Cuban dissident Darsi Ferrer could have warned Andrew Breitbart about ABC’s swinishness. To wit:

Michael Moore’s parroting of Castro’s claims in Sicko sickened even some in the U.S. mainstream media. An ABC producer (name withheld at their request), appalled at comparing what he saw in Sicko to pictures smuggled out of genuine Cuban hospitals and posted on the website The Real Cuba, decided to take action. He proposed that ABC’s Havana bureau interview Cuban dissidents for a 20/20 show on the other side of the Cuban Healthcare story (i.e. the true side).

ABC’s Havana Bureau shuffled nervously and finally said OK–but first they’d have to ask the Stalinist regime’s permission for such an interview. Think about that for a second. Then remind yourself that these ABC Havana people are probably clinically sane.

Unsurprisingly, when dutifully and cravenly asked for the permission by ABC’s hard-nosed sleuths, Cuba’s Stalinist apparatchiks replied “NYET!” Back in 2007 ABC bemoaned the Dixie Chicks’ canceled U.S. concerts (in private-sector venues) as a form of “American censorship!” But nary a peep of public protest was heard from ABC regarding their “guidelines” as issued by a Stalinist regime.

Thwarted by their own Havana Bureau, some rogue ABC producers (names again withheld at their request) persisted. They resolved to get their hands on any evidence regarding genuine conditions in Cuba’s hospitals, feature them on 20/20, and splatter Michael Moore’s face with rotten egg. For this they contacted George Utset who runs The Real Cuba website whose pictures had originally impressed them. George now turned to contacts inside Cuba. The evidence was to come from the very belly of the beast, in the form of smuggled videos.

Michael Moore’s reputation inside Cuba helped the clandestine project. On Cuban media Fidel Castro often hails Michael Moore as “that outstanding American!” And Moore’s films run and re-run on Cuba’s state-run TV about like Seinfeld reruns on ours — but not exactly because of viewer demand.

All this instantly made Michael Moore suspect among Castro’s subjects. Sicko confirmed the worst. This American millionaire, by spreading a Stalinist regime’s lies, struck many Cubans as a simple accomplice to their oppression — one of very many in the U.S. The friend of my oppressor is also my oppressor, they reasoned. The Castroite propaganda in Sicko so outraged some Cubans that, convinced the truth would reach millions of Americans via ABC’s 20/20, they risked their lives by using hidden cameras to film conditions in genuine Cuban hospitals.

The ones showcased by Michael Moore exclusively serve rich foreigners and high Communist party officials. Watching Moore reading from Castro’s cue cards by claiming that these hospitals served average Cubans, knowing this propaganda would be spread worldwide (and swallowed by many), was more than these desperate Cubans could stomach. At enormous risk, two hours of shocking — often revolting — footage was obtained with tiny hidden cameras and smuggled out of Cuba. The man who assumed most of this risk was Cuban dissident — a medical doctor himself — Dr. Darsi Ferrer, who was also willing to talk on camera, narrating much of the video’s revelations. Dr Ferrer works in these genuinely Cuban hospitals daily, witnessing the truth. More importantly, he wasn’t cowed from revealing this truth to America and the world.

But with the smuggled videos finally n their hands ABC started getting cold feet. Originally, ABC’s John Stossel planned to show the shocking smuggled videos in their entirety, during a 20/20 show. Alas, on Sept. 12th 2007, the show ran only a tiny segment on Cuba’s “real” healthcare, barely five minutes long and with almost none of the smuggled video footage. What happened?

Well, the Castro regime got wind of these videos and called in ABC’s Havana bureau for a little talking-to, stressing that ABC’s “bureau permit” might face “closer scrutiny” if they showed the blockbuster videos. Without further ado, ABC wimped out and pulled the rug out from under the Cuban dissidents who had risked so much — and not for any monetary gain, but simply to reveal truth.

Enter Fox News, and Sean Hannity in particular. Your humble servant here contacted Hannity’s producers regarding the smuggled videos and they immediately requested a look. Within hours they jumped on them and produced a blockbuster of a show. Fox viewers saw naked patients covered with flies while lying on “hospital beds” consisting of a bare mattress. They saw building that would be condemned by the health board of any U.S. municipality serving as “hospitals.” They saw and heard Dr. Darsi Ferrer along with other Cubans who described their inability to obtain something as basic as aspirins.

Dr. Ferrer has been beaten and jailed several times since the broadcast, but as so often happens with totalitarian regimes, if one of their targets is publicized, the regime simply moves their crosshairs to others more obscure. Dr. Ferrer’s “disappearance” or “shooting while trying to escape,” would now raise too many eyebrows, even within the MSM and Democratic Party.

And oh – ABC kept their Havana bureau.