Pro-Democracy Funding is Released

$15 Million Finally Provided for Pro-Democracy Activities in Cuba

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator George LeMieux (R-FL) today made the following statement in response to the U.S. Department of State's decision to release $15 million of the $20 million in FY2009 Cuba Democracy Assistance funds. The funding will be primarily used for Non-Government Organization's (NGO) pro-democracy activities on the island.

"The Cuban people are taking increasingly bold steps in demanding a democratic future for their nation and these funds are critical to programs that promote democracy and human rights in Cuba," LeMieux said. "I am pleased the State Department has finally released these important funds, but we are not done yet. I will continue to press both the State Department and my Senate colleagues to quickly release the remaining $5 million in FY2009 Cuba Democracy Assistance funding."

The FY2009 Cuba Democracy Assistance funds were appropriated in 2008.

Smuggling Terrorists Through Cuba

Are we supposed to believe that the Castro regime, with its totalitarian control over movement and vast intelligence network, was unaware of 272 Somalis (some with potential terrorist ties) being smuggled to the U.S. through Cuba?

From the NY Daily News:

When the FBI and CIA worry about Americans signing up with Al Qaeda, they don't just hunt in the tribal belt on the Afghan-Pakistan border: They also look in East Africa.

Somalia's lawless capital of Mogadishu was the first battleground Al Qaeda picked to fight over with America in 1993 - and it ended with U.S. soldiers being dragged through the streets.

A secret war is again being waged there with Osama Bin Laden's latest jihadi ally, the al-Shabaab militant group.

It is that war that the two accused Jersey-born jihadists were heading toward when they were nabbed at JFK Saturday, officials allege [...]

On Friday, Anthony Joseph Tracy, 35, was set free after pleading guilty to human smuggling charges and serving several months in prison in a case shrouded in secrecy.

Tracy, a former informant for Immigration and Customs Enforcement and two U.S. intelligence agencies, was collared at JFK Airport last January. He copped to helping 272 Somalis illegally enter the U.S. from Kenya through Cuba but failed a lie detector test when he denied smuggling al-Shabaab fighters here, a source told the Daily News.

Now the FBI and ICE are hunting down at least 130 Somalis Tracy brought here out of fears some might have been from al-Shabaab, the source said.

Mexican Cartel Linked to Castro

The recent arrest of the Mayor of Cancun, Mexico (and candidate for Governor of the overall state of Quintana Roo), Gregorio Sanchez Martinez, for money laundering, human smuggling and narcotics trafficking, has revealed a series of disturbing links to Cuban intelligence in these illicit activities.

According to Mexican investigative journalists, Sanchez Martinez is married to the daughter of a high-ranking Colonel in Castro's intelligence services and was involved in a human trafficking ring that smuggled Cuban, Russian and Chinese nationals to the U.S., through Mexico.

Working together with the Governor's wife was Boris del Valle Alonso, a Cuban official who served as a "security adviser" to Sanchez Martinez and as a member of "Los Zetas," the feared paramilitary group-turned-drug syndicate.

Boris is related to Fidel Castro's wife, Dalia Soto del Valle.

Looks like this web is only beginning to unravel.

Is Cuba More Democratic Than Honduras?

To argue that Cuba's 51-year military dictatorship is more democratic than Honduras, which despite the unfortunate forced expatriation of its former President in June of last year, proceeded to freely elect a new civilian President in November, doesn't pass the laugh test.

However, the OAS and some of its Member States have a strange sense of humor.

From the Earth Times:

Honduras suspension tops agenda as OAS meets in Lima

A year ago, the general assembly of the Organization of American States (OAS) met in Honduras, where they opened the door to readmitting Cuba after its 47-year-old suspension - pending its support of OAS' democratic principles.

Honduran President Manuel Zelaya greeted the move as a "reunion of the Americas," saying: "The Cold War ended today in San Pedro Sula."

Zelaya clearly spoke too soon.

Only 25 days after that historic meeting, on June 28, 2009, the conservative-turned-leftist Zelaya was ousted by a military-backed coup. The other 33 active OAS members promptly suspended the Central American country.

Honduras' own readmission will be the hot topic of this year's general assembly sessions in Lima Sunday to Tuesday. But it's almost certain that Honduras will not even get an offer like that which was extended to Cuba a year ago.

Most Latin American countries do not recognize the government of Zelaya's successor Porfirio Lobo, who was elected in November. And readmission requires 75 per cent support among members.

Spain reportedly had wanted to invite Honduras to the European Union-Latin America and Caribbean summit two weeks ago. But they had to backtrack because countries like Brazil, Venezuela and Bolivia, among others, threatened to boycott a summit which included Lobo.

Argentine President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner in fact snubbed Lobo and invited Zelaya to the bicentennial of the start of her country's independence process last month.

Thus, it shouldn't come as a surprise that:

Another topic of discussions will likely be the status of planned reform of the Inter-American Democratic Charter and of the Charter of the Americas, with central focus on the push to strengthen democracy and fight poverty and racism in the
Americas.

Can't wait to see how they'll try to re-define democracy.

Yoani Spoke Too Soon

Yesterday, in The Huffington Post, Cuban-blogger Yoani Sanchez wrote that Cuba and North Korea are dissimilar due to the extreme, foolish statements of North Korea's leaders, which she thought -- despite their many absurdities -- Cuba's dictators no longer had time for.

In an editorial entitled, "Cuban Leaders Strangely Silent on North Korea's Sinking of the Cheonan," Yoani wrote:

"In the Cuba of today, overwhelmed by the economic crisis and with a huge ideological vacuum, we can't handle any more problems. Plus, no one wants to follow the leaders of North Korea in their demented positions, nor appear to be close to them in international forums... The absence, even today, of these kinds of statements, is a source of hope. It gives us the impression that, at least with regards to some lunacies, we have been cured."

Spoke too soon.

On that same day, Fidel released a conspiracy-theory "editorial" in Cuba's state media claiming that:

"U.S. Navy commandos sank a South Korean warship in March in order to blame North Korea, raise tensions and convince Japan to keep U.S. forces in Okinawa."

But then again, it's not Yoani's fault -- for who reads Castro's editorials, anyway?

For the Naïve

For those that naïvely think the Castro regime would use U.S. tourism income to purchase more agricultural products -- think again.

Here's what the Castro regime does with its limited European and Canadian tourism income.

As China's Xinhua boasts:

Cuban leader calls for strengthening defense capability

Cuban leader Raul Castro called for strengthening the country's military defense and response capability against natural disasters, the official daily Granma reported on Friday.

"As I have said before, the invulnerability is the result of the constant improvement of our defense capability," he told a meeting held at the Ministry of the Revolutionary Armed Forces.

During the meeting, Castro assessed the achievements of the "Bastion 2009" Strategic Exercise.

Castro said the military maneuvers allowed the country to find possible problems in its defensive system.

He also stressed the importance of the capabilities to cope with "the consequences of natural disaster threats," such as hurricanes, earthquakes or tsunamis.

The meeting discussed the "prevention missions to protect the country from the aftermath of incidents such as the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico," according to Granma reports.

The Strategic Exercise "Bastion" is held every four years. Official data showed that about 4 million Cubans participated in the maneuvers "Bastion 2009," the largest in five years.

Castro +38, Catholic Church 0

Between yesterday and today, 37 dissidents have been arrested by Castro's State Security for trying to attend two organized pro-democracy meetings, the Agenda for a Transition and the Assembly of the National Liberal Union.

Add the arrest we posted yesterday, and that's 38 new imprisonments since the negotiations between the Catholic Church and the Castro regime took place a week and a half ago -- while not a single political prisoner has been released.

Amongst those arrested yesterday is the spokeswoman for Guillermo Farinas, who is on the 100th day of a hunger strike demanding the release of 26 political prisoners in need of medical attention. Her name is Liset Zamora.

Unfortunately, this has become a tragic rout.

Why I'm Skeptical of the Catholic Church...

...as an honest arbiter in dealing with the Castro regime.

First and foremost, because the Cuban Church and State are both non-democratic entities, with non-representative leadership.

Furthermore, this excerpt from a recent interview with the BBC's Havana correspondent Fernando Revsberg is worth pondering, for good and for bad:

"The [Cuban] Catholic Church has bet on Raul Castro since the beginning. You have to keep in mind that all foreign dignitaries that traveled to Cuba prior to Raul Castro assuming his new duties would visit with dissidents. The one who broke this tradition was Cardinal Bertoni, the Pope's envoy. He was the first foreign dignitary that Raul Castro received as President, and he was the first not to meet with dissidents, but instead only dialogue with the regime. From that moment on, every foreign politician and functionary that visited Cuba during 2008 and 2009 ignored the dissidents and dealt solely with the government. Even the criticisms that have appeared in the Catholic Church's magazine have been very respectful and positive towards Raul Castro. Positive in encouraging him to continue his agenda, not demanding anything other than his own set of changes, those Raul Castro promised. The Catholic Church has been gaining more space with the new President, and I think that's a result of the confidence that's been built amongst both sides."

Let's not forget the wise lesson of Holocaust survivor and Nobel Prize winner, Elie Weisel:

"I swore never to be silent whenever and wherever human beings endure suffering and humiliation. We must always take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented."

Castro +1, Catholic Church 0

Since last week's negotiations between the Catholic Church and the Castro regime, no political prisoners have been released.

To the contrary, another has been imprisoned.

That's +1 for the Castro regime, 0 for the Catholic Church.

We hope that the Church, media and international community are not too busy speculating about transfers from one repressive facility to another to notice.

From the Paris-based Reporters Without Borders:

Journalist Calixto Ramón Martínez Arias began a hunger strike yesterday, the day he was returned to prison at Havana's Centro Alternativo de Procesamiento de Detenidos (alternative processing centre for detainees). He was protesting about the forced removal of opposition figures to the east of the country.

State security agents arrested the correspondent for Hablemos Press on 25 May while he was covering a demonstration organized by dissidents in the capital. A week went past before the authorities gave any indication of where he was being held. He has since been put in solitary confinement.

The re-imprisonment of Calixto Ramón Martínez brings to 25 the number of journalists being detained in Cuban prisons. We note however that two journalists, Iván Hernández Carrillo and José Luis García Paneque are among six political prisoners who have been moved to jails closer to their families. These two men were arrested during the "Black Spring" of 2003, along with the Reporters Without Borders' correspondent Ricardo González Alfonso.

"This is an import step but it is not enough", said journalist Guillermo Fariñas, who had to be hospitalized as a result of a hunger strike he started last February to press for the release of political prisoners suffering ill health. We continue to demand the release of Cuban journalists imprisoned only for having done their job in defiance of official censorship.

A Flotilla Contradiction

Babalu Blog's Jose Reyes has a great post on the audacity and tragic contradiction behind the Castro regime's recent statement condemning Israel's interception of a flotilla headed for Gaza.

Castro's statement accuses Israeli commando's of "frenetically firing at aid workers" in a "Nazi fascist fury."

Ironically, this is the same regime that brutally murdered 42 men, women and children onboard the "13 de Marzo" tugboat, for simply trying to flee the island in search of freedom.

Quote of the Week

"Transferring the political prisoners from one jail to another is not a big difference. It's like rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic. Instead of taking meaningless steps, the Cuban government should release all political prisoners once and for all."

-- Eliot Engel, Democratic Congressman from New York, Chairman of the House Subcommittee on the Western Hemisphere, EFE, 6/2/10.

How to Save Fariñas's Life

According to Spain's El Pais, Cuban pro-democracy leader Guillermo Fariñas, who is on the third month of a hunger strike, is suffering from an acute bacterial infection that is causing extremely high fevers.

Through a spokesperson, Fariñas commented that the recent transfer of six political prisoners to penal facilities closer to their home provinces "was a step forward, but not what he's been asking for."

Furthermore, "if the government wants to save [Fariñas's] life, it must grant parole to at least 10 or 12 political prisoners who are sick."

China's Espionage Facility (in Cuba)

U.S. intelligence commentator, Robert Morton, takes a sarcastic swipe at critics of FISA ("Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act") in an editorial entitled, "Let's outsource domestic spying to China!"

While we don't espouse Morton's views on domestic surveillance, he makes an interesting observation regarding Cuba:

In Cuba, China operates a super-secret complex that eavesdrops on our satellite-based military transmissions, the messages contained in our home and business faxes and e-mails... even the toppings we order on home-delivered pizzas!

CIA agents in Cuba grew suspicious when large numbers of names like Yang Chow and Yo-Yo Qian booked into hotels in Havana in the late 1990's. Sure enough, a Chinese electronic espionage facility sprang up. In return, Beijing gave Castro electronic countermeasures to block Radio Marti from carrying pro-U.S. Radio and TV broadcasts into Cuba from Miami.

And here's a picture of that facility:

Picture of the Week

Havana-based blogger Yoani Sanchez has posted on Facebook this picture of a 20 Cuban peso bill she came across.

It has graffitied on the bottom right, "Censura Causa Impotencia."

English translation: "Censorship Causes Impotence."

Chavez's War Against the Jews

The Castro regime has kept an American imprisoned -- without trial or charges -- since December 3rd of last year for helping Cuba's Jewish community connect to the Internet.

Meanwhile, it appears Castro's mentee, Hugo Chavez, has declared a full scale war against Venezuela's Jewish community.

This shocking documentary clip explains:

Putting News into Perspective

From The Associated Press:

HAVANA — Cuba has begun transferring some of the country's 200 political prisoners to jails closer to home, the first sign the government is making good on a deal with the Roman Catholic Church to improve conditions behind bars.

At least seven prisoners were on the move, according to reports Tuesday from Roman Catholic Church officials, human rights leaders and relatives who said they had spoken with jail authorities.

So let's put this into perspective:

Seven out of over 200 internationally-recognized political prisoners (not to mention thousands of others held for "social dangerousness"), who have been unjustly imprisoned for their opinions to begin with, are not being released -- they are simply being transferred from one repressive prison facility to another, only closer to where their families reside.

Out of respect for the families of those seven political prisoners, who are desperate for any glimmer of hope -- and deserve every bit of it -- we will not comment further at this time.

Aid or Undue Influence?

You decide.

From The Associated Press:

Cuba sends Venezuela experts to train military, work on security

It's no longer just doctors, nurses and teachers. Cuba now sends Venezuela troops to train its military, and computer experts to work on its passport and identification-card systems.

Critics fear that what is portrayed by both countries as a friendship committed to countering U.S. influence in the region is in fact growing into far more. They see a seasoned authoritarian government helping President Hugo Chavez to protect his power through Cuban-style controls, in exchange for oil. The Cuban government routinely spies on dissidents and maintains tight controls on information and travel.

Cubans are involved in Venezuelan defense and communications systems to the point that they would know how to run both in a crisis, said Antonio Rivero, a former brigadier general whose break with Chavez over the issue has grabbed national attention.

"They've crossed a line," Rivero said in a May interview. "They've gone beyond what should be permitted and what an alliance should be."

Cuban officials dismiss claims of outsized influence, saying their focus is social programs. Chavez recently scolded a Venezuelan reporter on live television for asking what the Cubans are doing in the military.

"Cuba helps us modestly with some things that I'm not going to detail," Chavez said. "Everything Cuba does for Venezuela is to strengthen the homeland, which belongs to them as well."

But the communist government has a strong interest in securing the status quo because Venezuela is the island's principal economic benefactor, Rivero says.

As Cuba struggles with economic troubles, including shortages of food and other basics, $7 billion in annual trade with Venezuela has provided a key boost — especially more than 100,000 barrels of oil Chavez's government sends each day in exchange for services.

Rivero, who retired early in protest and now plans to run for a seat in the National Assembly, said Cuban officers have sat in high-level meetings, trained snipers, gained detailed knowledge of communications and advised the military on underground bunkers built to store and conceal weapons.

"They know which weapons they have in Venezuela that they could count on at any given time," he said.

Cuban advisers also have been helping with a digital radio communications system for security forces, meaning they have sensitive information on antenna locations and radio frequencies, Rivero said.

If Chavez were to lose elections in 2012 or be forced out of office — like he was during a brief 2002 coup — it's even feasible the Cubans could "become part of a guerrilla force," Rivero said. "They know where our weapons are, they know where our command offices are, they know where our vital areas of communications are."

When Can Silvito "El Libre" Play?

Earlier this year, the Havana-based salsa group, Los Van Van, played a concert in Miami amidst great controversy, as they form part of a privileged group of Cuban musicians that -- thanks to their collaboration with the Castro regime -- are permitted to perform and travel throughout the island and internationally.

At the time, the group's U.S. concert promoter minimized the Miami controversy saying:

"The demographic has changed, and that includes the audience and who has the buying power. This new generation of Cubans goes back and forth, and they want to be in touch with their music and culture."

However, last week, it was announced that another Castro-elite performer, Silvio Rodriguez, who in 2003 signed a letter in support of the Castro regime's overnight execution of three young Afro-Cuban men for trying to flee the island, would hold a concert in Orlando instead of Miami.

This time, the very same U.S. promoter backtracked explaining:

"There are a lot of Cubans and Latin Americans in Florida who would like to see Silvio in concert. Although I would have loved to do it in Miami, it would have been too controversial. We need to avoid any type of situation where people think this is a provocation."

So which is it?

Ironically, Silvio Rodriguez's son, the Havana-based rapper known as Silvito "El Libre" ("The Free One"), who -- unlike his father -- has been an outspoken critic of the Castro dictatorship is not allowed to stage concerts in Cuba or to travel abroad, period.

So when will the Castro regime allow Silvito "El Libre" to play concerts in Cuba or anywhere else?

One thing is for sure, Silvito "El Libre" would be welcome with open arms -- not only throughout Cuba -- but in Miami, Madrid, New York or any place a Cuban resides.

Enough to make a father jealous.

Don't miss Silvito's interview below in the documentary "Grandchildren of the Revolution:"