Useless Voting
I watch my fellow citizens go to the bodega like automatons, meekly vegetate at work and cast hopeless ballots at the polls. Their lives pass by while they shop for ever shrinking bread rations, collect their symbolic wages which don’t stretch far enough for even a bad life, and raise their hands at the meetings to nominate candidates. None of those chosen in the current electoral process will manage to solve the daily problems that weigh upon life in Cuba. Of the candidates my fellow citizens know almost nothing, barely recognizing their photos or their biographies, which are stuffed with “accomplishments” and the almost universal statement that they are “of humble origin.” Yet not a single word is devoted to their programs or intentions once they assume their new post.
Curiously almost everyone who comes to be a district delegate is a militant of the Cuban Communist Party and puts their party discipline ahead of their obligations to the voters. They will not represent us against the government, nor be our voice projected to the institutions, but rather will serve as heralds for the bad news coming down from above, transmission channels for regulations and directives decided by a few. In the more than thirty years of their existence, these representatives of the People’s Power have not managed to efficiently collect the garbage, coax quality products from the bakeries, or ensure that the sewers are not everywhere overflowing. Nor do they embody the heterogeneity of opinions in our society. They have come to their positions more through proven loyalty than by their ability to manage.
Tonight is the meeting to nominate candidates for the area of concrete blocks where I live. The citation arrived a couple of days ago, meanwhile on TV they are calling for us to choose the best and most capable. I have not one iota of faith, however, in a mechanism that has proven itself unworkable and discriminatory. I would like to raise my hand for the neighbor of strong words and concrete projects who lives across from me, but there are orders to forestall any nomination of a “dissident,” including those who may only seem inclined toward change. It is highly likely that the nomination will go to the same delegate who has, for more than ten years, promised us solutions, knowing full well it is not in his hands to deliver them. He is the comfortable candidate of these useless elections, while we are mere figurines who must raise our hands or mark our ballots.
Marzo 15th, 2010 at 08:21
losada, your choice of “identity” is “different”
You forgot a right:
of free expression.
Happiness is a not a right, is a hope … however the freedom to seek happiness, that IS the right.
Marzo 13th, 2010 at 13:26
Yoani:
It is true that Cuba has suffered the same economic hardships that all “Third World” countries have in a world that is dominated by big business, corruption, capitalism and economic imperialism. The “bread lines” that you complain about are the same shortages that pulled on the hearts of Simon Bolivar, Marx, Fidel, Che Guevara, Hugo Chavez, and all the people who fight against the injustice of a world where there is enough food and shelter for everyone but right now, this very moment, in the heart of the empire, there are people without homes, who are feeling the pangs of hunger.
So, let me ask you. Instead of sitting on your computer chair and complaining and complaining and complaining even more, why don’t you HELP the Cuban Revolution? If you care so much for your fellow Cuban people, why don’t you spend your life working to help Cuba?
Do you think that if the Communist Party leave, the US Government is going to lavish you with gifts? Take a look around you! Look at Haiti! Look at Jamaica! Look at the Bahamas! Look at what capitalism has done for the people of those islands of the Caribe!
No, the multinational corporate wolves want Cuba because it knows that you will provide a healthy stock of new slave labor. If you don’t see this, then you don’t understand history.
Cuba does need the young people of its country to rise up and help — but not by siding with Cuban-American terrorists who have shown their love for the Cuban people by sabotaging food production, pouring cement into bottles of milk headed for Cuban schools, strafing the island with machine gun fire, and so on.
Every day I spend in the economically-destroyed United States, where so many people I know wonder if their children will even have a future, as the gunshots ring out on a nightly basis because the gangs of kids selling drugs are fighting for ONE MORE STREET CORNER to own, I wonder what will happen to the next generation.
But you live in a region where the dignity of humanity is the theme of a political revolution that has raged on for many generations, and the most you can think of to do is complain on a weblog. Very discouraging for someone like me, who looks to Latin America as leaders of the future — perhaps the ONLY leaders of the future on the world who still care for human dignity, the right to food, the right to shelter, the right to health care, the right to happiness and a full life.
Marzo 9th, 2010 at 00:17
83
AnĂłnimo
Marzo 8th, 2010 at 06:18
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Zapata was assassinated by cutting the supply of drinking water to him the last 18 days of his hunger strike and by frequently and barbaric beating given to him by the guards of the prison while striking. But putting aside these facts and other facts that demonstrates that about 550 political prisoners has been assassinated in same way while hunger striking in the last 50 years we can find another macabre facts……. Cuba has one of the most higher rates of suicide in prisons in the world……. not enough with this castrofascism broke another macabre record…… Cuba has one the most higher suicide rates of the world, that without accounting the rafters…… rafting is the most common suicide way for Cubans.
Even all wrote can be put aside because Zapata, Boitel and hundred more that died in hunger strike in castrofascism jails announced clearly and loudly they were not committing suicide but dying in demand of freedom or human life condition or fear judicial procedure …… now Fariñas is clearly stating that his is hunger striking in demand of freedom for 11 castrofascism’s political prisoners that are being assassinated by denying to them medical attention despite theirs deteriorated health conditions.
Marzo 8th, 2010 at 09:19
in 1953 someone stating his case in court said among other things:
“Still there is one argument more powerfull than all others, We are Cubans & to beCuban implies a duty: not to fulfill that duty is a crime, is treason. Wew are proud of the history of our country; we learned in school & have grown up hearing of freedom, justice & human rights. We were taught to venerate the glorious example of our heroes & martyrs. Cespedes, Agramonte, Maceo, Gomez & Marti were the first names engraved in our minds. We were taught that the Titan oce said that liberty is not begged for but won with the blade of a machete. We were taught that for the guidance of Cuba’s free citizens, the Apostole wrote in his book The Golden Age: “THE MAN THAT ABIDES BY UNJUST LAWS & PERMITS ANY MAN TO TRAMPLE & MISTREAT THE COUNTRY IN WHICH HE WAS BORN IS NOT AN HONORABLE MAN … in the world there must be a certain degree of honor just as there must be a certain amount of light. When there are many men without honor, there are always others who bear in themselves th honor of many men. These are the men w/great force against those who steal the people’s freedom, that is to say, against those who steal honor itself. In those men thousands more are contained, an entire people is contained, human dignity is contained …
We were taught that the 10th of october & the 24th of February are glorious anniversaries of national rejoicing because they mark days on which Cubams rebelled against the yoke of infamous tirany. We were taught to cherish & defend the beloved flag of the lone star & to sing every afternoon the verses of our National Anthem: “To live in chains is to live in disgrace and in oprobrium” & “to die for one’s homeland is to live forever!” All this we learned & will never forget, even though TODAY IN OUR LAND THERE IS MURDER & PRISON FOR THE MEN WHO PRACTICE THE IDEAS TAUGHT TO THEM SINCE THE CRADLE. WE WERE BORN IN A FREE COUNTRY THAT OUR PARENTS BEQUEATHED TO US, & THE ISLAND WILL FIRTS SINK INTO THE SEA BEFORE WE CONSENT TO BE SLAVES OF ANYONE”.
So, history will absolve him?
A demagoge who uses Marti’s name to justify himself?
A hypocrite who quotes (in the same speech) the constitution to defend himself while planning to do away with it once in power?
The sanctity & dignity of his Cuba & he the protector of it?
He the not elected … ?
Read the whole speech non cuban friends … read & judge by the words …
Marzo 8th, 2010 at 08:35
whys should we worry, “vamos bien” … right?
in the ‘freedom city’s military camp of columbia, January 9th 1959 … with a pidgeon perched (tied?) on his left shoulder fidel said: “and I want to say to the people & to the cuban mothers, that I will solve all the problems without spilling a drop of blood.
I say the the mothers, that because of us, you will never have to cry …”
So no worries …. “vamos bien”
Marzo 8th, 2010 at 07:10
anonimo:
perhaps I am missing your point, is your interest to debate why Zapata chose suicide?
Maybe you should define suicide, state the different cases & the many different reasons for it.
Make your case, why did Zapata choose to commit suicide?
Marzo 8th, 2010 at 06:40
@#85
I meant to end the sentence ” … to participate in the democratic process …”
Marzo 8th, 2010 at 06:39
anonimo:
let me put it another way:
since voting is a duty (to me)I choose FREELY to exercise my right & resposibility in order to participate in the democratic.
It is my choice.
Here as well, even when stating different opinions, you ARE chosing to vote & since you want to participate in this forum, you are hopefully exercising your resposibility as well.
Marzo 8th, 2010 at 06:23
“vote is a duty”
To vote is a personal choice …
You are missing the point anonimo.
I am sure there will be a torrent of “points” from you & others …
VOTE IS A DUTY
TO VOTE IS A PERSONAL CHOICE.
Marzo 8th, 2010 at 06:18
“Vote the duty of a free citizen in a free society in which democracy rules.”
Is that why only an average 54% of eligible voters in the USA hav ebothered to do so over the past approx. 30 years?
You people don’t value the voice much do you??
“By comparison, in France between January 1, 2010 and February24, 2010, there were 22 suicides in prison, including a 16-year-old boy. In 2009 there were 122 suicides in French prisons and 115 in 2008. State Secretary of Justice Jean-Marie Bockel declared his impotence in these situations: “When someone decides to commit suicide and is determined to do, whether they are free or in prison, [. . .] there is nothing you can do about it.” The families of those victims were not entitled to the same media treatment as Zapata, nor even an official public statement from the French government.10
We must put the Zapata’s case into perspective by looking at two much more serious situations deliberately ignored by the corporate media that clearly illustrate the politicization and manipulation of this ordinary incident that would pass unnoticed in most countries, except Cuba”
Marzo 8th, 2010 at 05:31
Vote the duty of a free citizen in a free society in which democracy rules.
Vote the first tool of a dictatorship in attempting to legitimize their action.
Vote the voice of the people anywhere … sometimes listened to sometimes not, but it carries the weight & the voice of an opinion.
The voice of the people cannot be silenced forever …
Lies don’t live forever …
Yes … a bunch of cliches … but deep down inside we all know how useless it is to learn the value of vote in school & then see it trampled; how frustrating it is to see it soiled; how much anger it causes when it means nothing but an obligation.
A peacefull solution is always wished … is it possible?
I agree w/somebody’s thinking about the end will start when fidel dies.
There will be no more “caudillo”.
The reality is the existence of all this “young wolfs” nipping at raul & his old guard hind quarters.
Change will come (is inevitable) thru the military … freedom … now that’s something else …
Marzo 8th, 2010 at 05:21
While I “kinda” agree about just ignoring our resident/s instigator/s in his/hers many incarnations … I will not agree in calling him/her cuban.
If under the statements he/she made before in this blogg are ture: this instigator was in the employment of the USINT in 1994 … he was at that point subject under the rules of employment of the US goverment.
As such if he/she was/is any other than what he/she represented and/or represents … the credibility of such individual is at best suspected and perhaps has violated the trust of the US goverment.
And that “ilk” smells …
Marzo 8th, 2010 at 00:58
Hank,
HEAR HEAR!
I have “complete” health coverage that covers me wherever I am in the world. I can bet you anything that should I arrive in Havana I won’t find it on the “approved” list and I’ll be charged this fee. Which I expect is going to be quite stiff. One more way to extract money from others to pay for the complete failure of the socialist state.
Marzo 7th, 2010 at 22:14
WOULD LOVE TO HEAR FROM ANY CANADIANS ON THIS BLOG ON THEIR FEELINGS OF THIS ESSAY!
CANADA’S THE EPOCH TIMES:The Cuban People Need Canada’s Support
“The death last month of Orlando Zapata, Cuban prisoner of conscience, reveals once again the intrinsic evil of the Castro dictatorship.
Hundreds of thousands of men, women, and children have died during the five decades of communist rule in Cuba. Several generations of Cubans have never enjoyed the most basic rights or freedoms. Nevertheless, the Castro brothers, Fidel and RaĂşl, have not been able to silence the voices of those who, like Zapata, prefer physical death to the spiritual death they feel under communism.
What Cubans want is freedom. What Cubans desire is unequivocal support from the rest of the world in getting that freedom. What good are condolences and demands for change from Canada’s head of foreign affairs for the Cuban people? Actually, such actions are negated by Canada’s continued trade, investment, tourism, and political ties, which actually have supported the Castro regime. It is difficult to reconcile the principled stand Canada has against the military junta in Burma—or its opposition to the American policy of embargo—with the acceptance given the Castro brothers.
A false nationalism expressed in an anti-American foreign policy undermined the good character of Canada when it decided to accept the Cuban revolution in the first place. Today, 51 years later, Cuba’s civil society and members of the opposition movement find it hard to see Canada as a friend.
It’s time for our government and the politicians who represent to us to ally themselves with the people of Cuba and to distance themselves from the oppressive Castro dictatorship. What’s the point in having so many “experts” in Latin American studies and publicly funded institutions focused on hemispheric affairs, when our parliamentarians are not able to publicly mention the names—let alone express solidarity—of so many Cuban prisoners of conscience?
Let’s look at the Canada-Cuba Parliamentary Friendship Group. Is it possible that those MPs do not understand that they are calling themselves “friends” of a Cuba that cannot choose its representatives? Their actions don’t make them friends, but enemies of Cuba. It is self-deception to believe that a bunch of criminals who usurped power 51 years ago could ever represent the 11 million Cubans stranded in Cuba or the approximate one million who live in exile.
The day will come, in a free Cuba, when people will learn about the dignity of the Czechs and the solidarity of the Poles at a time when support for the Cuban people was needed the most. In an event without precedent in recent parliamentary history, 90 Polish legislators put their differences aside to adopt, symbolically, 90 Cuban political prisoners. They are indeed true friends of Cuba and their gesture will not be forgotten.
Over a century ago, Cuban national hero JosĂ© MartĂ, like Orlando Zapata, gave his life for Cuba’s freedom at the age of 42. He said, “There are men who live contented though they live without decorum. Others suffer as if in agony when they see around them people living without decorum. There must be a certain amount of decorum in the world, just as there must be a certain amount of light.
“When there are many men without decorum, there are always others who themselves possess the decorum of many men. These are the ones who rebel with terrible strength against those who rob nations of their liberty, which is to rob men of their decorum. Embodied in those men are thousands of men, a whole people, human dignity.”
Our eternal gratitude goes today to the men and women who have sacrificed their lives for the freedom of Cuba.
Nelson Taylor Sol is Ottawa Representative Director for the Cuban Canadian Foundation (www.cuban canadianfoundation.com).
http://www.theepochtimes.com/n.....iew/30869/
Marzo 7th, 2010 at 22:07
64
Simba
Marzo 7th, 2010 at 18:01
On March 4, 2010 President Obama of the USA signed a Travel Promotion Act. A part of that program will charge tourists a $10 fee for entry into the USA. That would amount to a $50 fee for a family of five individuals. Cuba will charge a fee for “insurance.” Although two wrongs do not make a right, how much difference is there between the two fees? It is said that nearly all countries charge a fee, but most are hidden in airline ticket costs and various other ruses. Cuba’s fee is probably no worse than that of other countries.
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When comparing others countries with Cuba is necessary to present the whole facts of both sides. In the case of Cuba if the person that makes the comparison has not lived in Cuba or suffered the different ways castrofascism abuses of it totalitarian control then comparison will be incomplete….. If the person that makes the comparison is a regimen thug like juan then there is no intentions of make a fair comparison. To explain better I going to relate a experience I had today:
Today, while driving home I was listening a radio program made for Dominicans in Miami. One of the themes of the program was this “insurance” tax Cubans in exile will have to pay now on….. yes, Cubans in exile almost exclusively. I will explain later. The speakers in this radio program exposed the same reasons to justify this tax that Simba exposes in his comment. But the question is…… Dominicans, for example, has not to ask and much less to pay for visa to get in theirs own country but only a fee, Cubans has to pay the fee and they also has to ask and pay several hundred dollars for visa when they decides to travel to their country. Dominicans has to renew theirs passports maybe after 10 years of issued and they pays the renewal with less than 50 Dominican pesos, Cubans has to renew theirs passport every 2 years and the cost is several hundred dollars. Dominicans costs of fly to their country is less than 100 dollars, Cubans has to pay between 300 and 600 dollars for they fly tickets. Dominicans can stay as long as they please in their countries and don’t loses theirs properties and belongings when they emigrates out the country, Cuban’s properties and belongings are confiscated when they leave Cuba and Cubans can’t stay in Cuba as long as they please because they lose the right of residence when they becomes emigrates. So, you can not compare Cubans situation with others nationalities…. you can not compare Cuba with other countries without be unfair.
Nowadays most tourist traveling to Cuba are Europeans and Canadians, both groups has guaranteed a travel insurance included in theirs housing insurance, this housing insurance is universal and is discounted of theirs taxes as part of the national insurance system…. a system that is the envy of the world and we have to fight for having it implemented here in the States….. so, the welfare system covers all Europeans and Canadians when traveling…. The receptors countries shares those insurance policies with the origin country by the deals reached long time ago by Europeans and Canadians tour-operators whit local tourist companies and local insurance co. Cuba of course is part of those deals….. what is happening now is castrofascism is in “need” of more money and each time castrofascism is in need turns back to the Cubans in exile….. it is just another milking project to get the dollars of the “enemy”……. so, this tax will affect only the Cubans in exile because other tourist are already covered….. what happens is the regimen to disguise the real intentions and the real prejudiced by the tax speaks in a general way as it would be a new thing for tourists in general.
Marzo 7th, 2010 at 21:51
Simba,
With all due respect, I think the fee you are referring to is the 10 dollar Travel Promotion Act surcharge that president Obama signed into law a few days ago. As I understand it, the purpose of the fee is to promote travel to the US, help the tourism industry here and create jobs.
There is a big difference between this and what the murdering Cuban dictator is doing. I have travelled extensively and have never been to a country that requires any proof of health insurance. Requiring tourists to prove they have health insurance or else pay for it in order to visit Cuba is the height of cynicism for a country that refuses to care for its own political prisoners. The dictators in Cuba actively murder their own citizens because they fear them. The money they intend to extort from tourists on the pretext of funding health insurance is a fraud. In Cuba, there is no Government Accountability Office. All the money they collect via this new gimmick will go directly into the private bank accounts of the crime syndicate that is the Cuban dictatorship.
Marzo 7th, 2010 at 21:04
Honoring a Cuban Freedom Fighter.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HS7vcx-QkY0
Marzo 7th, 2010 at 21:00
NY TIMES: U.S. Hopes Exports of Internet Services Will Help Open Closed Societies
By MARK LANDLER
Published: March 7, 2010
WASHINGTON —” Seeking to exploit the Internet’s potential for prying open closed societies, the Obama administration will permit technology companies to export online services like instant messaging, chat and photo sharing to Iran, Cuba and Sudan, a senior administration official said Sunday.
On Monday, he said, the Treasury Department will issue a general license for the export of free personal Internet services and software geared toward the populations in all three countries, allowing Microsoft, Yahoo and other providers to get around strict export restrictions.
The companies had resisted offering such services for fear of violating existing sanctions. But there have been growing calls in Congress and elsewhere to lift the restrictions, particularly after the postelection protests in Iran illustrated the power of Internet-based services like Facebook and Twitter.
“The more people have access to a range of Internet technology and services, the harder it’s going to be for the Iranian government to clamp down on their speech and free expression,” said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the announcement had not been made yet.”
“While Iran is the prime target of the Treasury’s action, it has implications for Sudan and Cuba, where the administration is also seeking to open more channels of communication to the outside world. Two other blacklisted countries, North Korea and Syria, are not affected by the decision because their sanctions do not currently rule out the export of Internet services.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03.....xport.html
Marzo 7th, 2010 at 20:50
50
Simba
Marzo 6th, 2010 at 21:54
……. I hope to be able to debate our differing opinions without animosity. I am fond of saying; Let us agree to disagree without being disagreeable.
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Dear Simba, you are asking something almost impossible for a Cuban: “differing opinions without animosity”…… each time a non Cuban ask me or ask to another Cuban same “effort” I use to tell same story……. In a baseball game played in one of the Europeans countries I left in the past century I was working as Umpire. One of the teams was composed most of Cubans and some Nicaraguans the other team of was composed exclusively of self-behaved and relaxed sons of the country. After each inning at field passed the latiamericans came back to the dugout “analyzing” the different plays they did in the field. Once in the dugout they continued the “analysis” in a latinamerican way while preparing to bating. In the third inning came the manager of the local team and asked me “Why they fights, which is the reason of the argument each time they get in the dugout???”….. I smile to him and explained: “They are not fighting but talking strategy”.
By other side dear friend….. history only can be known as it happened…. what happens is that sometimes countries and people changes the written history for political or ideological reasons…… USA is not out of this fraud but thanks God only for short time because once the intelligence and security institutions calculates the conditions that caused the fraud are gone then other institutions make public the true facts so historians can write the history. The name of this institution is FOIA (Freedom of Information Act)……. something like that do not happen in other countries and history remains faked long time……. Some times happens that historians are not interested in changing the history for political and ideological reasons and even for nationalistic reasons.
Marzo 7th, 2010 at 19:53
” you show your Blue Cross Blue Shield Insurance card , they will tell you we don’t recognize that Insurance if you want to stay in Cuba you have to buy one of our polices.”
and that’s Cuba’s fault!?
Marzo 7th, 2010 at 19:51
#68 “I don’t quite believe that the USA can do no wrong, or that Cuba can do no right, nor do I believe the complete opposite of that.”
I agree.
” Lots of people commit suicide, few do it for the reason that Zapata did.”
Also agree but the death lamentably is still suicide.
Marzo 7th, 2010 at 19:16
Hank
Juana does not have a bug in his ass that does not even tickle him is the snake from last Friday’s party
Marzo 7th, 2010 at 19:11
Hank
If you want to visit Cuba you have to buy Insurance by one of the recognized Cuban health care insurance providers, it does not matter whether you have insurance in the States or not.It will go like this ..
…You arrive to Havana the Inmigration ask for prove of Insurance… you show your Blue Cross Blue Shield Insurance card , they will tell you we don’t recognize that Insurance if you want to stay in Cuba you have to buy one of our polices.
Marzo 7th, 2010 at 19:07
juanita has a bug up her ass and it is bothering her. Keep talking sweetheart, we love to hear from you.
Marzo 7th, 2010 at 18:51
juan #65 I don’t quite believe that the USA can do no wrong, or that Cuba can do no right, nor do I believe the complete opposite of that. Either country or both countries can claim either vice or virtue. The more apt question is: What is the percentage of possible times to do right or wrong that each country manages one or the other? Obviously one would first have to define right or wrong, and that is probably where we differ greatly.
To describe Zapata’s death as strictly a suicide is hardly correct. He starved himself to death in a slow excruciating manner all the while protesting his government’s treatment of political prisoners. Lots of people commit suicide, few do it for the reason that Zapata did.
Marzo 7th, 2010 at 18:19
#60 don’t knock the Castros Wank - you have already conceded that Fidel has broad based support (see below). je je je!
Marzo 7th, 2010 at 18:17
“By comparison, in France between January 1, 2010 and February24, 2010, there were 22 suicides in prison, including a 16-year-old boy. In 2009 there were 122 suicides in French prisons and 115 in 2008. State Secretary of Justice Jean-Marie Bockel declared his impotence in these situations: “When someone decides to commit suicide and is determined to do, whether they are free or in prison, [. . .] there is nothing you can do about it.” The families of those victims were not entitled to the same media treatment as Zapata, nor even an official public statement from the French government.10
We must put the Zapata’s case into perspective by looking at two much more serious situations deliberately ignored by the corporate media that clearly illustrate the politicization and manipulation of this ordinary incident that would pass unnoticed in most countries, except Cuba”…from #53
Trust you are all demonstating in the streets outside the French embassy?
Marzo 7th, 2010 at 18:14
#64 the USA can do no wrong. Cuba can do nothing right.
Marzo 7th, 2010 at 18:01
On March 4, 2010 President Obama of the USA signed a Travel Promotion Act. A part of that program will charge tourists a $10 fee for entry into the USA. That would amount to a $50 fee for a family of five individuals. Cuba will charge a fee for “insurance.” Although two wrongs do not make a right, how much difference is there between the two fees? It is said that nearly all countries charge a fee, but most are hidden in airline ticket costs and various other ruses. Cuba’s fee is probably no worse than that of other countries.
Marzo 7th, 2010 at 16:51
Hank,
There are “preffered providers” in Cuba, but THEY PREFFER THE USA! Tan Tan!
“Take my wife, please”! Sorry, old school comedy here!
Marzo 7th, 2010 at 16:35
Hank,
I think is more like “Even our political prisoners cant say more about our health care system!!”, yes because THEY ARE DEAD!
Marzo 7th, 2010 at 16:20
Thank you Humberto,
CORRECTION: La China & Mummy Healthcare. Sponsors of hunger strikers and political prisoners throughout the world.
Our motto: “We help them waste away, damn proud of it too!”
Marzo 7th, 2010 at 16:11
Castro Brothers Health Care. This gives a whole new meaning to “out of network providers.” Are there preferred providers in Cuba?
Marzo 7th, 2010 at 16:10
Hank,
You forgot to identify them correctly! It’s “LA CHINA” & “THE MUMMY”! How can you forget! One is a homosexual and the other is either dead or comatose!
Marzo 7th, 2010 at 15:56
So, let me see if I have this right. In order to leave Cuba, you need permission from the government. Cuba is one of the few regimes left on the face of the planet that requires an exit visa for its citizens. This is a policy that disregards all standards of civility and a clear violation of universally recognized standards of human rights.
Now, in order to enter Cuba, you have to be able to prove that you have health insurance from a private capitalistic company that will recompense the glorious Cuban health care system if you get sick? And if you don’t have it when you arrive in Havana, the regime will sell it to you? Unbelievable. The hypocracy is extraordinary. fidel & company are now insurance agents. A fitting end for them.
Marzo 7th, 2010 at 15:25
ANOTHER EXTORSION PLAN FROM “LA CHINA” & “THE MUMMY”! LIKE I WANT TO GO NOW!
HAVANA TIMES: Cuba Imposes Insurance for Visitors
HAVANA TIMES, March 7 — Without saying what it costs nor what it covers, the Cuban government announced it would obligate tourists to buy health insurance in order to visit the island.
The same measure applies for Cubans living abroad and returning home for visits and for foreigners living in the country.
The decision was taken at an extraordinary meeting of the Council of Ministers on February 16 and published ten days later in the Official Gazette.
According to the measure that takes effect on May 1, 2010, the government says medical insurance policies purchased abroad must be from insurance companies recognized in Cuba.
It also states that sales points will be established at points of entrance to the country for purchase from Cuban companies.
Diplomatic personnel and representatives of foreign organizations are exempt from mandatory insurance.
The Ministry of Finance and Prices is the entity empowered by the Council of Ministers to set the price of the insurance polices to be sold by Cuban companies.
http://www.havanatimes.org/?p=20914
Marzo 7th, 2010 at 15:09
FROM YOU TO GOD’S EAR! JOSE!!! GREAT ESSAY!
GOV MONITOR: Spain, Cuba And The Death Of Orlando Zapata
Source: by Jose Ignacio Torreblanca, European Council on Foreign Relations
Posted on: 7th March 2010
The death of Orlando Zapata shows up the extreme fragility of the Cuban regime.
After 50 years of total control of everything in Cuba, the fact that it has to use these means of repression on a bricklayer, whose only form of resistance has been peaceful and verbal, can only mean that the regime fears its citizens as much as they fear the regime – or perhaps a little more.
Intuitions and hunches often amount to wishful thinking. But in the light of what has happened to similar regimes (think of Ceausescu’s Romania), a sudden collapse of the Cuban regime could in fact be far more likely than it might seem at first sight. If, as the Cuban government tells us, 65 dissidents can subvert with their dissident talk a regime that claims to represent a people’s revolution, what the Castro brothers are telling us is that they are perfectly aware that the heritage of 50 years would hardly last 50 hours, if the regime renounced physical coercion.
By now it is hard to question the fact that the Cuban revolution has led to a tyranny sustained by mere force. But for those who still have their doubts, the case of Orlando Zapata offers a detailed study of how a totalitarian regime bends the will of people. First, three months of prison for publicly complaining of “how bad things were;” then, three years in prison for taking part in a hunger strike; and lastly, once in prison, successive sentences of up to 36 years, and continual beatings and abuse for his refusal to be considered a common criminal. This is why the struggle between Zapata and the Cuban regime was to the death: both knew that when someone resists in this manner (peacefully and to the end), no regime can stand it.
It is true that 50 years of confrontation with the Cuban regime have only strengthened it. But dialogue with the regime, with no conditions attached, which is the other option (favoured by Spain, among others), does not seem to produce results, either. To a political scientist, it is hard to see how such an approach can constitute a “policy.” If we understand policy as the application of means to achieve ends (and the successive adjustment of these means in the light of the results obtained) this approach represents the negation of policy. We know what is required, but not how to achieve it.
The fact that Spain lacks a Cuba policy worthy of the name is due to several reasons: firstly, Spain is so historically and emotionally entangled in Cuba that it is hard to start from zero and examine without prejudice the relative merits of all the options; secondly, the lack of internal consensus in Spain on this matter; thirdly, even if Spain had a Cuba policy, its influence on internal events would be small. Meanwhile Brazil and Venezuela, like certain Spanish leftists, still believe that you can be “a friend of the regime and of the Cubans,” in spite of the evidence of enmity between the Cubans and their regime.
All this explains why Spain’s (non) policy on Cuba simply consists of keeping open the channels for dialogue so as to have early notice of any possible will to change, to intervene occasionally in favour of an individual dissident (while shunning any contact with the opposition) and to offer the regime any available opportunities for increased openness and economic development (including an EU cooperation agreement with no political conditions attached). It is a wait-and-see attitude, and not an absurd one; but we should not use the word “policy” for what is just the sum of a few hopes tenuously threaded together.
This article was published in El PaĂs English edition on 3 March 2010.
http://thegovmonitor.com/world.....25501.html
Marzo 7th, 2010 at 10:05
Agent juan read carefully this part: ” When ideology is placed above objective information, truth and ethics are the first victims”. You are the product of a communist ideology.
Marzo 7th, 2010 at 09:27
It makes me horribly sad to hear about how horrible life is in my country. I am lucky to have traveled to the USA with my parents at the young age of 7, but I have never forgotten my Cuba. I am constantly fighting those ignorant a-holes here who believe Cuba is anything but poor, destitute, and condemned. Yoani, I admire your courage and heart.
Marzo 7th, 2010 at 04:53
“The suicide of Orlando Zapata Tamayo is a tragedy and his mother’s pain must be respected. But there are unscrupulous [no more than those who live in Miami] people. The corporate media, Washington, and the European Union cares little about his death, just as they care little for the Hondurans and Colombians killed every day. Zapata is useful to them only in the media war against the Cuban government. When ideology is placed above objective information, truth and ethics are the first victims.”
http://mrzine.monthlyreview.or.....40310.html
Marzo 6th, 2010 at 22:36
I would like to share a translation of a video by Pedro J. RamĂrez, Journalist and editor-in-chief of “El Mundo” one of the most recognized and respected newspaper in Madrid, Spain, on the death of Orlando Zapata of Cuba. Wed. Feb. 24th 2010.
http://www.elmundo.es/elmundo/.....36287.html
“The World in 2 Seconds By: Pedro J. RamĂrez
The Spanish Government has covered oneself by issuing a statement through their Vice-President, De La Vega, making sure they regret the death of Orlando Zapata, a Cuban dissident, who died as a result of a hunger strike, the Spanish government also supports a transitional democratic process in Cuba.
There are times when it is not enough to make statements out of formalities. Just recently, Zapatero (Spain President and actual President of UE) was a participant at a United Nations forum in favor of abolishing the death penalty worldwide, it is a noble cause but for a Democrat, life and freedom is the same thing.
At least Orlando Zapata gave his life as the only way to proof that under the dreadful tyranny of Castro, there is no space at all for freedom. He was a political prisoner, a prisoner of conscience, he did not steal or kill anyone for his cause, he was jailed for expressing his opinion and because he continues to do so from jail, they let him die in an inhuman and despicable way.
How could it be that Zapatero defended the supreme value of life when the one in question was the life of a multiple assassin which pictures of his death in Belfast has caused pain and humiliation to his victims?
However, Zapatero has not even raised a finger of protest when it comes to Orlando Zapata’s death to be one of a political price to the Cuban dictatorship?
As President of the European Union, Zapatero is missing a great opportunity to show that the most elemental defense of Human Rights it’s not dependant of the ideology of the perpetrator.
I am sure Orlando Zapata’s family will not find any comfort in a regime that have assisted unabashed in his agony; now declared themselves leftists and anti-Yanks.
With progress in Spain, this is not an excuse or a mitigating factor. We tend to boycott the inauguration of a democratic elected president in Honduras, but continue to have open relations with the tyrants of Havana.
Our Foreign Policies are a disgrace and Moratinos (Spain Minister of Foreign Affairs) is a walking embarrassment.”
Thanks for keeping in touch with “El Mundo”
Marzo 6th, 2010 at 22:31
Concubino, this guy has an agenda, it does not matter what anybody call or says about him, all he wants is the attention some of us are giving him so he can continue with his ill propaganda and ridicule of us all.
Marzo 6th, 2010 at 21:54
Sigmaun Freud, I reread one of your comments from the previous post. I now believe I did not understand who you were directing a comment too. No apology is needed to me, but I accept that you cared to. Thank you.
I have stated this before, but apparently not everyone read it, or remembered. I was born, and remain, a United States citizen. I am old enough to remember the Cuban Missile Crisis. I was in the United States military service during that time period. A few months after the Crisis I was stationed at Guantanamo Bay, where I remained several years. I met some Cubans that worked on the base, and learned they were a friendly group. I was there when Castro’s Cuba shut off the water to the base, and I learned that not all Cubans were friendly.
I have always had an interest in the Cuban Nation, and for no particular reason studied its history. However, you and I will have differing opinions of that history due to our origins I’m sure. I hope to be able to debate our differing opinions without animosity. I am fond of saying; Let us agree to disagree without being disagreeable.
Marzo 6th, 2010 at 20:51
THE HYPOCRICY OF IT ALL! I LOVE IT!!! KORDA,THE “COMMUNIST” HAD A SWISS BANK ACCOUNT!
Michael Casey, the author of Che’s Afterlife: The Legacy of an Image, notes the irony that the Marxist’s photo is now a marketing weapon. “But the truth is entirely consistent with the realities of our post-Cold War world,” Casey writes. “As Cuba has demonstrated, â€revolution’ is a brand, not a goal in itself.”
Korda justified the copyright lawsuits he brought as his way of protecting Cuba’s socialist principles.
Marzo 6th, 2010 at 20:40
And good old Wanker says “. Raul does not have the popular support to sustain himself. So the end of fidel means the end of raul.”
Ah so the current government stays in power because of the popular support for Fidel!!! Most illuminating! Wash out your mouth or you will be expelled from the Miami mafia!
Marzo 6th, 2010 at 20:36
Ripple says ” IT’S ALL ABOUT THE MONEY IN CUBA!!” but not in socialist USA!!
Marzo 6th, 2010 at 20:35
THE “HYPOCRICY” OF ALL THESE “COMMUNIST”! YOU WOULD THINK THEY WOULD GIVE ALL THIS MONEY TO THE POOR BLACKS IN CUBA! OR DONATE IT TO BUILDING HOMES! NOT!!!!!!!!!!!!
THE WALL STREET JOURNAL: Che: The Birthday of a Revolutionary Brand (Essay)
March 5, 2010
After staying mostly out of view for seven years, Korda’s image exploded into public consciousness after Guevara’s death in October 1967, just in time for the Argentine hunk’s posthumous conversion into the poster child of an angry generation of students in Paris, Berkeley, and other Western cities.
As pop artists took to the image with glee, it evolved into a popular and heavily commercialized icon that often strayed far from Che’s hardline Marxist message. Even so, the Cuban government made sure that the image remained strongly associated with its revolution. Che became a brand with which Castro projected a sexy image of principled rebellion, in effect masking what was more truthfully a sellout to the conservatism of Soviet Union in return for financial aid.
All this was possible because the image was unhindered by copyright. Cuba was not a signatory to the Berne Convention on copyright—Castro described it as a bourgeois concept—which meant that artists and advertisers were free to use Korda’s work as they pleased. The universally recognized contours of Che’s face became a template onto which they projected all sorts of ideas. This meant that it gained a massive, widespread prominence. But it also fomented the contradictions we see today in Che’s widespread commercial exploitation.
Then, with the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, Cuba became desperate for cash. To obtain the hard currency needed for his regime to survive, Castro opened the country to foreign investors. To appease their concerns about Cuba’s treatment of property rights, Havana joined the World Trade Organization—an irony overlooked by anti-WTO Che-T-shirt wearers—and legalized copyright.
All of a sudden, Alberto Korda, approaching the age of 80, could start claiming money on others’ use of his famous image. And yet as a resident of Cuba—by definition, a loyal “revolutionary”—he justified his lawsuits in the name of protecting Cuba’s socialist principles. This was the official line behind Korda’s victory over Smirnoff Vodka’s use of the image in 2001, a court decision that re-established his copyright after 41 years.
Korda died shortly after that ruling, and the rights to his photographs shifted to his Havana-based daughter, Diana Diaz, much to chagrin of her four half-siblings, all of whom now live in exile. Diaz has continued where her father left off, pursuing foreign companies for breach of copyright and seeking, in her words, to protect Che’s “integrity.”
Meanwhile, in a strategy that Diaz says is intended to pay for her legal bills, she has sold exclusive licenses to a wide range of garment and accessory makers around the world. This is why you can buy fully Korda-licensed Che baseball caps for $12.99 at thechestore.com. (The site’s slogan: “For All Your Revolutionary Needs!”) .
How this undoubtedly lucrative business is consistent with protecting Che’s integrity is hard for some to accept—not least the progressive T-shirt vendors in the U.S. who’ve been hit with copyright infringement notices for selling unlicensed Che-wear.
But the truth is entirely consistent with the realities of our post Cold War world. In this world, as Cuba has demonstrated, “revolution” is a brand, not a goal in itself.
http://blogs.wsj.com/speakeasy.....ary-brand/
Marzo 6th, 2010 at 20:32
Rare type of democracy and freedom “fighters” those that wants to make us believe that castrofascism will fall just giving to them millions of dollars of american tourist and american credits!!!!!!!
5000 thousand millions dollars gave USSR to castrofascism each single year from 1962 to 1990 and this incredible amount of money did not cause neither the “wanted” fall of the tyranny or the bettering of Cubans inhuman life conditions. Billions of dollars supplies to castrofascism Venezuela’ dictator and the murderous regimen just stays on place killing as usual and making the people as miserable as yesterday…… trillions of dollars gives to castrofascism the international capital in credits, business and millions of tourist from Europe and Canada that goes every year to Cuba to copulate Cuba’s childhood, get drunk and get sun burned……… not happy with this now comes these “democracy fighters” and ask us “Let’s Americans get in the party they will help to transform Cuba in a new Vietnam, China or Russia”………… I can’t write here the words this castrofacism thugs deserves but you can imagine them!!!!!!
Marzo 6th, 2010 at 20:24
33
Simba
Marzo 6th, 2010 at 11:34
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I agree with this idea…….
Simba, I left a comment in the last post giving to you my apologies for any misunderstanding my words could have caused. I hope you read it.
Regards
Marzo 6th, 2010 at 20:23
“SHOW ME THE MONEY”!! OR SHOULD I SAY “THE CHE” PICTURE! SPOKEN LIKE A “TRUE” COMMUNIST!! DIANA DIAZ! IT’S ALL ABOUT THE MONEY IN CUBA!!
GUARDIAN UK: Row rages over iconic image of Che Guevara
Cuban photographer’s daughter aims to make advertisers and PR men bow to brand copyright
“It is the photograph that adorns student bedsits across the world. The famed black and white portrait of Ernesto “Che” Guevara perfectly captured his intense stare and brooding good looks, helping establish his myth. But exactly 50 years since Cuban photographer Alberto DĂaz “Korda” GutiĂ©rrez snapped the Marxist revolutionary, the image has become the subject of bitter legal battles.
Since Korda’s death in 2001, his daughter, Diana DĂaz, has pursued companies she accuses of breaching the photograph’s copyright by using it in their advertising campaigns. Her father employed a similar tactic when he sued Smirnoff Vodka for the illegal use of the image in 2001, a case that re-established his copyright after 41 years.
DĂaz’s legal battles are not without controversy – or irony. For decades the Argentinian-born Guevara’s adopted spiritual home of Cuba did not recognise copyright. It was only following the collapse of the former Soviet Union that Cuba joined the World Trade Organisation and legalised copyright.
DĂaz, who lives in Cuba, says that to fund her legal battles she has had to sell licences to a range of “Che” products, including baseball caps, T-shirts and, of course, berets. Her control of the Che brand has led to reports of rows with her half-siblings who live in exile.
The fact that the photograph, taken with a Leica camera on 4 March 1960 at a political rally in Havana attended by Jean-Paul Sartre and Simone de Beauvoir, came to international prominence owes as much to luck as Korda’s skill. “It was not planned, it was intuitive,” said Korda, who worked for the RevoluciĂłn newspaper. He told one interviewer that Guevara had shown such an intense gaze that he had been briefly taken aback and only managed to fire off two quick shots, one vertical, one horizontal.
It was at the same rally that Cuban leader Fidel Castro delivered his famous “Homeland or Death” slogan in front of thousands of people. But the photograph of Guevara, which Korda later called “Heroic Guerrilla”, did not make the next day’s paper and only emerged after Guevara’s death in Bolivia seven years later.
Korda, a Porsche-driving fashion photographer who had become infatuated with Castro’s Cuba, admitted that he cropped the original shot to make Guevara’s gaze stand out.
In the decades that followed, it became a template for myriad other photographs and has been widely copied by political strategists keen to promote their candidate. It has been claimed that Barack Obama’s “Hope” poster during his presidential campaign was heavily influenced by Korda’s work.
The fact that for many years it was not under copyright meant the image could be utilised by whoever wanted it, something that ensured its ubiquity. Interest in Korda’s work remains strong and prices for his iconic prints are rising at auction. Another Korda photograph of Guevara, this time of him fishing, went for ÂŁ6,600, three times its asking price, at a sale in Gloucestershire this month. The signed Korda print was part of a collection acquired after his death. Other pictures in the sale showed Castro playing golf and meeting Ernest Hemingway.
Michael Casey, the author of Che’s Afterlife: The Legacy of an Image, notes the irony that the Marxist’s photo is now a marketing weapon. “But the truth is entirely consistent with the realities of our post-Cold War world,” Casey writes. “As Cuba has demonstrated, ‘revolution’ is a brand, not a goal in itself.”
Korda justified the copyright lawsuits he brought as his way of protecting Cuba’s socialist principles.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/worl.....he-guevara
Marzo 6th, 2010 at 20:18
Here is how I see the end:
The military owns the tourist industry in Cuba which is the only source of real income in that country. The price of every mojito consumed by a Canadian or European tourist goes directly into the pocket of the nomenclatura.
When the murdering dictator fidel dies, this year or the next or the next, the younger brother, raul will be faced with growing pressure to relax the restrictions now in place that prevent expansion in that sector. Raul will resist, because that is all he knows and he is an old man, not accustomed to change. When he does resist, he will be deposed. Raul does not have the popular support to sustain himself. So the end of fidel means the end of raul.
Marzo 6th, 2010 at 20:14
#39 Nuh - more a play on words in english - see “bib”. Sorry keep forgetting many people here don’t have english as a first language.
Yo se que es mas facil para mi escribir en español, pero me gusta practicar mi ingles y es una de las mejores formas. Lo facil se hizo para los brutos. y sĂ, el español de Cuba es bastante diferente al español de mexicano.
Marzo 6th, 2010 at 20:07
#38 Cue says “The embargo has served him Well for all these years by providing a convenient scapegoat for all the collosal Failures of the Socialist Paradise.”
Therefore maintain it so they can keep using it as a scapegoat. Monty Pythonish!!!!!!!
Marzo 6th, 2010 at 13:59
concubino,
I read in Granma that juanita and maria s will be performing together for a limited engagement in a venue yet to be determined. The show is billed as a tragicomedy in which a psychopathic lunatic takes control of a country and holds the people there hostage for 50 years. The sham ends when people start going on hunger strikes to protest the inhumanity and the old man dies. What’s really interesting is what happens to juanita and maria s at the end.
Marzo 6th, 2010 at 13:50
Juan 25- It is unimportant What the majority of US Citizens think of the travel ban. Statecraft is not determined by a vote for every decision that is made. Obama rightfully intends No More concessions for the Despots ruling Cuba when their answer to unilateral concessions already granted by Obama, to their benefit, are castigated on the Front page of Granma. Rahter expect just the opposite- a rolling back of the Remittance limits to $100 per month, and an end to the Revolving door visits by Cuban-Americans to Cuba. Bad behavior by Cuba, and insults to our President must Never be rewarded. But the embargo should end, if Fidel will permit it by not doing some atrocious act that stops the elimination dead, as he has done in the past. The embargo has served him Well for all these years by providing a convenient scapegoat for all the collosal Failures of the Socialist Paradise.
Marzo 6th, 2010 at 12:25
***
HI AGAIN JUAN–#25. I see I have a new “handle–Juan Apron. A co-worker gave me the name Juan Babero long ago. Some differences in Mexican and Cuban Spanish?
***
HOLA OTRA VEZ JUAN–#25. Veo que tengo un diminutivo nuevo–Juan Apron. Un companero me dio el nombre Juan Babero hace muchos anos. Unas differencias en el Espanol Mexicano y Cubano?
***
Juan “Apron”
***
Marzo 6th, 2010 at 12:24
“THEIR lives pass by while they shop for ever shrinking bread rations, collect THEIR symbolic wages which don’t stretch far enough for even a bad life” And who pays YOU??
“and raise THEIR hands at the meetings to nominate candidates” You really are arrogant to your people!!
“They will not represent us against the government”. Against?
You say that you want someone with strong words and concrete projects. You mean that is better in countrys where politicians promise, and promise before the election but after it´s forgotten. What has Obama bin doing of his “strong words an concrete projects”??
Marzo 6th, 2010 at 12:01
Juan #5- Asking for Cuba to pay for food shipments “upon delivery to Cuba” is an old idea that was tried at the start, and Failed miserably. I remember being offshore of Cuba and seeing 4 US Flagged ships waiting around for Cuba to pay up so they could enter port and discharge their cargo. Shipping companies keep their ships on a tight schedule, if they expect to earn a profit. They cannot afford to be idling around off Cuba waiting for The Masters to scrape up the payment for goods already loaded and shipped, but not paid for. Cuba will remain COD at the Dock in the US- When they pay up, the goods will be loaded and shipped directly to the Dock in Cuba for unloading. And not before.
Marzo 6th, 2010 at 11:35
BOSTON GLOBE: Cuban dissident ready to die for cause
March 6, 2010
SANTA CLARA, Cuba - “A dissident journalist who has gone nine days without eating or drinking said yesterday that he is willing to give his life to call attention to the plight of Cuba’s political prisoners.
If he does, Guillermo Farinas would be the second hunger striker to die on the communist island in as many weeks, and his death would probably spark a new round of international condemnation of the Castro government.
“There are moments in the lives of nations where martyrs are needed and I think that moment has arrived,’’ Farinas said during an interview at his shabby, two-story home with walls of faded pink and lime-green.
Farinas was hospitalized Wednesday after briefly losing consciousness. Doctors gave him fluids intravenously, then sent him home, saying there was little more they could do if he refused to eat.
Farinas is already approaching the limit of how long most people can go without water. But his family plans to hospitalize him each time he loses consciousness, meaning more fluid treatments that could keep him alive for weeks.
Farinas, 48, has held 22 hunger strikes in the past 15 years, and has been jailed repeatedly for dissident activities on charges including disrespecting authority, public disorder, and assault against a suspected undercover government informant.
This time, he stopped eating and drinking on Feb. 24, the day after jailed dissident Orlando Zapata Tamayo died following an 83-day hunger strike in which he only accepted vitamin-fortified liquids.”
http://www.boston.com/news/wor.....til_death/
Marzo 6th, 2010 at 11:34
As an English speaking and writing person, who knows no Spanish, I go to the translation section daily. I hope to be able to make minor corrections of English in a document that has been previously translated. However, I find many blog documents that have no translation, and therefor I am unable to help. If a few more of the regular contributors to this comment section would help in the rough translation more Cubans would be able to express themselves to a much larger audience than they are able to reach in Spanish only. Please help these people that have so much to say, but little opportunity to say it. They should be heard.
Marzo 6th, 2010 at 11:32
cocubino,
The other thing I remember is the sparklers. I had no idea people could do such things with lit sparklers. juanita is truly imaginative.
Marzo 6th, 2010 at 11:25
Sorry for the misspellings.I’m still hangover.BTW a lot of people used the palangana of Juana as partable toilet as you may already know there no public restrooms in Cuba.
Also it has been confirmed by Granma Newspaper… the snake made his way in to Juana’s rear end . According to the Drs of Amejeiras Hospital, The anaconda should find its way out by March 8( Woman International Day)it is expected to come out trough Juanas mouth, (just in time) the spectacle is gonna be televised by Cuban state TV and streammed live in Cubadebate website, after that Juana will deliver his speech acceppting his nomination as delegate of the English Section of GY and due to her popularity she may be ppointed as the new President of the Cuban Woman Federation position as you may know was held by Vilma Espin former wife of la “CHINA”
Marzo 6th, 2010 at 10:41
OMG! hank! what a party… to bad I missed the conga I was to drunk by then thanfully I did no make any mess all my puke and urine went to palanagana of Juana.
I think.. I’m not sure but the snake dissapair we might find it in one of juana’s holes. not sure one tho..
Marzo 6th, 2010 at 10:35
Statue
I always have you in high regards,you are well respeted and popular one by your insighfull comments.
The only way to descredit this irrational clown is by mocking him and the ideas he defend.I have no repect whatsoever for Juana Palangana
Marzo 6th, 2010 at 10:28
Concubino,
The party last night was amazing! Thank you for hosting it. juanita was absolutely stunning in her leopard skin mini-falda and those pink stilettos. I could hardly keep up with the show, not to mention the costume changes. I think I might have had a little too much rum because the last thing I remember was the conga line and juanita doing a pole dance up on the stage. Was that a live snake she was wearing?
Marzo 6th, 2010 at 10:08
There are comments made in this blog by well paid irrational people, this clown enjoys the popularity you help him achieved, please live him alone, it is not worth it.
Marzo 6th, 2010 at 09:51
After a big celebration last night for her big win as the new representativeof the Generation Y English section(needless to say 100% of the vote was for her ), Juana la Loca aka Juna Bacallao decided that the first order of his political agenda was to change his name to a more serious one …Juana Palangana.
Marzo 6th, 2010 at 05:39
You’re welcome Juan Apron. Perhaps as I suggested previously you can take up any conerns you may have directly with Sanchez or her husband. I am sure she will be very interested in her analysis being compared with some alleged similarity with Irak prior to the USA invasion. An invasion that has certainly done wonders for the lifestyle of the average Iraki. I am sure Yobbo and his ilk would like a similar USA invasion of Cuba. I course their definition of democracy has always been a self serving one that is manipulated as selfish circumstances suit. That a significant majority of those in the USA oppose the travel bans is ignored.
That the average Cuban rejects the views of the Miami mafia is similarly irrelevant.
Marzo 6th, 2010 at 01:59
***
HI JUAN–#17. Thank you for the link to Yoanni’s analysis on the embargo. It is similar to the analysis on the embargo results in Saddam Hussein’s Iraq.
***
HOLA JUAN–#17. Gracias por el “link” al analysis de Yoanni tratando del embargo. Es similar al analysis de los resultos del embargo contra el Iraq de Saddam Hussein.
***
John Bibb
***
Marzo 6th, 2010 at 01:46
Juanita you need to go back to your thesauras and find some new words, or stick around and keep co-opting our words. In any case, we, that means most of us in here with at least two ounces of graymatter and some common sense support democracy. You and your “ilk” support an ossified communist totalatarian system that has failed everywhere else and yet you continue to hold up the castro banner. Who is anachronistic, those that defend and uphold democracy or you and your pre-cambrian friends?
Marzo 6th, 2010 at 01:35
Actually Wank they were initially Humbug’s words - sorry that was too profound for you!
Marzo 6th, 2010 at 00:07
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Securitate
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ion_Mihai_Pacepa
Hank here you will find some info. The second link : this guy wrote a few interesting books about his job. You can get them in English. He is still in the witness program protected by the FBI. His location was never disclosed. I believe it is easier to find Hoffa’s corpse then this guy and his family.
Accountability: A few of them were killed , a few of them were thrown in jail. Unfortunately the majority not only that they kept their job ( The institution changed its name and helped out keeping a new ” elected” socialist government in place). Others got involved in business. Funny how they had a huge buget during the dictatorship and also they were taking care of the Swiss bank accounts of the dictator. Once he was shot, his accounts were emptied by these people. One of them is a billionaire today.
Employment: it was like joining a military structure.Highly paid and had access to goods that were not available to other people. Also they were backed by small “army” who could help out with heavy equipment in the case of an uprising.
Once the dictator was gone from his palace they sided with the revolution. For almost a week the civil war continued but unfortunately nobody knows for sure who was fighting who. In their stupidity the army was giving out Kalashnikovs to anyone who lined up to fight an invisible enemy.
Marzo 5th, 2010 at 23:31
Igor,
Thank you for answering my questions.
When you say that CDRs did not exist in Romania because the secret police was almighty, it sounds to me that something equivalent to the CDRs existed there, maybe not the same thing structurally, but the same thing effectively.
Who joined these organizations? Were they held accountable when the end came? I apologize for asking so many questions. This is very interesting to me.
Marzo 5th, 2010 at 23:10
Hank, there were no CDR’s in Romania. It was not necessary as the Secret Police was almighty watching over “the lives of others”. A significant number of people were informers ( most of them were blackmailed by the secret police )so any kind of revolutionary activity were reported. Than there were the defectors. Their properties were take away. Jews and romanians with german roots were allowed to leave legally to Israel, respective Germany as the dictator actually sold them for $$$$ and their properties were taken away. The Governments of Israel and West Germany payed the dictator with millions of $. People who were opposing faced the loss of their social status. ( for ex an engineer would lose his job but sent to work as a laborer ( after some beatings and jail time).
Marzo 5th, 2010 at 22:49
Oh, now Juanita the village idiot is using profanities with her new words. Shocking. Sorry you have gotten your panties in a bunch, why don’t you ask uncle Raul to help you with that.
Marzo 5th, 2010 at 22:40
#11 Juan Serviette - wouldn’t you better off directing your question to Yoani Sanchez? I am sure you are not so lazy as to having not at least read the whole interview in which she most recently argues this position?
28 Jan 2010 http://www.allvoices.com/contr.....ama-speaks
A clear majority of those in the USA want the bans removed. A clear majority of Cubans including ALL leading dissidents want the bans removed. How this would assist Fidel Castro I guess is for you to substantiate. Personally I think the more tourists in Cuba the more quickly the place will change (both in good and bad ways).
But fundamnetally I think it is up to Cubans - not the dying relics in Miami - to control their own destiny. Hence Sanchez’ husband’s views as posted below .
Marzo 5th, 2010 at 22:28
JUST GOT THIS FROM “CUBA CENTRAL” says Humbug — pity I had already posted it in #7 below.
And yes most of the world doesn’t give a shit for the anachronistic views of you and your ilk.
Marzo 5th, 2010 at 22:27
Take a look at this. fidel looks not only like a mummy, but a vulture. That nose is incredible. Vultures feed on the dead carcasses of road kill. That’s what fidel turned Cuba into. Road Kill — and that is what he has fed on for 50 years.
Fidel is back on top, Newsweek says
Over the past year, Fidel Castro has steadily reasserted his authority and applied the brakes to efforts by his brother RaĂşl to liberalize the economy and reform civil society, Newsweek says, citing various Cuba specialists.
In an article titled “Fidel Castro Is Back in Charge of Cuba,” the magazine points out that Fidel “has blocked the fundamental economic reforms necessary to lift the country out of its worst economic crisis since the collapse of the Soviet Union.”
He has also ensured that tensions with the U.S. remain high, Newsweek says, referring to the arrest in December of American contractor Alan Gross for allegedly distributing communications equipment to unidentified Cubans.
One government shift that bears Fidel’s imprint is the promotion last December of Ramiro ValdĂ©s MenĂ©ndez, “a former Interior Minister regarded as a diehard Fidel loyalist and a brutal enforcer,” to Vice President of the Council of State. ValdĂ©s already is a Vice President of the Council of Ministers.
“Despite a history of strained relations with RaĂşl, ValdĂ©s is now effectively the No. 3 man in the regime, after the Castro brothers,” the article says. (PHOTO SHOWS ValdĂ©s, at left, and RaĂşl Castro at a Feb. 17 ceremony.)
Newsweek’s assessment: “As long as Fidel is calling the shots, the Cuban economy will remain unproductive, the youth will remain restive, and relations with the U.S. will remain at an impasse.” To read the article, click here.
–Renato Pérez Pizarro.
http://miamiherald.typepad.com.....-says.html
Marzo 5th, 2010 at 21:50
The evil dictatorship of Cuba will forever sadly remain as long as it people remain unarmed, underfed, live in poor housing, not allowed to travel outside of the island,constantly threatened, and jailed because of protest. The people of Cuba who wish to be free, should unite, be willing to risk a violent death, and stand up to the horrid old fart Castro tyrants and their evil, murderous followers. The world will see their bloody fight and support the revolution for freedom of speech, a right to bear arms, human rights, freedom of religion, the right to own property(wishful thinking?)…..BUT then again…..who knows…The murderous evil dictator Fidel and Raul are loved by many who behave just like them and maintain the political status quo in the island nation.
Tragic… just like many other nations who have dictators, human right violations and squash any voice of complaint, or change !
Marzo 5th, 2010 at 20:39
Igor,
I am very curious about what Romania was like under CeauĹźescu. Was there anything similar to the Committees for the Defense of the Revolution (CDRs) that exist in Cuba today? Were there public repudiations of individuals and the isolation that follows?
I know that China under Mao engaged in public humiliation of individuals as a means to suppress dissent. I am just wondering if the combination of repressive mechanisms we see in Cuba is a common theme in totalitarian dictatorships or are they things fidel and company have developed on their own. In other words, is there a unique brand of Cuban totalitarianism that is different from others that have existed?
Marzo 5th, 2010 at 20:08
JUST GOT THIS FROM “CUBA CENTRAL” the favorite web site of “JUANA LA CUBANA”! I JUST FU**ING LOVE THESE PARAGRAPHS! THEY DONT GIVE A SH*T ABOUT HUMAN RIGHTS, JUST LIFTING THE “EMBARGO” OVER THE DEAD BODIES OF ALL THE POLITICAL PRISONERS! SHAME! SHAME!
“We cover in this week’s news summary the continuing repercussions that Cuba is facing following the death of Orlando Zapata Tamayo and the detention of Alan Gross. These are serious and important issues on their own terms.
But they hardly represent a vindication of U.S. economic and diplomatic sanctions; they are in fact evidence of their failure to change anything. Rather than punishing the government of Cuba, instead they harm the Cuban people and penalize Americans by restricting their liberties and their livelihoods.
In this climate, we think the House Agriculture Committee is doing the right thing by examining how increasing food exports to Cuba and repealing the travel ban would represent a helpful and hopeful turn for U.S. policy.
They deserve our thanks and encouragement.”
Center for Democracy in The Americas- ASA “Lift The Cuban Embargo AT ALL COSTS!”
http://cubacentral.wordpress.com/
THEIR MISSION STATEMENT: “LET ALL THE POLITICAL PRISONERS DIE! ALL WE WANT IS TO GO TO CUBA, DRINK RUM, DANCE SALSA, AND GET LAID BY THE CHEAPEST, MOST I INTELLIGENT HOOKERS IN THE WHOLE WIDE WORLD! GRACIAS! CUBA CENTRAL!
Marzo 5th, 2010 at 20:07
***
HI JUAN–#5. You write that Yoanni Sanchez wants U.S. travel to Cuba sanctions removed–that this will help the Cuban people. Please explain this to me–wouldn’t this help the Castros more than it would help the people? Fidel controls all in Cuba. Thank You.
***
HOLA JUAN–#5. Escribiste que Yoanni Sanchez quire que quitan los restricciones de viajar a Cuba–que va ayudar la gente Cubano. Por favor–explicame de eso–no ayudara mas a Los Castros que ayudara la gente? Fidel controla todo en Cuba. Gracias.
***
John Bibb
***
Marzo 5th, 2010 at 19:53
SO I GUESS WE HAVE “ANOTHER COMMON CRIMINAL” ON A HUNGER STRIKE! “LA CHINA” and “THE MUMMY” BETTER THINK OF A BETTER STORY FOR THE INTERNATIONAL PRESS!
ASSOCIATED PRESS: Cuban hunger striker vows to go until he dies
SANTA CLARA, Cuba — A dissident journalist who has gone nine days without eating or drinking told The Associated Press on Friday that he is willing to give his life to call attention to the plight of Cuba’s political prisoners.
If he does, Guillermo Farinas would be the second hunger striker to die on the communist island in as many weeks, and his death would be sure to spark a new round of international condemnation of the Castro government.
“There are moments in the lives of nations where martyrs are needed and I think that moment has arrived,” Farinas, gaunt, bald and with fallow brown eyes, said during an interview at his shabby, two-story home with walls of faded pink and lime-green.
Farinas was hospitalized Wednesday after briefly losing consciousness. Doctors gave him fluids intravenously, then sent him home, saying there was little more they could do if he refused to eat.
Farinas is already approaching the limit of how long most people can go without water. But his family plans to hospitalize him each time he losses consciousness, meaning more fluid treatments that could keep him alive for weeks.
He said doctors told him it will take five or six more days before he again reaches crisis stage.
A psychologist, Farinas became so frustrated with Cuba’s single-party communist system that, in 2004, he began working for Cubanacan Press, a small dissident news agency reporting on the hardships of daily life.
Now 48, Farinas has held 22 other hunger strikes in the past 15 years, and has been jailed repeatedly for dissident activities on charges including disrespecting authority, public disorder and assault against a suspected undercover government informant.
This time, he stopped eating and drinking on Feb. 24, the day after jailed dissident Orlando Zapata Tamayo died following an 83-day hunger strike in which he only accepted vitamin-fortified liquids. Farinas is demanding the release of 26 political prisoners he says are in poor health.
Zapata Tamayo’s death — the first by a hunger striker in Cuba in nearly 40 years — led Spain’s socialist prime minister to call for the release of all Cuban “prisoners of conscience.” Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said the U.S. government was “deeply distressed.”
Farinas wore white pajamas and moved slowly and deliberately Friday, an aluminum walking stick by his side. He removed his shirt to reveal a rail-thin frame and stomach dotted with scars where the government force-fed him during past hunger strikes.
“This is the only way I have to protest against the Cuban government and to show they are villains,” he said when asked why he has resorted to refusing to eat or drink so often. “What other option have I got?”
Seated on a wicker-backed couch, with a photo of himself beaming as a baby nearby, Farinas looked reasonably strong. He acknowledged feeling better since doctors inserted an IV in his neck and gave him eight liters of fluids and nutrients — but said the hunger strike has left him weak, with flulike symptoms, a burning throat and back pain.
“This is not a suicide, because I’m asking for something logical. I’m not asking that they give me power,” he said. “I’m not asking that Raul (Castro) leave the country on a plane. I’m only asking that they free 26 prisoners who even the state doctors have determined are in no condition to be in jail.”
Farinas lives in Santa Clara, a central Cuban city famous for its towering statue of Che Guevara and a mausoleum holding his remains.
Farinas said he takes calls daily from European embassies in Havana, as well as the U.S. Interests Section, which Washington keeps on the island because it has no diplomatic relations with Cuba.
Hunger strikes present challenges for authorities in any country since force-feeding can be a human rights violation. At the U.S. Naval Base at Guantanamo, for instance, more than 130 terror suspects have refused meals at different times. In some cases, that has prompted officials to put inmates into a restraint chair and insert feeding tubes into their noses, forcing them to take milky nutritional supplements, mixed with water and olive oil.
Members of Cuba’s opposition community vowed to seize the moment of international outrage over Zapata Tamayo’s death to press for change on the island, which has tolerated little dissent since Fidel Castro’s 1959 revolution ousted dictator Fulgencio Batista.
Farinas said he was convinced the Cuban government would let him die this time. Given the economic crisis on the island, he said, the government cannot afford to appear weak by giving into his demands. He said he is not willing to call off the strike because he thinks his comrades in jail will die if not released.
“They (the government) don’t have the luxury of giving up, and I don’t either,” he said.
Cuba’s Commission on Human Rights and National Reconciliation, a Havana-based group which the government does not recognize but largely tolerates, says there are about 200 political prisoners on the island.
Four jailed dissidents who began hunger strikes shortly after Zapata Tamayo’s death ended them after just a few days.
How many Cubans are even aware of Farinas’ protest is unclear. There has been no mention of it in the official press, and access to the Internet — where many opposition figures have blogs — is restricted and prohibitively expensive.
While state-media has ignored Farinas, the government has been surprisingly open about Zapata Tamayo’s case.
President Raul Castro made a rare statement following his death, denying that he was tortured or executed but adding that he regretted what happened. Castro also blamed problems on the island on Washington’s 48-year trade embargo. Fidel Castro also alluded to Zapata Tamayo in a newspaper column, though he did not mention him by name.
On Monday, the government devoted a third of its nightly newscast to countering claims that doctors let Zapata Tamayo die. That report even included what appeared to be footage from a hidden camera of Zapata Tamayo’s mother thanking a state doctor for trying to save him.
Ann Louise Bardach, a Cuba expert at the Brookings Institute and author of the book “Without Fidel,” said the video of Zapata Tamayo’s mother could backfire on the government.
“The average Cuban looks at that and says, ‘Oh my God, they are spying on her even in her moment of grief,” she said. “And that resonates with Cubans.”
Bardach said the twin hunger strikes could for the first time in recent memory thrust the opposition into a larger role — and that the government is concerned.
“We are seeing now for the very first time that the opposition is getting some traction,” she said. “When both Fidel and Raul Castro for the first time in history feel compelled to make a statement within 48 hours of a prisoner’s death, they are worried.”
Farinas said he hasn’t told his 8-year-old daughter that he is planning to stay on the hunger strike until he dies. All she knows is that he has been sick.
“I’m thinking of her,” he said. “But more than in the love I have for my daughter, I am thinking of the love I have for my country.”
http://www.google.com/hostedne.....wD9E8LAAO0
Marzo 5th, 2010 at 18:23
The House Agriculture Committee will hold a hearing on March 11 on the Travel Restriction Reform and Export Enhancement Act, H.R. 4645, which would take a number of steps to enhance trade and travel with Cuba. The bill would allow Cuba to make direct wire transfers to U.S. banks and turn over payment for agricultural products upon receiving the goods, two changes that would facilitate increased agricultural sales. It would also end all restrictions on travel by Americans to the island.
Organizations that support agriculture have lined up to endorse the House bill, the Western Farm Press reported. “Even though U.S. firms offer reliable trading partners, quality products and competitive prices, current U.S. policy hampers their ability to supply the Cuban market - if the United States is not the supplier, the European Union or Brazil will be happy to take our place,” said Roger Johnson, National Farmers Union (NFU) president.
“USA Rice Federation has proactively worked for the past 15 years to remove agricultural trade barriers with Cuba,” said Betsy Ward, USA Rice Federation president and CEO. “Cuba has the potential to be a 400,000 to 600,000 metric ton market for U.S. rice and we applaud Chairman Peterson’s proposed legislation, which would not only provide Cubans with more of the rice they have said they prefer, but would also help boost the U.S. economy.”
The president of the National Association of Wheat Growers (NAWG), Jerry McReynolds, said he will testify at the hearing and advocate for the passage of the legislation because of the benefits for the wheat industry, the Ellsworth Independent reported
The House Agriculture Committee will hold a hearing on March 11 on the Travel Restriction Reform and Export Enhancement Act, H.R. 4645, which would take a number of steps to enhance trade and travel with Cuba. The bill would allow Cuba to make direct wire transfers to U.S. banks and turn over payment for agricultural products upon receiving the goods, two changes that would facilitate increased agricultural sales. It would also end all restrictions on travel by Americans to the island.
Organizations that support agriculture have lined up to endorse the House bill, the Western Farm Press reported. “Even though U.S. firms offer reliable trading partners, quality products and competitive prices, current U.S. policy hampers their ability to supply the Cuban market - if the United States is not the supplier, the European Union or Brazil will be happy to take our place,” said Roger Johnson, National Farmers Union (NFU) president.
“USA Rice Federation has proactively worked for the past 15 years to remove agricultural trade barriers with Cuba,” said Betsy Ward, USA Rice Federation president and CEO. “Cuba has the potential to be a 400,000 to 600,000 metric ton market for U.S. rice and we applaud Chairman Peterson’s proposed legislation, which would not only provide Cubans with more of the rice they have said they prefer, but would also help boost the U.S. economy.”
The president of the National Association of Wheat Growers (NAWG), Jerry McReynolds, said he will testify at the hearing and advocate for the passage of the legislation because of the benefits for the wheat industry, the Ellsworth Independent reported
The House Agriculture Committee will hold a hearing on March 11 on the Travel Restriction Reform and Export Enhancement Act, H.R. 4645, which would take a number of steps to enhance trade and travel with Cuba. The bill would allow Cuba to make direct wire transfers to U.S. banks and turn over payment for agricultural products upon receiving the goods, two changes that would facilitate increased agricultural sales. It would also end all restrictions on travel by Americans to the island.
Organizations that support agriculture have lined up to endorse the House bill, the Western Farm Press reported. “Even though U.S. firms offer reliable trading partners, quality products and competitive prices, current U.S. policy hampers their ability to supply the Cuban market - if the United States is not the supplier, the European Union or Brazil will be happy to take our place,” said Roger Johnson, National Farmers Union (NFU) president.
“USA Rice Federation has proactively worked for the past 15 years to remove agricultural trade barriers with Cuba,” said Betsy Ward, USA Rice Federation president and CEO. “Cuba has the potential to be a 400,000 to 600,000 metric ton market for U.S. rice and we applaud Chairman Peterson’s proposed legislation, which would not only provide Cubans with more of the rice they have said they prefer, but would also help boost the U.S. economy.”
The president of the National Association of Wheat Growers (NAWG), Jerry McReynolds, said he will testify at the hearing and advocate for the passage of the legislation because of the benefits for the wheat industry, the Ellsworth Independent reported
http://cubacentral.wordpress.com
Marzo 5th, 2010 at 18:18
For those who don’t know I would like to present you our next representative in the English section of GY Juana la loca aks as …..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bvpj9UYXD2I
Marzo 5th, 2010 at 18:18
“We cover in this week’s news summary the continuing repercussions that Cuba is facing following the death of Orlando Zapata Tamayo and the detention of Alan Gross. These are serious and important issues on their own terms.
But they hardly represent a vindication of U.S. economic and diplomatic sanctions; they are in fact evidence of their failure to change anything. Rather than punishing the government of Cuba, instead they harm the Cuban people and penalize Americans by restricting their liberties and their livelihoods.
In this climate, we think the House Agriculture Committee is doing the right thing by examining how increasing food exports to Cuba and repealing the travel ban would represent a helpful and hopeful turn for U.S. policy.”
http://cubacentral.wordpress.com/
Marzo 5th, 2010 at 18:03
How possibly can we be threatened when we are actually are going to nominate you?
Please wear your leopard miniskirt and your pink stilletos boots tonite,we are gonna celebrate big time!…Everybody is invited!
Marzo 5th, 2010 at 17:39
Good to see you all feel so threatened by my comments.
Maybe EVENTUALLY you will realise that trotting out the same old hackneyed phrases and living (well) in the past hasn’t actually served your cause too well.
As Yoani herself also says:
1) “Power in Cuba does not talk to citizens … decisions are made in a single office, in a closed family and military clan. … [but I'm looking forward] to a new stage where our leaders do not ‘direct’ us, but rather they ’serve’ us.”
2) “I support an immediate opening to allow all Americans to travel to Cuba, the end of the ‘blockade’ … and in particular the complete elimination of anything that limits contact between the citizens of both countries.”
3) “Obama and the country he represents can play a very important role in this opening of Cuba to democracy, but they must do so without interference with respect to our sovereignty and our decisions.”
And her husband Reinaldo Escobar …..
“The fact that the Cuban people today lack a voice of their own, does not mean that this voice can or should be replaced by external actors. Cuba is not an object: It is, desires to be, and has the capacity to be the protagonist of its own history. As a consequence, we Cubans face a double threat in our citizen and collective security: one from the totalitarian arrogance of the Cuban government and another from the hegemonic arrogance of the United States.”
http://elyuma.blogspot.com/
Marzo 5th, 2010 at 17:18
And juana is every bit as effective at his job as the hacks the regime imposes on the people.
Marzo 5th, 2010 at 17:00
Well said Yoani. And concubino. I wonder who is Juana’s jefe now that ramirito is in Venezuela?
Marzo 5th, 2010 at 16:18
I second the nomination!
Marzo 5th, 2010 at 15:50
I going to nominate “Juana la Loca” to represent us as delegate in the English section of GY in tonight’s meetting. I checked his biography he is of humble origin, militant of the Cuban Communist Party and a talented commentator, but the main reason that I’m going to vote for him is because he is pure and simply a big CHIVATON.