Forbidden Voices
She asked only to have the same rights enjoyed by a man in her country. She took the loudspeaker to expose laws that in Iran left her defenseless and at a disadvantage against men. Blogger and feminist, Farnaz Seifi went into exile in Germany after having been arrested and threatened many times in the land of her birth. With her family victimized by growing coercion, she had to write under a pseudonym. The drama she is living is an ancient one, but she knows that the absurdity could end one day, could be over in a moment. This small hope has led her to refuse to give in, and she has joined the Change for Equality movement, created by some twenty activists. She uses her keyboard to stop the scourge, and social networks as a way to denounce the outrages many women don’t dare to speak of.
For her part, Zeng Jinyan holds on to love. That affection that joins her with Hu Jia, the famous defender of human rights in China. Her husband has systematically denounced the mistreatment of people with AIDS and the environmental damage in a country where a single party promotes a single version of reality. Through the Internet, Zeng has related her most difficult moments in recent years, the detention and imprisonment of her husband, the long days of house arrest she and her baby have been subjected to, and the tender embrace of her husband when he was freed. Technology brings curious paradoxes; it prevented her from leaving home, and yet cyberspace shortened the distance between her and her readers.
I have been placed alongside these two wonderful women in a documentary that examines the use of new communications media as a weapon against censorship. Under the title “Forbidden Voices,” the Swiss director Barbara Miller has collected images, interviews and domestic scenes that show the human being behind a Twitter account, the person whose virtual presence is much freer than her real one. So this is an accurate story of four women, three of them eager to find respect and space in their respective societies, and a fourth, the author of the film, making use of her lens and great patience to express visually her own rebellion.
Junio 26th, 2012 at 01:54
I wonder if it’ll go through this time…
I am ignoring id***s like the post 29 and 30, who were told about their own st***ty by one of their own in post 48 !!!
Always fun to se how they themselves NEVER stop to think before writing or talking, but are ALWAYS FIRST to tell ME that:
Anónimo
Junio 19th, 2012 at 19:43
The names on the fake posts are GRAY rather than BLACK.
So, if theyse losers were NOT stu**d, they would have noticed that and realised that the “friendly” impostor…, sorry, translator…
C O U L D
distinguish her own posts from mine.
Just by looking at them.
And, of course, I also told her what the difference is, so why are these posts still up?
Oh, I know !!!
She must have BLOCKED herself!!!
Fair punishment.
Junio 23rd, 2012 at 20:13
Yo creo muy importante que otras voces hablen, pero que se acerquren a la realidad de los cubanos, con lo bueno, lo malo y lo regular. No decir lo que los oidos de los que no viven en Cuba quieren escuchar, No se porque tantos premios a alguien, que por las razones que sea no es leida por los cubanos, que como es sabido no acceden a Internet. Para quien entonces escribe ella.
Junio 23rd, 2012 at 09:29
To :”friendly translator”:
You are a liar and a hypocrite.
The posts from an impostor using my name are still not deleted.
I gather they are yours. Just as are the posts from “anonimo”, “bluey”, “help” and similar “loudspeakers”.
When I’m right, and that’s always when the opposition is of wrong wing calibre, I’m just right.
Aren’t I.
Junio 21st, 2012 at 22:27
SORRY! BUT VERY FLATTERED THAT COMMENT #66 IS NOT LITTLE OLD CALIFORNIA QUEEN ME!! JE JE JE!
Junio 21st, 2012 at 11:46
“A Cuban official said Wednesday that the country has strict controls to avoid money laundering ”
I think he meant “strict controls to hide money laundering”
So if I understand recent news:
1) US banks, which Marxist nutjobs tell us is against Castro, helps Castro launder money and only get a slap on the hands when they get caught.
2) For decades Castro’s agents in the US have been defrauding the US medicare system out of millions of dollars and sending the money to Cuba.
I want to make a bet: none of this is going to stop. Any takers?
Junio 20th, 2012 at 14:36
LETS NOT FORGET HOW GOOD THE CASTROFASCIST WORD IS AS WELL AS THE RECENT SCANDAL ABOUT THE ING BANK BI-PASSING “EMBARGO” RESTRICTIONS!
SEATTLE POST INTELLIGENCER: Cuba defends its banks amid Medicare fraud case -PETER ORSI
HAVANA (AP) — A Cuban official said Wednesday that the country has strict controls to avoid money laundering and works closely with banks to detect and deter fraudulent transactions, responding to allegations by U.S. prosecutors that millions of dollars defrauded from Medicare were routed to the island’s financial system.
The statement from Johana Tablada, deputy director for U.S. affairs at the Cuban Foreign Ministry, came in response to a request from The Associated Press after a Cuban-American man in South Florida was ordered held in the case this week.
“Foreign commercial banks that maintain accounts in Cuban banks are obliged to operate in strict compliance with international and Cuban rules and must guarantee the reliability of their transactions and the correct use of their accounts,” read the statement emailed to the AP on Wednesday.
Tablada did not directly address whether any money from the alleged Medicare scam has been deposited in Cuban banks. She said that while Cuba works with foreign banks to fight money laundering, Washington’s 50-year-old economic embargo prevents it from doing the same with American banks.
CLICK LINK FOR ENTIRE ARTICLE!
http://www.seattlepi.com/busin.....649316.php
(Reuters) - ING Bank NV (ING.AS) agreed to pay $619 million to settle U.S. government allegations that it violated U.S. sanctions against Cuba, Iran and other countries. It was the biggest ever fine against a bank for sanctions violations, officials said.
U.S. authorities said ING moved $1.6 billion illegally through banks in the United States from the early 1990s through 2007 by concealing the nature of the transactions.
ING eliminated payment data that would have revealed the involvement of sanctioned countries and entities, according to authorities. The bank also told clients how to evade computer filters designed to prevent sanctioned entities from gaining access to the U.S. banking system. And it provided U.S. finance services to sanctioned entities through shell companies and misuse of an internal ING account.
Amsterdam-based ING said in a statement its banking unit took a provision in the first quarter to cover the penalty, and that it had taken steps to improve its compliance. It closed its representative office in Cuba in 2007 and terminated its relationships with sanctioned banks.
Junio 20th, 2012 at 14:01
Damir post my IP address. You’ve claimed that you can find out about other debaters Ip addresses. Come on show us hot smart you are.
Junio 20th, 2012 at 03:04
THE CASTROFASCISTS SURE HAVE A “CARA DURA”!! THEY ARE CYNICS AND HYPOCRITES, TALKING ABOUT BEING THE VICTIMS OF CENSORSHIP! THE CASTRO OLIGARCHY MAFIA HAS A HUGE HISTORY OF CENSORSHIP AGAINST ANYONE WHO STRAYS FROM THEIR PARTY LINE!
AFP: Citing sanctions, Google blocks Analytics tool in Cuba
Cuba on Tuesday accused Google of “outrageous censorship” after the US Internet giant blocked access to a web traffic analysis tool to comply with US sanctions against Havana.
Google Analytics, a free tool allowing website operators to see when people visit and from where, stopped working in Cuba after a software update that brought it in line with US restrictions.
“As a US company, we comply with US export controls and trade sanctions that limit us from offering certain services in certain countries,” Google said in an emailed reply to an AFP inquiry.
“In order to abide by these laws, our terms of service have always prohibited the use of Google Analytics in sanctioned countries,” it said. “There’s now a technical block in place as well.”
The list of countries where Google products or services face sanctions included Cuba, Burma, Iran, Syria, Sudan, and North Korea.
Efforts to access Google Analytics in Cuba on Tuesday were met with a message referring people to a website for the US Treasury Department Office of Foreign Asset Control, according to state-run media website Cubadebate.cu.
Cubadebate branded the move by Google as “outrageous censorship” and slammed the “injustice” of being unable to access other Google services such as maps and search engines.
US sanctions have been in place against Cuba since 1962.
Limited political debate in the Communist-ruled island nation is carried out on blogs and social networking websites, but opposition to the ruling party is banned and the media is under state control.
http://www.khaleejtimes.com/kt.....June24.xml
Junio 19th, 2012 at 20:37
In reply to Yoani’s tweet in case she can read these comments, it is being widely reported (and confirmed by the Caribbean Basketball Confederation) that 5 Cuban players have defected from the men’s basketball team in Puerto Rico. Someone may wish to tweet Yoani with the news.
Junio 19th, 2012 at 19:51
ANONIMO! THANKS! NOW WE NOW CAN TELL BETWEEN THE REAL AND THE COMEMIE*RDAS! JE JE JE!
Comment posted through Generation Y for Android: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=yas.generaciony
Junio 19th, 2012 at 19:45
http://www.therealcuba.com/page5.htm
Junio 19th, 2012 at 19:43
The names on the fake posts are gray rather than black.
Junio 19th, 2012 at 19:19
For some it’s strange to relate Rosa Parks with the largest island in the Caribbean. The Rosa Parks Female Movement for Civil Rights was founded some time ago. Rosa Parks was a reserved and dignified lady who, in 1954, was arrested in Montgomery, a city in the south of the United States, for refusing to give up her seat to a white man. This attitude of hers, so disconcerting in those years, provoked an ongoing popular movement for civil rights in the United States. Anyone was far from imagining that her exemplary attitude would arrive in Cuba.
In the insular history there is a Pleiades of talented and ferocious women: some are most beloved as Mariana Grajales, the mother of the Maceo generals. We have heroines and famous professionals. Others are virtually unknown although they gave their all: their hair, jewels, their life, for the country’s liberty; however the concept of passive resistance was practically unknown in Cuba.
Rosa Parks is at Saint Rita Church as of the first march of the Ladies in White, known worldwide today. The indomitable spirit of Rosa Parks, identical, penetrates each gladiolus, each reunion, each step. No money could pay for the beatings and daily humiliations those simple Cuban women must bear, and even though the populace claim that one of them must be an agent of Cuba’s National Security, one must also certainly recognize, her suffering is double. To stand beside convinced beings must be very hard for a woman, be she mother, wife, sister, and at the same time a spy. The patriotism with which she could be adorned is of scarce value now, after all life will send her the bill.
In spite of the departure of the tireless Laura Pollán, first a grade-school teacher and later a human rights leader, the spirit of Rosa Parks, which does as it pleases in the rest of the country, now adds an extraordinary deed to the History of Cuba: the closure, for months, of the main entrance of the Havana Capitol, the most emblematic edifice of the Capital to all Cubans, constructed in the 30′s decade of the past century.
Junio 19th, 2012 at 19:17
NUTS AND CASTROFASCIST AGENTS! KEEP UP THE “GOOD WORK”!! JE JE JE!
Junio 19th, 2012 at 15:11
Damir just likes to huff and puff and threaten. He once threatened to “take this whole site down.” Can you imagine, not having anything better to do than being a troll on Yoani’s website and denigrating her at every chance? What a sad, pathetic life he leads.
Junio 19th, 2012 at 14:20
Damir, please post the Ip address of this post #49 on this forum. Let us see if you can open the log of this website.
Junio 19th, 2012 at 13:42
LOOKS LIKE THE CUBAN BASEBALL TEAMS ARE GOING TO BE LEFT ONLY WITH THE BAT BOYS!
MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL: Cuban outfielder Puig defects -Workout for Major League scouts expected this week- By Jesse Sanchez
The latest Cuban prospect expected to hit the market just might be the most coveted young outfielder to leave the island in the last 12 months.
Outfielder Yasel Puig, 21, has defected from Cuba and is in the process of establishing residency in Mexico, the first step to becoming eligible for free agency, his agent Jaime Torres said.
A showcase for Major League scouts is tentatively scheduled for later this week in Mexico City.
“As of Monday morning, I submitted information to Major League Baseball and the Players Association that he has taken up residency in Mexico and will shortly establish legal permanent residency in Mexico,” Torres said. “We should have documentation of his legal permanent residency in Mexico soon and as soon as I have that, I will submit it to Major League Baseball and I hope and expect that he will be declared a free agent immediately.”
The 6-foot-3, 210-pound Puig is a known commodity in international circles. He played two seasons for Cienfuegos in the island’s top league, Cuban National Series (Serie Nacional), and was a member of the country’s national team that finished second in the 2011 World Port Tournament in The Netherlands.
“There has not been a player as proven and as young to come to the States from Cuba,” Torres said. “It’s one thing to come to the United States at 19 or 20 years old with a few at-bats or some experience on a national level but this guy has years of national experience under his belt.”
Puig is not as seasoned as fellow Cuban Yoenis Cespedes, a familiar member of Cuba’s National team who signed a four-year, $36 million deal with the A’s in February, but he has more experience on the country’s highest level than outfielder Jorge Soler, who signed a nine-year, $30 million deal with the Cubs last week.
CLICK LINK FOR ENTIRE ARTICLE!
http://mlb.mlb.com/news/articl.....p;c_id=mlb
Junio 19th, 2012 at 13:01
I THINK “THE MUMMY” FIDEL IS TRYING TO COPY YOANI SANCHEZ’ SUCCESS ON TWITTER!! THE JOKES, CARTOON ARE ALL OVER THE INTERNET AS WELL AS SONGS ABOUT THE “MORINGA” TREE! JE JE JE!
WASHINGTON POST: Cuba’s loquacious Fidel Castro changes tack with flurry of tweetlike dispatches, baffles many
HAVANA — Fidel Castro has been called many things during his long turn on the world’s stage, but “succinct” has not been one of them.
So acolytes and detractors alike have met the latest musings of the Cuban revolutionary, long famed for five-hour speeches, with befuddlement. His normally loquacious opinion pieces in the local press lately almost have been short enough to tweet, and sometimes as vague and mysterious as a fortune cookie.
The pieces come irregularly, but almost all have one thing in common. They are long. Or at least they were until last week, when the 85-year-old began a flurry of bite-sized ruminations that have Cubans and Cuba-watchers alike scratching their heads.
“What are the FC?” Castro asked in a one-paragraph offering on June 10, before answering himself cryptically: “These comprise a method with which I try to transmit the modest understandings I have acquired during long years, and which I consider useful for Cuban officials responsible for the production of foodstuffs that are essential to our people’s lives.”
Nobody on the island seems to have any idea what the “FC” stands for, or what the former leader is referring to. The Cuban government has not responded to requests for an explanation.
In comments posted on the government’s Cubadebate website beneath the “Reflection,” Cubans took turns trying to decipher its meaning, or asking for help.
The day after the FC essay, Castro published a 65-word blurb on former East German leader Erich Honecker, whose communist regime collapsed in 1990 as reforms in the Soviet Union led to uprisings that swept away socialist governments across Eastern Europe.
“I maintain feelings of profound solidarity with Honecker,” Castro wrote, following a dig at an unnamed world leader who “sold his soul for a few fingers of vodka,” an apparent reference to reformist Russian president Boris Yeltsin. Another, three-line offering sent June 14, criticizes Deng Xiaoping, considered the architect of China’s economic reforms, for a long-ago slight against Cuba.
One “Relfection” consisted solely of reproducing six-lines of poetry about deceased revolutionary Ernesto “Che” Guevara.
This week’s offerings are even more esoteric.
A 51-word dispatch on Monday talked up the benefits of a tree used in many developing countries to boost nutrition and feed livestock.
“The conditions exist for the country to begin massive production of moringa oleifera and white mulberry which, in addition to being an inexhaustible source of meat, eggs and milk, have silky fibers that can be woven artisanally and are capable of creating well-paid work in the shade, regardless of age or sex,” reads the entire piece.
On Tuesday, Castro wrote two sentences noting that yoga masters “can do things with the human body that can hardly be imagined.” He urged his countrymen to watch an upcoming television program on the subject, before signing off.
Ted Henken, a Cuba expert and professor of Latin American studies at Baruch College in New York, said the mini-reflections read like something between a tweet and a haiku.
“They either mean nothing at all or are like reading tea leaves,” he said. “It’s like that crazy uncle who says inscrutable things, either full of hidden meaning or full of something else.”
CLICK LINK FOR ENTIRE ARTICLE!
http://www.washingtonpost.com/.....story.html
Junio 19th, 2012 at 12:44
RIGHT ON THE MONEY THIS PIECE!
N.Y. DAILY NEWS: Hiding Cuba’s crimes behind gay rights lies - Mariela Castro Espin’s offensive ‘pinkwashing’ - By James Kirchick
On May 29, Mariela Castro Espin, the niece of Cuba’s former President Fidel Castro and the daughter of its present leader, Raul, delivered a talk at an event organized by the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force. Back in Cuba, Castro (who is heterosexual) heads something called the National Center for Sex Education and is a prominent supporter of gay marriage. Asked about the regime’s interment of HIV-positive people, Castro “seemed to talk around the issue,” according to Gay City News. Nonetheless, she received a standing ovation.
In isolation, Castro’s support for gays is laudable. But her campaign for gay rights, such as it is, must be seen within the context of the repression that the Castro regime has inflicted upon the Cuban people for five decades.
The Castro brothers are wise enough to read international political currents; revolutionary machismo isn’t in vogue like it was in the 1960s. They know that a sure way to warm the hearts of progressives is to pledge support for some nebulous concept of “gay rights.” Never mind Cuban gays — like all citizens of Cuba save high-ranking members of the Communist Party — do not enjoy basic liberties like freedom of speech or religion. They cannot join an independent labor union or vote. When it comes to gay life in Cuba, “Not much has changed since Reinaldo Arenas’ time.”
That assessment doesn’t come from “terrorist groups based in Miami” or the “mediocre yellow press,” as Castro recently described her critics in a radio interview. It comes from In These Times, a left-wing American magazine that publishes the likes of Noam Chomsky. Three years ago, it ran a special feature on Cuba, including an in-depth report about homosexuality.
Government harassment of gays is routine, the magazine reported, and while gays may no longer be herded into concentration camps and worked to death, they are still arrested by police simply for their sexual orientation. “Gays are routinely picked up en masse on the streets, beaten, jailed indefinitely,” Herb Sosa of the Miami-based, Hispanic LGBT organization Unity Coalition told In These Times.
Asked whether her father supports gay marriage, Castro told Amy Goodman of the “Democracy Now!” radio/TV program that, “He is convinced that it is necessary, that it is part of the project of full justice the Cuban Revolution proposes.” One then wonders what is stopping this man, who has absolute power, from simply decreeing the right of gays to marry, as he has decreed the arbitrary imprisonment and executions of fellow Cubans.
In truth, Castro’s talk of gay rights is just a pretext for her broader defense of the Castro family’s dictatorship. In the speeches and interviews she gave last month, no sooner did she mouth a few words about “tolerance” and “progress” for gays before launching into a diatribe condemning President Obama as “represent(ing) an imperialist government and policy” and extolling the virtues of the Cuban Revolution.
In an interview with CNN’s Christiane Amanpour, Castro dispensed quickly with the sweet talk about respecting gay people and got right to the real purpose of her visit: demanding that the United States release five Cuban spies arrested in 1998 in exchange for Alan Gross, an American social worker who has been jailed by the Castro regime for the past three years on trumped-up charges of espionage. (Gross was working as a contractor for the U.S. Agency for International Development, bringing computers to the island’s tiny Jewish community.)
“Cuba will be free. I already am.” These were the last written words of Reinaldo Arenas. As for Cuban gays, they will be free when Cuba itself is free, and that day will arrive only when Mariela Castro Espin and her miserable family no longer rule the island as their personal fiefdom.
Kirchick is a fellow with the Foundation for Defense of Democracies.
CLICK LINK FOR ENTIRE ESSAY!
http://www.nydailynews.com/opi.....bled=false
Junio 19th, 2012 at 12:17
Simba Sez: Comments should be length limited. A comment should be about Yoani’s article, not some interloper trying to take over the site on her.
Junio 18th, 2012 at 21:50
AND YOU THOUGHT I POSTED LONG ARTICLES! JE JE JE! CHECK OUT COMMENTS #38 & #41!! JE JE JE! THINGS ARE GETTING DESPERATE IN CASTROFASCIST/AGENT/APOLOGISTLAND! JE JE JE!
Junio 18th, 2012 at 20:03
I see the “red cardinal” team is back in form, this time playing a Castro news feed.
Compañero Castro, you spend more of the billions of US dollars we give you every year on spies and hooligans and PR than on caring for the elderly in Cuba. Patients starve to death in your hospitals and you pay people to post graffiti on Yoani’s blog. Talk about messed up priorities.
Compañero Castro, you are mentally insane.
Junio 18th, 2012 at 19:45
Key remarks by Fidel Castro Ruz, President of the Republic of Cuba, to the people of Cuba, to the noble American people and to the world public opinion, at the onset of the heroic Cuban people’s march on the U.S. Interests Section in Havana on January 24, 2006
Dear compatriots:
At the onset of this march on the perfidious and provocative representatives of imperialism, I wish to reiterate what I said on Sunday in my closing remarks to the heroic people of our beloved homeland, to the noble American people and to the world public opinion.
“The United States government is deliberately in pursuit of the following objectives:
“First, the release of terrorist Luis Posada Carriles, who was trained by US authorities -Bush Sr. included- and used to perpetrate monstrous crimes against the Cuban people. Recruited in 1961, this repulsive character was trained to carry out special operations during the Bay of Pigs invasion. He and Orlando Bosch, officially pardoned by Bush Sr., subsequently received rigorous training to execute despicable acts of terrorism against Cuba. Likewise, he was given instruction to take part in Operation Condor, an international terrorist organization responsible for odious crimes against Latin American personalities. He is the mind behind the midair bombing of a Cubana de Aviación airliner, which claimed the lives of 73 people, off the coasts of Barbados, on October 6, 1976. Taken out of a Venezuelan prison by the CIA on August 18, 1985, he immediately became involved in the dirty war against Nicaragua, supplying weapons to the ‘contras’ in El Salvador and introducing drugs in the United States in the same planes that brought them weapons. For over four decades, Luis Posada Carriles maintained close ties with US intelligence agencies, received financing from various administrations and was used by the Cuban American National Foundation in attempts to assassinate the Cuban head of state. Efforts by the current US President, and a pardon signed by Panamanian President Mireya Moscoso, finally secured his release from prison on August 26, 2004. Then, taken to a Central American country under protection from the US government, he was authorized to secretly enter the United States. Between March 18 and 20, 2005, he entered the country on the Santrina, a yacht captained by the notorious terrorist Santiago Álvarez, a man who, strangely enough, is also being held for weapons trafficking and gross violations of US national security laws. These are irrefutable facts.
“Second, the current US administration has utterly failed in its efforts to isolate and stifle Cuba economically. But it does not accept this failure, and grows dangerously desperate.
“Third, the government of the United States has done everything in its power to please the Cuban American terrorist mafia, which resorted to fraud, in Florida, to put President George W. Bush in office.
“Fourth, President Bush and his administration have committed themselves to implementing a macabre transition plan in Cuba, an act of flagrant interference in the internal affairs of our country, which would return it to a state of backwardness.
“Fifth, the government of the United States has implemented every imaginable measure to deprive Cuba of completely legitimate sources of income. It has made it more difficult for people to send remittances to Cuba and even, callously, forbidden, or made it next to impossible, for Cuban-born US residents to visit their relatives on the island.
“Sixth, under pressure from the Cuban-American mob, and as one their next step, the government of the United States is intent on openly violating the US - Cuba Migratory Accords.
“Seventh: The government of the United States is looking for any pretext to prevent, at all costs, the sales of agricultural products to Cuba, which have been growing, while our country has paid every cent on time during five years, something that government did not expect from a blockaded nation facing constant aggression.
“Eighth, the government of the United States, unhappy about President Carter’s decision of May 30, 1977, is intent on breaking the minimal diplomatic links which exist between Cuba and the United States today. The gross acts of provocation of the US Interests Section in Havana do not and could not have a different objective.
“The Bush administration is well aware that no government on earth can tolerate such an affront to its dignity and sovereignty.
“Cuba’s attitude, and its response to the empire’s provocations, will be entirely peaceful, but we shall counter the insult with all the strength of our moral fortitude and we shall persist in our determination to fight to the death, against whatever act of belligerence of the restless and brutal empire that threatens us. Let no one for a minute forget the oath of Maceo, our Bronze Titan, when he said that ‘whosoever attempts to take possession of Cuba shall conquer but the blood-soaked ground beneath his feet, if he does not first perish in battle’.
I will be witnessing this march together with our spirited children and students who, from the Anti-imperialist Square, will encourage our brave and combative people that will be marching today on this perfidious and provocative representation, the same as they will march on to battle against any aggressor.
Homeland or death!
We shall overcome!
Junio 18th, 2012 at 19:28
VIVAFIDEL VIVAFIDEL!! AS THEY SAY IN CUBAN “TREMENDA MIE*RDA”!!!
Junio 18th, 2012 at 18:57
Is General Secretary of the Communist Party of Spain supposed to be an honor? LOL
Junio 18th, 2012 at 17:56
Raúl receives General Secretary of the Communist Party of Spain
PRESIDENT Raúl Castro Ruz, first secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Cuba, received on June 9 José Luis Centella Gómez, general secretary of the Communist Party of Spain and United Left spokesperson in the Spanish National Congress.
During their meeting, the two leaders discussed various issues of interest to the two political organizations and agreed to continue strengthening the fraternal relations between them.
Centella Gómez was accompanied by Alberto Garzón, National Congress deputy for Malaga and Gloria Aguilar, secretary of the Communist Party of Spain’s International Cooperation office.
Also present at the meeting was José Ramón Balaguer Cabrera, member of the Central Committee Secretariat of the Communist Party of Cuba and head of its International Relations Department
Junio 18th, 2012 at 14:11
THIS IS ANOTHER PROOF THAT THE CASTROFASCISTS OLIGARCHY IS A MAFIA! NO BOUBT ABOUT IT!
MIAMI HERALD: Feds in Miami: Millions stolen from Medicare wound up in Cuban banking system - In a first, federal prosecutors have charged a Miami man with engaging in a massive money laundering scheme that moved millions stolen from the federal Medicare program into Cuban banks. - By Michael Sallah
In an unprecedented case, federal prosecutors have charged a Miami man with engaging in a massive money laundering scheme that moved millions stolen from the federal Medicare program into Cuban banks.
Prosecutors in Miami say Oscar Sanchez, 46, was a key leader in a group that funneled more than $31 million in Medicare dollars into banks in Havana — the first such case that directly traces money fleeced from the beleaguered program into the Cuban banking system.
Prosecutors are asking a judge on Monday to deny a bond to Sanchez, who was indicted last week by a grand jury in Miami on charges of conspiring to commit money laundering.
“Oscar Sanchez was a financier for fraudsters and a capitalist for the Cuban banks,” Assistant U.S. Attorney H. Ron Davidson wrote in a court motion seeking to keep Sanchez in custody pending trial, due to the likelihood he would try to flee.
Sanchez, who was born in Cuba and later obtained U.S. citizenship, made 78 overseas trips in the past 10 years, the motion states.
Prosecutors say Sanchez was among a group of international money launderers who set up an intricate system to move money fleeced from fraudulent HIV treatment and medical equipment billings, first through banks in Canada and Trinidad and eventually Cuba.
CLICK LINK FOR ARTICLE!
http://www.miamiherald.com/201.....tolen.html
Junio 18th, 2012 at 13:51
Dumber wrote “I WAS TOLD SO MANY TIMES BY THE HYPOCRITES THAT THIS IS PAGE ABOUT C U B A What happened?”
Did you even bother watching the trailer? It’s about 3 women bloggers, one in China, one in Iran and one in Cuba, who are persecuted by their nation’s governments. The Cuban woman happens to be Yoani Sanchez.
Serious, do you ever stop to think before you write?
Junio 18th, 2012 at 13:45
Under the Sea
http://www.babalublog.com/2012/06/under-the-sea/
Junio 18th, 2012 at 11:18
Good point Pamela,
Damir should read the story of the boy who always cries wolf. If he didn’t constantly post extremely long nonsensical vulgar posts full of hate and lies, people would read his posts.
I wish Marxists had something positive to say about something (except fascist dictatorships)
Junio 18th, 2012 at 09:57
From Damir:
“THE POSTS FROM FAKE “damir” ARE STILL UP AND RUNNING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
AND ANYONE CAN SEE HOW RUDE AND DISGUSTING THE IMPOSTOR IS.”
That’s why the translator can’t distinguish the impostor’s posts from yours.
Junio 18th, 2012 at 05:58
So there we are. The self-declared “friendly translator” whose translating skills are well documented in some of the latest “translations” done in one of those cheap and simple online translating pages, has proved herself to be a double standard hypocrite.
After her post number 14 (here in its’ entirety):
“Your Friendly English Translator
Junio 16th, 2012 at 12:53
A reminder — those who IMPERSONATE OTHERS in the comments section are barred from posting. You know who you are (and so do I)… sorry… big mistake on your part.”
I asked her to do the same with the impostor who even added some link to the name, yet
THE POSTS FROM FAKE “damir” ARE STILL UP AND RUNNING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
AND ANYONE CAN SEE HOW RUDE AND DISGUSTING THE IMPOSTOR IS. FOR HIM/HER (”friendly translator” herself?) the supposed filter for rude and swearing words IS NOT WORKING!!!!!
THE FILTER WILL NOT WORK ONLY IF YOU CONTROL IT.
I cannot control it.
The “friendly translator” can.
You do the conclusions…
In the meantime, the resident copy and paste “genius” continues to spread lies copied from miami herald!!!
Might as well ask goehring are there innocent jews on earth…
But then, nazists do just that. Invent lies and propaganda, and then repeat them until they themnselves start vomiting.
See, they hope someone will actually believe their lies and nazist propaganda.
The problem is, nazist shift has no credibility whatsoever. Not ONE SINGLE person in the world believes this “miami herald”, aka cia, made propaganda.
Not even the copy and paste “genius”.
It is so clearly obvious that these losers are barking on a golden fleece tree, which as we know DOESN’T EXISTS!!!, THAT EVEN CUBANS IN CUBA WHO HATE CASTROS TELL YOU THAT THE TEAM “YOANI” ARE FAKES AND FOREIGN (CIA, OF COURSE) AGENTS.
In fact, they call them foreign whores on the streets of Cuba.
As I said, even the nazist know that and HAD TO ADMIT IT IN THEIR OWN VIDEO, which was made in supposed support of the TEAM “YOANI”!!!
But, then, whole this “site” is just a cia-engineered terrorist attack on Cuba, using domestic traitors and bum lickers.
The whole “yoani” personality is a fake and non-existent “popular” individual. A traitor for money, happy to sell her own country to whoever offers more.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v.....re=related
Junio 18th, 2012 at 00:55
MIAMI HERALD: Record number of Cubans try to enter U.S. - The number of Cubans picked up at sea or who reached the United States has already exceeded the total for 2011. - By Juan O. Tamayo
The increase from 2011 to 2012 pushed the overall figure to its highest level since 2008, when 16,260 undocumented Cubans arrived on U.S. territory or were intercepted at sea. The next year it plunged to 8,113.
At the time, the drop was generally attributed to the U.S. economic crisis, with analysts saying that Cuban families in South Florida no longer could afford the high prices charge by the people smugglers who were running go-fast boats between the two shores.
But today there’s little agreement on why the flow of undocumented Cubans is again on the rise.
Two migrants who arrived by boat late last month said a growing number of people want to leave the island because the economic and political situation is constantly deteriorating.
“The Cuban situation gets worse every 24 hours,” said Leonardo Padilla Alfonso, 60.
Ramón Saúl Sánchez, president of the Democracy Movement, said that disillusionment with the economic reforms promised by Cuban ruler Raúl Castro, who succeeded his ailing brother Fidel Castro in 2008, could be a factor in the increased flow.
“There was speculation after 2008 that the reduction in the number of Cubans (leaving) was due also to the belief that many people on the island had hopes for change. But since those changes did not happen, then maybe that propelled many to leave,” said Sanchez, who monitors the migration flows.
“The optimism that existed over the possible reforms has vanished,” said Jorge Núñez, 51, who arrived with Padilla.
CLICK LINK FOR ENTIRE ARTICLE!
http://www.miamiherald.com/201.....ry-to.html
Junio 18th, 2012 at 00:26
What the Crap ??? Thousands die in USA everyday of absolute poverty? What the heck do you think welfare and food stamps are for ?Its free stuff from the tax payers. Children thrown in jail because they complain about the food at school? NOT, that comment is just plain stupid. Thousands of children get raped everyday ? A very few but NOT even thousands. Where the crap are you getting this info from ? Someone is pulling your leg kiddo. You obviously have never been here and someone feeds you bull crap for true. Come to America and see for yourself. Of coarse we have our share of nitwit perverts just like EVERY country on the planet. However…. crime vs total number of population is no where as bad as someone trys to fed you. There are actually places here where people dont even lock their doors. Get a grip, We have an old Indian saying here that you dont really know someone til you walk a mile in their shoes. So instead of believing lies, come to America and see for yourself ! Oh yeah, I forgot, you arent allowed to leave the island because you might not want to come back !
Junio 17th, 2012 at 22:49
TOTALLY EXCELLENT ESSAY! WORTH THE READ!
SCHOLARS & ROGUES: S&R Nonfiction: “Open Letter to Fidel Castro,” by Jessica Dur
But what if I told you that you’d been my hero?
I was a 26 year-old card-carrying member of the International Socialist Organization, a shamelessly idealistic hater of capitalism when I first encountered you. I was also a brand new history teacher. So what better theme for my world history class than revolution? From Russia to Haiti to France to Iran, Syria to America to South Africa, Cuba was the hit. And why not? Cuba’s history is one sizzling story, starting with Hatuey, the righteous Taino leader, who told the Spaniards he’d rather suffer eternal hellfire than join them in heaven.
You had our allegiance. My students steamed when they read about America high-jacking Cuba’s war against Spain, turning Guantanamo Bay into an insurance policy just as Dole spun sugarcane into gold. They were incredulous over Batista’s courtship of the U.S., inviting greedy mobsters to defile Havana with all her seductive charm.
You must know, Fidel, how many of us progressive Americans are thrilled that you managed to wrest your island free of America’s sweaty capitalist palms. On those winter mornings my students and I hotly traced your unfolding rebellion: the Moncada barracks uprising, imprisonment on the Isle of Pines, the trial, your most famous line. History will absolve me. Yes, yes, they nodded. He was doing it for the people!
I feel like a fool, Fidel. I called you a bad-ass (a compliment of the highest degree, I assure you). I called you a prophet! I believed that your socialism might forgive your dictatorship. But when I browsed the book stalls of Havana and Santiago I found little to read that wasn’t about the revolution—the occasional Hemingway, sure, but didn’t you read voraciously while you were in law school, and in prison? What about being exposed to competing ideas?
I believed that in Cuba I would find a bastion of true communism, vibrant urban gardens and a thriving population of inspired people. Instead I found a double currency, where natives need 24 pesos just to equal one CUC (why not just call it what it is: a tourist peso). I found bored workers, lacking incentive, purposefully dishonest. I found too many people living as peasants, selling lighters, candy, batteries, and rubber-bands on the street corners. I found people sacrificing their dignity for pesos, like the woman in Santiago who plied us with smiles and conversational banter for half an hour. “I’m a teacher, too!” she said. “And today is my birthday! Fifty years old! And all I want is a beer. But I have no money.” Her face darkened with shame. “Do you have a CUC for me, just one CUC, for me to buy a beer on my birthday?”
I found long faces and strained smiles, aimless ennui manifesting as littered terrain. I found Che Guevara on every corner, reduced to propaganda, a corporate logo on a billboard. I found the (alleged) Granma encased in glass and under 24-hour armed surveillance. I found beautiful buildings neglected into ruins. I found adults begging open-palmed for the cheap plastic whistles we gave to the children.
CLICK FOR ENTIRE ESSAY!
http://www.scholarsandrogues.c.....el-castro/
Junio 17th, 2012 at 15:11
U.S. CITIZENS KILLED OR DISAPPEARED BY CUBA’S COMMUNIST REGIME
Work in progress - Updated November 11, 2009
U.S. citizens executed, assassinated, or disappeared
Assassinated: 12
Executed by firing squad: 11
Disappeared: 1
William Alexander Morgan - Executed by Firing Squad. Age: 34. Born in U.S.A.
Date: 12-03-61. Location: La Cabaña -Fortress, Havana. Occupation: Commander in Castro’s Rebel Army / leader of anti-Batista’s guerrillas in the Escambray mountains. U.S. Army veteran, former paratrooper. Place of residence: Havana, Cuba.
Description: Executed for participating in an anti-Castro conspiracy supplying arms to the Escambray guerrillas. Was betrayed by a police informer and sentenced to death in a sham trial with notorious prosecutor Fernando Flores- Ibarra ( “Charco de Sangre “). Notes: Just days after his death, on 15-03-61, Morgan’s 23-year old Cuban wife was arrested and remained imprisoned until at least 1973. She fled Cuba in 1980 with her two daughters during the Mariel boatlift and resides In Toledo, Ohio.
http://cubaarchive.org/home/im.....n_cuba.pdf
Junio 17th, 2012 at 14:42
I HOPE, LEFTIST CLOONEY DOES NOT GLOSS OVER THE REAL STORY OF THIS BRAVE MAN & WOMAN!
THE TOLEDO BLADE: Cuban war story lures Hollywood - Clooney wants to film Toledoan’s fight for spouse’s remains - BY JESSICA SHOR BLADE STAFF WRITER
The 76-year-old volunteers at her church, makes dinner for her husband each evening at 5 o’clock, and spends her free time learning the art of Google searches.
But the energetic Cuban native has been fighting a fierce battle for more than a decade: to bring home to Toledo the remains of her late husband, William Morgan, a celebrated rebel soldier who left Toledo in 1957 to fight for her country during the Cuban revolution and died at the hands of Fidel Castro’s army.
“William did his best for my country. He said when he found me, he found everything,” Mrs. Goodwin said of their meeting in the midst of the fighting in her native land.
It’s a story that she has carried with her since leaving Cuba in 1980, and one that has attracted the attention of Hollywood actor and director George Clooney.
Clooney is in the process of optioning the dramatic rights to Mrs. Goodwin’s life story for a Hollywood production, according to her attorney, Jon Richardson.
In her first interview since the deal, Mrs. Goodwin expressed hope that big-screen publicity will bring an end to a saga that began in Cuba 54 years ago and will conclude, she prays, here in Toledo.
In 1958, Cuba was under the dictatorship of Fulgencio Batista, and Olga had taken up arms in the resistance. While in Castro’s army, she met Mr. Morgan, whose story seems made for Hollywood.
Born in 1928, Mr. Morgan grew up in Toledo’s Old West End, but did not stay there for long. In Chicago, he joined the circus. In Japan, he served in the Army but went AWOL, then escaped from military prison. He returned to Toledo for a period of time, during which he worked as a janitor in Rosary Cathedral. Later, he left again, joining a carnival in Florida as a flame swallower and marrying the snake charmer.
But in 1957, he left his family behind to join the revolution in Cuba. Mr. Morgan quickly ascended the ranks of Castro’s forces, earning the title “Yankee Comandante.”
Divorced from his first wife after his departure to fight, Mr. Morgan married Olga in a farmhouse in the mountains in 1958, according to a 2002 series in The Blade.
The quality in Mr. Morgan that the now-remarried Mrs. Goodwin remembers best was his devotion to her country’s freedom, but for that characteristic, Mr. Morgan paid with his life. He dissented when Castro aligned with the Soviet Union, and Castro’s forces arrested the couple on Oct. 17, 1960, a date that Mrs. Goodwin knows by heart. On March 11, 1961, Mr. Morgan was executed by firing squad in Havana.
His end was just the beginning for Mrs. Goodwin. After more than a decade in prison, she left Cuba in 1980, spending several days in Miami before flying to Mr. Morgan’s hometown.
“I was always going to Toledo,” she recalled. “It was always a one-way ticket.”
In the Glass City, Mrs. Goodwin met Loretta Morgan, her late husband’s mother, whose dying wish in 1988 became Mrs. Goodwin’s mission: Bury William’s remains in his family plot in Toledo.
Mrs. Goodwin’s early efforts to retrieve her late husband’s remains from Cuba were the subject of The Blade series, and her story won her support.
That year, Baldemar Velasquez, president of the Toledo Hispanic Affairs Commission and the Farm Labor Organizing Committee, wrote a letter to the Cuban Interests Section in Washington on her behalf, and U.S. Rep. Marcy Kaptur (D., Toledo) discussed Mr. Morgan’s remains with Castro himself during an official visit to Cuba.
“I spent a great deal of effort [trying to get] the remains back,” Miss Kaptur said last week in a phone interview.
Those efforts appeared to be successful when Castro pledged in 2002 to send the remains to Toledo.
But the deal fell through. Despite Castro’s agreement, Mr. Morgan’s body is still in Havana. Neither Mr. Velasquez nor Miss Kaptur has worked on Mrs. Goodwin’s behalf since 2002, and neither knows where the repatriation efforts stand today.
Yet Mrs. Goodwin has not given up.
Some of her efforts were public. She wrote to the George W. Bush administration in 2005, threatening a hunger strike if the government ignored her plight. Toledo lawyer Opie Rollison petitioned the U.S. government on her behalf to reinstate Mr. Morgan’s American citizenship, only to learn in 2007 that it had never been revoked. Mrs. Goodwin also undertook more private efforts.
“I prayed and prayed, to the rosary sometimes,” said Mrs. Goodwin, an active member of Augsburg Lutheran Church in West Toledo.
Early this spring, her prayers were answered when David Grann wrote an article about Mr. Morgan in the New Yorker magazine. During the writing process, he asked Mr. Richardson — Mrs. Goodwin’s lawyer for the issue of the potential movie deal, who said that recently he has become “the guard dog sitting on Olga’s front porch” — for permission to interview her. Mr. Richardson and Mrs. Goodwin initially were hesitant.
“If I don’t like you, I won’t talk to you,” Mrs. Goodwin snapped, her voice then softening as she described Mr. Grann. “I saw in his eyes I could trust him. When he opened his mouth, after one word, I said, ‘I’ll speak to you forever.’?”
She spoke similarly of Clooney. Although Mr. Richardson declined to discuss the specifics of the deal with the actor, he said that a number of major Hollywood figures — “real shooters,” he labeled them — contacted Mr. Grann after his article ran May 28.
Mr. Grann and his legal team, in turn, reached out to Mrs. Goodwin and Mr. Richardson.
Although she does not always remember Clooney’s name — calling him “the movie one” — Mrs. Goodwin knew immediately that the Academy Award-winning actor and director was the right choice, partially because of his past advocacy for human rights. Although all parties are still involved in negotiations, Mr. Richardson said he expects the contract on his desk sometime this week.
“I trust him. I know he’s looking for the same thing I’m looking for in my life,” Mrs. Goodwin explained. “I’ve never met him, but I feel very comfortable inside. I know he won’t lie.”
She also sees a piece of her former husband’s fierce spirit in Clooney. It is a trait that she shares as well, though she wrinkled her nose at the comparison.
“Many people want to do good, and some people do, but most people just sit there. It’s not right. But he wants to do something,” Mrs. Goodwin said of Clooney. “He’s very active. I like that.”
If the movie does come to fruition, the first thing Mrs. Goodwin said she plans to do when she meets Clooney is hug him, then thank him.
Yet the production of the movie, which she is confident will portray Mr. Morgan accurately, is just another step in her long quest for the repatriation of his remains, albeit a potentially ground-breaking one.
Mrs. Goodwin does not plan to use money from the movie option to fund her efforts — Mr. Rollison handles the proceedings regarding Mr. Morgan’s remains at no charge — but she does hope that publicity from a major motion picture will spread her former husband’s story, especially his devotion to Cuba.
It could be, she hopes, the final push she needs to lay his remains to rest in his hometown, finally paying him back for the sacrifices he made for her country.
“He loved Toledo,” Mrs. Goodwin said of her late husband. “I promised I would do this, and this is all I have wanted.”
http://www.toledoblade.com/loc.....ywood.html
Junio 17th, 2012 at 13:41
EVEN THE PRO-TRADE WITH CUBA MEMBERS OF CONGRESS REALIZE THAT THE CASTROFASCISTS SEQUESTERED ALAN GROSS TO TRADE FOR THE CUBAN 5 SPIES!
THE HILL: Cuba trade proponents in Senate pressure Castro over jailing of US citizen - By Erik Wasson
Two Senate advocates for increased trade with Cuba have backed off their efforts in light of the detention of a U.S. citizen by the Fidel Castro regime.
Sens. Jerry Moran (R-Kan.) and Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) had been leading a congressional push to “reset” relations with Cuba and increase trade and travel ties, but have halted that advocacy over the Alan Gross case.
Gross, 63, was given a 15-year prison sentence for alleged spying and is reportedly frail. The State Department has called repeatedly for Cuba to release him.
“I have tried to change the trading relationship with Cuba. I am taking a hiatus from that effort. I am no longer willing to do that,” Moran said.
“I hope that this will put pressure on Cuba to release him,” he said.
Moran and Durbin had faced opposition from Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-Fla), who has thwarted changes to Cuba policy since becoming chairwoman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee in 2011. Despite the lack of action in the House, Moran and Durbin persisted last year in trying to increase agricultural exports to Cuba.
U.S. companies have been permitted to ship food and medicine to Cuba since 2000, but Treasury Department regulations have inhibited trade by making the payments for those goods more complicated.
Moran last year inserted an amendment into a draft 2012 Financial Services Appropriations bill that would have allowed Cuban buyers to make direct cash payments to U.S. financial institutions in order to ease agricultural trade. Farm lobbyists supported the language.
The Kansas senator also supported language that would end a restriction that forces buyers to pay for goods before they leave U.S. ports, rather than when receiving the goods.
Both provisions were stripped out of the final 2012 omnibus appropriations package that was enacted into law, however.
Moran this week said he is no longer pushing for the trade changes, and aides said neither provision is in the bill that passed out of the Appropriations Committee on Thursday.
Durbin, the spending “cardinal” in charge of the Treasury budget, said that he supports Moran’s decision despite being an advocate of using trade to open up closed societies.
Durbin said he’s “always voted with [Moran] to expand trade,” but a visit with Gross in prison this spring convinced him that more needs to be done to free him.
In 2010, the House Agriculture Committee under now-ranking member Rep. Collin Peterson (D-Minn.) attempted to pass a wide-ranging Cuba trade bill.
Asked Friday about the Gross case, Peterson said he still wants stronger trade ties.
“I’m still for opening trade with Cuba,” he said through a spokesperson.
thehill.com/blogs/on-the-money/1005-trade/233063-cuba-trade-proponents-in-senate-pressure-castro-over-jailing-of-us-citizen
Junio 17th, 2012 at 09:10
Damir, Mor.n, so why don’t you open the site logs (lol) and you’ll find my address does not resemble anyone else’s. Just because everyone thinks you’re an id.ot doesn’t mean they have to impersonate other people to let you know that.
Junio 16th, 2012 at 22:43
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.
Junio 16th, 2012 at 22:36
“Every weekend in Chicago alone 53 people get murdered. Every weekend.”
Not accurate. Dummy, now you’re pulling statistics out of your dumb ass.
Junio 16th, 2012 at 22:14
A bunch of Cuban dissidents have signed “El camino del pueblo,” an outline of their vision for a post-Castro Cuba. Their demands: increased civil liberties, freedom of travel, the creation of a “national dialogue,” free elections to a constituent assembly, and citizen participation “without exclusion, hatred, or vengeance.” The document is signed by many big-name dissidents like Oswaldo Payá and Laura Pollán. It’s a significant show of unity for the often-fragmented group. Diario de Cuba has the rundown.
Read more here: http://miamiherald.typepad.com.....rylink=cpy
Junio 16th, 2012 at 19:20
To friendly translator regarding the posts 14 and 15:
So if that’s the case, why did you NOT delete the isulting and disgusting posts made by an IMPERSONATOR posting in the comment section under the post Wholesale vs. Retail???????
There are a number of posts bearing my name with a hyperlink, filled with profanities and personal insults?
Will you ban that person, who also writes under a number of other “names”, such as Bluey, Mrs. Matulovic, help, anonimous etc?
I can open your site logs and I can see what are the IP addresses of your posters. It is now up to you to ban the IMPOSTOR FOREVER, just as you claim below in the posts 14 and 15.
Will you?
Junio 16th, 2012 at 18:52
So now even the desperate and defeated team “yoani” are doing what their supporting brigade of pioneers is complaining when Damir does it:
writing about a foreign country (CHINA and IRAN IN THIS POST)!!!!
I WAS TOLD SO MANY TIMES BY THE HYPOCRITES THAT THIS IS PAGE ABOUT
C U B A
What happened?
cia run out of rubbish to post so now even these nazists have to talk about FOREIGN COUNTRIES, and draw parallels?
Do yo really think that outside of your conservative, nazist, christian religion-fuelled propaganda, anyone in the world think your pin-up traitor granny is anything even remotely close to Farnaz Seifi?
How many times has the terrorist pin up granny, “yoani”, been arrested in the past 5 years?
NEVER.
How many times was she raped (let us forget your disgusting post about clitoris and pleasures for a second) during imprisonment?
NEVER.
How many times were your telephones disconnected in the past 5 years?
NEVER.
What is it that you are complaining about?
Poverty?
Every weekend in Chicago alone 53 people get murdered. Every weekend. housands of people live in ABANDONED BUILDINGS, without electricity, water, sanitary services, food.
There are NO ECONOMIC BLOCKADES imposed on nazist gulag usa, yet TENS OF MILLIONS of people are dying in ABSOLUTE POVERTY TODYA in the “democracy and freedom of speech paradise”, just north from Cuba. Thousands of children get raped and killed, students are thrown in prison if they complain about the food in school cantina (if they are even lucky to have one, of course), because it is
GOOD FOR BUSINESS!!!!
and what are you traitors and terrorists doing?
Complaining about NOTHING. Inventing stories that do NOT EXIST, “crimes gainst humanity” that have never happened, cry over “abuse of human rights” that exist only in your perverted heads.
Hypocrites.
Junio 16th, 2012 at 12:54
P.S. With regards to Humberto’s comment that COMMENT #11 was impersonating him… the comment has been removed, and the comments then “renumbered” themselves… so it is NOT the CURRENT “Comment #11″ that he is referring to.
Junio 16th, 2012 at 12:53
A reminder — those who IMPERSONATE OTHERS in the comments section are barred from posting. You know who you are (and so do I)… sorry… big mistake on your part.
Junio 16th, 2012 at 12:38
OH BROTHER! SOMEONE ON COMMENT #11 HAS USED MY NAME WITHOUT MY PERMISSION! AS THOUGH THEY COULD GET AWAY AND ME NOT NOTICING! SUCH CHILDISH BEHAVIOR!
Junio 16th, 2012 at 10:11
John Two, what have I missed? What’s Fidel got against Deng? Did Deng ever attack Fidel, or is he just hallucinating?
Junio 16th, 2012 at 10:10
Humberto, I told you the man of many faces couldn’t stay away. At least you’re worth impersonating :)
Junio 16th, 2012 at 08:22
a los castros maldito, menos mal tan reviejos q ya huelen a cementerio y no tienen el poder de supervivencia q tengo yo, valoran otras basura que yo y tranquilo q nunca ire a cuba, llueve truene o relampaguee..nunca sere USADO por uds, porque no usan a la basura q no tienen PODER y hare lo imposible por no ir a cuba nunca, pa que? ahora quieren dar el mate despues de decadas son mis enemigos y punto…
Junio 15th, 2012 at 23:57
PARA LEER SI QUEDA TIEMPO BLOG SPOT: Carlos Eire and Alberto Muller discuss the term reconciliation
On Genuine Reconciliation- by Carlos Eire
“Reconciliation” (reconciliación) has suddenly become a key word in Cubanspeak, due to its frequent use by Catholic bishops on both sides of the Florida Straits. It’s a word that is being used very carelessly by these prelates, and without reference to the full meaning given to it by the Roman Catholic Church. The most disturbing effect of this carelessness is that the word has become highly charged with a political meaning that contradicts Catholic teaching, thus turning the word into a countersign that deepens divisions among Cubans and prevents genuine reconciliation.
“Reconciliation” has various levels of meaning, and since it is derived from Latin, these meanings are very much the same in English as in Spanish. Its most common secular meaning is simple enough. The original Latin term “reconciliare” means to bring together again, from re- + conciliare to make friendly, conciliate. At this basic level, the word simply refers to the act of establishing or reestablishing relations between people. Its meaning in Catholic theology is different, however, due to the fact that reconciliation is linked to conversion, penance, repentance, change of behavior, and the forgiveness of sin.
Anyone who doubts that this dimension of meaning is essential for Catholics should first reflect on the fact that the sacrament of penance is also known as the sacrament of reconciliation. In this sacrament, the Catholic faithful repent of their sins, confess them to a priest, and receive absolution and pardon. Repentance is key, for without genuine remorse for one’s sinful behavior, forgiveness is impossible. Full forgiveness also includes performing some act of penance after confession, to further remind oneself of the debt that has been cancelled. In cases of wrong done to others, the proper act of penance is to make amends with those one has hurt, and to compensate them in some way for the harm done to them.
CLICK LINK FOR ENTIRE CONVERSATION!
http://albertomuller.net/temas.....ciliation/
Junio 15th, 2012 at 23:08
CHECK OUT THE REAL PHOTOS OF HOW MR. GROSS LOOKS LIKE NOW, AFTER MORE THAN 2 YEARS IN A CUBAN JAIL (Google his name)! HOW OBVIOUS OF THE CASTROFASCISTS TO PUT A PICTURE OF ALAN GROSS BEFORE HE ENDED UP AS A HOSTAGE OF THE CASTRO OLIGARCHY, MAFIA JAIL KNOWN AS CUBA! JUST SAYING! THE CASTROS THINK THAT PEOPLE CANNOT SEARCH ONLINE FOR THE LATEST NEWS OR PICTURES! DUH!
PRENSA LATINA (Cuba Government mouthpiece): Statement on Mr.Alan Gross’ Health
By Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Cuba
Mr. Alan Gross’ health is normal.
He has chronic conditions typical of someone his age, and is being properly treated for them.
He is eating healthy, balanced meals. His general state of good health can be seen by the fact that he is maintaining a considerable exercise program.
The Government of the United States and Mr. Gross’ family have been regularly receiving a complete medical report about his health.
Cuban authorities have periodically been meeting with U.S. officials and with Mr. Gross’ family in order to share all information about his health.
The Government of Cuba regrets the distortions that are being spread on the subject of Mr. Gross’ health and respects his right to the privacy of doctor-patient information.
Cuba demands that this campaign of fabrications ceases; and should it continue, there will be no other alternative than to publish abundant information on the subject.
Even though Mr. Gross could be held at any prison facility due to the fact that his situation is not incompatible with that, he is being held at a military hospital; this is not because his health requires it, but to ensure him the best conditions for his recovery.
Ministry of Foreign Affairs - June 15, 2012
http://www.plenglish.com/index.....p;Itemid=1
Junio 15th, 2012 at 21:22
SO LET AN INDEPENDENT DOCTOR WITH ACCESS TO INDEPENDENT TESTS EXAMINE MR. GROSS TO SEE IF HE IS OK, RIGHT?? SIMPLE ENOUGH! BUT OF COURSE, IF YOU ARE HIDING SOMETHING YOU RELY ON ALL THAT BLAH, BLAH, BLAH! CAPISCE??
REUTERS: Cuba: Health of jailed American Alan Gross is “normal”
CUBA on Friday disputed charges that jailed American contractor Alan Gross is in declining health and demanded an end to what it called a “campaign of fabrications” implying that he is being mistreated.
The government issued a statement in response to allegations by his lawyer and the U.S. government that Gross, 63, was suffering from a variety of worsening conditions about which the Cubans were withholding information.
“Mr. Alan Gross’ health is normal. He has chronic conditions typical of someone his age, and is being properly treated for them,” the statement said.
“He is eating healthy, balanced meals. His general state of good health can be seen by the fact that he is maintaining a considerable exercise program,” it continued.
CLICK LINK FOR ENTIRE ARTICLE!
http://www.reuters.com/article.....JQ20120615
Junio 15th, 2012 at 17:02
NOW THE CASTROFASCISTS SAY THEY HAVE SOME IMPORTANT “INFORMATION” TO REVEAL ABOUT THE ALAN GROSS CASE!! WHAT TOOK THEM SO LONG? WHY NOT AT THE TRIAL?? THIS IS A LAST DESPERATE ATTEMPT AT TRADING ALAN GROSS FOR THE CUBAN 5 SPIES!
CBS BALTIMORE: Cuba Lashes Out About Alan Gross Health Charges
HAVANA (AP) — Cuba is lashing back at what it calls a campaign of distortion over the health of an imprisoned American contractor.
The government says that despite recent comments by Alan Gross’s lawyer and wife that the 63-year-old Maryland native’s condition is deteriorating, his health is in fact “normal.”
In a statement sent to foreign journalists on Friday, the government hints at retaliatory action, noting that Gross is held in a military hospital instead of a regular prison. The statement also implies that Cuba has damaging information that it has declined to reveal. Gross has been held since December 2009.
http://baltimore.cbslocal.com/.....h-charges/
Junio 15th, 2012 at 15:34
THE CASTROFASCISTS THREATING AGAIN IN TYPICAL FASCIST MANNER! THEY CANNOT STAND WORLD OPINION FOCUSING ON THEIR ISLAND JAIL!
BOSTON GLOBE: Cuba lashes out at Gross health charges
HAVANA (AP) — Cuba lashed back Friday at what it called a campaign of distortions over the health of an imprisoned American contractor, and hinted at retaliation that could include moving the 63-year-old man out of the military hospital where he is being held and putting him in a regular prison.
The statement sent by Cuba’s Foreign Ministry marked an escalation of a dispute that has been simmering for 2 1/2 years and that has torpedoed any hope of improved ties between the Cold War enemies. Maryland-native Alan Gross is serving a 15-year term for bringing satellite and other communications equipment into Cuba illegally while on a USAID-funded democracy-building program.
Cuban officials disputed recent comments by Gross’s lawyer and wife that his condition is deteriorating, saying his health is in fact ‘‘normal’’ and he is being properly treated.
It said he is well enough, in fact, to serve his sentence in a regular jail, in what appeared to be a thinly veiled warning.
‘‘Even though Mr. Gross could be held at any prison facility due to the fact that his situation is not incompatible with that, he is being held at a military hospital,’’ the statement said. ‘‘This is not because his health requires it, but to ensure for him the best conditions.’’
The statement also implied that Cuba was holding back information that Gross and his supporters would not like to see released, though it was not clear whether it was talking about his medical history or his activities on the island.
‘‘The Government of Cuba regrets the distortions that are being spread on the subject of Mr. Gross’ health and respects his right to the privacy of doctor-patient information,’’ the statement read. ‘‘Cuba demands that this campaign of fabrications ceases; should it continue, there will be no other alternative than to publish abundant information on the subject.’’
Gross’s attorney, Peter J. Kahn, told The Associated Press earlier this week that his client was having difficulty walking and has developed a mass behind his right shoulder blade, and he accused the Cuban government of withholding the results of medical tests performed last month..
‘‘They still haven’t shown up, and we’re not getting a straight answer as to why, which causes us even more concern because maybe there is something serious going on here,’’ Kahn said.
Those comments were echoed by the State Department, which called for Gross’s immediate release.
‘‘We are extremely concerned about Alan Gross’ health,’’ said spokeswoman Victoria Nuland, adding that he has degenerative arthritis which has gotten worse because he is not allowed to walk in his cell.
Gross’s wife, Judy, has previously said her husband’s condition was worsening. Gross, who was overweight at the time of his December 2009 arrest, has lost more than 100 pounds while in jail. His family says he is also under enormous psychological stress because his elderly mother and adult daughter are both battling cancer.
http://www.boston.com/lifestyl.....story.html
Junio 14th, 2012 at 22:05
Yoani’s tweet about Fidel Castro’s latest Reflection slamming Deng Xiaoping is interesting. Talking about biting the hand that feeds you. Combined with Raul Castro’s disappearance from public view and the recent firing of two senior party officials, the lunatics really do seem to be running the asylum.
Junio 14th, 2012 at 21:29
FOX NEWS LATINO: Comission reports 423 political arrests in Cuba last May
The opposition Cuban Commission on Human Rights and National Reconciliation reported Thursday that at least 423 arbitrary arrests were made for political reasons in May of this year.
In a communique released in Havana, the group led by activist Elizardo Sanchez said that the growing trend to make arbitary political arrests continues to be “disturbing.”
In its customary monthly report, the commission said that in May, for the first time in 50 years, the Cuban government offered figures on the island’s prison population, putting the total at 57,337.
The rights commission, however, estimates the number of inmates at between 65,000 and 70,000.
“The Cuban government has among the highest number of prisoners per 100,000 inhabitants in the world,” the commission said, and asked that Cuban jails be opened to inspection by international organizations like the Red Cross.
The Communist Party daily Granma reported in May that Cuba has 57,337 prisoners, of whom more than 31,000 are locked up and almost 26,000 are in “open facilities.”
In the last six months, according to these official figures, 10,129 inmates have been set free for different reasons, including the more than 2,900 who where pardoned last December by the Raul Castro government.
latino.foxnews.com/latino/politics/2012/06/14/comission-reports-423-political-arrests-in-cuba-last-may/#ixzz1xoy4v2Sz
Junio 14th, 2012 at 21:19
The Castro’s unwavering support for the worst abusers of women in the world is another reason any decent human being should wish their downfall.
Unless Marxists think torturing and raping women is a good thing, as Iranian leaders publicly declare?
Junio 14th, 2012 at 21:00
Translator, “human rights in Cuba” is supposed to read “human rights in China”
Please change before the usual suspects on this blog start with their idiotic comments.
You’re doing a great job, please keep doing it!