Cuba Libre Imprisoned in Havana
Just yesterday, on the eve of the presentation in Chile of a compilation of my blog posts under the title Cuba Libre, I received a report from the Customs Department of the Republic. It confirmed the confiscation of ten copies of my book sent via DHL. In the rancid and brief words of the bureaucracy, it explained:
Physical inspection of the package found documents whose content goes against the general interests of the nation, and for this reason they have been seized consistent with the established legislation.
I try to recreate the scene of “the specialists†clarifying if they would or would not permit the book to cross the borders of this Island and come into my hands. Would they look in its pages for some obscene images that could offend morality? Certainly they didn’t find any among the photos of inflammatory billboards with political slogans, the dilapidated bowels of an abandoned car and the Cuban flags on display in a market that does not accept national currency. The latter may seem obscene but it’s not my fault.
Would those who groped the phrases of Cuba Libre be zealous doctors of grammar, looking for an error, perhaps, or misuse of a verb tense? Were they military analysts, searching between the paragraphs of my chronicles for hidden codes, revelations about the economy, or secret State Security documents? They found none of that, not even the recipe for how to make guarapo, the nearly extinct national drink made by crushing sugar cane.
I make do with fantasizing that those who prevented the Spanish version of my posts reaching hundreds of friends, among whom they would have circulated, were some soldiers with more discipline than literacy. They were probably already warned by the listeners who constantly monitor my telephone; they might even have been warned not to read the contents. If three years of publishing in cyberspace would serve to bring my voice only to these grim censors, I would have sufficient reason to be satisfied. Something of me would remain inside them, just as their repressive presence has marked my chronicles, my book has pushed them to leap toward freedom.
Abril 25th, 2010 at 11:57
[...] http://www.desdecuba.com/generationy/?p=1632 [...]
Abril 25th, 2010 at 10:56
Keep up the good fight Yoani!
Abril 23rd, 2010 at 11:03
you did …
Abril 23rd, 2010 at 08:55
Alberto, you keep ranting on and on your few english words like there’s no tomorrow. If you have nothing to say, don’t. With the few things you are able to scrap out of your dictionary, you are only shooting yourelf in the foot.
Like this, for example:”Keep in mind the one that shouts the loudest, accuses the most & insults the best DOES NOT PROVE HE/SHE IS RIGHT by behaving that way ”
I mean, “Do you “hear yourself talkâ€?”
Give it a rest until you improve your language skills amigo. No one listens anyhow.
Abril 23rd, 2010 at 08:37
Do you “hear yourself talk”?
The intransigent tone, the baseless accusations, the insults … have you proved your point?
Perhaps what you proved is your lack of abulity to control your temper …
The ease with which you get frustrated by your lack of resonable arguments …
The facility you have to adjudicate statements not made …
As I always say dear fellow: -”me things thou protests to much”- and loudly.
Keep in mind the one that shouts the loudest, accuses the most & insults the best DOES NOT PROVE HE/SHE IS RIGHT by behaving that way …
Abril 21st, 2010 at 04:20
Damir, you are quite right there. Did you see my link below? What’s with the dislexia, though…?
: )
I read those few cuban blogs around the net, and all, those readicated in the US of A, are full of big hateful and angry protesters. Ire will take them nowhere. And capitalism will beat them into the ground. I cannot wait to see how will capitalists “save” Cuba.
You do raise a good point there too, which I quite likeL it is not the communism that is the problem, it is just FIdel and Raul. Their absolute stupidity when it comes to economy is an epidemic manifestation among the communist countries. That is the main reason why they all failed in my opinion. I also like your explanation of Jugoslav demise. I think it is why it happened. I went to read a little and I was surprised with the speed Jugoslavia was developing up to 1990. Such a meteoric economic growth MUST have hurt the “democratic capitalists” badly. A free and prosperous socialist country is just a no-no. I wonder how come Sweden is still in one piece…
Abril 17th, 2010 at 07:59
ALberto, just because i couldn’t resist: you complain about the “achievenments” of the revolution. Look at the usa and notie that they are only now trying to reform the health system, which is for a country that pretends to be the “first” in everything (yet it isn’t. In nothing.) they are quite the fourth world when it comes to public health. What people like you are foretting is that the right to some essential services are your natural born right. We all pay taxes. If the “state” is to disappear, then why the frick taxes? When you privatise all the esential and all the strategic services, what are the taxes for? And wha are the politicians for? Following their conservative capitalist logic, the politicians should work for free, to cut the costs. And to live up to their own ideology.
ANd, by the way, do you understand that that is one of many things capitalism nad communism have in common, by the way? The disappearance of the “state”?
Maybe if you cut down your reight-wing bolshoi propaganda tirades and think about the things you complain about, you will start seeing many common points in the two systems.
And realise that “democracy” means averyone has the right to hold their political opinion, not just capitalists.
If you really want hte changes, go to Cuba and join Yoani in trying to change the situation from inside. Peacefully. Democratically. Not by displaying your passionate hatred here. Grow some balls and do some real action.
Abril 17th, 2010 at 07:50
I’m glad you like it, Alberto. I’d only disagree with the “rebolutionary”…
: )
I hate firearms.
Abril 14th, 2010 at 13:17
… insults, abuse, arrogance … as a representative & defender of the cuban present regime … you do it honor.
Think … your verbal abuse, your insults & your arrogance that’s what the epople of the world sees & reads of you …
The rebolutionary humility and love for mankind, your constructive critizism … its all words & slogans.
Your hateful spirit & your comportment … that’s what shows what & who you are …
Abril 14th, 2010 at 06:50
Yes alberto, (ref. 57), you perfectly fit the mould of a “debater” whose “comments” are all coming from one and the same place. The factoryof hatred and violence in Miami. What a pitiful and little bunch of bitter losers. All talk, no balls, no? You are yet to suggest something worthy of a civilised and educated person. Spewing venom here is just a cowardly way of releasing your own frustrations.
Pity, because it would be interesting to find out for once only, what right conservatives would suggest how to move your own country in the right directionin a civilised manner. Without violence and bloodshed which seems to be the only option among the Miami’s cuban criminals.
Abril 13th, 2010 at 06:58
… and history has had over 50 years to “absolve” this regime … or better yet to expose the great “benefits & acomplishments of the new society & its new man”
The all around prosperity generated by the rebolution is evident … in the collapse of even the black market …
Great eductation … with indoctrination.
Great health system … for all if they wait.
Great blame/justification address … the embargo.
Over 50 years to figure out how to get the rebolution to work …
Still waiting … while the regime tells puts the blame on others … perhaps it must come out & blame its citizens, they must be lazy, ignorant in spite of their education … ?
Abril 13th, 2010 at 06:43
It seems all this “debaters” are cut from the same mold …
Their problem is that their attitude & methods show not a willingness to discuss w/respect & openess w/others but to forcefully IMPOSE their point of view.
Their “style’ is colored by their “technics” of debate, they don’t argue, they TELL.
They don’t attempt to reason,they REPEAT phrases thought to them in school.
Theirs is an attempt to justify the status quo.
Justifing is admiting the wrongness of the position they defend.
To defend the wrong position is the admision of its failure.
Their expression DICTATES; their expression lacks passion & conviction.
Their expression is comes from VIOLENCE not from love.
If their position is right … it does not need defense or justification.
It needs openess … if right … “let history prove it so”
Abril 12th, 2010 at 14:40
Damir,
I was indeed offering one anecdote for another. To make my position clear, I have no time for the extremists of Miami. (Although I think that the attitude of many younger Cuban Americans is evolving.) My problem with Cuba is that it is essentially a police state, with a huge apparatus of control, and an atmosphere of fear and repression. It is absolutely dismal only to have Granma to read every day or watch the timid intellectuals of Mesa Rotonda”debate.” Having said that, I have to stress that Cuba is no North Korea, and in many ways a less terrifying country than Mexico. I acknowledge its many achievements, especially in education and health, although Costa Rica has managed to do as well without putting its critics in jail. What gets to me is the bullying, and the caudillo-like nature of the rule of the Castro’s. Mark my words, there is another one on the horizon. But I cannot believe this current structure is sustainable. This may be why the regime is so terrified of any discrepant voices.
Abril 12th, 2010 at 10:27
The issue is not the comparison of cubans to other cultures, to make comparisons implies a difference whears it exists or not.
The embargo is not the “world” there are other countries ot there.
If the risk of any investment is greater than it’s potential for success … there is no investment made.
Investors pulling out are easly researched & proven, if the statement is correct … what are the reasons for the “exodous”?
Dialoge can exist only if there are no threats for dissenting; at this point, the constitution of present day cuba does not allow (in its general terms) a free political disagreement since it would be considered an offence to the established party or threat to the establishment (of course finacend by the US) or an insult punishable w/incarceration by the laws sufficiently vague as to be “interprested” & enforced by the state.
Abril 12th, 2010 at 10:26
The issue is not the comparison of cubans to other cultures, to make comparisons implies a difference whears it exists or not.
The embargo is not the “world” there are other countries ot there.
If the risk of any investment is greater than it’s potential for success … there is no investment made.
Investors pulling out are easly researched & proven, if the statement is correct … what are the reasons for the “exodous”?
Dialoge can exist only if there are no threats for dissenting; at this point, theconstitution of present day cuba does not allow (in its general terms) a free political disagreement since it would be considered an offence to the established party or threat to the establishment (of course finacend by the US) or an insult punishable w/incarceration by the laws sufficiently vague as to be “interprested” & enforced by the state.
Abril 12th, 2010 at 10:01
Trudeau, what do you mean by anecdotal? Does that mean that your Milano friend is also anecdotal evidence?
I think that the people behind this blog are doing the same old mistake both left and right keep committing: raising the passions to the point where aconflict turns ugly and fire arms get involved.
Both communism and capitalism tend to overpower the enemy by the force of the bullets. No one is thinking about the millions of innocent people who do not want to kill. From that perspective, I have no respect for anyone. Capitalists fervently defend democracy and “state of law” yet, incinerate armed conflicts everywhere.
This page does much the same. I read many posts fuelled with pure hatred. Those people are no better than Castro. Even worse because he at least did what he believed in.
But the time for armed revolutions is gone. If one bullet is fired in Cuba, the culprits will be just a bunch of criminals.
The legal fight, within the law, is the only good fight. From there laws are changed slowly, or quickly, to improve the life.
But with the embargo in place, by the criminals in the usa, I do not expect the situation to improve any times] soon.
Hopefully, internal dialog can be established and the people on the island find a way to sway the government back into the hands of the people. Peacefully and as civilised persons. After all, Cubans are highly educated people and civilised to the point where they are equal to the Europeans, and well above the yanks.
Abril 12th, 2010 at 08:54
Damir,
Your evidence is anecdotal. I have an Italian friend who in the 90’s set up a business in Havana (which included teaching them how to cook, which didn’t seem to work). His original motivation was partly ideological –he is a Eurocommunista from a rich Milanese family — but eventually he just walked away. “They drive you crazy,” was his verdict. Not necessarily Communist oppression, but massive inefficiency, inertia, unclear rules, zero transparency, and not a little corruption and theft (though not, admittedly, as bad as Naples or the MezzoGiorno). The end of the embargo would really show how viable the system is or is not. I have no problem with a certain amount of protectionism and regulation of foreign investment. You say the Yoani should not broadcast her message abroad. Fine, but if she doesn’t do that, she has no voice, because the blog is blocked in Cuba. It’s all about control……
Abril 12th, 2010 at 08:48
Here’s who is the real source of all bullshit in the world since the WWII. Including Cuba. It is not Castro the problem, it is the US of A state of terror. And their psychopatic New World Order, where they control the world for their own benefit. Not the world’s benefit. Their own personal benefit.
And if any of you little wermin imigrants from Cuba think otherwise, you are all retarded.
But that is already well known.
http://www.bing.com/videos/?FO.....0026376832
And read about Haig and that other jewsih import into our own sad politics, Zbigniew Brzezinski. Another mentally deranged idiot bent on enslaving the world into a one big factory working for US of A rich.
You little irrelevant “democrats”. The game is too big for you to even comprehend that you are being used as a cannon fodder.
Retards. But just wait, whe the US of A “frees” you. You’ll get eveerything and then some. Slavery is a good description of what these criminals have in store for you. Just listen what the jewish pig says about theuse of food as the “weapon”, just what is going on in Cuba. Or forcd sterilisation of “conquered” third world countries…
How stupid can you get, you latinos?
Abril 12th, 2010 at 08:31
I copied the W3C lines in her code, but they did not come out:
!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC “-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN”
“http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd”
Abril 12th, 2010 at 08:29
Yes, that is the good point. Her twittering is an interrupted stream…
I am personally entertained with her two years in Switzerland and then “voluntary”
return to Havana. And then a philolog turns into a html “coder”. With quite advanced coding knowledge, rare even in capitalism:
Yoani’s “coding knowledge” is the latest possible. How an oppressed, monitored and closelly controlled poor Cuban gets to study, write and publish such advanced code?
Probably a fake blogging personality.
Abril 12th, 2010 at 08:18
Yeah, I would like to see details of that ONE businessman swapping his food vouchers for convertible pesos. One among hundreds got the raw deal and the whole world is falling apart in Cuba…
What is his name, which company is that, give us the fact, not the anti-state propaganda. If you were in the US of A, you would already be in the hands of the FBI or CIA. Unless Yoani grows some balls and starts giving the full picture, I say she is just a small agitprop for the anti-Cuba terrorists. Here’s one revealling fact: she says it is impossible to have the internet at home, and expensive to used the wi-fi in the hotels, yet she is regularly around, tweeting, sorry, twittering all day every day.
Some rich Cuban our saint Yoani is, isn’t she. I am following heer twits, they keep coming as if they are overtaking Cuba tomorrow.
Even if she’s got nothing else to do, it is unbelievable given the harsh oppression, constant harrasment and beating, not to mention the lack of the internet…
How does she do it?
Bloody Miami immigrant punks, that is how. A bunch of old fat cuban crimsons working 24/7 fooling similarly deluded right-whinning losers living in the sky and thinking the world is going to march into Havana carrying them on their shoulders.
No wonder the streets of Miami are dirty lately. Cuban diaspora hs discovered internet…how childlish and brainless is that?
Abril 12th, 2010 at 07:35
Checks and balances are not necessarilly a part of the law itself. You can add them into the regulation following the law. The laws create legal foundations and regulation defines the playing field in greater granularity. You can also have further laws that can regulate any need for checks and balances.
But they are not necessary if you already have a, legally speaking, working economic system. In the case of Cuba, the rest of the regulation does come from other ministries, such as the ministry of labour. There one can find a few harsher conditions, but in all honesty, the laws are quite fair to the foreigner, and clear about the scope of the investments.
i personally agree with the notion of not selling out the country, just sharing the profit with the investor. “this is what we need, and this is what we offer for your financial, managerial etc. input.”
Try to invest in Italy, and compare the regulations with the cuban and you will be surprised how restricitve and prohibitive is to invest in Italy, unless you are a multinational company. Some “democracy” that is. Far from honest, let alone fair.
Abril 12th, 2010 at 07:27
These are not insurmontable problems. What do you think are the inconsistencies? I find it a bit restrictive, but a neat and tight law, clearly defining the space and the scope of any investments. We could debate the scope which Iis what I find restrictive, but every country has the sovereign right to decide what and how much will be opened to foreign investors. the fact is that if you open too much, you will end up losing your own sovereignty. Like Argentina under Menem the inept and dogmatic bullshitter who singlehanded screwed up the whole country and brought to its’ knees once the richest country in the world and the best country to live in, according to the OUN’s grades, until late 1950’s.
But, let’s stick to Cuba.
Abril 12th, 2010 at 06:56
Granted, law 77 is a move forward … yet it has many an unconsistency, does not posses check & balances & is subject to the interpretation of the cuban official in charge.
Also, it uses the artificial value of the cuban peso as a unit of value to name just a very few of the “problems” w/it.
Abril 12th, 2010 at 06:44
Trudeau,being a bit paranoid, are we? I said many times that Castro is doing many things wrong, but if one wants to criticise him, then find something real. The problem is that political situation in Cuba is so complex because of constant terrorist threat from the usa that a small country like Cuba has to protect itself from enemies both outside and inside. People like Yoani are not helping the situation by their senseless posting about the problems that are so complex and intertwined. It is what the usa also are doing. Read the patriot act, see how anti-democratic that law is and then complain about Cuban efforts to keep the peace by catching domestic agitators. Let me use the usanian philosophy: better a few victims now than millions later.
And you will have to agree with that whether you like it or not. Every country in the world does that, so can Cuba. If you want to improve the system, you have to do the legal thing, join the political institutions, debate and convince your peers that reforms are necessary.
Of course it is not easy. Go try to change the system in France or UK, see how well will you do. No one will you let replace it with anything you may believe it to be “superior”. You’d get thrown in a dungeon for life and branded a terrorist.
Yoani’s main mistake is to try and mobilise public opinion outside the country. That is in any country a subversive and terrorist act. If you break the law of a country, you deserve to go to the prison. No matter whether the law is “fair” or not. There are many unfair laws in “dmocratic” countries. And usa, the reign of the devil, ( : ) will you now call me a Chavista…?) leads in the number of stupid, racist and unfair by any measure laws. So criticise if you have something concrete. Do not make political, messianic, statements which are simply plain stupid to a foreigner like myself. Search on the net and you will see why many companies are really leaving Cuba. For the reasons I mentioned, not because the communism is opressing them. And I know first hand because I live in Italy and my ex boss went to Cuba some years ago to “do business” there. Old pervert thought he’d have a ball with local women just ofr being rich and Italian. He also went there with his capitalist mentality and expectations he would be received like a savior.
Oh, and he was a member of neapolitan masonic lodge which was all but wiped out for corruption and innumerous illegalities. He was also a member of Liberal party, centre-right, and was hell-bent on “helping democratic forces” in Cuba. His were anything but honest intentions on so many levels. And were typical of many “investors” who went there since the 1999, when the stamped of small manipulators rushed into Cuba to “invest”.
Returned to Italy after three or four years there. Total fiasco. That is how I got interested in Cuban foreign investment laws and know something about them.
Simple rule of thumb: laws are to be respected, or cope the consequences. If you don’t like them, don’t go there. The Law 77 is quite flexible law and frther amendments are actually good, but you MUST respect the law. Just like you must respect it in your own country, whether you like it or not.
Abril 12th, 2010 at 04:08
Reading some of the contents of the “cubadebate” site … (you know the castro sponsored web site) I could not help but notice the “style” of writing.
The structure of thought & the similitudes of expression from their “own contributors” other that fidel, are very familiar.
I like them to know … their contributions are welcome … :-)
Abril 11th, 2010 at 11:48
Last comment was mine! and one last point on racism in Cuba!
President of the USA= Barak Obama (african-american)
President of Cuba = Fidel for 48 years Raul 3 years (two old european white guys)
YOU CAN MAKE UP YOUR OWN MIND ON WHICH COUNTRY IS LYING ABOUT RACISM!
Abril 11th, 2010 at 11:45
Damir,
“So what is your point? That Cuba is similar to the usa in racist matters?”
NOW THAT YOU BRING IT UP, LETS START WITH THAT! MOST PEOPLE CAN READ THE ARTICLE AND REPORT AND SEE THE WHOLE PICTURE. NOT HERE TO CONVINCE YOU DUDE, BUT TO GIVE PEOPLE INFORMATION THAT THEY CAN READ FORM THEMSELVES. WHY DONT YOU PROVIDE LINKS?
Abril 11th, 2010 at 09:20
Damir,
I hear the voice of the Party in your reponse. Just what articles of the investment law did the companies not study, and then disobey ? Is the government’s inability to honor its commitment to Sherritt anything to do with investment laws? Procedural errors, indeed. That sounds the trap that everyone in Cuba is forced to fall into in order to survive or have food on the table…
Abril 11th, 2010 at 06:06
Humberto, your recap of racism in Cuba reads like a daily report from the usa. Bronx, for example. Or Chicago. Los Angeles whites hate niggers. And the prison population in the usa as a whole is predominantly niggers at 56% in 2008, for example. Latinos are the distant second at 26%, same year.
So what is your point? That Cuba is similar to the usa in racist matters?
On a note closer to the article above, the “exodus” of those foreign companies is more motivated by the fact that many foreign companies did not study the Cuban foreign investment laws and then committed many procedural errors that were contravening the law, which gave Cuban authorities no option but to suspend payments, cancel the licences, or do some other action, in accordance with the law, which then resulted in foreigners leaving the country.
Every story has three sides. Yoani, as always only presents the one that is convenient to his/her (not convinced that it is the woman behind this page)political agenda, which is only to belittle he/his own country in a hope that the excrement from yanki’s arses would be sweeter.
Such actions of the Ministries in charge of a certain industry would of course have serious repercussions in a country that is fighting every day for every peso.
In political analysis (has anyone heard about the “game”? The program that predicts the political future? Used by CIA, NSA, FBI, who else not) that is known as the “ripples”. You throw a little discontent in a precarious economical or socio-political situation of a society/country and then simply watch the ripples tearing it apart.
A little bone. That is what the dictators from the usa are doing since the WWII. Divide et impera.
Criminals.
But I do not expect Yoani and al those dissenters here defending some bizzarre capitalist notion of “democracy”, to understand that. Nor they even want to understand what may be against their anarchic and antiquated political views.
Abril 11th, 2010 at 03:56
LOOKS LIKE SYLVIO GOT COLD FEET AND DID NOT PERFORM! MAYBE HE IS READY TO JUMP THE SHIP ALONG WITH ALL THE OTHER “REVOLUTIONARY RATS”!
NPR: Cuba Concert To Counter Critics Draws Sparse Crowd-by The Associated Press
HAVANA April 11, 2010,
A surprisingly small crowd sweated and sang along to performances by Cuban rock, folk and salsa stars Saturday, at what the communist government billed as a politically important “concert for the homeland.”
Organizers had said the show would be headlined by Cuba’s most famous folk singer, Silvio Rodriguez. But instead the pro-Castro government activist made fans wait for an hour in unrelenting afternoon sun before he took the stage, read a letter defending the single-party communist system — and then left without performing.
“If this government is so bad, where has such a good people come from?” he asked.
Immediately after the 63-year-old Rodriguez’s appearance were performances by top artists from the “Nueva Trova” movement, a genre that mixes folk music and pro-Castro politics. But many in the already sparse crowd drifted away, missing later performances by other musicians and poetry recited by Cuban film stars.
The show came amid international criticism of Cuba’s human rights record — which President Raul Castro says is an effort to demonize Cuba led by the U.S. and European governments. It was held at Anti-imperialist Plaza, an open-air amphitheater built beside the U.S. Interests Section, which Washington keeps instead of an embassy because it has no formal diplomatic relations with the Cuban government.
State-controlled media said the concert would prove Cuba’s artists and intellectuals support the government. But the approximately 1,400 Cubans who turned out to watch were nothing compared to the thousands who routinely jam the plaza for free concerts, including a show in March by Puerto Rican rockers Calle 13.
Cuba has accused foreign journalists of fueling an international conspiracy to defame the Castro government. Saturday’s concert was the government’s latest attempt to defend itself after the February death of dissident Orlando Zapata Tamayo following a lengthy prison hunger strike, which sparked an international outcry.
Another opposition activist, Guillermo Farinas, is not in prison but has refused food and water for weeks to demand the release of all of the island’s political prisoners. He has been kept alive by periodic intravenous feedings at a hospital near his home in central Cuba.
The cases of Zapata Tamayo and Farinas helped spark a string of marches by the wives and mothers of 75 leading dissidents and government opposition leaders who were arrested during an official crackdown on dissent in 2003. The organization, known as the “Ladies in White,” enjoys little public support in Cuba, but their efforts have prompted sympathy demonstrations in Miami and Los Angeles.
Putting on a “concert for the homeland” indicates how pressured authorities feel to respond to criticism even though life on the island has remained unchanged since Zapata Tamayo’s death.
Rodriguez is a folk legend. Last week, he surprised many by releasing a new album with lyrics suggesting that removing the “r” from “revolution” would lead to “evolution.” The word “revolution” in Cuba is a reference to the uprising that toppled dictator Fulgencio Batista and brought Fidel Castro to power 51 years ago.
Saturday, however, Rodriguez was strictly on-message, denouncing Washington’s 48-year-old trade embargo against Cuba. The Castro government blames the embargo for nearly all of Cuba’s problems.
The next major event planned in defense of Cuba’s image is the huge, annual May Day march. The government has announced that this year’s parade will be a formal show of support for its communist way of life.
The May Day event is always pro-government, but the decision to announce that this year’s ceremonies would be held to support the revolution is another sign that officials are on the defensive.
http://www.npr.org/templates/s.....=125824363
Abril 11th, 2010 at 03:54
The duck test is a humorous term for a form of inductive reasoning. This is its usual expression:(with some small adjusments for “LA CHINA” & “THE MUMMY”)
“IF IT LOOKS LIKE A FACIST, SWIMS LIKE A FACIST AND QUACKS LIKE A FACIST, THEN IT PROBABLY IS A FACIST.”
Abril 11th, 2010 at 03:33
fas·cism-noun
1. (sometimes initial capital letter) a governmental system led by a dictator having complete power, forcibly suppressing opposition and criticism, regimenting all industry, commerce, etc., and emphasizing an aggressive nationalism and often racism.
Reporters Without Borders:Authorities block websites, detain 26th journalist
http://www.rsf.org/Authorities.....etain.html
Cuba and Racism
The European Union recently dispatched anthropologists to study racism in Cuba. Their findings were shocking: Not only was racism alive and well in the workers’ paradise, but it was systemic and institutional. Blacks were systematically excluded from positions that involved coming in contact with foreign tourists (where they could earn tips in hard currencies), they were relegated to poor housing, complained of the longest waits for healthcare, were excluded from managerial positions, received the lowest remittances from relatives abroad, and were five times more likely to be imprisoned.
http://news.newamericamedia.or.....d170243f0f
Abril 11th, 2010 at 02:12
““LA CHINA†(Raul) “THE MUMMY†(Fidel) ARE NOT COMMUNISTS THEY ARE FACIST DICTACTORS FROM THE LEFT”
What the fuck??
Abril 11th, 2010 at 00:22
Sigmund, You need to read more. Nazism and fascism were only masking themselves into the, at the turn of the 20th century the fastest growing political movement in Europe. Socialists and communists are by default people of science and atheists. neither Mussolini nor Hitler were either thing. Both went to churc regularly and used religion to justify their actions and imperialist expansion. And communists fought both in the WWII, and it is the communists who had really won the WWII, not usanian-bristish alliance, regardless of their trumpeting the “success” for only themselves. Before you run to contradict me, again: READ and LEARN before comenting. To help you with the above statement: 2, 500 000 soldiers were tied up in SSSR during the WWII, and another 1 000 000 was trying to win the war in Jugoslavia against the communist partizans led by legendary military genius Tito. Al the while, the invasion in Normandy saw only 350 000 Germans soldiers, mostly wounded reconvalescents from the Eastern front, facing the allies.
So, bear in mind that you would not be here today if it weren’t for the communists winning the war AGAINST the nazists. The war was won on the Eastern front, not on the western. Hitler and Mussolini, and their vazls throuhout the Europe were persecuting the socialists and communists. They were in cohuts with the capitalist oligarchy.
Did you know that Hitler did NOT harm any of the top industrials in Germany, who were Jews? Like Krupp and Rotschilds. And they financed his war. So, think again before you compare scialists and nazists. It is like comparing strawberries and mangoes.
Abril 10th, 2010 at 22:47
30JohnTheOne
Abril 10th, 2010 at 19:14
Yeah, so your books got confiscated. So what is the big deal here? That happens on a daily basis here in the “paradise†called US of A. Give me a real story.
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It is simply a lie…… get a prove up…… if you can….. but supposing this lie was not….. so what???….. My country is Cuba…. what matters to me is the crimes that happens in Cuba….. USA’s crimes if exists is a matter of Americans….. castrofascism affects Cuba not USA…. that’s why we Cubans fights the criminal regime of castro brothers….. don’t come here to try to make us fix the whole world…. we are concentrated in our country and we will get it free…. castofascism will die as regime and we Cubans will prevail.
Abril 10th, 2010 at 22:39
31Damir
Abril 10th, 2010 at 19:25
Humberto, there is no such thing as a fascist of the left. You are either a fascist or a communist. The two are diametrically opposed.
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Damir you are totally wrong because fascism is a kind of extremely socialism like communism are too……… they are more closer than you can image…… but you are more wrong yet when you try to discredit a peaceful way of fight like Yoani’s ….. many other fighters develops same strategy and if you are against castrofascism your duty is to support all ways of fighting…… Cubans fought castrofascism’s violence with violence and the Cuban nation supported this fight…. now Cubans fights castrofascim’s violence with peaceful methods and our duty is to support this fight….. if someone decides to fight castrofascim’s violence with violence I’m sure everyone will support it too …… but…… where are those fighters?????….. I don’t see them anywhere!!!!!…… when they raises up I will support them too……. but to try to discredit some fighters that exists because you prefer to support others that does not exists is a “little†insane, don’t you think???
Abril 10th, 2010 at 19:25
Humberto, there is no such thing as a fascist of the left. You are either a fascist or a communist. The two are diametrically opposed. Listin HRW as a source of your information discredits the point you are trying to make. For your info, the HRW in every country they establish their presence is a part of the government. It is a segment of the governmental public service of that country. So, if a HRW has an office in England, for example, it is on the payroll of the british govt. Likewise, in Russia, or Brazil. So your info source is the real fascist organisation to start with.
Go read instead what the UNICEF and FAO say about Cuba. Better yet, go dig out the CIA report on cuba to the Congress, I think it was the 2007, where the situation in Cuba was described as stable, low oppression and surprisingly flexible compared to all other latin american countries. They had to rank it 9th best in Americas. Cuba was better than Chile, the showcase of both socialists and capitalists for its’ undeniable rapid growth and improvement on human rights front. Yet Cuba was better.
So drop the blind hatred and try to read offivcial reports, not the cheap nazist propaganda from the corrupted uman Rights Watch, the ultra-right bastion of manipulation and propaganda that would make Goebels blush and feel incompetent.
Then w can debatethe rights and the wrongs. because Fidel in my view has failed sverely on many things I as a communist see fundamentals of a prosperous communism: individual freedom, prosperity, happiness.
I do not seek the excuse in the sanctions because there are many countries happy to trade with Cuba regardless of usa sanctions. No matter how hard these sanctions did affect the country. If he had more brains, Cuba would not have felt the sanctions much, if at all.
Abril 10th, 2010 at 19:14
Yeah, so your books got confiscated. So what is the big deal here? That happens on a daily basis here in the “paradise” called US of A. Give me a real story.
Every country in the world does that. So does the “democratic” govt of the US of A. It is just that here no one complains for fear of being put on a list and chased, spied on, have telephones bugged, neighbours coerced into spying for CIA and FBI, and all other numerous “homeland scurity” agencies with no other goal in life but to spie on their own citizens and weed out anti-social elements who “might pose a threat to homeland security”.
Sounds familiar? It is the USA, not Cuba. So, as Damir below said, get a grip. You live in a fantasy world where only your own country is bad and everything else is goodf. If that were the case, how come my country, the uS of A, holds 7 000 prisoners without having one word of charges laid against them? That is UNDEMOCRATIC. Five of yourown, Cubans, are in prison for how many years now and the “judicial process” is a farce designed to keep them in prison forever, without even sentencing them.
That is okay, is it? Just because we are the “first democracy in the world” (who said something as stupid as that…?) And I do not see you fighting for these five people, if you are really concerned about the justice and democracy, where everyone has the right to their own political opinion. Double standards I only see from you. Te ist of your “awards” reads like who-is-who in the far right world of this horrid monstruosity I have to live in, called “democratic capitalism”.
And just so you know, I read your blog and I can identify with you in many things that you say. Because they are a part of my life on this side of the fence. But you would never know that because no one tells you the truth about the real life in “democracy”. You only get what those who gave you these “awards” allow you to hear in their “free speech - promoting” propagandist media that serves only the government and the high end of the town - the burguoise that controls the economy, politics and life of the rest of us.
So, get ready for what is coming because it is horrendous on so many level you know nothing about, it will blow the shits out of you if you live long enough to see it burning your country down.
Abril 10th, 2010 at 19:00
Damir,
“LA CHINA” (Raul) “THE MUMMY” (Fidel) ARE NOT COMMUNISTS THEY ARE FACIST DICTACTORS FROM THE LEFT. NO ONE AND NOW PARTY SHOULD BE IN POWER FOR OVER 51 YEARS.
CUBA REPORT:
“Raul Castro has kept firmly in place and fully active Cuba’s repressive legal and institutional structures. While Cuban law includes broad statements affirming fundamental rights, it also grants officials extraordinary authority to penalize individuals who attempt to exercise them. Article 62 of the constitution explicitly prohibits Cubans from exercising their basic rights contrary to the “ends of the socialist state.”"
Human Rights Defenders
“Refusing to recognize human rights monitoring as a legitimate activity, the Cuban government denies legal status to local human rights groups. The government also employs harassment, beatings, and imprisonment to punish human rights defenders who attempt to document abuses. In May 2009, after authorities warned him several times that he would be imprisoned if he did not abandon his work, human rights activist Juan LuÃs RodrÃguez DesdÃn was sentenced in a closed, summary trial to two years for “public disorder.”"
http://www.hrw.org/en/node/87516
HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH REPORT (November 18, 2009)-New Castro, Same Cuba
“Dissidents are a small and significantly isolated segment of the population. However, their marginalization is evidence not of the lack of dissent in Cuba, but rather of the state’s ruthless efficiency in suppressing it. Fear permeates all aspects of dissidents’ lives. Some stop voicing their opinions and abandon their activities altogether; others continue to exercise their rights, but live in constant dread of being punished. Many more never express dissent to avoid reprisals. As human rights defender Rodolfo Bartelemà Coba told Human Rights Watch in March 2009, “We live 24 hours a day ready to be detained.†Ten days after making that statement, Bartelemà was arrested and taken to prison without trial, where he remains today.”
“The Cuban government has for years refused to recognize the legitimacy of independent human rights monitoring and has adamantly refused to allow international monitors, such as the International Committee of the Red Cross and international nongovernmental organizations like Human Rights Watch, to visit the island and investigate human rights conditions. In researching this report, Human Rights Watch made repeated written requests to the Raúl Castro government for meetings with authorities and formal authorization to conduct a fact-finding mission to the island. As in the past, the Cuban government did not respond to any of our requests.”
http://www.hrw.org/en/node/86549/section/2
Abril 10th, 2010 at 18:51
Yoani,
I agree with the principle that people should rebel against the oppressing regimes and fight for a democracy. But when people like you go out and cry all over internet instead of having the balls to take the arms up and fight, they gain no respect from me whatsoever. I espect Fidel and his comrades more for the display of the courage to fight and die for what they believe in. You and thousands of people like you, who inundate the internet with their bullshit stories and baby-like cries, simply looking for someone else to do the job for you is deplorable. It only showsh you for who you are: a coward. A poltron because you are saying here that you would kiss and lick arse of the person who would save you from your misery.
And who do you attract here to offer a support? Likeminded losers and cowards who “know” exactly what is “really” going on in Cuba and “symphatise” with you offering no more than a few swear words directed at Fidel and Raul.
I am a convinced communist myself. I do think that Fidel has lost the opportunity to make Cuba a prosperous and happy country. That is after all what is the ultimate goal of comunism. To create a prosperous and free country. But capitalists are better manipulators and liars so socialism somehow always falls into their traps and turns nasty. And majority of people are, like you, disgruntled ignorants who think with their arses instead brains. Selfish, greedy, egoistic hedonists who only want to have drugs and rockandroll every day.
Just remember that capitalism too took power through an armed and quite bloody revolutions. So, pick your side, get a weapon of your choice and go fight for what you believe.
Or just shut up and continue being a loser and a coward whose only achievement in life is to kiss strangers’ arses and lick the shit of their feet by repeating their own political slogans and propaganda.
What is it going to be?
Abril 10th, 2010 at 11:41
Castrofascists dollar area thugs does not work on weekends!!!!
Poors no area dollar thugs has to work weekends too……. thay are at the spanish site working right now….. even among thugs regime marks the difference and discrimination!!!!!
Abril 10th, 2010 at 11:27
IS NOT JUST THE ATHLETES, MUSICANS AND ARTISTS DEFECTING!
WASHINGTON POST: Cuban diplomat in Mexico has defected to U.S.: reports.
April 10, 2010; 10:38 AM
MIAMI (Reuters) - A Cuban diplomat who disappeared with her husband from her post at the Cuban embassy in Mexico last month has told relatives they are “safe in the United States,” the Miami Herald reported on Saturday.
Yusimil Casanas, 25, who worked in the passport section of Cuba’s Mexico City embassy, and her husband Michel Rojas, 32, disappeared on March 17 and the embassy car assigned to them was found parked near the U.S. embassy in the Mexican capital, the Herald said, citing family members.
Cuban, U.S. and Mexican authorities have all declined to comment on the apparent defection by the Cuban diplomat.
The Miami Herald quoted an uncle of Casanas, Esteban Casanas Lostal, who lives in Canada, as saying that the missing diplomat called her mother in Cuba on Thursday and reported that she and Rojas were “safe in the United States” but that she could not reveal exactly where they were.
A cousin of Rojas in Miami, Jose Carrasco, told the Miami Herald Casanas’ husband had called his mother, father and a cousin in Cuba on Thursday to pass on the same message.
The family members told the newspaper they believed Casanas, who had previously worked in the personal office of former Cuban Foreign Minister Felipe Perez Roque, ousted in a purge last year, was being questioned by U.S. intelligence officials, the normal practice in such a defection.
Casanas also previously served in the Cuban mission at the United Nations in New York, her uncle told the Miami Herald.
Perez Roque’s dismissal last year along with former Vice President Carlos Lage was part of a major shake-up of Cuba’s government by President Raul Castro, who took over the presidency from his ailing elder brother Fidel Castro in 2008.
Cuban authorities circulated surveillance testimony alleging Perez Roque and Lage, both originally tipped by analysts as possible future younger Cuban leaders, had betrayed the trust of the aging Castro leadership.
Raul Castro’s government has come under intense international criticism since the February 23 death of jailed dissident Orlando Zapata Tamayo, who died after an 85-day hunger strike to protest prison conditions in Cuba.
Cuba’s rulers are also struggling with an economic crisis triggered by sharp cuts in revenues due to the global economic downturn and long-standing inefficiencies in the island’s socialist system. They blame their woes on a U.S. trade embargo against Cuba and have ruled out any shift toward capitalism.
(Writing by Pascal Fletcher, Editing by Eric Walsh)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/.....01450.html
Abril 10th, 2010 at 11:20
WASHINGTON POST: Castros sabotage ending U.S. Cuba embargo: Clinton
Reuters -Friday, April 9, 2010
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Cuba’s President Raul Castro and his brother, ex-leader Fidel Castro, have sought to sabotage U.S. moves to improve ties because they fear it will threaten their power, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said on Friday.
Clinton said Cuba’s response to Obama administration efforts to enhance cooperation revealed “an intransigent, entrenched regime” that had no interest in political reform or ending the isolation imposed by Washington’s 48-year old economic embargo on the island.
“It is my personal belief that the Castros do not want to see an end to the embargo and do no want to see normalization with the United States, because they would lose all of their excuses for what hasn’t happened in Cuba in the last 50 years,” Clinton said
“I find that very sad, because there should be an opportunity for a transition to a full democracy in Cuba and it’s going to happen at some point, but it may not happen any time soon.”
Obama has said he wants to recast ties that have been hostile since soon after Fidel Castro’s 1959 revolution. Fidel Castro stepped aside as president because of illness, with his younger brother Raul formally taking over in 2008.
The United States has over the past year lifted limits on Cuban Americans traveling and sending money to Cuba, and initiated talks with Havana on migration and mail service.
But Obama has said the economic embargo will stay until Cuba improves human rights and frees political detainees, and Clinton said the outlook was not good on either front.
“If you look at any opening to Cuba you can almost chart how the Castro regime does something to try to stymie it,” Clinton said while answering questions at Kentucky’s University of Louisville.
Clinton noted that in 1996, when her husband former President Bill Clinton was seeking to improve ties, Cuba shot down two small U.S. planes that were distributing leaflets. The incident effectively ended that overture.
Over the past year, despite Obama’s willingness to improve ties, Cuba arrested a U.S. contractor on suspicion of espionage while political prisoner Orlando Zapata Tamayo died after an 85-day hunger strike in protest against prison conditions, Clinton said.
“It’s a dilemma,” Clinton said. “I hope (they) will begin to change. We’re open to changing with them, but I don’t know that that will happen before some more time goes by.”
(Reporting by Andrew Quinn; editing by Philip Barbara)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/.....04469.html
Abril 10th, 2010 at 08:10
Yoani,
You are in good company. A young Cuban friend of mine has 1984 in this email address. When I mentioned George Orwell to him he went completely blank. 1984 was simply the year he was born. One would look in vain for a copy of 1984 or Animal Farm on the island. One of the depressing things about Cuba are the bookstores, where the range of permitted ideology is so narrow. I wonder if anyone has any information on the list of proscribed books in Cuba, even though there is no official censorship.
Abril 9th, 2010 at 22:41
BBC NEWS: Hillary Clinton scorns ‘entrenched’ Cuba
Saturday, 10 April 2010
Cuba’s leaders do not want to normalise ties with the US because then they would lose their excuse for the state of the country, says Hillary Clinton.
Cuba’s response to recent US efforts to improve relations had revealed “an intransigent, entrenched regime” in Havana, said the US secretary of state.
The Cuban authorities have long blamed a 48-year US trade embargo for holding back the country’s development.
The US says the embargo will remain until Cuba improves human rights.
Relations between Washington and the communist government in Havana have soured in recent months after early expectations of an improvement under the Obama administration.
‘Very sad’
Mrs Clinton said the response of Cuban President Raul Castro and his brother, ex-leader Fidel Castro, to US efforts to improve ties proved they had no interest in political reform or ending the sanctions.
It is my personal belief that the Castros do not want to see an end to the embargo and do no want to see normalisation with the United States, because they would lose all of their excuses for what hasn’t happened in Cuba in the last 50 years,” she said.
“I find that very sad, because there should be an opportunity for a transition to a full democracy in Cuba and it’s going to happen at some point, but it may not happen any time soon.”
Earlier this month, Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez held a meeting with Cheryl Mills, Mrs Clinton’s chief-of-staff, in one of the highest level contacts between the two countries for years.
US officials said the two “did not agree on very much” at the talks, which were held in New York on the sidelines of a UN forum on aid for quake-hit Haiti.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8612765.stm
Abril 9th, 2010 at 20:02
DEDICATED TO YOANI, CLAUDIA, “LAS DAMAS DE BLANCO” AND ALL THE BRAVE WOMEN FIGHTING FOR HUMAN RIGHTS AND CHANGE IN CUBA! YOU ARE MY MOTHERS, SISTERS AND DAUGHTERS!
ONE OF MY FAVORITE SONGS BY WILLIE CHIRINO!
“TU CUMPLEAÑOS”!!
En el dÃa de tu cumpleaños
desearte lo mejor quisiera
y decirte que ojalá, cumplas muchos más
mi divina compañera
En el dÃa de tu cumpleaños
quiero hablarte todo lo que siento
te dedico un madrigal, mujer ideal
dueña de mis pensamientos
Mi vida tú, como una cruz en mi pecho
tú, como una flor en mi lecho,
tú, mi seducción, mi corazón
la que mis sueños invade.
Tú, como la luna en mi cielo
tú, la causa de mis anhelos
mi droga tú, mi hechizo tú
Felicidades
En la noche de tu cumpleaños
al mirarte me lleno de orgullo
te digo una y otra vez, cariñito que
todo lo que tengo es tuyo
Mi vida tú, como una cruz en mi pecho
tú, como una flor en mi lecho,
tú, mi seducción, mi corazón
la que mis sueños invade.
Tú, como la luna en mi cielo
tú, la causa de mis anhelos
mi droga tú, mi hechizo tú
Felicidades
Hoy te dedico mi canción
(Es para ti), por ser tu cumpleaños
De regalo yo te voy a dar,
la luna con las estrellas
porque nada es suficiente, mi gente
para la mujer más bella.
Hoy te dedico mi canción
(Te lo digo de corazón), por ser tu cumpleaños
Tu cumpleaños no es cada año,
yo lo celebro todos los dÃas
tremenda suerte tenerte, amada mÃa.
Nadie a mi me comprende, nadie como tú
Happy birthday to you
Te digo yo, Felicidades amor en tu dÃa
Happy birthday to you
Oyeme bien, porque todos los que te queremos, te cantaremos
Happy birthday to you
Ohhhhhhhh Ohhhhh
Abril 9th, 2010 at 19:47
HAPPY 3rd BIRTHDAY YOANI AND YOUR BLOGERS ACCADEMY TODAY! FELIZ CUMPLEAÑOS!
WILLIE CHIRINO TU CUMPLEAÑOS.wmv
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v.....re=related
Abril 9th, 2010 at 19:38
Simba Sez: To losada, juan et al.
Words to contemplate:
Blind obedience to any power is not conducive to good government, only to a safe existence.
Abril 9th, 2010 at 17:47
Elmer Fudd & THE AVALANCHE- hunting “REVOLUTIONARY RATS”- NOT wabbits!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OiEUDzIrEQE
Abril 9th, 2010 at 17:07
HAPPY B-DAY #3 GEN Y!
Congratulations Yoani & Academia Blogger!
Abril 9th, 2010 at 13:39
The opinions in the cubadebate site are interesting, the twist & manipulation of facts according to the authors is colorful.
I think their perception (for their sought after results) is that no one reads or researches anything in the web about what the topic of their opinions is.
I believe the size & scope of the web is incomprehesible to them as to the contents & amount of free information.
If they did understand & grasp this, they will be spending the rest of their natural lives countering every single book, note & thought that has been written about the cuban rebolution.
Anyway … in there (among other themes) is a mention of Yoani & addressing the “night of the long knives” blogg.
The phrase quoted is out of context and used to manipulate the opinions towards this blogg.
Please read it, research it …
Abril 9th, 2010 at 13:13
This is pretty great! Funny and Ironic!
PARODIA-Silvio Rodriguez y Pablo Milanes: Cual es tu bando?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ewC6SjYVyWc
Abril 9th, 2010 at 12:59
NATIONAL PUBLIC RADIO PIECE- WBUR: Spreading Digital Revolution In A Cuban Living Room
By Nick Miroff
April 9, 2010 12:01 AM
Twice a week, Yoani Sanchez transforms the living room of her small Havana high-rise apartment into what she calls the Blogger Academy. About 30 students cram inside to learn how to use WordPress, Wikipedia and the other tools of a digital revolution that Cuba’s government views warily.
The small group of young Cuban bloggers has drawn international attention to their campaign for greater freedom of expression and Internet access. The government treats them as a security threat, backed by anti-Castro forces abroad.
On a recent afternoon, Sanchez is teaching her students about Twitter. Few Cubans have an Internet connection, so Sanchez is demonstrating how to send tweets from a cell phone.
There are a handful of laptops in the room, along with photocopies of articles with titles like, “Can Journalism Be Participatory?”
Sanchez, 34, has long black hair and the weary intensity of someone who has been living on the edge for a long time.
“Unfortunately, in Cuba, the act of wanting to find out what the official media is hiding is viewed as an attack on the integrity of the state,” she says. “But that’s not our intention. This is an educational project, not a political one.”
Blogging Without An Internet Connection
Sanchez’s blog, Generation Y, is political, but not with the kind of overheated rhetoric that has characterized the Cuba debate for so long. It’s earned her several international awards, and though the blog is blocked on the island by the Cuban government, it’s accessible through third-party Web sites.
Because she isn’t allowed to have an Internet connection, Sanchez says, she writes her blog from home, then goes to tourist hotels and e-mails several postings at a time to friends abroad who run the blog for her. They send back reader comments, which often number in the thousands.
Among Cubans abroad, Sanchez has become the island’s most famous symbol of opposition to the Castro government. But her name isn’t mentioned in state-run newspapers or on TV here, and she’s not widely known.
When her activism has moved from the computer screen to the streets, the response from authorities has been swift. The Blogger Academy has been left alone so far, though some students say they have been harassed by police and had equipment confiscated.
“We are Cubans … We are living in the revolution — or maybe in the post-revolution — and we are good persons,” says Orlando Luis Pardo, a 38-year-old blogger who is part of the academy.
“We don’t [intend] to create chaos, social chaos. On the contrary, we [intend] … that people in Cuba regain somehow their hope in Cuba, because a lot of young people that I know will say, ‘When you get some money, find your way out of the country.’ ”
Countering Critics
Cuba’s bloggers have attracted the attention of President Obama, and he gave Sanchez an interview by e-mail last fall. It’s that degree of American enthusiasm for Sanchez that gives the Cuban government cause to view her and her group as a tool of U.S. foreign policy.
In another apartment building on the opposite side of Havana’s Revolution Square, journalist Rosa Miriam Elizalde strikes back at Cuba’s critics from a Macintosh laptop in her bedroom. She’s the editor of Cubadebate, the pro-government Web site best known for its most famous contributor, retired President Fidel Castro. He writes a Web feature called “Fidel’s Reflections.”
Elizalde follows Sanchez’s tweets and counters them with her own.
“We’re not talking about some blogger in Sweden,” Elizalde says. “We’re talking about a blogger in Cuba, which the United States has been waging economic and political warfare against for the past 50 years. And this is just the latest form of that warfare.”
Who’s The Underdog?
Just as Sanchez sees her small group standing up to the power of the Cuban state, Elizalde sees Cuba as the underdog, besieged by a hostile media and the giant to the north. She says she doesn’t have a problem with the Blogger Academy. But to her, Sanchez’s overnight fame and the international support for her blog seem like a coordinated campaign to attack Cuba.
“I think she’s a symbol that’s been constructed for a specific political purpose, as part of an aggressive U.S. foreign policy,” Elizalde says. “She obviously gets a lot of technical support if she’s running a site that’s being translated into 18 languages.”
Sanchez says she will continue using the money she has made from her writing and her awards to help other Cubans launch their own blogs.
She says the waiting list for her next Blogger Academy course is nearly full.
http://www.wbur.org/npr/124288271
Abril 9th, 2010 at 10:39
In accordance to the present cuban constitution, the mere idea of change in the ideology that rules the country is a crime as well as an imposibility.
No matter how much is said about the role of the people in the ruling of the country via “comitee” or any other device crated by the rebolution, the reality is different.
The truth is that no one dares to put forth a proposition for change of regime; who would risk the weight of the “law”, the repression orquestrated by the interior ministry’s tools or by the violence of the oposition?
This rebolution insures her position in power by the laws it created, by the indoctrination of its children in the guise of education, by the revisionism of history, by the control of the family unit & the life of the country.
But … what the heck … it is all done w/smoke & mirrors … perhaps we are in a petrie dish being observed by aliens & the castro co. s.a. is is just a virus … perhaps even a rectal fungi in the body of the universe.
Abril 9th, 2010 at 07:42
rick@11
hear … hear!!!
Abril 9th, 2010 at 06:43
… food for thought …
if a simple book can be seen as a threat & and insult to the regime & it symbols …
Once confiscated … what happens to it?
What happens to every item confiscated under the same excuse, like electrical & electronic appliances, clothing, medicine etc?
Why remitances in dollars are not a threat to the regime?
For that matter why are remitances not a threat?
Think about it … the regime authorizes the remitances either because it consideres as “charitable offer” or it is an unvilling admission of failure by the regime’s economic policies.
If there is not such an admission … then the regime, by allowing remitances has created & protected a priviledged class … alas: there is where the threat is …
To allow this un-equality is in direct violation of the regime’s constitutional law’s since it is a threat to socialism to say the list …
Abril 9th, 2010 at 05:56
Albert #9
Not only do I agree with the holding of a referendum regarding the release of dissident prisoners of conscience but demand that any and all ballots, elections and referendums in Cuba must include the participation of all native born Cuban citizens and passport holders no matter where they currently reside and that such opportunity not be denied by their being forced to do so from within the national territory but that a system be set up for them to cast their ballot from their resident location under supervision of a United Nations Commission.
Abril 9th, 2010 at 05:48
… Yoani’s & the other silent voices humor is to say the lsit a proof of courage in the face of repression …
primavera & the estornudos made me laugh … but still w/a heavy heart …
Abril 9th, 2010 at 04:27
has anyone noticed …?
many an opinion about the “imperialistic policies” of the US is presented, w/dates & page, w/great deal of detail & passion but there is very little if anything mentioned about the “imperialistic policies” of the former Russia and their socialists satellites?
The “interventions” of the US in southamerica, africa, the middle east & the far east are always documented w/analysis, schedueles & proof of each evil deed & motivation.
Yet, the “interventions” of the former Russia, in eastern europe, in africa, in south & central america, in the middle east & far east … are not mentioned.
The motives, justified or not … are the same w/different names … if the whole thing is real.
What is the difference in the “action” … the motive?
Who gives one side possesion of the truth as opossed to another?
What is the difference?
Perhaps the difference resides with the people, living in a free society, w/freedom to choose how to conduct their life, freedom to elect their representatives.
I have stated this before:
IF THINGS ARE SOOO RIGHT W/THE PRESENT REGIME IN CUBA … WHY NOT HOLD FREE MULTI PARTY ELECTIONS, ALLOWING FOR FREE CAMPAIGN & DEBAT FOLLOWED BT SECRET BALLOTS, MONITORED BY THE UN ?
WHAT IS THERE TO HIDE? WHAT IS THERE TO FEAR FROM A RIGHTEOUS FORM OF GOVERMENT?
Instead we have repression, using a constitution, written & worded vague form, with rules of law with definitions open to a “free & loose self serving interpretation”.
The legitimacy of this regime is based on the people’s fear of reprisal.
Is based on the people’s dispair, in their mistrust & disapointment after all the broken promises.
When a book is a threat … is not because of its contents … is because of what the reader will think upon reading it.
So the threat is in the thought, not in the book.
Not trusting how the people thinks in spite of all the indoctrination & slogans of 50 years is a sign of how much the regime fears the pueblo’s rigthful indignation & reprisal …
Keep that in mind … the changes is not what this regime fears … ehat this regime fears is the people … because no matter how many ways it can be twisted, justified & manipulated … history of the human kind have prooved time & time again: FREEDOM & JUSTICE ALWAYS PREVAIL
Abril 9th, 2010 at 01:46
THIS IS RIGHT ON THE MONEY!
MIAMI HERALD?Standing up to Cuba’s crisis-OUR OPINION: cf,gtm Political, economic challenges hard to surmount
Raúl Castro is feeling the heat.
He flew into an insane rage a few days ago, claiming Cuba is the target of unfair condemnation around the world prompted by the death of political dissident Orlando Zapata Tamayo from a hunger strike. Recalling the 1962 Cuban missile crisis that brought the world to the brink of nuclear war, he vowed that Cuba would sooner “disappear” than submit to pressure from abroad and “blackmail” from other hunger strikers who have taken up Zapata Tamayo’s cause.
These are not the words of a cool and assured leader but rather someone who sees the walls closing in. The crisis, as he admitted in the more-rational part of his speech to the Young Communist Union, is not only political but also economic. He said roughly one out of four workers in Cuba’s state-run economy is superfluous and that Cuba must “update the economic model” or face disaster.
One million unemployed
The problem is that this tired and aging tiger cannot change its stripes. Finding a real job for one million idle workers in state-run enterprises is impossible for a country that can’t attract investment, doesn’t believe in free markets and doesn’t have the money to compensate for money-losing enterprises. “To spend more than we take in puts the survival of the revolution at risk,” Castro warned.
It is likewise impossible for the regime to act sensibly to resolve the political crisis sparked by hunger strikes.
Dissident leaders offered Castro a lifeline of sorts Thursday by proposing that hunger striker Guillermo Fariñas would end his protest if the government would agree to hold a public referendum over the release of political prisoners.
Fat chance. Ending the hunger strike would defuse the immediate crisis, but totalitarian governments don’t dare hold referendums. Next thing you know, those “uppity” dissidents would demand free elections, and there goes the revolution.
Maintain the pressure
While Cuba’s courageous dissidents face down the government, others can help by keeping the pressure on.
• Mr. Fariñas has asked the human-rights court of the Organization of American States to acknowledge the absence of human rights in Cuba, particularly his own mistreatment. This should be a no-brainer, given the years of documented abuses by international organizations like Americas Watch. How about it?
• Some lawmakers in Spain have suggested opening talks with Cuba with the objective of securing the immediate and unconditional release of all prisoners of conscience held by the regime. Other European countries should do the same. If Raúl Castro wants better relations with the European Union, here’s his chance to make it happen.
If he refuses to budge on the issue of releasing those political prisoners who remain in jail even though they are ill — which is all Mr. Fariñas is asking — the European Union should hold fast to a tough stance on Cuba.
Easing the policy toward Cuba makes no sense when the regime’s hard-line leaders refuse to soften their own grip.
http://www.miamiherald.com/201.....risis.html
Abril 8th, 2010 at 23:03
Tonight, on the program “59 Segundos,” which is shown on the Spanish television network, TVE, one of the topics addressed was Cuba. This show, if you are not familiar with it, gives its guests 59 seconds in front of a live microphone to say whatever they please. After the 59 seconds is up, the microphone automatically moves down and is switched off so the next person can talk.
It was an interesting program tonight that included an interview with Guillermo Fariñas via telephone. I don’t know when this show was taped, but I suspect that it was done recently because it included clips of raul giving his “we will not be blackmailed†speech, which is something I had not seen before and found to be extremely repugnant. The man is pure evil.
Here are two links from the TVE website:
I think this is the round table discussion:
http://www.rtve.es/noticias/20.....6825.shtml
And I think this is the interview with Guillermo Fariñas:
http://www.rtve.es/noticias/20.....6884.shtml
Abril 8th, 2010 at 22:32
MIAMI HERALD: Cuba democracy trips can resume, U.S. says-
Organizations that receive U.S. funds to help dissident groups in Cuba can once again deliver assistance.
BY JUAN O. TAMAYO
The Obama administration has lifted its ban on trips to Cuba to deliver U.S. aid to pro-democracy groups, apparently toughening its posture after Havana’s recent abuses, officials said Thursday.
Such trips were halted after the Dec. 3 arrest of Alan P. Gross, a U.S. Agency for International Development subcontractor who had delivered satellite communications equipment to Jewish groups.
The State Department this week notified organizations that receive U.S. funds for Cuban democracy programs that they can resume the trips, said three officials of groups involved in the programs.
“To me, this sends a clear signal that [the Obama administration] is not in agreement with what’s going on in the island,” said one of the officials, who like the others requested anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue.
He referred to Cuba’s crackdown against the Ladies in White and the death of political prisoner Orlando Zapata after a lengthy hunger strike, which drew a recent condemnation from President Barack Obama.
Word that the travel could resume was accompanied, however, by a caution: Do not take to the island more equipment or money than you can explain if you’re stopped by Cuban officials.
About a dozen groups had been sending two to five travelers per month to Cuba before Dec. 3 to deliver “technical and financial” assistance to activists, according to several knowledgeable people.
“This is a good thing,” said Orlando Gutierrez of the Cuban Democratic Directorate in Miami. He declined to comment on whether he would send travelers to Cuba because it would “put people at risk.”
State Department spokesmen did not immediately return calls seeking comment, but the Obama administration has long said it favors supporting peaceful civil society activists in Cuba.
U.S. funds for pro-democracy programs in Cuba — totaling $45 million for fiscal years 2009 and 2010 — are handled through a complex web of nongovernment organizations and private companies that then arrange to deliver items such as laptops, radios, books and medicines as well as cash and encouraging words to dissidents and their families.
CHILL OVER AID
Cuba makes it illegal to receive the U.S. aid, and brands dissidents as “mercenaries.” The arrest of Gross — a 60-year-old development expert from Potomac, Md., who remains jailed without charges — cast a further chill over the programs.
The State Department sent e-mails to the organizations that receive funds on Dec. 9 and 28 urging a halt to Cuba travel. The organizations said they took the e-mails as an order, not a recommendation.
“The travel ban immediately prevented anyone from having person-to-person contacts with dissidents, the kind of contacts that this program was designed to give,” said one official of a nonprofit.
The pro-democracy programs still face other hurdles, however, including a move last month by Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., that essentially froze the funding until USAID and the State Department answer a barrage of questions about how the money is spent.
Congressional investigations discovered abuses in the programs in the past, and some members of Congress argue that Gross’ arrest shows the programs must be reshaped to promote democracy more effectively and make them less “provocative.”
LACK OF FUNDS
Both USAID and the State Department allocate money to nongovernment organizations and private firms that in turn support dissidents, independent journalists and other civil society groups on the island.
But the funds had largely dried up as of late 2009 amid delays in releasing new funds caused by bureaucratic and political issues, including an Obama administration decision to review some programs.
Obama’s pick to head USAID was sworn in only in December. And at the State Department, Deputy Secretary for Western Hemisphere Affairs Arturo Valenzuela was not sworn until November.
http://www.miamiherald.com/201.....esume.html
Abril 8th, 2010 at 21:57
Humberto:
With a goverment that controls everything with a tight fist and implied reprisals, I doubt a free referendum could take place formulated as you propose.
At the same time, let us pray that Farinas does not feel obligated to reach martyrdoom to remain in our hearts as a true patriot.
Abril 8th, 2010 at 19:25
WASHINGTON POST: Cuba dissidents propose vote on freeing prisoners
Reuters
Thursday, April 8, 2010; 6:57 PM
HAVANA (Reuters) - Cuban dissidents proposed on Thursday that the public vote on whether the island’s political prisoners should be freed, while Cuba said its enemies are using human rights to “demonize” it.
The dissidents acknowledge their idea is unlikely to be accepted, but said they suggested it to end an impasse between the government and dissident hunger striker Guillermo Farinas, who is seeking the release of 26 ailing political prisoners.
“Why not leave the solution of this matter in the hands of the people?” Francisco Chaviano said in a press conference held by dissident group Agenda for the Cuban Transition.
He said the referendum, which would be unprecedented in Cuba where the Communist Party is the only legal political party, could be held in conjunction with upcoming municipal elections.
Voters could be offered three options, he said: free all of Cuba’s estimated 200 political prisoners, free just the 26 supported by Farinas, or keep all of them behind bars.
Cuba has been criticized internationally and urged to release its political prisoners since the February 23 death of jailed dissident Orlando Zapata Tamayo, who died after an 85-day hunger strike to protest prison conditions.
Farinas, in the 44th day of a hunger strike in the central city of Santa Clara, has said he also is prepared to die for his cause.
But on Thursday Cuba repeated President Raul Castro’s declaration, made in a speech on Sunday, that the government will resist international pressure on human rights.
Cuba’s enemies, it said in a front-page editorial in Communist Party newspaper Granma, have launched a “new crusade to demonize” the island and “discredit the revolutionary process, destabilize the country and provoke conditions for the destruction of our social system.”
It quoted Castro, who said in his nationally televised speech that Cuba would “never give in to blackmail.”
If Farinas did not change his “self-destructive” attitude, he and his supporters would be to blame for his death, not the government, Castro said.
Chaviano said his group would like to think its suggestion would be considered, “but unfortunately the government never has given reason for that type of hope.”
Farinas told the dissident group he would end his hunger strike if the referendum were held, but said in a telephone interview from Santa Clara he did not expect it to happen.
“I don’t have any hope that the government will accept this proposal because it has always arrogated the right of speaking in the name of the people without consultation,” said Farinas, 48, who has conducted 22 previous hunger strikes.
Farinas, a psychologist and writer who stopped eating and drinking the day after Zapata’s death, has been receiving fluids intravenously in a hospital since collapsing March 11.
The government, which characterizes dissidents as “mercenaries” working for the United States and other enemies, has described both Zapata and Farinas as common criminals.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/.....05083.html
Abril 8th, 2010 at 19:10
Keep up the good fight Yoani. Those of us only 90 miles away in Miami who have the privilege of reading your incredible writing feel blessed that it can reach our eyes through the miracle of cyberspace, free from the constraints of censors. We pull for you and know that one day we’ll be hearing you in person give a book reading in one of our bookstores here in Little Havana. We’re with you.
Abril 8th, 2010 at 18:14
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I will buy Yoanni’s book in English when I can. I hope she will be able to stay out of jail. She is a very brave woman.
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Comprare el libro de Yoanni en el Ingles cuando puedo. Ojala que ella quedera afuera del carcel. Es una mujer muy valiente.
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John Bibb
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Abril 8th, 2010 at 16:01
La dictadura facsita, esta muy preocupada, todo un pueblo clama libertad, lo ironico es que viste de civiles a los militares y policia y salen a la calle repartiendo palizas, el pueblo de cuba necesita solidaridad, de todos los pueblos, amantes de la libertad, basta ya de comunismo, socialismo, facsimo, libertad para cuba, YA