A must read for any human being with a working brain on the face of Earth. Long, but worthy a million times. Really, nobody can describe better the real life in Cuba... someone should definitively pass this to Obama, just for his reading pleasure, ya know...
(Emphasis are mine.)
Voice of the Resistance
Dr. Óscar Biscet, in Cuba’s prisons for twelve years, speaks
BY JAY NORDLINGER
‘I NEED to get to work,” says Dr. Óscar Elías Biscet. Are you familiar with him? He is perhaps the foremost Cuban democracy activist, a symbol of the general resistance to the Castro dictatorship. Has he been neglecting his work? Not exactly. For the past twelve years, essentially, he has been in prison, suffering the things that the regime’s prisoners have always suffered. George W. Bush gave him the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2007. The recipient could not accept it in person, of course. But he has now been released from prison. The day, so long hoped for, by so many of us, was March 11. I spoke to him three weeks after.
Biscet was born in 1961 and has a wife, Elsa Morejón Hernández, and two children, Winnie and Yan. The children have been in the United States for several years; Elsa, like her husband, is in Cuba. Biscet obtained his degree in internal medicine in 1985. A few years later, he embarked on human-rights activism. In 1994, he was charged with “dangerousness,” a very common charge. It means that the individual in question will not submit meekly to dictatorial rule. In 1997, Biscet established the Lawton Foundation for Human Rights (“Lawton” being the name of the Havana neighborhood in which he lived). The organization, of course, is banned. In 1998, he spoke out strongly against abortion, particularly late-term abortion: In his work as a doctor, he saw ghastly things. The authorities responded harshly to his protest.
After being detained repeatedly — 26 times — Biscet was arrested in 1999 and thrown in prison for three years. He was released on October 31, 2002, and had 36 days outside of prison. During this time, he worked on his “Democratic Principles for Cuba” and a civic project called “Club for Friends of Human Rights.” He was again arrested on December 6, 2002, and underwent his ordeal until last March 11.
I found it somewhat amazing to hear his voice, after reading about him and writing about him for many years. His voice was low, grave, and resolute. We spoke by phone, Biscet in Havana, his questioner in New York. Serving as translator between us was Aramis Perez, of the Directorio Democrático Cubano in Miami. Biscet has felt “a kind of ambivalence” in the last few weeks. Those are his words: “a kind of ambivalence.” “I’m happy to be able to return home to my wife, but I’m unhappy to see an entire people still without freedom.”
In his view, Cuba as a whole is “the big prison” while El Combinado del Este, where he and so many other dissidents have been confined, is “the little prison.” “We who live under this dictatorship look to the sea and know that the sea is our prison bars.” Biscet also says, “This great, beautiful island of Cuba has been converted by the Castro brothers into their own personal estate.”
Why, in his estimation, did the government choose to release him? “Because of the economic crisis, coupled with the social and moral crisis. The government offers false expectations of democratic change. They do this so that free countries will give them economic support. My release is part of the effort to create false expectations.” The government’s overriding goal is “to be financed. They want more money, even as they impoverish the Cuban people, and, with money, they will remain in power.”
In the weeks before Biscet’s release, a movement was building around the world to get him the Nobel peace prize. He was nominated by the prime minister of Hungary, U.S. congressmen, members of the European Parliament, and others. Did this movement have an effect on the Cuban government and its decision making? Biscet is less likely to get the prize outside of prison than he was inside. He cannot say for sure whether the Nobel prize played a part in the government’s calculations. But he can say this: “It was a political error for the regime to imprison the Group of 75,” an error that cost the regime in the court of world opinion. The 75 are the democracy activists arrested in the crackdown of March 2003, known as the “Black Spring.” These prisoners have now been released.
Almost all of them were exiled to Spain. This is what the regime wanted to do with Biscet, too, but he strongly resisted this fate. Instead of being exiled, he has been released on a kind of parole. He is serving out his prison term beyond the gates of prison itself. His continued freedom depends on his “good conduct.” Why was he so set against exile? “Because I love the people of Cuba and want them to be free. I want basic human rights to be respected, so that the Cuban people can develop themselves and their talents fully. They need freedom in order to develop themselves fully.” Men and women of Biscet’s makeup always resist exile, no matter how terrible are the conditions at home. Remember that Solzhenitsyn did not leave the Soviet Union voluntarily; he was expelled, a fate he considered a tragedy.
Somewhat gingerly, I ask what it was like inside prison. For years, we heard reports of the torture that Biscet was enduring. He answers me very, very briefly (and I don’t press him): “My experience was very traumatic. I was forced to live among criminals,” meaning common criminals, thugs, not prisoners of conscience, like Biscet himself. And he was indeed tortured — “primarily between 2002 and 2006.” He immediately adds, “I also gained a lot of wisdom, because I studied a great deal and drew closer to the Biblical God.” Biscet is a devoted Christian. The authorities allowed him a Bible, although he could not share it with anyone, or pray with anyone. If this happened, the other prisoner would be punished and transferred to another cell. Biscet also says, “I thought of Beethoven, who said, ‘There is no evil so great that no good can come of it.’”
Biscet is a steadfast advocate of nonviolence: a nonviolent struggle for political change. We have always heard that his models are Thoreau, Gandhi, Martin Luther King, and the Dalai Lama. Is this so? Yes, says Biscet, but there are others, ones who may not be as “universal,” because they come from the Bible, and not all “accept Biblical teaching.” He cites Moses — “who led the first nonviolent revolution.” Then he mentions the three Hebrew boys, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. “When a king tried to force them to bow down before an idol, they refused. They knew that God would help them — and even if He did not, they would never bow down to an idol.” While in prison, Biscet “kept them close, because they are examples of freedom of expression and freedom of religion.” And they were, of course, delivered.
For the Presidential Medal of Freedom, Biscet will not take any personal credit. “I felt honored, but I wasn’t the only person being recognized with the medal. The American people saw in me the suffering of the entire Cuban nation.” And the medal “helped change the way the world thought about Cuba.” One day, Biscet would like to meet Bush and “thank him for everything he has done for Cuba’s freedom.”
Why was abortion so important to him, early in his dissidence, and why is it important now? “The fundamental duty of a physician is to defend life.” And “life lasts from conception until natural death.” Biscet maintains that science makes clear that a fetus is “a human being distinct from the mother.” He regards abortion as “a crime against humanity.” And he links it to human rights more broadly.
What about the Cuban health-care system as a general proposition? One of the myths of the Cuban revolution is that it has provided health for all. This is not a myth that works on Biscet, who, as a Cuban doctor, knows too much. What about another myth, concerning race? The myth that Communist rule has been a boon to blacks? Biscet himself is black, as are many other leaders of the opposition. His contempt for this myth is unconcealed. “Completely false,” are the words he uses. “We know that the Cuban dictatorship is anti-American, anti-Semitic, and anti-black.” And if you would like to know what the dictatorship thinks of black Cubans, “you need only go to Cuban prisons.”
It is natural to ask Biscet what he thinks of a contentious issue in the United States: the longstanding sanctions on the Cuban regime, known collectively as “the embargo.” He says, “The embargo has helped the Cuban people both politically and morally.” He wishes that all “free and civilized countries would boycott Cuba, the way they did racist South Africa.” The world made South Africa a pariah state. The American embargo should be lifted, says Biscet, “when the embargo against the Cuban people’s human rights,” imposed by the dictatorship, “is lifted.” He believes that “civilized countries” have given the dictatorship “life” and “oxygen” for the past 20 years — in other words, since the collapse of the Soviet Union. When he says “civilized countries,” does he mean Western Europe, which has supplied much cash to Havana? “I mean civilized countries in Europe, Latin America, and North America” (which is to say, Canada and Mexico).
Recently, Jimmy Carter was in Cuba, seeing the Castro brothers and others, including some democracy activists, Biscet among them. During his stay, Carter referred to Fidel Castro as an “old friend.” This is appalling to Biscet, as to other democrats. “One can have different ideas, and they should be respected. But to call a tyrant a friend is truly horrible.” Many in the world have tried to make a hero out of Castro. And “we should not encourage the creation of false heroes.”
By the way, who is really in charge of Cuba — Fidel Castro or Raúl, whom Fidel has pushed out front? Biscet says, “In our country, the Communist party directs the course of events and is above the law, and Fidel Castro is the general secretary of the Communist party.” Biscet says this as though Fidel’s continuing dominance should be the most obvious thing in the world.
Then there is the question of Biscet’s future: What will he do? He says that his immediate task is to “recover psychologically and physically” from his twelve years in darkness and hell. “I hope to be in the best possible condition,” to do the work he finds it unavoidable to do. Does he expect to be rearrested? “Anything is possible,” but he will work without fear. He believes that the island’s democrats are basically united, although “we do live under a totalitarian dictatorship that uses all of its resources to attempt to destroy us, which makes it difficult to progress as quickly as we would like.” That is the understatement of the hour — the hour of our time together. The Cuban people are “enslaved,” Biscet says, “but here in Cuba, the slaves will revolt,” as they have done elsewhere. He mentions China, Iran, and Libya. And he describes a great challenge of the opposition: to shape a transition to democracy without a Tiananmen Square. Without a massacre by the rulers, who will not give up power sweetly.
What does he want from America? He wants people to recognize just how bad the Cuban dictatorship is. And he wants solidarity. “The American people can help the Cuban people by drawing close to us in our suffering. Those of you who live in freedom have the ability to do this.” Above all, he says, do not provide the regime with the “oxygen” it needs to survive. He sees the Obama administration making concessions to the regime. And it is incomprehensible to him why “civilized and democratic countries” should lend a hand to such people: should give oxygen to the persecutors of so many, persecutors who are ripe for a great push.
After we hung up with Biscet, I talked for a while with Aramis Perez, who had translated. How did he think Biscet had sounded? “Serene and collected. He spoke out of such conviction that he did not need to emphasize his words” — they all had authority. Every now and then, you feel that you have encountered a great man. Someone who makes up for some measure of human iniquity and indifference. Perez and I felt this about Biscet. So will many others, around the world, if they get to know him.
Source: National Review / Digital
H/T to Valentin Prieto ;)
Cubanita's Thoughts ... far away from el terruño
Showing posts with label Communism. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Communism. Show all posts
Apr 14, 2011
Feb 16, 2011
Cuban political prisoner forcibly released by castro's government
About a week ago, the news started to spread that the Cuban government was planning to release prominent political prisoners against their refusal to be freed, unless the castro's thugs agreed to release the sick prisoners first.
Angel Moya -one of castro's worst fears- was one of them and Alberto de la Cruz, from Babalu Blog, interviewed him over the phone.
Here is the English transcription of their conversation.
In it, he describes how he was forcibly removed from prison, dressed in a police car and dumped in his apartment in Alamar, where the gov't thugs from the Rapid Response Brigades (in-your-face philosophy, remember?) held a repudiation act against him and his family.
For more background information on who is this Cuban freedom fighter, go here, and here. To read about him and his family, go here.
Godspeed, man, y buena suerte!
Angel Moya -one of castro's worst fears- was one of them and Alberto de la Cruz, from Babalu Blog, interviewed him over the phone.
Here is the English transcription of their conversation.
In it, he describes how he was forcibly removed from prison, dressed in a police car and dumped in his apartment in Alamar, where the gov't thugs from the Rapid Response Brigades (in-your-face philosophy, remember?) held a repudiation act against him and his family.
For more background information on who is this Cuban freedom fighter, go here, and here. To read about him and his family, go here.
Godspeed, man, y buena suerte!
Feb 4, 2011
What's wrong with this picture?
Cuba's communist regime seeks 20 years prison sentence for Alan Gross.
Obama relaxes travel and hard currency remittances to the tropical gulag.
What's wrong with this picture?
The total absence of Vaseline (or KY for her/him) is the first thing that comes to mind.
Via Babalu Blog & H/T to @marcmasferrer:
Cuba to seek 20-yr jail term for detained American
Relax, Americans.
We're on the right track.
Obama relaxes travel and hard currency remittances to the tropical gulag.
What's wrong with this picture?
The total absence of Vaseline (or KY for her/him) is the first thing that comes to mind.
Via Babalu Blog & H/T to @marcmasferrer:
Cuba to seek 20-yr jail term for detained American
Relax, Americans.
We're on the right track.
*BREAKING NEWS* -- Cuban government would freed two prominent political prisoners
Developing...
News broke today that the (c)astro's regimen might freed two prominent political prisoners that have staunchly refused to accept the regimen's offer to be released but exiled in Spain.
He has been jailed in the Combinado del Este prison in Havana, serving a 20 years sentence. He was arrested on March 19th, 2003 –during the Black Spring where the Cuban government arrested and jailed 75 peaceful dissidents, independent journalists, librarians and human rights activists. He has served 7 years and 8 months of his sentence, enjoying a relative good health, considering the conditions where the government keeps political prisoners.
He is one of the 11 prisoners of conscience who didn’t accept the government’s offer to be released if they accepted exile in Spain, which they consider a deportation scam.
According to his wife, Lady in White Berta Soler Fernandez, Angel says he respects other political prisoner’s decision to accept the government’s deal, in order to have every body else respecting his. “He says no one can force him to leave his homeland and if he decides to do at some point in the future, it will be on his own terms, and to the country of his choice.”
The other is Guido Sigler Amaya, whose ailing brother, Ariel Sigler Amaya, arrived to the United States last year. Moya and the Sigler brother are from the same hometown of Pedro Betancourt, Matanzas Province, East of Havana.
H/T Babalu Blog
News broke today that the (c)astro's regimen might freed two prominent political prisoners that have staunchly refused to accept the regimen's offer to be released but exiled in Spain.
"The two men - Angel Moya and Guido Sigler - had refused a government deal to go into exile and insisted on staying in Cuba, along with the other nine dissidents who remain in Cuban jails nearly seven months after the government agreed in principal to free them. Under the agreement announced Friday, Moya will stay in Cuba while Sigler "has indicated a desire to go to the United States," church spokesman Orlando Marquez said in a statement."Angel Moya Acosta, whose story as political prisoner I recently chronicled here, is one of them.
He has been jailed in the Combinado del Este prison in Havana, serving a 20 years sentence. He was arrested on March 19th, 2003 –during the Black Spring where the Cuban government arrested and jailed 75 peaceful dissidents, independent journalists, librarians and human rights activists. He has served 7 years and 8 months of his sentence, enjoying a relative good health, considering the conditions where the government keeps political prisoners.
He is one of the 11 prisoners of conscience who didn’t accept the government’s offer to be released if they accepted exile in Spain, which they consider a deportation scam.
According to his wife, Lady in White Berta Soler Fernandez, Angel says he respects other political prisoner’s decision to accept the government’s deal, in order to have every body else respecting his. “He says no one can force him to leave his homeland and if he decides to do at some point in the future, it will be on his own terms, and to the country of his choice.”
The other is Guido Sigler Amaya, whose ailing brother, Ariel Sigler Amaya, arrived to the United States last year. Moya and the Sigler brother are from the same hometown of Pedro Betancourt, Matanzas Province, East of Havana.
H/T Babalu Blog
Dec 14, 2010
We've been calling off this red flags...
... for a long, long time. Regardless, I still feel that nobody is listening.
Then, I can't help thinking: do Americans really need to live like I lived in Cuba or like this writer did in Russia to learn their lesson the hard way.
Are you, my fellow Americans, willing to pay the highest price for your lifetime lesson?
If so, please read before you keep commiting mass suicide:
The Modern Left (Unmasked)
(Via American Thinker)
Then, I can't help thinking: do Americans really need to live like I lived in Cuba or like this writer did in Russia to learn their lesson the hard way.
Are you, my fellow Americans, willing to pay the highest price for your lifetime lesson?
If so, please read before you keep commiting mass suicide:
The Modern Left (Unmasked)
"... the names are unimportant. The Lefts true believers will likely scream bloody murder at comparisons between their philosophy and Socialism, even though birds of a feather have been shown to flock together in London, Pittsburgh, and Toronto..."
"...To be sure, they all share and wish to perpetuate a basic misunderstanding of two Constitutions -- a Soviet one that promised what a government would do for its citizenry, and an American one that guarantees what a government will not do to its people..."
(Via American Thinker)
Dec 10, 2010
Love, Freedom and Human Rights --UPDATE
Welcome, Babalu Blog, Capitol Hill Cubans, Uncommon Sense and other fellow Cuban bloggers' readers.
Pasen, estan en su casa. ;)
Thank you all for spreading the word about Cuban political prisoners!
“¡A mí no me llevan preso por delincuente, ni por drogas ni por asesino! ¡Yo soy un hombre pacífico, defensor de los derechos humanos que Fidel le viola al pueblo cubano! ¡Vivan los derechos humanos! ¡Libertad para los presos políticos! ¡Abajo la dictadura!”
Pasen, estan en su casa. ;)
Thank you all for spreading the word about Cuban political prisoners!
“¡A mí no me llevan preso por delincuente, ni por drogas ni por asesino! ¡Yo soy un hombre pacífico, defensor de los derechos humanos que Fidel le viola al pueblo cubano! ¡Vivan los derechos humanos! ¡Libertad para los presos políticos! ¡Abajo la dictadura!”Ángel Moya Acosta, Alamar, Habana, Cuba
19 de marzo del 2003“I am not being arrested for being a criminal, a drug dealer or a murderer! I am a peaceful man, a defender of the Cuban people human rights that Fidel violates! Long live Human Rights! Freedom for the political prisoners! Down with the dictatorship!”
Ángel Moya Acosta, Alamar, Havana, Cuba
March 19th, 2003
It was 4:40 pm on a breeze afternoon in the Eastern point of Alamar, the worker’s suburban neighborhood filled with Eastern-Germany block style buildings, East of Havana. Right in front of the ocean, it is during this month when the coldest temperatures are felt in the Caribbean’s island.
Luis Angel, 7, is coming home from the nearby school where he is in second grade, to the modest 1.5 bedroom apartment on the 3rd floor. As usual, Angel is waiting for the rambunctious kid to get home before heading to the old street near the shoreline for his daily jog, while the boy takes care of going to buy the daily ration of bread.
Berta Soler, Angel’s wife for 28 years, stays at home tackling the daily struggle of fixing dinner for the family of five. Angel and Bertica share the small apartment with their two children, Luis Angel and Lienys Caridad, 19.Maria Elena, Bertica’s sister, also lives with them.
Ten minutes later, Bertica sees Angel coming back from his jog. Too soon, she thought. And he is not alone; he is being escorted by five agents of the government’s state security.
“When I asked what was going on, another four agents entered the house like if it was their own, hauling huge video cameras and recording everything they wanted,” remembers Bertica. I asked again what was going on and they told me they have a search order and that they were coming with two witnesses from the Committees for the Defense of the Revolution (CDR).
“I asked what they were looking for”, she says, “and they replied ‘subversive materials.’”
Walking down the hill from the supermarket, with his family ration of bread, the seven year old boy sees a crowd gathering in the corner of his building. Quickly, a couple of neighbors stopped him, preventing him from getting closer to the scene. They convinced him to stay with them, sitting, in the water tank of the building right across from his, where he could see from the distance…
“From that distance [my son] couldn’t realized what was happening and all of the sudden, the only thing he sees is how is father is being arrested, handcuffed and dragged down the stairs by the state security agents, while shouting to the top of his lungs ‘I am not being arrested for being a criminal, a drug dealer or a murderer! I am a peaceful man, a defender of the Cuban people human rights that Fidel violates! Long live Human Rights! Freedom for the political prisoners! Down with the dictatorship!’”
Bertica remembers that Angel was taken away immediately, that he was not present while their house was being searched. “They told me to shut up because they had other two police cars ready and waiting for me,” she says, “and I told them that we had to scream and shout because there were near 300 people outside watching and they needed to know that all that was not related to drugs.”
Around those months of what is now called the Black Spring of 2003, Cuban authorities were also conducting anti drug operatives to halt the increasing drug traffic in Havana.
“We don’t want any confusion and I want them to know who (Angel) is. Besides, I am not afraid of you, if you want to arrest me, go ahead, but will have to take me away with my children.”
The search process in the tiny apartment started at 5:45 pm and ended at 1:45 am. They took a radio, a charger, books, manuscripts and a tape with some sort of war movie.
They left everything all messed up. They even searched the garbage cans. The children ate dinner that night thanks to some neighbors that fed them. They were allowed to enter the house again at 2 am, took quick bath and went to sleep some before getting ready for school in matter of hours. Then, Bertica started the long journey of being the wife of a political prisoner in Cuba, by trying to find out where Angel was jailed, to bring him some basic items.
It was the holiday’s season, December 1992, in Pedro Betancourt, a small town in the Matanzas province, East of Havana, Cuba. Berta Soler Fernandez, 19, was a Microbiology technician when she met Angel Moya Acosta, 18, at a popular party in their hometown. Angel was a cadet starting in the Armed Revolutionary Forces (FAR).
After six years on a long distance relationship (Berta got a job in Havana and had to move to the capital, while Angel was still stationed in Matanzas) they got married on October 16th, 1988. Angel was being sent on a mission to the war in Angola. They wanted to formalize their relationship before his deployment.
“Our relationship was like that since the beginning, long distance,” says Berta. “But it was the distance what gave us the strength to keep going and our love grew more each day we were apart.”
She remembers his family was very “communist” and blindly supporters of the regime. “I was the one that was always teasing him and making him uncomfortable criticizing the government while he was trying to justify it.”
That changed when Angel was deployed to Angola, fulfilled his mission and came back home. “He came back completely changed. He was not replying to my comments the same thing he used to say before. Angola changed his life.”
The couple bore two children, Lienys Caridad, born in 1991, and Luis Angel, born in 1995. A couple of years after Lienys was born, Angel was discharged from the military, (his sworn commitment was for five years) and got a job at a welding facility in his hometown, in the Matanzas province.
According to his wife, when Angel returned from his military mission in Angola, he started to meet people involved with the human rights movement in the island. . By 1995, he started visiting churches and develops relationships with members of a movement called “Pedro Luis Boitel”. Later on, Angel created the movement “Alternative Option” / Opcion Alternativa, filling the duties as hair of the movement in 1997. By then, he is a human rights activist and a supporter of civil and human rights for all Cubans.
“It was June 1999 when he first told me about what he has been doing,” says Berta. “He knew what was coming after him was not gonna be easy and he decided to tell me.”
She confesses she didn’t have the best of the reactions to the news. “I told him: ‘don’t get in trouble with the government, they have all the power and you are not going to solve the problems of the Cuban’s people.” “It was a shock for me. I told him he didn’t ask for my opinion before the fact and that now, our entire family would suffer the consequences.”
“To do this, I don’t need anybody’s permission,” said Angel. “My decision and my determination are important, and [I’m doing it also] thinking in my family. I am doing this for the well being of all of us, for the freedom of my people and that’s why I am telling you.”
He told her he wouldn’t pressure her to support him, nor did he ask her to continue to be married to him. “I love you and I love my children, but your [position] is not going to change my decision to fight…”
Berta says her love for him was so strong that she was able to overcome that initial shock and their relationship continue like it was since the first day they met. “I was not directly involved with any activity, but at least I was mentally prepared for whatever could come after us.”
“I remember Angel as a decent and quiet man, sometimes borderline shy. Tall, athletic and with bright ebony skin, he didn’t talk much, but was always smiling. He and I would stomp into each other at the local gym, or jogging by the coastline. I would have never ever imagined he was having such courage…” --Cubanita, writer on this site and former neighbor of Angel and Berta.
“He used to tell me all Cubans sufferings were being caused by a horrible government that didn’t care about its people,” says Berta.
His wife describes him as a quiet man, respectful, who enjoys working out, reading, writing and someone who has never allowed anybody to violate his rights. “Even in the middle of the Special Period, he never complained in public places where he could cause trouble to bystanders. He protested in his workplace, in the face of the big bosses and where any government official could hear him.”
She said as a father, he is very good and caring. “A little strict, I would add, but he is the best father.” When Lienys was born, he was afraid to even hold her, but little by little he started to lose his fears and when the baby was five months old and Bertha had to return to work, he basically became a stay-at-home Dad. “When the boy was born, he was already a pro.”
“My children had suffered the separation from their father, but thanks God, they have not been traumatized [by these circumstances]. I talk to them a lot, so in the future, they can be good woman and man, and thanks to this suffering, they won’t be easily fooled.”
"Our Mom has been a Lady in White since the government jailed our Dad, when they decided to get together and walk the streets to ask the government to release their relatives. Little by little, the people have learned about the Ladies in White and our classmates and their parents are starting to show more respect towards them. They say ‘that’s a right they have to protest’ and they congratulate us for standing up for our father. We’re not saying they are better off, but they are indeed more recognized and respected." "We are both very proud of having the mother and the father we have, with the courage to raise their voices against the injustices this government is doing against our people." --Luis Angel & Lienys, Angel Moya Acosta and Berta Soler Fernandez's children.
* * *
Angel Moya Acosta is jailed in the Combinado del Este prison in Havana, serving a 20 years sentence. He was arrested on March 19th, 2003 –during the Black Spring where the Cuban government arrested and jailed 75 peaceful dissidents, independent journalists, librarians and human rights activists. He has served 7 years and 8 months of his sentence, enjoying a relative good health, considering the conditions where the government keeps political prisoners.
He is one of the 11 prisoners of conscience who didn’t accept the government’s offer to be released if they accepted exile in Spain, which they consider a deportation scam. According to his wife, Lady in White Berta Soler Fernandez, Angel says he respects other political prisoner’s decision to accept the government’s deal, in order to have every body else respecting his. “He says no one can force him to leave his homeland and if he decides to do at some point in the future, it will be on his own terms, and to the country of his choice.”
PS-This interview, originally in Spanish, was obtained, electronically, from a direct conversation between the blogger an Berta Soler Fernandez.
Dec 9, 2010
Are your feeling the chills going down you back?
Well...you should.
USA's New Missile Crisis; gracefully brought to you by Barack Obama, dictator-in-the-making Hugo "Monkey" Chavez and the latter's Iranian pal.
Have at it.
USA's New Missile Crisis; gracefully brought to you by Barack Obama, dictator-in-the-making Hugo "Monkey" Chavez and the latter's Iranian pal.
Have at it.
Wikileaks a-la-Cuban --UPDATE
UPDATE:
Oh, my!!! I SO need to get back on track!
Penultimos Dias has great compilation on the WikiLeaks and the Cuban Conexion, both in English and Spanish. Here.
I couldn't help the urge to share! Masterfully brought to us by Alfredo Pong:
Oh, my!!! I SO need to get back on track!
Penultimos Dias has great compilation on the WikiLeaks and the Cuban Conexion, both in English and Spanish. Here.
I couldn't help the urge to share! Masterfully brought to us by Alfredo Pong:
Yeah, I feel sorry for those flies...
"Let's talk once and for ever, you exiles!"
"The mask...is it for Halloween or for Wikileaks?"
Nov 22, 2010
Castro's regimen endorses UN homophobic resolution
Via Capitol Hills Cubans:
This week, the Castro regime endorsed an amendment to a U.N. resolution (along with homophobic African and Middle Eastern nations) that exposes gays to arbitrary executions.
The U.S. strongly opposed the amendment.
But things changing in Cuba. And Castro II is more pragmatic. And he is releasing political prisoners. And more direct infusion of money and tourists is gonna change their minds. And... I have a bridge for sale. Wanna buy it?
PS - Can someone please alert the troops of useful idiots that haven't received the memo yet?
Thanks
This week, the Castro regime endorsed an amendment to a U.N. resolution (along with homophobic African and Middle Eastern nations) that exposes gays to arbitrary executions.
The U.S. strongly opposed the amendment.
"According to the International Gay and Lesbians Human Rights Commission, the UN General Assembly's Third Committee on Social, Cultural and Humanitarian issues removed "sexual orientation" from a resolution addressing extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions this past week in a vote that was overwhelming represented by a majority of African, Middle East and Caribbean [led by Cuba] nations."More details here.
But things changing in Cuba. And Castro II is more pragmatic. And he is releasing political prisoners. And more direct infusion of money and tourists is gonna change their minds. And... I have a bridge for sale. Wanna buy it?
PS - Can someone please alert the troops of useful idiots that haven't received the memo yet?
Thanks
Jun 8, 2010
Cuba & Mexico dirty business: corruption, narcos, illegal immigration and more...
I´m out of the loop for a few days to revamp this tired Cuban brain, and the dirty laundry from the tropical gulag does not cease to amuse me. Well, honestly, I am not that surprised.
In the past few days, in Mexico blew up the corruption bomb surrounding the candidate for governor of the state of Quintana Roo - where Cancun is.
UPDATE: A dissection of how this mess is tied to Arizona, the recent immigration legislation passed in the state and Castro's bashed against it - courtesy our very own Humberto Fontova - can be read here.
Via Babalu Blog & Capitol Hill Cubans:
Gregorio “Greg” Sánchez Martínez, the leftist (voilá!) candidate for governor of Quintana Roo was arrested for money laundering and trafficking (Cuban, Chinese and Russian) illegal immigrants, exposing the ties between the Cuban intelligence and the Mexican narcos.
Don’t you worry; this is just the beginning of a long family’s tree.
Sanchez Martinez’s wife, Niurka Saliva, is the daughter of a high ranking Colonel in Castro’s intelligence service. On top of that, working as Greg's security adviser is Boris del Valle Alonso, relative of Delia Soto del Valle, Fidel Castro’s wife. It is also said that Boris Soto del Valle is tied to Los Zetas, the paramilitary Mexican group turned into drug lords, involved in the execution of a Mexican general.
Oh, la la!
Today, the Mexican investigative magazine Proceso has an extensive report on the dirty business of the ex candidate and his Cuban wife, including some interesting demographic data:
(H/T to Penultimos Dias - Spanish)
In my very own translation:
"… five years ago, there were 893 Cubans residing in Quintana Roo. It was the third largest foreign community in the Mexican state, after the Americans (2,213) and the Argentinians (1011). Now that cluster has grow six times, according to the state’s government that reports more than 6,000 Cuban residents and during the last two years, it is notorious the presence of Cubans in the municipal government, local businesses, tourism and illegal ventures."
(working on my English version of the entire Proceso’s article…)
What´s going on with all these Cubans in Mexico?
Click here to continue reading the modus operandi used by the Cuban government, err, these enterprises, to do business in Mexico.
In the past few days, in Mexico blew up the corruption bomb surrounding the candidate for governor of the state of Quintana Roo - where Cancun is.
UPDATE: A dissection of how this mess is tied to Arizona, the recent immigration legislation passed in the state and Castro's bashed against it - courtesy our very own Humberto Fontova - can be read here.
Via Babalu Blog & Capitol Hill Cubans:
Gregorio “Greg” Sánchez Martínez, the leftist (voilá!) candidate for governor of Quintana Roo was arrested for money laundering and trafficking (Cuban, Chinese and Russian) illegal immigrants, exposing the ties between the Cuban intelligence and the Mexican narcos.
Don’t you worry; this is just the beginning of a long family’s tree.
Sanchez Martinez’s wife, Niurka Saliva, is the daughter of a high ranking Colonel in Castro’s intelligence service. On top of that, working as Greg's security adviser is Boris del Valle Alonso, relative of Delia Soto del Valle, Fidel Castro’s wife. It is also said that Boris Soto del Valle is tied to Los Zetas, the paramilitary Mexican group turned into drug lords, involved in the execution of a Mexican general.
Oh, la la!
(H/T to Penultimos Dias - Spanish)
In my very own translation:
"… five years ago, there were 893 Cubans residing in Quintana Roo. It was the third largest foreign community in the Mexican state, after the Americans (2,213) and the Argentinians (1011). Now that cluster has grow six times, according to the state’s government that reports more than 6,000 Cuban residents and during the last two years, it is notorious the presence of Cubans in the municipal government, local businesses, tourism and illegal ventures."
(working on my English version of the entire Proceso’s article…)
What´s going on with all these Cubans in Mexico?
Click here to continue reading the modus operandi used by the Cuban government, err, these enterprises, to do business in Mexico.
May 26, 2010
“Shakiras”, torture and the “non-existent” political prisoners in Cuba UPDATE
Luis Felipe Rojas (Crossing the barbed wire) is a Cuban blogger that writes from Holguin about pretty much everything that happens in Cuba’s Eastern provinces.
Today, he bring us a heart-wrecking post with a conversation he had with a man who served four years in Guantanamo's Province Prison for trying to leave the country.
UPDATE:
English version of Rojas' post here.
Yep, in case you haven’t notice, in Cuba you go to jail if you try to leave the plantation without the master’s permission.
The interviewed painfully describes the “Shakira”, who is not by any means the Colombian singer whose hips don’t lie. (The original post in Spanish is here)
No. He is talking about a method of torture currently used in several Cuban prisons, especially against political prisoners.
Here is a milder demonstration:
An excerpt, in my very own free translation:
I can’t help to wonder WHERE are those that over the world raised their voices against water boarding and the tortures against jihadists in Gitmo.
Not that I justify it – that’s a topic for a whole different conversation - but, WHERE are their voices when the victims are just Cuban political prisoners?
WHERE are their progressive, liberal, politically correct, humanitarian, considerate, just, fair and moderate voices condemning the tortures against Cuban political prisoners in the hands of Castro’s thugs?
And the United Nations and et-al?
And the MSM that have news bureaus there?
And the intellectuals, Michael “Sicko” Moores and Congressional Black Caucus that drool over the buttock-less old “dear leader”?
And all those that in the floor of the US Congress recently applauded Cuban legislators – completely out of scope – resolution against Arizona?
I better don’t even go there…like cheap whores – actually, worst than them - they always end up in bed with the dictatorship.
Your silence is deafening.
Today, he bring us a heart-wrecking post with a conversation he had with a man who served four years in Guantanamo's Province Prison for trying to leave the country.
UPDATE:
English version of Rojas' post here.
Anderlay Guerra Blanco served four years in prison for trying to escape Cuba. Photo from Crossing the Barbed Wire
The interviewed painfully describes the “Shakira”, who is not by any means the Colombian singer whose hips don’t lie. (The original post in Spanish is here)
No. He is talking about a method of torture currently used in several Cuban prisons, especially against political prisoners.
Here is a milder demonstration:
"The "Shakira" is the worst method of torture that I saw in that place. Since the individual is handcuffed with both hands and feet tied to his back, and later is thrown in the dirty floor of a punishment cell, he is left in an extremely uncomfortable position. When he tries to make any movement, the only part of his body that moves are his hips. Can you imagine the irony?
They have established the parallel with the singer that happily dances, moving her hips in a very peculiar way, with the way the inmate copes with the pain and the uncomfortable position. I saw men there who urinated and defecated in that position because they were being held like that for 24 or 48 hours.
There is even a variation of the "Shakira" where the inmate is literally hung from the ceiling of the punishment cell, through the chains between the handcuffs. This lacerates the skin, leaving permanent scars in wrists and ankles.
When the guards decide they want to punish someone, first of all, they handcuff the man like that and then, beat him up before putting him in the punishment cell in that position. That's why I told you it is humiliating for everyone, but the cruelty is worse when it is a prisoner that it is there for political reasons, or when the inmate shouts off against the government or when they engage in hunger strikes to demand to be taken to a doctor or what they call "their [political] prisoner's rights.
Besides, there are different variations of that same torture. The chain that ties hands and feet can be lengthened or shortened. The shorter they leave it, the inmate can only rest his chest in the dirty, humid and putrid floor they share with insects and rodents."
I can’t help to wonder WHERE are those that over the world raised their voices against water boarding and the tortures against jihadists in Gitmo.
Not that I justify it – that’s a topic for a whole different conversation - but, WHERE are their voices when the victims are just Cuban political prisoners?
WHERE are their progressive, liberal, politically correct, humanitarian, considerate, just, fair and moderate voices condemning the tortures against Cuban political prisoners in the hands of Castro’s thugs?
And the United Nations and et-al?
And the MSM that have news bureaus there?
And the intellectuals, Michael “Sicko” Moores and Congressional Black Caucus that drool over the buttock-less old “dear leader”?
And all those that in the floor of the US Congress recently applauded Cuban legislators – completely out of scope – resolution against Arizona?
I better don’t even go there…like cheap whores – actually, worst than them - they always end up in bed with the dictatorship.
Your silence is deafening.
May 25, 2010
Update on rabid Cuba's consul in Norway
... developing, scroll down for more updates...
Via Punt de Vista and Twitter (#Norway #perra #mordida #consul), here is my freely-translated version of the latest updates:
The Cuban consul in Oslo that bit a peaceful protester in her hand is in deep trouble, which her canine narrow mind – I apologize to all smart dogs out there, barf! – could never anticipate.
The news of the aggression towards Alexandra Joner, @AlexandraJoner, -Norwegian girl of Cuban descent that is a model, singer and actress- during last Saturday protest in front of the Cuban consulate in Oslo went viral online during the weekend and this morning, was being reported in all major news in Norway.
Although the Norwegian authorities have not made an official declaration yet, Barbara Joner, the mother of the young woman attacked by the Cuban consul hopes that she will be expulsed from the country. This morning, the mother of the girl went to a police station to file a forma complaint against the Cuban consul. She said in Norway an aggression of this kind is “unacceptable”.
She mentioned that, by the way the incident is being handled by the press; this has become a “national scandal”. Therefore, she believes this will lead to a diplomatic confrontation between the two countries. “There is no other way around than the expulsion, and we are only waiting for the bureaucratic process to be finished to have her, finally, expulsed from the country,” said Barbara Joner. A friend that his helping the Joners with their official complaints said that in Norway’s environment, the fact the consul approached the young girl, intimidated her and used (some of the worst Cuban-style) slurs is seen as a gravely offensive attitude that does not meet the standards of international diplomacy at all.
Norwegian officials are formally demanding the expulsion of both, the rabid Castro’s representative and her husband, who is the ambassador in Oslo:
In a popular news morning show, God Morgen Norge, Jan Tore Sanne, a conservative politician in the Norwegian parliament said he will not accept a mere setter of protest from the Foreign Relations department to the Cuban embassy, nor any sort of apologies. He stated he will demand the expulsion of both the Cuban consul and her husband.
This woman was never able to calculate the consequences of her communist class act. As expected, last night she started backpedaling and is trying to twist the story, saying that Alexandra Joner attacked her first:
“She attacked me”, said the Cuban diplomat, whose name is Carmen Julia Guerra, during an interview with this TV channel. And while she was being nice giving her explanations to the media, she was being depictive towards Alexandra and her mother, Barbara Joner, both also present during the interview.
If you thought that Castro's thugs were in Cuba only, think again. They are everywhere, posing a hazard risk for diplomatic relations everywhere.
What its worse, nor them or their idiot enablers in Havana want to see the reality that is slapping them in their faces: they can not censor YourTube, Twitter, cell phone vids and freedom of speech on the Internet.
Their Nurenberg will probably be hosted online and their demise will come dressed up as a blue bird, with a .com tag on it.
TIP - If you need to request a visa to the Cuban consulate in Oslo in the near future, and would like to inquire whether you'll need a rabies shot prior to the appointment, the consulate phine number is
011-47-2308-3260 (H/T Penultimos Dias)
Via Guama - jokes to last an entire month...
Close up of CUJA, the murderer -Cuban- dog.
A video clip of Laila Samuels, interpreting "Nineteen", where Alexandra Joner plays a role.
And a priceless traditional Cuban rhyme dedicated to the b%^$#! - too bad it can't be translated!
Via Punt de Vista and Twitter (#Norway #perra #mordida #consul), here is my freely-translated version of the latest updates:
The Cuban consul in Oslo that bit a peaceful protester in her hand is in deep trouble, which her canine narrow mind – I apologize to all smart dogs out there, barf! – could never anticipate.
The news of the aggression towards Alexandra Joner, @AlexandraJoner, -Norwegian girl of Cuban descent that is a model, singer and actress- during last Saturday protest in front of the Cuban consulate in Oslo went viral online during the weekend and this morning, was being reported in all major news in Norway.
Alexandra Joner
Close up of the bite
The Cuban consul faces being declared persona non grata in Norway, along with her husband, ambassador Rogerio Santana: Although the Norwegian authorities have not made an official declaration yet, Barbara Joner, the mother of the young woman attacked by the Cuban consul hopes that she will be expulsed from the country. This morning, the mother of the girl went to a police station to file a forma complaint against the Cuban consul. She said in Norway an aggression of this kind is “unacceptable”.
She mentioned that, by the way the incident is being handled by the press; this has become a “national scandal”. Therefore, she believes this will lead to a diplomatic confrontation between the two countries. “There is no other way around than the expulsion, and we are only waiting for the bureaucratic process to be finished to have her, finally, expulsed from the country,” said Barbara Joner. A friend that his helping the Joners with their official complaints said that in Norway’s environment, the fact the consul approached the young girl, intimidated her and used (some of the worst Cuban-style) slurs is seen as a gravely offensive attitude that does not meet the standards of international diplomacy at all.
Norwegian officials are formally demanding the expulsion of both, the rabid Castro’s representative and her husband, who is the ambassador in Oslo:
In a popular news morning show, God Morgen Norge, Jan Tore Sanne, a conservative politician in the Norwegian parliament said he will not accept a mere setter of protest from the Foreign Relations department to the Cuban embassy, nor any sort of apologies. He stated he will demand the expulsion of both the Cuban consul and her husband.
This woman was never able to calculate the consequences of her communist class act. As expected, last night she started backpedaling and is trying to twist the story, saying that Alexandra Joner attacked her first:
“She attacked me”, said the Cuban diplomat, whose name is Carmen Julia Guerra, during an interview with this TV channel. And while she was being nice giving her explanations to the media, she was being depictive towards Alexandra and her mother, Barbara Joner, both also present during the interview.
If you thought that Castro's thugs were in Cuba only, think again. They are everywhere, posing a hazard risk for diplomatic relations everywhere.
What its worse, nor them or their idiot enablers in Havana want to see the reality that is slapping them in their faces: they can not censor YourTube, Twitter, cell phone vids and freedom of speech on the Internet.
Their Nurenberg will probably be hosted online and their demise will come dressed up as a blue bird, with a .com tag on it.
TIP - If you need to request a visa to the Cuban consulate in Oslo in the near future, and would like to inquire whether you'll need a rabies shot prior to the appointment, the consulate phine number is
011-47-2308-3260 (H/T Penultimos Dias)
Via Guama - jokes to last an entire month...
Close up of CUJA, the murderer -Cuban- dog.
A video clip of Laila Samuels, interpreting "Nineteen", where Alexandra Joner plays a role.
And a priceless traditional Cuban rhyme dedicated to the b%^$#! - too bad it can't be translated!
May 24, 2010
Beware of the dog...err... the Cuban diplomat -UPDATE
On Saturday May 22nd, the Cuban consul in Norway (who happens to be the wife of the Cuban ambassador in that country) bit the hand of a Cuban-Norwegian young woman who was filming a protest in front of the consulate. The girl, Alexandra Joner, is a Norwegian singer are dancer, born to Cuban parents.
The protesters, a small group of people dressed in white, where holding hand-made signs demanding freedom for Cuba's political prisoners. YouTube Exhibit #1 here. (H/T to Marc, via Twitter - @marcmasferrer)
Stay classy, communist b%$#&! -- no pun intended ;-)
Apparently, this is not the first rabid incident involving the furry couple that are supposed to be acting as representatives of Castro's diplomacy...
UPDATE: an audio file with an interview of the bitten girl's mother, Barbara Joner, in Spanish, via Punt De Vista.
Garrix has an easy-to-read graphic explanation of Cuba's School of Foreign Relations best practices on recruiting:
* MINREX= Ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores / Office or department of foreign relations.
The protesters, a small group of people dressed in white, where holding hand-made signs demanding freedom for Cuba's political prisoners. YouTube Exhibit #1 here. (H/T to Marc, via Twitter - @marcmasferrer)
Stay classy, communist b%$#&! -- no pun intended ;-)
Apparently, this is not the first rabid incident involving the furry couple that are supposed to be acting as representatives of Castro's diplomacy...
UPDATE: an audio file with an interview of the bitten girl's mother, Barbara Joner, in Spanish, via Punt De Vista.
Garrix has an easy-to-read graphic explanation of Cuba's School of Foreign Relations best practices on recruiting:
Vet's Office: "...it's from the Cuban Embassy... they want to check if we can deworm two of their officials..."
Let's see... we need an assistant for the consul, two embassadors... *
Canine Division: So... were you also called by Minrex? *
* MINREX= Ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores / Office or department of foreign relations.
Cuba's escape's valve technique, revisited
I've come to dislike the word “reflection”. You can put the blame on Castro and his decrepit constant misuse of it – but that’s not important right now. After all the rumors and online buzz about the talks between the Cuban government and the Catholic Church to release the political prisoners, a reflection is a must.
I’d like to start stating that I am immensely happy for the (so far unconfirmed in its details) news that sick Cuban political prisoners will be transferred to jails located in their home provinces. That will be a huge relief for their families. Unofficial reports stated that by today, 15-18 sick prisoners would be transferred...
There are a lot of people who deserve credit for this news. (Sorry, personally I think the Catholic hierarchy and the government thugs are NONE of them).
The Ladies in White, Guillermo Fariñas and Orlando Zapata Tamayo – who paid the ultimate price giving his life for his position – are the first ones that come to mind. All of them who fought, and still fight, against the windmills deserve credit.
Together, they’ve worked put Castro’s communist dictatorship on the spot, to destroy their fake PR-ready image that communist Cuba is a paradise. They have had to – at least indirectly – acknowledge the regime have political prisoners. Their useless kabuki theater is falling apart...
I hate to break up the celebrations but, please, make no mistake: this does not change an iota the fact that in Cuba, there is no freedom to dissent. Daring to think different is still criminalized by the Castro’s government. The unjust reasons why these men were jailed in the first place are still intact.
A full and complete celebration and honoring of Orlando Zapata Tamayo’s (and so many others’) death will take place only when freedom of speech, and freedom to dissent, returns to the streets of the island.
While there is intolerance and repression towards those who think differently, I can’t help to see this as just another move of smoke and mirrors. “But at least is some sort of relief for the prisoners and its families!” some will tell me. Yes. That it is true. But it is not over yet.
Unless all political prisoners are released, there are free elections and freedom to politically organize outside the government’s line, and freedom to dissent so Cubans don’t have to be imprisoned for daring to talk and think different, acts like this won’t be nothing beyond a valve for the regimen to release some of the steam that has been building up in Cuba for quite a few years now.
Almost fifteen years have past since the last rafter’s crisis – it’s an open secret that it is the regimen preferred method to release the steam that their failed society keeps building up. (It seems that, for now, they are not considering showering Obama with another “gift”, although I wouldn’t take for granted it).
As of Monday afternoon, via Penultimos Dias (Spanish), I learned that there are no official reports of the transfers yet and Europa Press is reporting that the Cuban government keep pushing the Ladies in White to split from their group of "support ladies" [Cuban women dress in white that accompany them in their Sunday's marches] in exchange of benefits for their jailed relatives. I don't know in Europe, but in plain cubano, that is called chantaje (blackmail).
On the other hand, sources from the Catholic Church in Cuba are saying they have "never talked about an specific timeframe" for this measures...
For me, this move only means a patch of low-dose Tylenol for a patient with a terminal brain cancer. Nothing will really change until you completely remove the sucker from the victim’s head. And if you aim to save his life, you better do it stat!
I’d like to start stating that I am immensely happy for the (so far unconfirmed in its details) news that sick Cuban political prisoners will be transferred to jails located in their home provinces. That will be a huge relief for their families. Unofficial reports stated that by today, 15-18 sick prisoners would be transferred...
There are a lot of people who deserve credit for this news. (Sorry, personally I think the Catholic hierarchy and the government thugs are NONE of them).
The Ladies in White, Guillermo Fariñas and Orlando Zapata Tamayo – who paid the ultimate price giving his life for his position – are the first ones that come to mind. All of them who fought, and still fight, against the windmills deserve credit.
Together, they’ve worked put Castro’s communist dictatorship on the spot, to destroy their fake PR-ready image that communist Cuba is a paradise. They have had to – at least indirectly – acknowledge the regime have political prisoners. Their useless kabuki theater is falling apart...
I hate to break up the celebrations but, please, make no mistake: this does not change an iota the fact that in Cuba, there is no freedom to dissent. Daring to think different is still criminalized by the Castro’s government. The unjust reasons why these men were jailed in the first place are still intact.
A full and complete celebration and honoring of Orlando Zapata Tamayo’s (and so many others’) death will take place only when freedom of speech, and freedom to dissent, returns to the streets of the island.
While there is intolerance and repression towards those who think differently, I can’t help to see this as just another move of smoke and mirrors. “But at least is some sort of relief for the prisoners and its families!” some will tell me. Yes. That it is true. But it is not over yet.
Unless all political prisoners are released, there are free elections and freedom to politically organize outside the government’s line, and freedom to dissent so Cubans don’t have to be imprisoned for daring to talk and think different, acts like this won’t be nothing beyond a valve for the regimen to release some of the steam that has been building up in Cuba for quite a few years now.
Almost fifteen years have past since the last rafter’s crisis – it’s an open secret that it is the regimen preferred method to release the steam that their failed society keeps building up. (It seems that, for now, they are not considering showering Obama with another “gift”, although I wouldn’t take for granted it).
As of Monday afternoon, via Penultimos Dias (Spanish), I learned that there are no official reports of the transfers yet and Europa Press is reporting that the Cuban government keep pushing the Ladies in White to split from their group of "support ladies" [Cuban women dress in white that accompany them in their Sunday's marches] in exchange of benefits for their jailed relatives. I don't know in Europe, but in plain cubano, that is called chantaje (blackmail).
On the other hand, sources from the Catholic Church in Cuba are saying they have "never talked about an specific timeframe" for this measures...
For me, this move only means a patch of low-dose Tylenol for a patient with a terminal brain cancer. Nothing will really change until you completely remove the sucker from the victim’s head. And if you aim to save his life, you better do it stat!
May 17, 2010
The real failure of communism in Cuba
Yesterday, in the middle of a busy Mom Sunday, I splurged myself with a few minutes in Twitter and found this article in the Gainsville Times, where Frank Norton Jr. describes his experience during a recent trip to Cuba. He describes pretty well what for me, is not news because it was my daily life up until almost ten years ago.
[Introduce here my deja vu thinking I was reading Granma or watching la mesa redonda (round table]
I’ve seen, personally, some in those ranks living in Cuba like any middle class family would live here. There is no embargo when you have connections.
The ones that do not fit in any of the above categories are the ones really hurting, and not precisely by the embargo. American credits to the communist dictatorship WILL NOT change an iota of their misery.
If what is left of the embargo is gone tomorrow, regular Cubans will continue recycling our of necessity, will continue starving with the rationed food that lasts only the first two weeks of the month, kids will continue not having milk after age seven through the rationing book, and their parents will continue stealing from their workplaces and trading in the black market in order to eat the remaining two weeks of the month.
And all that, while American taxpayers – in the era of hope and change, government bailouts and power grabs - subsidize the defaulted unpaid credits extended to the plantation’s owners.
However, there is another face of Cuba that Mr. Norton didn’t mention. Maybe he didn't see it... who knows?
(Click here to keep reading)
"Underground capitalism: Throughout our visit, we've seen small flares of capitalism: the man selling pizzas out of his basement; an elderly gentleman dressing three dachshunds in hats, coats and sunglasses charging $1 per picture; the Cuban Coco cabs that charged $6 a trip; vendors in the crafts shops selling carved ebony statues or colorful canvases. Capitalism is alive, thriving actually, in the deep bowels of Cuban life. Capitalism may even be the dark underbelly of successful communism. In a totalitarian state, the underground micro economy keeps the engine running and the populous content and fed."Where I disagree with him? Well, when he started repeating the broken record on who’s to blame for the shameful state of a country that was ahead of the region five decades ago.
[Introduce here my deja vu thinking I was reading Granma or watching la mesa redonda (round table]
“Cuba has learned to recycle, out of embargo necessity.”Excuse me, but Cuba has learned to recycle out of communism-induced misery and chronic scarcity. Cubans are some of the most miserable individuals in the region thanks to the failed economic policies of socialism, despite having been constantly fed by the former Soviet Union, the East European communist and now, Hugo "Monkey" Chavez -with his 200 Twitter assistants - petrodollars.
“The embargo: Our days passed and our opinion of the anti-Castro embargo has changed. It does not hurt Castro or his oblivious government; it hurts the children, old men and women and everyone in between.”"The children, the old men and women and everyone on between" that are tied to the communist elite of Cuba’s Communist Party, high rank military officials, high class intellectuals a-la-Silvio Rodriguez and those who have relatives living in exile and sending them hard currency are not hurting. For Christ's sake, not even THE Cubans living in Cuba believe that story of the embargo anymore!
I’ve seen, personally, some in those ranks living in Cuba like any middle class family would live here. There is no embargo when you have connections.
The ones that do not fit in any of the above categories are the ones really hurting, and not precisely by the embargo. American credits to the communist dictatorship WILL NOT change an iota of their misery.
If what is left of the embargo is gone tomorrow, regular Cubans will continue recycling our of necessity, will continue starving with the rationed food that lasts only the first two weeks of the month, kids will continue not having milk after age seven through the rationing book, and their parents will continue stealing from their workplaces and trading in the black market in order to eat the remaining two weeks of the month.
And all that, while American taxpayers – in the era of hope and change, government bailouts and power grabs - subsidize the defaulted unpaid credits extended to the plantation’s owners.
However, there is another face of Cuba that Mr. Norton didn’t mention. Maybe he didn't see it... who knows?
(Click here to keep reading)
May 14, 2010
Ideological subversion and disdain are killing the US
It is not about lack of historical memory anymore. It is not about the uber liberal hypocrisy and double standards. Or being a brain-washed sycophant bred in an American college.
It is WAY more than that when you see the fact that a given management / PR company lighted up the Empire State Building to celebrate China’s communist murderer regimen, while refuses to light the darn building in white in blue to celebrate what would have been Mother’s Theresa 100 birthday.
Jeffrey Scott Shapiro tried to investigate the story for FOXNews.com, and he wonders:
"If the Third Reich had survived World War II, would the Empire State Building have felt “honored” to illuminate the building in red to commemorate the night Adolf Hitler burned the Reichstag to the ground and started a Nazi revolution in Germany? Would anyone be proud of the relationship between our countries and our people then? I highly doubt it. For some reason, (and I have to imagine that reason is the indoctrination of ultra-leftism at American universities and from Hollywood), we have conveniently forgotten about the brutality and human rights violations committed by communist states. Somewhere along the line communism became heroic and even fashionable. If that seems like a stretch, check out the T-shirts produced by popular rock band Rage Against the Machine that champion Che Guevara. Apparently, fascist dictatorships are evil, but communist ones are acceptable, and that kind of rationale in itself is unacceptable. In reality, Communism has been responsible for the slavery and oppression of hundreds of millions of innocent people. That’s why citizens of many communist states like China, Cuba and the former Soviet Union risk their lives to escape. Communism in all forms is evil and should never, ever be honored under any circumstances. To honor communism is to honor evil."
Have at it - I strongly recommend a barf bag.
Memo to the socialistoids, communistoids and idiot liberals in America:
Charity = good.
Communism = EVIL.
Will you EVER finally get it?
It is WAY more than that when you see the fact that a given management / PR company lighted up the Empire State Building to celebrate China’s communist murderer regimen, while refuses to light the darn building in white in blue to celebrate what would have been Mother’s Theresa 100 birthday.
Sorry, Mother, you're not evil enought to deserve being honored
(Photo from AP)
Jeffrey Scott Shapiro tried to investigate the story for FOXNews.com, and he wonders:
"If the Third Reich had survived World War II, would the Empire State Building have felt “honored” to illuminate the building in red to commemorate the night Adolf Hitler burned the Reichstag to the ground and started a Nazi revolution in Germany? Would anyone be proud of the relationship between our countries and our people then? I highly doubt it. For some reason, (and I have to imagine that reason is the indoctrination of ultra-leftism at American universities and from Hollywood), we have conveniently forgotten about the brutality and human rights violations committed by communist states. Somewhere along the line communism became heroic and even fashionable. If that seems like a stretch, check out the T-shirts produced by popular rock band Rage Against the Machine that champion Che Guevara. Apparently, fascist dictatorships are evil, but communist ones are acceptable, and that kind of rationale in itself is unacceptable. In reality, Communism has been responsible for the slavery and oppression of hundreds of millions of innocent people. That’s why citizens of many communist states like China, Cuba and the former Soviet Union risk their lives to escape. Communism in all forms is evil and should never, ever be honored under any circumstances. To honor communism is to honor evil."
Have at it - I strongly recommend a barf bag.
Memo to the socialistoids, communistoids and idiot liberals in America:
Charity = good.
Communism = EVIL.
Will you EVER finally get it?
Civic resistance lesson for Americans
For quite a few weeks now, a fellow blogger and I – both free Americans, after escaping from communist countries – have been ranting at the indifference so many people around us have towards the path this nation is going under the current administration.
We feel we are screaming to the top our lungs and nobody is listening.
There are bad days when we think that calling upon the red flags of American being heavily penetrated by socialism in Facebook, Twitter and blogs is completely useless.
There is the frustration of seeing so many young Americans taking their freedom and their rights for granted.
There are days when I personally think, “Darn it, should we really need to have a United Socialist States of America for people to learn the lesson the hard way?”
And there are that bad days when we just want to throw the towel and say: “I’m done.”
But then, unavoidably, I have an epiphany, usually dressed in plain white in the streets of Havana. It is when I look back and see the plea of the Ladies in White, relentlessly standing for their loved ones, against the powerful machine of the communist repression.
We feel we are screaming to the top our lungs and nobody is listening.
There are bad days when we think that calling upon the red flags of American being heavily penetrated by socialism in Facebook, Twitter and blogs is completely useless.
There is the frustration of seeing so many young Americans taking their freedom and their rights for granted.
There are days when I personally think, “Darn it, should we really need to have a United Socialist States of America for people to learn the lesson the hard way?”
And there are that bad days when we just want to throw the towel and say: “I’m done.”
But then, unavoidably, I have an epiphany, usually dressed in plain white in the streets of Havana. It is when I look back and see the plea of the Ladies in White, relentlessly standing for their loved ones, against the powerful machine of the communist repression.
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May 12, 2010
How do you know if you're being forced-fed into socialism?
The easy way out to this question would be by simply paying attention to what Cubans, Russians and Eastern Europeans who lived behind the iron curtain are screaming to the top of their lungs.
For once, it would make sense, since they have lived and suffered the monster of socialism and communism up close and personal, so it is logic that they should know a thing or two about living without freedom and with the government deciding - literally - the number of feminine pads a woman is supposed to use in a month.
But we, human beings, are complex entities. You may not even want to see the easy answer in front of your eyes. And if that's the case, a small summary of facts on how to identify a socialist government and/or president may be in order.
Star Parker has masterfully have put it together in this column:
I would add that yes, socialism disdains private property for everybody but to them: those in the power elites of the communist/socialist parties, the government and the military forces that keep them in power. Private property is despicable, but for only for the repressed masses. Pure double standard. Do as I say, but not as I do.
Indeed. They take over everything, end up owning everything and then, everything ends up not working.
Just look at Cuba after 50 years of failed economic non-policies and communist misery - again, only for the oppressed masses, never for the elites. Or Venezuela, an oil-rich country that is having...err... blackouts. Imagine yourself living in a nation-wide DMV field office, and you"ll get the picture.
I would add that socialism and communism always try to eradicate first the two nuclear forces in society: religion and family. They do that in order to successfully brain-wash the new generations and erase the traditional values that hold nations together and usually are knit-tight to individual liberties.
Castro did it in Cuba when the first ones to be sent to the concentration camps called UMAP were Catholic priests and seminarists. Religion became a curse-word in a nation culturally and traditionally Catholic, where church always played a key role in the civic society.
Christmas trees were prohibited as capitalism's sins and you could go to jail for having one in your house. Things changed a little after Pope Jean Paul II visit to the island in 1992, but the damaged has been already done to three generations of Cubans born after Castro took over. Look at me, born after 1959, and I have no idea what I am supposed to do when I enter a church...
Then he attacked the family and its influence in the raising of its youngsters. In Cuba, you are separated from your parents at the age when you need them the most: in your teen years. Boarding schools with a system of work-study are the norm. (But again, there are always a few privileged that can evade that rule...) And at a young age, you're being told to denounce your parents and relatives if the talk ill about dear leader, the revolution or socialism.
Unfortunately, in this third case, we're already in big trouble in the US: just look at the government take over of public education and how it has become public indoctrination, not to mention the sick communist, anarchist and anti-Republic penetration in American colleges...
Finally, this last step it is crucial because it provides the communist moonbats with the basis for the process of ideological subversion that allows them to entrench in power.
That is, in plain English, sucking up your brain until you're not able to think by yourself and you become a robot-like leech totally depending on the government.
However, there is one thing that we should always keep in mind: the words of the Iron Lady when she said that socialism is great, until you ran out of other's people money.
That's what's happening in Greece. They ran out of other (Greek) people's money and now raided German's money. And when that one is gone, who know whose wallet in Europe will be raided. And I don't even want to think about when they are done emptying out all EU's pockets...
For once, it would make sense, since they have lived and suffered the monster of socialism and communism up close and personal, so it is logic that they should know a thing or two about living without freedom and with the government deciding - literally - the number of feminine pads a woman is supposed to use in a month.
But we, human beings, are complex entities. You may not even want to see the easy answer in front of your eyes. And if that's the case, a small summary of facts on how to identify a socialist government and/or president may be in order.
Star Parker has masterfully have put it together in this column:
" There’s a debate going on about whether it’s accurate to call our President a socialist. Here’s what I say. Socialism has three key characteristics, all of which I believe he buys into. "
"First, socialism disdains private property as sacred. Any doubt where our President stands on this? As former Council of Economic Advisors head Greg Mankiw notes regarding the health care bill, the prime motive was not “health per se but ... redistribution of income.”
I would add that yes, socialism disdains private property for everybody but to them: those in the power elites of the communist/socialist parties, the government and the military forces that keep them in power. Private property is despicable, but for only for the repressed masses. Pure double standard. Do as I say, but not as I do.
"Second, socialism puts faith in government social engineering. Just think government health care, government takeovers of banks and car companies, and cap and trade."
Indeed. They take over everything, end up owning everything and then, everything ends up not working.
Just look at Cuba after 50 years of failed economic non-policies and communist misery - again, only for the oppressed masses, never for the elites. Or Venezuela, an oil-rich country that is having...err... blackouts. Imagine yourself living in a nation-wide DMV field office, and you"ll get the picture.
"And third, socialism is godless, secular religion. It sees human redemption in government planning."
I would add that socialism and communism always try to eradicate first the two nuclear forces in society: religion and family. They do that in order to successfully brain-wash the new generations and erase the traditional values that hold nations together and usually are knit-tight to individual liberties.
Castro did it in Cuba when the first ones to be sent to the concentration camps called UMAP were Catholic priests and seminarists. Religion became a curse-word in a nation culturally and traditionally Catholic, where church always played a key role in the civic society.
Christmas trees were prohibited as capitalism's sins and you could go to jail for having one in your house. Things changed a little after Pope Jean Paul II visit to the island in 1992, but the damaged has been already done to three generations of Cubans born after Castro took over. Look at me, born after 1959, and I have no idea what I am supposed to do when I enter a church...
Then he attacked the family and its influence in the raising of its youngsters. In Cuba, you are separated from your parents at the age when you need them the most: in your teen years. Boarding schools with a system of work-study are the norm. (But again, there are always a few privileged that can evade that rule...) And at a young age, you're being told to denounce your parents and relatives if the talk ill about dear leader, the revolution or socialism.
Unfortunately, in this third case, we're already in big trouble in the US: just look at the government take over of public education and how it has become public indoctrination, not to mention the sick communist, anarchist and anti-Republic penetration in American colleges...
Finally, this last step it is crucial because it provides the communist moonbats with the basis for the process of ideological subversion that allows them to entrench in power.
That is, in plain English, sucking up your brain until you're not able to think by yourself and you become a robot-like leech totally depending on the government.
However, there is one thing that we should always keep in mind: the words of the Iron Lady when she said that socialism is great, until you ran out of other's people money.
That's what's happening in Greece. They ran out of other (Greek) people's money and now raided German's money. And when that one is gone, who know whose wallet in Europe will be raided. And I don't even want to think about when they are done emptying out all EU's pockets...
May 3, 2010
Obama is like Castro
Yes, he is.
They are both communists opportunists who get high with the mere thought of redistributing wealth - for others, not for them, duh!
Report me, offend me, profile me, denounce me, call me right winger, extremist intransigent -whatever. I was born and raised surrounded by Rapid Response Brigades anyway.
Crazy times we're living in...
And I am getting really tired of this lousy de-ja-vu.
They are both communists opportunists who get high with the mere thought of redistributing wealth - for others, not for them, duh!
Report me, offend me, profile me, denounce me, call me right winger, extremist intransigent -whatever. I was born and raised surrounded by Rapid Response Brigades anyway.
Crazy times we're living in...
And I am getting really tired of this lousy de-ja-vu.
Apr 13, 2010
An (un) healthy round-up of current affairs...
How do you spell socialism in English?
Higher - taxes = redistribution - of - wealth
So, you were honestly thinking that it was about reforming the US system of delivering health care.
Yeah, sure.
To keep up the mood, here is a WSJ take on how this (power-grab) law will affect Medicare. Please, take note of these statements:
... upper-income participants should prepare for higher premiums and, in some cases, higher taxes, too.
For some Medicare recipients, the health-care legislation also will impose higher costs...
Others will be hit with tax increases...
Redistribution of wealth clearly spelled and easy to understand, even for me, that communicate on an "English-with-barrier" basis.
Lastly, I will leave you with a professional take:
The CEO of the Cleveland's Clinic weights in the so called health care reform legislation.
UPDATE:
The Foundry is compiling for you the daily side effect of Obamacare.
Have at it.
Cubanita is busy moving, working, raising a child, teaching Spanish, trying to relax...And honestly, I am getting sick and tired of all the crap that surround us lately.
Higher - taxes = redistribution - of - wealth
So, you were honestly thinking that it was about reforming the US system of delivering health care.
Yeah, sure.
To keep up the mood, here is a WSJ take on how this (power-grab) law will affect Medicare. Please, take note of these statements:
... upper-income participants should prepare for higher premiums and, in some cases, higher taxes, too.
For some Medicare recipients, the health-care legislation also will impose higher costs...
Others will be hit with tax increases...
Redistribution of wealth clearly spelled and easy to understand, even for me, that communicate on an "English-with-barrier" basis.
Lastly, I will leave you with a professional take:
The CEO of the Cleveland's Clinic weights in the so called health care reform legislation.
UPDATE:
The Foundry is compiling for you the daily side effect of Obamacare.
Have at it.
Cubanita is busy moving, working, raising a child, teaching Spanish, trying to relax...And honestly, I am getting sick and tired of all the crap that surround us lately.
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