For Rent: A Little Emotion
The man entered the small El Condor bookstore whose shop window faces the wall that borders the University of Zurich. “I am looking for books by CorĂn Tellado,” he whispered softly, and I jumped in front of the computer where you typed in the latest titles coming from Buenos Aires, Madrid or Mexico City. I detected a Havana accent in his voice, perhaps because he had spent little time in contact with the Swiss-German dialect which would eventually give another cadence to his words. He said he was from the La Vibora neighborhood and that he needed – desperately – some Spanish magazines similar to Hello.
MarĂa Mariotti, the local owner, approached him to explain that she didn’t have anything, but it could be ordered from the distributor. “What titles do you want,” asked the small half-Peruvian half-Japanese woman. “Anything you can get. They’re for my mother who lives for them,” he said, trying to justify his persistent interest in romantic novels. He said that not having remittances to send to Cuba, every month he tried to send his family some publications that they could rent to others. Their start-up business consisted of renting magazines like Vanities, or People, for five Cuban pesos, to a large community of readers who were eager to have the latest issues. The clients could keep the magazines for a week, and then they passed from hand to hand until they fell apart and had to be taken out of circulation.
A few days after that particular order, my friend left for the 2003 Barcelona Bookfair, where she offered a tribute to MarĂa del Socorro Tellado LĂłpez. She managed to approach her and tell her of the family on the other side of the Atlantic who survived each month thanks to her pen. The author of Painful Deception (1990) was impressed with the story and donated a selection of fifty of her titles, accompanied by a handwritten letter for the lady in La Vibora. That gift caused a burst of thanks in the Swiss bookstore, especially from the son of the alternative librarian. Well he knew what it meant to be able to add these new volumes to the maternal collection. Their pages would provide a deteriorating Havana house with more soap, some oil, a bit of bread, shoes for the children, along with dreams for dozens of neighbors.
Imagen tomada de: http://telenovelas-carolina-esp.blogspot.com/
Julio 4th, 2010 at 08:49
Barbara, post 119,
Excactly!
How is that NOT entertaining!!!??? Yet, those three geriatrics are up in arms and spitting insults like there’s no tomorrow when one, politely even, points these facts out!!!!
Like one of the CEO’s in my company who was telling me how to write the programs. A burocrat telling to a professional how to do his job!
Just for the fun of it, once I did what he told me quite publicly I should do. And I did what really was needed to be done.
And then I made him publicly look like an idiot by simply demonstrating his version and mine.
Facts ALWAYS speak louder than hysterical ideologies,no matter how spinmasters twist them around. And it is quite hard to keep one’s posture once everyone sees how incompetent (or a plain liar) one is.
Just like that CEO. And our dried out friends here!!!
: )
Julio 3rd, 2010 at 23:23
#118 - DAMIR
One thing you have already figured out about right-wing Miami Cuban American extremists: they know more than the CIA, for instance, who states on The World Fact Book website, that China is a Communist state.
On Miami’s right-wing radio you will hear them daily, telling the President of the United States how to run the world’s greatest super power of all times, ect., yet they are in a foreign land after choosing to leave their country because:
1. they didn’t know how to run their own country,
2. they miscalculated the popularity of the system that stopped their lawlessness, and
3. because unlike that old “Lucky Strike” commercial, they would rather switch than fight, and hope that someone else will do their fighting for them…one of these days.
One thing we can give them credit for, they are persistent with their whining and their refusal to face reality within an accurate historical context.
Julio 3rd, 2010 at 09:25
114, another completely ignorant and idiotic statement from a well-known resident ignorant.
Another hollow attempt to make a point that doesn’t exist.
Self-serving self-righteousness. Problem here is the absence of facts.
And of the 114 poster’s brain, but that one is incurable… There’s no protection from more garbage there…
Julio 2nd, 2010 at 20:06
Sorry, I am trying to post comments as soon as possible. That’s why I make mistakes, like to post incompleted comment or comment with no signature…… the cause of these mistakes is that: at difference of agents culeros I get not paid for commenting here…… I have to work very hard to get the good life this country’s system provides me ……. curelos agents get some miserable payment for the amaizing amount of hours they work in the cyber space……… poor peole!!!
About you “comment” ….
Why you “qualify” as Batistiano the Diaz-Balart brothers????….. can you prove this persons links to Batista?????……. in the improbable case you can prove a link of this persons with Batista, it is Batista differen than castro?????….. you self have recognized batista is a product of Cuba’s Communist Party, in same way that castro is a product of Cuba’s Communist Party……. so…… why lying?????…… do you believe that such infantile lies can hide the fact that castrofascims (I am glad you accepted the term) has spent billions of dollars trying to subvert the free people of Miami will?????…… you are realy silly and ultimatelly you are very similar to dummy damir!!!!!!….. lack of veridic arguments are making you so easy to beat, so ridiculous, so infantile!!!!
Julio 2nd, 2010 at 19:46
115Barbara Curbelo
Julio 2nd, 2010 at 11:13
FREUD
Since I can’t post it on the other page:
For you to say that castrofacism has spent “billions” trying to get rid of Diaz-Balrt is as ludicrous as Batistianos still defending that aberrant episode in Cuba’s history.
Julio 2nd, 2010 at 11:13
FREUD
Since I can’t post it on the other page:
For you to say that castrofacism has spent “billions” trying to get rid of Diaz-Balrt is as ludicrous as Batistianos still defending that aberrant episode in Cuba’s history.
Diaz-Balart and Mel Martinez quietly exited the political scene at the height of their careers after a millionaire in Puerto Rico who had been giving them money illegally was arrested, and started singing like a canary.
THEIR FRAUD did them in! Their lack of respect for the American people and the office they swore to uphold with dignity did them in!
Junio 30th, 2010 at 23:07
113Barbara Curbelo
Junio 30th, 2010 at 22:01
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In which planet you found a “communist” China??????
Certaintly not in Earth!!!!!
Today’s China is a wild capitalist country where former communist nomenclature became multimillionar elite that exploit the mass of billions human beens and uses extreme force to get obedience……. all this thank to US!!!!!!!…….. moneys that USA borrowed of China could be borrowed from any other hole in the world….. but the technology and market that made China the grotesque economic been it is today can be only found in its best partner….. USA!!!!
The central idea (this idea you tries desperately to avoid) is that, in spite of China’s pseudo richness provided by the ancient economic system this country implemented (Wild Capitalism XIX century style), China’s system like Cuba’s or North Korea’s lead to abuse, killing, repression of the elite that takes desitions without account the people. It is a extremelly imperfect way of gov. that only produce extremely disparities in social development and economical destruction. China exemple can be better, a country where a reduced elite gets all bussines that moves, an multimillion elite that fights killing for keeping their privileges and a gigantic mass of people in extremely poverty, repressed and killed by thousands. The coastal line of the country transformed in western like light and skyscrapers emporious and the rest of the country living in medieval conditions. A bluff that only can show numbers sky high just because the huge amount of people than live in the country. The only hope for this giant is the development of a economical history similar to what happened in western countries where after a wild period like China lives today the society developed to a milded system that eventualy ended in what most of western countries lives today, it mind, real socialism and democracy. Until that, countries with such wild systems like China, Vietnam and Cuba can only show us them are the best place in the world to study the theories of Marx and Enegels about primitive capitalism.
Junio 30th, 2010 at 22:01
FREUD
#112 -
Yeap! We’re still standing, thanks to communist China’s bailouts???
Junio 30th, 2010 at 21:24
105Barbara Curbelo
Junio 28th, 2010 at 20:06
Freud - #103 - Sorry, I didn’t post the friend’s observations:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
American people has chosen to exercise its democracy with only 2 parties or 3 some times, for them it has worked amazing well……. this system drove the country to the higest position in world’s economical development and political influence…. this system can be changed by US people as they please but americans prefered to make changes in another directions….. they has transformed the 2 existing parties through the history in accordance with times needs and political-ideological fashion. in a time Republicans were the liberals (left) party, fighting for slavery end and industrial development while Democrats were right leaned party, the KKK party. Nowadays trends in each party is completely oposed.
To solve a problem there are rarely more than 2 ways…… that’s why 2 parties system is a pragmatic way to enclose diferents opinions and ways to find solutions to country problems. In other countries you can find several parties (3, 5, 10, 28!!!), that’s ok too but I doubt all parties in those countries can find diferents ways to solve same problem….. that’s why they end making coalitions…..
What you can be sure is that the 1 party system you defend is the worst thing can happen to a country….. this leads to abuse, desinformation, repression, destruction, inmorality and dependence…… all those things can be easely founds in countries like Cuba, North Korea, China, etc. So, your friend can learn a lot of ani democratic system ……. even those with just 2 parties that watch each other carefuly and are ready to denounce the other party if this does not work with exellence for lands prosperity and happyness………
Junio 30th, 2010 at 20:57
110Barbara Curbelo
Junio 30th, 2010 at 11:34
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Can be but there are millions more that are sure a tiranny, a murderous tiranny is not the way…… only accomplices and people that profit with tirannies can pretend it is a better way to represent peoples will.
Junio 30th, 2010 at 11:34
#108 - RICK
“fools is a good description for those who would believe that the spin…”
That is exactly how millions elsewhere feel about your spin on “free and fair elections” in a plutocracy.
Junio 30th, 2010 at 07:06
Amnesty report slams Cuba
3:06 PM Wednesday Jun 30, 2010
Amnesty International has released a damning report on Cuba’s repressive regime.
Cuba uses repressive laws, a well-oiled state security apparatus and complicit courts to stifle political dissent as it harasses, spies on and imprisons those who openly oppose its communist system, Amnesty International said in a report released today.
The 35-page analysis said restrictions on expressing views deviating from the official line are “systematic and entrenched,” despite the government’s taking “some limited steps to address long-standing suppression of freedom of expression.”
Cuba’s government did not respond to a request for comment. It routinely dismisses international human rights groups as tools of the United States.
Amnesty found that things have not improved since February 2008, when Cuba signed the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, and it blasted official prohibitions on individual liberties in the name of national security and in response to Washington’s 48-year trade sanctions.
“No matter how detrimental its impact, the US embargo is a lame excuse for violating the rights of citizens, as it can in no way diminish the obligation on the Cuban government to protect, respect and fulfill the human rights of all Cubans,” the report said.
It was compiled using sources on and off the island but contained no firsthand research since Amnesty has been banned from visiting Cuba since 1990.
Cuba’s human rights situation has been tense since the February 23 death of dissident Orlando Zapata Tamayo, considered by Amnesty International a prisoner of conscience, after a long hunger strike behind bars. Another opposition activist, Guillermo Farinas, has refused to eat or drink since then, though he has received fluids and nutrients intravenously at a hospital near his home in central Cuba.
Both cases drew international condemnation which has softened some since the government reached an agreement with the Roman Catholic Church to transfer political prisoners held far from their families to facilities closer to home, and to give better access to medical care for inmates who need it.
That led to the transfer of seven prisoners and the release for health reasons of Ariel Sigler, who became a paraplegic while imprisoned. All were among 75 activists, community organizers and journalists who defy island controls on media arrested in a crackdown on organized dissent in March 2003.
The Amnesty report noted that through the decades, “hundreds of prisoners of conscience have been imprisoned in Cuba for the peaceful expression of their views.”
“The legal, bureaucratic and administrative infrastructure built up over the years to silence government opponents and maintain the one party system remains largely intact,” it said, adding that those opponents “continue to be intimidated and harassed, arbitrarily detained or imprisoned after unfair, often summary, trials.”
Cuba says it holds no political prisoners and safeguards human rights by providing citizens with free education and health care, as well as heavily subsidized housing, utilities, transportation and food.
Still, Wednesday’s report states that even dissidents outside prison face temporary detentions, interrogations and warnings at police stations, concluding that such intimidation has served to “create a climate of fear in Cuban society.”
Cuba’s criminal code offers an array of charges to limit dissent, according to the report, including pre-criminal dangerousness, enemy propaganda, contempt of authority, rebellion, acts against state security, distribution of false news and, simply, resistance.
“The lack of independence and impartiality of the judiciary means that these vaguely worded offenses have been used to punish the legitimate exercise of freedom of expression,” it said.
Cuba can arrest citizens accused of having a “dangerous disposition,” the report said. Those convicted of potentially committing a crime can be sentenced to therapy, police surveillance or reeducation.
Authorities also ensure citizens remain cut off from opposition views, Amnesty found, by maintaining a virtual monopoly on media. It noted that the “Law of Security of Information” prohibits internet access from home for most Cubans, but praised island bloggers who provide uncensored information in defiance of state website filters.
- AP
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/worl.....amp;pnum=0
Junio 29th, 2010 at 23:32
#107 curbelo
No rant, no fume and fools is a good description for those who would believe that the spin put on the ‘parliamentary” tale you tell is anywhere near reality for the authoritarian dictatorship that rules Cuba, the worse of it is that you would believe it yourself but self delusion is mandatory for those that suffer from ideophobia.
Junio 29th, 2010 at 22:58
#106 - RICK -
“The farcical mode of your reply does nothing to respond to my comments other than to exhibit the rancor that you support. “
—
You can rant and fume all you want, but my friend brilliantly placed all the cards on the table. This is what you can expect from millions like my friend in Cuba; who are nobody’s fools…
Junio 29th, 2010 at 08:28
Curbelo #105
The farcical mode of your reply does nothing to respond to my comments other than to exhibit the rancor that you support. While the two large established parties produce a majority of all candidates there is a burgeoning number of independent candidates and you also ignore the fact that grass-roots groups in the USA have considerable influence and do sway the policies and goals of elected officials in the US as well as bringing forward individuals who affect change in those parties whereas in Cuba and other regimes with authoritarian leaders all decisions are made by the closed leadership in this case the Castro brothers.
In spite of your glibness and attempts to divert my words into a condemnation of the democratic system of countries other than Cuba’s it is in fact Cuba which is struggling under a supposed “parliamentarian” mode of rule which is actually one constrained by the iron fist of its Castro dictatorship.
Junio 28th, 2010 at 20:06
Freud - #103 - Sorry, I didn’t post the friend’s observations:
HOW THE “DECLARATION ON CRITERIA FOR FREE AND FAIR ELECTIONS” APPLIES TO U.S. PLUTOCRACY:
1) Citizen A wants to exercise his right “to take part in the government of his country directly” by having “an equal opportunity to become a candidate for election….individually or in association with others”.
a) He has to make sure of associating with others from:
-The only TWO (2) parties with not only “unhindered”, but with any access at all to “reaching the public, and to share equally in the benefits given by the state to parties and other candidates”.
- The only TWO (2) parties with the money for their candidates to “move freely within the country in order to campaign for election”.
- The only TWO (2) parties -yes, the ones sharing the exercise of government through its three branches- that are allowed to “campaign on an equal basis with other -that is to say, ‘the only other’- political parties -which really means ‘party’, in singular”.
- The only TWO (2) parties that have “an equal opportunity of access to the media, particularly the mass communications media”.
b) Citizen A has to make sure that the “others” from one of the only TWO (2) parties sharing government, which he wants to associate with:
-Find it in their own best interest to invest their money on promoting the candidacy of citizen A.
- Convince the moneyed interests that invest in the only TWO (2) parties -with equality, we have to admit- that candidate A is worth paying for the exercise of all the “rights” and “freedoms” so beautifully listed in the declaration.
- Spend the money on the publicity agencies that have sold hamburgers, cars, Viagra, weight loss pills and the whole panoply of stuff the guys between elections who pay have been pushing through the public noses; so this time around the product sold would be candidate citizen A.
c) Once all candidates, citizens A’s have been filtered, sifted through, screened, selected, appointed, designated, propelled, blessed and baptized by money; they are ready to “access the media” and “put forward their political views” that always turns to be (what a coincidence!!!) in the best interests of the guys who grease the political machinery of the same TWO (2) parties with their money.
2) Now citizen B has the opportunity to exercise his “rights”:
He registers, gains access to the ballot (if he can escape the occasional purges of the voters registration), to vote by secret ballot and to believe that he is voting for (paraphrasing again the declaration) - “a freely chosen representative”.
3) Once the “free and fair election” is over, citizen B has four years to exercise the right to complain because his “freely chosen representative” happens to represent the interest of the plutocracy that put the money to buy and corrupt all the freedoms and rights of the Declaration on Criteria for Free and Fair Elections.
Junio 28th, 2010 at 20:00
#103 - FREUD
I asked a friend in Cuba to comment on “Free and Fair Elections as per Rick’s suggested criteria from “Inter-Parliamentary Union, Geneva, Switzerland”
His response is briliant:
Free and open elections allow for political parties to form and present candidates and platforms that would be then voted upon by all citizens of adult age in a democratic way. This would include the following among other rights and responsibilities of the citizens and the governing party at the time of regularly scheduled electoral terms for all political offices in the nation.
Since I am not a scholar but simply a man who has spent most of his life working on the sea I have paraphrased and am quoting from sources that describe what I believe to be a fair and equitable way to conduct elections.
Freedom to express political views through the electoral process.
This right includes the freedom to register and vote, to form political parties, to run for political office at all levels, to have unhindered access to the ballot and to the means of reaching the public, and to share equally in the benefits given by the state to parties and their candidates.
The right of everyone to take part in the government of his or her country directly or indirectly through freely chosen representatives, to vote in such elections by secret ballot, to have an equal opportunity to become a candidate for election, and to put forward his or her political views, individually or in association with others.
My primary source is the Inter-Parliamentary Union, Geneva, Switzerland. http://www.ipu.org/cnl-e/154-free.htm
DECLARATION ON CRITERIA FOR FREE AND FAIR ELECTIONS
Inter-Parliamentary Council at its 154th session (Paris, 26 March 1994)
Free and Fair Elections
In any State the authority of the government can only derive from the will of the people as expressed in genuine, free and fair elections held at regular intervals on the basis of universal, equal and secret suffrage.
Everyone has the right to join, or together with others to establish, a political party or organization for the purpose of competing in an election.
Everyone individually and together with others has the right:
• To express political opinions without interference;
• To seek, receive and impart information and to make an informed choice;
• To move freely within the country in order to campaign for election;
• To campaign on an equal basis with other political parties, including the party forming the existing government.
Every candidate for election and every political party shall have an equal opportunity of access to the media, particularly the mass communications media, in order to put forward their political views.
The right of candidates to security with respect to their lives and property shall be recognized and protected.
Every individual and every political party has the right to the protection of the law and to a remedy for violation of political and electoral rights.
Candidature, party and campaign rights carry responsibilities to the community. In particular, no candidate or political party shall engage in violence.
Every candidate and political party competing in an election shall respect the rights and freedoms of others.
Every candidate and political party competing in an election shall accept the outcome of a free and fair election.
Provide for the formation and free functioning of political parties, possibly regulate the funding of political parties and electoral campaigns, ensure the separation of party and State, and establish the conditions for competition in legislative elections on an equitable basis;
States shall respect and ensure the human rights of all individuals within their territory and subject to their jurisdiction. In time of elections, the State and its organs should therefore ensure:
• That freedom of movement, assembly, association and expression are respected, particularly in the context of political rallies and meetings;
• That parties and candidates are free to communicate their views to the electorate, and that they enjoy equality of access to State and public-service media;
• That the necessary steps are taken to guarantee non-partisan coverage in State and public-service media.
In order that elections shall be fair, States should take the necessary measures to ensure that parties and candidates enjoy reasonable opportunities to present their electoral platform.
States should take all necessary and appropriate measures to ensure that the principle of the secret ballot is respected, and that voters are able to cast their ballots freely, without fear or intimidation.
Furthermore, State authorities should ensure that the ballot is conducted so as to avoid fraud or other illegality, that the security and the integrity of the process is maintained, and that ballot counting is undertaken by trained personnel, subject to monitoring and/or impartial verification.
States should take all necessary and appropriate measures to ensure the transparency of the entire electoral process including, for example, through the presence of party agents and duly accredited observers.
States should take the necessary measures to ensure that parties, candidates and supporters enjoy equal security, and that State authorities take the necessary steps to prevent electoral violence.
States should ensure that violations of human rights and complaints relating to the electoral process are determined promptly within the time frame of the electoral process and effectively by an independent and impartial authority, such as an electoral commission or the courts.
Junio 28th, 2010 at 02:10
101Barbara Curbelo
Junio 27th, 2010 at 00:35
#99 - You just can’t handle the facts.
Again, encourage Yoani to run for public office.
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It has been proven through all years this bold imitation of parliament has existed that no others than resvile supporters of castrofascism and assasins accomplices of castrofascism crimes can be voted for this ridiculous show…… all others are blocked and hidered to be voted out…….. furthermore…….. suposeding any other person get to be voted and “elected” for this farse the result will be irrelevant because this fake parliament does not take any political, economical or rganisative desition that can be implemented simply because it is not addressed with real powers but nominal and non working atributions that make it inoperant…… this is a complete scam that just serves castrofascim to lure the international public opinion to think there is a parlamentary gov in Cuba when all we know it is the tyranny, the corrupt elite that controls the country the only real and executive power in the country….. laws, decretes, administrative rules and economical dispositions are taken by this elite without account with no other real or fake “institution” in Cuba……. this is very easy to demonstrate….. so, who do you pretend to lure silly agent????
Junio 28th, 2010 at 01:36
VIVA ZAPATA
Junio 27th, 2010 at 00:35
#99 - You just can’t handle the facts.
Again, encourage Yoani to run for public office.
Junio 27th, 2010 at 00:34
98Barbara Curbelo
Junio 27th, 2010 at 00:03
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
One of this misserabkles members of castrofascist “parliament” the accomplice of castrofascism crimes silvio rodrigues came to US to try to start a propaganda raid in favor of those 5 criminals jailed in USA for killing cuban peoples…… it was a total failure……. just for an example, the last “concert” in Orlando was a total ridiculous…… there were more people protesting outside than people inside and some of the people inside raised their voice to ask for “LONG LIFE FOR ZAPATA TAMAYO”!!!!!!!!
Junio 27th, 2010 at 00:29
98Barbara Curbelo
Junio 27th, 2010 at 00:03
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Cuba has no paliament but a bunch of thugs pointed and raised by castrofascist elite, a group of yes men that just serves elites interests in exchange of some small and ridiculous benefits….. they perform same tryst task thugs in this page does: to support the most criminal regimen America has had in the last 2 centuries….. a criminal regimen that shows the absolute record in killing, jailing and represing its people and exporting massmurdering to its neighbor countries and persuing the cuban nation our its borders and kill all opposers even thise that just worked for its fellows landsman salvation as Brothers to Rescue killed by the 5 spies righteous jailed today in USA.
Junio 27th, 2010 at 00:03
#93 - “There is no vote for the President”
—
The Parliament elects the President, Vice Presidents, Secretaries, and I am pretty certain that they also elect members of El Consejo de Ministros (Ministro de EducaciĂłn, Ministro de Agricultura, Ministro de Cultura, etc.), but I am not completely certain at this time.
The Cuban Parliament divides its work into different commissions throughout the year, and meets twice a year for parliamentary sessions.
The President, VP & Secretaries, form the Consejo de Estado, is a governing body which takes over between parliamentary sessions, and which presents laws to Parliament for their vote of approval or disapproval. Only Parliament can pass laws.
The Cuban Armed Forces and other organizations representing masses, such as the Cuban Women’s Federation , each elect their own representatives to Parliament.
There are members of Parliament who are not members of the Communist Party.
NO ONE CAN SIT IN THE CUBAN PARLIAMENT UNLESS THEY HAVE BEEN ELECTED BY 50% + 1 % OF ALL REGISTRED VOTERS;
NOT JUST 50% PLUS 1% OF THOSE CHOOSING TO EXERCISE THEIR RIGHT TO VOTE, BUT 50% PLUS 1% OF ALL REGISTERED VOTERS, AND ELECTIONS CONTINUE LOCALLY UNTIL SOMEONE MEETS THE MARK.
As I already explained, elections in Cuba never have less than 90% of all registered voters’ participation. Votes are counted at the end of the day, right at the precincts for anyone to examine.
The Cuban government has encouraged DISSIDENTS to run for public office and get into Parliament where they can not only exercise their voting rights, but be a voice in decision-making affecting all areas of life in Cuba.
Of-course, that would require them to do more than sit around and criticize everything 24/7. They would actually have to work and be responsible for, and accountable to, others.
They would have to win the trust of their neighbors to get their votes, but with Yoani getting so many winks and nods from neighbors passing her by on the streets she should have no problem getting their votes.
2 problems I foresee, however, were she to throw her hat (braids?) into the race. Well, actually 3:
1. She will have to get on a bus to and from meetings, so that she won’t have to fend-off all those male drivers lusting uncontrollably after her legs. There are members of Parliament and the government at large that ride bikes to work. (imagine our members of Congress and the President’s staff doing that!).
2. She’ll have to kiss the dollars and i-phones from abroad good-bye. This is probably the most difficult hurdle she’ll encounter, â€cause we all know how exuberant she was about that i-phone.
3. She will not be getting those trophies, awards, and public mentions, and applauses she has grown so accustomed to. But, all those winks and nods can be very gratifying…
Junio 26th, 2010 at 20:36
Post 96, no they don’t. They describe YOU. Blinded by your mental dramas, are you?
Post 95, when you manage to debunk ONE thing I said, that will be the start of a new millenium. As you have no chance in hell living that long, you have to accept the fact that you just cannot debunk a single thing because yo simply cannot raise to the occasion.
Zero brain = zero sense.
Zero facts = zero debunking.
Happy reading here. Many from your own world, the usa, are smarter than you and know well what is going on. Here’s a DEBUNKING of claims perpetuated here that Castro bross do not want the embargo and sanctions to cease:
http://www.globalresearch.ca/i.....;aid=18664
Damir = 10 siggie/youbanned/alberticus/whatever = 0
As per usual.
A thought:
If you brainless humanoids think that calling me names is “debunking” something, bear in mind that the only thing debunked is your ideologycal self-righteousness.
You yourselves, by attacking personally, are showing tho the world (the one you think reads these pages here - dream on) that you have got nothing to say because yours is just a far-wrong nazist propaganda.
One that handles the facts needs no violence to prove him/herself right.
The other, the wrong one, does.
(a hint: that’s you siggie, youbanned, alberticus, humboldt/whatever)
Junio 26th, 2010 at 16:31
Dumbir thanks for echoing my words, they do describe you to a T don’t they.
Junio 26th, 2010 at 12:12
Damierda,
You can hit my never anytime buddy! I love to debunk your lies and distortions of the truth about the situation in Cuba papito!
de·bunk (d-bngk)
tr.v. de·bunked, de·bunk·ing, de·bunks
To expose or ridicule the falseness, sham, or exaggerated claims of
Junio 26th, 2010 at 06:47
I said: “As per usual, a lot of swearing and emty statements of very general nature.”
The immediate reaction by one of the residents disturbed:
“Dumbir the communist cur trying to sound superior and all-knowing as usual. Dumbir you jackass you wouldn’t know reality and reason if it hit you on the nose with the butt end of a kalashnikov. You offer nothing to this forum other than your anachronistic, bankrupt and delusional rantings and fantasies about evil capitalists lurking under every bed. You are an obsessive hater of all things American. You are a little man with a little pecker complex. You know nothing of Cuba it’s history and people. You do nothing but repeat the cliched rantings of your idols, the criminals that have ruined Cuba. You and your buddy Barabara Culerodefidel are perfect examples of the people the revolution has produced, brainwashed, mindless, immoral sycophants so devoid of reason and humanity that you are reduced to spouting lies, slander and misrepresentations to justify your pathetic cause. I take great pleasure in belittling you you moron and I will not go away. As long as you the hag BC and other spineless parasites show up here defending the criminal regime you will be confronted and not allowed to spout your lies and venom unchallenged.”
So, I keep hitting the poor immigrant’s nerve.
Let us all note that the multiple personality author does not actually debunk nothing I have ever said.
The logical conclusion from there:
It is clear that he understands and agrees with the fact that what Barbara or I are saying is actually true.
It is just that he hates the truth.
Naturally, any civilised debate is a non-event. But what civility to expect from an immigrant intimidated by the truth and his own mental inferiority?
None. That is too much to ask from a primate.
Junio 26th, 2010 at 01:26
Political parties and elections
Main article: Elections in Cuba
Suffrage is afforded to Cuban citizens resident for two years on the island who are aged over sixteen years and who have not been found guilty of a criminal offense. Cubans living abroad are denied the right to vote. The national elections for the 609 members of the National Assembly of People’s Power are held according to this system, and the precepts of the 1976 Constitution. From 1959 to 1976 there was no legislative branch. In 1992 the Constitution was reformed to allow direct vote to elect the members to the National Assembly, but the candidates are pre-screened by the Communist Party. There was only one candidate for each seat in the January 19th, 2003 election. The system [4] works as a stepping ladder: neighbors meet to propose the candidates to the Municipal Assemblies. The candidates do not present any political platform, but only their resumes. Then the municipal candidates elected in each neighborhood elect the Municipal Assembly members. The Municipal Assembly members in turn elect the Provincial Assembly members, who in turn elect the national Assembly members. Then direct vote is cast so the people can ratify or not the decanted members that appear in the final step. From 1959 to 1992, the Cuban people was not afforded the right to vote for the members of the legislative power. The executive power is elected by the National Assembly. There is no vote for the President or the Prime Minister. Political parties besides the Communist Party of Cuba exist within the country legally since 1992. Nevertheless, the Constitutional reform of 1992 that granted their right to exist, at the same time denied their right to gather or publicize their existence, The most important of these are the Christian Democratic Party of Cuba, the Cuban Socialist Democratic Current, the Democratic Social-Revolutionary Party of Cuba, the Democratic Solidarity Party, the Liberal Party of Cuba and the Social Democratic Co-ordination of Cuba.
Human Rights
Main article: Human Rights in Cuba
According to the Human Rights Watch, Castro constructed a “repressive machinery” which continues to deprive Cubans of their basic rights.[12]
The Cuban government has been accused of numerous human rights abuses, including torture, arbitrary imprisonment, unfair trials, and extrajudicial executions (a.k.a. “El ParedĂłn”).[13] The Human Rights Watch reports that the regime represses nearly all forms of political dissent. There are many restrictions on leaving the country.[14]
Corruption
Main article: Corruption in Cuba
In their book, Corruption in Cuba, Sergio Diaz-Briquets and Jorge F. PĂ©rez-LĂłpez state that while corruption existed before Castro, the Castro regime institutionalized it; Castro’s state-run monopolies, cronyism, and lack of accountability turned Cuba into one of the world’s most corrupt states.[15] As in other former socialist countries, few citizens hesitate to steal from the government when given opportunity. Since the vast majority of people are in state jobs and the state makes up much of the economy petty crime is widespread.[15]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Politics_of_Cuba
Junio 26th, 2010 at 00:05
#91 - RICK -
“Why is the PCC the only party in Cuba and why are there no term limits?
Free and fair elections include the following;
This right includes the freedom …to form political parties, ”
—
Article 5 of the Cuban Constitution states that the Communist Party of Cuba is the official state party.
In 1992 the existence of other parties was legalized:
Christian Democratic Party of Cuba, the Cuban Democratic Socialist Current, the Democratic Social-Revolutionary Party of Cuba, the Democratic Solidarity Party, the Liberal Party of Cuba and the Social Democratic Co-ordination of Cuba, are the most notable ones.
The Communist Party as well as the others are prohibited from making public political speeches and campaigning in elections.
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“…to run for political office at all levels… Everyone has the right to join, or together with others to establish, a political party or organization for the purpose of competing in an election.”
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Why is competition a right or a necessity? What are you competing for?
Every and any individual in Cuba can aspire for any office the people are willing to elect her/him to; without having to raise a dime, attack anyone’s character, or campaign. All he/she has to do is post her/his record of service and let that record of service to the people speak for itself.
If the people do not choose her/him, there is always the opportunity between elections to prove your abilities to your community.
Remember, money is NOT an issue.
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“A term limit is a legal restriction that limits the number of terms a person may serve in a particular elected office. Term limits are found usually in presidential and semi-presidential systems as a method to curb the potential for dictatorships, where a leader effectively becomes “president for life”. There are different types of term limits. Sometimes, there is an absolute limit on the number of terms a person can serve, while, in other cases, the restrictions are merely on the number of consecutive terms a person can serve.”
If it is a democracy you speak of, don’t forget the words of Thomas Jefferson, “A democracy is nothing more than mob rule, where fifty-one percent of the people may take away the rights of the other forty-nine.”
So I ask you, if the people decide by a majority of the vote time and again, isn’t that democracy?
I have entrusted my life to the same doctor for years, and wouldn’t think of switching doctors because I am well cared for. I would think it absurd for anyone to demand I relinquish that right to stick with the doctor that best cares for me, for as long as that physician is able to render competent and professional services.
Why should it be different when entrusting someone with my vote IF elections are transparent; when money is not an issue, when public office only represents a great deal of sacrifice on the part of the elected party (instead of privileges for the political representatives and her/his cronies, a measly salary; and when anyone can run for office if she/he so chooses?
Junio 25th, 2010 at 17:25
#81 Curbelo
Why is the PCC the only party in Cuba and why are there no term limits?
Free and fair elections include the following;
This right includes the freedom …to form political parties, to run for political office at all levels… Everyone has the right to join, or together with others to establish, a political party or organization for the purpose of competing in an election.
A term limit is a legal restriction that limits the number of terms a person may serve in a particular elected office. Term limits are found usually in presidential and semi-presidential systems as a method to curb the potential for dictatorships, where a leader effectively becomes “president for life”. There are different types of term limits. Sometimes, there is an absolute limit on the number of terms a person can serve, while, in other cases, the restrictions are merely on the number of consecutive terms a person can serve.
Junio 25th, 2010 at 13:31
Barabera Culerodefidel says: “Cuba has the most democratic elections on the planet”.
What planet is that BC, Uranus?
Junio 25th, 2010 at 12:16
Yours is the “short violent life w/a violent ending; your threats & insults, your attitude in general is perhaps how you conduct your life, irresponsibly.
One day (which I hope is never) you might run against someone with a “short fuse” & your courage will be tested.
I belive you’ll react as all bullies do … you’ll run.
Junio 25th, 2010 at 12:09
…is this election process from nomination to election by a real secret ballot?
Junio 25th, 2010 at 12:08
Funny you mention posting problems … I have experienced them here & there …
I am happy not to be the only one.
I mentioned a while back that perhaps the reBolution has the know how & the technical expertise borrowed from the chinese to “interfere” w/this & other bloggs …
Junio 25th, 2010 at 10:43
#81 - RICK -
Are you aware that the Cuban Parliament is a member of the Inter-Parliamentary Union?
http://www.ipu.org/english/membshp.htm
Cuba has the most democratic elections on the planet:
1. The election process begins at local neighborhood meetings in which the people themselves, individually nominate anybody they want to, as their candidate for that election.
a. More than 50,000 such meetings will take place throughout t
b. The people present candidates; not electoral parties.
2. Delegates are elected at various precincts that constitute a municipality.
a. Every municipality has a number of precincts depending on its population and size
b. Every precinct is divided into nominating areas;
In heavily populated areas like Havana, this might be one block, but in the country it will be a larger surrounding area.
3. Every nominating area will have meetings in which different candidates are proposed by their neighbors, and the winner is determined by majority vote at the ballots
a. There must be at least 2 and no more than 8 candidates
b. The winner must have at least 50% plus one of the vote.
c. More often than not there must be run-offs between those receiving the highest number of votes.
d. This electoral process throughout the entire island, in which thousands of elections take place, first on a smaller scale, and later on a larger one.
e. There are 8, 400,000electors with the capacity to nominate.
4. Voter registration is automatic.
a. You have a right to vote when you reach 16 years of age
b. Itâ€s a birth right - like health care and education.
c. It’s made possible only by a lot of participation and volunteer work. Nearly all citizens volunteer.
5. Photos and biographies of the candidates will be placed in different public areas.
a. the drugstore, the market, the bus-stop, etc.
b. Each candidate is allowed the same number of pages for their biographies.
c. The following are not available to any candidate: radio or television adds, billboards, or any of the other costly campaigning methods.
6. From early morning until night time thousands of volunteers make voting day a success.
a. Voters show their ID cards, a volunteer will confirm it is on the list (to make sure they are voting at the right place), mark it off, and give the voter a ballot.
b. Voters go inside a private place and cast their vote in secret.
c. They then come out and place the ballot in a box.
d. At the end of the day the box is opened.
7. The ballots MUST be counted in public and the result has to be published there.
8. Volunteers do not receive salaries, and the only costs are for the printing of the ballots, and the dissemination of the results.
9. The turnout is always about 90%.
a. Perhaps because nearly everyone is involved in one way or another in the process
b. Everyone either knows a candidate personally, or knows someone who does.
c. They know how that person was place on the ballot.
d. There is a more direct connection between candidates and voters.
Junio 24th, 2010 at 21:16
Trudeau
Junio 24th, 2010 at 17:09
Barbara Curbelo,
So long as Granma is available online in two languages, there is no need to copy and paste Cuban government press releases
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Is that true brother? Is she paste from Granma?….No qwonder all the crap I red on her post!!!!!!!!!1Cubans only get the news paper “granma” as toilet paper.despite that is the official news paper from the comunist party..
Junio 24th, 2010 at 20:06
DAMIR you are fabulous! You are the only reason I come back to this pit of stupidity.
Against stupidity the very gods Themselves contend in vain.
- Friedrich von Schiller
Junio 24th, 2010 at 19:17
POOR SILVIO(sarcasm)! HE DID NOT SELL OUT HIS CONCERT IN TAMPA!HE ALSO DID NOT WANT TO BE RECORDED BY THE MEDIA WHEN HE DEDICATED ONE OF HIS SONGS TO THE 5 SPIES!!
GUESS HE CAN ONLY HAVE 5 HOUSES INSTEAD OF 6 NOW! A TRUE COMMUNIST!!(heavy sarcasm!)
Rechazo a concierto de Silvio RodrĂguez en Orlando, Florida
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KHKYI50j7BI
ABC:”En Cuba no se detiene a nadie por opinar”-SAN JUAN. El cantautor cubano Silvio RodrĂguez, quien regresará a Estados Unidos con una gira de conciertos en junio prĂłximo, dijo que Cuba es un paĂs “con mucho debate” donde “no se detiene a nadie por opinar”.
Entrevista a Silvio Rodriguez por Jaime Baily 4/4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v.....r_embedded
IMPRISSONED JOURNALISTS
TOP OFFENDERS
China= 24 jailed journalists
Iran = 23 jailed journalists
Cuba = 22 jailed journalists
Junio 24th, 2010 at 17:09
Barbara Curbelo,
So long as Granma is available online in two languages, there is no need to copy and paste Cuban government press releases, unless, of course, you are being paid to do so. The news that Cuba is a member of the UN Human Rights Commission is not of course any guarantee of respect for human rights in that country. Libya and Kyrgystan are also members. This particular dark corner of the UN has traditionally drawn the ire of the American right — the Jack Bolton’s of the world. Unfortunately they are right. For a better idea of reality, read the UN rapporteur’s reviews of human rights on the island. I have only been able to find them until the late 90’s but they are uniformly tough on Cuba’s practices. And we all know that nothing has changed.
Junio 24th, 2010 at 16:53
#78 Curbelo
Free and open elections allow for political parties to form and present candidates and platforms that would be then voted upon by all citizens of adult age in a democratic way. This would include the following among other rights and responsibilities of the citizens and the governing party at the time of regularly scheduled electoral terms for all political offices in the nation.
Since I am not a scholar but simply a man who has spent most of his life working on the sea I have paraphrased and am quoting from sources that describe what I believe to be a fair and equitable way to conduct elections.
Freedom to express political views through the electoral process.
This right includes the freedom to register and vote, to form political parties, to run for political office at all levels, to have unhindered access to the ballot and to the means of reaching the public, and to share equally in the benefits given by the state to parties and their candidates.
The right of everyone to take part in the government of his or her country directly or indirectly through freely chosen representatives, to vote in such elections by secret ballot, to have an equal opportunity to become a candidate for election, and to put forward his or her political views, individually or in association with others.
My primary source is the Inter-Parliamentary Union, Geneva, Switzerland. http://www.ipu.org/cnl-e/154-free.htm
DECLARATION ON CRITERIA FOR FREE AND FAIR ELECTIONS
Inter-Parliamentary Council at its 154th session (Paris, 26 March 1994)
Free and Fair Elections
In any State the authority of the government can only derive from the will of the people as expressed in genuine, free and fair elections held at regular intervals on the basis of universal, equal and secret suffrage.
Everyone has the right to join, or together with others to establish, a political party or organization for the purpose of competing in an election.
Everyone individually and together with others has the right:
• To express political opinions without interference;
• To seek, receive and impart information and to make an informed choice;
• To move freely within the country in order to campaign for election;
• To campaign on an equal basis with other political parties, including the party forming the existing government.
Every candidate for election and every political party shall have an equal opportunity of access to the media, particularly the mass communications media, in order to put forward their political views.
The right of candidates to security with respect to their lives and property shall be recognized and protected.
Every individual and every political party has the right to the protection of the law and to a remedy for violation of political and electoral rights.
Candidature, party and campaign rights carry responsibilities to the community. In particular, no candidate or political party shall engage in violence.
Every candidate and political party competing in an election shall respect the rights and freedoms of others.
Every candidate and political party competing in an election shall accept the outcome of a free and fair election.
Provide for the formation and free functioning of political parties, possibly regulate the funding of political parties and electoral campaigns, ensure the separation of party and State, and establish the conditions for competition in legislative elections on an equitable basis;
States shall respect and ensure the human rights of all individuals within their territory and subject to their jurisdiction. In time of elections, the State and its organs should therefore ensure:
• That freedom of movement, assembly, association and expression are respected, particularly in the context of political rallies and meetings;
• That parties and candidates are free to communicate their views to the electorate, and that they enjoy equality of access to State and public-service media;
• That the necessary steps are taken to guarantee non-partisan coverage in State and public-service media.
In order that elections shall be fair, States should take the necessary measures to ensure that parties and candidates enjoy reasonable opportunities to present their electoral platform.
States should take all necessary and appropriate measures to ensure that the principle of the secret ballot is respected, and that voters are able to cast their ballots freely, without fear or intimidation.
Furthermore, State authorities should ensure that the ballot is conducted so as to avoid fraud or other illegality, that the security and the integrity of the process is maintained, and that ballot counting is undertaken by trained personnel, subject to monitoring and/or impartial verification.
States should take all necessary and appropriate measures to ensure the transparency of the entire electoral process including, for example, through the presence of party agents and duly accredited observers.
States should take the necessary measures to ensure that parties, candidates and supporters enjoy equal security, and that State authorities take the necessary steps to prevent electoral violence.
States should ensure that violations of human rights and complaints relating to the electoral process are determined promptly within the time frame of the electoral process and effectively by an independent and impartial authority, such as an electoral commission or the courts.
Junio 24th, 2010 at 15:08
Today the USA sells Cuba 80 percent of its produce. Cubas failed regime is the reason Cubans don’t produce there own food. Please stop blaming the USA for Cubas failures. Fidel,his buddies and Regime Agents a/k/a RATS are the only ones to blame.
Junio 24th, 2010 at 12:34
#75 - CORRECTION of posting #78:
I meant to say that unless I know what you understand “open elections” to be, I cannot respond to your inquiry.
Junio 24th, 2010 at 11:54
#75 - RICK -
“ the failure to hold open elections in Cuba”
I cannot respond unless I know what you understanding “open elections” to be.
A BRIEF CHRONOLOGY OF ANNEXATION:
Cuba’s annexation Is by no means a communist propaganda tool as you seem to infer; it is rather a matter of state policy since the Administrations of Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and John Quincy Adams.
In 1820 Thomas Jefferson thought Cuba “the most interesting addition which could ever be made to our system of States” and told Secretary of War John C. Calhoun that the United States “ought, at the first possible opportunity, to take Cuba.”
In a letter to U.S. Minister to Spain Hugh Nelson, in April 1823, Secretary of State John Quincy Adams asserted the inevitability of Cuba’s annexation, “But there are laws of political as well as of physical gravitation; and if an apple severed by the tempest from its native tree cannot choose but fall to the ground, Cuba, forcibly disjoined from its own unnatural connection with Spain, and incapable of self support, can gravitate only towards the North American Union, which by the same law of nature cannot cast her off from its bosom.”
In “James Madison (The American President series), by Gary Wills, you can read of Madison’s desire to annex Cuba and Canada, and of his obsession with embargo tactics (as well as his deliberate attempts to falsify his memoirs) among other interesting historical facts.
On December 2, 1823, President James Monroe warned European colonies, to keep their hands off Cuba and leave it “for the Americans”, in his proclamation of the Monroe Doctrine.
In 1854 the US secretly tried to obtain Cuba from Spain for $130 million, by what is known as the Ostend Manifesto. Thanks to anti-slavery campaigners who heard of it and objected vehemently, the deal fell through.
In 1845, John L. Sullivan, editor of “Democratic Review“ wrote that no nation on earth should be allowed to interfere with America’s “MANIFEST DESTINY to overspread the continent allotted by Providence for the free development of our yearly multiplying millions.” US expansionism towards the north and the south would be perceived from then on as a most sacred duty.
Sullivan further explained:
God Himself was on the side of those eager to expand the US Territories; given the “fact“ that the US was the land of a chosen people, delivered from Great Britain’s rule and preserved by divine providence and in accordance with a divine plan.
The US was the ultimate savior of the western hemisphere, therefore those placed under its control were being liberated from oppression.
Last but not least; since US population was experiencing rapid growth, it was necessary to expand control of its territory, in order to accommodate the needs of the people of this “chosen” nation
Six years later the American ministers to France, Spain and England joined in writing a confidential memorandum to Washington (known as the Ostend Manifesto) urging President Franklin Pierce to either purchase Cuba or forcefully wrest control of the island from Spain
In the meantime, Venezuelan born Narciso LĂłpez, prepared four expeditions into Cuba at the behest of US interests; in an effort to get Cubans to rally behind his forces in ousting the Spaniards. The people of Cuba were more terrified by the gun crazy foreigners than the Spaniards, and his attempts failed for lack of popular support.
By 1877, the United States controlled 83 % of Cuba’s exports, and controlled prices and production.
As Cuba’s unrest augmented, and its economy was adversely affected, real estate prices plummeted creating unrivaled bargains for US wealthy consumers, now able to acquire previously unattainable posh estates and many other properties at ridiculously low prizes.
When rebellion broke out once again in Cuba in 1895, Secretary of State Richard Olney immediately resounded the already popular US sentiment, “The United States is practically sovereign upon this continent, and its fiat is law upon subjects to which it confines its interposition.”
1895 William Randolph Hearst acquired the New York Journal and immediately launched a circulation war against the other giant of newspaper publishing, Joseph Pulitzer’s New York World. To compete for readers, the two newspapers stooped to heavy coverage of scandal and sex-related content beneath glaring headlines designed to capture attention. In addition to what we would today call “tabloid” journalism, colorful cartoons were used to draw loyal audiences
In response, the Spanish government sent General Valeriano Weyler y Nicolau to pacify the island in 1896. General Weyler responded by identifying districts that posed the greatest trouble to maintaining control over Cuba, then herded the civilian populations in those districts to detention camps near military headquarters. It was a policy he called reconcentrado. As a result of this action, more than 100,000 Cubans starved or died of disease before General Weyler was recalled in October, 1897
General Weyler’s heavy handedness made for sensational newspaper stories and political cartoons.
Even after General Weyler returned to Spain on October 31, 1897, US yellow journalism kept forging public opinion about the need and divine duty of the US to get involved.
Right before the war was declared, New York Journal publisher William Randolph Hearst sent the famous Western artist Frederick Remington to Cuba to sketch Cuban insurgents fighting for their independence from Spain. Remington found little to draw and sent his boss a telegram, “Everything quiet, no trouble here. There will be no war. I wish to return.” To which Hearst responded, “You furnish the pictures and I’ll furnish the war.”
In the spring of 1898 when Cubans were about to oust Spanish forces forever, the United States entered into war with Spain, its first major foreign war. This was a war desired by the US for more than 25 years. It marked the beginning of US imperialism, and turned the US into a world power.
The press sensationalized the war, and Theodore Roosevelt would be propelled into the White House within 3 years, in large part on the basis of his war exploits.
General Calixto Garcia having refused to allow his men to do menial tasks assigned by US leaders, was forbidden to participate in the victory march.
After the dust settled Cuba’s Generals were concerned about future generations loosing their sense of Cuban identity if US forces remained on the island, and thus agreed to the Platt Amendment which stipulated the conditions for the withdrawal of US troops remaining from Cuba, and made the US the official overseer of Cuba’s political and economic affairs until 1934.
Washington’s man, Fulgencio Batista had already seized control of Cuba since 1933, and served US interests well. In 1959, Cuba finally accomplished what the Mambises set out to do, but for US intervention.
Washington has since imposed new obstacles to Cuba’s independence:
February 3, 1962 - in order to isolate Cuba, Washington stops all US imports of Cuban products, or products imported from or through this island.
The bans the sale of US products to Cuba, causing Cuba’s economy to loose 79.3 billion US dollars over more than four decades.
Although the Cuban government insists that Cuba does not represent nor has ever represented a threat to US national security, the United States insists that the situation is one of national emergency; without proffering any evidence to corroborate such claims.
Seven or more out of 10 Cubans have been born under this blockade and its detrimental limitations
Junio 24th, 2010 at 06:41
Dumbir the communist cur trying to sound superior and all-knowing as usual. Dumbir you jackass you wouldn’t know reality and reason if it hit you on the nose with the butt end of a kalashnikov. You offer nothing to this forum other than your anachronistic, bankrupt and delusional rantings and fantasies about evil capitalists lurking under every bed. You are an obsessive hater of all things American. You are a little man with a little pecker complex. You know nothing of Cuba it’s history and people. You do nothing but repeat the cliched rantings of your idols, the criminals that have ruined Cuba. You and your buddy Barabara Culerodefidel are perfect examples of the people the revolution has produced, brainwashed, mindless, immoral sycophants so devoid of reason and humanity that you are reduced to spouting lies, slander and misrepresentations to justify your pathetic cause. I take great pleasure in belittling you you moron and I will not go away. As long as you the hag BC and other spineless parasites show up here defending the criminal regime you will be confronted and not allowed to spout your lies and venom unchallenged.
Junio 24th, 2010 at 05:31
AS per usual, a lot of swearing and emty statements of very general nature. A number of pathetic doubles, like santiago, for the same person who calls him little self a sigmund…
yuobanned is obviously still struggling with those mental issues that seem to be getting worse by the second. Another idiot pretending to frite n “Yoani’s” name.
All in all, very pathetic and the only satisfaction in this madness is those voices of sense and peace, like Barbara’s.
The majority (the two or three idiots writing under many different nicks pretending to be a “large majority” in this site) are the poor, undeucated immigrants cursed with no brains and overload of adrenaline.
A recipe for a short and violent life with a violent ending. A bunch of stupid morons trying to pleasure themselves in the only way possible: spitting their mental excrement into the thin air.
The fact that it all lends back on their faces, filling their own mouths, noses and eyes makes no difference.
If anything, it exilarates them more… Sure sign of mental distortions and disorders.
Junio 23rd, 2010 at 22:26
#43 Curbelo
I see that rather than respond to the question regarding the failure to hold open elections in Cuba you go on the attack and throw out insults rather than deal civilly with the subject matter.
As to the annexation accusations it is you who continuously brings this up as it seems to be the latest propaganda catch term being put out by the regime’s flunkies to divert attention and further smear Yoani and others who have not in any of their writings that I have read assert that as a goal or desire this is but another tool of propagandist like yourself which is fear mongering
As to Maceo and his statements I still do not see any attribution to your posts regarding the sources so I must research them myself and then you once again attempt to waylay the discussion by attacking the sources I obtain as not being the actual one you quoted, your obviously antagonistic and acerbic rhetoric is simply intended to turn discussion into argument of the lowest form.
Junio 23rd, 2010 at 21:49
For my son, and also thanks to him I write a blog. How could I stare at his face if I went silent? Thanks Teo!
Yoani Sanchez.
Junio 23rd, 2010 at 21:46
Por mi hijo y tambien gracias a el escribo un blog. Como podria mirarle a la cara si me siguiera callando? Gracias Teo!
Yoani Sanchez.
Junio 23rd, 2010 at 21:13
Hi guys. I see you didn’t miss me over here. There have been enough combatants against the tyranny and its puppets like “Culerodefidel”. By the way, this nick is awesome!!! Thanks Yubano for your creativity.
____________________-
Junio 23rd, 2010 at 21:12
Hi guys. I see you didn’t miss me over here. There have been enough combatants against the tyranny and its puppets like “Culerodefidel”. By the way, this nick is awesome!!! Thanks Yubano for your creativity.
Junio 23rd, 2010 at 19:34
Hey “LA CHINA”! DONT STEAL MY IDEA ON THE PAMPERS! I know you and your brother are THE BIGGEST CAPITALISTS IN THE WHOLE WIDE WORLD! This blog post will serve for any futures lawsuits!!
Junio 23rd, 2010 at 18:34
Even better! PAMPERS for us GUSANO parents, grandparents etc with fidel on the INSIDE of the rear of the PAMPERS? I thought of it first! All proceeds go to the dissidents in Cuba! IM SERIOUS!
Junio 23rd, 2010 at 18:31
Yubano! GENIOUS! “Culerodefidel”! Can you see the T-Shirt sales? We got to find a great image!! ANYONE? and we need to Copyright it! Seriously!
Junio 23rd, 2010 at 17:50
Barbara Culerodefidel lives in a f**ked up world where black is white and white is black, where criminals are heros and victims are perpetrators. Anyone who thinks that che was a role model and a heroic figure and that the illegitimate regime Cuba is worth defending has got some serious problems with reality. Self-delusion is a convenient remedy for such tool of the castros. This could be a very challenging case for Dr. Freud.
Junio 23rd, 2010 at 17:33
ASSOCIATED PRESS: Chicago cardinal heads to eastern Cuba for 2 days
HAVANA — The president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops was bound for eastern Cuba on Wednesday to consult with local Roman Catholic priests and pay a visit to the island’s patron saint.
Chicago Cardinal Francis George was traveling to Santiago, Cuba’s second-largest city, where he planned to celebrate Mass at the municipal cathedral, according to Santiago Archbishop Dionisio Garcia.
George will visit the Virgin of Charity of Cobre, Garcia said by phone, and then meet with priests in the area. He has no plans to come to Havana, roughly 600 miles to the west.
“It’s a short trip,” Garcia said, “a fraternal exchange between two brother churches.”
Cuban church officials plan a year of celebration in 2012 to mark the 400th anniversary of the appearance of the Virgin of Charity, and are hopeful Pope Benedict XVI can visit the island that year.
In 1612, three fisherman from the mining town of Cobre found a wooden statue floating off the coast and bearing the label “I am the Virgen de la Caridad,” and she became patron saint of the country. The Vatican has not commented on the pope’s plans.
On Sunday, Archbishop Dominique Mamberti, the Vatican’s foreign minister, concluded a five day visit in Havana in which he met with President Raul Castro.
George has been Chicago’s archbishop since 1997, leading 2.3 million Catholics.
The Church has become a major political voice of late, though only with the consent of Cuba’s government. Last month, Cuba Cardinal Jaime Ortega negotiated an end to a ban on marches by a small group of wives and mothers of political prisoners known as the Ladies in White.
The cardinal and another church leader subsequently met with Castro for hours. Church officials then announced the government would allow transfers for prisoners held far from their families and give better access to medical care for inmates who need it.
A prisoner of conscience, Ariel Sigler, a paraplegic in Matanzas province, was subsequently released. And about a dozen others have been transferred to facilities closer to home.
http://www.google.com/hostedne.....AD9GH4N8O1
Junio 23rd, 2010 at 17:26
CULERO! F U A C A T A!!! HOW COME YOU DONT RESPOND TO MY RESPONSES? ONLY CHANGE THE SUBJECT?
Junio 23rd, 2010 at 17:12
Concubino
Que bola asere. You are much too quiet dude. Your comments have become infrequent but always a welcome sight.
Junio 23rd, 2010 at 16:22
Barbara Culero
“The 5 CUBAN SPIES recieved their “day in US Courts” with excellent lawyers and a well prepared defense team. “
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You right….so they have to be jailed untill they do their time. They were not only 5 there were more spies…..Castro`s Dictatorship only claim about these but they say nothing about the other ones that were part of the same net of spies.
Junio 23rd, 2010 at 15:31
# 47 -
“The 5 CUBAN SPIES recieved their “day in US Courts” with excellent lawyers and a well prepared defense team. “
———
The spirit of the US Constitution eludes you the same way that flash floods elude the Atacama Desert in Chile
The letter of the US Constitution is obviously not your passion either, if you think that:
1. The Courtâ€s denial of a change of venue to Cuban nationals in Miami,
2. The Courtâ€s refusal to admit vital evidence in favor of the defense, which did not compromise US security,
3. Sentencing someone to 2 life terms for a sovereign nation’s decision to shoot planes that were violating its air space after repeated warnings; without that person having had any contact with those authorities before or during the incident
4. Or besides the fact that he neither ordered the shooting of the planes, nor shot them down himself from within the US,
5. And that the US Government paid Miami reporters to smear THE FIVE and influence potential jurors and the jury itself during the arrest and trial periods;
Is having a “day in US Courts“.
__________________________
“A NEW CUBAN REVOLUTION NEEDS TO TAKE TO THE STREETS.”
———
It’s real simple: go to Cuba with all that stuff and do it yourself, then when you get a swift kick where it hurts, Yoani can post it and we can all watch you on youtube. Your foolishness will catapult you to instant stardom in Miami, Spain, Germany…, and then the myriads of organizations for the democratization of Cuba might feel compelled to send you a bread crumb or 2 from their substantial budgets, courtesy of US tax payers unawares.
Junio 23rd, 2010 at 14:48
FROM THE MOUTHS OF FORMER “BABES” (children of Operation Pedro Pan)- NOW WHO SHOULD WE BELIEVE?
We, the undersigned former children of Operation Pedro Pan, would like to register our disapproval with the coverage of the Operation Pedro Pan Program in the CNBC documentary entitled: Escape from Havana: An American Story. Our objection to the documentary’s content rests on two discernable elements: First, the distortion of the history of Operation Pedro Pan, resulting from the producers’ heavy reliance on Professor MarĂa de los Angeles Torres’ revisionist and antagonistic views towards the Operation. Second, the manipulation of the Operation Pedro Pan story, by means of Silvia Wilhelm’s open advocacy, in order to advance the Cuban Government’s agenda regarding the unconditional lifting of the U.S. embargo and travel restrictions to Cuba.
The CNBC documentary misleads the public into believing that the exodus called “Operation Pedro Pan” was initially conceived, organized, and managed by the CIA “in order to push parents over the edge” by propagating the notion that the Cuban government intended to abolish Patria Potestad (tr. parental rights). Ironically, this is the exact version trumped up and disseminated by the Cuban Intelligence Services’ State Security Center for Historical Research at the Ministry of Interior. And yet nothing could be further from the truth. Had the documentary writers delved themselves into the history of Operation Pedro Pan, they would found an article entitled “Cuban Refugee Children,” published by Msgr. Bryan O. Walsh in the July/October 1971 edition of the Journal of Inter-American Studies and World Affairs. The article describes, in great detail, how both the Catholic Welfare Bureau’s Cuban Children’s Program and Operation Pedro Pan came about independently of each other, and the fortuitous circumstances under which Mr. James Baker, Headmaster of the American Ruston Academy in Havana, and Father Walsh (appointed Monsignor several years later) met for the first time in mid-November 1960 to organize the exodus of 200 students whose parents were involved in the clandestine struggle against the imposition of communism on the island.
CLICK LINK FOR REST OF LETTER
http://www.pedropan.org/
Junio 23rd, 2010 at 14:40
CULERO SAID on post #55,
“Cuba’s election to this important post is a recognition for its exemplary performance and also the work of the Cuban Revolution in support of the human rights of its people and throughout the world, a statement from the Cuban embassy in Geneva reads.”
NOT ACCORDING TO MOST OF THE HUMAN RIGHTS ORGANIZATIONS!
MERCOPRESS:Cuba among the most flagrant human rights abusers, says Freedom House-Saturday, June 5th 2010 -Freedom House released on Thursday â€Worst of the Worst 2010: The World’s Most Repressive Societies’, its annual report identifying the world’s most flagrant human rights abusers. at a side panel during the 14th session of the UN Human Rights Council.
The report, which identifies countries earning the lowest scores in Freedom in the World, Freedom House’s annual report on political rights and civil liberties, was designed as a resource for human rights advocates. This year’s report identifies 17 countries and 3 territories whose citizens live in extremely oppressive environments, with minimal basic rights and persistent human rights violations.
“In this report we identify countries where individuals have almost no opportunity to enjoy the most fundamental rights—regimes whose people experience heavy penalties for independent thought or action and where little or no oppositional activity is permitted to exist,” said Paula Schriefer, director of advocacy at Freedom House.
“By highlighting these countries, we hope to give human rights advocates a tool they can use to shine a light on these abuses at the world’s only global human rights body.”
Nine countries and one territory are judged to have the worst human rights conditions, receiving the lowest possible score of 7 (based on a 1 to 7 scale, with 1 representing the most free and 7 representing the least free) on both political rights and civil liberties: Burma, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Libya, North Korea, Somalia, Sudan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Tibet.
An additional 8 countries and 2 territories score only slightly better, with a score of 7 in political rights and a score of 6 in the civil liberties category: Belarus, Chad, China, Cuba, Guinea, Laos, Saudi Arabia, and Syria.
“While it is shameful that three of the â€Worst of the Worst’ regimes now actually sit on the Council (China, Cuba and Saudi Arabia) and a fourth (Libya) was just elected, we nonetheless call on the member states of the Council to fulfil their mandate and take actions to address the systemic abuses in these countries,” continued Schriefer.
Since the Council was first established in 2006 to replace the widely discredited UN Commission on Human Rights, only a handful of “Worst of the Worst” states—Burma, Guinea, Somalia, Sudan and North Korea—have been the focus of resolutions or special sessions by the UN body.
Freedom House is an independent watchdog organization that supports democratic change, monitors the status of freedom around the world, and advocates for democracy and human rights
http://en.mercopress.com/2010/.....edom-house
Junio 23rd, 2010 at 14:39
BARBY FYI
The following reproduces the articles of the Declaration which set out the specific human rights that are recognised in the Declaration.[14]
Article 1
All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.
Article 2
Everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms set forth in this Declaration, without distinction of any kind, such as race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status. Furthermore, no distinction shall be made on the basis of the political, jurisdictional or international status of the country or territory to which a person belongs, whether it be independent, trust, non-self-governing or under any other limitation of sovereignty.
Article 3
Everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of person.
Article 4
No one shall be held in slavery or servitude; slavery and the slave trade shall be prohibited in all their forms.
Article 5
No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.
Article 6
Everyone has the right to recognition everywhere as a person before the law.
Article 7
All are equal before the law and are entitled without any discrimination to equal protection of the law. All are entitled to equal protection against any discrimination in violation of this Declaration and against any incitement to such discrimination.
Article 8
Everyone has the right to an effective remedy by the competent national tribunals for acts violating the fundamental rights granted him by the constitution or by law.
Article 9
No one shall be subjected to arbitrary arrest, detention or exile.
Article 10
Everyone is entitled in full equality to a fair and public hearing by an independent and impartial tribunal, in the determination of his rights and obligations and of any criminal charge against him.
Article 11
Everyone charged with a penal offence has the right to be presumed innocent until proved guilty according to law in a public trial at which he has had all the guarantees necessary for his defence.
No one shall be held guilty of any penal offence on account of any act or omission which did not constitute a penal offence, under national or international law, at the time when it was committed. Nor shall a heavier penalty be imposed than the one that was applicable at the time the penal offence was committed.
Article 12
No one shall be subjected to arbitrary interference with his privacy, family, home or correspondence, nor to attacks upon his honour and reputation. Everyone has the right to the protection of the law against such interference or attacks.
Article 13
Everyone has the right to freedom of movement and residence within the borders of each state.
Everyone has the right to leave any country, including their own, and to return to their country.
Article 14
Everyone has the right to seek and to enjoy in other countries asylum from persecution.
This right may not be invoked in the case of prosecutions genuinely arising from non-political crimes or from acts contrary to the purposes and principles of the United Nations.
Article 15
Everyone has the right to a nationality.
No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his nationality nor denied the right to change his nationality.
Article 16
Men and women of full age, without any limitation due to race, nationality or religion, have the right to marry and to found a family. They are entitled to equal rights as to marriage, during marriage and at its dissolution.
Marriage shall be entered into only with the free and full consent of the intending spouses.
The family is the natural and fundamental group unit of society and is entitled to protection by society and the State.
Article 17
Everyone has the right to own property alone as well as in association with others.
No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his property.
Article 18
Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion; this right includes freedom to change his religion or belief, and freedom, either alone or in community with others and in public or private, to manifest his religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship and observance.
Article 19
Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.
Article 20
Everyone has the right to freedom of peaceful assembly and association.
No one may be compelled to belong to an association.
Article 21
Everyone has the right to take part in the government of their country, directly or through freely chosen representatives.
Everyone has the right of equal access to public service in their country.
The will of the people shall be the basis of the authority of government; this will shall be expressed in periodic and genuine elections which shall be by universal and equal suffrage and shall be held by secret vote or by equivalent free voting procedures.
Article 22
Everyone, as a member of society, has the right to social security and is entitled to realization, through national effort and international co-operation and in accordance with the organisation and resources of each State, of the economic, social and cultural rights indispensable for his dignity and the free development of his personality.
Article 23
Everyone has the right to work, to free choice of employment, to just and favourable conditions of work and to protection against unemployment.
Everyone, without any discrimination, has the right to equal pay for equal work.
Everyone who works has the right to just and favourable remuneration ensuring for himself and his family an existence worthy of human dignity, and supplemented, if necessary, by other means of social protection.
Everyone has the right to form and to join trade unions for the protection of his interests.
Article 24
Everyone has the right to rest and leisure, including reasonable limitation of working hours and periodic holidays with pay.
Article 25
Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care and necessary social services, and the right to security in the event of unemployment, sickness, disability, widowhood, old age or other lack of livelihood in circumstances beyond his control.
Motherhood and childhood are entitled to special care and assistance. All children, whether born in or out of wedlock, shall enjoy the same social protection.
Article 26
Everyone has the right to education. Education shall be free, at least in the elementary and fundamental stages. Elementary education shall be compulsory. Technical and professional education shall be made generally available and higher education shall be equally accessible to all on the basis of merit.
Education shall be directed to the full development of the human personality and to the strengthening of respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms. It shall promote understanding, tolerance and friendship among all nations, racial or religious groups, and shall further the activities of the United Nations for the maintenance of peace.
Parents have a prior right to choose the kind of education that shall be given to their children.
Article 27
Everyone has the right freely to participate in the cultural life of the community, to enjoy the arts and to share in scientific advancement and its benefits.
Everyone has the right to the protection of the moral and material interests resulting from any scientific, literary or artistic production of which he is the author.
Article 28
Everyone is entitled to a social and international order in which the rights and freedoms set forth in this Declaration can be fully realised.
Article 29
Everyone has duties to the community in which alone the free and full development of his personality is possible.
In the exercise of his rights and freedoms, everyone shall be subject only to such limitations as are determined by law solely for the purpose of securing due recognition and respect for the rights and freedoms of others and of meeting the just requirements of morality, public order and the general welfare in a democratic society.
These rights and freedoms may in no case be exercised contrary to the purposes and principles of the United Nations.
Article 30
Nothing in this Declaration may be interpreted as implying for any State, group or person any right to engage in any activity or to perform any act aimed at the destruction of any of the rights and freedoms set forth herein.
Junio 23rd, 2010 at 14:38
Barbara Curbelo
Junio 23rd, 2010 at 14:03
PETER PAN AND CHILD TRAFFICKING
Gabriel Molina
• IT is particularly difficult for Cuba’s enemies
——————————————————-
You are distorting one more time Barbara…….There are no Cuba enemy..there is Castro Dictatorship enemy.Castro is not Cuba. Castro`s regimen is not even legitime…..Cuba is the only country in this hemisfere where those who hold the power hasn`t being elected in an election defeating an oposition ….therefore is no a legal Goberment
Junio 23rd, 2010 at 14:34
Barbara Curbelo
June 23rd, 2010 at 14:08
Cuba elected vice president of Human Rights Council and bla bla bla bla
——————–
That is the same as if they will give to Hitler the place of Pope in the Vatican.
In Cuba, human rights are violated every day. Today is a crime even for Castro`s Dictatorship in Cuba distribution of copies of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Castro`s Dictatorship has given blows to the Damas de Blanco as the whole the world saw recently… .. Cuba should not be nominated to enter the human rights commission .. That is an embarrassment BARBARA………despite that Dictatorship suportes like you post it as a succes. IT IS AN EMBARRASSMENT for united Nation such nomination.
Contribute a better translation
Junio 23rd, 2010 at 14:05
Cuba elected vice president of the Human Rights Council
GENEVA, June 21.— Cuba has been elected as vice president of the Human Rights Council (HRC), the main UN agency that specializes in promoting and protecting human rights, PL reports.
During the annual organizational session of the HRC and to great acclaim, its members decided to elect Rodolfo Reyes RodrĂguez, the Cuban ambassador in Geneva, to the post, in what is thought to be an acknowledgement of the work the island has done in this area.
Cuba’s election to this important post is a recognition for its exemplary performance and also the work of the Cuban Revolution in support of the human rights of its people and throughout the world, a statement from the Cuban embassy in Geneva reads.
“Likewise, it is a clear confirmation of the respect for the committed and active role of our country – a founding member of the HRC – in the defense of truth and justice and of our leadership in the struggle to vindicate the noblest causes,” it continues.
The communiqué specifies that “this election constitutes an emphatic response from the international community to the brutal anti-Cuban political media campaign, reinforced in the past few months by the international right wing.”
Reyes, who will occupy the vice presidency corresponding to the Group of Latin American and Caribbean States, will fulfill his mandate as a member of the Council’s executive committee until June 2011.
Sihasak Phuangketkeow, the Thai ambassador here, was elected to preside over the HRC during the same period. According to practice, it is up to the members of this committee to lead the review process of the agency, which will take place during the next 12 months of its work.
Cuba will make a substantial contribution to this task, thanks to its broad experience as a member of the agency and of the former Human Rights Commission, the note emphasizes.
Junio 23rd, 2010 at 14:03
PETER PAN AND CHILD TRAFFICKING
Gabriel Molina
• IT is particularly difficult for Cuba’s enemies to justify the reason for U.S. citizens being prohibited to travel freely to Cuba.
Approximately 10 years ago, almost at the end of his second term, President William Clinton attempted to restore that right to his compatriots. At that time he affirmed that allowing citizens to travel to Cuba would be in the interest of the United States, as the best means of influencing the island.
But the rights and interests of U.S. citizens are not being respected. Mafia groups from Florida demanded of Clinton’s successor, the hated Bush, that he revoke that policy given that, incredibly, the ones who were influenced were the visitors and not the visited.
In total contrast to what is happening in relation to other underdeveloped countries, the interest of those groups, mostly located in Miami, is to provoke Cubans into leaving the island and taking refuge in the United States. Its neighbors cannot understand why, while walls have been constructed to keep them out, all kinds of obstacles are being put in their way, while they are hunted, maltreated, expelled and even killed, Cubans reaching U.S. territory illegally are given refugee status and all kinds of privileges – in the name of democracy and freedom.
That arbitrary regulation has been the cause of an incessant human trafficking that has turned into a lucrative and deadly business.
It all began 50 years ago, when in 1960 the CIA came up with a false law widely reproduced and distributed by its agents. In that way, Cubans were led to believe that the revolutionary government had decided to remove parental custody of children and abrogate it to the state.
An unheard of mass of confused children preparing to travel alone to the United States began to crowd into Havana’s José Martà airport. That was because approximately 14,000 families failed to think or act sensibly and let themselves be deceived by the criminal plot organized by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), under the codename Operation Peter Pan.
Researchers JosĂ© Wajasán and RamĂłn Torreira describe it as “a sinister manipulation on the part of Washington of the major fears of Cuban parents.”
In their book Operation Peter Pan, the authors quote documents from the Kennedy Library declassified from National Security Files, which, via a letter from General Maxwell Taylor, inform of a covert action program to defeat the Cuban government.
For the first time on October 26, 1960, the CIA-created Radio Swan referred to a supposed law to take children aged 5 to 18 from their parents, in order to convert them into “monsters of [Marxist] materialism.”
The custody conspiracy had gone into operation by word of mouth months earlier. Initially the CIA gave the task to the conspiracy group headed by the ex-prime minister of the Carlos PrĂo government, known as Pony Varona, a derivative of his name Tony, in honor of his lack of personal refinement.
Later, other groups became involved, because Varona left the country, leaving the mission in the hands of his closest partners, Leopoldina and RamĂłn Grau Alsina, niece and nephew of ex-president RamĂłn Grau San MartĂn, who confessed their guilt after their arrest. They printed out the false law, saying that they had stolen it from President DorticĂłs’ office and circulated it clandestinely. The apocryphal document stated in its Article 3: “When this law comes into effect, the custody of persons under 20 years of age will be exercised by the state via persons or organizations to which this faculty has been delegated.”
Panic virtually spread among thousands of Cuban families. Having structured the plot at national and continental level, the U.S. government stated that it could take in all Cuban minors who wished to travel there, without visas or papers. In that violation of its own immigration laws, Washington gave large sums of money to the airline companies to transport the minors to Miami.
Father Bryan O. Walsh, whom the authorities placed at the head of the program, declared years later that he received approximately 15,000 children. It was a tremendous paradox: parents abandoned their children to an unknown fate, with the ingenuous intention of protecting them.
The majority of those children suffered from major traumas that culminated in a total sense of non-belonging. Some of them learned alone to insert themselves in society, while there were extreme cases like that of Robert RodrĂguez who, at the age of 55, brought a lawsuit before a Miami court, claiming that during the five years that he was under a “protection program in the archdiocese of the city, he was the victim, along with other children, of continuous sexual and emotional abuse.” He affirmed that “he was mistreated and sexually abused in the various camps where he was placed, as were other children taken there.”
During the last 50 years, a number of variations of Operation Peter Pan have emerged from Miami and Washington. The most recent one, essayed since 2003, did not surprise anyone. It was very much part of the excesses of the Bush administration, looked down on by the rest of the world on account of its unscrupulous form of government. But, by maintaining Cuba on the list of countries trafficking minors – as it announced on June 14 – the government of President Barack Obama, which it was thought had a minimum amount of decency, is destroying the few hopes of change that some people might still be holding onto
Junio 23rd, 2010 at 13:59
I GUESS CUBA DOES NOT COUNT AS A “FOREIGN POWER” ACCORDING TO CHAVEZ!
BBC NEWS:Concern over Cuba’s role in Venezuela-By Will Grant
During recent bicentenary celebrations in Venezuela, Hugo Chavez presided over what he called “the greatest military show in Venezuelan history”.
As Russian-made Sukhoi fighter jets screamed overhead, he spoke of how Venezuela would never again be the subject of a foreign power.
On the podium, the socialist leader was flanked by his closest allies including Evo Morales of Bolivia and the Nicaraguan leader, Daniel Ortega.
But sitting just behind them was another important ally - albeit one less recognised: Ramiro Valdez.
Comandante Valdez is one of the veterans of the Cuban Revolution in 1959 and fought in the Sierra Maestra mountains alongside Fidel and Raul Castro, and Ernesto “Che” Guevara.
Since then he has held a series of posts in the Cuban Government both on the communist island and abroad. Now he is a top advisor to the Chavez Government.
“The presence of Comandante Valdes himself doesn’t concern me, but rather what he represents,” says Demitrio Boersner, a former Venezuelan ambassador who now teaches at the Andres Bello Catholic University in Caracas.
“President Chavez has never concealed his deep sympathy with the Cuban model,” Professor Boersner argues, saying the arrival of thousands of Cuban medics and teachers in Venezuela is part of a wider effort by Mr Chavez to move the oil-rich nation towards Castro-style communism.
‘An ocean of happiness’
“Chavez has referred frequently to Cuba as ‘an ocean of happiness’ for the common people and that something very similar will be established in Venezuela gradually.”
Moreover, he says, the paternal relationship between Mr Chavez and Fidel Castro is crucial:
“Fidel Castro has become a father figure for him: Fidel the father, Hugo the son.”
Needless to say, it is not a view which government supporters share. “I think that is a limited vision,” says journalist Eva Golinger. “It demeans and underestimates the will and the power of self-determination of the Venezuelan people.”
Instead, she says the relationship between Venezuela and Cuba, and for that matter, between Chavez and Castro, is a pragmatic one based on decades of intransigence by Washington.
“Cuba is a country which has provided services and technology (to Venezuela) which other countries haven’t been willing to provide,” says Golinger, referring to the thousands of doctors in Cuban-run health clinics and the agricultural advisors sent over by Mr Castro.
“In many ways, it’s a completely normal diplomatic and socio-political relationship.
I think the cause of controversy is because there has been a shift away from the United States which used to provide a lot of that collaboration — or so-called collaboration because it wasn’t really collaboration at all. It was either imposition or exploitation.”
As members of the ALBA group of left-wing nations, Venezuela provides around 100,000 barrels of oil a day to Cuba, mainly paid for with Cuban medical staff.
But while the nature of the partnership between the two revolutions has been controversial since Hugo Chavez first paid a state visit to Havana in late 1999, recently it has taken on a new dimension.
Meddling in the military
A high profile general, Antonio Rivero, resigned his post as head of the country’s civil protection agency accusing Cuban advisors of meddling in the country’s military.
He has taken the matter to the state prosecutor’s office.
General Rivero is now a very wary man. He will only speak to journalists via encrypted text messages and meet in public places for fear that he is being monitored. We met in a busy cafe in Caracas.
“There are various areas in which the Cuban advisors are concentrated,” General Rivero says, “particularly military engineering, which includes the area of military fortifications.
That’s where the state’s main security equipment, resources, maps and plans are stored. That another country helps plan, carry out and, indeed, correct work at such a sensitive level to national security — is not something which other countries would allow.”
It was a situation, he explains, which ultimately forced him to resign.
“The president speaks of 30,000 Cuban personnel in Venezuela. But I’ve heard of 50,000 or even 60,000 Cubans working here. We just don’t know. The government won’t give us the numbers.”
In the wake of General Rivero’s public resignation, Mr Chavez said the former civil defence chief had been hanging out with the “wrong people” and attacked his expected nomination in the upcoming legislative elections.
President Chavez remains as defiant as ever when it comes to his relationship with Cuba, saying whatever Cubans are doing in Venezuela, it is for the good of the Venezuelan people:
“We have diverse mechanisms of cooperation with Cuba, the most important of which is the thousands of Cuban medical staff in the streets attending the sick and reaching out to the community,” he retorted recently.
“Yes, there is military cooperation which perhaps worries the bourgeoisie. Well, the bourgeoisie can rest easy! Everything Cuba does for us is to strengthen the fatherland.”
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/wor.....344990.stm
Junio 23rd, 2010 at 13:44
Barbara Curbelo said (#33),
Junio 23rd, 2010 at 01:00
Silvio Rodriguez in Washington, D.C.:
“We are only a few blocks from the White House. With all due respect Mr. Obama, free our heroes (The CUBAN FIVE).”
SO CULERO CAN YOU RESPOND TO THE STATISTICS AND LINKS I PROVIDED YOU ABOUT “JUST THE JOURNALISTS” IMPRISSONED IN CUBA! AND SILVIOS SYNICAL AND ERRONEOUS STATEMENT!
ABC:”En Cuba no se detiene a nadie por opinar”-SAN JUAN. El cantautor cubano Silvio RodrĂguez, quien regresará a Estados Unidos con una gira de conciertos en junio prĂłximo, dijo que Cuba es un paĂs “con mucho debate” donde “no se detiene a nadie por opinar”.
http://www.abc.com.py/abc/nota.....or-opinar/
Entrevista a Silvio Rodriguez por Jaime Baily 4/4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v.....r_embedded
IMPRISSONED JOURNALISTS
TOP OFFENDERS
China= 24 jailed journalists
Iran = 23 jailed journalists
Cuba = 22 jailed journalists
http://www.cpj.org
RATIO OF IMPRISSONED JOURNALISTS PER POPULATION - the lower the ratio the worse the offender! Cuban has 109 times more prisoners than China and 6 times more than Iran.
China- 1,337,790,000/24 jailed journalists= 1 per 55,741,250 citizens
Iran-74,196,000/23 jailed journalists= 1 per 3,225,913 citizens
Cuba-11,236,444/22 jailed journalis…ts= 1 per 510,747 citizens
Junio 23rd, 2010 at 13:06
This article on Havana Times
http://www.havanatimes.org/?p=25406
Shows how other people in Cuba feel about the police brutality!
Junio 23rd, 2010 at 13:05
Guys Yoani is very clear on her essay the only tool remaining to the regime is the police to stop them from manifesting themselves in freedom. We will see more police repression and brutality as people start to claim back their right.
Here is a link to an example of police brutality
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v.....r_embedded
If you go also to Claudia’s site there is more examples of police brutality
The text below is from Yoani’s essay
The methods used by the government to
kidnap the freedom of Cuban citizens over
these 50 years have had at least three elements:
law enforcement, ideology, and economics.
These three methods of reducing
and dismantling rights have not followed
each other in chronological order, but rather
have coexisted and intermingled. In the case
of Cuba, they began to manifest themselves
during the first years of the triumph of the
Revolution, though the dominance of one
relative to the others has shifted back and
forth.
The curbing of freedom for economic benefit
had its strongest period when the support
coming from the Kremlin allowed the state to
offer its unconditional supporters something
material in exchange for their loyalty. This
buying and selling plummeted as the socialist
camp fell apart, demonstrating the dependence
and weakness of the Cuban economy.
The trading of material benefits to those who
ceded their freedom did not revive once money
again had value as a medium of exchange;
the convertible peso bankrupted the system of
political and work-related merit as the path to
material possessions. To buy the appliances
that now reappeared in store windows it was
no longer necessary to do volunteer work or to
applaud a political speech, it was sufficient
simply to have money. But this money was
almost always obtained in ways contrary to
those still being promulgated from the political
dais.
The same thing happened with ideology.
Disbelief spread among those who had once
bet on the Marxist path to achieve a future of
prosperity and equality. It became more difficult
to find people who would yield their
dwindling share of civil rights under the
influence of an ideology that demanded it
from them. This left, then, a single possible
type of exchange: imposition. One hands
over freedom without thinking, however, for
material perks or for ideologies one believes
in, but rights are not given as voluntarily to a
repressive apparatus.
When coercion becomes the only way to
make a person yield his freedom, it is easy to
recognize the uneven exchange that has been
imposed. Discovering yourself to be a victim,
you tend to react immediately and vehemently.
Although the interior freedom of a
person is inexhaustible, what you yourself
paid for a privilege cannot be recovered.
There is always the opportunity, however, to
break the contract and choose to pay the
price.
Junio 23rd, 2010 at 12:56
“Culerodefidel” LOL!!,Youbano she should puts her Culero next to fidel’s colostomy bag
Junio 23rd, 2010 at 12:44
It is not unusual for those here who do not support the CUBAN REGIME to be sent MALWARE and VIRUSES to block your posts. I recently got some malware sent my way, but because I am fortunate to live in a Capitalist society I have various Anti Virus and spywares that protect my system, I also update frequently. The majority of Cuban living in Cuba are sick and tired of being ruled by the current Government who had turned a First World Country into the devastated 3rd World Country Cuba is today. Yes Third WORLD Nation where farm animals share public streets and pull carts for public transportation. Orlando Zapata Tamayo is my Hero for standing up to the abusive ruling Government of Raul and Fidel Castro.
Junio 23rd, 2010 at 12:30
The 5 CUBAN SPIES recieved their “day in US Courts” with excellent lawyers and a well prepared defense team. Now even appealing the sentance for being convicted SPIES. Yesterday Darsy Ferrer only after being jailed for 2 years for having two bags of concrete was set free in CUBA. The TRUTH about what happens and why things are a mess in Cuba are surfacing. All the Cuban Agents(including Silvio, B.Curbelo,& Damir) are busy spinning the truth but having problems beacause of these new technologies that EXPOSE the TRUTH. Please everyone send more cameras, Memory cards, and computer parts to Cuba. The Cuban people will one day have a say in their new government, unlike now. A NEW CUBAN REVOLUTION NEEDS TO TAKE TO THE STREETS.
Junio 23rd, 2010 at 11:28
Barbara Curbelo
Junio 23rd, 2010 at 01:00
Silvio Rodriguez in Washington, D.C.:
“We are only a few blocks from the White House. With all due respect Mr. Obama, free our heroes (The CUBAN FIVE).”
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I wonder why Silvio don`t say anything about the 200 political prisoners that Castro have in jail for only speak their ming.
Those 5 cubans in US jail were SPIES and they were prosecuted by the USA Goberment……Castro regimen is a DICTATORSHIP and should end so hope can return to Cuba.
Cuba today look like a country that has recently been bombarded….We cuban know that ….but I challenge non-Cuban to go to Cuba and see it with their own eyes.
Junio 23rd, 2010 at 11:20
39Damir
Cuban people have suffered too much. Change of the system would destroy them to the end.
Changes within the sstem would rejuvenate the country and make it flourish completely independent from anyone.
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With all respect you are distorting ….That is exactly what Cubans want. Change of the system. Socialism have never be succesfull…..NEVER.
Cuba is the only country in this hemisfere where those who hold the power haven`t been eleccted defeting and oposition.
-Free multiparty elecctions.
-Fredom of speach
-Fredom for political prisionner.
Junio 23rd, 2010 at 11:02
Barby Cordero [Lamb]
I see u ESBIRRA very active in this English version of GY.
What is your f….ing message little fascist !!???
Sooner or later Cuba will be free from fascist like u r !!
It will be just a fair history lesson !!
Junio 23rd, 2010 at 10:53
#37 - RICK
“I see that you found and correctly quoted the article by Magdalen Pando …”
You know what happens when you assume (that I quoted from a particular article): it makes an “ass” out of “u”.
“…and that their is no reference to fighting alongside Spain by Maceo as you earlier stated.”
Your arrogant dismissiveness is rather comical when it only serves to display your sheer ignorance of Cuba’s history.
During a brief stint at the “Fruitful Truce” dinner meeting in Santiago, when he was invited to make a toast; and at which time a young man expressed his desire for Cuba to become “…another star in the constellation of the United States…”, the Bronze Titan responded, “I think, young man, that this would be the only occasion in which I would place my sword at the same side with the Spanish ones.”
“… I also have not seen any one on the major contributors to this forum espouse the annexation of Cuba in any way…”
I understood Yoani to be “the major contributor” to this forum, and her agenda is totally and exclusively annexationist.
Maceo wrote to the editor of El Yara:
“Whoever tries to take power over Cuba will only get the dust of its soil drenched in blood, if he does not perish in the struggle.”
A stark difference from those demanding money from abroad in order to march or criticize.
Junio 23rd, 2010 at 10:18
Barbara Culerodefidel is still singing the annexationist song along with her idol, the castro voicebox, silvio rodriguez. BC even your stateless, moronic partner-in-arms dumbir acknowledges that no one here is asking for annexation. No right-minded, democratically inclined Cuban wants Cuba to be annexed by anyone, including the US. The annexation topic is another cannard foisted on the world by the propaganda machinery emmanating from Cuba.
The underlying and consistent theme tainting every comment posted by these two immoral tools is the obsessive and pathological hatred of the US and capitalism. Capitalism with all it’s flaws is the only answer for Cuba, a nation of free-spirited, innovative people. Cubans by nature are capitalist. That competitive and entrepreneureal nature will be what transforms Cuba into the dynamic nation it was meant to be. Dumbir take your “socialism” which of course in your case means communism, you disengenuous hypocrit, and shove it up your comandante’s colostomy bag.
No amount of propagandizing, whining, misrepresentation of the facts or outright lies will change Cuba’s future. It will undoubtedly be a democratic nation with a capitalist economic system. And yes, like it or not, the biggest catalysts for this change besides the Cubans within the island themselves will be Cuban-Americans from Miami and elsewhere, the US government and American private investments. This historical hiccup that has lasted over 50 years will be a thing of the past and Cuba will resume it’s proper course as a free, productive and peaceful nation.
Junio 23rd, 2010 at 09:31
Once again when her comments are contested by a well informed person, Culero gets her diapers full of caca, then when she tries to clean herself, her fingers stain the keyboard of her computer and more shitty comments are posted.Ahora cambia de palo pa’ rumba from Maceo from from which she does know nothing to Silvio from which she does knows less.
Junio 23rd, 2010 at 08:58
Translator I did not mean to imply that you were blocking me. If the site is using the wordpress code then there is no reason code wise to be misbehaving in this way. So something else must be happening. I think is important to find what is happening.
Best regards
Julio
Junio 23rd, 2010 at 07:56
Not sure that you have read the whole blog from the very first post. No one is advocating the annexation of Cuba, but what do you think would happen if Cuba crumbles and “capitalists” move in?
How long will the Cubans resist the lure of the money and sell their homes and land to rich foreigners? Not for long. The vultures are already circling the island. Do not forget that the usa are still counting the losses and are adding the interest every year to their perceived “property losses” in Cuba after the nationalisation.
And there are Mexican and Colombian narcos who are just waiting for the naive “democracy fighters” to destroy the country to move in and impose their rule over the Cubans.
They need the island’s position desperately and with combined net profits over 110 billions every year, they are well prepared to confront anyone who tries to stop them.
I was in Bogota in 2007 and I saw there displayed a mirage airplane, which was according to the police one of ten in hands of guerilla.
Supersonic planes, submarines, long range rockets. They ae ready for a war.
What if they enter it too?
Cuba will be gone in a second, no matter who enters if socialist government is destroyed by the fifth colone to which Yoani team is a part of.
Brothers are at the end of their trajectories. The best would be to smartly prepare toe future without them and correct their shortfalls. Introduce the democracy within the existing system, socialism is perfect for democracy, and keep the Cuba away from the vultures. Because there are too many out there.
Cuban people have suffered too much. Change of the system would destroy them to the end.
Changes within the sstem would rejuvenate the country and make it flourish completely independent from anyone.
Junio 23rd, 2010 at 07:55
Not sure that you have read the whole blog from the very first post. No one is advocating the annexation of Cuba, but what do you think would happen if Cuba crumbles and “capitalists” move in?
How long will the Cubans resist the lure of the money and sell their homes and land to rich foreigners? Not for long. The vultures are already circling the island. Do not forget that the usa are still counting the losses and are adding the interest every year to their perceived “property losses” in Cuba after the nationalisation.
And there are Mexican and Colombian narcos who are just waiting for the naive “democracy fighters” to destroy the country to move in and impose their rule over the Cubans.
They need the island’s position desperately and with combined net profits over 110 billions every year, they are well prepared to confront anyone who tries to stop them.
I was in Bogota in 2007 and I saw there displayed a mirage airplane, which was according to the police one of ten in hands of guerilla.
Supersonic planes, submarines, long range rockets. They ae ready for a war.
What if they enter it too?
Cuba will be gone in a second, no matter who enters if socialist government is destroyed by the fifth colone to which Yoani team is a part of.
Brothers are at the end of their trajectories. The best would be to smartly prepare toe future without them and correct their shortfalls. Introduce the democracy within the existing system, socialism is perfect for democracy, and keep the Cuba away from the vultures. Because there are too many out there.
Cuban people have suffered too much. Change of the system would destroy them to the end.
Changes within the sstem would rejuvenate the country and make it flourish completely independet from anyone.
Junio 23rd, 2010 at 07:11
#32 Curbelo
I see that you found and correctly quoted the article by Magdalen Pando and that their is no reference to fighting alongside Spain by Maceo as you earlier stated.
As to the words of Marti I agree with his thoughts on the dangers to Cuban independence of allowing the USA to assume the role of sole benefactor but I also have not seen any one on the major contributors to this forum espouse the annexation of Cuba in any way as we are all for Cuba’s liberation and freedom from all dictators which is precisely why we insist on the end of the despotic rule of the Castro brothers and open elections that allow opposition parties and ideologies other than the singularity of the PCC.
Junio 23rd, 2010 at 06:35
Post 5, from someone who was known to mostly avoid being rude and lower him/her slef to the gutter of uncivilisation overpopulated by siggies and humboldts, yuckies and similar unsavoury characters, this is dissapointingly low and completely unnecessary from you.
What you complain of against Barbara your comrades, above listed, do ALL the time.
It is always like that with the unfortunately primitive and agressive wrong-whinners. “they” can do anything and that is okay. Anyone else doing the same, hey! THAT is NOT on…
Double standards. Hypocrisy is another word for that…
All the while, nbot a single word, not even pro the issues team Yoni writes about. Just endless tirades against the Cuba and Castros. As if that is what the team Yoani is writing about.
I often wonder how sad, lonely and dark your lives are when even the obvious is invisible to you people.
Must be a lot.
Junio 23rd, 2010 at 02:17
If the problem happens when you put in an email address… try leaving it out. I just tried it myself and could not post when I entered an email.
Unfortunately I don’t have the skills (or the behind the scenes access… and that’s a GOOD thing!) to try to fix whatever is happening.
But Yoani is aware of it.
Again, I assure you… I am the person who blocks names or ISPs… and I have only done it in the past for CLEAR SPAMMERS trying to sell things on this site… I have never blocked anyone for the content of their comments (though, as you know, I’ve taken off a few comments from time to time that violate the guidelines).
So please do not think you are personally being blocked if you can’t post.
That is not happening.
Your Friendly English Translator
Junio 23rd, 2010 at 02:12
Dear Readers/Commenters:
The problem with posting comments continues. It is a problem with the site. Please let me assure you I am not filtering anyone here.
I apologize for the ongoing problems… they are being worked on!
Sincerely,
Your Friendly English Translator
Junio 23rd, 2010 at 01:00
Silvio Rodriguez in Washington, D.C.:
“We are only a few blocks from the White House. With all due respect Mr. Obama, free our heroes (The CUBAN FIVE).”
Junio 23rd, 2010 at 00:40
#26 - Rick -
General Maceo was a fierce uncompromising fighter for Cuba’s independence, and the many machete and gunshot scars on his body attested that he was a true son of Cuba; not just one born there by happenstance.
He was a dignified and honorable man even in the midst of years of fierce battles. His profound love of homeland did not blind him from the need of having a principled society in which Spaniards and Cubans could live justly as one family, without class distinctions, “Humanism is a whole concept . . .” he wrote in a May 6, 1884, in a letter which also explained his sole ambition and purpose:
“The sovereignty and freedom of my native land is my only desire; I have no other aspirations; as a sovereign nation we shall secure our rightful privileges, we shall have dignity, and the recognition due a free and independent people.”
That is precisely why it is so impressive that he would rather fight on Spain’s side, should the United States entered the conflict.
He said, “I have never anticipated any benefit from Spain; she has always despised us, and it would be unworthy to believe otherwise. Liberty is conquered with the edge of the machete, it is not asked for; to beg for one’s rights is a device of cowards, incapable of exercising such rights. Nor do I expect any benefit from the Americans; everything must be accomplished through our own efforts; ’tis best to rise or fall without assistance than to contract debts of gratitude with so powerful a neighbor.”
He wasn’t expressing hatred for the US in his unequivocal rejection of their assistance; he was merely warning his countrymen that any compromise on the road to independence was to be avoided at all costs.
Writing in the New York Evening Post in 1889, MartĂ (and not just another Pepe) described Cubans’ view of the United States: “They admire this nation, the greatest ever of those which liberty has raised up; but they distrust those elements which, like worms in the blood, have begun in this marvelous republic their work of destruction.” Cubans could not “honestly believe that the excessive individualism, the worship of riches, and the prolonged celebration of a terrible victory are preparing the United States to be the model nation of liberty…. We love the country of Lincoln just as much as we fear the country of Cutting.”
Shortly before his death, MartĂ wrote to a friend that it was his duty “as far as I understand it and have the courage to realize it – to prevent for a time, with the independence of Cuba, the United States from extending itself through the Antilles and falling, with this greater force, upon our lands of America. Whatever I have done up to today, and shall do, is for this…. I have lived in the Monster and I know its insides: – my sling is that of David.”
MartĂ asked, “Once the United States is in Cuba, who will drive it out?”
Annexationists cannot understand such men. Such noble ideals make them writhe.
Junio 22nd, 2010 at 23:19
boring
Junio 22nd, 2010 at 20:43
ASSOCIATED PRESS: Cuban dissident found guilty, then freed-By WILL WEISSERT
HAVANA — A Cuban court found prominent opposition leader Darsy Ferrer guilty of purchasing black-market cement Tuesday, but he was released on time served since it took nearly a year for his case to go to trial.
Human rights officials say Ferrer was arrested for a common crime that officials usually overlook — or punish with a simple fine — in an attempt to silence his criticism of the government.
Ferrer’s trial was closed to the media and most of the public, but his wife, Yusnaimy Jorge Soca, said he was found guilty of buying black-market building materials and then ordered released. He is supposed to serve the roughly four months remaining on his 15-month sentence at the couple’s Havana home.
“I think what happened inside was the fair outcome. It’s what we’ve waited for since the beginning,” Jorge told reporters outside the courthouse in the Cuban capital’s 10 de Octubre district. “We only wanted to repair our home.”
Ferrer was taken to a police station for processing then driven home, saying: “I’m going to enjoy this with my friends and family.”
From his Havana home, Ferrer said he was not giving up his activism for political change.
“I’m committed to freedom for the Cuban public,” he said. “Given the desperate situation, I’m going to keep pressing to win reforms.”
About 30 relatives and supporters, many of them self-described dissidents, gathered outside the courthouse for Tuesday’s proceedings, occasionally shouting “Liberty!” and anti-government slogans.
Diplomats from the United States, Britain and a few other nations stood in the shade of nearby trees, but they made no comment and left before the verdict. Cuban state security agents in plain clothes watched from surrounding street corners.
A physician, Ferrer is among Cuba’s most prominent dissidents. Like most of those, however, he is better known abroad than in his own country, where the state-run media almost never mention him.
In years past, he organized tiny street demonstrations to mark International Human Rights Day in December, but he had been in prison since July 21, 2009.
Ferrer said he felt sad for the country’s remaining political prisoners. He described his stint in jail as a way to “justify punishment by state security.”
The government controls nearly all construction under Cuba’s communist system and many people turn to private sources for quicker repairs. Cement and dozens of other building materials supplied that way are often pilfered from state stocks.
Ferrer and his wife said they obtained the cement to repair a collapsing wall in their home, and didn’t expect it to become a political issue.
Ferrer’s release after months in detention could add to signs Cuba’s government is softening its stance toward organized dissent.
The government of President Raul Castro recently promised Roman Catholic Church leaders to move political prisoners to facilities closer to home and to give better access to medical care for inmates who need it.
So far, 12 prisoners have been transferred and one, Ariel Sigler, was released for health reasons. Sigler was a boxer when he entered prison seven years ago, but now must use a wheelchair.
He was one of 75 leading community organizers, opposition activists and independent journalists arrested in March 2003 during a crackdown on dissent. They were charged with conspiring with Washington to destabilize Cuba’s government — charges both those arrested and U.S. authorities denied.
Elizardo Sanchez, head of the independent, Havana-based National Commission on Human Rights and Reconciliation, says Cuba holds 180 political prisoners, a list that had included Ferrer.
Cuban officials say they hold no political prisoners and have the right to jail traitors.
http://www.google.com/hostedne.....AD9GGIKL81
Junio 22nd, 2010 at 20:19
Rick Viera for(#26)!FUACATA TO CULERO!!
“¡Fuácata!”, an interjection of Cuban Spanish origin loosely translated as “Pow!
Junio 22nd, 2010 at 18:36
25Barbara Curbelo
Junio 22nd, 2010 at 15:59
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I see a hiden critic in your comment about the way fidel castro asked and got help from americans to take the power….. if it is so I agree with you …… of course it is a historic fact that makes irrelevant your intentions with the comment because with or without your critic the fact is there, history can’t be changed.
Junio 22nd, 2010 at 16:51
Barbie… U have a choice… Either take me to your dealer or psychiatrist… Your pick.
Junio 22nd, 2010 at 16:40
#25 Curbelo
Once again the queen of spin without attribution puts words in the mouths of Maceo the hero in the War of Independence and twists it to her ends. Why do you not back up your posts with references, is it because you make up these lies?
Antonio Maceo stated;
“I have never anticipated any benefit from Spain; she has always despised us, and it would be unworthy to believe otherwise….. Nor do I expect any benefit from the Americans; everything must be accomplished through our own efforts; ’tis best to rise or fall without assistance than to contract debts of gratitude with so powerful a neighbor.”
These words have been construed to convey his hatred of the United States, while they were actually a warning to his fellow countrymen to avoid involvement if they wanted to form an independent nation.
Copyright 1980 by Magdalen M. Pando
All rights reserved.
Library of Congress Catalogue Card Number 79-93001
ISBN 0-9603846
http://www.christusrex.org/www.....eo.ff.html
Junio 22nd, 2010 at 15:59
On certain occasion an annexationist Cuban proposed to General Antonio Maceo, the Bronze Titan of Cuba’s War of Independence, that he should accept assistance from the United States, which had already insinuated that it would intervene in the Cuba-Spain conflict. His firm response was that if the US entered the conflict, it would be the only time that he would fight on the side of Spain.
How different from today’s so called, “dissidents”!
Junio 22nd, 2010 at 13:51
Yoani I think is important you guys research why people’s comments are getting filter. Specially your supporters. Because that is exactly what the regime will love. To isolate you so that we can not defend your comments against the leftist Castro supporters or place examples that illustrate the harsh life for the average Cuban.
I guess if they can not win with arguments then they resort to any other mean to silence people!
Junio 22nd, 2010 at 13:44
I was trying to post yesterday
this fragment from Yoani’s magnificent essay on how the Cuban regime
steal freedom away from Cubans.
..The only threat that can be made against
a sheep who wants to escape is that it will be
returned to the pen. But it will no longer be
part of the herd because, while the pen has
fences, bolts, and physical boundaries, the
herd is a mathematical abstraction, a number
that falls apart once the participants who
make up the sum decide to exercise their free
will. As soon as a citizen stops paying with his
freedom for other rights that ought to be
respected, the confiscator of his sovereignty
must change his tactics; now, instead of stealing
his freedom from him, he must buy it. He
must promise him better food, a roof that
won’t go flying off in a hurricane, or more
lucrative subsidies. But little can be done if
your coffers are empty and you have not
learned how to create the wealth you must
offer in exchange for freedom…
http://www.cato.org/pubs/dbp/dbp5.pdf
Now I try posting with the email and it did not work so I am taking email out
Junio 22nd, 2010 at 13:41
ASSOCIATED PRESS:Cuba dissident jailed since July goes to court
HAVANA — A prominent Cuban opposition figure jailed nearly a year ago was taken to court Tuesday for trial on charges of purchasing black-market cement.
Darsy Ferrer arrived at the courthouse in Havana’s 10 de Octubre district in a police car with two Ministry of Interior agents wearing green uniforms.
His wife, Yusnaimy Jorge Soca, and small group of supporters waited outside the building for about two hours. Jorge was then let in — suggesting the proceedings against Ferrer had begun, though the trial was closed to the media and most of the public.
Diplomats from the United States, Britain and a few other nations stood in the shade of trees outside the court building and observed the scene from afar.
A physician, Ferrer is among Cuba’s most prominent dissidents. Like most opposition activists, however, he is better known in Florida and Europe than his country.
In years past, he organized tiny street demonstrations to mark International Human Rights Day in December, but he has been in prison since July 21, 2009, for allegedly purchasing bags of cement on the black market.
The state controls nearly all construction under Cuba’s communist system and many people turn to private sources for quicker repairs. That cement is often pilfered from state stocks.
Ferrer and his wife have not denied they bought the cement for home repairs, but say the case is politically motivated. Ferrer’s supporters say that his political views led authorities to jail him for a crime usually only punishable by a fine.
http://www.google.com/hostedne.....AD9GGD68G1
Junio 22nd, 2010 at 13:39
Ok now it seems to be working again when I place my email. I really do not know what is going on :-(
Junio 22nd, 2010 at 13:38
Test3 with email