Rumplestiltskin
Rumpelstiltskin, by Anna-Kafka. Taken from devianart.com
The sweat of the three women who put me into a police car still sticks to my skin and in my nostrils. Huge, hulking, ruthless, they took me into a windowless room where the broken fan only blew air towards them. One looked at me with particular scorn. Maybe my face reminded her of someone in her past: an adversary in school, a despotic mother, a lost lover. I don’t know. What I do remember is that, on the evening of October 5, her look wanted to destroy me. She was the one who ferreted around under my skirt with great delight, while two other uniformed policewomen grabbed me for the “search.” Rather than seeking out some hidden object, the purpose of this search was to make me feel violated, defenseless, raped.
Every six hours they changed my guards. On the midnight shift they were noticeably less strict, but I locked myself in my silence and never responded to their questions. I evaded myself. I chose to tell myself, “They’ve taken everything, even the clip that holds my hair, but — ridiculous searchers — they have not been able to take from me my inner world.” Thus I decide to take refuge, during the long hours of my illegal confinement, in the only thing I had: my memories. The room wanted to appear neat and clean, but everything had its share of filth or breakage. The granite floor tiles were covered with a good dose of accumulated grime. I stared at the figures made by the little pebbles cast in each tile and the gobs of dirt. After a while faces jumped out of this constellation. Characters flourished in the rough floor of my cell in the police station in Bayamo.
Springing from there was the lanky countenance of Don Quixote, while in that corner I could see the simple profile of Eduardo Abela’s “Bobo” — that wise fool who mocked the Machado dictatorship. Some oblique eyes, shaped by mortar and gravel, looked incredibly like the protagonist in the film Avatar. I laughed and my perennial watchers began to believe that my refusal of food and water was literally frying my brain. I espied, in the irregular granite, the Hunchback of Notre Dame and the slender figure of Gandalf, staff and all. But standing out among all these forms that emerged from the rough paving there was one — the most intense — that seemed to cavort and laugh before my eyes. Perhaps it was the effect of thirst and hunger, the truth is I don’t know. A long-bearded dwarf with a cynical look, slyly mocking.
It was Rumplestiltskin, the star of a children’s story where the queen is forced to guess his complicated name and if she does not she must give the despotic elf her most precious possession: her own son. What was this character doing in the midst of my temporary imprisonment? Why did I see him over so many other visual references I have accumulated in my life? I immediately intuited the answer. “You are Rumplestiltskin,” I said out loud and the gorgons watching me looked worried. “You are Rumplestiltskin,” I repeated, “and I know your name. You are like dictatorships, and once we start calling them by their name, it begins to destroy them.”
Translator’s note: Here is longer narrative of Yoani’s arrest and detention.
Noviembre 1st, 2012 at 18:51
Hi! We are two students from California studying the Caribbean and we read “Havana Real” for class and have been discussing it this week. Your work has been really eye opening for us, and we are excited to see how others of our generation react to this blog because we were born in this age of technology. We hope that a blog like this with such purpose will redefine what social networking is and how we can utilize it for change instead of purely entertainment purposes. Thank you for being so bold. We aren’t used to being around people who take such risks, regardless of the consequences. You are truly an inspiration. We will continue to read what you have to say and support you. Thanks!
Octubre 29th, 2012 at 01:00
I took this book on the cruise, but didn’t have as much chcane to read it as I had hoped. Ended up finishing it during my daily commutes. While, as I state in the review it reminded me of the similar PATRIOT TRAP I reviewed a few weeks ago, it was a decent read if you don’t go all political about this type of thing.*************************HAVANA PASSAGE by Jay LilliePublished by Ivy House Publishing GroupISBN: 1571974520With the end of the Cold War writers of thriller/suspense novels have had to search for a new foe for their heroes to confront. International drug cartels just don’t cut it anymore, so since 9/11 various Islamic nations or ‘terrorist’ groups have become the main focus.While the last few Communist nations (China & North Korea, for example) can still cast their evil shadows over the U.S. and their allies, it really amazes me that some authors seem to let their gaze wander only ninety miles from our shores.In the past few months this is the second book I’ve reviewed in which the main character and his/her companions are threatened by elements in Cuba. In both, the chief protagonist ends up in Havana, caught between parties attempting to overthrow the Castro government or attempting to gain power when the current regime ends with Fidel’s passing. Also, oddly enough, in both novels the characters at some point are escaping from Cuba by boat only to be caught off the Florida Keys in approaching storms or hurricanes. I guess this happens more frequently than you’d think.When a fishing vessel is stopped by the U.S. Coast Guard off the coast of Cuba, it is discovered that one of the men aboard is without documentation. When the boat’s owner is arrested and his boat confiscated this triggers a series of events which brings together law student Kate Stevens, Washington D.C. lawyer Gordon Cox and the first female President of the United States. The President, looking to end the decades old trade embargo, sends Kate and Gordon (who at one time dated Kate’s mother) to Havana in order to discover what the reaction might be to such a decision. The lawyers find that things are much more complicated than they appear with angry Cuban exiles on one side and a possible coup by Army officers on the other. Add to this mix the mysterious Santiago deCristo, a one time member of Castro’s elite guard who has his own reasons to return to his native land.Writer Lillie brings an old fashion feel to his book, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing. It’s a fast read, ideal for vacation reading. The author throws in the occasional sexual detail and “F” bomb, but it feels as if he is doing it more to appeal to a section of readership who want that sort of thing, rather than something which comes naturally. While the character of the President never rises above reminding me of Geena Davis in COMMANDER IN CHIEF, Lillie brings enough life to the rest of his cast to pull the book up a notch from similar fare.Three stars
Octubre 24th, 2012 at 13:07
And who can forget the team “yoani” complaining about the movies on Cuban TV being “stolen” from usanian Rv stations?
And yet more hypocrisy self-confession by teh very nail-biter:
“Some oblique eyes, shaped by mortar and gravel, looked incredibly like the protagonist in the FILM AVATAR.”
AND HOW DID THE TEAM “YOANI” SEE THE FILM?
THEY BOUGHT A COPY ON THE STREET OF LA HABANA!!!!! THUS PARTICIPATING IN “STEALING” OF usanian nazist FILMS!!!!
HYPOCRITES!
Octubre 17th, 2012 at 06:49
And more of ecellent points in the post 40.
The sketch above is typical sketch of a capitalist parasite (a banker and/or a politician), all with the white shirt, black jacket and a tie.
That’s one excellent point, well done.
The other is about the hybby of the terrorist traitor.
As we can read in the article, they were together.
How come he was
N O T
arrested?
Because only the mentally deranged one was making the “protest” where there was no need nor place for it.
So, naturally police
H A D
to
re-establish the order and they did so by arresting the troublemaker.
The slave of the real “rumplestiltskins”. the white “gods”, who ahd screwed up their own “some kind of pragmatic capitlaism” so bad, it has been on life support since 2007.
And we all know that the only humane thing would be to switch the life support off.
None of that explains the absence of husband though.
Octubre 16th, 2012 at 18:54
It is also very telling to see that the “friendly” translator is letting the insults on Damir go full on and are NOT DELETED.
The filters are switched OFF when the insults are directed at those who DISAGREE with the hypocrites pretending to be all for “freedom of speech”!!!
We on the other hand have to write with asterisks or other unreadable signs to avoid filter, and even then when the “friend;y” translator reads the posts, she deletes them “democratically”.
Worse than the Castros, your personal idols, no?
Hypocrites.
Octubre 16th, 2012 at 18:49
Your dogs are barking from the distance, team “yoan. Scared shiftless to come closer.
So are you.
Where are the answers on my questions? What are your pin-up granny nail-biter affraid of? A civilised discussion?
OR THE QUESTIONS THAT WILL BE ASKED?
Octubre 10th, 2012 at 01:32
Damir, you are a disgrace to the human race. Do you realise that you are demented? Have you sought help. It’s time.
Octubre 9th, 2012 at 23:04
LOL, having a tooth knocked out by force has nothing to do with how often one “washes” her teeth. Idiot.
Octubre 9th, 2012 at 20:57
Still no response from the liars and terrorists. No wonder. It is hard to explain your own lies when facing the hrd questions like so why did the pin-up granny NOT even mentioned the “lost tooth”, yet complained about the strip search…?
Did the strip search hurt so much that she had forgotten that she lost her tooth?
My suggestion is: wash your teeth more and less will be falling out.
Too late I’m affraid. The autumn has come…
And thanks to Marx for people like Che who was courageous enough to take it on imperialist murderers and psychopats to defend the people. Che is the real hero. The team “yoani” are a bunch of cowards who called even upon their children to take up the arms yet they themselves are hiding under the veli of protection only internet can provide.
Cowards.
Come out and play with guns if you dare, since you are so brave with words.
Yeah, it ain’t the same thing is it, “heroes”?
Octubre 9th, 2012 at 14:18
Good article Pam, Che was a twisted psychopath who preferred killing civilians to fighting an armed enemy.
Just a correction, it was the Black Liberation Front not the Black Liberation Army, which was formed later, that plotted to blow up the Statue of Liberty. Some nutty Quebec separatist was also involved. I guess people who like blowing up things attract each other.
Octubre 9th, 2012 at 13:18
VERY FUNNY AND REAL A THE SAME TIME! YOU WILL ENJOY IT!!! VERY CREATIVE!!
YOUTUBE CARTOON: “Tell Me How It Was,That Revolu” (English sub-titles) - An animated film by FOTUTOONS, animation studios of Guamá Newspaper. Animated Short in full color on Cuba. 20 minutes. Carlitos, a young Chilean leftist militant excited about his first trip to Havana wishing to learn about the Cuban revolution, he doesn’t imagine that he will be involved in an adventure that will make him later reflect on the reality of the island.
“Cuéntame Cómo fue Aquel Revolú” (English sub-titles) - Una película de FOTUTOONS, estudios de animación del Periódico Guamá. Cortometraje Animado a todo color sobre Cuba. 20 minutos. Carlitos, un joven militante chileno de izquierdas ilusionado have su primer viaje a La Habana deseando conocer de cerca a la revolución cubana, sin imaginarse que se verá envuelto en una aventura que lo hará reflexionar sobre la realidad de la isla.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v.....ture=share
Octubre 9th, 2012 at 12:42
EUROPE ONLINE MAGAZINE: Spain to try to repatriate politician on trial in Cuba
Madrid (dpa) - The Spanish government will try to repatriate Spanish politician Angel Carromero, who has been tried in Cuba in connection with a fatal traffic accident, Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Garcia-Margallo said Monday.
Carromero, 27, a member of Spain‘s ruling conservative People‘s Party (PP), was tried in the eastern Cuban city of Bayamo in connection with the car crash that killed dissident leader Oswaldo Paya and another Cuban man.
The trial concluded last week. Prosecutors are seeking a seven-year prison sentence for Carromero on charges of negligent homicide.
Garcia-Margallo said the politician would be moved from Bayamo to a “relatively comfortable” place in Havana. As soon as his sentence is made public, Spain would discuss with Cuba the possibility of bringing him home “as rapidly as possible,” the minister said.
Carromero was driving the car when it crashed into a tree on July 22 near Bayamo.
Payo and fellow dissident Harold Cepero died, while Carromero and Swedish politician Jens Aron Modig suffered minor injuries. Paya, 60, and Cepero had been riding in the back seat and were not wearing seat belts.
The official investigation showed “categorically” that Carromero was speeding at the time of the crash on a stretch of road that was being repaired, Cuban authorities said shortly after the accident.
Carromero was discharged from a hospital within a day, and has since been held by Cuban authorities.
Cuban dissidents and Paya‘s family had expressed doubts about the nature of the accident and voiced suspicions of foul play. Both Carromero and Modig, however, said in Cuba that it was just an accident with no other vehicles involved.
As head of the dissident Christian Liberation Movement, Paya waged a long-running campaign of legal initiatives to reform communist Cuba. He was nominated several times for the Nobel Peace Prize and in 2002 was awarded the European Parliament‘s Sakharov Prize for freedom of thought. dpa sit ris vs fff jln Author: Sinikka Tarvainen.
en.europeonline-magazine.eu/spain-to-try-to-repatriate-politician-on-trial-in-cuba_242172.html
Octubre 9th, 2012 at 11:59
Supporters like to view Guevara as someone who suffered with his people, a man too idyllic to concern himself with matters such as money and material possessions. Inconveniently for Guevara’s followers , however, he didn’t show so much discretion when it came to his own lifestyle choices. Humberto Fontova, a Cuban refugee, describes the mansion Guevara lived in only a week after entering Havana, Cuba, in his book, “Exposing the Real Che Guevara.” The owner of the mansion was forced to flee Havana with his family in order to escape a firing squad. Guevara’s plunder contained a yacht harbor, a huge swimming pool, seven bathrooms, a sauna, a massage salon, and five television sets. Does this really qualify Guevara a “man of the people”?
Many people consider Guevara an educated man who understood the value of education and arts. Our newspapers and biographies on the so-called “lover of literature” still contain these themes. It’s a good thing these writers are operating in America, though, because under Guevara’s leadership in Cuba they likely would’ve been put out of business or even murdered. Guevara’s first judicious act was to preside over a book burning of 3,000 stolen books and sign the death warrants for many Cuban authors.
The same Argentinean man who imperialistically tried to impose his political views on the Cuban people is often lauded as someone who “finally stood up to imperialistic America.” In 1964, Guevara got a hero’s welcome in New York City as he spoke to the United Nations and bellowed, “Executions? Certainly, we execute! And we will continue executing as long as it is necessary!” As he was rushed from one socialite party to the next that night, New Yorkers gushed over him. Only after he left America did the New York Police Department discover his plot with the Black Liberation Army to blow up the Statue of Liberty, the Liberty Bell, and the Washington Monument.
A peach of man, indeed.
http://www.collegiatetimes.com.....a-murderer
Octubre 9th, 2012 at 11:59
THE TRUE STORY OF CHE GUEVARA- The History Channel presentation:
From his famous motorcycle trips to his historic role in the Cuban Revolution, Argentinean revolutionary Che Guevara is profiled in a documentary produced to explore the life of the man whose visage has become an iconic symbol of hard left politics. This man, who ordered the execution of countless human beings while in charge of the notorious La Cabaña prison in Havana, who terrorized Cuban society and who denied freedom to thousands of citizens whom he considered “deviants” or “anti-revolutionaries” can never be accepted as a hero, martyr or — the shock of it — a saint.
TO SEE THE FULL DOCUMENTARY CLICK LINK
http://topdocumentaryfilms.com.....e-guevara/
Octubre 9th, 2012 at 11:58
LA NUEVA CUBA : “Che Guevara: The Fish Die by the Mouth” - By Humberto (Bert) Corzo*- Columnist, Los Angeles California-January 14, 2009
INTRODUCTION: The saying “The fish die by the mouth”, refers to those who speak more than the necessary until being fooled by their own speech. Can his mythical reputation survive the publication of his own words?
The objective of this article is to expose the truth about Che, to demystify it in the face of those who feel admiration by this mass murderer, exposing the facts based on his writings, diaries, speeches, letters and conversations with those who knew him.
Che never questioned the crimes of Stalin and Mao, nor the totalitarian conceptions of Marxism, incompatible with the ideals of liberty and democracy, defending until his death his Stalinists ideas. His fanaticism made him an implacable enemy of liberty. The French writer Regis Debray, author of “Revolution in the revolution”, wrote about the Che that: “He was adept of the totalitarianism up to the last body hair.”
CLICK LINK FOR ACADEMIC PAPER WITH FOOTNOTES & EVERYTHING!!
http://www.lanuevacuba.com/arc.....rzo-10.htm
Octubre 9th, 2012 at 11:58
216 DOCUMENTED VICTIMS OF CHÉ GUEVARA IN CUBA: 1957 TO 1959 From Armando M. Lago, Ph.D.´s - Cuba: The Human Cost of Social Revolution
http://www.cubaarchive.org/downloads/CA08.pdf
Octubre 9th, 2012 at 11:52
Everyone who can think for himself knows that Che was a blood-thirsty homophobe and racist. He believed in equality for “some.”
Octubre 9th, 2012 at 11:31
http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisda.....930193.stm
http://www.guardian.co.uk/worl.....ter-aleida
Octubre 9th, 2012 at 11:22
forty five years ago October the 9th the CIA eliminated the man Ernieste “Che” Guevara but not his message freedom and equaity for everyone, not just “one percent”
Octubre 9th, 2012 at 11:15
So for the 4th time what happend to hubby?? Maybe GenY doesn’t do shagging much, self-promotion and idolatry are more important!
Octubre 9th, 2012 at 11:11
Yes mouse, it was a cheese croissant. Now go try really really hard to find something interesting and relevant to post.
Octubre 9th, 2012 at 11:02
So for the 3rd time what happend to hubby?? did he get a croissant or a shag at least?
Octubre 9th, 2012 at 10:52
Man (mouse), I’m so sorry that your longer rants, um, posts, are getting censored.
Heaven forbid we should all be spared another long-winded rant about American pop culture, or the travails of how it sucks to live in a democracy by choice.
Octubre 9th, 2012 at 10:43
October 9 the day Che died…
We got a hard revolution at the last count in Cuba.. That included the rivarly between two idols. What we know now is, from Rumplestilskin is that from the coming Cuban revolution we could expect soft focus idolatry that genY seem to appreciate and spontenously give…that may get them the dinner with LadyGaga some dream of today!
So for the second time what happend to hubby?? did he get a croissant at least?
Octubre 9th, 2012 at 10:41
Oh wow my longer messages are getting censored… and no USAnian in sight to defend me as promised here on this blog! What is democracy coming to!… maybe some people just don’t desereve it… they would say!
Octubre 9th, 2012 at 10:21
October 9 the day Che died…
You wonder what the guy would have made of the idolatry and messages to the supreme being (2 in one - jurno and hr advocate ) played here on MsY over a banal fact of life that other Cubans (Ladies in White, the guy at the Papal visit), migrants and people in general met with in every society once they decided to take matters of personal human rights in their own hands..
To some (here) there is good idolatry and bad idolatry… the bad idolatry is the one Castro, Chavez and any band of dictators ‘encourages’… While ‘good idolatry’ is: the side your human rights jurno bread should be buttered on…so your books get published and the phone rings.
It seem that genY in Cuba cannot give idolatry up just yet, the more since ‘it is spontaneous’ it is harder to give up when you hold the jurno card in your hand and you need that ‘cutting edge’ reputation that you’ve been there done that!!
We got a hard revolution and a tough hero from the last count in Cuba.. That included the rivarly between two world idols, one dead and so forever young. What we know now is that from the coming Cuban revolution we’re gonna get the soft focus idolatry of Ygen…that may get them dinner with LadyGaga some dream of today!
rt.com/news/gaga-assange-visit-embassy-985/
So for the second time what happend to hubby?? did he get a croissant at least?
UnSoricel
Octubre 8th, 2012 at 22:47
Cuba Libre is confusing “free” with “heavily subsidized.” Everything in Cuba is subsidized by the slave labor of the Cubans who work 40 plus hours per week for a salary of about $20.00 per month.
Octubre 8th, 2012 at 22:23
Cuba Liar #37
Here’s what you wrote: “Socialism abides by the rule that every human being should be entitled to the basic things in life,ex.education,food,health care, and for free.”
What about housing and having a roof over your head? Isn’t that also basic? Why did you leave housing off your list? Does Socialism include your funneling of funds from capitalist Canada to a straw man in Cuba so that you can buy yourself a house on the beach? Is that part of Socialism too? Could it be that you know your purchase of property in Cuba is exploitation based on a price difference and your economic advantage? Isn’t that illegal in Cuba? Not sure I understand how this all works. Please explain.
Octubre 8th, 2012 at 21:03
I HOPE WE CAN GET OVER THIS CHAVEZ ISSUE AFTER THE ELECTION AND GET BACK TO THE CUBA, AND CUBAN TOPIC! BUT BEFORE THAT, I WANT TO WEIGH IN ON WHY CHAVEZ HAD A HUGE ADVANTAGE OVER CAPRILES BEYOND VOTE FRAUD!
COMMENTARY MAGAZINE: Chavez Wins—So Does the Opposition - Ben Cohen
However deflated Capriles may feel today, he has won a victory of sorts. Without question, had he been fighting in his campaign in a conventional democracy, he would have won handsomely. But in Venezuela, elections are stacked against the opposition from the outset. Whereas Capriles was permitted just three minutes of airtime daily, there were no limits on Chavez’s cadenas, his trademark one-man broadcasts that often last for several hours. Nor was Chavez short of tame media outlets hailing him as the leader of socialism in its 21st century mutation. Chavez was never obliged to debate Capriles on issues of policy. Instead, he chose to demonize his opponent, casually throwing around epithets like “pig,” “Nazi,” and “little bourgeois.” Anti-Semitism too played a central role in Chavez’s messaging. Though Capriles is a committed Catholic, he descends, on his mother’s side, from Polish Jews who arrived in Venezuela after surviving the Holocaust. Chavez, whose principal political mentor was Norberto Ceresole, an Argentinian Holocaust denier, seized on these origins with the gusto of a Julius Streicher. Cartoons lampooning Capriles often showed him wearing a Star of David. Among the many vicious profiles of Capriles in the pro-Chavez media was one by Adal Hernandez, a Chavista radio commentator, which carried the title “The Enemy is Zionism.”
Most of all, Chavez was able to call on the resources of the state to fund his campaign. PVDSA, the state-owned oil company responsible for the petroleum revenues, which make up 95 percent of the country’s foreign export earnings, has been cannibalized by the regime for all manner of pet political projects, from low-impact social programs aimed at capturing the votes of Venezuela’s poorer voters to subsidized oil programs for fellow tyrannies like Cuba and Belarus.
CLICK LINK FOR ENTIRE ARTICLE!
http://www.commentarymagazine......pposition/
Octubre 8th, 2012 at 20:45
Yes, Cuba Libre, Chavez believes in equal poverty for all, and is laughing all the way to the bank. Fidel is the same.
Octubre 8th, 2012 at 20:43
The poor re-elected Chavez because he gives away lots of free stuff, in order to insure that he will be re-elected. Venezuela is full of slums, poverty, and has a horrific murder rate. After 12 years in office, his “socialism” has been a dismal failure.
Octubre 8th, 2012 at 20:04
What a great woman you are. I have been afraid for you since the first day you started to write. One day, they will try to get rid of you, like they tried to do, 2 years ago. Lots of people throughout the world are with you. Take care!
Octubre 8th, 2012 at 19:37
Pisica,
And all those things you state I guess is the reason why Mr. Chavez got re-elected. They want more of the bad treatments and the killings you speak of. Give me a break will you. They re-elected Mr. Chavez because he , like Mr. Castro, can hold his ground in the face of the big imperialist monster who wants to take over their country. They re-elected him because he, contrary to your false statements, is a leader as far as human rights and equality for all beings is concerned.
Octubre 8th, 2012 at 19:32
WASHINGTON POST: American imprisoned in Cuba may have cancer - By Anne Gearan
An American imprisoned in Cuba for nearly three years may have terminal cancer, his lawyer and wife said Tuesday.
Cuban doctors who examined the Maryland man, Alan Gross, determined that a growth he has had on his right shoulder for about five months is benign, according to medical records released Tuesday.
But a radiologist in the United States who reviewed the records concluded that the Cuban diagnosis of a temporary swelling was suspect, especially given Gross’s dramatic weight loss. He has lost more than 100 pounds, going from moderately overweight to gaunt.
Gross, 63, has not been evaluated by an independent doctor. His family has copies of Cuban ultrasound and radiology reports from May and June that were evaluated by Bethesda radiologist Alan A. Cohen.
“A soft tissue mass in an adult who has lost considerable weight must be assumed to represent a malignant tumor unless proven to be benign,” Cohen wrote in a letter to Gross’s wife, Judy.
Gross has been behind bars since December 2009, when he was arrested in Cuba for allegedly distributing computer equipment that could be used for Internet access. At the time, he was working under a contract with the U.S. Agency for International Development.
Cuba says Gross was part of a multimillion-dollar U.S. effort to undermine the communist government. He says he was trying to improve communication services for Cuba’s small Jewish community.
Gross initially identified himself as a representative of a Jewish humanitarian organization but later acknowledged he was a U.S. contractor.
He was sentenced to 15 years in prison and has run out of appeals. Although he maintains his innocence, a lawyer, Jared Genser, is appealing to the Cuban government to release him on humanitarian grounds.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/.....story.html
Octubre 8th, 2012 at 19:01
This is what a failure Hugo Chavez has been
Counting by Murders
By FRANCISCO TORO
Rodrigo Abd/Associated Press
A drug dealer in Caracas in November 2007 displayed injuries from clashes with gangs.
MONTREAL — One hundred fifty-five thousand seven hundred and eighty-eight. That, according to new research by the Venezuelan criminologist Fermín Mármol García, is the number of murders committed in Venezuela since 1999.
Imagine an attack on the scale of 9/11 every three months, for 13-and-a-half years. Or consider this: from the time of the 2003 Iraq invasion until this January, while 116,705 civilians were killed in Iraq, according to the Iraq Body Count project, 124,221 Venezuelans were murdered, says Mármol García. All that with no suicide attacks, no Apache helicopters, no I.E.D.s and none of the organized machinery of war: just an exceptionally violent gang subculture, the growing availability of cheap Colombian cocaine and a government asleep at the wheel.
Perhaps the closest parallel is the drug war in Mexico, which claimed some 12,000 victims in 2011 (for 19,336 in Venezuela). But even that’s not a very good comparison. Mexico’s population is four times larger than Venezuela’s. And there it’s a handful of well-funded, well-armed and well-organized drug cartels that accounts for most of the violence. The thousands of street gangs responsible for the bulk of casualties in Venezuela are small fry by comparison — just guys shooting it out for control of their slum’s tiny share of the retail drug business. More Stringer Bell than Pablo Escobar.
It wasn’t always like this. In 1998, the final year of what we now think of as the pre-Chàvez era, there were 4,550 murders in Venezuela, already an alarming figure. Fast-forward to 2011, the latest year for which statistics have been compiled, and the number had more than quadrupled. To place that figure into context, consider that independent estimates for the number of people killed in Syria since the start of the rebellion against President Bashar al-Assad range from 9,183 to 15,000.
Preliminary research by Javier Corrales, a political scientist at Amherst College, underscores just how unique Venezuela’s violence epidemic is. In a recent email, he showed me that Venezuela is one of just five countries in the world to average more than 40 murders per 100,000 people between 2005 and 2010. The other four are far smaller, far poorer countries in Central America and the Caribbean: El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Jamaica. Venezuela’s murder rate is just unheard of among middle-income countries, to say nothing of oil-rich states on the receiving end of massive new petrodollar flows.
But it’s not just the level of violence in Venezuela that’s worrisome, it’s also the upward trend. In countries at comparable levels of development (as measured by the U.N.’s Human Development Index), graphs of murder rates show gently falling slopes. Only in the tiny Caribbean island nation of Saint Kitts and Nevis is there anything even beginning to resemble Venezuela’s skyrocketing murder rates.
What happened? To my mind, it’s clear: Hugo Chávez simply has not devoted the necessary resources to the criminal justice system.
With no significant investment in police services, officers increasingly find themselves outgunned on the street. With no significant investment in prosecutors’ offices, each prosecutor is expected to handle 831 case files per year — such an impossibly high figure that just 8 percent of arrests referred to prosecutors ever lead to an indictment. With no significant investment in the courts, 70 percent of hearings (including for trials) have to be postponed because the prosecutor, the defense attorney, the judge or the accused fails to show up for one reason or another. With no significant investment in prisons, a system built to accommodate 12,500 criminals warehouses nearly four times that many in conditions that range from the surreal to the hellish. And with no significant investment in parole and probation services, criminals go right back to their old ways the moment they hit the streets again.
Maybe the Chavistas drank their own Kool-Aid on crime. Thinking that street violence was just a manifestation of capitalist oppression, they saw little reason for their revolutionary government to invest in tamping it down. Crime rates would naturally fall as the worst excesses of neoliberal domination were supplanted by revolutionary solidarity, wouldn’t they?
Either the theory was flawed from the start, or the revolution’s payoffs in terms of social justice have been underwhelming indeed.
http://www.latitude.blogs.nyti.....countries/
Octubre 8th, 2012 at 18:56
Welcome back. Glad you’re okay for now.
Octubre 8th, 2012 at 18:45
DAILY PAPER SYDSVENSKA DAGBLADET, MALMOE, SWEDEN
A BULLET AGAINST A DISIDENT’S HEAD
Current affairs. Why Aron Modig acted as he did it, after that accident he was involved in Cuba?
This a question professor Carlos Medina de Rebolledo, interim General secretary for World Federation for Human Rights in Cuba is doing in this article.
The chairman for Christian Democratic Youth Federation Aron Modig, Sweden has broken his silence about his last adventure in Cuba. According to his declarations, his trip to Cuba, his second one, was motivated by Swedish Christian democrats efforts to bring democracy and freedom to a country where for 53 years has suffered Castrocommunism dictatorship and tyranny.
During that Aron Modig’s trip, done last summer, two Cubans Oswaldo Paya and Harold Cepero died in a very estrange accident. Modig was in the car, together with Angel Carromero, from the Spanish liberal party Partido Popular’s Youth federation.
Ángel Carromero, who was driving the car, is in gaile in Cuba because that accident. The State prosecutor is demanding 15 years sentence for the double homicide.
Hundred of journalists, among them my self, has asked Aron Modig for an interview to ask him some very important questions. Of the reason, he did not show any interest to be interviewed; I present my questions in public.
Has Aron Modig been forced to sign a manipulated explanation, in order to not coming in conflict with the Cuban regime?
Did Aron Modig feel groggy, unsettled when he was interrogated by the secret polis? Castro dictators police usually uses pentothal and other drogues to convince prisoners to sing any document.
Did Aron Modig experiment any form of violence? (NOTE 1: In fact, I wrote “object of sexual rapes”, but it was refused by the newspaper redaction.) Something, there are thousands of documented cases about.
How it was possible that Aron Modig was released from prison so fast, when is a serious crime in Cuba, according their laws, to meet and talk to opposition people? This is in breach against U.N.’s Declaration for Human Rights, to which Cuba is obligated, but never is respecting.
Aron Modig is encoring (Swedish) democrats to take their holidays in Cuba, which is very bizarre, considering his own experience. (NOTE 2: This is part of the agreement between Castro dictators and Modig?) The Castro tyranny survives thanks the tourist money. ONE EURO TO CASTRODICTATORS IS A BULLET IN SOME ONE DISIDENT!
That Aron Modig does not like straight questions, is evident. The question is if his style of secrecies helps to the Christian Democrats prestige because.
I have written to the Swedish minister of Foreign Affair Carl Bildt (Conservative) asking him to allow the very persecuted family Paya to ask for asylum at the Swedish embassy in Habana. A similar letter to Swedish Christen Democratic party, minister Göran Hägglund was also sent.
Prof. Carlos Medina de Rebolledo
LINK: http://www.sydsvenskan.se/opin.....denthuvud/
Sunday 7 oktober 20
Octubre 8th, 2012 at 17:27
Yoani … We are glad you are safe. We send our prayers to you for strength and wisdom to continue your struggle against the evils of the Castro regime.
Octubre 8th, 2012 at 16:53
I bet if American police knocked out the tooth of some Iranian terrorist planning to bomb an American kindergarten, we’d here some international uproar about human rights.
The same people cheer on the constant abuse of Cuban pacifists.
Octubre 8th, 2012 at 16:50
So military thug Chavez won his election? Wow, what a surprise. This must be the first time ever a South American military thug has won an election?
If you’re a left-wing military thug, then elections with violence, voter intimidation, ballot-stuffing and vote-rigging suddenly become “free,” but if a right-wing military thug wins an election, it’s always “fixed”
Maybe some leftist can enlighten me.
Octubre 8th, 2012 at 16:44
Hey man comes around, try your antics in Cuba and see where it gets you.
Sorry that England isn’t perfect, but there is a lot worse. Just hop on over to Cuba and find out.
Guess what, this world isn’t just about you, other people live here too. A point usually lost on leftists.
Octubre 8th, 2012 at 11:09
Cuba Libre
Octubre 8th, 2012 at 09:00
For all the skeptics who think socialism doesn’t work. Mr. Hugo Chavez has benn re-elected for a third time. This must mean that socialism does work, contrary to major belief. When all society participates, and aknowledges the advantages of socialism , everyone is a winner. Socialism abides by the rule that every human being should be entitled to the basic things in life,ex.education,food,health care, and for free. I guess the people in Venezuela have seen the advantages, and so have the people in Cuba, except for a few traitors and liars.
How can you not admire a man who has been fighting cancer and still wants to keep fighting for the good of the people. Congratulations Mr. Chavez. You like Fidel Castro will go down in history as a freedom fighter and a defender of human right
Is that why so many in Venezuela live in some of the worst slums in the world? How are these people winners? Buying off the votes of the poor with the country’s own oil billions can hardly be considered an endorsement of Hugo Chavez. It’s despicable.
Octubre 8th, 2012 at 10:15
Come to look at this drawing twice… this Rumplestiltskin resembles more a banker or even Uncle Sam…same rapaciousness one can see in a trader, hedge fund manager or man at the top, that brutes never display. This is to say not an ounce of sadism is on show to give the game away - that would be so typical of thugs united everywhere who can’t help feeling satisfied inflicting pain on the small guy in the name of doing their job.
And again if MsY would have done her jurno homework on the West bank she might have been aware the Grimm story has an anti-semite subtext in interest and name and how Rumplestiltskin is dispatched at the end of the affair by the beautiful but not very talented now-parlamentarian, pardon me, princess (as in the book)… Political correctness today dicstates that Jewish guys cannot be rapacious nor brutes.. and definetely not Castro Fascists… So it is hard to imagine you called the brutes by their real name… which is..paid people doing the job the regime told them to do and granted them powers to do it at the expense of citizens, as everywhere in the world. Migrants tell such stories every day a thousand and have been through this a thousand times.
I myself as asylum seeker was asked to strip naked and to be finger printed, before an interview at Gatwick… I refused and invoked my human rights. I was told that if I don’t do it I would be arrested and detained…. though I had commited no crime and I wasn’t illegally there… So what was the solution?.. well I undressed and accepted to have my finger prints taken … at the end of the interview I logded a serious complain against inhuman treatment. The middle class officer who interviewed me looked at me in disgust - I gave him the same look. He went home to his boing life where he was doing just a job…I went to 3 more years in court to get my status! Lovely Western democracy!
For proof Mr Y should try gate crashing any G20 meeting, special committee on whatever etc or alternatively call a guard at any US/UK airport a Rumplestiltskin see if that doesn’t get her a strip search and a knuckle sandwich pluys DNA taken down for posterity!!
I am not even going to mention stop and search since it is already banal but by the way what happened to hubby?…or is he an imaginary guy??
Octubre 8th, 2012 at 09:58
Humberto # 24 I never waste my time on the Miami Herald!!!!!!
Cuba Libre well said. Remember the road to “Socialism does work” started in 1959 with Fidel’s victory over Uncle Sam’s under lings
Octubre 8th, 2012 at 09:03
We all love this writing that unfortunately unable to post on my facebook in english so my fellow canadians can read it. I was able to post it in spanish but does not help. could you do something about that. Thanks, JB
Octubre 8th, 2012 at 09:00
For all the skeptics who think socialism doesn’t work. Mr. Hugo Chavez has benn re-elected for a third time. This must mean that socialism does work, contrary to major belief. When all society participates, and aknowledges the advantages of socialism , everyone is a winner. Socialism abides by the rule that every human being should be entitled to the basic things in life,ex.education,food,health care, and for free. I guess the people in Venezuela have seen the advantages, and so have the people in Cuba, except for a few traitors and liars.
How can you not admire a man who has been fighting cancer and still wants to keep fighting for the good of the people. Congratulations Mr. Chavez. You like Fidel Castro will go down in history as a freedom fighter and a defender of human rights.
Octubre 7th, 2012 at 23:15
291 RCR!! GREAT DAY, ONE MORE STEP FOR DEMOCRACY IN VENEZUELA IN TRYING TO GET RID OF THE FASCIST CHAVEZ AND HIS MENTOR “THE MUMMY”! CHAVEZ WON BY 63% IN 2006 SO THIS IS A STEP DOWN FOR HIM!! STEP BY STEP, INCH BY INCH WE WILL GET RID OF HIM AND THE CASTRO CLAN! DID YOU READ MY ARTICLE ON COMMENT #24??
Octubre 7th, 2012 at 22:45
Humberto you will be happy to hear Twitter reports offical Chavez 54.4% op 44% 84.4% of population votes…….great day
Octubre 7th, 2012 at 22:11
Damir,
You have apparently not been paying much attention to the events of the last 72 hours. Allow me to clarify if I may.
Yoani Sanchez was hired to be a reporter for El Pais, a newspaper in Spain (you know, the country, not to be confused with Mexico — Spain is in Europe and Mexico is, well…not). She was hired to cover the one-day trial of a Spanish citizen named Angel Carromero which took place on Friday, October 5, 2012 in Bayamo, Cuba. Mr. Carromero is accused by the dictatorship that runs Cuba of being responsible for the deaths of two Cuban dissidents in a car accident back in July of this year. Many people do not believe the Cuban dictatorship’s version of what happened in that accident and wonder why the dictatorship is seeking a seven year sentence for Carromero. After all, if it were a simple accident, why the need to send him away for such a long time? One of the dissidents who died in that accident was a man named Oswaldo Paya (you can look him up on Wikipedia if you have not heard of him. He started the Varela Project, but that is a whole different topic). Curiously, none of Mr. Paya’s family was allowed to attend the trial either, even though they were there and tried. Neither was any media. Odd, don’t you think?
Anyway, getting back to the story, Yoani wrote about what happened to her when she tried to attend this trial, which, according to the official newspaper of the communist party in Cuba, Granma, was to be open to the public. Big Surprise! It wasn’t! So, when Yaoni and her husband and some other folks arrived in Bayamo, they were arrested for attempting to attend the trial and charged with the crime of “disrespecting the heroes of the revolution, its martyrs and its institutions,” whatever that means. As a result of her efforts and her detention by the gorgons of Cuban state security, she is now missing a tooth, which really sucks, because I don’t know about you, I like each one of my teeth.
Hope that helps. I so love our little exchanges and look forward to them. Really wish you’d write more often. Let me know if you need more clarification because you seem to have a flexible relationship with facts. Ciao. Here’s a link to the article in El Pais:
http://internacional.elpais.co.....04121.html
Octubre 7th, 2012 at 21:23
C.L.!! YOU THERE??
Octubre 7th, 2012 at 21:22
The Man Comes Around!! YOU THERE???
Octubre 7th, 2012 at 21:22
291 RCR !! YOU THERE??
Octubre 7th, 2012 at 21:04
And which asylum did you escape from, Damir?
Octubre 7th, 2012 at 21:03
“HER COMRADES FROM THE ASYLUM THEY ALL RAN AWAY FROM AND NOW ARE CONGREGATING HERE TALKING NONSENSE.”
Then guess who fits right in here?
Octubre 7th, 2012 at 21:02
Dear Damir, What an amazing sleuth you are! I think that Inspector Clouseau could use a sidekick. Are you available?
Octubre 7th, 2012 at 20:55
The end of this demented post by the team “yoani” ends on the note I have warned about three years ago: delusions and mental disorder:
““You are Rumplestiltskin,” I said out loud and the gorgons watching me LOOKED WORRIED. “You are Rumplestiltskin,” I repeated, “and I know your name. You are like dictatorships, and once we start calling them by their name, it begins to destroy them.””
Who would not look at the old< drawn out and delusional ratbag, screaming something as disconnected as that???
HER COMRADES FROM THE ASYLUM THEY ALL RAN AWAY FROM AND NOW ARE CONGREGATING HERE TALKING NONSENSE.
Octubre 7th, 2012 at 20:49
LEt us retract a little: this post is about something that had happened
WHEN?
The team “yoani” gives us NO INDICATION WHATSOEVER as to WHEN did this “arrest” happen. SO we should BELIEVE at a face value that it did?
Reading the “longer” account we only know that it was “one (fine) day” on their way to the trial of Mr. Carromero, the member of Spanish radical RIGHT wing of the rulling PP party in Spain, better known as the driver who caused the death of Oswaldo Paya and Harold Cepero.
At a glance one discovers that the police was firm but NOT violent. The only “violence” was supposed strip-search.
Tough titties. That’s what the police does. In ANY and EVERY country in the world. Especially in your beloved “democracy”. Just go and ask the five heroes in usanian prisons.
Another quick glance and the old, dried up and rather incompetent pin-up granny declares herself a “journalist”!!!
HAHAHAHA!!!!!
And for which publication/agency/newspaper/TV/radio? Has she been given accreditation by any of these media outlets and approved by Cuban authorities?
Hell, I’ll settle just for official appointment by a media instrument!
The SHORT answer is: NO. NONE. NADA.
Hence: the lie, yet again from the team “yoani”.
As if THAT was a surprise unexpected…
The liars keep going on though:
“I immediately imagine Carromero subjected to the same tension of threat and “good humor”… ”
Sugegsting that Mr. Carromero was a subject to drastic measures that did NOT EVEN HAPPEN to pin-up granny!!!!!!
GET A GRIP LIARS.
MOre of the lies:
“it’s difficult to endure this for long”
BUT, WAIT!!!:
“*Translator’s note: Yoani lost a tooth.”
BUT IF YOU READ THE “long” article, the pin-up granny NEVER MENTIONS BEING BEATEN UP AND LOSING A TOOTH AS A RESULT!!!
IS THTIS THE BEST YOU NAZIST TERRORISTS AND TRAITORS CAN COME UP WITH…???
Octubre 7th, 2012 at 20:40
Cuba Libre!! I THINK YOUR ATTEMPT AT DEFAMATION IS FEEBLE! BUT KEEP AT IT!! YOU “MIGHT” CONVINCE SOME PEOPLE! LETS HEAR FROM SOME DENTISTS WHO READ THESE COMMENTS ABOUT THE “YOANI LOOSING HER TOOTH TO CASTROFASCIST CONTROVERSY”!!
Octubre 7th, 2012 at 20:31
291 RCR !! “FUNNY” THAT IN CUBA AND IN THE BAD OLD U.S.A. THE VENEZUELANS CAN VOTE FOR CHAVEZ OR CAPRILES AND WE WHO WERE CUBA BORN, LIVING IN THE BAD OLD U.S.A. OR ABROAD (except for the CastroFascists bootlickes) CANNOT “VOTE” IN CUBA’S “ELECTIONS”! FUNNY ISNT IT!
MIAMI HERALD: Win or lose, Capriles may win in Venezuela - By Andres Oppenheimer
Anything is possible in Venezuela’s elections Sunday, but there is a good chance that opposition candidate Henrique Capriles Radonski will do better than any of his predecessors in the polls, and that — win or lose — he will put President Hugo Chavez’s 14-year-old regime against the ropes.
There is a plausible scenario that even if Capriles loses by a narrow margin, a good showing in Sunday’s election will allow him to keep the opposition unified, and to become a viable alternative to a president who may have terminal cancer, and who has no successor who could beat Capriles.
Under Venezuela’s constitution, if the president dies within the first four years of his term, new elections must be held within 30 days. If Capriles emerged as a strong opposition leader from this election, he would have a good chance of becoming the next president before Chavez’s term expires.
Many analysts see change in the air. In a Sept. 26 report entitled “Now or in a little while,” Barclays bank told its clients that “even in the event of a Chavez victory, we think that given the signs of his weak health conditions, if not now, political change could come in just a little while.”
While Chavez looks better than a few months ago and says that he is free from cancer, there are serious doubts that he has fully recovered. There are some reasons to believe that he now looks better not because he is cured from cancer, but because he has interrupted his treatment.
A study of Chavez’s daily public appearances by ODH, a Venezuelan consulting firm, shows that the president’s average daily television appearances during the first three weeks of September were significantly shorter than during the same period in August, and also shorter than his public appearances during the same period before the 2006 elections.
That would be hard to explain unless Chavez is ill: It doesn’t make sense for him to reduce his public appearances in the final stretch of the campaign. And it doesn’t make sense for him to have campaigned much harder in 2006 — when he enjoyed a huge lead in the polls — than nowadays.
As for Sunday’s vote, Chavez enjoys a clear advantage thanks to a combination of slanted electoral rules, intimidation of opposition voters, massive use of government petrodollars and a virtual control of television time.
As Capriles told me in a recent interview, “this is a fight of David versus Goliath, where I’m running against all of the state’s resources” and “against a government that controls all the institutions, and plays dirty.” Still, Venezuelans are suffering from Latin America’s highest inflation levels, record crime rates, food shortages and power outages, and are eager for change, he said.
Several polls give Chavez a 10-point lead, although a recent poll by the respected Consultores 21 and others show Capriles winning by a 3 percent margin.
But most pollsters agree that they have never seen the Venezuelan opposition as energized as today. While in the 2006 presidential elections Chavez won 63 percent of the vote and opposition leader Manuel Rosales got 37 percent, most expect a much closer result on Sunday.
Barring a Capriles upset victory — much like happened in Chile in 1989 or in Nicaragua in 1990, where the opposition won despite facing equally unfair election conditions — he is likely to get closer to 50 percent of the vote. If he gets close to that, he will be seen by many as a president-in-waiting.
Skeptics say the “Capriles now-or-a-little-later” scenario is too optimistic, because Capriles has generated so much enthusiasm among his followers that a defeat on Sunday would demoralize them, paralyze the opposition and perhaps even divide it. Millions of anti-Chavez Venezuelans would conclude there was fraud, and that there is no hope for democratic change, the argument goes.
My opinion: I’m somewhat more optimistic. If Capriles gets close to 50 percent of the vote, he will play his cards well, and will not allow his political momentum to evaporate.
He is not likely to cry fraud if he loses by a margin that he can’t dispute, because doing so would encourage a widespread perception within the anti-Chavez movement that Venezuela’s elections are rigged, and that would lead many to stay at home for the December 16 governors’ elections, and for the April 2013 mayoral elections.
The odds are against Capriles, but he has better chances than any previous opposition leader to succeed Chavez. Win or lose on Sunday, he could still win in the end.
http://www.miamiherald.com/201.....k=misearch
Octubre 7th, 2012 at 20:09
Humberto #18 at 7:30pm exit polls show Chavez heading to re elections better than 10%
Octubre 7th, 2012 at 19:45
When will the lies stop. How can anyone believe such nonsense. How can you have a tooth knocked or punched out of your mouth without it leaving any bruise or scar on your face? I mean honestly, how can anyone look at the picture and believe these lies.
Octubre 7th, 2012 at 18:33
The Man Comes Around!! I HAVE NEVER SAID TO ANYONE TO STOP WRITING NOR DO I HAVE THE POWER, OR THE DESIRE TO STOP ANYONE PHYSICALLY FROM COMMENTING HERE! QUITE THE OPPOSITE, I HAVE SAID “STOP WHINING AND WRITE SOMETHING” A FEW TIMES AND IT IS DOCUMENTED DEAR! NOW I HAVE A RIGHT TO COMMENT THAT THOSE TOPICS ABOUT BAD OLD U.S.A., CANADA, THE LAND OF OZ ETC. ARE A DIVERSIONARY TACTIC, AND I WILL CALLED A SPADE A SPADE! BIG GUSANO HUGS AND KISSES TO YOU!
Octubre 7th, 2012 at 15:42
‘Comes Around #19:
To what minority do you refer?
Octubre 7th, 2012 at 15:10
Humberto … This is not your blog too and since you should learn to let others speak too..
Cubans and other readers may need other perspectives too…beside your dictatorial know it all about CF USAnian angle ….
–> so mind your own copy and paste and let other speak freely.. Shouldn’t be tooo hard for you considering you were bread in the fattest democracy on the world…and you belong to a minority!
Octubre 7th, 2012 at 14:03
POLICYMIC: Hugo Chavez Venezuela Election 2012 Results Live: Will Chavez Lose to Capriles
PolicyMic will be providing live updates throughout the day and until the polls close and a winner is declared. Bookmark this page and refresh often to find the exclusive information from reporters on the ground.
This Sunday, Venezuelans go to the polls to reelect (or not) President Hugo Chavez Frías after a 14-year presidency marked as much by a reduction in poverty levels as by rampant crime and the highest inflation rate in Latin America.
Chavez’s challenger, 40-year-old lawyer and former governor of the populous state of Miranda, Henrique Capriles Radonski, has gained popular support by pledging to keep Chavez’s social programs while spurring the private sector economic growth he says Chavez has crushed with his statist revolution (with decaying infrastructure and scarcity of goods as byproducts in this oil-rich country).
Despite a year-long battle with cancer, and a decrease in popular support amid the perception that he cares more about foreign countries (Chavez gives away oil to Cuba and builds soccer stadiums in Bolivia), El Presidente’s supports remain strong especially among the poor masses of Caracas’ slums and the country’s rural zones.
Capriles, on the other hand, has gained support among the urban youth and educated professionals who feel Chavez has squandered Venezuela’s oil boom (the country produces about 2.5 million barrels of oil a day and has certified reserves which are larger than Saudi Arabia’s) failing to make this South American country of 20 million a regional economic superpower a la Brazil.
Part of Capriles’ success is the fact that what used to be a fragmented opposition (the “Unidad Democratica” unwisely boycotted the 2000 election and failed to offer a clear alternative in the 2006 one) has solidly rallied behind the popular and charismatic young leader who became a lawmaker at 25 and never has lost an election.
CLICK LINK AND THEN REFRESH FOR UPDATES ON RIGHT UPPER HAND!
http://www.policymic.com/artic.....o-capriles
Octubre 7th, 2012 at 13:27
Pisica !! THIS IS NOT A BAD ROMANIAN TOPIC BLOG! NOR A BAD U.S.A.! NOR A BAD CANADA!! IS THAT THE BEST YOU CASTRO AGENTS/APOLOGIST CAN DO??
Octubre 7th, 2012 at 13:25
FRANCE 24 INTERNATIONAL NEWS: Late Cuban dissident’s family blames government for death
AFP - The Cuban government is to blame for the death of human rights activist Oswaldo Paya, family members said Saturday as they called for the acquittal of the Spaniard charged in the case.
At a trial that began Friday, prosecutors have requested a seven-year jail term for Angel Carromero over the July 22 car crash that killed Paya, an award-winning pro-democracy dissident.
“I think (Spaniard Angel) Carromero should be acquitted. I don’t believe the charges brought against him, nor do I believe the government’s story,” Paya’s widow Ofelia Acevedo told AFP as she visited the site where her husband lost his life.
“He is innocent,” Acevedo said of Carromero, who was driving when her husband’s car hit a tree in an accident that killed the activist but not Carromero, 26, or Swedish activist Jens Aron Modig, 27.
Another Cuban dissident Harold Cepero, 31, was also killed in the crash.
Paya’s daughter Rosa Maria Paya, and her brothers Osvaldo and Reinaldo are seeking an international investigation into the death of their father. He had won the European Parliament’s top human rights award, the 2002 Sakharov prize, for opposing the Americas’ only one-party Communist regime.
“My impression from this poorly run circus (of a trial) is that they (the government) have a lot to hide,” charged an emotional Rosa Maria Paya.
The Paya family said they wanted to speak with Carromero but were barred from doing so.
President Raul Castro’s government has drawn intense criticism from dissidents about the high-profile Paya case, and it has not taken the jibes lightly.
Shortly before the start of the trial, Cuban authorities detained celebrated dissident blogger Yoani Sanchez and her husband, who had traveled to Bayamo to write about the proceedings, for about 30 hours. All media in Cuba are state-controlled.
“We are grateful to everybody who has raised their voices and their tweets so that we could return home,” Sanchez said in a tweet after she was set free.
Dissidents said that on Thursday, on the eve of Carromero’s trial, Cuban authorities detained 42 opposition activists, including opposition leader Guillermo Farinas, in the city of Santa Clara.
A spokesman for the group, Ramon Jimenez, said they were freed several hours later.
Farinas, 50, famous for having staged numerous hunger strikes, was arrested along with the others as he was heading to a meeting, his mother Alicia Hernandez told AFP.
Like Paya, who died in July’s crash, Farinas is a past winner of the prestigious Sakharov prize.
CLICK LINK FOR ENTIRE ARTICLE!
http://www.france24.com/en/201.....ment-death
Octubre 7th, 2012 at 13:05
Now looka here: ROMANIAN SECRET POLICE ATTACK ROMANIAN PROTESTERS
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n-AdhBUO0aY
Octubre 7th, 2012 at 12:33
SOME INTERESTING THINGS ABOUT THE OFFICIAL OSWALDO PAYA “ACCIDENT” VIDEO (link below) RELEASED BY THE CASTRO “GOVERNMENT” ! THEY ARE THE FOLLOWING AND YOU CAN LOOK AT THEM YOURSELVES!! BEST IN FULL SCREEN FORMAT!
THE DEFORMED FRONT BUMPER THAT DISAPPEARED & THE REAR BUMPER WITH DENT!
1. At the beginning of the video the car is shown with the front bumper all mangled and twisted out on both sides but at 5:00 minutes the front twisted bumper has disappeared. It is obvious that the car has been tampered with due to the fact that it lost its bumper! Was it moved there and the bumper was torn off due to the hauling? Also, if you stop the video @ 5:03 there is a shot of the rear bumper showing a dent in the right hand side. How could this have happened if the car crashed against the tree on the opposite side? Looks like another car hit it from the rear! You can see manipulated photo of the rear bumper showing a very shiny and inconsistent texture on the right side @ 0.22 seconds into the video unlike that @ 5:03 minutes.
WHY NO PHOTOS OF Oswaldo Pay & Harold Cepero
2. Interesting that at the beginning of the video the four passengers are identified with their location but while showing pictures of Angel Carromero & Jens Aron Morig there are no pictures to identify Oswaldo Pay & Harold Cepero!! Fear of the Cuban people and others to identify with them as victims and to keep their faces out of the eyes of the Cuban people!
THE OBVIOUS COACHING OF THE SPANISH AND SWEDISH WITNESSES
3. If you pay attention to the eye movement of both the Spanish Angel Carromero and the Swede Jens Aron Modig you can see how off screen they are reading something to help them in their statements. They are very poor actors and it is very obvious they are being coached. In addition both of their body languages tell how uncomfortable they are doing this.
YOUTUBE: CUBADEBATE: Oswaldo Payá Sardiñas: Testimonios sobre el accidente- Oswaldo Payá Sardiñas: Testimonies about the accident.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EBOphUw5RM8
TOO MANY INCONSISTENCIES ABOUT THIS VIDEO EVIDENCE DONT YOU THINK SO? WORTH A LOOK BY AN INDEPENDENT INTERNATIONAL TEAM OF EXPERTS!
Octubre 7th, 2012 at 12:12
The Man Comes Around !! FYI!! ALL THOSE BAD OLD U.S.A. TACTICS TO CHANGE SUBJECT/FOCUS OFF CUBA AND CUBAN ISSUES HAVE BEEN USED HEAVILY IN THESE COMMENT SECTIONS, WE HAVE EXTREME IMMUNITY AGAINST THEM! TRY ANOTHER PART OF YOUR SCRIPT!
Octubre 7th, 2012 at 12:09
Cuba Libre said: “And what of the lie about her losing a tooth from her encounter.”
C.L.! SEE MY COMMENT AND LINK TO A PICTURE BELOW AT #11 !! YOU FEELING THE FUACATAAAAAAAAA??????????? THIS ONE IS COMPLIMENTS OF YOANI SANCHEZ!! JE JE JE!
Octubre 7th, 2012 at 12:06
PICTURE AT LINK BELOW OF YOANI SANCHEZ SHOWING THE GAP IN HER SMILE, WHERE SHE LOST A TOOTH WHILE ARRESTED ILLEGALLY BY CASTROFASCISTS THIS WEEK IN ROUTE TO COVER THE ANGEL CARROMERO TRIAL IN BAYAMO, CUBA! THAT’S BATTLE TROPHY IN MY BOOK! A BATTLE SHE WON IN THE EYES OF THE WORLD, HANDS DOWN!
COPY AND PASTE LINK BELOW INTO BROWSER AND SEARCH!
twitpic.com/b1rnv3
Octubre 7th, 2012 at 12:00
now looka here and all together now… If you ever go to San Francisco you should wear a batton in your hand… Seem that more little piggies went to SF then to Cuba but the alarm bell doesn’t ring closer to home for many!!
Rt.com/usa/news/protersters-arrested-san-francisco-846/
More like beaten to a pulp and their faces are non record….how lovely freedom of speech is when you are a jurno you get beaten you get published - worth the effort!!! … Only in Cuba!
Octubre 7th, 2012 at 10:39
Lies and more lies. Being the sado-masochist that she is, she probably drawed immense pleasure from being frisked beneath her skirt. And what of the lie about her losing a tooth from her encounter. It wasn’t Rumplestilskin that frisked her, but maybe the tooth fairy will bring her a gift if she places her tooth under her pillow.
Octubre 7th, 2012 at 07:32
Yaoni: You beat them!
Octubre 6th, 2012 at 19:43
Walter,
Thank you so much for your contribution to this blog. Please, keep writing. Your words are very important!
Octubre 6th, 2012 at 17:33
I think you are really right ! When you start calling them by name “dictatorship ” you are stripping them from any possible “romantic” ideas of revolution, socialism, Marxism etc. Everything they have tried to build around themselves in the name of whatever ideology right or wrong, is falling apart in the enormous contraddiction that created the present cuban regime and before that the russian. Generation of people conquered by noble ideals, who sacrificed they lives for a social justice and equal opportunities at the merci of bloody “Rumplestiltskins” . Expose them, call them for what they are and they become nothing, still dangerous nonetheless. I am very sorry for you but think, now I am writing in your blog, and as myself thousand of people that knew nothing about you are probably aware of what happened. Let me just add that authorities are often very stupid and cubans don’t make and exception. This episode will put them in a very bad light and for what ? Just because you wanted to assist to a trial ? I am very surprised that whoever is in charge couldn’t think of the consequences of this stupid arrest.
Octubre 6th, 2012 at 16:12
Those b*stard Castro thugs should be called exactly what they are, oppressive dictators who have stolen the lives of so many, and have lined their pockets in the process. Keep resisting Yoani.
Octubre 6th, 2012 at 15:58
….we shall over come..
Octubre 6th, 2012 at 15:30
AUDIO DECLARACIONES/DECLARATIONS BY YOANI ON HER ARREST - SPANISH ONLY: Yoani Sanchez narra su detención y cómo perdió un diente a manos de las policía Cubana - Yoani Sanchez recounts her arrest and how he lost a tooth at the hands of the Cuban police
levantamientoencuba.podomatic.com/entry/2012-10-06T12_04_43-07_00
Octubre 6th, 2012 at 14:50
Brilliant. Just Brilliant.
Octubre 6th, 2012 at 14:35
Your must know, Yoani, that your brave witness is not going out into a void.
Many who are not (yet) contending with such a repressive regime understand that your fight is also ours.
And we will never forget what you have done for all of us.