Castro
On August 30th, Fidel Castro offered to send 1,100 medical doctors with medications and diagnosis kits to provide assistance to the victims of Hurricane Katrina - and of the Bush administration's lack-of-a-response. Castro reiterated this offer 6 days ago, on the evening of September 2 (and increased the amount of support Cuba would send), but
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I'd say that there's more to the story than just "it's a dictatorship" (which I'm not implying that's your argument!). For 45 years the U.S. has done everything in their power to impoverish Cuba and to prevent them from becoming anything more than what they currently are, which is remarkable given the odds. I am much more skeptical of the U.S. rulers who shamelessly cite "humanitarian" and "democratic" principles to justify their attacks on Latin American governments that resist them. Cuba is the only Latin American country in the region that has achieved real independence and has successfully stood up to U.S. pressures for nearly a half century. In contrast to the hypocritical pretenses of the White House, Cuba has time and time again demonstrated genuine concern for the welfare of the world's peoples. In a response to anti-Cuban U.S. rhetoric, Castro said, "You are trying to strangle our economy and are threatening war against a country that has shown itself capable of having 20,000 doctors currently offering their services in 64 countries of the Third World. Your administration, in spite of possessing the resources of the richest power on earth, has not sent a single doctor to the most distant corners of these countries, as Cuba does.” (this is true!)
Even though Cuba is currently a dictatorship, there are reasons for this. It came into existence due to a revolution of the people - and Fidel Castro rose as the primary revolutionary leader. He has stated time and time again that a dictatorship is undesirable. Standing between him and the people is a developing Cuban beuracracy, Castro being alive is essential, and the system must evolve into a more socialist and democratic form of government. Unfortunately, that must be extremely difficult to do when the world's superpower has tried to murder you 28 times, is hell-bent on bringing down your little revolution, has a MUCH more powerful media system to spread misinformation, and wants all Latin American countries to bow down to our will (even if it means the exploitation of their people for elite profit).
I'm pretty confident that there were actually zero deaths because the Cuban people are way ahead of us when it comes to understanding human rights and sharing these principles (the U.S. fortunately has institutionalized principles stemming from our revolution and the mindsets of that time; but they are progressively becoming more and more forgotten and reversed - and pretty much don't exist when it comes to foreign affairs), which led to the Cuban people's collective efforts to prevent deaths and to offer support to the U.S. in our time of need.
In a speech Castro gave in response to Anti-Cuban media he said, "These campaigns, run by the dominant superpower and backed up by the allies who join with the empire in exploiting the world, are nothing but a sham and a lie, a brazen political display resulting from the need to justify the enormous inequalities which shall remain insurmountable until the economic system imposed on the world has disappeared. We do know about true human rights.
“I cannot understand how an opulent society like our neighbor’s dare to speak of human rights, while 44 million people there have no right to medical care, where millions of citizens live in ghettos and countless beggars live under bridges; a society where there are millions of illiterates and semi-illiterates, where there are millions and millions of unemployed and where prisons are filled with the children of the poorest and most deprived segments of the population.”
And he's right. I just hope that he and the Cuban people can figure out how to push the Cuban government into a more democratic transition in the face of having to cope with the constant abuse, misinformation, assasination attempts, fake "revolutions of the people" sponsored by America, Inc., embargos, etc., etc., etc., from this superpower's elites and their allies.
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