Exclusion, the Real Counterrevolution
The term “revolutionary” has a different meaning in the Cuba of today than we would find in any Spanish language dictionary. To deserve such an epithet it is enough to exhibit more conformity than criticism, to choose obedience over rebellion, to support the old before the new. To be considered a man of the cause, requires one to manage a convenient silence and to watch arbitrariness and excesses March by without pointing them out to the highest levels of responsibility. A word that once gave rise to thoughts of ruptures and transformations, has evolved into a mere synonym for “reactionary.” Paradoxically, those who believe in safeguarding the essence of the “revolution” are precisely those who show a greater political immobility and who promote — with more animosity — the punishment of the reformers.
Esteban Morales, who until recently enjoyed the privilege of appearing live in front of the TV microphones, learned of such semantic mutations by dint of suffering them. A Communist Party member, academic, and specialist on issues relating to the United States, he had the dangerous idea of writing an article against corruption. His questions dealt primarily not with the daily diversion of resources — as we call stealing from the State — which is how many Cuban families manage to make it to the end of the month, but rather the ethical decay that has established itself higher up, in the estates of power, where embezzlement and misappropriation reach lavish levels. He had the unfortunate experience of putting into writing that, “there are people in government and state jobs who are positioning themselves financially for when the Revolution falls.” It is a conclusion anyone can draw just by looking at the fat necks of the managers, the shiny Geely cars belonging to the officers of CIMEX corporation, or the high railings surrounding the houses of the commercial hierarchy, but Morales committed the audacity of pointing it out from within the system itself.
Imbued with the calls for constructive criticism, calling things by their name, speaking openly, Esteban Morales thought his article would be read as the healthy concern of one who wants to save the process. He forgot that others with similar intentions had already been labeled as divisive, manipulated from the outside, addicted to the honey of power, and ideologically deviant. For less than this, journalists had lost their jobs, students their places at the university, and economists, lawyers and even agronomists had been stigmatized. Once punished with an indefinite suspension from the core of the PCC, the previously trusted professor has started down a road that we know well where it starts, but not where it ends. Experience says that the route of sanctions is never traversed in the reverse direction. Those ousted eventually realize that those they used to consider the “enemy,” could at some point prove to be people imbued with the original meaning of the word “revolution.”
Julio 21st, 2010 at 09:14
I think Morales got into trouble mostly not for pointing out corruption in high places — this is a recurring theme of the Castro’s but for daring to speculate that the nomenklatura is preparing to loot the economy once socialism is over. This is the fear — why the regime got everyone to sign the book that socialism is irreversible. There are no more successful models, unless you count China, which is definitely sui generis communism. Cuba is isolated, and can only keep on its present path by fear and intimidation.
Julio 21st, 2010 at 02:54
Cuba continues to oppress and jail people who speak up. The tactics of freeing some political prisoners recently is a ploy to relieve the power internal oposition has gained within the island. The Regime hopes that Las Damas de Blanco just disapear. The people of Cuba need to continue expressing themselves and standing up for their rights. We all need to continue to draw attention to the truth to what andd why things happens in Cuba. The Revolution has failed the Cubans and time to rally around a better cause. Orlanda Zapata will be included in Cubas written history as well as the slogan ZAPATA VIVE. I see a better future for the Cuban people thanks to blogs like this. YOANI ,you also will be included in Cubas writen history.
Julio 21st, 2010 at 01:02
THINGS ARE GETTING EVEN HOTTER IN CUBA DUE TO A CHILEAN! (could not resist the pun!) WELL HE SHOULD NOT HAVE PLAYED IN THE SANDBOX WITH RUTHLESS DICTATORS!!
ASSOCIATED PRESS: Cuba orders Chilean to appear in corruption probe-
By PAUL HAVEN (AP)
HAVANA — Cuba has ordered a colorful Chilean businessman with deep personal ties to Fidel Castro to appear in a corruption probe or face a possible arrest warrant.
The decree gives Max Marambio until July 29 to appear before investigators looking into possible bribery, embezzlement, falsifying documents, fraud and other charges “in which the Chilean citizen stands accused.”
It warns that an arrest warrant will be issued if Marambio fails to show up, a move that can also lead to the forfeiture of Marambio’s significant holdings in the country.
The summons is the first apparent movement in the case since April, when a top Chilean executive who worked for Marambio was found dead in his Havana apartment after being questioned in the investigation. The cause of his death has not been revealed.
Marambio’s office in the Chilean capital of Santiago told The Associated Press on Tuesday that the businessman was out of the country and would return in 15 days. It refused to say where he was, or whether he had traveled to Cuba.
Chilean media reported several weeks ago that two lawyers for Marambio were being sent to Havana to represent him in the case.
The summons naming Marambio appeared Tuesday in the Official Gazette, the weighty tome where the Cuban government publishes official decrees and laws.
Marambio met Castro in 1966 while accompanying his father on a trip to Cuba as part of a delegation of sympathetic political leaders. He later became the chief bodyguard of Chilean socialist President Salvador Allende.
After Allende was toppled in a 1973 military coup, Marambio sought refuge in Cuba, maintaining close ties to Castro and developing wide-ranging business interests. Rio Zaza, the company he part-owned together with the Cuban government, made “Tropical Island” brand juices and other products that were ubiquitous in hard-currency stores catering to foreigners and tourists. The brand has completely disappeared since the probe was launched earlier this year.
The probe of Rio Zaza is one of several moves against high-level corruption. In March, Cuba removed veteran revolutionary Rogelio Acevedo, who had overseen the country’s airlines and airports, amid speculation that he had been caught up in a corruption probe.
Esteban Morales, a senior pro-government intellectual, published a stinging essay earlier this year that called corruption a greater threat to Cuba’s communist system than the island’s small and fractured opposition.
He warned that senior officials were waiting like vultures to snap up the country’s resources, much like the oligarchs who grabbed control of business in the Soviet Union following its collapse.
http://www.google.com/hostedne.....wD9H2RISG0
Julio 20th, 2010 at 21:04
TODAY IS LIKE A CUBAN “TELENOVELA”!!P.S. THE LAS ANONIMO WAS MY POST!COOOKIES!!
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS: Cuba dissidents told Spain exile muddles US asylum-By PAUL HAVEN
HAVANA — The United States appears to have modified a pledge to take in freed Cuban political prisoners, telling their relatives that it will be more difficult for them to apply for asylum if they first accept a Church-brokered deal to trade jail for exile in Spain.
The warnings, confirmed by the family members of six imprisoned dissidents, come at a delicate time and could complicate the releases of 52 activists, journalists and opposition leaders arrested in a 2003 crackdown.
Under a deal brokered by Cuban Roman Catholic Cardinal Jaime Ortega earlier this month, the communist government has already freed 11 political prisoners and flown them to Madrid. Nine others have accepted the offer and are expected to arrive in coming days.
The rest of the jailed dissidents have either refused to go, or have not yet been contacted by Church officials. The Church has referred to exile in Spain as an “option,” but has not specified what will happen to those who refuse to leave the country.
The family members of several dissidents who have not yet accepted Spanish asylum met Tuesday with officials at the U.S. Interests Section, which Washington maintains in Havana instead of an embassy. Other family members are expected to visit the Interests Section in coming days.
After the meetings, the relatives told The Associated Press they were informed they would not be allowed to apply for asylum in the United States from Spain, but could petition for residence like any other would-be immigrant.
“We came here thinking they would give us some option (of applying for asylum from Spain), but they won’t,” said Sofia Garcia, whose husband, Jose Miguel Martinez, has been serving a 13-year sentence for treason.
She said she was told that if the family goes to Spain they would have to apply for residence in the United States through regular channels, a process that can take years and usually requires a sponsor.
Teresita Galvan, whose brother Miguel Galvan is serving a 26-year term, said she left the meeting under the impression that by accepting the deal to go to Spain, her family would give up its right to later claim asylum in the United States.
It means a stark choice for some of the dissidents, many of whom have family in the United States: Stay in Cuba and try to win U.S. asylum, or leave immediately for Spain and take themselves out of consideration.
Gloria Berbena, a spokeswoman at the Interests Section, confirmed that individual meetings were taking place to answer questions the family members might have about seeking asylum.
Berbena said the Cubans were being informed that any asylum applications from Spain would be handled differently from those made inside Cuba.
“The process is different depending on where you apply from,” she said.
Cubans applying for asylum in the United States can claim that they face persecution or danger if they remain in the country, something that would be harder to do if they have already fled to a friendly country.
When asked if American diplomats were advising the prisoners not to accept Spanish asylum, Berbena said only: “We believe that Cubans should be free to make their own decisions.”
The U.S. position on asylum outlined for dissident family members in Havana on Tuesday appeared to differ from what American officials have said previously.
When asked at a July 8 news conference in Washington whether the released Cuban prisoners “would be welcome in the U.S.,” State Department spokesman Mark Toner responded: “Absolutely.”
Asked whether America had added caveats to that offer in the meetings with dissidents, Berbena said the U.S. position had not changed.
“Political prisoners and their family members in Cuba are eligible to apply for refugee status or humanitarian parole through the U.S. Interests Section,” she said.
News of the meetings came as the Spanish Foreign Ministry announced that the arrival in Madrid of another group of Cuban political prisoners has been delayed. A ministry spokesman said eight prisoners and their families had been scheduled to arrive Tuesday but would now be coming in the next few days.
The official spoke on condition of anonymity in keeping with ministry regulations.
Spain has told the former prisoners they will be given work and residency permits within three to four months. It has advised them not to seek the official status of “asylum,” because such a designation would bar them from making political statements and would make it impossible to return to Cuba for visits.
One of the freed prisoners in Madrid, Omar Ruiz, told AP on Tuesday that he had not been in contact with U.S. officials but wanted to eventually resettle in Miami, where his wife’s family lives.
Ruiz, who was serving an 18-year jail term for treason before his release, said he hoped his decision to go to Spain had not hurt his chances.
“My idea continues to be to go there,” said Ruiz. “We will go as soon as possible.”
Associated Press Writers Andrea Rodriguez in Havana and Jorge Sainz in Madrid contributed to this report.
http://www.google.com/hostedne.....wD9H31FFG0
Julio 20th, 2010 at 20:44
The proof of the pudding in terms of Ricardo Alarcon’s reported remarks will be when Pedro Arguelles and the other prisoners who wish to remain in Cuba are released and allowed to stay.
Julio 20th, 2010 at 19:47
48AnĂłnimo
Julio 20th, 2010 at 18:09
WHERE ARE ALL THE “REVOLUTIONARY RATS”? THEY ARE CHANCHING PARTY AFFILIATIONS!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
We expelled them out here!!!!!……. in same way we will expel castrofascism from Cuba!!!!
Julio 20th, 2010 at 18:09
WHERE ARE ALL THE “REVOLUTIONARY RATS”? THEY ARE CHANCHING PARTY AFFILIATIONS!
PRI’S THE WORLD: Cuban dissidents face dissappointing reception-July 20, 2010
The Cuban dissidents trickling in to Spain are frustrated at their reception. They’re part of a total of more than 50 prisoners being freed in a government deal. While their glad to be free after years behind bars, their future remains uncertain. The World’s Gerry Hadden has been following story.
CLICK LINK THEN CLICK ARROW TO THE RIGHT OF THE LITTLE SPEAKER.
http://www.theworld.org/2010/0.....reception/
Julio 20th, 2010 at 16:58
WOW!INCREDIBLE COUPLE OF DAYS OF CUBA NEWS! MOSTLY GOOD!
BBC NEWS: Freed dissidents urge EU not to soften its Cuba policy-July 2010
Eleven freed Cuban dissidents have urged the European Union not to soften its long-standing demands for democratic change in Cuba.
The group, who arrived last week in Spain, said their release was not a gesture of good faith but “a desperate action” by the Cuban government.
Cuba has agreed to free 52 political prisoners under a deal agreed with the Catholic Church and Spain.
A further nine freed dissidents are expected to arrive in Spain this week.
The EU should not change its Common Position on Cuba, the dissidents said on Monday.
This refers to the policy from 1996 that calls for advances in human rights and democracy, before relations with Cuba can be normalised.
There had been no clear decision by the Cuban government to move towards democratisation, a statement from the group said.
“For this reason we ask European Union member states to not soften their demands for democratic changes in Cuba, so that all Cubans can enjoy the same rights that European citizens have,” they said.
Hunger strike
The dissidents’ position is at odds with remarks made by Spanish Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos, who took part in talks with the Cuban government.
Speaking after the planned releases were announced on 7 July, Mr Moratinos said the EU should soften its stance on Cuba.
Mr Moratinos said the largest release of Cuban dissidents since 1998 “opened a new era” in European ties with Cuba.
Spain has in the past called for an end to the Common Position, but other EU member states have been unwilling to change the policy.
The Cuban government has been under pressure to free dissidents since one prisoner on hunger strike, Orlando Zapata Tamayo, died in February.
In another development, the French news agency AFP reports that the US diplomatic mission in Havana has called a meeting later on Tuesday with relatives of dissidents who are refusing to leave Cuba.
“All we know is that they (the US mission) have invited a representative of each prisoner who has not been contacted by the Church or who has refused to travel to Spain,” the head of the Ladies in White opposition movement, Laura Pollan, told AFP.
Church officials have said that leaving Cuba was not a condition for the prisoners’ release.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/worl.....a-10683094
Julio 20th, 2010 at 13:59
CNN WORLD: Some freed Cuban dissidents can apply for immigration, U.S. says-By David Ariosto-July 20, 2010
Havana, Cuba (CNN) — Freed Cuban political prisoners and their families are invited to “explore their options” for possible immigration to the United States, a U.S. official told CNN on Tuesday.
Last week, Cuba committed to releasing 52 jailed political activists, according to the country’s Roman Catholic Church. But the question remains whether they will be allowed to stay in Cuba.
The U.S. Interests Section in Havana, which functions like an embassy, initially reached out to the group as a whole, but then changed its approach to focus on specific cases, said spokeswoman Gloria Berbena.
“Starting [Tuesday,] we will start looking at individuals,” she said, acknowledging that none of the recently freed prisoners or their family members have pursued U.S. immigration.
Eleven prisoners and their families flew to Spain last week as part of an agreement to win their freedom. Another 11 jailed dissidents are scheduled to be released this week and flown to Spain, the Spanish foreign ministry said.
Berbena has called on the Cuban government to allow prisoners the freedom to decide where they go upon release.
Five prisoners have indicated they will not leave the country, said Berta Soler, one of the leaders of the Ladies in White, an opposition group made up of relatives and friends of jailed dissidents.
All 52 prisoners are expected to be freed by mid-November in what would be the largest release of incarcerated Cuban dissidents in more than a decade.
They represent roughly one-third of all known political prisoners and are the remainder of 75 activists jailed in a March 2003 government crackdown on political opposition.
http://edition.cnn.com/2010/WO.....PGS4ZGRuaJ
Julio 20th, 2010 at 13:47
TIME FOR A MOJITO CELEBRATION! WITH A BIG DASH OF SKEPTICISM!!
AFP: Cuba ready to free more political prisoners: parliament chief-By Jose Luis Fraga
GENEVA — Cuba is ready to release more political prisoners after announcing this month it would free 52, and they could remain on the island if they wished, the Cuban parliament chief told AFP Tuesday.
In a Spain-brokered deal struck between the Catholic Church and Havana, Cuba agreed to free 52 of 75 detainees who had been sentenced in 2003 to prison terms of up to 28 years.
Parliament chief Ricardo Alarcon indicated in an interview that more could be freed.
“It was very clear from the discussions that the government’s wish is to free all the people” on condition they had not been accused of murder, he said on the sidelines of a conference in Geneva.
Eleven freed prisoners have already emigrated to Spain with their families and another nine were expected to arrive in Madrid this week as part of Cuba’s biggest release of political prisoners in over a decade.
Those who had agreed to go into exile in Spain were the first to be freed.
Alarcon signaled that other freed detainees may be even able to stay in Cuba if they wish.
“The agreement says that they could travel abroad … but in Cuba there are people who have been freed from prison several years ago and who stayed in their homes. As in this case,” he said.
According to Cuban dissidents, another 115 political prisoners remain in Cuba even after the release of the 52.
Reacting to the figure, Alarcon pointed out that some of them “were captured in Cuba where they had placed bombs.”
“If these so-called dissidents had done in Switzerland what they did in Cuba, they would have been imprisoned for much longer,” he claimed.
“Working for another government to topple … the US government, could bring the death penalty,” said Alarcon.
The landmark deal on political prisoners came after dissident hunger striker Guillermo Farinas nearly starved to death on a 135-day hunger strike.
Relatives of some of the 52 detainees have said they could refuse emigration or ask to be sent to the United States instead of Spain.
Church officials have stressed that emigrating from Cuba was an offer, not a condition for the release of the prisoners with other countries offering to take the prisoners including Chile, France, Germany, Italy and Poland.
If Havana lets all 52 dissidents go it would be the largest release of political prisoners in Cuba since 1998 when 300 dissidents were spared jail time following a visit by then-pope John Paul II.
http://www.google.com/hostedne.....TXKW3-l1ag
Julio 20th, 2010 at 00:57
MIAMI HERALD:Ladies in White vow to march on in Havana-Despite a government promise to meet their demand to release jailed dissidents, Cuba’s Ladies in White say their protests will continue until all political prisoners are free.-BY JUAN O. TAMAYO
Their numbers are dwindling, and there’s even a call for Cuba’s Ladies in White to disband now that the government has promised to release the jailed dissidents whose freedom they demanded.
Yet the group’s leaders are vowing that they will continue marching through Havana’s streets on Sundays until all Cuban political prisoners are freed. And they are urging relatives of other prisoners to join them.
“The road is the liberation of all peaceful political prisoners. That’s the road, and it has to be followed,” said spokeswoman Berta Soler, who estimated 50 to 60 will remain in prison after the 52 whose release they had sought are freed.
“We are calling on the relatives of the rest to come with us and march. And we will welcome any other women who want to march with us and demand liberty for the men,” Soler added Monday.
“Our voices, our marches, our legs, will not stop as long as there’s a single peaceful political prisoner,” added Laura Pollán, another Ladies in White leader. They spoke by phone from Havana.
Another eight jailed dissidents were to be freed and flown to Spain Monday, bringing to 19 the number of prisoners released by the RaĂşl Castro government as part of his promise to free the 52 over four months.
News reports from Spain identified them as Manuel Ubals González, Ricardo Enrique Silva Gual, Alfredo Manuel Pulido LĂłpez, Blasgiraldo Reyes RodrĂguez, Jorge Luis González Tanquero, JosĂ© Ubaldo Izquierdo Hernández, Arturo PĂ©rez de Alejo RodrĂguez and Antonio RamĂłn DĂaz Sánchez. They were accompanied by 38 relatives.
The U.S. Interests Section in Havana, meanwhile, invited relatives of dissidents still in jail to visit the mission starting Tuesday if the dissidents want to learn the procedure for applying for permits to move to the United States once they are freed.
Among those invited were relatives of prisoners who have said they would not go to Spain if freed, as well as those who have not been asked whether they would leave for Madrid. The offer did not appear to imply any change in the U.S. position of supporting Cuban dissidents.
THE FUTURE
The release so far of 19 political prisoners and promise to free 33 others — all from the group of 75 dissidents jailed in a 2003 crackdown — has raised questions about the future of the Ladies in White, founded by female relatives of the 75.
Already in Spain with the released prisoners are six of the 30 to 40 women who most often dress in white and march down Havana streets after Sunday Mass at the Santa Rita church. Their marches are the only regularly scheduled opposition protests allowed by Cuba.
Last Sunday nine Ladies in White marched — about average in recent weekes — and they were accompanied by 19 other women, both relatives of political prisoners not among the 75 and so-called “Ladies in Support” who have no jailed relatives but support those who do.
About 50 women also attended the Ladies in White’s lastest Saturday “literary tea” at Soler’s house and exchanged news of their jailed relatives and supporters abroad.
But differences between group members, which began appearing in May, seem to have grown as Castro, the church and the Spanish government moved forward with talks that led to the promise to free the 52.
“After the release of our prisoners, there should be a statement dismantling the organization,” Oleivys GarcĂa, the wife of independent journalist Pablo Pacheco, told Spain’s El Mundo newspaper after their arrival in Madrid. “If other movements are to emerge from there, the name should be changed to ladies in black, blue or brown.”
GarcĂa “is a Lady in White in name only,” Soler retorted. GarcĂa lived in the central province of Ciego de Avila , she added, “and never or almost never came to Havana to fight for the prisoners.”
Since the Ladies in White began their marches in 2004, Cuban government officials have repeatedly warned them that if they kept it up, their relatives would stay in jail longer.
In May, church officials told the women that the government wanted them to distance themselves from the Ladies in Support if they wanted progress in the talks between the church and Castro.
REQUEST REJECTED
Thirty-five female relatives signed a letter dated May 31 thanking the Ladies in Support but urging them to stop attending the Sunday marches for five weeks as a “sign of flexibility and contribution to the fundamental objective of the Ladies in White, to win the immediate and unconditional release” of those still jailed since 2003.
Soler, Pollán and other leaders rejected the request and continued their marches, along with the support women. Soon after, the government called off the government-organized mobs that had viciously harassed them after the masses.
“We stood firm when the government wanted us to distance from the Ladies in Support, and we’ll stand firm now,” Soler said. “The Ladies in White will not disappear.”
http://www.miamiherald.com/201.....avana.html
Julio 19th, 2010 at 23:18
LA RAZON (The Reason): The Cuban exiles feel “betrayed” by the Spanish Government “Ten exileS called on the EU not to change its position with Cuba-
July 20, 2010.
“The exiles remarked in the text that his release “should not be considered a gesture of goodwill, but as an act of desperation of the regime in the urgent search for credit of any kind ‘due to the acute economic crisis that hit Cuba and which has led shortages of staples. “That’s why we ask the countries of the EU-explain-not soften its demands aimed at achieving changes towards democracy and for all Cubans get the same rights enjoyed by European citizens.”
Also, this group of exiles reiterated its intention to request the European Parliament to be allowed to intervene in the European Parliament before any decision is taken on the common position.”
THE ARTICLE IS IN SPANISH BUT IF YOU CAN READ A BIT IS WORTH IT! WOW! THESE HEROES ARE NOT GOING TO BE PUSHED AROUND! THAT’S WHY THEY ARE HEROES TO ALL CUBANS!
http://www.larazon.es/noticia/.....l-gobierno
Julio 19th, 2010 at 21:33
Thanks Humberto Capiro (El Avalanchito) !
Julio 19th, 2010 at 21:02
U.S. postpones meeting with Cuban dissident families-Shasta Darlington and David Ariosto-July 19, 2010
Havana, Cuba (CNN) — A meeting that U.S. diplomats had requested with relatives of some Cuban political prisoners has been put on hold, dissidents said Monday.
The U.S. diplomatic mission in Havana had reached out to relatives of political prisoners who refuse to fly to Spain as part of an agreement to win their freedom.
But talks planned for Monday have been postponed, said Berta Soler, one of the leaders of the Ladies in White, who are relatives of political prisoners.
“It seems it’s a question of location,” she said.
President Raul Castro’s government has committed to releasing 52 opponents jailed in a crackdown in 2003 in — an agreement negotiated with Spain and the Catholic Church. So far 11 have been released and flown to Spain.
Another nine prisoners are expected to arrive in Madrid, Spain’s capital, on Tuesday, the Spanish foreign ministry said Monday.
The U.S. diplomatic mission also had invited relatives of about 25 prisoners who are supposed to be released but have not been contacted by the Cuban government.
Soler said it was not clear when, or even if, the meeting would be rescheduled.
About five prisoners have indicated they will not leave the country but many of the 25 dissidents who have not been notified also are expected to refuse to go, Soler said.
The group of prisoners expected to arrive in Spain on Tuesday will be accompanied by family members on a flight departing Havana, Spanish foreign ministry spokesman Juan Lugo told CNN.
All 52 prisoners are expected to be freed by mid-November. It would be the largest release of incarcerated Cuban dissidents in more than a decade.
They represent roughly one-third of all known political prisoners left on the island nation.
http://edition.cnn.com/2010/WO.....PGS4ZGRuaJ
Julio 19th, 2010 at 20:29
THE HILL:Debate over travel to Cuba heats up-Jay Heflin - 07/19/10
A congressional debate over whether all Americans should be able to travel freely to Cuba appears to be heating up.
A congressional debate over whether all Americans should be able to travel freely to Cuba appears to be heating up.
The House Agriculture Committee last month approved a measure that allows travel to Cuba and eases restrictions on U.S. commodities sold there. The measure still needs approval from the Foreign Affairs Committee before it can come to the floor for a vote, but Committee Chairman Howard Berman (D-Calif.) has indicated that he supports lifting the ban.
”I have long believed that the nearly fifty year old travel ban to Cuba simply has not worked to help the Cuban people in any way,” he said in prepared remarks. “It has not hurt the Castros as it was intended to do, but it has hurt U.S. citizens.”
The legislation builds upon efforts by President Obama in 2009 to ease travel restrictions for Cuban-Americans and would allow virtually all Americans to visit the island. Proponents for ending the ban contend it will boost trade between the two countries.
But not everyone is on board with opening the travel door to Cuba.
Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.) on Friday reiterated his strong opposition to lifting the ban.
“I want to make it absolutely clear that I will oppose — and filibuster if need be — any effort to ease regulations that stand to enrich a regime that denies its own people basic human rights,” he said.
“The fact is the big corporate interests behind this misguided attempt to weaken the travel ban could not care less whether the Cuban people are free,” Menendez said. “They care only about opening a new market and increasing their bottom line. This is about the color of money, not the desire for freedom.”
Like Menendez, opponents to the ban argue easing travel restrictions will funnel money to the Castro regime and essentially fund activities that will provide little benefit to the Cuban people.
“The very fact that a travel bill has moved through the House Agriculture Committee makes one wonder why American agriculture interests would even care about travel to Cuba,” Menendez said. “One can only assume it’s about generating increased tourism dollars for the Castro regime to buy more agricultural products.”
Mauricio Claver-Carone, director of the U.S.-Cuba Democracy PAC, which supports the travel ban, told The Hill that lawmakers in favor of easing restrictions understand that the votes are not there and have resorted to hiding the provision in noncontroversial bills to get it passed.
“What they’re trying to do is package it with an agricultural bill in order to get it through the back door,” he said, adding, “They’re basically trying to maneuver this any way they possibly can without addressing the travel issue specifically.”
Last month, Claver-Carone’s organization joined nearly 500 organizations that oppose lifting the ban and warned Congress that nothing good would come from allowing free travel between the two countries.
“[The] below signatories believe that the freedom of Cuba will not arrive by means of the pocketbook nor the lips of libidinous tourists, who are aseptic to the pain of the Cuban family,” their letter states, adding, “For that reason we suggest that you maintain a firm and coherent policy of pressure and condemnation against the tyranny of Havana.”
When, or if, the Foreign Affairs Committee will vote on the legislation remains to be seen. A Berman spokesman did not respond to a call about timing for the measure.
“That’s where the current question is at,” Claver-Carone said. ”But it’s pretty clear that they do not have the votes on the floor.”
http://thehill.com/homenews/ho.....a-heats-up
Julio 19th, 2010 at 17:20
The recent appearance of grand-scale corruption among high-ranking political elite is not very different from what was observed in most former communist countries. The level of corruption depends on the degree of monopoly exercised by the regime over the supply of goods and services, the degree of discretion enjoyed by government agencies in making resource-allocation decisions, and the degree of accountability. The regime ownership of productive facilities results in a lack of identifiable ownership and widespread misuse and theft of state resources.
Julio 19th, 2010 at 13:15
EXPATICA.COM: Freed dissidents want EU to maintain its policy on Cuba-19/07/2010
Eleven freed Cuban dissidents recently arrived in Spain called Monday on the EU to maintain its policy on Cuba, which requires progress on rights and democracy before normalising relations.
The former political prisoners dissidents opposed any changes to the policy in place since 1996 as “the Cuban government has not taken steps that show a clear decision to move towards the democratization of our country.
“Our arrival in Spain should not be considered as a gesture of good faith but instead as a desperate action by the regime in its urgent search for credits of any type,” their statement added.
“For this reason we ask European Union member states to not soften their demands for democratic changes in Cuba so that all Cubans can enjoy the same rights that European citizens have,” it added.
The statement was read out by one of the 11 freed dissidents, 65-year-old Julio Cesar Galvez. He was serving a 15-year sentence for secretly working for US media outlets when he was freed.
The EU suspended ties with Cuba after a major roundup of 75 dissidents in March 2003, but resumed aid cooperation in 2008.
Spain has long advocated that the EU change its “common policy” on Cuba, arguing that dialogue with Havana is the best way to encourage change.
But several other EU member states, such as Sweden and the Czech Republic, as well as Cuban human rights groups, oppose such a move.
The 11 dissidents are part of a larger group of 52 dissidents which Cuba announced on July 7 it would release under a deal it reached with the Roman Catholic Church and Spain.
Spain is the former colonial power in the island — the only one-party Communist regime in the Americas — and its largest foreign investor.
The deal came after dissident hunger striker Guillermo Farinas had nearly starved to death — and before the 27-nation EU carries out its annual review of its policy towards Cuba in September.
If Havana lets all 52 dissidents go free it will be the largest release of political prisoners in Cuba since 1998 when 300 dissidents were spared jail time following a visit by then-pope John Paul II.
Havana wants to avoid a repeat of the death in detention of political prisoner Orlando Zapata on February 23, who died on hunger strike.
Spain has said it is willing to receive all 52 freed detainees, who were sentenced in 2003 to prison terms of between six and 28 years. Another nine will arrive on Tuesday.
http://www.expatica.com/es/new.....84381.html
Julio 19th, 2010 at 13:04
ASSOCIATED PRESS: Cuban dissidents claim they were misled by Spain-JORGE SAINZ
MADRID — A group of Cuban political prisoners recently released to live in Spain complained Monday they felt let down by the Spanish government.
The 11 dissidents were released this month by Havana as part of the Castro regime’s commitment to free 52 imprisoned since 2003 under an agreement with the Spanish government and Catholic Church. Eight more are due to arrive in Madrid on Tuesday.
Julio Cesar Galvez, one of the initial group, said they are no longer receiving legal counseling from the authorities.
He said the group felt it was “misled” because Spain is not making good on its promise of help as they try to start new lives.
“We signed a series of undertakings in front of a Spanish Embassy employee in Havana,” Galvez told a news conference.
However, “we have already stopped receiving legal advice,” Galvez said, adding he was speaking on behalf of the group.
The Spanish government had no immediate reaction to the group’s complaints. However, Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos said Sunday the dissidents must be patient with the slowness of local bureaucracy.
Moratinos said the freed dissidents would be issued with Spanish work and residency permits within three to four months.
The dissidents and their families, numbering about 70, are staying at a hotel in the Madrid suburbs.
Galvez said the release of some dissidents did not indicate an easing of political restraints in Cuba.
“Our departure (from Cuba) should not be seen as a gesture of goodwill but rather as a desperate measure by a regime urgently seeking to gain any kind of credit,” he said.
http://www.google.com/hostedne.....wD9H2822O0
Julio 19th, 2010 at 12:46
ASSOCIATED PRESS: US diplomats in Cuba to meet jailed dissidents’ wives
HAVANA — The US diplomatic mission in Cuba has convened a meeting here with relatives of political prisoners who are refusing an offer to leave and emigrate to Spain, wives of the jailed dissidents told AFP.
Representatives of the Roman Catholic church and the Spanish embassy were also to attend the 1:00 pm (1700 GMT) meeting with officials from US consular services and the mission’s refugee section, they said.
“All we know is that they have invited a representative of each prisoner who has not been contacted by the church or who have refused to travel to Spain,” said Laura Pollan, the head of the Ladies in White, a group of wives of political prisoners.
Pollan, whose husband Hector Maseda, 67, is serving a 20-year sentence and has refused emigration to Spain, said at least 20 relatives of the political prisoners would attend the meeting.
Following contacts between Cardinal Jaime Ortega and President Raul Castro, the government agreed earlier this month to release 52 dissidents who have been imprisoned since a 2003 crackdown.
So far, 11 political prisoners have emigrated to Spain and another nine were expected to leave for Madrid later Monday as part of Cuba’s biggest release of political prisoners in over a decade.
The cardinal is consulting the remaining prisoners on their options, but relatives said more than a dozen could refuse emigration or ask to be sent to the United States instead of Spain.
The Cuban cardinal visited the United States in June before the deal on the prisoner release was announced July 7, a State Department spokesman told AFP on Friday.
The Spanish newspaper El Pais, citing senior US administration officials, said Oretega met with assistant secretary of state for Hemispheric Affairs America Arturo Valenzuela during the June
http://www.google.com/hostedne.....woMcsfBkow
Julio 19th, 2010 at 09:24
@#32
Long live Pal Maleter !
Julio 19th, 2010 at 06:39
@#13
Prove it, I challange you!
By date, blog name & comment number, put your money where your mouth is …
Julio 18th, 2010 at 23:41
NEW YORK TIMES: Out of Prison, Still Not Free-By RICARDO GONZĂLEZ ALFONSO-July 16, 2010
RICARDO GONZALEZ ALFONSO — Independent journalist from Havana who did work for Reporters Without Borders. Sentenced to 20 years in prison. Maintained a private library at his home.
Madrid-I NEVER imagined I would be born at the age of 60, at an altitude of several thousand feet above the Atlantic. That isn’t gibberish; it’s what I felt when I was released from jail in Cuba and exiled to Spain last Monday.
My debut as a prisoner of conscience came early in 2003, a period subsequently characterized by the world’s press as the Black Spring. I was just one of 75 Cubans imprisoned for our belief that freedom is an achievable miracle and not a crime against the state.
They say prison is a school, and it’s true. I did my best to be a good student and kept back my tears. I succeeded so well that my prison companions still think me a brave man.
Within a few months I could find my way pretty well around the labyrinths of shipwrecked souls. I learned the secrets and legends of killers for hire, crimes of passion, traffickers in illicit powdery substances, would-be emigrants whose clandestine departures had been no secret to the state — even thieves who’d share their teaspoon of sugar on days of hunger.
Zoology was one class we had every day. I learned to live with rats, and even came, on certain nights of our tropical winter (which is winter, nevertheless) to stare at them with an urgency not unlike what people call appetite. I was a solitary friend to the deft spiders that sometimes freed me from the torturous buzzings and blood-shedding bites that accompanied my insomnia.
I became well versed in cosmic solitude and silence. I remember being in a cell no wider than a man with outstretched arms. I also grew familiar with fetid overcrowding and unceasing clamor. Months of unending darkness, months of eternal light.
I was only an auditor in certain courses, in which I learned that some prisoners were specializing in self-injury as a crude solution to their despair. I was witness to mutilated hands and other wounds as mortal or venial as sins. A man cut off his own penis and testicles in a desperate attempt to become a woman. Others, more radical and exhausted by perpetual existential tumult, turned to various methods of suicide, all of them extremely effective.
A large part of the program of study consisted in the defense of one’s rights. There was no theoretical option, only the very Cuban practice of the hunger strike. I carried one out for 16 days, until part of my will felt satisfied with my victory. That long and voluntary fast vindicated the enforced daily fast of imprisonment.
As in any school, there were periods of leisure. Packs of cigarettes were wagered on the outcome of chess matches, card games or soccer contests. I knew sellers and buyers of recreational drugs who were very good at evading or bribing both prison guards and informer inmates.
There was no lack of expertise in armed aggression. Pitiful, decaying knives that were nevertheless sharp-edged and skillfully wielded left trails of blood and rage behind them. (But I never signed up for that class.)
I’ve always had an aptitude for subjects that have to do with dreams, and I dreamed of my wife and children with such fervor that I know they felt my caresses as they lay asleep.
I was almost an exemplary student, and received only one failing grade: in hatred. Despite certain zones of memory, I bear no rancor against my jailers.
And now, after this senescent birth of mine, I’m contemplating the future with all the hope of the newly unveiled. Ever the optimist, I even dream of returning to a Cuba where freedom is not an impossible illusion. I know that, in the next 60 years, I won’t have to be reborn again.
Ricardo González Alfonso is a journalist. This article was translated by Esther Allen from the Spanish.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07.....zalez.html
Julio 18th, 2010 at 22:39
Hungarians have a special place in the history books as they were the first ones to heroically FIGHT the tyranny of soviet union in 1956.Unfortunately they failed as the red army marched in and conducted a kill&destroy mission.
Julio 18th, 2010 at 22:18
Betelgeux
I perceive you lost the desire to fight the injustice just because you don’t understand it. This is a kind of state of your mind you need to change. I think there are universal principles a person needs to adhere so as not to lose his consciousness, to orient himself in this world full of injustices. Freedom is the most important condition of the human been. It doesn’t matter what system we are talking about. Anyway, my admiration to the Hungarian people and his history, his culture, and his language, unique and different. I had a friend from Hungary and we used to call her “the alien” in a positive way, you know, your country is in the middle of Europe, and your culture and language is very different from the rest, as if you came from another world, and mixed with the earthmen. Good luck!
Julio 18th, 2010 at 21:18
The point what i wanted to say was not any way to justify communism, or to say that its better than what we have now. Most of my family members suffered enough by that system, some were taken to the gulag some were put to prison, even some were hung by the red terrorist in the early soviet republic era.
My point is that our forms of social systems doesnt differ that much, you cant just say that x is much better than y. Some form or in an other the basic fallible human nature comes to surface if large civilisations are established by numerous people.
The so-called demoratic, capitalist system is built upon the same human nature, and it comes to surface and makes people suffer too, just in other ways than the current leftover totalitarian regimes.
And im not talking about just Hungary and our messed up transformation. This problem is valid for every single western type country on the planet. Maybe Hungary was a prototype, where the underlying abnormality of this system came visible the best. But the problem is still there deeply in the system, especially in the proto-model US, where its so deep that people even cant realise how inhumane and abnormal it is.
The difference that I can percive, that in a totalitarian regime things are clear, you know where you are and what is wrong, and why. There is only one truth, and the morality cant be relativised even if the state tries to force it upon you.
In this other system there is darkness and chaos, you can only feel that something is very wrong, somthing or someones try to enslave you and disable your self-consciousness, but you cant actually say where this really comes from.
Even if it seems on the outside much more truthful, morally right and happier, but inside, this truth and morality is always relatitvised. Freedom, liberty, democracy, humanism etc. dont mean anything anymore, because they are always relativised and abused.
Yes, its truth that I may have a much more convinient life than someone in Cuba, but I pay enourmus price for it and im not happer a bit with it. I sometimes feel that I slowly rot inside, because I just cant see what is good or bad anymore.
Julio 18th, 2010 at 19:56
Post #26 explains post #25. Indeed, Hungary experienced what sandokan mentioned: “regime ruling elite had an assault on the country’s patrimony to safeguard its own economic well-being. In Romania and Russia, there was a wholesale assault which led to a total economic disaster. I pray to God that Cubans will NOT follow the same path. The entire ruling class at all levels must be held accountable for the perpetuating the castrofacsism. If Cuba will follow Romania’s path, I predict that 20 years after the regime change more than 15% of the Cuban population will leave the country (legally).
Julio 18th, 2010 at 19:50
Betelgeux 25
I don’t understand your point. So, what you are trying to say is that this thing you have now in Hungary is worst than you had before under communist regime, right? Oh, boy, it’s clear to everybody here that you are deluding yourself, since as you say you were a child back then. Unfortunately, the history of suffering by the Magyar people didn’t start in 1982, is back in the fifties when they installed a totalitarian dictatorship, the same type as the Cuban one, when this entire ordeal began in Hungary. Read this…
“…()Mátyás Rákosi now attempted to impose totalitarian rule on Hungary. The centrally orchestrated personality cult focused on him and Stalin soon reached unprecedented proportions. Rákosi’s images and busts were everywhere, all public speakers were required to glorify his wisdom and leadership. In the meantime, the secret police, led through Gábor PĂ©ter by Rákosi himself, mercilessly persecuted all ‘class enemies’ and ‘enemies of the people’. An estimated 2,000 people were executed and over 100,000 were imprisoned. Some 44,000 ended up in forced-labour camps, where many died due to horrible work conditions, poor food and practically no medical care. Another 15,000 people, mostly former aristocrats, industrialists, military generals and other upper-class people were deported from the capital and other cities to countryside villages where they were forced to do hard agricultural labour. These policies were opposed by some members of the Hungarian Working People’s Party and around 200,000 were expelled by Rákosi from the organization…()”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H......931956.29
You must thank God that you weren’t born when all this happened to your own people. Now you can express your opinions freely without any fear to be punished, or be declared “class enemy”. If you don’t like it you have the power to fund a Party and change it. The difference is abysmal. Cubans don’t even have the right to access internet as obviously you do, they don’t have the right to express their ideas without fear, to come and go out of their own country without having to ask for a permit that is denied at the government discretion (Yoani has not been able to travel abroad for more than 2 years because they deny her this right). Would you want this for your people again? Answer sincerely.
Julio 18th, 2010 at 19:49
Betelgeux,
Every country will react differently to this type of change. I think the cuban people inside and outside of Cuba should be given the opportunity to test it out and refine it till they get it right without outsiders (non-cubans) messing too much in their affairs.
Julio 18th, 2010 at 18:24
Anticipating inevitable changes toward a more open political regime likely to follow Castro’s eventual death, the regime ruling elite has begun to prepare the ground for a wholesale assault on the country’s patrimony to safeguard its own economic well-being.
Julio 18th, 2010 at 16:34
Hi, im just watching a documentary in a Hungarian channel about this blog and Cuba. I was in Cuba back in 2004.
Just wanted to mention that the situation seems to me exactly like in Hungary in the 80s before the so called transmission in 89. I was born in 82, so i was a child back then, and i just grow up in midst the transmission in the 90s.
Looking at the documentary and the way you talk, i just want to tell you that there is no miracle behind the borders, and things may get much worse than you think. The freedom and democracy you are eager to experience is a fuckin lie.
Things may change on the surface but under it its just and other type of tyranny with a much more infamous underlying. Its the freedom of the braindead zombies, who are free to consume shit and loose all their self-consciousness.
The result is the same, but they dont need weapons and direct violence to restrict you. They will rape your mind, until you wont even realise what a slave you are.
Julio 18th, 2010 at 15:35
LATIN AMERICA HERALD TRIBUNE; Spain to Welcome Another 9 Cuban Dissidents Next Week-Sunday-July 18,2010
ALMATY, Kazakhstan – Spanish Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos announced Saturday that another nine Cuban political prisoners will arrive in Spain on Tuesday, once they are freed by the Castro regime.
Moratinos made the announcement in Almaty, Kazakhstan’s largest city, where he took part in an informal meeting of foreign ministers from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe.
The nine Cuban dissidents, who will travel with a group made up of some 50 family members, will join the other 11 who were released and are now in Spain, where they arrived earlier this week.
The freeing of these 20 members of the Cuban opposition is part of the commitment made by Havana authorities to release 52 political prisoners from the so-called Group of 75, imprisoned since 2003, in a period of four months, within the framework of its dialogue with the Cuban Catholic Church and the Spanish government.
Moratinos has not identified the nine Cuban prisoners who will arrive on Tuesday, though they are the ones the archbishop of Havana announced last week: Arturo Perez de Alejo, Jorge Gonzalez Tanquero, Manuel Ubals, Alfredo Pulido, Blas Giraldo Reyes, Ricardo Enrique Silva, Jose Ubaldo Izquierdo, Jesus Mustafa and Antonio Diaz Sanchez.
“They are all coming to Spain because they want to. It is important to say that they themselves voluntarily accepted and decided to do so. No one is coming to Spain against their will,” Spain’s top diplomat said.
The new group will join the 11 ex-prisoners who went to Madrid in three stages beginning last Tuesday, namely Luis Milan, Mijail Barzaga, Ricardo Gonzalez, Lester Gonzalez, Omar Ruiz, Antonio Villarreal, Julio Cesar Galvez, Jose Luis Garcia Paneque, Pablo Pacheco, Omar Rodriguez and Normando Hernandez.
There will be a total of 135 people in the contingent counting family members and friends of the prisoners set free by the Cuban regime.
With the help of the Red Cross and two grassroots organizations, the freed dissidents will be put up at a hostal in the Vallecas neighborhood outside Madrid.
Moratinos has said that both Madrid and the Cuban Catholic Church have aided in securing their freedom.
Another 10 political prisoners have declined the offer of going to Spain, but whether they will also be freed and be allowed to stay on the island is as yet unknown.
Asked if that group runs the risk of remaining permanently behind bars, Moratinos answered: “We’ll see about that. Those who come to Spain are of course going to be freed. We’ll see what happens to those who don’t want to come.”
“We’re in the process. What nobody expected is that we would see such an acceleration of this process,” he said.
Moratinos said that the Cubans’ arrival in Spain represents the most important Spanish operation in accepting refugees since the war in Bosnia in the mid-1990s.
http://www.laht.com/article.as.....ryId=14510
Julio 18th, 2010 at 15:25
YOUTUBE: The children and grandchildren of the recently deported Cuban Political Prisoners get some joy with a pinata.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v....._embedded#!
Julio 18th, 2010 at 15:04
MIAMI HERALD: Fidel Castro’s appearances have experts guessing
-BY JUAN O. TAMAYO-Sunday, 07.18.1
Was Fidel Castro reminding everyone that he still has power? Was he silently endorsing his brother’s promise to free 52 political prisoners? Or was it simply a narcissist’s grab for the limelight?
Whatever the reason, Castro’s flurry of five highly public appearances in nine days, after months in the shadows, generated renewed speculation on his lingering influence over Cuban affairs.
Cuban TV showed him on a videotaped interview Monday, but his visits to the Foreign Ministry on Friday, the Havana Aquarium on Thursday and two think tanks within a week were his first appearances before relatively large audiences since undergoing emergency surgery in 2006.
Analysts readily admit they’re speculating when it comes to commenting on the intentions of a wily revolutionary who held power for 47 years before turning power over to his brother RaĂşl Castro.
Most remarked on his apparent good health and linked the appearances to RaĂşl’s agreement to free the prisoners amid unprecedented talks with the Catholic church — though Fidel never mentioned the issue and spoke only about his predictions of nuclear war in Iran and North Korea.
“It is an indirect endorsement” of RaĂşl’s decision, declared dissident Guillermo Fariñas, who staged a 135-day hunger strike to push for the release of 26 jailed dissidents in ill health.
Peter De Shazo, head of the Americas Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, noted that Castro’s appearances could have been meant for a domestic audience.
“Perhaps there’s some kind of internal dynamic in the regime that has prompted Fidel to substantially increase his public profile, to underscore that he’s still around and . . . capable of being involved in decision making,” De Shazo said.
“Within the Cuba hardliners there could be some who questioned the release of the prisoners,” said Andy Gomez, senior fellow at the University of Miami’s Institute for Cuban and Cuban-American Studies (ICCAS). “Fidel’s appearances shows them that . . . if anyone is thinking challenging the decision, they will have to deal with him.”
Or maybe Castro was trying to signal that he still has power, at a time when Cuba faces a withering economic crisis and complaints of growing official corruption, said Cuba expert Mauricio Font.
“These are pretty serious challenges, and when it comes time to control the situation he sees himself as the `Big Man’ who can do it,” said Font, head of the Bildner Center for Western Hemisphere Studies at City University of New York.
For ICCAS director Jaime Suchlicki, Castro’s public appearances reinforced his belief that while RaĂşl is running Cuba’s day-to-day affairs, Fidel retains a powerful voice, especially on foreign affairs.
“He is contradicting those who believed there could be changes [under RaĂşl] or improved relations with the United States,” Suchlicki said. “It’s a reassertion of authority, but nothing has changed.”
The one clear takeaway from the appearances, all analysts agreed, was that Castro, who will be 84 next month, was alert and healthy enough to have visited the Center for the Study of the World Economy on Tuesday and scientific studies center a week before.
“It’s hard to read much into all this other than his improved health. He’s out and about now,” said Phil Peters, a Cuba expert at the Lexington Institute think tank in suburban Washington.
Most Cubans interviewed by foreign journalists in Havana also commented on Castro’s apparent good health. “Despite his age he looks pretty good to me,” the AFP news agency quoted Alexander Garrido, 40,. a government employee, as saying.
Exiled author Carlos Alberto Montaner said his “hyper-narcissism” had driven Castro to return to the public stage to push his predictions of nuclear war in the Middle East and the Korean Peninsula.
“He is incapable of realizing that he is a semi-delirious old man,” Montaner told the EFE news agency, “and the only one who takes him seriously is him.”
Havana blogger Yoani Sanchez was also dismissive, telling Ecuador’s El Comercio newspaper that seeing Castro on TV was “like seeing an old and yellowed photograph fall out of a box of keepsakes.”
Since Castro underwent emergency intestinal surgery, most Cubans have seen him only in videos and photos taken in controlled setting such as meetings with visiting heads of state. Virtually all his public comments, most of them written columns known as “reflections,” have focused on world affairs and made no mention at all of Cuban issues.
Almost lost in the speculation about Castro’s return to the limelight was the key message he pushed in his TV apperances and visit to the world economy think tank — his prediction that nuclear war would erupt by July 11 over Iran’s nuclear development program.
He had made a mistake, Castro wrote in a column published that day, because Cuba’s Foreign Ministry left two key paragraphs out of some documents on the issue it sent him. A compañero at the ministry fell asleep while copying the many documents, he added.
Castro acknowledged in a written message to the world economy studies center that “I know some compañeros worry seriously that I risked my credibility in affirming something so important.”
Yet he stuck to his guns and urged the center to spend four hours a day over the next 10 days studying what the countries of the Western Hemisphere should do “when the nuclear firestorm is over.”
“It would be an effort, of course, to launch a new civilization, starting from the colossal scientific knowledge that our species now has, so that the unthinkable does not happen again,” Castro wrote.
http://www.miamiherald.com/201.....-have.html
Julio 18th, 2010 at 14:44
Damierda! You have NO SENSE OF HUMOR! You must NOT be CUBAN because that is one thing we Cubans as have in abundance. I know you wrote ILK you idiot! I was being a SMART ASS! so I can dump more MIERDA on YOU!
Julio 18th, 2010 at 12:04
Damir, do you have any evidence to support your contention that the Catholic Church rather than the Castro government is responsible for forcing the released political prisoners into exile? In the absence of such evidence, I will dismiss your post as just another example of over-heated rhetoric.
Julio 18th, 2010 at 08:47
Has anyone picked o how the team Yoani complains about the political prisoners , in particular in Moratino’s plane article, yet the first thing on the main page, on the top left, is the “Sign the petition to release the political prisoners in Cuba”.
How naive and gullible can these “democrats” be? The capitalist world and the catholic church came up with the plan to force the prisoners out of Cuba, and it is Castros’ fault in the eyes of resident “democrats”!!!
Stupid is the word, not as an insult but as a matter of the fact.
As I said earlier, to an intelligent reader ( a very few present here) it is cristal clear that the capitalists are using the church to create an appearance, a mirage really, of some “humanist” action to “save” the prisoners, when they are really removing the obstacle to their oil concessions.
The proof? The church had suggested that the families are treated as economic emmigrants by the Cuban government, but the prisoners to be treated as if they are asking a political asylum to leave Cuba.
What is church hoping to achieve whit this?
Two things. One, to stop the prisoners from returning back to Cuba easilly. They will need to ask for a visa/permit from a cuban embassy or consulate in Spain, where they all are going, thus effectively removing them from Cuba with little chance of return. Church, not Castros, asked for this condition.
The other goal is to ensure Cuba sees them as a useful ally, not an antagonist.
Church has ALWAYS been on the side of the government, no matter which, as long as it could fleece the idiots who still believed in the shit they preach to the sheep, as jesus himself called those who believed in him.
In doing so, it supported spanish minister in his personal quest for imrovements in Cuba.
But what would he be interested in?
He too has two goals. One is to get a lot closer to the Cuban oil, the other is to speed up Cuban recovery given the fact that many spanish companies are effectively losing the money because Cuba cannot repay its’ obligations due to the limited commercial options, because of the usanian embargo.
As hundreds of millions will be soon in question, the best way to make sure Cuba is solvent, is to get the oil flowing, thus injecting fresh funds into the local economy. Effect will have to be inveitably good for Cuban people too, because the underlying agreement is that Cuban people must start seeing better wages too, not just the Central bank. And once Cubans start receiving more money, the internal economy will explode in a positive manner.
Internal healthy economy is the solution for everything. Richer Cubans will spend more, and will look for better products. Their personal influence will inevitably grow and will put upwards pressure on the government to liberalise its’ current policies and allow more freedoms. The government will do that because the people who consume are unlikely to protest and make trouble.
And Spain will be at the forefront of this new renesanse, providing technology and consumer products to the fast-growing market.
In a couple of years, Cuba will be a caribean paradise, and fully in the hands of Cubans only, yet making a lot of foreigner capitalists happy along the way too.
Who cannot see that? The team Yoani… They are hoping for a “pragmatic” capitalism, not really knowing just exactly what would that be.
No idea, whatsoever.
Julio 18th, 2010 at 08:01
There were a number of resident idiots (one doesn’t know how to read either…the word I use is ILK, not ELK, you cuban immigrant, and what is that about “they” have feelings…? happy to insult others, but not happy to receive some? tough.) who were trying to convince the readers here how Huffington Post is a “respectable” and “authoritative” newspaper.
Here’s what the usanians themselves say about the “respectable” paper’s list of “safe” cities in the usa.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/.....75413.html
The list includes, bays, airports, uninhabited areas, etc.
The usanian citizens are not mincing their words to describe the sheer stupidity of the list and its’ authors. And when you compare it with the list from the FBI, for example, the joke is even better.
Huffington Post is a gossip shit. A paper that thrives on nonsense and “light” reading that borders on irrelevant and plain stupid. Extremely appropriate.
Extremely.
Julio 18th, 2010 at 05:25
I’d like Cuba ¡¡¡¡
I don’t like GY because my ID Wordpress : my blog’s url ..josepcalvet.wordpress.com/
is blocked here, GY english version.
I regret it ¡¡¡¡
Julio 18th, 2010 at 04:12
lol @ no9
Barbara… where are you… you friend here needs assistance!!!
Julio 18th, 2010 at 03:01
MIAMI HERAD: It took more than dialogue to free them-BY PAUL WEBSTER HARE-Sunday, 07.18.10
Cuban political prisoners are being released because of dialogue, Spanish Minister Moratinos is telling the European Union. He is claiming the Spanish government’s approach is vindicated and that the EU Common Position on Cuba should now be abandoned. There is a “new era” in Cuba.
The promised release (or exile) of 52 political prisoners is welcome news, but how really did it happen and how should the international community now engage with Cuba?
Dialogue with Cuba is nothing new to the EU. Since the Common Position was agreed upon in 1996, scores of EU ministers from member countries have visited Cuba, and many Cuban government officials have visited Europe. The EU has sponsored major cooperation programs with Cuba and exchanges in science, education, sport and culture. EU tourists and foreign investment have followed. The objective is to promote greater political and economic openness from within Cuba.
This EU dialogue and engagement with Cuba has been achieved with a Common Position. Indeed such instruments are widely used to coordinate EU foreign policy. The EU and Cuba opened a formal EU Commission office in Havana in March 2003 and the Cuban government was delighted.
However, five days later, when the eyes of the rest of the world were on Iraq, the EU reacted to Cuba’s crackdown and jailing of the 75, whose releases we see now. The EU imposed diplomatic sanctions on Cuba and invited the dissidents and their families to their parties, alongside members of the government. Fidel Castro was furious, staging massive rallies against the Spanish and Italian embassies and freezing diplomatic contacts. The British embassy received a bomb threat. The solidarity which the EU fostered helped the formation of the Damas de Blanco group. They and Oswaldo Paya have both won EU Parliament prizes. All this was under the Common Position.
Moratinos came to office in 2004 and proposed a radical shift in EU policy. He questioned the purpose of the sanctions, arguing the Common Position stood in the way of “a serene and confident relationship” between the EU and Cuba. Moratinos set about negotiating the sanctions away.
Fourteen prisoners were released by December 2004 (while the EU sanctions were still in place) including prominent figures like Raul Rivero, Martha Beatriz Roque and Oscar Espinosa Chepe. Since the dropping of the EU sanctions there were no other mass releases of prisoners — until July 2010.
Moratinos’ diplomacy has involved regular contact with the Cuban government. Yet when in Havana he has refused to meet opposition figures and did not question the Cuban government’s record on human rights. In 2009 Moratinos said that the scrapping of the Common Position on Cuba would be a centerpiece of the Spanish EU presidency in the first half of 2010.
Why? Because it was disrespectful to the Cuban government and stood in the way of a “normal” relationship between Cuba and the EU.
As often in Cuba policy, events have intervened. Five years after the EU dropped its sanctions, Yoani Sánchez was being attacked, the Damas de Blanco were being harassed and threatened and Orlando Zapata Tamayo had died for the cause of the dissident prisoners. On March 11, the European Parliament condemned the Cuban government for Zapata’s death and called for renewed EU attention to human rights. On March 24, President Obama echoed the same sentiments. In April 2010, Cardinal Jaime Ortega gave his now famous, forthright interview to the Catholic Church’s Palabra Nueva, and respected Cubans like Silvio RodrĂguez and Carlos Varela criticized repression in Cuba.
The prisoner releases are not then simply attributable to “dialogue.” The EU has had to play a more versatile role as Cubans themselves have been emboldened. The church’s assertiveness followed EU and international outrage and showed what many suspected — that the church had long underused it potential for political influence.
The church has now embraced the dissidents’ cause and wider frustrations. Combined with the opposition’s own courage they have forged an effective alliance. But the EU has also continued to focus on Cuba. Its tourists, investment and cooperation are still there. But it refused to abandon the Common Position in June 2010 as Moratinos wanted, postponing their review until September. We see the results today.
Moratinos can claim credit for keeping the EU’s attention on Cuba but the firmness of the collective EU in denouncing Cuban repression has surely proved more valuable since 1996. It has helped to produce more than dialogue for its own sake. The EU should heed these lessons when it reviews Cuba policy — and the continued lack of basic freedoms on the island — in September.
Paul Webster Hare was British ambassador to Cuba from 2001-04 and was in Havana at the time of the jailing of the 75 political prisoners in 2003.
http://www.miamiherald.com/201.....ue-to.html
Julio 18th, 2010 at 00:20
Damierda! Stop calling people ELKS, we are human beings with feelings, yes we can be horny but not literally!! Besides I thought we were GUSANOS! Now getting back to you recent comment on this blog.
Damir (my Damierda) said,
Julio 17th, 2010 at 21:11
“I notice that the EU, and even dissidents’ own homeland, the usa, are increasing the dialogue with the government in Cuba, and that the dissidents are being removed by the very EU and Spain themselves as they are increasingly perceived rightly as the obstacle, not the allies, in the fight for a normalisation of situation in Cuba.”
HOW COME THE CUBAN GOVERMENT DOES NOT TALK TO THE DISSIDENTS? NOW THAT WOULD BE A REAL DIALOGUE! “NORMALISATION” IN CUBA SHOULD INVOLVE ALL CUBANS NOT JUST THOSE IN POWER!
Julio 17th, 2010 at 21:16
Post 9, this is outrageous faceless copy and paste of a number of my own posts from few months back for which you and your primitive ilk insulted me and displayed your real nazist and raxist faces.
It goes to show what a low life form you are to so blatantly steal my words and present them here as your own. You are a despicable thief with no face and no self respect.
Disgusting. But so predictable too since it is coming from a cheap miami-based loser of cuban origins.
This is the only thing you cuban “dissidents” are capable of, and even in this you suck badly.
Nazist derechista hypocrite.
Julio 17th, 2010 at 21:11
I notice that the EU, and even dissidents’ own homeland, the usa, are increasing the dialogue with the government in Cuba, and that the dissidents are being removed by the very EU and Spain themselves as they are increasingly perceived rightly as the obstacle, not the allies, in the fight for a normalisation of situation in Cuba.
What a little oil can do to capitalist hypocrites, eh?
Julio 17th, 2010 at 17:17
Mariela Castro is a fascist, educated under the ideal of the perfect “new men generation” which now face the fall of her family monarchy. After year of her father trying to make homosexuals disappear, later trying to convert them through hard labor in concentration farm (UMAP), finally the smart monarchy of fascist lay the responsibility of dealing with unsettle issues in the most pretty flower on the family, as a dirt political maneuver to continue oppressing the Cuban people. Shame on you Mariela!!
Julio 17th, 2010 at 14:05
THE HUFFINGTON POST: The Little Brother Reports on Big Brother in Cuba: A Tale of Repression and Forgiveness
Today’s guest post is by a young Cuban journalist, and new blogger, Ernesto Morales Licea. Ernesto graduated from the Universidad de Oriente, in Santiago de Cuba, in 2008, and began his professional career at the government radio station in Bayamo, where he lives. This post, from his blog The Little Brother, describes how and why he was fired from his job.-Yoani Sanchez
The Happiness of the Long Distance Runner
by Ernesto Morales Licea
The calendar displays May 20, 2010. It’s half past ten in the morning. In my hometown of Bayamo it’s another hot muggy day that makes foreheads sweat and engenders moods very close to irritation. But that’s outside, in the unsheltered streets. In this office with its inlaid walls where I am now, an air conditioner set into the wall transforms the surrounding reality into something serene and peaceful.
In front of me an official waits, sitting behind his desk. Telephone in hand. Since my entry into the premises he has only interrupted his dialog to say to me, “Good morning Ernesto, take a seat,” as natural as if he had been expecting me to appear. A little later he finishes his conversation, and pressing two numbers with intentional precision, he asks after the presence of some of the institution’s employees. He asks them to come to the office immediately. No one tells me, but I guess: it is the Board members.
The official has a serene expression on his face, no sign of severity. His name: Ernesto Douglas Bosch. His job: Director of Provincial Radio Bayamo Broadcasting, in the eastern province of Granma.
The seconds crawl by, we are alone in his office waiting for the others, the weight of silence forces him to speak.
“Let me tell you something,” he finally says, acknowledging my existence. “You have no idea of the esteem I have for you. First, for your talent, and second, for your attitude as an employee of this Broadcaster, since the time you started more than a year ago now. But there are things that are difficult for me to accept, that I have a hard time believing,” he says, and he leaves the sentence unfinished, as if it’s not worth the trouble to continue.
I listen to him, and although he doesn’t know it, I study the circumstances with an obsessive interest. I have the feeling (just in the last ten minutes since he warned me) that something definitive is going to happen in my life, and I get ready to capture the essence of whatever is said, whatever is breathed this morning.
My arrival at the institution where I have worked as a Cultural Journalist since I finished my university studies in 2008, was marked today by a coercive act I’d never before had occasion to experience.
The receptionist had been prepared; I’d barely stepped foot in the door when she informed me, with great seriousness: the Director was waiting for me in his office. I thanked her for the information. But as I could meet with the director after saying good morning to my colleagues, I chose to go first to my office, understanding in passing that this time it was about something serious. I smelled it in the curt gestures and distance of some of my colleagues, and seconds later, more explicitly, I knew it by the Safety and Security Officer, who was charged with personally taking me to the Board. So there would be no more detours along the way.
So now, when three employees from different areas came through the door almost in unison, and sat down next to me, I had no doubt that I was present at a scene (and in a starring role) for which, to be honest, I’d been prepared, though I hadn’t imagined it would come so soon.
The silence was absolute. Ernesto Douglas limited himself to reaching for a document that (only now did I notice) was conveniently located at his right hand, on the desk. He handed it to me saying,
“Read this. When you’re done we’ll talk.”
My reading lasted much longer than the general patience desired. A comprehensive understanding of this Resolution 12 of 2010, plagued by wherefores, acronyms and legal references, and edited in parts to be nearly incomprehensible, was a real academic exercise.
The essence, however, of what I had in my hands admitted no doubt: By Resolution 12 of this year the Director of the Institution expelled me from the same. Permanently.
Was I taken by surprise? Again, no. My only surprise came from the haste with which this had occurred. And, also, by the reason put forward for doing so.
Let’s see.
Behind this meeting (which although it pains me to do so, I can only classify with one term: repression), figure four names in particular. They are the base of the iceberg. The first three are proper names: Yoani Sanchez, Reinaldo Escobar, Orlando Zapata Tamayo. The third is the name of an artistic group: Los Aldeanos (The Villagers).
Just recently I had published two articles on the internet that centered on these people. First, an article (Revolution in the Village) based on Mayckell Pedrero’s documentary about this rap duo, analyzing musical, social and ideological aspects of this controversial and talented group. Then, under the title, The Death That Never Should Have Been, I published an assessment of the tragedy of Orlando Zapata Tamayo, a case increasingly hidden from the Cuban population. And finally, there was an extensive interview, A Limit to All The Hatred, with the blogger of Generation Y and her husband, also a journalist, Reinaldo Escobar.
Knowing the dismal situation of the media in my country, I didn’t have the naivete to try to publish these articles in some official space, say a magazine, web, newspaper, or website on the national network. And knowing (also) the disregard for freedom of expression in my country, I did not suppose that, after exercising the right of my own voice to critically question the attitudes and decisions taken at the highest level, I would pass unscathed by any reprisals. Cause and effect.
But the reason Resolution 12 2010 cited as serious misconduct on my part appeared to be the fruit of a creative mind capable of emulating the best of George Orwell, and here my adaptation to the absurd, my resistance to astonishment, could only give way entirely.
What was I accused of? That, in my capacity as a journalist with a personal Internet account (only available at my workplace), I had disproportionately, in my navigation, accessed sites I did not have authorization to access, specifically those of a subversive and counterrevolutionary character attacking our country. Make no mistake: the miserable wretch who wrote this letter should sweat ice for not mentioning, expressly, the true cause of my expulsion. But not talking about this apparently was more difficult than it seemed, as the writer yielded to the impulse. He said, “The publication of articles on the before mentioned sites is also verified.” Only that.
Let us, then, clarify the argument: I was not sanctioned for publishing. No way. Doing so would have confirmed certain accusations about the violation of individual rights, freedom of expression and other demons, that it was better not to awaken in these turbulent times. Then, on further analysis, all the masks fall away and institutional anger against a journalist who dared to be true to himself came bursting to the surface, but in the two pages of horrifying evidence, my articles figure only as an argument of fifth-rate importance and are only mentioned in passing.
So then, I was punished for reading.
For reading what other voices, both inside and outside my country, say about a hundred political, cultural and social aspect so connected to the journalism I practice, as to human reason. but in essence and without make-up, I was expelled for reading what I should not. For doing exactly what the overseers in the cane fields forbid the slaves to do, under threat of violent punishment. And also, what the leader of the Cuban Revolution Fidel Castro once promulgated as a maxim of the process. “We do not tell the people to believe,” he said back then, “we tell them: read.”
Returning to the Board Room of Radio Bayamo Broadcasting, I finished my risky reading, and faced the same silence, the same dense atmosphere that doesn’t allow anyone present to say a word, or even feel comfortable.
I returned to the document to the Director, and with his, obeying his mental plan, he asked,
“Do you have anything to say?”
I didn’t know if my face betrayed my thoughts, but internally I had to smile. With perplexity.
Racing through my mind at the speed of light are the memories of so many expelled, so many censored in the most recent history of Cuba, which is not studied in any school on the Island. And not the memory of a Virgilio Pinera or a Maria Elena Cruz Varela in particular. I think of all the ones who say no, the unknowns who stories of abuse against their rights, or reprisals like this one, are never seen, never known.
“Of course I have something to say,” although really, I don’t want to. The size of the injustice, the arbitrariness, I’m at a loss for words.
But, finally, I speak. For the space of twenty minutes. I speak of violations, and of the amnesia my country seems to suffer from. Forgetting the results methods such as these have led to for decades, that we still haven’t come to terms with the shameful and seemingly immortal Five Grey Years, dedicating conferences to it or publishing volumes about it. I speak of my rights to information and free expression. I speak of the legal loopholes that, even without a lawyer, can be detected in a simple glance at this libelous accusation. I speak knowing that my restrained catharsis is nothing more than the right to kick the hangman. And when I finish, after a two second pause, my Director turns to the others present,
“Does anyone else want to say something?”
Heads shake, no. And to my surprise, with no more to-do, the meeting ends, though not without informing me that I have seven days under the law to submit a demand for my reinstatement.
His voice is toneless. His gestures are as indifferent as those he received me with while talking on the phone. And I think, the terrible thing is not that they are directors who give in to the temptation to use their powers in the most arbitrary and brutal way. The terrible thing is, I am sure that later today, Director Ernesto Douglas Bosch will sleep peacefully through the nights, with his wife and family relatively happy.
“You have nothing to say to me,” I ask him before getting up. “You have nothing to say after all the time I spent arguing against this punishment?”
His answer, rigid, now ruthless, comes without thinking,
“I have nothing to say. I heard you but everything that needs to be said is in that document you have in your hands. We’re done. Good day.”
At that very moment, in the second when I look into his passive eyes behind his magnifying glasses, I understand that during the entire meeting his ears remained closed to my voice. His ears, and everyone’s. No one listened to me in this spectral encounter.
Why? How evil of this Director made speaker, whose joviality at times borders on a lack of character and authority? No, I tell myself. The reason is something else. The true reason is that this man with his power to separate me from the entity he directs, is just following orders.
Explicit orders (”Take drastic measures in this case”) or implicit (”If I were you, I would handle this matter intelligently”). Or even worse, interior orders, incorporated into thought, that warns of the risks of not being assertive with a mistaken employee and in consequence being judged as an irresponsible and lazy worker. Orders of a thousand different kinds. But in the end, orders.
So even in this moment as I walk through the hallway to the exit, with the notable perception that those who look at me do with a, (yes, it’s so), humiliating pity, with eyes showing a solidarity that, if there were no danger, could sympathize with me; not even now, when I know that the link has been permanently cut, can I find any animosity against the one whose stroke of the pen it was.
Ernesto Douglas Bosch did not expel me, I think. Whether he recognizes it or not, his sad function is to be the puppet of other minds, minds that at any moment would hesitate to throw him into the fire, just as he did to me today. He is the executor of a firmly drawn direction, but at bottom, I will never know whether or not he agrees. Since none of the thousands of Cubans expelled from their jobs, removed, condemned to work in steel factories or cane fields, will ever know if the one who told him of his exile internally agreed with the measure, or if he had no choice but to carry it out for his own good.
It’s almost noon in Bayamo of my island Cuba. Under the same desert sun I once again wander the city where hundreds of years earlier a fervent and lacerated people sang the first verses of our national anthem. We, and them, we are no longer the same, I think, before losing myself in the busiest shopping street of the city.
And I think, also, that none of the people now passing me, nor those behind me, have been commenting on my case, nor could Director Ernesto Douglas Bosch back in his office with its inlaid walls, understand the state of mind with which I turn my steps toward personal and professional independence. This kind of inner harmony is similar to that of a long distance runner who, apart from the crowd (it doesn’t matter if he is ahead, behind or next to them) runs on air, without others understanding his lightness, and his smile of happiness.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/.....50097.html
Julio 17th, 2010 at 11:44
If the revolution is the representation of the people’s love for Cuba: either it should have & be a success as proof of that love or if failed proof that the people of Cuba does not love Cuba.
The leaders of the cuban revolution have stated (using their constructive critizism)many times, in long … long speeches the short commings of the people’s efforts, the many evils derived form the “enemy from the north” of the “world conspiracy” against Cuba & the revolution.
But … cubans are the responsible ones, since the revolution will not surrender its will to anyone & all decisions are made by the people as we are told the current democracy works in Cuba, from elections to decisions … “the people’s” decisions.
So … at every failure, its the people’s fault, from the choice for elected representatives to the existing shortages, production levels, quality of life & for the existing corruption.
It is the fault of the cuban people as well the lack of solutions, the lack of progress of the situation at hand, it is after all the cuban people’s fault that the economy is in shambles, the cuban people does not work hard enough, the cuban people is not dedicated enough, commited enough.
The leadership of the revolution as stated by the revolution IS THE PEOPLE of Cuba so: why is there not more successful crops, why is not there more export, why is there corruption WHY IS IT THAT PROBLEMS DO NOT GET SOLVED?
After all is the people’s fault … so have we been told for the better part of over fifty … fifty years!!!
Truly … if this was & is the people’s revolution … its best acomplishment is (in my mind) having survived all this time.
But perhaps since this revolution MAY NOT BE the cuban people’s revolution & change might be about since the “silent voices” are getting more & more laud & they are growing in numbers.
So who loves Cuba?
Who loves Her, the cuban people or the “rebolution” w/its leaders?
Cuba IS NOT the “rebolution” Cuba IS CUBANS !!!
Viva Cuba Libre!!!
Julio 17th, 2010 at 00:53
Corruption has been a chronic problem for the Castro brothers’ dictatorship, they institutionalized it. As the political power and control of the economy became increasingly concentrated in the hands of the totalitarian ruling class, consumer-good shortages and inefficiencies in resource allocation led to black-market activities.
After five decades of tyrannical rule and with the promise of material prosperity vanished by the collapse of the Soviet Union in the early 1990s, corruption became dominant and many Cubans became proficient at trading on the black market whatever they could steal from the regime.
Julio 16th, 2010 at 22:01
“Now in Spain, which offered to receive them after their release, they’ve described crowded and filthy prison cells where they were denied drinking water for days; often, the only food was “giraffe soup” - so watery, the prisoner stretched his neck searching for some kind of nutritional content.”
ONLY A CUBAN WOULD MAKE A JOKE OUT OF A HORRIBLE SITUATION LIKE THIS! “GIRAFFE SOUP”!! SO FUNNY AND YET SOOOO TRAGIC!
Julio 16th, 2010 at 21:56
BBC NEWS; Cuba’s freed dissidents vow to fight on -By Sarah Rainsford -16 July 2010
he·roe- A person noted for feats of courage or nobility of purpose, especially one who has risked or sacrificed his or her life
MADRID-They began by making the “L” sign for liberty and the “V” sign for victory with their fingers.
The six independent journalists from Cuba gathered at a news conference in Madrid were among the first to arrive in Spain this week after being freed by the Havana authorities.
In total, the Cuban government has agreed to release 52 dissidents from prison, in a deal brokered by the Roman Catholic Church.
Cuba might have hoped its move would improve its image abroad after the international outrage when political activist Orlando Zapata died on hunger strike in February.
But here in Spain, the former prisoners have been giving disturbing details of their years behind bars.
“I spent 18 months in solitary confinement,” Lester Gonzalez told the BBC, showing a court paper which detailed his 20-year prison sentence.
“[I was] in the dark, with my hands tied; with rats and cockroaches and excrement everywhere. That was all I could smell.”
The men were among 75 arrested in a 2003 round-up of Cuban dissidents, known as the Black Spring.
Now in Spain, which offered to receive them after their release, they’ve described crowded and filthy prison cells where they were denied drinking water for days; often, the only food was “giraffe soup” - so watery, the prisoner stretched his neck searching for some kind of nutritional content.
“I went into prison weighing 86kg, now I’m 48kg,” said Jose Luis Garcia Paneque, one of several men now suffering serious medical complaints.
“That’s the effect of my prison time: chronic illness for rest of my life,” explained Mr Garcia Paneque, now a shrunken figure with hollow cheeks.
Cuba has always denied that it has political prisoners, describing them as criminals paid by the US to destabilise the country.
The men, who were held with ordinary Cuban criminals, recounted how prisoners routinely inflicted serious injuries upon themselves to get even basic medical attention from prison staff.
In one case, they said a man jabbed needles in his eyes but was left unattended for two days.
Confinement
News that Church officials had secured dozens of political prisoners’ release came on 7 July.
The first men chosen were instructed to make a list of family members. Days later, they were whisked from their cells straight on to a plane and into exile.
The men were issued new Cuban passports at the airport; here in Spain, they have been given residency, with the right to live and work where they choose. But to the formers prisoners it still feels like a form of confinement.
“The Cuban government has been categorical: we have to get permission to return to the place we were born in,” said Julio Cesar Galvez, who describes his arrival in Spain as deportation.
“We are not free. We are not immigrants here. Quite simply, we are refugees.”
Cuban Church officials say 20 prisoners have agreed to come to Spain. As their criminal convictions have not been overturned, they say exile was the only option.
“If I leave prison, but I can’t work to support my family, that’s not freedom,” explained Mr Galvez, who was sentenced to 15 years for his work as an independent journalist.
“If I’m still harassed, if they follow us, listen to our phone calls and want to know where we’re going and what we’re doing - we’re not free,” he said.
‘Smoke-screen’
Spain hailed the decision to release the men as the start of a new era in Cuba.
Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos, who was in Cuba at the time, called on the EU to soften its stance and “normalise” relations with Cuba in response.
He made the same appeal when Spain held the EU presidency in the first half of 2010, but Orlando Zapata’s death was a powerful counter-argument.
Now, the former prisoners say it would be “unacceptable” to see their release as proof that the Cuban government’s approach to human rights has improved.
“Real improvement would mean new laws, no more repression or arrests of human rights activists,” one said, adding that included his own right to return home without fear of prison again.
Another mentioned freedom of speech, and a third called the government’s move a “smoke-screen” ahead of an EU review of its common position on Cuba this autumn.
That will make uncomfortable listening for the Spanish government.
The Spanish Red Cross and refugee agency (CEAR) are helping the men with accommodation, legal aid and finding work.
They will move to refugee centres outside Madrid soon, where they can start planning for the future.
For some, there has already been an emotional reunion with relatives. One man had not seen his mother in seven years; all say their imprisonment was as harsh a punishment for their families, as for them.
So as they adjust to life outside prison - and together again - the men have vowed to go on fighting for the freedom of all political prisoners in Cuba, from here in exile.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/worl.....a-10661407
Julio 16th, 2010 at 19:58
The reality that Cuba’s State terrorism have moved from marxist-russian ideology to a clear Mafia, Cosa Nostra methodes, only interested on keeping power and office, shouldn’t more pictorial than your description Yoani. When a communist accuses on corruption, is something very different what is happening, and never a real struggling against just corruption. Its something else, and let me explain what it is. When a “clean up” is on at the communist Mafia, they start to talk on “communist morality”, “communist commitment”, and many other semantic abuses. Nothing with morality and commitments to do! What is real is an internal gangster cup de etat on the way! They are preparing Cuban people to accept massive depurations of the weakest links inside the Communist party. Weakest militants are they who do not show any enthusiasm obeying orders, despite how criminal and unjust they are. I remember once, when my Chilean communist party tested me in Swedish exile. One agent “Fernando” came to visit me and asked if I trusted some leader. I had never heart his name, because he was probably member of the secret Central committee. I said, “I do not have anything to say about him”. My unswear was translated and communicated by the agent “Fernando”, as I was showing suspicious concerning that companero, which it was not my intention. That was sufficient to confirm I was a CIA agent sent to plant doubts on some leaders!!!!
What a esquizoworld communists are living! This is a probe communism doesn’t have any future, as communists, early or later, develop paranoia living in a close world with out windows, without light. Because their paranoiac system, the only way out is killing -in person or morally - companeros, brothers, sisters, friends and close relatives. in order to show he/she is a REAL COMMUNIST. Esteban Morales is doing so, preparing to take over with help of some criminal group, were some secret agents, policemen, military and candidate to be party members are to be used as slaves.
Julio 16th, 2010 at 19:46
ASSOCIATED PRESS: Jobless in Cuba? Communism faces the unthinkable-By ANNE-MARIE GARCIA
HAVANA — At a state project to refurbish a decaying building in Old Havana, one worker paints a wall white while two others watch. A fourth sleeps in a wheelbarrow positioned in a sliver of shade nearby and two more smoke and chat on the curb.
President Raul Castro has startled the nation lately by saying about one in five Cuban workers may be redundant. At the work site on Obispo street, those numbers run in reverse.
It’s a common sight in communist Cuba. Here, nearly everyone works for the state and official unemployment is minuscule, but pay is so low that Cubans like to joke that “the state pretends to pay us and we pretend to work.”
Now, facing a severe budget deficit, the government has hinted at restructuring or trimming its bloated work force. Such talk is causing tension, however, in a country where the words “neoliberal job cuts” are sacrilege and guaranteed employment was a building block of the 1959 revolution that swept Fidel Castro to power.
Details are sketchy on how and when such pruning would take place. Still, acknowledgment that cuts are needed has come from Raul Castro himself.
“We know that there are hundreds of thousands of unnecessary workers on the budget and labor books, and some analysts calculate that the excess of jobs has surpassed 1 million,” said Castro, who replaced his ailing brother Fidel as president nearly four years ago. Cuba’s work force totals 5.1 million, in a population of 11.2 million.
In his nationally televised speech in April, Castro also had harsh words for those who do little to deserve their salaries.
“Without people feeling the need to work to make a living, sheltered by state regulations that are excessively paternalistic and irrational, we will never stimulate a love for work,” he said.
Indeed, the process of labor reform may already have started, albeit slowly.
Workers in the tourism sector say some of their colleagues have been furloughed during the lean summer months, while others have been reassigned to jobs on state-run farms.
“Since we are now in the low season, the hotel where I work has sent many workers home for two or three months,” said Orlando, a chef in Varadero, a sand-and-surf enclave east of Havana.
“It’s very hard because you’re left with no salary at all,” said Orlando, who like almost all state employees, didn’t want his full name used to prevent problems at work. Unemployment benefits don’t exist in Cuba. He added, “I’m lucky since I’m still in my job.”
Veronica, a receptionist at another Varadero hotel, said she feared she may be sent home in August, when her resort will be only half-occupied.
“Sometimes they offer alternatives, to study in a particular course or another job,” she said, “but sometimes, when (workers) are sent into the agricultural sector for instance, they just quit.”
With the government giving no details of its thinking, rumors have spread that as many as a fourth of all government workers in some industries could lose their jobs or be moved to farming or construction. But Labor Minister Margarita Gonzalez has promised that “Cuba will not employ massive firings in a manner similar to neoliberal cutbacks.”
The government has moved to embrace some small free-market reforms. It handed some barbershops over to employees, allowing them to set their own prices but making them pay rent and buy their own supplies. Authorities have also approved more licenses for private taxis while getting tough on unlicensed ones.
The global financial crisis, and the $10 billion in damage inflicted by three hurricanes in 2008, have forced authorities to run a deficit of 5 percent of GDP, leaving them unable to pay back credits received from China and elsewhere.
Cuba slashed spending on importing food and other basics by 34 percent to $9.6 billion in 2009, from $12.7 billion the previous year. But so far, the moves have not been enough to rein in the deficit.
Carmelo Mesa-Lago, a Cuba economics expert and professor emeritus at the University of Pittsburgh, said Cuban officials have spent months debating cuts in the labor force and economic reforms. He said they know what’s needed, but face “a problem of political viability.”
Various government perks like cars, gas, uniforms and office supplies have become incentives to bloat the payroll, since they are based on the size of a company’s work force.
But low pay means low productivity. On Obispo street, a state-run cafeteria sells heavily subsidized soft ice cream and pork sandwiches for the equivalent of a few American pennies — meaning wages and tips are so tiny that the staff is completely indifferent toward customers.
Three waiters sit at the counter cracking jokes. A fourth is the only one working, making coffee for three tables. Nearby, a cashier stares into space, a cook flirts with a scantily clad teen and a supervisor sits idly by.
The state employs 95 percent of the official work force. Unemployment last year was 1.7 percent and hasn’t risen above 3 percent in eight years — but that ignores thousands of Cubans who aren’t looking for jobs that pay monthly salaries worth only $20 a month on average.
Salvador Valdes Mesa, secretary-general of the nearly 3 million-strong Cuban Workers Confederation — the only Cuban labor union allowed — has instead written that “reorganization” will ensure redundant workers are reassigned rather than fired.
He said the government wants more jobs in construction and agriculture.
Still, 35-year-old computer engineer Norberto fears for his job. He thinks it’s unfair to keep workers under communist domination and yet call them unmotivated. “I didn’t graduate from college to now work as a day laborer or a peasant, he said.
If he loses his job and gets an offer to work abroad, he said, “my question is ‘Will the Cuban authorities put aside their paternalism and let me leave?’”
http://www.google.com/hostedne.....AD9H0BOKO1
Julio 16th, 2010 at 16:47
This second article by Esteban Morales is very radical even recommending the quick execution of those that commit corruption. Looks like he trying to look even more radical than the PCC. He fails to realize that the source of corruption is the system itself.
Julio 16th, 2010 at 03:49
The Castros’ dictatorship is unable not only of defend itself from the verbal attacks of the dissidents, but from their own cadres. The so-called “battle of ideas”, is neither since there aren’t ideas, and no battles to fight over them.
Julio 16th, 2010 at 00:25
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