The Legacy
Tough times are coming. In the long term, I’m optimistic, but a sense of apprehension overwhelms me thinking of the years ahead. The accumulated frustration is too much. They have systematically sown among us the rejection of different opinions and this will not be erased overnight. Yesterday, when I saw a housewife vulgarly screaming, “the worms are rioting†– referring to the march of the Ladies in White – I thought about the long road to tolerance that lies ahead. Learning to debate without offending, to live together with plurality and respect for differences, will have to become a compulsory subject in our schools. It is going to be a long process to make everyone understand that diversity is a cure, not a disease.
I fear that the always-present shout and slap will remain the quickest way to silence the other. I shudder to imagine a Cuba where physical – and legal – attacks against people, for their political affiliation or ideological leanings, continue. What a sad country we will have if the authorities continue to consider it normal to “teach a good lesson†to anyone who contradicts the official viewpoint. To me, a society that passively stands by as peaceful women with gladioli in their hands are bullied, as happened yesterday, is quite sick. But the sectarianism did not end there, rather they sought to justify it and to accomplish that they prepared a script for the most mind-numbing program on Cuban television: The Roundtable. Viewers, however, after two hours of stoic listening, knew that in the absence of arguments they were left only with insults, defamation, and verbal acrobatics.
Why don’t they have the courage to invite, to this dreary set where they carry on a monologue every afternoon, at least a couple of people who think differently? The most timid and laconic of the dissidents I know would expose them with a few questions and with some brief phrases would shatter their conspiracy theory. But they wouldn’t dare. Sheltered by power – there is no worse ally for a journalist – their words and pens sustained by their perks and privileges, they know they could not withstand the artillery of criticism. Thus, they extol the beating, resort to slogans, and show some hand-picked videos to prove that differences must be crushed. And so they feed the fanaticism, this germ that threatens to survive long past their own lives: the legacy of hatred and distrust that they intend to leave to us.
Marzo 29th, 2010 at 15:49
The Ladies in White need everyone’s solidarity. Yesterday, in Manhattan, I and 200 others marched in solidarity for “Las Damas de Blanco”. Here is my account of it:
http://bryanjohnsonblog.com/20.....de-blanco/
Marzo 26th, 2010 at 15:06
Why can’t we just all get along??
Marzo 26th, 2010 at 08:38
http://www.miamiherald.com/201.....ssage.html
Marzo 25th, 2010 at 19:16
MPL nobody is anti-CUBA, we are anti oppressive regimes and anyone who beats on women.
Yeah, of course, that’s what have to say … but, you can’t be pro-Cuba and, at the same time, support groups that put bombs in Cuban hotels, or blow up a plane filled with Cuban civilians, or strafe the Malecón with machine gun fire, or sabotage food and medicine for Cuban civilians, or support an economic blockade which hurts Cuban civilians. That’s all ANTI-CUBA.
The rich Cuban exiles just want to take over their “family’s land” and make money. They could care less about the Cuban people unless they can be used in the quest for turning Cuba into another Haiti.
Viva la revolución cubana! Viva la revolución bolivariana!
Marzo 24th, 2010 at 14:27
Dalia Soto es una perra puta y Castro un viejo descarado cagalitroso. How’s that for spanish classes in the GOOD O’L USA
Marzo 24th, 2010 at 13:50
MPL nobody is anti-CUBA, we are anti oppressive regimes and anyone who beats on women. You should enjoy the fact you get to express freely your VOCERO feelings. The Castros are rich because they stole the island and control the people of Cuba. Cuba is a big jail to many and the reason people risk there lives to get out. Hope to see you dressed in white on Thursday the 25, walking down calle 8 from 27 ave to 22 ave. Don’t miss an opportunity to express yourself. People of Miami should stop send money to family in Cuba, so that they also get up and protest for a more humaine more honest Cuba.
Marzo 23rd, 2010 at 23:13
Statue of Liberty:
I believe some in this forum are unaware that this is Yoani’s forum and not a forum to debate staunch communist with no intention of changing their way of thinking.
You must not understand the anti-Cuban terrorist community from Miami. They could care less about the Cuban people. Their main interest is in bashing Fidel, bashing communists, threatening communists and, more importantly, supporting organizations that carry out commando raids against Cuban civilians and tourists.
The only way in which they “care” for Yoani, Zapata, etc is in what way they can use these people in their attempt to overthrow the Cuban Revolution and re-claim their families fortunes.
Do you know that there are Cuban-American lawyers who live in Miami who get paid tons of money to prepare “territorial claims”? So, when the much-anticipated overthrow of the Cuban Revolution comes, the Miami families are all set to snatch up the public lands and take private control over them.
For the Cuban-Americans, the time spent supporting Yoani and the others is an investment risk. They are investing time and money and hoping it will lead to a big financial return. Just like all businessmen, they are angry when they FAIL FOR OVER 50 YEARS.
But, nonetheless, that’s what this is about. Money. They want to overthrow Cuba’s revolution and make a ton of money off of historical claims to land that was given to the people when the oligarchy in Cuba fell apart.
That’s why they behave like this. I know this is often a disappointment to the naive and noble folks amongst the anti-Cuba crowd but you can be very assured that this is what it’s all about.
Marzo 23rd, 2010 at 21:23
I believe some in this forum are unaware that this is Yoani’s forum and not a forum to debate staunch communist with no intention of changing their way of thinking. We are paying to much attention to these lunatics instead of the real issue which is Yoani’s, The Ladies in White, Fariñas, Zapata and the rest of Cubans who suffer under the iron fist of the most cynical and heinous regime in the history of mankind.
Marzo 22nd, 2010 at 22:33
The German psychiatrist Emil Kraepelin, identified as the founder of contemporary scientific psychiatry, said: “The best indicator to evaluate the human qualities of a country is to know how it treat his mental patients.†This famous phrase is the one that appears in the web site of the Havana Psychiatric Hospital in Cuba. http://www.psiquiatricohph.sld.cu/
The responsible of this terrible crime is the Castro brothers’ tyranny. All institutions and social activity that develops in Cuba are controlled by the regime. The heads of these institutions and social activities are regimen’s thugs chosen by the brothers elite because their loyalty and not because their capacity or talent, that’s why the elite in power is responsible for all the mistakes, crimes and atrocities. The way the regime treats his mental patients is the best indicator to evaluate its human qualities.
Marzo 22nd, 2010 at 22:30
It is phony how a particular individual can be so historical, political, and intellectually stupid. The way that his ideas are presented are so cold, cruel,and full of poison that the only other individuals that I could compare him is with the nuts, egocentric, ultra-radical members of the Tea Party in USA. The kind of illness he shows here, the ironical and deceive presentation of facts are not second to the same ideology that prepare the way for a fascism or Stalinist system. And I say individual because is not near to be a human being…may be a rat. Yea, you are THAT kind of individual. Thanks Yoani, still in sweet words, you, again, shows the world the reality in Cuba. Keep it up!!
Marzo 22nd, 2010 at 20:04
157M. piñeiro losada
Marzo 22nd, 2010 at 18:29
Sigmund:
……………..
Viva la revolución cubana! Viva Fidel! Viva Raul!
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That’s your way to “prove” your “arguments”?????….. That’s the “facts” you use to “back” what you say????…… To give hurrahs to castrofascism and world rejected murderous castro-brothers?????
Thanks…… you self take the responsibility for show your readers who you are!!!!
I leave you now….. I going to see a better politician than you…. The great Yeyo Vargas…… president of the ULPO party……. Hahahahahahahaha…… I’ll be back.
Marzo 22nd, 2010 at 19:57
……. And yes…… this is a matter of public record, easy to find in this free land where all is public and nothing is secret…… most of the successful and powerful Cuban community in Miami are not related to Batista regimen but are anti-Batista fighters and common Cubans that works for a free Cuba without the criminal regimen that repress and harass the Cubans in the island in the cruel way the world could see in recent days through the press and TV.
Marzo 22nd, 2010 at 19:44
159M. piñeiro losada
Marzo 22nd, 2010 at 18:37
The demographic make-up of the original Cuban exile community Miami after 1959 is comprised of people who benefited from the Batista regime………..
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After 1959 it’s too much time…… and ….. again….. your readers are no stupid……. why you disrespect your readers handling them as stupid……. in such way you will not convince no one and much less to attract to your side people that evidently are seeing you call them stupid…….. after 1959 happened several mass emigrations of Cubans flying castrofascism……… in the first months of castro in power he started to kill all people that he believed could be a trait to his power….. Batista has no support of Cuban people and no support of the Cuban political class, so, it was very few people involved in crimes in Batista regimen…… most of those people involved in Batista regimen were under the protection of the pact reached between USA, Castro and Batista…… this pact gave Batista and his followers protection IF they agreed to leave Cuba and stay quiet….. so they did!!!!!……. Batista went to Madeira Island and left a peaceful life respected by Castro, USA and all the world….. every part honored the pact…….. Batista’s followers went to Europe and USA and left the rest of their life in calm too…… castro did not took revenge of Batista as (for example) Nicaraguans did with Somoza…. can you explain why?????
So, the few Batista followers that came to Miami were soon over numbered by the common Cubans that started to escape the castrofascism hell as early as 1964 when liberty fly started…. more than 300.000 Cubans left Cuba in this first exodus……. 1962 no rich, wealthy or middleclass person remained in Cuba but only poor people………. after this first exodus came Mariel exodus when several hundred thousand of very poor Cubans left the island…… the 90’s exodus that still is going on……
Right since the very beginning of the mass emigration of Cubans this emigration was composed of common people ……. until nowadays when the emigration is composed of a great % of castrofascims nomenclature that leaves the regimen because it is in its lasts days.
Marzo 22nd, 2010 at 19:12
157M. piñeiro losada
Marzo 22nd, 2010 at 18:29
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The readers have not to demonstrate nothing but the liars….. you have to demonstrate your lies with facts….. come on….. do it!!!!!!
Marzo 22nd, 2010 at 19:09
155juan
Marzo 22nd, 2010 at 18:10
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Please…… no personal attacks……. I am a fictitious personage ……. you too……. why then not to use simples and bares arguments to support our ideas…… or…… maybe you have no ideas to support???!!!
Marzo 22nd, 2010 at 18:37
These exiles Cubans you call “mafia†with all your bad intentions are decent people that through organization and vote has placed many of them in US congress and senate, that is why this people got enough political strength to avoid this great nation to fall in the same unmoral situation
Again, a false statement that is easily proven incorrect.
The demographic make-up of the original Cuban exile community Miami after 1959 is comprised of people who benefited from the Batista regime … soldiers, torturers, slave-owners, corrupt politicians, people connected with the mafia and so on. The decent people stayed in Cuba because they would BENEFIT from the land reform .. the corrupt landowners are the ones who knew they would not benefit. So, since their MONEY was more important than their COUNTRY, they fled to Miami and worked with the CIA to go to war with the Cuban Revolution.
This is all a matter of public record.
Marzo 22nd, 2010 at 18:35
piniero posada
You are a pathological liar. No one believes you live in Miami or any where near it. You are in Cuba licking your patrons asses and vomiting your nonsense here at there behest.
Marzo 22nd, 2010 at 18:29
Sigmund:
Your misinformation (caused by your superiors fears about let you get information) will be the cause of your fall…… everyone in the free world can tracks the clues of all Cuban political prisoners because they are related in public and access free US official documents
I have repeatedly challenged everyone here to refute with facts anything that I’ve said and, so far, no one has been able to do so. If I have said something which is not true, by all means, post the facts & the source, as I have. I don’t believe you will be able to do so.
Viva la revolución cubana! Viva Fidel! Viva Raul!
Marzo 22nd, 2010 at 18:23
Sigmund:
the whole world could see those old ladies beaten and drown by the hair by your comrades…… stop lying please!!!!
Again, I have to wonder if Miami would benefit from Cuba’s literacy programs. After all, Miami’s literacy rate is below 50% and Cuba has a literacy rate above 99%.
If you go back, and read my post again, you will see that I’m not talking about the Ladies in White march that all the anti-Cuban mafiosos tried to exploit by claiming the women were “beaten,” when really what happened is that unarmed women removed them from the scene before it escalated any further. The Ladies in White were, after all, openly protesting in collaboration with the US Special Interest Section, European diplomats and the terrorist network in Miami.
But I wasn’t posting about THAT time.
If you read the post or click the link and see the article, it is talking about their protest on Saturday.. they came out, they protested, hundreds more Cubans came out to support the Cuban Revolution and the whole protest went along peacefully. It is yet another example of freedom of speech and assembly, rights guaranteed to all Cuban citizens under the Cuban Constitution.
Sorry, Sigmund. You are wrong again. I would recommend READING what people write before frothing at the mouth with your fanatic responses. This site is great for my self-esteem! I’m always right!
Marzo 22nd, 2010 at 18:10
Fraud (by name and nature) says “It is not useful you copy and paste long documents in this page (something that is against the rules of this blog…”
Such hypocrisy - such Humbug!
Marzo 22nd, 2010 at 17:52
151M. piñeiro losada
Marzo 22nd, 2010 at 17:31
Plus, talking with these kids helps me keep up on what’s new in the anti-Castro mafia community…………
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These Cuban exiles that you call “mafia” are no others than the sons, parents, siblings and widows of tens of thousands freedom fighter murdered by Castro’s regime. These exiles Cubans you call “mafia” are survivors of Castro’s prisons that spent decades confined in jails without windows or doors where a person only can lay and not stand, sarcophagus like cells where many of them became insane or dead. These exiles Cubans you call “mafia” with all your bad intentions are decent people that through organization and vote has placed many of them in US congress and senate, that is why this people got enough political strength to avoid this great nation to fall in the same unmoral situation it fell in the case of China and Vietnam, I mind, to put aside ethical issues in favor of economical interests. You maybe have the moral condition needed for making business with assassins, torturers and human right violators……. but not all of us are made of same material.
Marzo 22nd, 2010 at 17:43
150M. piñeiro losada
Marzo 22nd, 2010 at 17:22
LADIES IN WHITE MARCH IN HAVANA WITHOUT INCIDENT, YOANI AND ANTI-CUBA MAFIA TRY TO KEEP IT QUIET
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Hahahaha……….. without incidents!!!!!!……. Hahahaha…….. thug, you really are inside a dirty bubble in some overheated castrofascist office where yours capos keep you isolated of all international TV or newspaper…….. the whole world could see those old ladies beaten and drown by the hair by your comrades…… stop lying please!!!!
Marzo 22nd, 2010 at 17:34
137M. piñeiro losada
Marzo 21st, 2010 at 21:45
……..All the people put in jail for counter-revolution were let free to go to Miami and join their “brothers in the struggle,†right? So what is wrong with that?…….
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Your misinformation (caused by your superiors fears about let you get information) will be the cause of your fall…… everyone in the free world can tracks the clues of all Cuban political prisoners because they are related in public and access free US official documents and websites created by organizations of those prisoners that spent 20-30 years of theirs life in castrofascism jails……. it is free information that can illustrate you about the righteous and clean life those patriots uses to have after leaving Cuba……. please, tell your boss you need to be more “trained” before continuing writing about things you have the minimum idea about.
Marzo 22nd, 2010 at 17:31
It is not useful you copy and paste long documents in this page (something that is against the rules of this blog) because the millions of readers of this site knows you are simply copying and pasting the documents that other members of your brigade prepares…..
What are you talking about? Only one time have I posted a long document on this website that I didn’t write myself. In all other posts, what I’ve written are my own words, sometimes with small excerpts from sources to provide evidence.
However, you may want to remind Humberto of this rule … apparently, he sits in his Miami nursing home all day posting in the same AP wire story over and over and over again.
By the way, Siggy, you have it all wrong. I don’t live in Cuba. I live right here in Miami, so that I can help young Cuban-Americans understand why their grandparents are such fanatics. And, it works. The vast majority of young Cuban-Americans I talk to are so sick & tired of the crazed vigilante attitudes of their grandparents and parents and they like sitting and talking normally about Cuba. It’s how I know so much about Cuba and already know all the tired arguments, from talking with Cuban-Americans in Miami.
Plus, talking with these kids helps me keep up on what’s new in the anti-Castro mafia community. But, the real satisfaction I get is convincing the grandson or grand-daughter from an anti-Cuban exile family that they aren’t wrong when they feel like their rich grandparents are weird & fanatic … and many of them are shocked to find out about the terrorist history of the exile community. Just think, when your kids give you a snotty attitude the next time you’re ranting against Castro, it might have been me who helped them understand why it isn’t good to be supporting terrorists.
Maybe we’ll run into each other!
Marzo 22nd, 2010 at 17:22
LADIES IN WHITE MARCH IN HAVANA WITHOUT INCIDENT, YOANI AND ANTI-CUBA MAFIA TRY TO KEEP IT QUIET
The “Ladies in White,” a Havana-based protest group who have been linked with Miami-based anti-Cuba terrorists, marched throughout Havana without incident. It is important to note two items:
1) Again, these protesters were permitted to march throughout Havana and counter-protesters who support the Cuban Revolution vastly out-numbered them, challenging the assertion that freedom of assembly and freedom of speech is restricted in Havana,
2) More importantly, note the reaction of Yoani and other counter-revolutionaries — they have absolutely no interest in this march and, in fact, have very purposefully ignored that it happened while they CONTINUE to post about the previous march, where a small scuffle broke out.
Just like the anti-Cuba mafia has no qualms about killing innocent Cubans in their quest to “liberate” them, the anti-Cuba mafia uses these women and only cares about them if they can claim that they’ve been attacked in some way. Since the weekly protest marches of this group do not fit in with the anti-Cuba mafia’s narrative about Cuba being a totalitarian state where NO freedom of speech is permitted, the ones without incident aren’t mentioned.
In other words, unlike normal protest movements where people are HAPPY when a march goes off without interference from the police or small scuffles breaking out, the anti-Cuba crowd is DISAPPOINTED when Cuban citizens freely express themselves in a peaceful assembly. In fact, I’d say that there’s nothing they hate more.
Sorry, guys. Freedom of speech and assembly is alive and well in Havana:
LADIES IN WHITE MARCH IN CUBAN CAPITAL WITHOUT PROBLEMS
http://www.laht.com/article.as.....ryId=14510
HAVANA – Some 50 members of the Ladies in White, a group made up of relatives of the 75 dissidents jailed in Cuba’s “Black Spring†of 2003, marched again in Havana amid a heavy police presence and the heckling of hundreds of government supporters, but no serious incidents were reported.
The women, dressed in white and carrying flowers, started their march Saturday at the home of Ladies in White spokeswoman Laura Pollan.
Last Wednesday, Cuban state security agents broke up a march by the group, pushing and dragging some 30 members of the Ladies in White onto buses.
That march was plagued from the start by heckling from some 300 supporters of President Raul Castro and his brother Fidel, who resigned in favor of his younger sibling after a serious illness.
Marzo 22nd, 2010 at 17:15
137M. piñeiro losada
Marzo 21st, 2010 at 21:45
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The Cuban exile community has never been convicted or condemned for human right violations, assassinations of children or peaceful wreck ship rescuers but castrofascism regimen that year after year has been condemned by UN Human Rights council, all international human rights organizations, European Parliament, etc, etc, etc, etc, etc.
It is not useful you copy and paste long documents in this page (something that is against the rules of this blog) because the millions of readers of this site knows you are simply copying and pasting the documents that other members of your brigade prepares….. remember thug, you are writing for people of the free world….. no one here fall in your naïve pseudo ideological traps just because we have access to information….. you are no writing for people without access to information like Cuban people, so, your doctrinaire way is inadequate in this environment……. OH, sorry!!!…… I forgot!!!!…… you do not know other way!!!!
Marzo 22nd, 2010 at 16:07
RADIO NETHERLANDS WORLDWIDE: Call for end of Cuban hunger strike
22 March 2010
A high-ranking Cuban security official has called on journalist Guillermo Fariñas to end his hunger strike. The request was made during the first official visit Mr Fariñas has received since beginning his protest.
The journalist has been on hunger strike for almost a month. He started in February, the day after political prisoner Orlando Zapata died on the 85th day of his own hunger strike. Mr Zapata was protesting against conditions in the prison in the Cuban capital Havana, where he was being held.
Mr Fariñas is hoping his protest will obtain the release of 26 other prisoners who require medical treatment. Mr Fariñas was taken to hospital 11 days ago and is now being fed intravenously.
His hunger strike and the death of Mr Zapata have sparked international protests against Cuba’s treatment of political prisoners. Cuba insists that it doesn’t detain political prisoners and calls the dissidents in its jail ‘mercenaries’ in the pay of the United States.
http://www.rnw.nl/english/arti.....ger-strike
Marzo 22nd, 2010 at 12:54
GREAT ARTICLE! CLICK THE LINK FOR THE FULL ARTICLE!
MIAMI HERALD: Yes, Cuba has a race problem
BY GAYLE McGARRITY-Tuesday, 03.23.10
“When I first returned to the United States in 1982, after living for 1 ½ years in Cuba, I was eager to share the extent to which racism and class divisions were still a glaring reality in “Revolutionary Cuba.” No one wanted to listen.
I visited Cuba first in 1976, with a group of Jamaicans interested in the legal and penal system. We never got even a glimpse of the prison system, but it was a great opportunity to get a first-hand view of Cuban society. One of the first things that made an impression on me was the way in which white and mulato Cubans stared at a couple in our group — a very beautiful part Chinese, part Indian and part African woman and a very handsome, very black gentleman.
As an anthropologist and a woman of mixed racial descent, who is fluent in Spanish, I was in a unique position to capture the ideas and beliefs of Cubans of all different racial classifications.”
“It did not take me long to realize that “culture” in Cuba was European culture. Part of the reason is that the 1959 Cuban revolution has remained relatively isolated from world intellectual currents. Only information that the government wants to enter the island does so. All of the changes in mentality and practice that occurred in the United States, Brazil and throughout the region, from the 1960s to the present, have only recently filtered into the island’s cultural framework.
As I continued to live and study in Cuba, I desperately struggled to cling to the belief that those party members who were blatantly racist were exceptions. Then I began to see how past institutional racism was being reproduced in revolutionary Cuba.
I became familiar with the Ley de la Peligrosidad (Dangerousness Law), which was used to dissuade Cubans from interacting with foreigners, but which disproportionately affected darker skinned Cubans. This law allowed Cuban police to harass, arrest and even imprison anyone whom they deemed to be a potential or actual delinquent.
Although I was treated much better than darker skinned Cubans, I did feel discrimination. When I would attempt to enter places reserved for tourists, I would be questioned and had to make sure that I always had my foreign passport handy.”
“I have been motivated to write about my experiences by the words of a black Cuban supporter of the revolution, Esteban Morales. He refutes what an influential group of 60 African Americans have said about the Cuban government’s failure to protect the civil rights of blacks on the island. Morales claims that many blacks live in inferior situations because they “don’t know how to take advantage of the opportunities provided by the revolution.”
Yet I know too many very well educated blacks, particularly those who studied languages and other careers in the tourist sector, who have been unemployed for years. It is a well-known fact that the best jobs — indeed, almost all the jobs in the tourist sector — are reserved for whites.”
“In Cuba, racism and discrimination are linked to lynching and dogs being set on peaceful demonstrators.
• The fact that blacks are the brunt of most jokes is not considered racism.
• The fact that most white Cuban men cringe at the thought that a white woman might have sex with a nonwhite man is not considered racism.
• The fact that the participation of blacks in world history, and particularly in Cuban history, is left out of textbooks is not considered racism.
• The fact that African phenotype (like kinky hair, broad nose and big lips) is largely regarded with contempt is not considered racism.
• The fact that the most deteriorated residential areas are where the majority of blacks live is not considered racism.
• The fact that Fidel always refers to his Spanish father and never to his light-skinned mulata mother is not considered racism.
These manifestations of white superiority are by no means exclusive to Cuba. We could be talking about Brazil, Venezuela, Dominican Republic or Colombia. But Cuba is the only country in this hemisphere, which has had a revolution that claims to be dedicated to eradicating social and economic injustices and inequality.
In December 2009, a brave group of African-American intellectuals dared to protest manifestations of racism, epitomized by the unjust arrest and detention of a mulato activist on the island. In a response by black Cuban intellectuals, identified with the government, we are told that these Americans have no right to comment on race relations on the island because the United States is the most racist country in the world, and Obama only became president by denying his “blackness.”
It’s lamentable that unconditional defenders of the revolution fall back on the old tired accusation that those who criticize anything about Cuba, even in a spirit of constructive criticism, are agents of imperialism.”
Gayle McGarrity is a University of South Florida professor of Anthropology and Africana Studies. For her full report, check the Cuban Colada blog, miamiherald.typepad.com/cuban_colada/
http://www.miamiherald.com/201.....oblem.html
Marzo 22nd, 2010 at 12:39
LOS ANGELES TIMES: Press group says Latin American leaders silencing critics, worst abuses in Venezuela and Cuba
CHRISTOPHER TOOTHAKER Associated Press Writer -March 21, 2010
CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — Press freedoms in countries throughout the Western Hemisphere are facing serious threats from authoritarian governments, especially in Venezuela and communist-led Cuba, a group representing news media from across the Americas warned Sunday.
Alejandro Aguirre, president of the Inter American Press Association, singled out Cuba as the region’s the worst offender against press freedom.
“The most worrisome case continues to be the case of Cuba, where a dictatorship that has lasted nearly half a century has not allowed a minimum of freedom of expression or free press,” Aguirre said in a telephone interview from the Caribbean island of Aruba.
The Miami-based IAPA, which includes 1,380 publications from throughout the Western Hemisphere, is discussing what it considers a host of threats to freedom of expression emerging across the region during a meeting in Aruba. The meeting ends on Monday.
Aguirre also condemned what he called efforts by President Hugo Chavez to silence media critics in Venezuela.
Chavez “has used all the government’s tools to close and antagonize the media — doing everything possible so that the flow of information in Venezuela is dictated by the government,” said Aguirre, executive director of the Miami-based Diario de Las Americas.
Chavez’s administration revoked the licenses of 34 radio stations last year, saying most of them failed to update their registrations or allowed their concessions to expire. Officials have said dozens of other broadcasters could also lose their licenses.
In January, Venezuela’s state-run telecommunications regulator ordered local cable companies to drop RCTV — an anti-Chavez TV channel — because the network allegedly defied new rules requiring cable channels to carry mandatory government programming, including some of Chavez’s speeches.
Chavez denies attempting to silence his critics. The former paratroop commander has repeatedly rejected the IAPA’s criticisms in the past, calling the organization a pawn of the “empire,” a reference to the U.S. government.
David Natera, who heads Venezuela’s largest association of newspapers, accused Chavez’s government of starving newspapers of revenue from public advertising by steering that to pro-Chavez media.
“He’s not closing newspapers, but he’s strangling them financially,” said Natera, owner and publisher of the Venezuelan newspaper Correo de Caroni.
The IAPA is also increasingly concerned that democratically elected leaders in countries such as Nicaragua, Ecuador and Bolivia appear to be following Chavez’s example by cracking down on critical media outlets.
Violence against journalists is reaching alarming levels in Mexico, where four journalists have been slain so far this year. The IAPA claims a fifth was recently killed in the border city of Reynosa, but media outlets there were too afraid to file a police report. Twelve reporters were killed in Mexico in 2009.
Critics have accused Mexican authorities of not doing enough to stop such attacks — some of which are linked to Mexico’s violent drug gangs.
The press association said the lack of justice in crimes against reporters is increasingly driving journalists in Mexico to self-censorship.
In Haiti, the IAPA said the devastating Jan. 12 earthquake crippled the media by destroying outlets’ offices, shutting down businesses that provided advertising revenue and killing 31 journalists. In Port-au-Prince, only about a dozen radio stations out of 50 remain on the air.
The report said the damage to the industry has dramatically limited the dissemination of important humanitarian information, especially to people migrating in and outside the capital.
The editors of two Haitian papers, Le Nouvelliste and Le Matin, pleaded for help, including printing and training for reporters, from their IAPA colleagues.
Le Nouvelliste is down to publishing twice a week, instead of daily, and has shrunk from a staff of 150 to 40. Le Matin now prints in the Dominican Republic and has cut salaries by 50 percent.
“In 35 seconds the news media lost more reporters than in the last 35 years,” said Max Chauvet, editor of Le Nouvelliste, now down to publishing twice a week instead of daily. “The Haitian press has been crippled, crippled.”
http://www.latimes.com/news/na.....2940.story
Marzo 22nd, 2010 at 12:14
The Death of Innocent People by Private Landlords and Energy Companies
I was surprised to see that my assertion about the thousands of deaths in the United States because of profit-based greed was challenged on this post’s comments. After all, this topic had already come up and I had already posted extensive evidence of what I was saying. We all know that the literacy rate is much lower in Miami than it is in Cuba but I thought you all could at least participate in these discussions. It just goes to show that you aren’t listening at all, you aren’t interested in a dialogue, you only want to rant your fanatic opinions about Cuba.
So, I will prove you all wrong again. This topic originally came up a couple of posts ago when I spoke about Yoani’s political naivete by being so shocked about the deaths from hypothermia in a hospital in Cuba. A tragedy, to be sure, but one that occurs every year in the United States and the difference is that the tragedies in the US are not only completely avoidable but they happen only because of capitalist greed. Furthermore, the deaths in the US receive very little to no media coverage, simply because any decent human being would be outraged to find out how many innocent people die simply because of greed.
I began by letting you all know (since you don’t) that in SOME parts of the Rust Belt, laws were passed that prevented electricity companies from shutting off a person’s power during winter because of the likelihood that doing so would be the equivalent of a death sentence. However, for most people, if they cannot afford to pay, they take a risk at dying.
If I post the URLs, I will get spam-blocked but I have already posted the URLs on another comment thread, so you can find all the original source material here -> http://www.desdecuba.com/gener.....9#comments
I started with this sad but very common story:
WWII Veteran Freezes To Death In Own Home
Memorial Service Set For Wednesday
POSTED: 2:20 pm EST January 26, 2009
BAY CITY, Mich. — Officials in Mid-Michigan said the 93-year-old man who owed more than $1,000 in unpaid electric bills froze to death inside his home — where the municipal power company had restricted his use of electricity.
Neighbors and friends of Schur want answers as to how this could happen.
“Now that we do know it was hypothermia, there’s a whole bunch of feelings that I’ve got going through me,†said Jim Herndon, a neighbor of Schur’s. “There’s anger, for the city and the electrical company.â€
Bay City officials said changes are on the way in an attempt to not let another instance like this happen again.
An autopsy determined Schur died from hypothermia in the home he lived in for years.
A medical examiner who conducted the autopsy on Schur told TV5 and WNEM.com that Schur died a painful death due to the hypothermia.
Schur’s neighbor, Herndon, said Schur had a utility bill on his kitchen table with a large amount of money clipped to it, with the intention of paying that bill.
—————————
I went on to provide statistics, evidence and further analysis:
WINTER-DEATHS DIRECTLY RELATED TO POVERTY, PEOPLE DIE IN THEIR OWN APARTMENTS:
To begin by making a comparison, the relatively small population in Northern Ireland also has this problem, since they live in the heart of the British capitalist empire.
In Northern Ireland, statistics put the number at around 1,000 to 1,300 deaths each winter: “Some of those, particularly the elderly, don’t always make it to spring. There are about 1,000 cold-related deaths in Northern Ireland in the winter. Some say it’s more like 1,300. These are known politely as ‘excess winter deaths’. But many of them are directly related to fuel poverty. People who just can’t afford to keep warm any more get ill and die because of the cold.â€
Now, if there are 1,300 cold-related deaths in Northern Ireland, where only 1.7 million people live, you can imagine how many people die throughout the Rust Belt in the United States, where tens of millions of people live.
225,000 PEOPLE IN DETROIT HAD THEIR HEAT SHUT OFF IN ONE YEAR ALONE:
This problem is well-known but rarely reported on, in the “Capitalist Free Pressâ€. This past year, around quarter-of-a-million (225,000) people JUST IN DETROIT had their heat shut off on them:
STATISTICS ESTIMATE 108,000 DEATHS FROM COLD IN 2008′S WINTER:
With temperatures well below freezing, several feet of snow and freezing cold wind, you don’t think people die? Of course they do. Everyone knows it. It’s part of life in capitalism. These statistics put the deaths from cold in the winter at 108,000 (yes, ONE HUNDRED AND EIGHT THOUSAND) people in the US in 2008:
Anyway, if you want further research, you will have to do it yourself. It is an unbelievable travesty that people die in the winter because the privatized heating company cruelly turns off their heat but that is exactly what capitalism is. However, these stories somehow get “lost†in the “Capitalist Free Press†…
EVEN IN SUNNY CALIFORNIA, HUNDREDS OF HOMELESS PEOPLE DIE EVERY YEAR:
As for homeless deaths in San Francisco, funny you should ask. In 1999, the City of San Francisco reported a 57% increase in homeless deaths for the year. I was wrong — it was not a dozen or so — it was 168:
“The remains of G.M., a 42-year-old male, were found by gardeners at Golden Gate Park inside a sleeping bag within a pup tent. And J.W., a 46-year-old male war veteran, was found last February in an unnamed doorway by a passerby, ‘cold, wet, mumbling.’ At San Francisco General Hospital, where he died, he was found to have an 80 degree F. core temperature. These three cases were part of a study released last month by the San Francisco Department of Public Health (DPH), which identified a total of 157 homeless persons who died in the City in the preceding 12 months, a figure that was later raised to 163. This was 57 percent higher than the previous year, and the largest total since the City began keeping records in 1987.â€
SAN FRANCISCO IS “TOO POOR†TO CONTINUE MONITORING HOMELESS DEATHS:
Unfortunately, that was the last year that the City of San Francisco kept records on homeless deaths. They canceled the program in 2000, citing a “lack of funds†to do this count:
“The San Francisco Health Department ended its homeless death count in 2000, citing budget constraints and a redundancy in data collected year after year.â€
Since then, volunteers have tried to keep a count of annual homeless deaths but, obviously, cannot do as good a job as the government could, with a budget. The count remains about the same. And this is in sunny, ultra-liberal San Francisco.
STUDY SHOWS 4,607 HOMELESS DEATHS FROM EXPOSURE BETWEEN 1999 AND 2002:
This study shows 4,607 homeless deaths from hypothermia between 1999 and 2002 (see link on the other page)
I’m not sure what world you live in where you need documentation to prove something that everyone knows. There are THOUSANDS of homeless people in the Rust Belt. It gets VERY COLD in the Rust Belt. If you spend the night outside on a cold night, it is very likely you will die from hypothermia.
It is astounding that you don’t think this happens.
So, I think I have proven my point: that fact that Yoani believes it is a “political tornado†that a few people died from cold ONE TIME in Cuba is absolute naivete, since it is hardly news to those of us living in the Capitalist Paradise to the North, where THOUSANDS of people die from cold-related deaths every single year.
And, this speaks nothing of the deaths due to gang violence, lack of health care, violence committed against homeless people, deaths due to the culture of violence in prisons (which hold well over TWO MILLION people), and on and on and on.
CAPITALISM IS A SOCIETY OF INHUMANITY: GREED IS MORE IMPORTANT THAN A PERSON’S LIFE
Capitalism is a society of heartlessness. It is a society where people don’t care one bit for each other. There is no community in a capitalist society. Business people literally step over homeless people who have frozen to death overnight on their way to work, and they don’t even glance in their direction.
This is capitalism. This is life in the world’s richest country. And you want to talk about “miserable†conditions.
The fact is, people have struggled against capitalist society since the industrial revolution. Only through the worst violence and terrorism against socialists have the social elite been able to stop normal people from fighting this cancer on society.
HEAT-RELATED DEATHS COME IN THE SUMMER
By the way, what you might not realize about the Rust Belt is that it is terribly cold in the winter, and excruciatingly hot in the summer. As a result, there are also deaths in the summer since air-conditioning is only for the rich people in the world.
You asked for facts, and you got them. Viva socialismo!
By the way, I’ll accept everyone’s apology on this. Once again, I was right … you were wrong.
Marzo 22nd, 2010 at 12:04
THE RECENT UPSURGE OF “REVOLUTIONARY RATS” IN THIS BLOG WITH THEIR “RANTS” (could not help the pun) IS PART OF A LARGER PLAN FROM “LA CHINA” & “THE MUMMY”! THEY WONT WIN!
WASHINGTON POST: Cuban crackdown anniversary marked with protest
State-owned newspapers have suddenly been filled with stories about Europe’s treatment of minorities, its economic woes and its alleged complicity in American rendition campaigns against suspected terrorists.”
http://www.washingtonpost.com/.....078_2.html
Marzo 22nd, 2010 at 11:58
SANTIAGO TIMES (Chile):Socialist deputies express concern over human rights violations
Chile’s Socialist Party (PS) is condemning the regime of Cuban President Raul Castro for its abuse of human rights — a historic change in the attitude of Chile’s most important left-wing party, which had never been critical of this communist country before.
“Our sympathy for Cuba doesn’t make us to forget that the human rights proclaimed and established in the 1948 charter (Universal Declaration of Human Rights) are of the first priority,†reads a declaration of the Socialist Party (PS) deputies published last week.
Although the PS acknowledged “the show of solidarity that the Cuban people and authorities have shown towards the Chilean people in various historical circumstances,†Chile’s PS also said this doesn’t mean they “should or could hold back from just criticism.â€
The PS deputies expressed their concern over “prisoners of conscience,†requesting their immediate and unconditional liberation, to the Cuban ambassador in Chile.
The declaration brings up the case of Cuban political prisoner Orlando Zapata Tamayo who died in February after a 85-day hunger strike. This was the first time in nearly 40 years that a Cuban activist starved himself to death to protest against government abuses.
Cuba’s (illegal) Human Rights Commission says there are about 200 political prisoners still held in Cuba, about one-third less than when Raul Castro took over as president from his brother Fidel. However, the group says that the harassment of dissidents has increased over last year.
The chief of the Socialist Party’s parliamentary committee, Dep. Sergio Aguiló, described last week’s declaration as historic. “This is the first time in 20 years of the democracy in Chile that we, the Socialists, are speaking critically on this topic,†he said.
Previously, the closest the PS got to criticism was in 1996 when Cuba’s then-President Fidel Castro visited Chile to attend the 6th Iberoamerican Summit. At that time the widow of former socialist president Salvador Allende, Hortensia Bussi, called for political opening and democratic liberty on the Caribbean island. Castro´s regime interpreted the episode as a political manoeuvre of the Socialist Party and the relationship between Cuba and the Allende family became tense.
Current Chilean President Sebastian Piñera criticized his PS predecessor, Michelle Bachelet, for refusing to meet with Cuban dissidents on her official visit to the nation in 2009.
He affirmed that his government would strongly defend human rights giving much more attention to Cuba. Still, he did not rule out a future official visit to Havana and stated a willingness to meet with leading authorities as well as with dissidents (ST, Feb. 17).
The PS last week also decided to postpone internal party election until June because about one third of its membership is located in the earthquake devastated south central part of the country. The PS also debated whether or not to extend an invitation to PS dissident Marco Enriquez-Ominami (MEO) to future PS meetings, reaching no final conclusion.
MEO, 36, bolted the party last year when PS leadership would not allow him to run as a primary candidate in the nation’s presidential primary and won 20 percent of the national vote as an independent last December, 2009.
SOURCES: LA TERCERA, BBC
By Mira Galanova ( editor@santiagotimes.cl This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it )
http://www.santiagotimes.cl/in.....Itemid=142
Marzo 22nd, 2010 at 04:09
losada (all incarnations included:
please note, your keyboard gives you away …
You have expressed yourself freely, you have insulted, demeaned, abused & occupied space in this blogg for as long as you pleased …
Your statements are not for a contructive debate but destructive.
Made to insite, to “dig” for information, for points of view & to learn how to “counter” them.
I have come to the conclusion that you are nothing … worth addressing.
Marzo 21st, 2010 at 23:49
“Bay Area police, still dealing with the negative publicity associated with the recent beatings of teenage students at a protest against education cuts (which was caught on video)…”
#135 Surely you are not telling me that in the land of the free ‘innocent demonstrators’ get beaten up? If this was the case wouldn’t it be front page news all around the world otherwise it could be argued this was a normal happening and we know that cannot be true? Come on you are really showing your bias. I know from reading on this site that the USA is a paradise - no one starves, lives in poverty or is homeless. And Miami has a bigger drug problem than Havana - come on - what have you been smoking? Next you will telling me that overall crime, murders, rapes and prostitution are greater per capita in Miami compared to Havana.
Marzo 21st, 2010 at 23:27
It is really a sick paranoia symptom how fanatic radicals try always to explain history or facts in life. Basically, the principal is: you can’t have”x’ because of “y”. Why answer a question about oranges with apples?? The simple, more obvious fact here is that courageous Cubans inside and outside the country are denouncing a repulsive dictatorship, a so call “revolution” that stop being that long time ago, they stop being the voice of progress and a new generation of cubans are asking for change, for respect, for equality as human being. They don’t longer care about rhetoric spoken in the past for hours and hours in the Plaza de la Revolution in La Habana. All those promises never were fulfill because they were done with that intention, never been achieved. The regular Cuban is overwhelm for the daily life, what I am going to eat? How I am going to get back home or to work without transportation? Then, If one of them , like Yoanis or Tamayo or Las Damas de Blanco protest, then they are “mercenaries” or offended or just put in jail.Again, Cubans are asking for basic freedom, they are holding their government accountable for the agreement they signed promising respect for human rights. Or , they signed with the same intention, same that all the old promises? History has spoken. Just look at it.The new progressive revolution is growing in Cuba. The dictator just try to kill the leaders, put them in prison just because they speak-out. These are the facts, the dailyhard life of the dissidents just because they disent.What a pity!! Brothers beating others… and they go back to the same social misery.
Marzo 21st, 2010 at 22:15
The beast is wounded and is preparing the counter attack.
On March 20, from 5 PM until pass midnight, the 4th story of the Minister of the Arm Forces remained active. This didn’t happen since 2007, when Raul met with the commanders of the Arm Forces, to inform them of Fidel illness. The parking lot was full with more than 200 cars
On the 21st at 6 AM, the Presidential Palace Guard was armed with assault weapons, able to spray large amounts of fire quickly and accurately. They are designed to kill human beings quickly and efficiently. There was a reunion with all the provincial leaders of the Communist Party and the Government.
The regime will not allow a popular manifestation. The people shall be prepared for the regime counter attack. The people can be the army without the uniforms. Look that it is the beginning of the end.
Marzo 21st, 2010 at 22:13
The Death of Innocent People by Private Landlords and Energy Companies
I was surprised to see that my assertion about the thousands of deaths in the United States because of profit-based greed was challenged on this post’s comments. After all, this topic had already come up and I had already posted extensive evidence of what I was saying. We all know that the literacy rate is much lower in Miami than it is in Cuba but I thought you all could at least participate in these discussions. It just goes to show that you aren’t listening at all, you aren’t interested in a dialogue, you only want to rant your fanatic opinions about Cuba.
So, I will prove you all wrong again. This topic originally came up a couple of posts ago when I spoke about Yoani’s political naivete by being so shocked about the deaths from hypothermia in a hospital in Cuba. A tragedy, to be sure, but one that occurs every year in the United States and the difference is that the tragedies in the US are not only completely avoidable but they happen only because of capitalist greed. Furthermore, the deaths in the US receive very little to no media coverage, simply because any decent human being would be outraged to find out how many innocent people die simply because of greed.
I began by letting you all know (since you don’t) that in SOME parts of the Rust Belt, laws were passed that prevented electricity companies from shutting off a person’s power during winter because of the likelihood that doing so would be the equivalent of a death sentence. However, for most people, if they cannot afford to pay, they take a risk at dying.
If I post the URLs, I will get spam-blocked but I have already posted the URLs on another comment thread, so you can find all the original source material here -> http://www.desdecuba.com/gener.....9#comments
I started with this sad but very common story:
WWII Veteran Freezes To Death In Own Home
Memorial Service Set For Wednesday
POSTED: 2:20 pm EST January 26, 2009
BAY CITY, Mich. — Officials in Mid-Michigan said the 93-year-old man who owed more than $1,000 in unpaid electric bills froze to death inside his home — where the municipal power company had restricted his use of electricity.
Neighbors and friends of Schur want answers as to how this could happen.
“Now that we do know it was hypothermia, there’s a whole bunch of feelings that I’ve got going through me,†said Jim Herndon, a neighbor of Schur’s. “There’s anger, for the city and the electrical company.â€
Bay City officials said changes are on the way in an attempt to not let another instance like this happen again.
An autopsy determined Schur died from hypothermia in the home he lived in for years.
A medical examiner who conducted the autopsy on Schur told TV5 and WNEM.com that Schur died a painful death due to the hypothermia.
Schur’s neighbor, Herndon, said Schur had a utility bill on his kitchen table with a large amount of money clipped to it, with the intention of paying that bill.
—————————
I went on to provide statistics, evidence and further analysis:
WINTER-DEATHS DIRECTLY RELATED TO POVERTY, PEOPLE DIE IN THEIR OWN APARTMENTS:
To begin by making a comparison, the relatively small population in Northern Ireland also has this problem, since they live in the heart of the British capitalist empire.
In Northern Ireland, statistics put the number at around 1,000 to 1,300 deaths each winter: “Some of those, particularly the elderly, don’t always make it to spring. There are about 1,000 cold-related deaths in Northern Ireland in the winter. Some say it’s more like 1,300. These are known politely as ‘excess winter deaths’. But many of them are directly related to fuel poverty. People who just can’t afford to keep warm any more get ill and die because of the cold.â€
Now, if there are 1,300 cold-related deaths in Northern Ireland, where only 1.7 million people live, you can imagine how many people die throughout the Rust Belt in the United States, where tens of millions of people live.
225,000 PEOPLE IN DETROIT HAD THEIR HEAT SHUT OFF IN ONE YEAR ALONE:
This problem is well-known but rarely reported on, in the “Capitalist Free Pressâ€. This past year, around quarter-of-a-million (225,000) people JUST IN DETROIT had their heat shut off on them:
STATISTICS ESTIMATE 108,000 DEATHS FROM COLD IN 2008′S WINTER:
With temperatures well below freezing, several feet of snow and freezing cold wind, you don’t think people die? Of course they do. Everyone knows it. It’s part of life in capitalism. These statistics put the deaths from cold in the winter at 108,000 (yes, ONE HUNDRED AND EIGHT THOUSAND) people in the US in 2008:
Anyway, if you want further research, you will have to do it yourself. It is an unbelievable travesty that people die in the winter because the privatized heating company cruelly turns off their heat but that is exactly what capitalism is. However, these stories somehow get “lost†in the “Capitalist Free Press†…
EVEN IN SUNNY CALIFORNIA, HUNDREDS OF HOMELESS PEOPLE DIE EVERY YEAR:
As for homeless deaths in San Francisco, funny you should ask. In 1999, the City of San Francisco reported a 57% increase in homeless deaths for the year. I was wrong — it was not a dozen or so — it was 168:
“The remains of G.M., a 42-year-old male, were found by gardeners at Golden Gate Park inside a sleeping bag within a pup tent. And J.W., a 46-year-old male war veteran, was found last February in an unnamed doorway by a passerby, ‘cold, wet, mumbling.’ At San Francisco General Hospital, where he died, he was found to have an 80 degree F. core temperature. These three cases were part of a study released last month by the San Francisco Department of Public Health (DPH), which identified a total of 157 homeless persons who died in the City in the preceding 12 months, a figure that was later raised to 163. This was 57 percent higher than the previous year, and the largest total since the City began keeping records in 1987.â€
http://www.createpeaceathome.o…..-13-05.htm
SAN FRANCISCO IS “TOO POOR” TO CONTINUE MONITORING HOMELESS DEATHS:
Unfortunately, that was the last year that the City of San Francisco kept records on homeless deaths. They canceled the program in 2000, citing a “lack of funds†to do this count:
“The San Francisco Health Department ended its homeless death count in 2000, citing budget constraints and a redundancy in data collected year after year.â€
http://articles.sfgate.com/200…..l-examiner
Since then, volunteers have tried to keep a count of annual homeless deaths but, obviously, cannot do as good a job as the government could, with a budget. The count remains about the same. And this is in sunny, ultra-liberal San Francisco.
STUDY SHOWS 4,607 HOMELESS DEATHS FROM EXPOSURE BETWEEN 1999 AND 2002:
This study shows 4,607 homeless deaths from hypothermia between 1999 and 2002 (see link on the other page)
I’m not sure what world you live in where you need documentation to prove something that everyone knows. There are THOUSANDS of homeless people in the Rust Belt. It gets VERY COLD in the Rust Belt. If you spend the night outside on a cold night, it is very likely you will die from hypothermia.
It is astounding that you don’t think this happens.
So, I think I have proven my point: that fact that Yoani believes it is a “political tornado†that a few people died from cold ONE TIME in Cuba is absolute naivete, since it is hardly news to those of us living in the Capitalist Paradise to the North, where THOUSANDS of people die from cold-related deaths every single year.
And, this speaks nothing of the deaths due to gang violence, lack of health care, violence committed against homeless people, deaths due to the culture of violence in prisons (which hold well over TWO MILLION people), and on and on and on.
CAPITALISM IS A SOCIETY OF INHUMANITY: GREED IS MORE IMPORTANT THAN A PERSON’S LIFE
Capitalism is a society of heartlessness. It is a society where people don’t care one bit for each other. There is no community in a capitalist society. Business people literally step over homeless people who have frozen to death overnight on their way to work, and they don’t even glance in their direction.
This is capitalism. This is life in the world’s richest country. And you want to talk about “miserable†conditions.
The fact is, people have struggled against capitalist society since the industrial revolution. Only through the worst violence and terrorism against socialists have the social elite been able to stop normal people from fighting this cancer on society.
HEAT-RELATED DEATHS COME IN THE SUMMER
By the way, what you might not realize about the Rust Belt is that it is terribly cold in the winter, and excruciatingly hot in the summer. As a result, there are also deaths in the summer since air-conditioning is only for the rich people in the world.
You asked for facts, and you got them. Viva socialismo!
By the way, I’ll accept everyone’s apology on this. Once again, I was right … you were wrong.
Marzo 21st, 2010 at 21:45
thousands of serial killers, child abusers, drug smugglers, assassins, mobsters and criminals of all kind together with patients with severe mental conditions were released in Miami in 1980….. around 30.000 of these criminals and insane people found them self free suddenly in a big city that was unaware about what will happen……
Haha, this sounds a lot like the FIRST mass exodus from Cuba in 1960, when all the Batista torturers, Batista fascist stooges, thugs, assassins, torturers and criminals went to Miami.
Tell me — are there ANY decent people in the Cuban exile community?
Anyway, I’m very confused by your take on the Mariel deal. Thousands of people were let go from Cuba’s prisons. All the people put in jail for counter-revolution were let free to go to Miami and join their “brothers in the struggle,” right? So what is wrong with that?
I think you know what is wrong with that … the vast majority of anti-Castro counter-revolutionaries are anti-social sociopaths with homicidal tendencies and they fit in perfectly with the Miami exile community, who quickly put them to work in their cocaine operations.
It is amazing to think that the Cuban lobby — with ALL of its political influence — couldn’t get the US Government to clean up the Miami Police, who were probably the most corrupt police force on the face of the earth in the 1980s.
Why don’t we just tell the truth, here. This trend began long before the Mariel airlift. It began in the 70s when the Cuban exile community began running cocaine into the city. The anti-Cuba terrorist mafia in Miami was tightly associated with the anti-Nicaragua contra movement, and the CIA, and the cocaine cartels. They changed Miami from a quiet city with one police car into an absolute war zone, with record numbers of murders every day, open warfare going on everywhere. Meanwhile, Havana was a peaceful city without any kind of drug problem at all.
Marzo 21st, 2010 at 21:25
This Weekend: Tens of Thousands of Protesters in the United States in the Streets to Oppose US Wars in Iraq, Afghanistan, Colombia, Cuba
Protesters also focused on torture and illegal detentions at Guantanamo Bay and Bagram Prison; protesters showed solidarity with the 200 prisoners at “Camp Gitmo” who were on hunger strike; protesters demanded the release of the Cuban Five political prisoners
Coordinated protest actions took place this weekend in the United States, on the anniversary of the start of the Iraq War. In Washington DC, over 10,000 protesters took to the streets and DC police made a number of arrests at the end of the march, including the arrest of Cindy Sheehan, the mother of an Iraq War veteran, whose son was killed in action. In San Francisco, over 5,000 protesters marched against US wars. Bay Area police, still dealing with the negative publicity associated with the recent beatings of teenage students at a protest against education cuts (which was caught on video) and the aftermath of the execution-style murder of Oscar Grant (also caught on video) by BART police, made no arrests. However, the well-known SFPD “Red Squad” was in action, videotaping the faces of all the protesters as they marched. Various other protest marches took place in New York City, Chicago, Houston, Cleveland, Los Angeles and Seattle.
The protesters made clear that they are opposed to all US wars, including the US conflicts in Latin America. Protesters also demanded the immediate release of the Cuban Five political prisoners, who have been sentenced to terms ranging from 20 years to life-in-prison:
http://balasc.org/wp-content/u.....st_img.png
A representative of the group that organized the protest spoke about US military actions in Latin America, saying:
“To be clear: the US supported that coup in Honduras, the US is occupying 13 new military bases in Colombia & Panama, the US is bringing more war to Mexico with Plan Merida, the US is supporting violent counter-revolution in Bolivia, the US is continuing its war against Cuba, the US is continuing its war in Colombia, the US continues to threaten Venezuela and the CIA is continuing to try to overthrow democratic governments.”
The assembled crowd of 5,000 people showed solidarity with the statement and, in unison, chanted: “Viva Cuba! Viva la Revolución!”
After the march, at the rally, a representative of the National Committee to Free the Cuban Five spoke to protesters, passers-by, media and tourists about the Cuban Five case. The Cuban Five are five Cuban nationals who were working with the FBI to infiltrate Miami-based anti-Cuba terrorist organizations, including groups that openly brag about planting bombs in hotels and targeting civilians. In a surprise move, the US Government suddenly stopped working with the five men and arrested them all on “conspiracy to commit espionage,” since the government did not have enough evidence to charge them with actual “espionage.”
Since then, the Cuban Five have become known throughout the world, and the US has been internationally condemned for not only arresting the men in the first place but for the horrific conditions they’ve been kept in since arrest. Many of them have spent extended periods of time in “The Hole,” a form of solitary confinement used in the United States in which a prisoner is denied any contact with other humans.
Since President George Bush declared the “War on Terror” and proclaimed that any nation which harbored terrorists would be considered a terrorist state, pressure has increased for the US to release the Cuban Five and arrest those groups they were investigating, since those groups openly admit carrying out terrorist attacks against civilians in Cuba. The US is currently harboring known anti-Cuba terrorist Luis Posada Carriles, who is also known as the head torturer of Venezuela’s secretive political police under the dictatorship there, before he became a hero within the Miami-based Cuban exile community.
The Cuban Five’s convictions were overturned in appeals court. However, the US Government appealed this decision and, in what is widely regarded as a political decision under pressure from the Miami-based Cuban exile lobby and Hollywood celebrities such as Andy Garcia, the convictions were re-instated. Recently, the Supreme Court denied the opportunity to hear their case.
The protests were largely seen as a success and further anti-war actions are planned over the next few months.
Marzo 21st, 2010 at 21:19
As for thes every brave words of Fraud “We prefer to be anonymous because the bloody hand of castrofascism is very long…..’(sic)
Amazing how you and your ilk encourage some poor misguided souls inside Cuba to commit suicide and yet you are too gutless whilst remaining outside Cuba to identify yourselves. Such courage!
Marzo 21st, 2010 at 21:15
Bimbo says in 3132 “No body here is anti -cuban.”
Well why is that NONE of the Mimai mafia or their clones here support these words of Sanchez?
“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.”
Marzo 21st, 2010 at 20:59
M Pineiro Losada or Walter Lippman, your the joke. Your time has come and the proof we all have today is a Cuba in shambles. Falling apart at all levels. No body here is anti -cuban. We are all against the oppressive regime that has been screwing the cuban people for so long. Its time for change.
Marzo 21st, 2010 at 19:57
Hahaha … Anti-Cuba Mafia on “Freedom of Expression”:
What is relevant is that the lies and propaganda being spread makes him an accomplice who deserves nothing but to be exposed and repudiated.
Wow, you even use the EXACT word … “repudiated.”
Hey, Siggy … in all your “psychological training” did you come across the concept of “projecting”? Perhaps the reason the anti-Cuban mafia so strongly believes that the Cuban Revolution commits all these so-called crimes is because that’s exactly what the Cuban mafia would like to impose on the island!
You need to realize that your fanaticism is being opposed even in Miami, now. No one can accept your fascist, terrorist opposition to the Cuban Revolution.
Keep talking … and keep proving my point for me. Haha.
Marzo 21st, 2010 at 11:50
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Marzo 21st, 2010 at 10:48
127Kerry in Canada
Marzo 21st, 2010 at 10:23
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Thanks Kerry, (Jonh??….. kidding!!)…. “border pathâ€, which is a mixture of border-line personality and psychopathic disorders. Yes, thay suits perfectly this condition.
Marzo 21st, 2010 at 10:42
juan
Marzo 20th, 2010 at 20:14
Ah but it is so perfect in non-Cuba also?
Why then did the subject of Yoani’s previous blog - Milanes say this?????
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3- ¿Por qué usted habla más que su pueblo?
- Un poquito más, sÃ. A los pueblos hay que darles oportunidad de que hablen. Yo tengo el privilegio de tener más información que mi pueblo.
5- ¿Qué huelga merece Castro si Fariñas muere de hambre?
- Hay que condenar desde el punto de vista humano. Esas cosas no se hacen. Las ideas se discuten y se combaten, no se encarcelan.
6- ¿Qué han hecho los revolucionarios con la Revolución?
- Quedarse en el tiempo. Y la Historia debe avanzar con ideas y hombres nuevos. Se han convertido en reaccionarios de sus propias ideas. Por eso he dicho que hace falta otra revolución, porque tenemos manchitas. El sol enorme que nació en el 59 se ha ido llenando de manchas en la medida en que se va poniendo viejo.
8- ¿Qué clase de libertad es Miami?
- Es una libertad que buscan con toda honestidad los cubanos. A veces, muchÃsimos no la encuentran, porque no hay nada como estar en la patria de uno reclamando, pidiendo y exigiendo lo de uno.
http://sn128w.snt128.mail.live.com/default.aspx
Marzo 21st, 2010 at 10:33
108juan
Marzo 20th, 2010 at 18:46
Nicely put…..â€They are glad that Miami had to deal with the Cuban mafia in the 1980s, when Miami was the terrorism and death capital of the world, with cocaine and contra money everywhere and dead bodies on the news every single day. That’s the reality of the “peaceful Cuban exile community.â€â€
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A classic disinformation technique of totalitarian regimens…… to say part of the truth but not the whole truth…..
The real history was that before Miami became world’s crime capital happened one of the history’s episodes that showed to the world the real face of castrofascism: Mariel exodus……..
Cubans always are looking for the way to escape castrofascism hell. The 70’s was one of the worse decades for Cuban people…… it hopes to reach freedom by popular war was defeated by soviets forces together with castrofascism army and USA’s collaboration in 1975…… tens thousands fighters were massacred and incarcerated, repression on people reached the pike….. the only escape way that Cubans found was to get in embassies and ask asylum…… a wave of intrusions in embassies started, castrofascism placed the army around all embassies in a desperate effort for dissuade the people…….. at the beginning of 1980 three families drove a bus into Peru’s embassy. Castrofascism demanded the Peruvian ambassador to not give protection to these people but the ambassador understood that doing so would send to a sure death those families…… the negative answer of the diplomat made mad castro who in an effort to set pressure to the ambassador retired the army around the embassy thinking that maybe 100 or 200 persons could get in the embassy and create in such way an humanitarian situation….. castro was wrong……. more than 11.000 persons went in Peru’s embassy in less than 3 hours…… the people of Havana thinking the regimen had opened the access to all embassies went by tens of thousands to the neighborhood where embassies are located…… the tyranny had to bring reinforcements to Havana in order to control the situation, all access to the neighborhood where cut and streets battles developed over different parts of the city, people broke the custody of several embassies and got in by thousands in many of them……. castrofascism could finally control the situation and dominate Havana’s citizens but a terrible humanitarian situation were created in Peru’s and other embassies. More than 11.000 people tried to find place in Peru’s embassy, a house planed to contain 4-6 person……
I guess everyone knows the rest of the history……. an international meeting with all countries involved in the situation were held immediately and an agreement reached…… castrofascism would let leave all Cubans that wanted to leave the country and the involved countries would allow those people to get in their territories…… of course the bigger receiver of Cubans was USA.
It was a big defeat for castrofascism planes……. then on it was not so easy for the regimen present itself as a paradise…….. castrofascism found soon a way to intent make believe the world those Cubans that left the “paradise” were mental insane or criminals……. all “guests” in Cuba’s jails and mental hospitals were mixed with the people that left Cuba……. of course many castro agents were mixed too with the people with the express mission of create chaos in the destination country……… thousands of serial killers, child abusers, drug smugglers, assassins, mobsters and criminals of all kind together with patients with severe mental conditions were released in Miami in 1980….. around 30.000 of these criminals and insane people found them self free suddenly in a big city that was unaware about what will happen…….. in few days Miami transformed from a sleepy city to the world’s crime capital……… the crimes committed by those criminals sent by castro were infamous……… the city needed 15 years to recover the peace by capturing all those criminals and crazy people and send them back to castro.
The same criminal “strategy” has been used by castrofascism each time an exodus of desperate Cubans happens……. but now the world is aware and countries like USA has advising to castrofascism that such practices will be considered an act of war……
Marzo 21st, 2010 at 10:23
You gave a perfect quote Freud….”The problem of this fool brigade is that they can’t see crimes where crimes are because they are criminals too………….. Crime blindness !!!!!”
As I read the many posts by this “losada” individual, it is clear he/she is a pathological twister of truth. So dedicated to seeing the world in a predefined way, any opposing facts and truth that comes before him has to be twisted and denied. His black and white world is threatened so he expends enormous energy trying to convince you and everyone else that “he is right.”
It’s a human phenomena. It affects a certain proportion of the population. I see people like this here in Canada too. Some call the condition “border path”, which is a mixture of border-line personality and psychopathic disorders. If they ever make it to a place of political power they become despots, evil dictators. If they don’t rise to political power themselves, they become the perfect follower of abusive power figures such as Castro. Inhuman, psychopathic leaders would love to have fanatics like this in there tribe.
Marzo 21st, 2010 at 09:25
87M. piñeiro losada
Marzo 20th, 2010 at 12:06
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Hahahahaha………. the illogic logic of a thug!!!!……… People that dies of cold in cold countries is the same than people that dies of clod in a tropical counties!!!!!!!!!……… a life of crime can affect so much the mind of a thug????.
Even in communism “paradise” (former USSR) died thousands of persons of cold every year in winter….. because it is a normal thing that drugs or alcohol addicted take irresponsible actions that leads them to death by hypothermia, no one can prevent it…….. but to pretend that it is a normal thing in Cuba is something out of all sense…….. it is like pretend that to die of heat in Canada or USA is an usual thing!!!!!!…… In Cuba did not died alcoholics or irresponsible people but handicapped people under supervision of other castrofascism thugs
No fool’s brigade, It is a terrible crime to let die people of cold in a country that is “An eternal Summer” like castrofascism tourism propaganda says.
The problem of this fool brigade is that they can’t see crimes where crimes are because they are criminals too………….. Crime blindness !!!!!……… one of the grates “success†of castrofascism.
Marzo 21st, 2010 at 09:04
86M. piñeiro losada
Marzo 20th, 2010 at 12:01
……..I thought that if ANY Cuban opened their mouth to say ANYTHING against the Cuban Government, they were immediately thrown into jail and never to be heard from again………..
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You don’t have enough proves?????…… Do you need more proves than the recent assassination of Zapata, the beating of bloggers, writers, journalists that dared to speek their mind in public????…… you do need more proves than Ladies in White beating in front of the world eyes?????…………. Oh yes, I remember now!!!!!……. the problem is that you are a little thug inside Cuba with no access to free press……… well dear criminals lover, you better talk with your superiors so you can have access to same information the rest of the world has……. explain to your boss that the more out of the reality seems to your readers your comment the more palpable are for those readers the situation of misinformation where Cubans lives in…….. including castrofascim’s thugs!!!!
Marzo 21st, 2010 at 08:51
http://www.rtve.es/mediateca/v…..s3=&s4
79M. piñeiro losada
Marzo 20th, 2010 at 11:15
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4000 Cubans killed by antifascist fighters?????
That is a lie that castrofascsim never could demonstrate……. if it could demonstrate it long time ago would be in US jails all those antifascism fighters regimens accused years after years……. The reality is that antifascism fighters caused more than 7000 casualties to castrofascism forces along a 15 years long civil war in Cuba. Cadstorfascism response to this popular war was the killing of thousands farmers and peasants in the operations area and the violent and criminal concentration of hundreds of thousands Cubans that gave their support to the antifascism fighters in concentrations camps ………. like today does with Zapata or Ladies in White, yesterday castrofascism sent its thugs writers over the world to try discredit the freedom fighters as now “losada†brigade does…….. you can account with the fingers of a hand the antifascist fighters that became war criminals and theirs victims all together…… you need 3.5 GB of a computer to account castrofascist criminals and their victims
Marzo 21st, 2010 at 08:28
78juan
Marzo 20th, 2010 at 01:35
Fraud …Is that why so many of you here post under several different names?
Maybe Wanker, Enema, Fraud, Yobbo, Fatalbert and Humbug are a TOTAL of one person?
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We prefer to be anonymous because the bloody hand of castrofascism is very long and does not rest in looking for the people that works for Cuba’s freedom……. look at “Brothers to the Rescue” end…… they were assassinated only for give the Cuban rafters an opportunity to survive in a time where castrofascism wanted dead all Cubans that escaped regimen. There are several bloody deeds out Cuba that illustrates very well castrofascism long distance assassinations of people that just were writers or journalists…….. castrofascism can’t kill the ideas then turns and kills the messengers.
Marzo 21st, 2010 at 05:51
when things are fallilng apart, beat on the women…..
Marzo 21st, 2010 at 02:47
#111 If being involved with or supporting Pastors For Peace is in itself reason to denigrate someone that just confirms your concept of liberty, freedom of expression as being simply a facist one. It is ironic that those of you who talk about wanting to impose so-called democratic principles in Cuba are ever so quick to deny those same concepts to those you disagree with. The straitjacketed, anachronistic views of the Miami mafia and their ilk have virtually no support within Cuba even amongst those who STRONGLY oppose the current government. That is a further irony that neanderthals like yourself just don’t get.
Marzo 21st, 2010 at 01:49
Humberto,
I hope so! At the very end of the video, there is a side-by-side shot of Michelangelo’s Piedad and the photograph of Coco Fariñas as he is being carried by his doctor down the street. Pretty striking.
Esto No Se Aguanta Mas!!!
Marzo 20th, 2010 at 23:48
Hank,
Thanks for the video! Kick A**!! Its on my facebook and on Cubans in LA group. Hope it goes viral! Lots of relevant images and great lyrics!Esto No Se Aguanta Mas!
Marzo 20th, 2010 at 23:38
John Two
Not to belabor the point but what does the fact that the pinko in question is a native English speaker have do with his being an agent? Is it not possible for Americans to be recruited by cuban intelligence? Have you not heard of the previously mentioned jihad jane, Tokyo Rose, Lord HaHa, Ana Belen and the retired state department enployee and his wife who were prosecuted for passing intelligence to the cuban government? Regardless of whether he is an agent or not is a secondary issue, he serves the same purpose. What is relevant is that the lies and propaganda being spread makes him an accomplice who deserves nothing but to be exposed and repudiated. Why is it important to you to point out that some of us anti-castro Cubans can be zealous in our opinions. Touche, but what is your point?
Marzo 20th, 2010 at 23:01
Esto No Se Aguanta Mas
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v....._embedded#
Marzo 20th, 2010 at 22:25
CHILE: Isabel Allende: “I hope Cuba will understand that the world condemns those countries which do not respect freedom of opinion.
The senator supports the Declaration of the Members of her party which calls on the Cuban authorities to release prisoners of conscience.
LA TERCERA-CHILE: Isabel Allende: “Ojalá Cuba comprenda que el mundo condena a los paÃses que no respetan la libertad de opinión”
La senadora respalda la declaración de los diputados de su partido en que se emplaza a las autoridades cubanas a liberar a los presos de conciencia.
¿Apoya la declaración de los diputados PS pidiendo libertad a los presos polÃticos en Cuba?
Si hubiese sido diputada, me habrÃa sumado. Asà como hemos condenado el bloqueo comercial que ha sufrido Cuba, nosotros luchamos muchÃsimo por los derechos humanos y éstos tienen que ser respetados en cualquier circunstancia. Las libertades de opinión, asociación y reunión fueron libertades por las que en el PS luchamos y seguiremos luchando siempre. Ojalá que efectivamente haya una reacción por parte de las autoridades cubanas y comprendan que el mundo condena hoy a las sociedades que no respetan el derecho de la libre opinión.
En el Senado se votó un proyecto de acuerdo promovido por Patricio Walker que condenaba al régimen castrista por lo mismo. Usted no estuvo en la sala, pero ¿cómo hubiese votado ah�
HabrÃa tenido que verlo en su redacción. Pero creo que hay que quedarse con lo central y ello es que tenemos que hacer un llamado para que esto no siga pasando. Se ha visto al propio Pablo Milanés alzando su voz. Tenemos que sumar a muchos más.
¿La postura de su partido podrÃa afectar la relación con el PC en momentos en que buscan conformar una oposición amplia a Piñera?
Nosotros nos jugamos por romper la exclusión en el Congreso y estamos muy contentos de haberlo logrado: han llegado tres diputados a los que les tenemos mucha estima. Pero el PS en esto no puede transar sus valores. Creo que es importante que se levante la voz para decir que en ninguna sociedad puede existir persecución por ideas.
Su madre, Hortensia Bussi, fue una de las primeras figuras de la izquierda chilena en abogar por mayores libertades en Cuba y lo hizo de cara a Fidel Castro durante una visista a Chile en 1996. ¿Qué sintió entonces?
Ese dÃa estábamos juntas. Fue un discurso que compartimos, incluso lo habÃamos discutido con Camilo Escalona y Luis Maira, entonces presidente y secretario general del PS. Pero también hay que ser muy claro de lo que dijo mi madre esa tarde. Esto fue que, conociendo el nivel de adhesión y popularidad que tenÃa Fidel Castro, no le cabÃa ninguna duda de que en un sistema de elecciones tendrÃa la adhesión para salir elegido. Dijo, además, que nos parecÃa mejor un sistema con diferentes opciones por sobre el de un partido único, pero también se refirió a la tremenda injusticia que significaba para el pueblo cubano el embargo norteamericano.
¿El PS debiera mediar para la liberación de los prisioneros polÃticos en la isla?
Ojalá hubiese capacidad para decir que no deben existir limitaciones a la libertad de opinión. Pero eso no puede dar paso a que se avalen acciones de intervención en Cuba.
¿Cómo enfrentará la elección interna del PS?
Le daré mi respaldo a una lista transversal que se está conformando y que incorporará a sectores que fueron parte de la mayorÃa, como el tercerismo de Ricardo Solari, para darle una nueva forma a un partido que no supo dar espacios de participación.
http://www.latercera.com/conte.....15_9.shtml
Marzo 20th, 2010 at 21:08
You have to be blind to defend a regime that treat and abuse these peaceful women like criminals. If you still have a mother or grandmother about the same age of “The Ladies in Whiteâ€, you would probably have to stop the way you think and analyze yourself seriously.
Is it right for these women to receive this kind of beating? These women already suffer enough punishment for having their love ones behind bars for exercising their freedoms.
The European Parliament, Amnesty International and a growing list of prominent intellectuals and artists have condemned Cuba for the repression.
Marzo 20th, 2010 at 20:50
MORE DECLARATIONS BY PABLO MILANES ON CASTRO.
LA RAZON (Argentina): Milanés, duro con Castro: “No cumplió sus promesas”
APUNTO CONTRA EL PRESIDENTE CUBANO
El cantautor cubano Pablo Milanés apuntó contra el presidente cubano, Raúl Castro, por no cumplir con las promesas que habÃa planteado y sostuvo que “el pueblo se pregunta en medio de una parálisis agónica cuándo llegarán”.
“Las promesas son esencialmente las que ha venido planteando Raúl Castro y que no se han cumplido”, contestó cuando le consultaron si está a favor de los cambios en su paÃs, en una entrevista publicada en el diario La Voz de Galicia. Y fue duro en el trato de Cuba a los disidentes. Dijo que “sin personalizar mi crÃtica” en Guillermo Fariñas (un disidente preso y en huelga de hambre en Cuba) “en general he criticado una actitud del gobierno hacia los contestatarios con la que no estoy de acuerdo”.
En medio de una gira por España, el cantante dijo que prefiere darles paso a las nuevas generaciones: “No confÃo en ningún dirigente cubano que tenga más de 75 años”. n
http://www.larazon.com.ar/nota.....63642.html
Marzo 20th, 2010 at 20:46
Pinko?? LOL!!
Jihad Joe ,the pinko, and Juana Rosada Losada I like it…..What a duet!!
Marzo 20th, 2010 at 20:38
Juan poorly translated Pablo Milanes,
: “I’m not a fortuneteller, and I’m not a prophet, but I hope [they come] sooner than later. More than elections, we need change in Cuba, because really I DONâ€T BELIEVE in ELECTIONS either. They’re just a DEMOCRATIC GAME , and are really a FARCE.â€
Below is the link to the article in spanish, you can judge for yourself. The questions was asked about elections in Cuba, I assume the answer also is aimed at the “elections” in Cuba.
5- ¿Qué huelga merece Castro si Fariñas muere de hambre?
- Hay que condenar desde el punto de vista humano. Esas cosas no se hacen. Las ideas se discuten y se combaten, no se encarcelan.
6- ¿Qué han hecho los revolucionarios con la Revolución?
- Quedarse en el tiempo. Y la Historia debe avanzar con ideas y hombres nuevos. Se han convertido en reaccionarios de sus propias ideas. Por eso he dicho que have falta otra revolución, porque tenemos manchitas. El sol enorme que nació en el 59 se ha ido llenando de manchas en la medida en que se va poniendo viejo.
7- ¿En qué siglo le tocarán a Cuba las próximas elecciones?
- No soy pitoniso, no tengo alma de profeta, pero quisiera que fuera cuanto antes. Más que elecciones, que en Cuba hubiera cambio, porque tampoco creo en las elecciones. Ése es un juego democrático entre comillas que también es una farsa.
http://www.elmundo.es/america/.....42243.html
Marzo 20th, 2010 at 20:22
I have conducted some research about comments made by this Pinko, who disguise himself under the name of Piñera-Losada here is what I found.
This Pinko Losada is part of Pastors for Peace, a special ministry of the RADICAL Inter-religious Foundation for Community Organization (IFCO). The following video shows Rev. Thomas Smith at a Terre Haute stop in Indiana, when viewing the video you will see Che’s face, the butcher of La Cabaña, on one side of the bus.
http://www.wthitv.com/dpp/news.....0907121658
This is my last comment or mentioning of this low class person.
Marzo 20th, 2010 at 20:14
Ah but it is so perfect in non-Cuba also?
Why then did the subject of Yoani’s previous blog - Milanes say this?????
: “I’m not a fortuneteller, and I’m not a prophet, but I hope [they come] sooner than later. More than elections, we need change in Cuba, because really I DONâ€T BELIEVE in ELECTIONS either. They’re just a DEMOCRATIC GAME , and are really a FARCE.â€
http://sn128w.snt128.mail.live.com/default.aspx
Marzo 20th, 2010 at 18:55
With this article Yoani has give the whole progressive world (and the one not that progressive too) an important explanation in how things are done in Cuba Socialista. What nobody, except cubans inside or outside, know is that those meetings where democracy suppose to flourish, everything, every word is pre-arrange. The ‘nucleo de zona ” from the communist party already prepare who should talk, about what, who suppose to be pick for “delegado’ and, of course , elected. I am not an expert in systems of democracy, I mean, how many types exist, how they work etc, but what I can tell you is that the current system of Poder Popular in Cuba is a real fraud. I remember the pressure to go to vote in every so call “elections”, the amount of people saying they vote blank, and then the percentages: 99.9%, 98%, or 100% for the candidate .I think for the social and political sciences experts this could be a great topic for a thesis, how the “Cuban democracy” is equal to unanimity.What a perfect system…, so…. How come we have in Cuba political prisoners? How come we have in Cuba people protesting? How come more than 10% of cubans have left? I know, It is the imperialism fault…yes. What other explanation could be?
Marzo 20th, 2010 at 18:46
Nicely put…..”They are glad that Miami had to deal with the Cuban mafia in the 1980s, when Miami was the terrorism and death capital of the world, with cocaine and contra money everywhere and dead bodies on the news every single day. That’s the reality of the “peaceful Cuban exile community.—
Marzo 20th, 2010 at 18:43
§*** DEAR HUGO CHAVEZ §***
COCA COLA IS OK !!
BYE BYE SEXY !!
CALL ME !!
Marzo 20th, 2010 at 18:41
§*** DEAR FIDEL §***
BYE BYE SEXY GRANPA !!
CALL ME !!
Marzo 20th, 2010 at 18:29
§*** ALGUIEN SABE SI VENDEN EL “ICECREAM CUBANO” EN ISRAEL ?? §***
Marzo 20th, 2010 at 18:22
Well, the Jihad Joe of this site can vist Cuba to support Castrofascim and if history is repeat itself as it usually does , well you know the rest…it is posted in comment 103 by John Two
Marzo 20th, 2010 at 18:09
concubino, there is also the cautionary example of Malcolm Caldwell. This guy was a British university professor for goodness sake’s yet his fanaticism and ideological blindness ultimately cost him his life.
From Caldwell’s wikipedia bio:”James Alexander Malcolm Caldwell (27 September 1931 – 23 December 1978)[1] was a British academic and a prolific Marxist writer. He was a consistent critic of American imperialism, a campaigner for Asian communist liberation and socialist movements, and a strong supporter of Pol Pot. Despite his vocal support for the Kampuchean revolution and Pol Pot’s regime, support which only increased after visiting the country, Malcolm Caldwell was murdered, supposedly on the orders of Pol Pot, a few hours after meeting him, in 1978.”
Canada also has its version of Jihad Jane, a Vancouver woman called Beverly Geisbrecht. You can read her story here:
http://www.nationalpost.com/re.....id=2165986
Marzo 20th, 2010 at 16:36
I agree with Jonh Two in #98 as well.
In my oppinion he is the male version of Colleen LaRose aka “Jihad Jane”.
Marzo 20th, 2010 at 16:20
YOU TUBE: March by Damas De Blanco, March 17, 2010
Music:”People Got The Power” by Patti Smith-Album: Dream of Life
I was dreaming in my dreaming
of an aspect bright and fair
and my sleeping it was broken
but my dream it lingered near
in the form of shining valleys
where the pure air recognized
and my senses newly opened
I awakened to the cry
that the people / have the power
to redeem / the work of fools
upon the meek / the graces shower
it’s decreed / the people rule
The people have the power
The people have the power
The people have the power
The people have the power
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v.....r_embedded
Marzo 20th, 2010 at 16:01
LETS HOPE THE NEXT EARTHQUAKE IS A POLITICAL ONE!
WASHINGTON POST: Magnitude-5.6 quake near Guantanamo, Cuba
Reuters Saturday, March 20,
HAVANA (Reuters) - A 5.6-magnitude earthquake struck near the U.S. naval base at Guantanamo in eastern Cuba, on Saturday and was felt in the island’s second city of Santiago de Cuba.
A spokesman at the Guantanamo base said no damage was reported there.
In Santiago de Cuba, about 32 miles from the epicenter, residents said they felt the temblor.
“It was awful, you could feel it pretty strongly. It lasted longer than normal. Our phones are only receiving calls,” Ariadna, a 34-year-old Cuban in the eastern city, told Reuters.
The quake was centered 27 miles southwest of Guantanamo and had a depth of 14 miles, the U.S. Geological Survey reported.
A magnitude-5 quake can cause considerable damage, but Chief Petty Officer Bill Mesta, a spokesman at the U.S. Guantanamo base, said there was none reported.
There was no tsunami warning issued for the region.
The U.S. base in southeastern Cuba was used to transport supplies and personnel to the aid effort after the devastating 7.0-magnitude January 12 quake in Haiti, about 200 miles away.
A prison on the base, set up for terrorism suspects after the September 11, 2001, attacks, still houses 188 detainees. President Barack Obama pledged in January 2009 to close the controversial prison within a year, but his efforts to shutter the facility have been hampered by legal and political hurdles.
(Reporting by Esteban Israel in Havana, Matthew Bigg in Atlanta, Editing by Pascal Fletcher and Peter Cooney)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/.....01722.html
Agayu
Agallu is the orisha that represents the nature and wrath of the volcano. He is a very tall gigantic man who lives alongside the rivers. Agallu/Agayu, Bi Yaya or Agallu Sola which he is also known, is represented by earthquakes, the energy and core of the earth. The lava and magma is associated with him, due to his mother Oroiña. He is the heat that comes from within all and keeps the earth moving. Agallu is the cane that holds all of the orishas. In Santeria, priests of Agallu receive him in a wooden or terra cotta vessel where his mysteries are kept. It is said that the vessel should stay uncover because you can’t put a cover on top of a volcano. You place a cloth of multicolor or mariwo (grass skirt) on top of him to contain anyone seeing his secrets. Agallu is that strength that we all have inside that comes from deep in our soul. The core of our body.
http://ireaye.com/agayu.html
Marzo 20th, 2010 at 15:22
I agree with John Two, on 89
Marzo 20th, 2010 at 14:54
Posted by Yubano: “This losada/posada whatever he refers to himself as is no more authentic than the other communist parasites attacking the ladies in white on the streets of Habana.”
Every time we get someone making pro-Castro regime comments, there are others accusing them of being a Cuban government agent. From his by now voluminous number of posts, it’s pretty obvious to me that M. losada is a native English speaker, with enough knowledge of Spanish to be able to write the odd sentence in that language. Why is it so hard to accept that a tiny minority of non-Cuban Americans hold and proclaim views that support dictatorship and oppose human rights? Believe me they’re out there. They have websites and - while tiny in number - they are very vocal.
Marzo 20th, 2010 at 14:48
Yubano,
I agree. The previous creepazoid wasn’t quite cutting it so they brought in this new manifestation to take its place. The problem they have, and will continue to have, is that no one is buying any of the insane ravings. The more posts we get, the deeper the hole becomes.
There is a famous video of the destruction of the swastika in Zeppelin Stadium — Nuremberg, Germany. The allies destroyed this symbol of Nazi facism on April 25, 1945. I wonder what will happen to the monuments the murderers have built to themselves in Cuba. Hopefully the same thing.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MJzdgZ1lOTA
Marzo 20th, 2010 at 14:43
Loise #85 — THANK YOU. Your few words, less than a single line across, are worth more than all the ranting and raving and name calling and carrying on that floods these pages.
Gracias, gracias, gracias.
Marzo 20th, 2010 at 14:37
Losada you said all here
“In fact, Cuba has an extremely participatory democratic process where each neighborhood has a CDR and regular meetings are held to encourage all citizens to participate in the on-going Cuban Revolution towards socialism.”
What of the ones that will like something else other than the Revolution and socialism? Why can they not speak? So that is not what pretty much everyone understand for a democracy when everyone can speak up not just does in accordance with the current regime.
Marzo 20th, 2010 at 13:50
Your blog …… me like! Nice to find you!
A small footprint from Agneta & Sweden
Ps. I have an ongoing jewelry contest on my blog. Welcome! Ds
Marzo 20th, 2010 at 13:40
THOUGHT THIS WAS AN INTERESTING ACTOR PICK FOR THIS FILM PROJECT! COMMUNIST OPPRESSION AND AGRESSION FOLLOWS ANDY AROUND IN LIFE AND IN FILM!
BBC NEWS: Garcia in Georgia conflict film
Hollywood star Andy Garcia has taken on the role of Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili in a film about the 2008 conflict between Georgia and Russia.
The big-budget movie, which is being filmed in Tblisi, may not help Russian relations with the international community, as it appears to tell the story from the Georgian perspective.
Tom Esslemont reports from Tblisi.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/8317651.stm
Marzo 20th, 2010 at 13:21
GLOBAL VOICES: “Damas de Blanco:†A Week of Protest in Cuba
March 20th, 2010 by Susannah Vila
To the extent that the Castro brothers are, as Blog for Cuba writes, “afraid of women wearing white,†it’s due to more than just the uniform color of their outfits or their weekly marches through Old Havana.
The Damas de Blanco (Ladies wearing White) protests come on the heels of a flutter of international condemnation incited by the hunger striker Orlando Zapata Tamayo’s death last month: an official resolution was passed in the European Parliament, and a petition calling for the immediate release of all political prisoners that was posted to a blog less than a week ago has already been signed by Spanish director Pedro Almodovar and Peruvian writer Mario Vargas Llosa. Meanwhile, yet another hunger striker is hospitalized in Havana after refusing asylum.
Wednesday’s crackdown by Cuban police was the first in two years on the political group, which is made up of the daughters, wives and mothers of imprisoned political dissidents. They’re commemorating the seventh anniversary of 2003’s “Black Spring,†in which 75 dissidents were arrested, by marching every day in the Cuban capital. In the most violent of the reactions to these protests, the women were reportedly attacked by a mob of pro-government Cubans and forced onto a bus by authorities.
We are protesting peacefully and we are not going to get on the bus of a government that has kept our family members in prison for seven years…
said the group leader, Laura Pollán, just before she was forced off the street and onto the bus. Repeating Islands quotes an AFP report, saying:
As police were taking the women away, Margarita RodrÃguez, a housewife in a crowd of some 300 pro-government demonstrators, shouted: ‘Board them by force, it’s what they deserve. This is a provocation.’
This was the least of the slurs directed at the Ladies in White by the Castro supporters who flanked the marchers and pushed them towards the bus. In reaction to the violent antagonism among Cubans of different political viewpoints, Yoani Sanchez writes:
I shudder to imagine a Cuba where physical – and legal – attacks against people, for their political affiliation or ideological leanings, continue. What a sad country we will have if the authorities continue to consider it normal to ‘teach a good lesson’ to anyone who contradicts the official viewpoint. To me, a society that passively stands by as peaceful women with gladioli in their hands are bullied, as happened yesterday, is quite sick.
At Havana Times, Yusimi Rodriguez recounts turning a corner in Old Havana and realizing that this was not your everyday “Damas†march:
Coming down the street was a group of approximately twenty women dressed in civilian clothing and chanting slogans. Around them flocked several reporters filming and taking pictures. I suppose these were mainly or entirely foreign reporters.
At first I didn’t know what was happening until somebody told me it was about the Ladies in White. But none of the women I saw were wearing white, nor could I understand the first slogans they chanted. But suddenly, at the closest spot I could reach, they began to shout, ‘Whoever doesn’t jump is a Yankee’…The women in the demonstration itself did indeed jump. One even ran forward jumping with her two feet at the same time. Finally that group went by and I was able to see —for the first time since I’d heard of them— the Ladies in White: a group of between fifteen and twenty women dressed in white. They all proceeded in silence and carried gladiola flowers. Around them were several uniformed police.
Rodriguez also notes the marked organization of the anti-government protesters:
I find it striking that these community women, who are not police or agents, have been able to become organized so well and interrupt the Ladies in White so quickly. Could it be that they all come from the same neighborhood? How did they find out about the march? Was it publicized? I was also surprised they were only women. Undoubtedly it would have looked very bad if men had faced up to the Ladies, especially if it was true that there was some pushing and shoving in the heat of moment, as someone said. Between women it’s something else, there are more equal conditions. Both sides were made up only of women: those from the community and the Ladies in White (who, by the way, are also Cuban women and therefore part of the broader Cuban community).
“One thing is clear these manifestations against the ladies in white at clearly organized by the regime,†writes Julio de la Yncera in a comment at Havana Times.
On Wednesday night, Cuban television aired a round table discussion about implicating international meddlers in the domestic unrest. In this case, the government may be more on target than it would like: as bloggers and other online activists are showing, anger over human rights abuses within (and without) the island is swelling, and more people are watching to see what will happen next.
http://globalvoicesonline.org/.....t-in-cuba/
Marzo 20th, 2010 at 13:05
The timing of the appearance of the criminal windbag currently contaminating this forum is interesting. He pops up out of the blue within the same time frame as the Tamayo murder, the negligent deaths in Mazorra and now the repressive acts against the ladies in white. Coincidence? I think not, this is another component of the full court press of propaganda emanating from Cuba. They learned this well from their soviet and east german masters, misdirect and misinform, do anything to deflect attention away from the spotlight currently focused on castro criminals. This losada/posada whatever he refers to himself as is no more authentic than the other communist parasites attacking the ladies in white on the streets of Habana. They pretend to be counter-protesters but in fact are government agents posing as common citizens. This degenarate who posts his lies and attempts to divide is a criminal just like the olive colored uniform wearing agents attacking and physically abusing the ladies in white. He is an accomplice and an abettor. He does well in attempting to hide his true identity from where ever in Cuba he is writing from. Just like the agents in those videos, he will have a bill to pay when the time comes. Do not be taken in, he is not in the US, that is another lie. This is another ruse in an attempt to paint himself as a “dissident” in the US, another lame attempt at misdirection.
Those of you who want to continue to “debate” this communist mynah bird are wasting your time. He is not here to debate.
Marzo 20th, 2010 at 12:57
Hold your horses there big fella. It’s a little early to be talking about winners and losers. The biological solution is right around the corner for tweedledee and tweedledum.
Marzo 20th, 2010 at 12:57
Hypothermia-Related Deaths — United States, 1999–2002 and 2005
During 1999–2002, a total of 4,607 death certificates in the United States had hypothermia-related diagnoses listed as the underlying cause of death or nature of injury leading to the underlying cause of death (annual incidence: four per 1,000,000 population). Exposure to excessive natural cold (International Classification of Diseases, Tenth Revision [ICD-10] code X31) was the underlying cause in 2,622 deaths. Hypothermia (ICD-10 code T68) was the nature of injury in 1,985 deaths with underlying causes of death other than exposure to excessive natural cold (e.g. falls, atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease, or drowning).
During 1999–2002, among those who died from hypothermia, 49% were aged >65 years, 67% were male, and 22% were married (compared with 52% of the overall U.S. population) (2). A high proportion (83%) of the hypothermia-related deaths occurred during October–March (Figure 1); these deaths occurred in all 50 states during 1999–2002 (range: four to 288 deaths per state), with the highest average annual rates per 100,000 population in Alaska (4.64), Montana (1.58), Wyoming (1.57), and New Mexico (1.30) (Figure 2). Most deaths were not work related (63%); 23% of affected persons were at home when they became hypothermic.
http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/previe.....5510a5.htm
Marzo 20th, 2010 at 12:35
Walter (M. pineiro losada) Lippmann I have been questioning your veracity for the few days you have been spouting your vituperation on this site. However, the more you open your mouth and allow the feces to spill out, I now am beginning to question your sanity instead. “Thousands of Americans die of hypothermia every year.” Only in your sick mind.
Marzo 20th, 2010 at 12:06
A few days ago I had access to three hundred photos of the autopsies of those who died at the psychiatric hospital in Havana and I cannot imagine how that phrase came out of the mouth of a journalist.
The photos are indeed horrific and it is no doubt that Cubans are shocked to see them because they have never seen such horror in their lives. A tragedy, to be sure.
But, for those of us in the US, this is a horror we have come to live with. Of course, in the “capitalist free press” the autopsy photos of the THOUSANDS of people who died every single year from hypothermia in the United States don’t get passed around the internet as evidence of government neglect.
In capitalist societies, like the US and UK, “winter deaths” number in the THOUSANDS every single year and are primarily caused by the private energy company turning off people’s heat during the winter or from homeless people who are forced to sleep outside during the winter.
The thousands of poor & homeless people who die from hypothermia every single year — who cries for them? Who remembers them? Certainly not the anti-Cuba crowd because they care only for deaths that can be exploited for their anti-Cuba agenda.
Where is the outrage about that? More hypocrisy from the anti-Cuban fanatics.
Marzo 20th, 2010 at 12:01
In meetings around the country, they have complained that the communist government is not providing the inputs they need and has failed in its basic role of getting their produce to market, according to meeting participants and media reports.
Their pleas, which are being aired at meetings of the National Association of Small Farmers, are significant because they seek to move away from government control of agriculture, which has been one of the pillars of Cuban communism.
What are these “meetings around the country”? What is this about Cuban citizens complaining?
I thought that if ANY Cuban opened their mouth to say ANYTHING against the Cuban Government, they were immediately thrown into jail and never to be heard from again.
Ahahaha. Oops! Did you miss the evidence of free expression you were posting while accidentally trying to criticize some other made-up lie about the Cuban Revolution?
Somehow, this article of farmers demanding reforms and participating in the political process doesn’t quite fit in with the picture of the totalitarian Cuba that we hear so much about here.
In fact, Cuba has an extremely participatory democratic process where each neighborhood has a CDR and regular meetings are held to encourage all citizens to participate in the on-going Cuban Revolution towards socialism.
In the United States, where our “neighborhood groups” are primarily composed of rich developers, the local police and all of the snobs in the neighborhood who want their property values to go up, we don’t quite understand this concept.
Thank you, Humberto, for posting this evidence of the participatory process in Cuba.
Marzo 20th, 2010 at 11:59
Yoani you are amazing, thanks to you, my father no longer support Castro.
Marzo 20th, 2010 at 11:53
HUFFINGTON POST: Leaked Photos Prevent Cuban Cover-Up
March 19, 2010
The deaths of at least 26 psychiatric patients, from hunger and cold, at Havana’s Mazorra psychiatric hospital, the death of the hunger striker Orlando Zapata Tamayo, the ongoing hunger strikes by Guillermo “Coco” Farinas and others, the attacks on The Ladies in White as they commemorate the 7th anniversary of the “Black Spring” jailing of 75 independent journalists and writers, continue to resonate across Cuba. Today’s guest post is from the blogger Claudia Cadelo’s, and reports on the ongoing impact of these events.
Is Life Sacred In Cuba?
By Claudia Cadelo
These words of Arlin Rodriguez, from the TV talk show The Roundtable on March 17, thundered in my ears for half an hour. A few days ago I had access to three hundred photos of the autopsies of those who died at the psychiatric hospital in Havana and I cannot imagine how that phrase came out of the mouth of a journalist.
When I opened the little folder called “Mazorra” a series of monstrosities hit me in the face and I couldn’t stop looking at the cruel graphic testimony. A friend who is a doctor visited and while he analyzed images I didn’t have the courage to look at, expressions like, “Holy Virgin Mary, Blessed God, What in God’s name is this?” issued from his outraged throat, mixed with obscure pathologies and the names of diseases both treatable and curable.
Enormous livers, tubercular lungs, and wormy intestines are the proof, Senora Arlin, of the sacredness of life in Cuba. Meanwhile The Roundtable throws a fit because the death of Orlando Zapata Tamayo has unmasked a crumbling public health system, and they try to cover up the disgrace of a seeing soldiers dragging and beating a group of women dressed in white with flowers in their hands. I ask myself, Gentlemen Journalists, when will they explain to Cubans the reasons why twenty-six mentally incapacitated people died in inhumane conditions during their confinement in Mazorra?
Note: I publish this photo with a completely clear conscience; if they were not shown there would be no proof of the suffering that these people were subjected to. If not for the hard photos that denounced the Nazi Holocaust, the genocide of Pol Pot or the tortures in the prisons of Abu Ghraib, they, too, would not have existed.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/.....06586.html
Marzo 20th, 2010 at 11:46
THE PENINSULA:Cuban farmers press for reform
Web posted at: 3/20/2010 3:4:12
Source ::: Reuters
HAVANA: Cuban farmers are pressing for greater autonomy to produce and sell their crops, blaming government inefficiency for Cuba’s falling food output despite agricultural reforms introduced by President Raul Castro.
In meetings around the country, they have complained that the communist government is not providing the inputs they need and has failed in its basic role of getting their produce to market, according to meeting participants and media reports.
Their pleas, which are being aired at meetings of the National Association of Small Farmers, are significant because they seek to move away from government control of agriculture, which has been one of the pillars of Cuban communism.
At issue are regulations guaranteeing the state’s near monopoly of the distribution system through its long-standing practice of contracting for 75 percent of what farmers produce in exchange for supplying fuel, pesticides, fertilizer and other supplies otherwise not available.
The farmers say the state often fails to deliver inputs when they need them and undercuts production by not picking up and distributing crops in a timely fashion, which leaves their produce rotting in fields and warehouses.
The latter has become such a problem that Cuba’s state-run press recently reported that farmers basically want the state to get out of the way.
“Participants raised the need to do away with the system of distribution - and allow co-operatives to bring their products directly to market,†the National Information Agency wrote about a meeting of Havana province farmers attended by Cuba’s First Vice President Jose Machado Ventura.
Castro has made food security his signature issue since taking over from his older brother Fidel Castro two years ago.
Cuba is in the throes of a financial crisis in part because its inefficient agricultural production forces it to spend heavily to import two-thirds of its food.
Castro has raised prices the state pays for produce, leased state lands to farmers, decentralized decision making and allowed some farmers to sell a small part of their produce directly to consumers at fixed prices.
The reforms last year spurred production of bumper crops of tomatoes, garlic and other items, but the state could not deal with the abundance and failed to get all the produce to market, resulting in the loss of tons of fruits and vegetables.
http://www.thepeninsulaqatar.c.....203412.xml
Marzo 20th, 2010 at 11:42
M. piñeiro losada (said in #79)
“..in reality, Cubans just have a good memory and they know what kind of society existed when the Miami thugs were in charge and they are glad to see them gone.”
“REVOLUTIONARY RAT”! THE CUBAN PEOPLE WANT FULA! AND FREEDOM! AND THE PAST 51 YEARS PALE IN COMPARISON TO WHAT CUBA WAS IN THE PAST AND COULD BE IN POST CASTROFASCISM!
Socio-Economic Conditions in Pre-Castro Cuba*
Introduction
In the 1950’s Cuba was, socially and economically, a relatively advanced country, certainly by Latin American standards and, in some areas, by world standards.
Cuba’s infant mortality rate was the best in Latin America — and the 13th lowest in the world.
Cuba also had an excellent educational system and impressive literacy rates in the 1950’s.
Pre-Castro Cuba ranked third in Latin America in per capita food consumption.
Cuba ranked first in Latin America and fifth in the world in television sets per capita.
Pre-Castro Cuba had 58 daily newspapers of differing political hues and ranked eighth in the world in number of radio stations.
Health
Cuba’s infant mortality rate of 32 per 1,000 live births in 1957 was the lowest in Latin America and the 13th lowest in the world, according to UN data. Cuba ranked ahead of France, Belgium, West Germany, Japan, Austria, Italy, and Spain.
In 1955, life expectancy in Cuba was among the highest at 63 years of age; compared to 52 in other Latin American countries, 43 in Asia, and 37 in Africa.
In terms of physicians and dentists per capita, Cuba in 1957 ranked third in Latin America, behind only Uruguay and Argentina — both of which were more advanced than the United States in this measure. Cuba’s 128 physicians and dentists per 100,000 people in 1957 was the same as the Netherlands, and ahead of the United Kingdom (122 per 100,000 people) and Finland.
Education
Cuba has been among the most literate countries in Latin America since well before the Castro revolution, when it ranked fourth.
http://ctp.iccas.miami.edu/FAC.....cember.htm
YOUTUBE Cuba Before Castro.wmv
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DwqxFnE1YHw
Marzo 20th, 2010 at 11:32
KNIGHT CENTER FOR JOURNALISM: Journalism via text messages in Cuba
With limited access to Internet, and in the absence of a free press, Cuban citizens have created their own unique form of journalism: news bulletins by text messaging. The service is described by well-known Cuban blogger Yoani Sánchez via Twitter.
“Someone receives some information and sends it to everyone in their book of contacts,” she tweeted Thursday. With cell phones in hands, users pass the text messages to other people, creating a network for distributing news. The service began to work after months of planning, Sánchez says.
This is another demonstration of creativity by Cuban citizens to circumvent the restrictions on freedom of expression on the island. Despite the limited access to Internet (Sánchez complained Thursday of “virtual blindness” that lasted five days), users of blogs and Twitter have discovered alternative, increasingly creative forms of communicating through their network.
The best example comes from Sánchez herself. In March 2008, the Cuban government installed a computer filter that blocked her blog, Generation Y, from the nation’s public Internet services. But she did not give up, and with the help of friends living abroad, she continued publishing her stories, she explains on her profile. In October 2009, she inaugurated from her home a “Blogger Academy” dedicated to training new bloggers.
Sánchez also has a unique form of using Twitter: she sends 140-character sentences via text to her friends, who place the words onto Internet in her name. After learning of the restrictions on Internet in Venezuela, she offered to teach colleagues there to use Twitter via text message.
The 32-year-old blogger is one of the most important voices on the island to criticize restrictions on freedom of expression placed by the Havana regime. Time magazine chose her as one of its most 100 influential people on the planet. In 2008, she won the Ortega y Gasset prize for digital work. And in 2009, she accepted the Maria Moors Cabot prize via YouTube after Havana denied her request to travel.
See these main members of the Cuban blogosphere in this profile on Twitter and on the site Voces Cubanas (Cuban Voices).
http://knightcenter.utexas.edu...../node/6712
Marzo 20th, 2010 at 11:24
WHAT A DIFFERENCE IN THESE TWO DEMONSTRATIONS! DEMOCRACY VS. CASTROFASCISM!
YOU TUBE VIDEO: March to Cuban Embassy in NYC Febrero 2010
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v.....ded#at=166
Cuba reprime a las Damas de Blanco en una manifestación pacÃfica
http://www.rtve.es/mediateca/v.....s3=&s4
Marzo 20th, 2010 at 11:15
Hahaha. The spoiled rich never change; they believe they are entitled to whatever whim they have, even if those whims happen to be homicidal.
The true colors of the Miami terrorists are starting to come out on this blog.
We see now why there is no refutation of the claims that Miami-based terrorists have been attacking Cuban citizens … it’s because the Miami-based lunatics here support these actions, as “Siggy” writes:
No dirty and fool brigade, they are not talking about attacks on Cuba but attacks on castrofascism in defense of Cuba
In reality, over 4,000 innocent Cubans have died as a result of the terror campaign waged against the Cuban people by the Miami mafia. Siggy’s rant ends in a threat showing his belief in “freedom of expression”:
please, do not persist in your lies….. we will not allow you to do that.
Ahahaha. Even on this web blog, the frothing rabid dogs of the Miami terrorist set can’t control themselves for PR purposes. Everybody’s a tough guy on the internet, huh?
You all make it so easy to make my case. No one here denies the terrorism directed at Cuba and, in fact, they come out and support it.
Why would they put Yoani at risk by making her look even more like a terrorist collaborator? It’s because they don’t care one bit about the Cuban people. They see the vast majority of Cubans as “subservient” to the “Castro brothers” … in reality, Cubans just have a good memory and they know what kind of society existed when the Miami thugs were in charge and they are glad to see them gone. They are glad that Miami had to deal with the Cuban mafia in the 1980s, when Miami was the terrorism and death capital of the world, with cocaine and contra money everywhere and dead bodies on the news every single day. That’s the reality of the “peaceful Cuban exile community.”
Sorry, guys. The truth of the matter is that you NEVER expected the Cuban Revolution to last this long and it has. It has outlived the Soviet Union, it has outlived Ronald Reagan and both Bushes, and now … as you prepare to buy your cemetary plots in Miami rather than on Cuban soil, you see that the will of the Cuban people to fight injustice was stronger than your bombs.
As the old guard of the Cuban-Miami mafia prepares for the nursing home and the next generation takes over, Che Guevara is more popular than ever. Socialist governments are now in place in Venezuela (where Posada Carriles tortured so many innocent people), Bolivia, Ecuador, Nicaragua, Brazil, Argentina and the movement for socialism has never been stronger in Latin America.
We won. You lost. The people have voted over decades of struggle.
Marzo 20th, 2010 at 01:35
Fraud …Is that why so many of you here post under several different names?
Maybe Wanker, Enema, Fraud, Yobbo, Fatalbert and Humbug are a TOTAL of one person?
Marzo 20th, 2010 at 00:33
Frank, well said.
Marzo 19th, 2010 at 22:50
Mr Pineiro:
You are really a sick individual. The fact that people want to have a free Cuba does not mean they are anticuban. You can write here as much as you want, talk about Posada Carriles, Alpha 66 or any other onet that exist or try to invent in your paranoia. Besides all the extension of your writing here, still you cannot explain why Cubans are not allowed to have the same rights that you ,me and everybody else in this blog are enjoying.Your selfish and immotile vision about life and humans repeat over an over again. You just see the dictator -Stalinist point of view, You are defending the establishment, not the real people of Cuba. You are here just to try to change the unique and democratic objective of this blog and her founder: show the real Cuba, the suffering, the limitations, the social disadvantages, the racism, the cruel exploitation of the cuban workers for their own government, the bloody repression to unarms political prisoners and their relatives, which are only guilty of protesting. You can over an over repeat yourself, try to offend people,look the other way ignoring the reality, but never, never , never you will change the purpose of the solidarity and the hope that all of us have about a better Cuba, a more democratic and progressive society. You, Mr Pineiro do not deserve even to be mention. You represent the hate, the same status quo that strangle my country now.What an irony, you, representing a dictator taking about democracy. Shame!!
Vivan Los nuevos revolucionarios cubanos!! Vivan las valientes Damas de Blanco!!!
Marzo 19th, 2010 at 21:39
CUBA ASKS FOR PROTECTION ON ITS EMBASSY IN NEW YORK AFTER PROTESTS BY EXILES! IS BECAUSE THESE PEACE LOVING CUBAN GOVERMENT OFFICIAL DONT BELIEVE IN VIOLENCE!
Cuba pide protección para su misión en Nueva York tras protesta de exiliados
Sábado, 20 de marzo de 2010.
El Gobierno de Cuba reclama a EE.UU. que aumente la seguridad policial en la sede de su misión ante la ONU en Nueva York, tras una reciente protesta por la muerte del preso polÃtico Orlando Zapata protagonizada por exiliados de la isla, según una carta difundida hoy.
La misiva, remitida el pasado 12 de marzo por la delegación cubana a la Asamblea General de las Naciones Unidas, resalta “las responsabilidades de las autoridades de Estados Unidos” en la protección de las dependencias diplomáticas de los miembros del organismo.
“Cuba exige que las autoridades de Estados Unidos garanticen la seguridad y la integridad fÃsica de la misión y de su personal”, señala el escrito firmado por el embajador cubano ante la ONU, Pedro Núñez Mosquera.
El diplomático explica que el motivo del reclamo al Gobierno estadounidense es un “peligroso y provocador incidente” ocurrido frente a la misión cubana el pasado 28 de febrero.
Según su versión, unas 30 personas “comenzaron a hacer mucho ruido, gritando consignas ofensivas e insultantes” hasta que fueron dispersados por la PolicÃa.
Asimismo, los manifestantes bloquearon el acceso al edificio de la misión, que se encuentra en la zona este de Midtown de Manhattan, cerca de la sede de las Naciones Unidas, y crearon “las condiciones para que la situación se agravara y se convirtiera en un enfrentamiento fÃsico violento”, afirma.
“Actos de este tipo ponen en peligro la seguridad de la misión y de los funcionarios cubanos e impiden el normal desempeño de sus funciones”, indica el embajador en la carta, en la que se lamenta que la PolicÃa de Nueva York retirara en 2007 el dispositivo de seguridad que mantenÃa ante la sede diplomática.
Núñez Mosquera también asegura que en Estados Unidos “residen muchos terroristas y delincuentes de origen cubano que representan una amenaza para los locales y el personal de la misión de Cuba”.
La misiva no have mención al motivo de la protesta, que fue organizada por grupos de exiliados cubanos residentes en Nueva York y Nueva Jersey.
Según un vÃdeo de sus organizadores colgado en YouTube, los manifestantes colocaron varios carteles alusivos a la muerte de Zapata el pasado 23 de febrero, después de tres meses en huelga de hambre.
En la grabación se pueden escuchar gritos de “libertad, libertad”, asà como de “abajo Fidel Castro”, además de reclamos al Gobierno cubano para que respete los derechos humanos y libere a los presos polÃticos.
La muerte del disidente, que pedÃa ser tratado como un “preso de conciencia” y cumplÃa una pena de 36 años, ha suscitado una amplia condena internacional, particularmente en Europa y Estados Unidos.
http://www.adn.es/internaciona.....iados.html