It is no secret that Hollywood loves the Cuban Dictator Fidel Castro and his fellow socialist dictators such as Hugo Chavez and Manuel Zelaya. Hollywood pillars like Sean Penn, Michael Moore, and Oliver Stone gush over the humid paradises these dictators have built. Perhaps they should hear the story of Juan Hernández Nodar who spent over thirteen years as the political prisoner of Castro. As reported in the Wall Street Journal, Hernández Nodar was convicted of trying to free Cuban baseball players from Cuba to play in the US.

Hernández Nodar was essentially accused of stealing the property of Cuba in the form of its best baseball players. The mere fact that Cuba has such a law proves that it is a prison and all of its inhabitants are effectively slaves. How shameful of Misters Penn, Moore, and Stone to align themselves with such a criminal as Castro.

Hollywood might claim that Hernández Nodar knew that visiting Cuba for the purpose of recruiting baseball players was illegal. Hernández Nodar knew the risk, but his supposed greed entangled him in a crime for which he was convicted. Well, no. Although often misrepresented, the rights discussed in the Constitution are natural rights owned by every person on the planet, not just US citizens. The Constitution does not grant rights, it states that the Government may not take them away. Mr. Hernández Nodar had the natural right to transact with the Cuban baseball players, and they had the natural right to leave Cuba for better prospects. The criminal was Castro for stealing the rights of his subjects.

Even ignoring the fact that Castro runs his island like a prison, the fact that Hernández Nodar spent thirteen years in hell points to political oppression. Thirteen years for simply meeting with people to introduce them to better employment abroad? No, the true crime was undermining Castro’s dictatorship and power. Every successful athlete or businessperson who escapes Cuba is a black eye to Castro and his sham socialist paradise.

Amazingly, Hernández Nodar appears unbroken in his interview. He has returned to recruiting Cubans, albeit from the Dominican Republic, and his will to help Cubans achieve their potential remains strong.

So, the next time Penn, Moore, or Stone puts out an anti-US screed that paints businessmen as evil, the US Military as terrorists, and capitalism as modern slavery, consider what these men offer as an alternative. Hollywood may idolize Castro but his works tell another story: an island prison where a political prisoner suffered for over thirteen years for the crime of encouraging baseball players to achieve their dreams.