"Castro supporters heckle 'Ladies in White' protesters"
So who are these "Castro supporters"?
Essentially, they are workers and Communist Party conscripts -- many not by choice -- that are organized and bused by Cuban state security to stage counter-protests. If they refuse to do so, they risk losing their jobs and face marginalization.
Their goal is to create the farce of "popular support."
This isn't unique to the Castro regime. It's an old tool of dictatorships, long used by tyrants from Hitler, Stalin and Saddam Hussein to more recently, the Ayatollahs in Iran.
Furthermore, these "supporters" are infiltrated by plain-clothes state security agents looking to weed out anyone that is less than enthusiastic about being there.
Therefore, it shouldn't come as a surprise that the same faces keep popping up amongst these "pro-Castro" crowds month after month.
For example, in this first picture, you can see a state security agent, identified as "Rodney," at this week's violent suppression of the Ladies in White march. You can also see him at last November's act of repression against famed Cuban blogger Yoani Sanchez's husband, Reinaldo Escobar.
And in this second picture, the blog Penultimos Dias has identified the same person in three different staged operations within the last few months. Apparently, there aren't too many workplaces for them to choose from.
State security agents aside, are all of the people bused to these staged protests "Castro supporters"?No, as Mexico's La Reforma newspaper discovered this week. Many simply have no choice, are just curious or even support the Ladies in White (and are immediately weeded out).
As such, the media should be careful in casting the term "Castro supporters" so loosely.
