Exchanging an Argentine Fiat for a Cuban Roof
Image from www.clasificadosdecuba.net
He was awarded it as a perk based on merit, paying a subsidized price in 1975, the same year as the first Communist Party Congress. He won the chance to buy that brand new Fiat 125, made in Argentina, because he was a vanguard doctor and an unimpeachable Revolutionary. The first time he parked on his provincial street, the neighbors looked on with envy and respect. Behind the wheel he felt like someone just beginning to take the first steps along the promised path to prosperity. But time passed, over his own body and also over the blue bodywork that had begun to get chipped and dented. Now the car is about to be the same age as his oldest daughter, some 37 Decembers of benefits and setbacks.
For decades he held back on making any comprehensive repairs because his pediatrician’s salary wasn’t even enough to replace the windshield. In the mid-nineties he broke down and rented the Fiat to a neighbor who bought and sold merchandise on the black market. Between leaving it to rust in the garage or renting it to someone with resources, he preferred the latter. Thus, the car awarded as a prize for ideological fidelity, went to someone who had never been chosen by institutions to receive such a privilege. The currency of political loyalty that ended up conquered at the feet of another, more real, convertible hard cash.
When the purchase and sale of cars was authorized, he decided to legalize the transfer. The solvent neighbor who had already invested in new tires, air-conditioning, and even leather-covered seats, delivered some one thousand CUC ($900 USD) to close the deal. He didn’t want to pay one cent more, because he’d been paying a monthly rent for several years. Finally, before a notary, the Fiat swelled the list of 8,390 autos sold in the first trimester of 2012. With the money he made the doctor managed to buy the materials to restore the roof of his house and to get rid of the damaged nearly-100-year-old tiles. So he put out of his mind the object that had once been a major source of pride, for the concrete roof he never could have afforded on his salary.
Junio 16th, 2012 at 22:39
Cuban opposition leader Jorge Luis García Pérez, known as Antúnez, was released by police on Wednesday after being detained last Saturday in a violent incident at his city of birth, Placetas, in Villa Clara province.
“My first words are to express my thanks to all those persons of good will who, somehow or other, decidedly contributed to my release,” said Antúnez in a statement made available by the Miami-based Directorio Democrático Cubano (Cuban Democratic Board).
On Saturday, Antúnez was arrested, beaten and sprayed with pepper gas in a police jail cell.
The domestic opposition movement and human rights activists had consistently denounced his detention.
Last Thursday, Antúnez participated in a teleconference before a subcommittee of the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee dealing with the domestic situation in Cuba and the recent acts of harassment against the peaceful opposition.
The U.S. government had demanded Antúnez’s immediate and unconditional release. At a recent press conference in Washington, U.S. State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland deplored the oppositionist’s arrest.
Criticism has become strongest because Raúl Castro’s government seems to have activated a campaign to block the opposition’s plans to honor political prisoners on the occasion of Fathers’ Day, next Sunday.
In the past 48 hours, the cell phones of several dissidents in Villa Clara and Santiago appeared to have been blocked by the authorities so they could not speak with supporters or journalists.
“These actions highlight once again the repressive nature of the Cuban government, particularly with regard to citizens who peacefully express opposite points of view,” Nuland said. “We shall continue to support the Cuban people in its desire to determine their own future.”
Joining the chorus of figures and personalities in U.S. politics who demanded Antúnez’s release was Senator Bill Nelson. In a letter to the chief of the Cuban Mission in Washington, Jorge Bolaños, the senator asked for an explanation.
“I beg you to determine at once all the facts surrounding this affair and notify my office about Antúnez’s whereabouts and well-being,” Nelson said in his letter.
Antúnez, 46, was released from prison in April 2007 after serving a 17-year sentence for allegedly engaging in enemy propaganda, attempts at sabotage and other crimes punishable by the Cuban penal code.
Two weeks ago in Miami, groups of Cuban exiles showed a documentary that contains testimony from former political prisoners about the coercive methods used by the island’s prisons, and the consistent violation of the immates’ basic rights.
The documentary, titled “Cuba’s Prisons: A Sequence of Terror,” was filmed and edited surreptitiously by members of the Oriental Democratic Alliance (ADO), a coalition of opposition groups in Cuba’s eastern provinces. The documentary included a testimony by Antúnez.
Mayo 26th, 2012 at 18:54
VIDEO: A Conversation With Mariela Castro Part 3 - THE MAFIA RANT STARTS @ 6:25 THE TOP PRIORITY OF THE CUBAN 5 SPIES @ 8:15 WITH SOME MORE MAFIA TIDBITS AFTER! JE JE JE! I THOUGHT SHE WAS HERE TO WORK AND FOCUS ON THE GLBT ISSUES! HOW TRANSPARENT IS SHE!! JE JE JE!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v.....ure=relmfu
Mayo 26th, 2012 at 18:48
Help! YOU BEAT ME TO IT! ITS PRETTY EVIDENT WHAT SHE IS AFTER ON THIS TOUR! GIVE ME THE CUBAN 5 AND LETS DEFAME YOANI SANCHEZ! TWO TOP PRIORITIES!
THE YOANI SANCHEZ DEFAMATION RANT OF PRINCESS MARIELA CASTRO STARTS AT THE BEGINING OF THIS VIDEO! NOW SHE IS ACCUSING YOANI AS AN “ANNEXATIONIST”! AT THE END SHE TALKS ABOUT NOT LETTING YOURSELVES BE “MANIPULATED” BY THE THE MEDIAS “ATTACK” ON CUBA (really the Castro Clan)! YOU CAN TELL HOW UNCOMFORTABLE SHE REALLY IS WITH HER OWN LIES!
A Conversation With Mariela Castro Part 5 - A Conversation with Mariela Castro at the San Francisco LGBT Center May 23, 2012.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v.....ure=relmfu
Mayo 26th, 2012 at 18:34
Humberto, Mariela couldn’t even answer the easy questions.
Nobody asked her the tough ones, like “why did your father send gays to concentration camps?” or “why did Cuba vote with Iran against gay rights in the UN?” or “have you ever criticized Iran for torturing and executing gays?”
Instead of answering one easy question honestly, all she did was repeat the party line about things she knows absolutely nothing about.
Mayo 26th, 2012 at 18:20
Humberto, go to the last segment, number 5, it’s just 5 minutes. That’s where she goes off on Yoani.
I know the whole 5 segments are hard to watch, she is very full of herself and tells boring Fidel and Raul stories.
But I was looking for some hope that she isn’t as mentally unbalanced as them, some sign of flexibility or openness in her thinking.
Unfortunately, she’s self-centered, close-minded and delusional and just repeats party propaganda like a parrot, although obviously without a parrot’s intelligence.
Mayo 26th, 2012 at 12:14
Help! ON WHICH OF THE SEGMENTS DID SHE GO OFF ON YOANI? THERE ARE 5 PARTS! AND FYI! I PUT SEVERAL ARTICLES ON THE COMMENT SECTION AND NOW THEY HAVE CLOSED THE ABILITY TO COMMENT! JE JE JE! VERY DEMOCRATIC WHO WAS IN CHARGE OF THE FILMING AND POSTING ON YOUTUBE!
YOUTUBE: A Conversation With Mariela Castro Part 1 - A Conversation with Mariela Castro at the San Francisco LGBT Center May 23, 2012.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v.....mp;list=UL
Mayo 26th, 2012 at 12:08
Communism was merely a “spontaneous” uprising of working people.
World Socialism will be organised uprising of not working people…and mariela,yoani and generation y should be with the not working people…who are socialists…which means unemployed with ration food…or hungry as cubans scialists
Mayo 26th, 2012 at 10:31
Good news is that pope as obama,mariela,yoani etc…he and they are all socialists now and so is all UN,EU,NAU,SAU,AU,etc…and all world has God as father….as pope said that(so dont call pope holy father because only God is father of all,creator of all).Now the world elites,corporations,banks,rockefellers,rothchils or what ever are all socialist now…get rations,be happy and all as one,so no more many colors,no more rainbow but be with God,one bright light so united world socialist pink should change to white…as ladies in white
Mayo 26th, 2012 at 10:03
Mariela’s mission is to make or turn the todays world…all gay…but the world is already so and the only thing that mariela should do now is to make all socialist which means that the new generations that are now inclueding generation y should stop being dumb,human animals as the previous generations who are like the dead old car…but are worth not 900 but 0 dollars.Yoani,Humberto should help mariela now and be socialist now…like usa,canada,france,italy,mexixo,venesuela…or the whole socialist world run by the pink UN
Mayo 26th, 2012 at 09:42
Major LOL, Cuba Libre. Perhaps the doctor does indeed get up every morning and work his ass off. That will get you nowhere if you are a doctor in Cuba. Maybe the equivalent of 20 US dollars per month. PATHETIC. The dictatorship runs the island, and not very well, on slave labor. Would you work 40 hours per week for 20 dollars? You don’t even have to answer that. So, you are saying that one must hustle extra hard in Cuba, say, working 60 or 80 hours per week, in order to take a beach vacation on their own island??? That’s moronic. So is your comparison of Cubans who work 40 plus hours per week for so little with those who live off of welfare in the U.S. and Canada. Not a fair comparison. Shame on you for being such a Castro apologist, making excuses for a dictator.
Mayo 26th, 2012 at 09:41
Cube Libra is right: “the truth hurts”
Here is the truth: He swore he was moving to Cuba a few years ago, but still hasn’t looked into it, even though he can move any time. He’s still in his capitalist home cursing capitalism, and can’t even stand more than a week in Cuba, even living in 5 star accommodation.
According to the truth of Libra’s actions, life sucks in Cuba, even for rich Marxist tourists.
Maybe an abnormal psychologist can come on here and explain why these greedy capitalist Marxists keep praising a socialism they would never live under?
Mayo 26th, 2012 at 08:48
Well I can see that the saying “the truth hurts” has proved itself to be true once again. When all the anti-castrists in here heard Mariela Castro speak the truth on Team Yoani, they all felt the pain when reality struck.
Isn`t it ironic my friend Humberto when you quote Mariela Castro about her views on gay and lesbian rights, but when she speaks the truth about the slandering and lies of Yoani Sanchez you are quick to condemn her views.
As for the doctor who sold his Fiat to buy a roof for his house, don`t you find it strange that he has it so hard, but his next door neighbour is making money big time. The truth is the doctor who sold his car likes to sit on his ass living off of the government, while his neighbour hustles in every way he can to better his situation. It can be compared to the US or Canada. Some people decide to live off of wellfare services or unemployment insurance, and then their are others who get their rears up each morning to go to work to be able to better their lives and maybe pay themselves a 2 week vacation on the paradisiac beaches in Cuba.
Mayo 26th, 2012 at 07:21
Sorry, I meant “She also SAID that Yoani has the most advanced computer technology ever seen in Cuba” (that must be her USB stick) LOL
I still can’t believe what I saw. Is there anyone in the Cuban Royal family who can possibly move Cuba forward?
There are actually honest and sane Castros out there, I heard Fidel’s daughter in Miami and she has intelligent things to say. I hope she’s not the only one.
Mayo 26th, 2012 at 07:11
Has anyone else seen the performance of Mariela in San Francisco?
Did she inherit the insanity of her father and uncle, the delusions, the ignorance?
She didn’t answer one question about gay rights in Cuba honestly, waffling and skirting each question with absurd answers like “Cubans don’t like getting married” or “there are no children to adopt in Cuba”, at the same time criticizing the state of gay rights in the USA.
Anyways, she gave a hate-filled performance, punctuating sweet calls to “end all forms of social exclusion” and “prejudice” with very exclusionary insults of “Cuban mafia” etc anytime she talked about people who disagree with her.
She ends with a 5 minute tirade against Yoani Sanchez calling her a stand-in for the Cuban mafia, a mercenary, an annexationist, and quoting one of Castro’s nutcases who made up an interview with Yoani, she “proves” that it is “mathematically impossible” for Yoani to write her own blog. She also writes that Yoani has the most advanced computer technology ever seen in Cuba LOL
This lady is as much an improvement over Daddy as Baby Doc Duvalier was an improvement over Papa Doc. God help Cuba if Princess Mariela takes over.
For letting me clearly see the full dishonesty, hypocrisy, and ignorance of the loony left, I want to thank whoever invited her to the USA.
Mayo 26th, 2012 at 02:52
mariela as obama…. both are socialist and for the progresive changes for cuba,usa joemygod.blogspot.com/2012/05/mariela-castro-endorses-obama.html
and yoani,humberto etc should be with them now to bring big changes in cuba this summer before romney comes and close the doors again and starve more the thin cubans
Mayo 26th, 2012 at 02:37
I think is time for mariela as progresive leader to replace the old castros who are now like the old car in the photo…and should retire or be fired for not letting cuba progress enough or faster,but mariela looks more advanced as yoani…so they must kick castros out and take over and maybe run cuba’s society,intelectuals,media
cuba should not be running like the old car anymore so be pro mariela and help her both yoani and humberto..etc lazy or not lazy cubans,americans,canadians,mexicans etc
Mayo 26th, 2012 at 02:20
humberto you should stop hunting mariela and you better try to connect her with yoani so the forces of the socialist camp,all its divisions;feminists,gays,intelectuals,artists,religious etc are as one big army marching toward the world socialism….because we are all socialist npw or gays or feminist…and this means that thr rainbow colors will be mixed to create one color
Mayo 26th, 2012 at 02:15
“This is what we want — the power of emancipation through socialism,” Mariela Castro says.
Maybe mariela is right…cuba should open doors and windows for all americans to come to cuba…not just gays and the doors should stay open so cubans can return freerly the visit to american gays and straight..so cuba can be part of the north america union…so all their socialists,feminists,gays etc should unite cuba,mexico,usa and canada as a big community…same the european union,sau,nwo etc
Mayo 26th, 2012 at 02:02
so people that belong to generation y should stop being lazy but act and try to make the world better and cuba is part of the world…so is time for yoani,mariela,humberto,cuba libre or not libre or what ever…as members of generation y or x or z…should wake up and start working and stop being lazy now…because this is the time for change…as obama says often; change,new down etc…so wake up all the generation y who maybe is sleeping to late because the ndew day started,sun rised,night is over and bad dreams too…let stop being lazy now
Mayo 26th, 2012 at 01:54
yoani should also have for her new socialist party a media like tv and invite cubans,world socialist,mariela,castros and even world leaders,religious,politics etc to be discussing the world socialism that is now build and not be so passive.
marirla should meet yoani in her home maybe and together they should work and contribute not just for gays and blog readers socialists but for all cuba and the world socialists…invite them to cuba or everywhere in the world. they both originate from spain and maybe they may be cousins,originate from same town or farm in spain before their ancesters moved to cuba…so humberto should help too…what is the mariela’s email contact website etc…or she is stopped being on line too?
Mayo 26th, 2012 at 01:43
why dont the ladies on white chose their own cardinal…and fire the othet one ?
religiom is not a company ot corporation….so they can have their own religion…
the same from yoani…why doesnt she create her own party…like a new socialist party…and even call mariela castro to be in it as socialist…a party branch of world socialism which is majority feminist…gays,religious,community workers and voluntaries,guerrilias etc? There is nothing wrong for them to connect with the world socialist camp and UN…because they may run UN in the future and if mariela will win because she will have more the world gay fans pro her is okey…not to worry.So yoani should do something more important than writting blogs about junk cars,junk streets,building and walls or about rice,beans and bananas
Mayo 26th, 2012 at 00:44
Oh those times when fidelity was considered a currency in Cuba…
Comment posted through Generation Y for Android: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=yas.generaciony
Mayo 25th, 2012 at 22:10
Humberto, I know Posada Carriles is an extremist, I was not equating him with anyone except Mariela Castro.
The whole point is that POSADA CARRILES invited to lecture in a Cuban university would be the only thing quite like MARIELA CASTRO lecturing in the USA.
But Cuba won’t let ANYONE, of the left, center or right, to make the tiniest criticism of any of the Castros. Not even Marxist dissidents are allowed on TV in Cuba.
Mayo 25th, 2012 at 21:28
SO LET ME GET THIS! EVEN IF YOU ARE A POLITICAL GROUP YOU CANNOT TRAVEL OUTSIDE OF THE CASTROFASCIST PRISON? DUH! FORGET! ITS A PRISON!
MIAMI HERALD: Cuba’s Ladies in White have ‘tough’ meeting with Church official - The Ladies in White meeting with the archbishop of Santiago went much more smoothly than their encounter with the archbishop of Havana. - By Juan O. Tamayo
A Cuban Catholic Church official told the Ladies in White on Friday they are no longer a humanitarian group and that the government is unlikely to let them go to the Vatican even if Pope Benedict XVI grants them an audience, spokeswoman Berta Soler said.
The lay spokesman for Cardinal Jaime Ortega, meanwhile, told a conference in California that the government must guarantee the rights of the island’s “political, cultural or religious” minorities and dissidents must abandon “verbal violence.”
Soler said Msgr. Ramón Suárez Polcari, chancellor of the Havana archdiocese, “has always been very receptive with us, but not today.” During the meeting between four Ladies in White and Polcari, she added, “there were tough moments.”
When the women asked for an audience with the pope, Soler said, the monsignor replied that if the government did not allow them to attend Benedict’s masses during his visit in March, it was unlikely to allow them to fly to Italy.
Polcari also challenged the purpose of the Ladies in White, founded by women relatives of 75 dissidents arrested in a 2003 crackdown to demand their release. All were freed by last summer, after Ortega interceded on their behalf.
The monsignor “told us that we are a political movement, that we have changed. We told him we are a humanitarian group, a human rights group,” Soler told El Nuevo Herald by telephone from Havana. Polcari was not immediately available for comment.
The women “reminded him why we’re continuing,” gave him a list of about 60 Cubans imprisoned for political motives and the names of the 60 Ladies in White arrested in March for brief periods to keep them from attending the papal masses.
Participating in the 80-minute meeting were Soler, Magalys Norvis, Odalis Sanabria and Laura María Labrada Pollán. Polcari’s title makes him a top administrator for the archdiocese of Havana.
Soler’s version of the meeting underlined the worsening relations between dissidents and members of the church hierarchy, especially Ortega, accused of forging a virtual partnership with Castro’s communist government.
The Ladies in White, who last met with Ortega in August of 2011, have been asking for a new meeting since March 7 but received no answer, Soler said. Last week, they again asked for a meeting with the cardinal, and Polcari agreed to see them Friday.
In comparison, Soler noted, the women asked Monday for a meeting with Msgr. Dionisio García Ibáñez, archbishop of eastern Santiago de Cuba, the island’s second largest city. Less than two hours later, he agreed to see them Wednesday.
“He was very receptive with us,” Soler said of the 35-minute meeting, during which they also gave him the lists of political prisoners and women arrested during the pope’s visit. “We left very happy.”
García “was interested in what happened to the women when they were detained. He asked us, he said, ‘I want to know’” Soler noted. He added that at times he has admonished women for taking photos in church with their cellular phones.
The Santiago region has been a hotspot for dissident actions in the past year, with police detaining scores of women as they try to stage public protests after Sunday masses at the Santiago cathedral and nearby shrine to Our Lady of Charity, Cuba’s patron saint.
García, who is also president of the Cuban Catholic Bishops Conference, was in Havana for a meeting of the conference.
Ortega spokesman Orlando Marquez, meanwhile, told a meeting of the Latin American Studies Association in San Francisco that Cuba’s government should “pay more attention to minorities, be they political, cultural or religious … and guarantee their rights.”
The government also should speed up its economic reforms “and make citizens into participants,” Marquez noted in a lengthy presentation for the gathering of academics that specialize in hemispheric affairs.
His presentation also urged dissidents to abandon “verbal violence, disqualifications and scorn,” and noted that “not a small number of Cubans continue, and will continue, supporting the current government, even though they demand socio-economic changes to improve the quality of their lives.”
The government has never agreed to negotiate with dissidents, dismissing them as “mercenaries” paid by the U.S. government to try to topple the communist system.
http://www.miamiherald.com/201.....tough.html
Mayo 25th, 2012 at 20:41
Help! POSADA CARRILES DOES NOT REPRESENT THE CUBANS IN THE DIASPORA, CERTAINLY NOT ME! HE IS AN ALBATROSS AND SHOULD BE TRIED IN AN INTERNATIONAL COURT AND LETS GET RID OF THAT EXCUSE SO OFTEN USED BY THE CASTRO CLAN, INCLUDING MARIELA ON HER SPEECH IN SF!
The Rime of the Ancient Mariner (originally The Rime of the Ancyent Marinere) is the longest major poem by the English poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge, written in 1797–98 and published in 1798 in the first edition of Lyrical Ballads. Modern editions use a later revised version printed in 1817 that featured a gloss. Along with other poems in Lyrical Ballads, it was a signal shift to modern poetry and the beginning of British Romantic literature.
Here, however, the sailors change their minds again and blame the Mariner for the torment of their thirst. In anger, the crew forces the Mariner to wear the dead albatross about his neck, perhaps to illustrate the burden he must suffer from killing it, or perhaps as a sign of regret (”Ah! Well a-day! What evil looks / Had I from old and young! / Instead of the cross, the albatross / About my neck was hung”). Eventually, the ship encounters a ghostly vessel. On board are Death (a skeleton) and the “Night-mare Life-in-Death” (a deathly-pale woman), who are playing dice for the souls of the crew. With a roll of the dice, Death wins the lives of the crew members and Life-in-Death the life of the Mariner, a prize she considers more valuable. Her name is a clue as to the Mariner’s fate; he will endure a fate worse than death as punishment for his killing of the albatross.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T.....nt_Mariner
Mayo 25th, 2012 at 20:34
THE CASTROFASCIST PRINCES HAS NO CLOTHES!! JE JE JE! AND SKULLY! DID YOU SEE HOW I BEAT YOU TO THE COMMENT SECTION? JE JE JE! SORRY, IM ON A ROLL!
MIAMI HERALD: Mariela Castro’s real agenda: Keep family in power- By Fabiola Santiago
Mariela Castro wasn’t able to leave the safe cocoon of the USA this week without revealing her true agenda.
Feeling comfortable and invincible in the company of adulatory California poolside liberals with a dated playbook, the daughter of Raúl and niece of Fidel dropped the humanitarian mask and got down to the dirty business of pushing the Castro brothers’ single-issue agenda: staying in power.
“A group from the Cuban mafia in the United States, why are they taking the rights of the American people to travel to Cuba? That is not fair,” she said at a conference on the medical issues of gay and transgender people. “You are millions of people against a small mafia of unscrupulous people…. We are fighting for the rights of Cubans and for the rights of the American people.”
On and on the vociferous First Daughter digressed, lucky to be in a democratic country that issues visas even to self-proclaimed enemies who easily find a friendly forum of fools to deliver propaganda cloaked as humanitarian endeavor.
Did anyone think Mariela Castro traveled to San Francisco to contribute to the worthy cause of equal rights for the gay community?
Please. The Cuban government and its emissaries are always predictable. They use gay rights now the way they used the race-equality card in the 1960s — to bestow respectability on a repressive regime.
But Mariela Castro is the emissary of a regime that sent gays to concentration camps, calling their sexual orientation “ideological diversion.”
She comes from a regime that locked up people with AIDS in a sanitarium far from their loved ones.
She comes from a 53-year-old regime that denies people the most basic of human rights and jails them for asking for what only the privileged like her have in Cuba — to travel abroad, speak freely and enjoy life’s perks.
She’s here for no reason other than to extend the life of the regime, to ensure a post-Fidel and post-Raúl future for the children of the dictatorship.
But, as one can see in her talks and her Twitter attacks against other Cubans on the island — like the internationally recognized journalist-blogger Yoani Sánchez — this is a woman who doesn’t know how to engage in open debate without resorting to insults.
She may wrap herself in the rainbow colors of the gay-rights movement, but her tired rhetoric about Miami exiles as “the Cuban mafia” is the same as her father’s and her uncle’s.
But what Cuban mafia does she find unscrupulous? The one that sends to Cuba hundreds of millions of dollars a year in medicine, clothes, appliances and cash?
What embargo? The one the Castro brothers keep alive as an excuse to enslave people to an ideology aimed at keeping the island-farm in their hands? (If they wanted the embargo lifted they wouldn’t shoot down U.S. planes in international waters when an administration is ready to end it; they wouldn’t arrest independent journalists and librarians when another administration is making friendly gestures).
“This is what we want — the power of emancipation through socialism,” Mariela Castro says.
That’s what the Castros want. What about the Cuban people, gay and straight?
http://www.miamiherald.com/201.....-keep.html
Mayo 25th, 2012 at 19:45
Humberto, I mean that Mariela is allowed to come into the USA and call peaceful dissidents “the Cuban mafia”. She should return the favor and invite someone, anyone, to come into Cuba to call her father and his gang “the Cuban mafia” and show it on Cuban TV.
If she believe in openness and free speech, she would. But she only believes in free speech for herself, apparently.
Mayo 25th, 2012 at 19:08
Help! CAN YOU ELABORATE ON THIS STATEMENT? CONFUSED!
“Please Mariela, now that you’ve been in the USA three times and freely allowed to spread your propaganda, invite Posada Carriles into Cuba to talk about the real Cuban Mafia, Castro Inc.”
Mayo 25th, 2012 at 19:04
Can’t blame Princess Castro for being a dictator’s daughter and not want to hurt Papa, but she should have the decency to shut up and listen to a few dissidents, rather than abuse them.
She could use her power for reconciliation rather than defending fascism.
I didn’t know much about her before, but now that I’ve heard her speak at length, I’ve learned she’s a stupid disgusting creature.
Please Mariela, now that you’ve been in the USA three times and freely allowed to spread your propaganda, invite Posada Carriles into Cuba to talk about the real Cuban Mafia, Castro Inc.
Mayo 25th, 2012 at 18:35
CANT WE JUST GET ALONG! AND EAT, EAT, EAT?? IF THE CUBAN POLITICAL ISSUE WOULD BE THIS EASY!! GREAT PIECE JOURNALISM AND GREAT PIECES OF SANDWICHES IN THE PICTURE!! JE JE JE!
MSNBC: The great Cuban sandwich debate - By Betty Cortina, NBC Latino
The problem started with the salami. And the debate over this fatty little cold cut is about as fierce as the debate over what will happen in Cuba after Fidel Castro, dictator for more than 50 years, dies. At issue is cultural pride, culinary authorship and, above all, whether a classic sanwich cubano includes, among other ingredients, one that’s…Italian? While definitive answers are hard to come by, where you stand in the Great Cuban Sandwich Debate likely depends on where you’re from.
First, what everyone does agree on: a Cuban sandwich is made with slices of mojo-flavored roasted pork butt, mild, smoked ham (none of the wet, boiled, processed stuff), Gouda or Swiss cheese, pickles and mustard. Everyone also agrees Cuban bread is paramount and can never be replaced with, for instance, crusty French bread. (Ask anyone who’s tried that and you may not hear an opinion since the roof of their mouth is probably still bleeding.) Lastly, it’s universally understood the sandwich is better when slathered in butter and pressed to melty perfection.
That’s where agreement ends and disputes begin.
CLICK LINK FOR ENTIRE ARTICLE & RECIPE!!
http://bites.today.msnbc.msn.c.....ebate?lite
Mayo 25th, 2012 at 16:36
THE PRINCESS MARIELA CASTRO GOT A CHANCE TO TAKE A DEFAMATION SHOT AT YOANI SANCHEZ, ACCUSING HER OF BEING PAID AND A MERCENARY TO DESTABILIZE THE CUBAN “GOVERNMENT”! SO WHERE IS HER PROOF? I HOPE SOME DAY YOANI CAN SUE HER FOR DEFAMATION! COWARD, WHY DONT YOU GET ON CUBAN T.V. WITH YOANI SANCHEZ AND LET HER RESPOND TO YOUR STATEMENTS! JUST WATCH HER DEMEANOR ON THE VIDEO, SHE IS VERY UNCOMFORTABLE IN A DEMOCRACY WHERE PEOPLE ARE PUT UNDER SCRUTINY!
VIDEO: Mariela Castro arremete contra el exilio cubano y Yoani Sánchez- Publicado 24 mayo 2012 - Mariela Castro la hija del gobernante cubano Raúl Castro hizo fuertes declaraciones en San Francisco durante su visita para participar en un evento convocado por la Asociación de Estudios Latinoamericanos. Vanessa Ruiz nos reporta desde San Francisco.
http://www.martinoticias.com/m.....11478.html
Mayo 25th, 2012 at 14:40
YOUTUBE UNIVISION- Mariela Castro: ‘Si yo fuese norteamericana votaría por Obama’ (if I was an american, I would vote for Obama) - Video includes statements by Cuban Americans who were arrested for only shouting “Democracy for Cuba”! She also evaded the question on why was she allowed to come to the USA and Yoani Sanchez did not. Her answer was “The USA gave me a visa”!! How hypocritical for her to respond in such an arrogant and evasive manner! Her father has refused Yoani’s request 19 times in 5 years! This is a documented fact and it shows how the Cuban “government” headed by her father & Castro family clan is violating the basic Human Right of freedom of travel to the Cuban blogger and others who wont walk the party line!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v.....ture=share
Mayo 25th, 2012 at 13:50
So Mariela Castro blasted the… “mafia of Cuban emigres” for blocking Americans from freely visiting the Caribbean island.
I wonder what she had to say about the mafia of the Cuban dictatorship for blocking Cubans from freely visiting the US?
Mayo 25th, 2012 at 13:48
yes mariela should be more involved with world media and tell about cuba…but she is in the leftist camp of the world now united and run by the leftist UN, socialist…the same as europe,two americas,asia and soon middle east and africa.
it looks like the left hand is used to gather all as one flock and than make it like cuba all the world
Mayo 25th, 2012 at 13:32
OF COURSE PRINCESS MARIELA CASTRO WOULD NOT SPEAK TO THE PRESS! SHE IS AFRAID OF WORLD OPINION AND SHE WOULD BE PUT TO ANSWER HARD QUESTIONS! SHE CAN DEFAME OTHERS BUT CANNOT ANSWER QUESTIONS! COWARD! COBARDE!
FOX NEWS LATINO: Cuban leader’s daughter rebuffs press after speech in California
The daughter of Cuban President Raul Castro spoke here before some 100 people at a conference entitled “A Look at Sexual Diversity from the Political Point of View,” but declined to answer questions from reporters.
“I’m not going to give interviews, I came here to work,” was all Mariela Castro would say when questioned by reporters.
Members of her team told Efe that Castro also would not speak with the media on previous days and that all her comments, including political ones, were in answer to questions asked by those registered to attend her talks.
Castro’s address to an audience of some 100 people was part of an event organized by the Latin American Studies Association at a downtown San Francisco hotel.
On the other hand, the 50-year-old director of Cuba’s National Center for Sex Education blasted Wednesday the “mafia of Cuban emigres” for blocking Americans from freely visiting the Caribbean island.
CLICK LINK FOR ENTIRE ARTICLE!
latino.foxnews.com/latino/politics/2012/05/25/cuban-leader-daughter-rebuffs-press-after-speech-in-california/
Mayo 25th, 2012 at 13:19
THE LEVYMAN HAS 10,000 MORE VIDEO VIEWS ON HIS PERFORMANCE IN G.M.A. THAN THE OTHER TWO FINALISTS! I SMELL A CIA CONSPIRACY FOR HIM TO HAVE LOST! JE JE JE!
YOUTUBE: William Levy, Cheryl Burke Perform Cha-Cha Live on ‘GMA’ as ‘Dancing with the Stars’ Names Winner - “DWTS” 2012 third-place finishers woo the Times Square audience on “GMA” the morning after Donald Driver is crowned “DWTS” 2012 Champion and takes home the Mirror-Ball Trophy.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v.....plpp_video
Mayo 25th, 2012 at 12:33
HYSTERICALLY FUNNY! OF COURSE THERE IS NO PROSTITUTION IN CUBA!! EL NEGRO, I MEAN THE CHEF ESTABA COCINANDO (reference to a Los Van Van song)!! JE JE JE!
Celebrity chef Tom Colicchio jokingly tweeted, “I was no where near Cuba.”
So who was the New York chef, or assistant chef, who went to Cuba for a bit of food diplomacy and wound up being robbed by the two hookers he took back to his hotel room?
It seems like nobody is willing to tell, although reports on the misadventure have been making the rounds of foodie blogs and websites and drawing jokes, insider jabs between chefs and at least one serious reproach of the trip to Havana.
Ten prominent New York chefs flew to Cuba earlier this month for the 11th annual Habana Bienal modern art show, to put on a piece of performance art with 10 Cuban counterparts — cooking in a kitchen built into a cargo container.
But New York chef Sara Jenkins on Wednesday cast a different light on the visit when she tweeted, “So one of the American chefs in Cuba took two whores home with him and then got robbed of all his money #butofcourse #icantsaywho!”
The restaurant, bar and nightlife blog Eater National swiftly published the tweet and began speculating on exactly which chef had been robbed, because some on the list of 10 never made it to Cuba and were replaced by others. Some also took assistants to Havana.
Among the names mentioned were the chefs of famed New York restaurants like Hearth, Terroir, Sueños and Sunday Night Dinner and Alma de Cuba in Philadelphia, Eater National reported.
Colicchio, a long-time judge on the reality TV show Top Chef, was not on any of the lists and his tweet was clearly a “not me” joke.
After the brouhaha erupted, Jenkins, the chef at Porchetta in New York, sent a tweet apologizing “to all the chefs and colleagues who helped put together this amazing cultural exchange for indiscreetly calling out the behavior of one member.”
CLICK FOR ENTIRE ARTICLE!
http://www.miamiherald.com/201.....ef-in.html
Mayo 25th, 2012 at 12:15
Griffin, that’s funny, Mariela is going to visit a library here?
Let me guess, she’ll tell us her father is also against censorship, at least in theory, or something along those lines.
Now, hopefully I’ll be able to go see Huber Matos speak at Havana’s public library. Uh, wait a minute, there is no public library in Havana.
I’ll settle for hearing Humberto Capiro interviewed on Cuban TV.
Here’s Mariela’s talk in San Francisco:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v.....mp;list=UL
Mayo 25th, 2012 at 11:44
Amnesty International Video: Routine repression in Cuba
http://www.babalublog.com/2012.....n-in-cuba/
Mayo 25th, 2012 at 11:37
Gay Cuban-Americans protest Raul Castro’s daughter’s visit
The Castro regime’s hateful treatment of gays drove writer Reinaldo Arenas to suicide; now Raul’s daughter Mariela is visiting San Francisco and New York. To add insult to injury, Mariela, whose father has oppressed anyone who dares own books banned by the Communist regime, is scheduled to speak at the New York Public Library.
http://www.faustasblog.com/201.....ers-visit/
Mayo 25th, 2012 at 10:50
GOOD ARTICLE ABOUT PRINCESS MARIELA’S TRIP APPEARANCES IN SAN FRANCISCO. THIS IS THE THIRD TRIP SHE HAS MADE TO THE USA ACCORDING TO UNIVISION, THE OTHER TWO UNDER THE BUSH ADMINISTRATION. GO FIGURE!
BAY AREA REPORTER: Online Extra: Cuban leader’s daughter discusses gay rights - by Matthew S. Bajko
But gay former Bay Area television journalist Tony Russomanno called such a characterization inaccurate in a posting on the event’s Facebook page.
“Mariela Castro has been incorrectly reported as having endorsed same-sex marriage. The same reports say her father, Raul, also supports same-sex marriage privately,” wrote Russomanno, who assisted with the staging of the event. “In fact, she has only come out publicly in support of civil unions, which her father is said to support.”
Reaction to Castro’s appearance was decidedly mixed, with several audience members complaining about the lack of ability to directly question her.
Oscar Gonzalez, 53, a gay Cuban who lives in San Francisco, called her talk “great theater” and part of the Castro regime’s “propaganda machine.”
“The country is a mess,” said Gonzalez, who just visited relatives there last week. “They control everything. You don’t do anything unless they agree to it.”
Gay labor organizer and human rights activist Cleve Jones said he found it odd to hear Castro talk as a representative for LGBT Cubans.
“It was fascinating to hear her speak for the people as one of the people. She is a member of the ruling family,” said Jones. “This audience wanted to hear more about freedom of assembly, speech, and political expression in Cuba.”
Michael Pappas, chair of the LGBT advisory committee for the city’s Human Rights Commission, said if nothing else it was a “really unique and remarkable opportunity” to hear from a Cuban official.
CLICK LINK FOR ENTIRE ARTICLE!
http://ebar.com/news/article.p.....icle=67747
Mayo 25th, 2012 at 09:54
Pamela,
Dumber’s chain is self-yanking.
Mayo 25th, 2012 at 09:06
Help:
I don’t understand why it yanks Damir’s chain so much that Humberto is Cuban. He must be jealous, LOL.
Mayo 25th, 2012 at 08:29
Damir is also a literary critic.
With all their firebombs and revolutions, how do they ever find time to learn so much?
Must be genetic.
Mayo 25th, 2012 at 08:27
Pamela, if they repeat blockade long enough, then it must be true.
They come from the Goebbels school of debating.
Mayo 25th, 2012 at 08:26
DAILY CUBA NEWS:
Despite continuing torrential rains, friends tell me their pipes have remained dry.
I tell them: “Don’t you read Granma? Don’t you know there’s a drought in Cuba?”
Mayo 25th, 2012 at 08:25
Oh, the Croatian genius, who is an expert on all things American, now including our language and our laws!!!
Who speaks like that? I do. The phrases that you criticized are correct, there is absolutely nothing wrong with them.
As you already know, but pretend not to know, thousands of Americans travel to Cuba yearly, with no legal penalties whatsoever.
Humberto was born in Cuba, spent part of his life in Cuba, and has family still in Cuba. If this doesn’t make him Cuban, then I don’t know what would. Do you consider yourself Croatian since you don’t live there anymore?
Mayo 25th, 2012 at 05:42
(See how rediculous you sound? Will you learn anything from it?)
Will you ever learn how to spell ridiculous?
Mayo 24th, 2012 at 23:50
Dumber #26:
“Quit already. You are merely polluting the internet with your silly nonsensical garbage.”
Quite so.
Mayo 24th, 2012 at 22:44
Copy and paste genius of Spanish orgins who pretends to be a “Cuban” should do himself a favour and go to Cuba to see for himself.
If he could. His usanian nazist gulag has prohibited him from traveling to Cuba and if caught, Spanish immigrant in the usa, the “paradise” of “freedom”, could jail him for minimim five years and a hefty financial penalty on top of that.
Todo se sabe, gente! Todo se sabe!
je je je!
(See how rediculous you sound? Will you learn anything from it?)
(Didn’t think so.)
And completely unrelated, what’s with the english translation? It is horrible.
“unimpeachable revolutionary”…!!!
“some one thousand…”
“he broke down and rented the Fiat..”
Who speaks like that?
Another question for the team “yoani”, self-confessed liars and traitors: is that the same doctor you claimed has PLENTY OF MONEY and lives in a small 2 bedroom apartment, while an elderly lady lives in a MANSION which the doctor would be able to maintain therefore he should have it???
Hypocrites. Quit already. You are merely polluting the internet with your silly nonsensical garbage.
Mayo 24th, 2012 at 21:10
SHOW ME THE INTERNET RAUL! SHOW ME THE INTERNET! TODO SE SABE GENTE, TODO SE SABE!! JE JE JE!
BOSTON GLOBE: Venezuela: Fiber-optic cable to Cuba is working- May 24, 2012
CARACAS, Venezuela—An undersea fiber-optic cable that was laid last year between Venezuela and Cuba is working, a Venezuelan government official said Thursday.
The cable was rolled out starting in Venezuela and reached eastern Cuba in February 2011. But 10 months after the system was supposed to have gone online, Cuba’s government has not recently mentioned the cable, and the Internet on the island remains the slowest in the Western Hemisphere. The link had been expected to promptly improve the speed of the Internet in Cuba.
Jorge Arreaza, Venezuela’s science and technology minister, said that “a few months ago we signed all the remaining protocols, all the necessary security measures with the Cuban government.”
“It’s absolutely operational. It will depend on the Cuban government what it uses it for. Of course that’s their sovereign matter, but we know that the undersea cable is in full operation,” Arreaza told reporters.
The project was carried out last year by the company Alcatel-Lucent SA of France for the state telecommunication companies of Venezuela and Cuba. The cable stretches about 1,000 miles (1,600 kilometers) from Venezuela across the Caribbean Sea to Siboney in eastern Cuba. From Cuba, an extension of about 150 miles (240 kilometers) was also laid from Cuba to Jamaica.
Arreaza said officials are considering the possibility of another branch stretching to the island of Hispaniola, which is shared by Haiti and the Dominican Republic.
He said Venezuela’s telecommunications system benefits from the new link to Jamaica because it offers additional connections to other undersea cable systems running toward the United States and Europe.
http://www.boston.com/news/wor.....s_working/
Mayo 24th, 2012 at 20:54
RED! AND YOU ARE NOT SO CRAZY! JE JE JE!
Mayo 24th, 2012 at 20:02
Humberto….in general the idea is that the rainbow world of many colors is going to be one color now as white,not red or blue or what ever…and yes we are your fans
Mayo 24th, 2012 at 19:14
PLEASE RED! WE KNOW WHY YOU ARE DOING THIS! I THINK YOU ARE ONE OF MY FANS FROM THE MIAMI HERALD! SKULLY, IS THAT YOU??
Mayo 24th, 2012 at 19:02
Rainbow world should change and all the rainbow flags must be destroyed because divide the colors put in a box,flag…and let s go all white…so Humberto get rid of your rainbow short and shirts.Enough with the world being all gay and lets change and be with God….because even pope uses white and it seems that he knew that white is closer to the God…not black or rainbow robes and cloths. So let there be light again
Mayo 24th, 2012 at 18:56
I think Humberto is in the purple zone where all humans should be…violet because is the color of the royalty…so no more devil=red or blue like the car,felling blue,but be happy with purple.Still the stories about the purple color women in the bible doesnt tells that purple is consider bad also,same as pink,red and blue or orange and green.So what color we must chose than? Maybe white…like the ladies in white..and it fit whith the colors of the white horse,white robes,angles,bright light in the bible too. So tell Mariela and castros to dress only white robs from now and on…and all the old cubans cars and homes and walls must be painted in white not blue,red,green,yellow,orange,pink,brown anymore.Lets go from the rainbow world to light again…so more rainbow fashion…Humberto
Mayo 24th, 2012 at 18:46
“If I were a US citizen, I would vote for President Obama.” socialist MARIELA said
I am not surprised and the socialists will be like cement for the two stones,big and small..USA and Cuba but we have to know to whom do they both belong…first.
I am surprised that Yoani does not go well with socialists because she is socialist too…but against the extreme communism…and maybe against fascism.So the socialists maybe be different shades but still they are one color and that is PINK…but it make sense that when you mix both red and blue you get pink or purple shades colors.
Yoani must be in the centre,purple and Mariela more on the left or a red pink. Where does Humberto,the gazelle fit…in the different shades of the purple-pink?
Mayo 24th, 2012 at 17:34
THIS FACEBOOK PAGE HAS MORE INFORMATION ON THE “PRESENTATION” OF PRINCESS MARIELA CASTRO IN SAN FRANCISCO! Tony Russomanno HAS SOME INTERESTING COMMENTS AND REPORTS ON SOME OF THE QUESTIONS ETC.
http://www.facebook.com/events.....tif_t=like
Mayo 24th, 2012 at 17:11
YOUTUBE: EVENTO DE ARTE DEL BIENALE: “CoCodrilo Smile” Humor politico de caricaturas en SATS. (Art event in the Bienale: “Crocodile Smile” Humor of political cartoon in SATS)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o5zz-fBwtVM
El proyecto Estado de SATS desea crear un espacio plural de participación y debate, donde medie el intercambio abierto y franco.Los criterios vertidos por los autores y participantes expresan su visión personal y no necesariamente la del resto de los colaboradores. State of SATS project hopes to create a plural space for participation and debate, where open and frank debate is exchanged. The project sponsors panel discussions, forums and other events that are filmed and broadcasted on the Internet. Opinions or points of view expressed on this site by individual participants do not necessarily represent the position of the rest of contributors.
Mayo 24th, 2012 at 14:50
Mariela Castro, the elitist daughter of the ruthless Cuban dictator Raul Castro, tells the press who she would vote for in the U.S. presidential elections this coming November: Obama!
http://www.babalublog.com/2012.....e-day-194/
Nice to see Obama has the Dictator’s Daughter Demographic supporting him.
Mayo 24th, 2012 at 08:50
Red Cardinal,
True, you are very confused. Your comments are delusional nonsense.
Mayo 24th, 2012 at 07:22
yoani’s irony is maybe to sneaky…and I was going to tell this story straight like;
“The car that the communist system gave to the doctor 37 years ago is still running and because of the poverty,ego and stupidity,another lazy cuban man bought the junk for $900 because there are not better used cars in cuba for sale.So the doctor profited because with the money that he made from the car…he fixed his junk old house…roof let for 50 years to collapse because of the lazy government and system who made all cubans poor. In fact the system was a big gathering in a big concentration camp plantation run by the globalist capitalists communists who hired castros to run the concentration camp called cuba same as that of SU,USA,EU,NAU,NWO”
Mayo 24th, 2012 at 03:27
***
The 1955–1957 Chevvy’s in Cuba are far better cars than any Fiat! And they are also much easier to repair. But they use more gasoline.
***
Los Chevvys de 1955–1957 son autos muchos mejores que cualquier Fiat! Y tambien son mucho mas facil reparar. Pero usan mas gasolina.
***
John Bibb
***
Mayo 24th, 2012 at 00:48
“The Catholic magazine says there’s a campaign to get rid of Cuban Cardinal Jaime Ortega because he’s too close to Cuban leader Raúl Castro” ….what..?
I am confused because I thought… that the jesuit Pedro Aruppe liked,put,helped or controlled che and castros so how can they be against the catholics,or maybe they were orthodox…!
Than the question is where are the jesuits as a position…catholic or orthodox?
If the pope is catholic and castros are orthodox communists than cardinal ortega is orthodox communist also…and that means that he act like castros so why do you blame him? If castros were not communists but pretended so than what to believe in cuba play!…I cant figure out who is red and who is blue and who is both….or non…
Maybe the blue car is the answer…but it is from argentina…isnt it?
Mayo 23rd, 2012 at 20:52
THIS ARTICLE JUST SHOWS THE INSENSITIVITY AND STUPIDITY OF THOSE BEHIND CARDINAL ORTEGA’S FACTION IN THE CATHOLIC CHURCH IN CUBA!
“Ortega also spoke out against abuses like the 1989 execution of Army Gen. Arnaldo Ochoa on dubious drug charges and the government’s sinking of the tugboat 13 de Marzo in which more than 30 would-be refugees drowned, it recalled.” IT WAS 45 VICTIMS, INCLUDING 12 CHILDREN!!
“13 de marzo” tugboat massacre, 13-07-94: 45 drowned when the Cuban Coast Guard sank the hijacked tugboat “13 de marzo”. Victims included the following 12 children: Ángel Abreu, age 3, Giselle Borjes, age 4, Juan Mario Gutiérrez, age 11, Caridad Leyva, age 4, Helen, Martínez, age 6 mos., Mayulis Méndez, age 16, José Nicol, age 3, Yousel Pérez, age 11, Yassel Perodín, age 11, Cindy Rodríguez, age 2, Yolindis Rodríguez, age 2, Eliezer Suárez, age 11
MIAMI HERALD: Cuba’s Catholic magazine blasts critics of Cardinal Ortega - The Catholic magazine says there’s a campaign to get rid of Cuban Cardinal Jaime Ortega because he’s too close to Cuban leader Raúl Castro. - By Juan O. Tamayo
Unidentified factions want to “eliminate” Cuban Cardinal Jaime Ortega, according to an editorial in a Havana Catholic magazine that defended the controversial cardinal furiously and accused some of his critics of having “very little political intelligence.”
Neither dissidents nor exiles have “clear and universal projects for the destiny of the nation” and some are following “agendas dictated from abroad,” according to the editorial Tuesday in Espacio Laical, (Lay Space) run by the Lay Council of the Havana Archdiocese.
The archdiocese’s own magazine, Palabra Nueva, published an editorial last week defending Ortega from harsh complaints that he has become a virtual partner in Cuban ruler Raúl Castro’s efforts to preserve the communist system while reforming the economy.
But the Espacio Laical editorial went further, all but arguing that Ortega alone has the right answers to Cuba’s problems and either harshly dismissing his critics or accusing them of some sort of inappropriate conspiracy against the prelate.
“Certain factions” have developed a plan “with the purpose of eliminating the cardinal and erasing the political line he has promoted,” the editorial alleged, without identifying the factions or providing details of the supposed plan.
“It is not just a matter of personal attacks … but of a war against an entire evangelical line that aspires to changes that are positive and serene, gradual and inclusive, orderly and peaceful,” the editorial added.
The editorial spared no praise for Ortega, saying he played an “outstanding role in the preparation of all Cuban church documents over 30 years, and interceded for the liberation of “thousands” of prisoners beyond the 125 political prisoners freed by Castro in 2010-2011.
http://www.miamiherald.com/201.....qus_thread
Mayo 23rd, 2012 at 20:50
THIS ARTICLE JUST SHOWS THE INSENSITIVITY AND STUPIDITY OF THOSE BEHIND CARDINAL ORTEGA’S FACTION IN THE CATHOLIC CHURCH IN CUBA!
“Ortega also spoke out against abuses like the 1989 execution of Army Gen. Arnaldo Ochoa on dubious drug charges and the government’s sinking of the tugboat 13 de Marzo in which more than 30 would-be refugees drowned, it recalled.” IT WAS 45 VICTIMS YOU IDIOTS, INCLUDING 12 CHILDREN YOU MORONS!!
“13 de marzo” tugboat massacre, 13-07-94: 45 drowned when the Cuban Coast Guard sank the hijacked tugboat “13 de marzo”. Victims included the following 12 children: Ángel Abreu, age 3, Giselle Borjes, age 4, Juan Mario Gutiérrez, age 11, Caridad Leyva, age 4, Helen, Martínez, age 6 mos., Mayulis Méndez, age 16, José Nicol, age 3, Yousel Pérez, age 11, Yassel Perodín, age 11, Cindy Rodríguez, age 2, Yolindis Rodríguez, age 2, Eliezer Suárez, age 11 For an account of this incident see: Amnesty International, Report - AMR 25/13/97, July 1997, “Cuba: the sinking of the “13 de marzo” tugboat on 13 July 1994.”
MIAMI HERALD: Cuba’s Catholic magazine blasts critics of Cardinal Ortega - The Catholic magazine says there’s a campaign to get rid of Cuban Cardinal Jaime Ortega because he’s too close to Cuban leader Raúl Castro. - By Juan O. Tamayo
Unidentified factions want to “eliminate” Cuban Cardinal Jaime Ortega, according to an editorial in a Havana Catholic magazine that defended the controversial cardinal furiously and accused some of his critics of having “very little political intelligence.”
Neither dissidents nor exiles have “clear and universal projects for the destiny of the nation” and some are following “agendas dictated from abroad,” according to the editorial Tuesday in Espacio Laical, (Lay Space) run by the Lay Council of the Havana Archdiocese.
The archdiocese’s own magazine, Palabra Nueva, published an editorial last week defending Ortega from harsh complaints that he has become a virtual partner in Cuban ruler Raúl Castro’s efforts to preserve the communist system while reforming the economy.
But the Espacio Laical editorial went further, all but arguing that Ortega alone has the right answers to Cuba’s problems and either harshly dismissing his critics or accusing them of some sort of inappropriate conspiracy against the prelate.
“Certain factions” have developed a plan “with the purpose of eliminating the cardinal and erasing the political line he has promoted,” the editorial alleged, without identifying the factions or providing details of the supposed plan.
“It is not just a matter of personal attacks … but of a war against an entire evangelical line that aspires to changes that are positive and serene, gradual and inclusive, orderly and peaceful,” the editorial added.
The editorial spared no praise for Ortega, saying he played an “outstanding role in the preparation of all Cuban church documents over 30 years, and interceded for the liberation of “thousands” of prisoners beyond the 125 political prisoners freed by Castro in 2010-2011.
http://www.miamiherald.com/201.....qus_thread
Mayo 23rd, 2012 at 18:49
Armando, I agree but like they say, truth is stranger than fiction :)
There is nothing about Cuba I would have believed if I hadn’t seen it firsthand, over many years, repeatedly, and confirmed by dozens of friends who’ve seen the same thing. Even though it was all told to me by thousands of Cubans.
It took that much evidence to destroy all the pro-Castro propaganda I was subjected to in the USA.
Which is pretty funny, because we are constantly told by the anti-American marketing machine that our media is run by a secret cabal of imperialist eggheads out for Castro’s blood.
I learned the hard way it is the opposite, our biggest media is run by businessmen out to make a buck, who won’t risk getting kicked out of Cuba by being too critical.
The only real journalism in Cuba is done by a few dissidents like Yoani.
Mayo 23rd, 2012 at 17:24
car looks expensive because in the condition that hawana bid…is should not be more than one thousand CUC ($900 USD) for at least half of the city…museum
Mayo 23rd, 2012 at 17:15
Wow.
Yoani could be one hell of a novelist.
Mayo 23rd, 2012 at 15:07
Exchanging an junk for a junk…a plantation with other plantation…a corrupt country with another corrupt country is not so important anymore
Mayo 23rd, 2012 at 13:33
UNITED NATIONS: COMMITTEE AGAINST TORTURE STARTS CONSIDERATION OF REPORT OF CUBA - May 2, 2012
The Committee against Torture this morning began its consideration of the second periodic report of Cuba on how it implements the provisions of the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment.
Nora Sveaass, Committee Expert serving as Co-Rapporteur for the report of Cuba, referred to reports that detainees were sometimes held in isolation in very cold cells as a form of punishment and limitations on non-governmental organizations making prison visits. She also raised alleged harassment of human rights defenders and journalists.
Committee Experts raised questions about poor prison conditions, the use of solitary confinement, the fact that torture was not a specific crime, the death penalty, ‘short detentions’ and arbitrary detention, conditions in psychiatric hospitals, military jurisdiction, redress for victims of torture, and cases of detainees on hunger strike.
In the absence of statistics in the report, the Rapporteur asked for information on the workings of the police service, criminal investigations and the detention process, aimed at preventing the practice of torture. There was a phenomenon known as ‘short arrests’ or short detentions, which usually only lasted 24 hours, and presumably had a specific purpose – namely controlling the activities of certain elements – and was perhaps politically related. The Inter-American Human Rights Commission referred to them as arbitrary detentions, especially as the short detentions were not registered. The State party said it had effective habeas corpus: were those detentions covered by that? In a 2011 report the Inter-American Human Rights Commission said that the subordination of courts to the State Council represented direct reliance of the judiciary on judgements handed down by the Government – could the delegation comment on the independence of the judiciary? How far did military jurisdiction extend, could civilians be tried in military courts and what about the use of summary trials? What was the difference between provisional and pre-trial detention? Were any administrative detention centres – usually termed secret places of detention – not supervised by the Attorney General or other judges? How many existed, and how many persons were detained in them? When people died in detention, for example Mr. Juan Garcia on 8 May 2011, how were their deaths investigated, how many investigations had been carried out, and were the results made public?
CLICK LINK FOR ENTIRE DOCUMENT & PROCEEDINGS!
http://www.unog.ch/unog/websit.....enDocument
Mayo 23rd, 2012 at 13:04
McClatchy Newspapers: UN panel queries Havana on human rights abuses, prison deaths - Juan O. Tamayo
A U.N. panel on torture Tuesday demanded that Cuba provide information on the deaths of several political prisoners, the repression of dissident groups such as the Ladies in White and the 2,400 arrests of government critics reported last year.
The demand came on the same day that Cuba’s Granma newspaper and Prensa Latina news agency published reports defending the island’s prison system, which faces allegations of “slave labor” in the 1980s and other current abuses.
Members of the U.N. Committee Against Torture, which is based in Geneva, requested the Cuban government explain the recent deaths of dissidents Orlando Zapata Tamayo and Wilman Villar after lengthy prison hunger strikes, and that of Juan Wilfredo Soto after an alleged beating by security officials.
Complaints that Cuban prisons are plagued by overcrowding, malnutrition, bad hygiene, and beatings for those who protest and forced exile for others have been received in Geneva, said panel member George Tugushi.
Cuba also has been asked to explain the “aggressions and harassments” against the Ladies in White, bloggers Yoani Sanchez and Orlando Luis Pardo and Zapata’s mother, Reina Luisa Tamayo, the panel noted during the first day of its two-day hearing on Cuba.
The U.N. committee also asked for explanations of the more than 2,400 short-term detentions of dissidents reported in 2011 by Havana human rights activists, including Elizardo Sanchez Santa Cruz of the Cuban Commission for Human Rights and National Reconciliation.
“We want Cuba to clarify all these cases,” said Nora Sveaass, one of the 10 panel members and a Norwegian human rights attorney, according to media reports from Geneva.
The panel, which monitors enforcement of the U.N. Convention on Torture and Other Physical Abuses and Transgressions, reviews the records of several U.N. member nations each year. This year it was Cuba’s turn.
Cuba’s Deputy Attorney General Rafael Pino defended his government during his appearance before the panel, saying that “no one in our country has been persecuted or sanctioned for exercising their rights, including those of free expression and association.”
Pino added that of the 263 complaints of prison abuses filed with the government from 2007 to 2011, only 46 led to findings that security agents were responsible. He gave no further details.
His comments came as Granma published an article defending the country’s prison system and Prensa Latina quoted Antonio Llibre, identified as a Cuban expert in international rights, as saying Cuba has been “free of torture” since 1959.
Those claims were disputed by human rights activists in Cuba and abroad
CLICK LINK FOR ENTIRE ARTICLE!
http://www.mcclatchydc.com/201.....human.html
Mayo 22nd, 2012 at 23:56
I don’t know about you, but I blame the car. These Argentinian imports have always been bad news for Cuba.
Mayo 22nd, 2012 at 21:53
Humberto,
On a bus tour last year, we had Cuban tour guide who was rather clever at telling the truth while reading from the regime script. He was talking about his brother-in-law who was a doctor currently working in Venezuela. “You see,” he explained “we Cubans have a poor sense of direction, so to help him find his way back home the government made sure his wife & children were safely kept in Cuba”.
He also mentioned that as stour guide he made much more in tips than a doctor does on his state salary.
Mayo 22nd, 2012 at 19:27
VIDEO STORY : Cuban Doctors Defection Comes at a Price - The Wall Street Journal’s Joel Millman reports on Cuba’s program of sending doctors abroad as missionaries—
The video tells the story of one Cuban doctor working in Gambia who took nine months to escape and now lives in Florida. His wife and child are still in Cuba and she lost her job at a hospital as a result of being blacklisted for five years because of his defection. Another downside is that, without their medical records and certifications (held by the Cuban government), Cuban doctors in the United States can only work as nurses or surgical assistants.
And even though Cuba lets 20,000 people emigrate annually, doctors rarely get permission to leave. Still, almost 1,600 doctors have defected since 2006 as a result of:
Cuba has been sending medical “brigades” to foreign countries since 1973, helping it to win friends abroad, to back “revolutionary” regimes in places like Ethiopia, Angola, and Nicaragua, and perhaps most importantly, to earn hard currency. Communist Party newspaper Granma reported in June that Cuba had 37,041 doctors and other health workers in 77 countries. Estimates of what Cuba earns from its medical teams—revenue that Cuba’s central bank counts as “exports of services”—vary widely, running to as much as $8 billion a year. Many Cubans complain that the brigades have undermined Cuba’s ability to maintain a high standard of health care at home
http://www.good.is/post/video-.....t-a-price/
Mayo 22nd, 2012 at 19:19
THIS SOUNDS LIKE MODERN DAY SLAVERY! AND THAT “FREE EDUCATION”!! WELL GUESS WHAT! ITS NOT FREE! YOU HAVE TO PAY THE CASTROFASCIST REAPER!
AJAZEERA: Venezuela’s Cuban health programme fraying at the edges- Given the sheer volume of Cuban doctors requesting asylum, it seems plausible that doctors experienced coercion. - Nikolas Kozloff
Whatever the case, there’s some evidence to suggest that beneath the surface, all is not well within the Cuban health programme in Venezuela. According to secret cables recently disclosed by whistle-blowing outfit WikiLeaks, Cuban doctors have faced daunting challenges. In 2009, the US embassy in Caracas noted that, while some Cubans had volunteered to go to Venezuela, “many others have complained of being forced (or directed) by Cuban authorities to work in Venezuela under President Chavez’s social mission programs for a period of one to three years”.
Upon arrival in Venezuela, many Cubans reportedly had their passports confiscated by Barrio Adentro officials, so as to “prevent their fleeing the mission”. Furthermore, Cuban medical officials complained “of constantly being watched and monitored by co-workers”. Others reported that they had been required to conduct “mandatory political work” in Venezuela, “especially around elections”, when they were expected to “read propaganda in clinics and gather potential voters”.
In addition, the doctors were “often required to staff politically charged health drives on Sundays”. As early as 2006, US diplomats reported that “the care Cuban doctors provide is often lacking and that many ‘physicians’ are actually medical students”. What’s more, Cuban health care workers earned as little as $400 a month in salary, “a figure slightly lower than local averages”. Doctors worked six days a week, and were “required to see 50-70 patients daily, a number unattainable for most doctors who, in reality, average 10-20 patients”. Moreover, the US embassy added, “almost all applicants claim they are forced to doctor their statistics to meet these requirements”.
Though the doctors received room, board and toiletries, Havana reportedly “held” salaries until medical staff completed their two-year tour. One local legislator “with extensive contacts in poor neighbourhoods” reported that Cuban doctors had complained “bitterly” that the Castro regime held their families “hostage” while medical staff “relied on local donations to survive”.
CLICK LINK FOR ENTIRE ARTICLE!
http://www.aljazeera.com/indep.....96386.html