few Americans who have not visited the island yet — is not far removed from his presidential candidate’s claims that the elections are being “horribly, horribly, horribly rigged.”

The facts, Mr. Speaker, just the complete facts please, unless you think our political system is in need of any more debasing than it is already exposed to.

This story was originally published October 26, 2016 at 10:32 PM with the headline "Cuban facts."