Time for Change (Not "Updates")

An important article from EFE:

Opposition wants Cuba's socialist model dumped, not updated

Havana - Prominent dissident Guillermo Fariñas and two other members of the opposition presented here Tuesday a document rejecting the Raul Castro administration's plan of adjustments, demanding change rather than a "modernization" of Cuba's socialist economic model.

In a session with foreign reporters, Fariñas, Rene Gomez Manzano and Felix Antonio Bonne Carcasses released the text of "Cuba Es lo Primero" (Cuba First), stating their opposition to the plan of economic reform outlined in the basic document of the 6th Congress of the ruling Communist Party, to be held next April.

Last Wednesday the island saw the beginning of a popular debate of that basic document entitled "Project of Guidelines for the Economic and Social Policy of the Party and the Revolution."

"We as Cubans disagree and will certainly express our points of view freely," the three opposition members said in their own document presented Tuesday.

Fariñas and his two associates believe that the government's plan of reforms has little credibility and describe as a "lack of respect" for citizens and for the party's own congress the fact that the conclave will only discuss economic subjects, shunting aside "vital" political and social matters.

They also said that the basic document of the congress omits statistics and problems such as the "generalized corruption" and the plan to lay off 500,000 state employees, while its approach could not be more full of party platitudes.

They said that the Cuban model must be totally changed and not "modernized," as proposed by the Communist Party, which they also criticized for dodging the preparation of a "self-critical analysis of the last half century" for the upcoming congress.

In the document, the three opposition members ask respect for human rights on the island, the legalization of dissent, free and competitive elections, and that all political prisoners be freed once and for all "and that there never be any more."

Fariñas, who received the European Parliament's 2010 Sakharov Prize for human rights, said that the Communist Party's reform plan is an interim device to "gain time" and see what happens with the presidency of Hugo Chavez in Venezuela, with regard to the subsidies that Caracas gives Cuba.

Fariñas also made a "call for rationality" to the Cuban government in the case of the 11 members of the "Group of 75" dissidents rounded up in March 2003 who remain in jail, two months after the end of the period for freeing them that was agreed upon with the Catholic Church.

He said the government is afraid of what those "leaders" can do, adding that the first condition for any negotiation of the opposition with the authorities is unconditional freedom without exile for all dissidents.

A Nobel Call For Sanctions

Excerpts from today's acceptance lecture by 2010 Nobel Prize in Literature recipient, Mario Vargas Llosa:

In my youth, like many writers of my generation, I was a Marxist and believed socialism would be the remedy for the exploitation and social injustices that were becoming more severe in my country, in Latin America, and in the rest of the Third World. My disillusion with statism and collectivism and my transition to the democrat and liberal that I am – that I try to be – was long and difficult and carried out slowly as a consequence of episodes like the conversion of the Cuban Revolution, about which I initially had been enthusiastic, to the authoritarian, vertical model of the Soviet Union; the testimony of dissidents who managed to slip past the barbed wire fences of the Gulag; the invasion of Czechoslovakia by the nations of the Warsaw Pact; and because of thinkers like Raymond Aron, Jean Francois Rével, Isaiah Berlin, and Karl Popper, to whom I owe my reevaluation of democratic culture and open societies [...]

Latin America has made progress although, as César Vallejo said in a poem, Hay, hermanos, muchísimo que hacer [There is still, brothers, so much to do]. We are afflicted with fewer dictatorships than before, only Cuba and her named successor, Venezuela, and some pseudo populist, clownish democracies like those in Bolivia and Nicaragua. But in the rest of the continent democracy is functioning, supported by a broad popular consensus, and for the first time in our history, as in Brazil, Chile, Uruguay, Peru, Colombia, the Dominican Republic, Mexico, and almost all of Central America, we have a left and a right that respect legality, the freedom to criticize, elections, and succession in power. That is the right road, and if it stays on it, combats insidious corruption, and continues to integrate with the world, Latin America will finally stop being the continent of the future and become the continent of the present [...]

I carry Peru deep inside me because that is where I was born, grew up, was formed, and lived those experiences of childhood and youth that shaped my personality and forged my calling, and there I loved, hated, enjoyed, suffered, and dreamed. What happens there affects me more, moves and exasperates me more than what occurs elsewhere. I have not wished it or imposed it on myself; it simply is so. Some compatriots accused me of being a traitor, and I was on the verge of losing my citizenship when, during the last dictatorship, I asked the democratic governments of the world to penalize the regime with diplomatic and economic sanctions, as I have always done with all dictatorships of any kind, whether of Pinochet, Fidel Castro, the Taliban in Afghanistan, the Imams in Iran, apartheid in South Africa, the uniformed satraps of Burma (now called Myanmar). And I would do it again tomorrow if – may destiny not wish it and Peruvians not permit it – Peru were once again the victim of a coup that would annihilate our fragile democracy. It was not the precipitate, emotional action of a resentful man, as some scribblers wrote, accustomed to judging others from the point of view of their own pettiness. It was an act in line with my conviction that a dictatorship represents absolute evil for a country, a source of brutality and corruption and profound wounds that take a long time to close, poison the nation's future, and create pernicious habits and practices that endure for generations and delay democratic reconstruction.

This is why dictatorships must be fought without hesitation, with all the means at our disposal, including economic sanctions. It is regrettable that democratic governments, instead of setting an example by making common cause with those, like the Damas de Blanco in Cuba, the Venezuelan opposition, or Aung San Suu Kyi and Liu Xiaobo, who courageously confront the dictatorships they endure, often show themselves complaisant not with them but with their tormenters. Those valiant people, struggling for their freedom, are also struggling for ours.

From The Washington Post Editorial Board

Cuba's Jewish Hostage

RAUL CASTRO'S attempt to win foreign favor and investment for Cuba's moribund economy took a particularly cynical turn on Sunday, when the dictator celebrated Hanukkah with Havana's tiny Jewish community. Broadcast on state television, the event was designed to prove that the regime doesn't share the anti-Semitism of allies such as Iran and Venezuela. There was just one problem: No mention was made of Alan P. Gross, an American from Potomac who passed the holiday in a Cuban military facility, where he has been imprisoned for a year without trial because he tried to help Cuba's Jews.

Mr. Gross, a 61-year-old specialist in international development, traveled to Cuba under a contract from the State Department's Agency for International Development. His mission was to connect members of the Jewish community to the Internet, using laptops and satellite equipment, so that they could contact other Jewish communities and download information from sites such as Wikipedia. Though that is normal activity in most of the world - and Mr. Gross declared his garden-variety equipment to Cuban customs - he was arrested on Dec. 3, 2009.

Senior Cuban officials claimed that Mr. Gross, who is himself Jewish but speaks little Spanish, was sent to Cuba as a spy. Yet a year later, not a single charge has been brought against him - a violation of Cuba's laws. In that time, the contractor's health has badly deteriorated. According to his wife, he has lost 90 pounds and developed back problems that have caused partial paralysis in one leg. Several months ago, one of his daughters was diagnosed with breast cancer and is undergoing chemotherapy. Because of the loss of his income, his wife has been forced to move from their Potomac home to a small apartment in Washington.

Appeals by the State Department and congressional leaders for Mr. Gross's release on humanitarian grounds - or at least the detailing of charges against him - have fallen on deaf ears in Havana. Instead the regime appears to be intent on forcing an exchange of Mr. Gross for one or more of five Cuban intelligence agents who are serving federal prison terms after being tried and convicted on espionage charges. This makes Mr. Gross not a prisoner but a hostage - one whose continued detention is a flagrant violation of international law and human decency.

To its credit, the Obama administration has put further improvement of relations with Cuba on hold while pressing for Mr. Gross's release. A statement released Friday said the State Department had "made it very clear to the Cuban government that the continued detention of Alan Gross is a major impediment to advancing the dialogue between our two countries." Raul Castro should know that orchestrated media events like his Hanukkah celebration are no substitute for reversing this wrong.

One-Month Past Deadline, Still Awaiting Releases

On July 7th, the Catholic Church announced that the Castro regime had agreed to release 52 political prisoners from the infamous March 2003 crackdown on dissent, known as the "Black Spring."

While it only took Castro's secret police one evening to round up all 52 and lock them up for seven years -- with no visits or verification by the International Committee of the Red Cross or the U.N. Special Rapporteur on Torture permitted -- it was announced that they would be released within a four-month period.

By November 7th -- the conclusion of the four-month period -- there had not been a single release within Cuba.

Instead, 40 of the 52 political prisoners were forcibly exiled to Spain -- a condition that the Catholic Church "forgot" to mention at the time.

Today -- one-month past the original deadline -- 11 of the 52 political prisoners remain in Castro's gulag because they refuse to be forcibly exiled to Spain.

There has now been one release within Cuba.

These are the 11 political prisoners (of the 52) who -- five-months later -- are still awaiting their much-heralded (yet still pending) release:

Pedro Argüelles Morán
Oscar Elías Biscet
Eduardo Diaz Fleitas
Jose Daniel Ferrer
Diosdado González
Iván Hernández Carrillo
Librado Linares
Hector Maseda
Felix Navarro Rodriguez
Angel Moya Acosta
Guido Sigler Amaya

More "reform" you can't believe in.

Cuba Should Free U.S. Aid Worker Now

A Voice of America editorial:

Cuba Should Free U.S. Aid Worker Now

The government arrested Mr. Gross and has held him for over a year without any criminal charge.

One year ago this month, an American development sub-contractor named Alan Gross was arrested by Cuban authorities as he was working with a program to bring greater Internet access to civil society groups on the island nation, including Cuba's Jewish communities.

Upset with his efforts to distribute equipment that would allow these groups to better communicate among themselves and with their counterparts around the world, the government arrested Mr. Gross and has held him for over a year without any criminal charge. Despite the pleadings of his family, and the repeated requests of the United States and others in the international community, he remains in jail to this day.

Mr. Gross, 61 years old, works for an American company that was conducting a program in Cuba for the U.S. Agency for International Development. Hardly subversive, its aim is to strengthen civil society organizations and improve the flow of information to and from the island. Cuban President Raul Castro himself launched a somewhat similar effort in 2008 when he took steps to liberalize government policies on goods and services, allowing the private ownership of personal computers.

It is long overdue for Cuban authorities to release Mr. Gross. He has languished in jail for more than a year without charges, a clear violation of international human rights obligations and commitments regarding due process and judicial procedure. The United States is deeply concerned about his welfare and urges again that he be freed on humanitarian grounds. His continued detention is a major impediment to advancing the dialogue between our two nations.

Should the U.S. Collude With Castro's Laws?

Advocates of unconditionally "normalizing" relations with the Castro regime are now -- predictably -- arguing that the imprisonment (for over one-year without any charges or due process) of U.S. development worker Alan Gross is the fault of USAID's democracy programs -- not of the Cuban dictatorship.

They argue that regardless of the fact that Mr. Gross's activities in Cuba were non-violent -- helping the island's Jewish community connect to the Internet -- he violated the Castro regime's laws, which they believe should respected no matter how ad hoc or absurd.

Yet ironically, these same advocates just spent the last two years lobbying for the lifting of U.S. tourism restrictions to Cuba.

So what did they want American tourists to do while in Cuba?

Apparently, the same thing as the Castros wanted -- for them to shut up, double the regime's income at apartheid resorts and sip mojitos. (And that's keeping it rated PG).

For according to Castro's ad hoc laws (Resolution No. 10 of 2005, Ministry of Tourism), Cuban tourism workers are required to keep their mingling with foreigners to a minimum, prohibiting everything from accepting personal gifts to attending events in the homes or embassies of foreigners without written permission.

In the 1980's, the U.S. correctly rejected colluding with South Africa's apartheid laws. Should the U.S. (or any other democratic nation) now collude with Castro's laws?

Do they believe that foreigners in Cuba should not discuss or distribute uncensored materials by Thoreau, Gandhi or Dr. Martin Luther King? After all, civil disobedience is against Castro's laws.

Or how about the Universal Declaration of Human Rights? Cubans go to prison for possessing and distributing copies of this document.

Is that what they're advocating? Is that what they do during their trips to Cuba?

And newsflash: Cuba is a totalitarian dictatorship -- thus the only "law" is whatever the Castros decide over cafecito that morning.

Zapata's Mother Arrested, Relatives Missing

In what has become a despicable weekly ritual of the Castro regime, Reina Luisa Tamayo, mother of deceased Cuban political prisoner, Orlando Zapata Tamayo, was -- once again -- arrested today for trying to visit her son's grave.

She was released hours later, but eight of her relatives, who were also violently arrested, remain unaccounted for.

More "reform" you can't believe in.

Click here for AFP story.

A Testimony of Torture

Undoubtedly, this is the must-read item of the week.

It's by Cuban journalist Normando Hernández González, who was recently exiled to Spain after spending six years imprisoned by the Castro regime for exercising his fundamental human right of speech.

Trying to Forget: Torture Haunts Freed Cuban Journalist

I long to forget, but cannot. To erase from my memory the murmurs of suffering, the plaintive screams of torture, the screeching bars, the unmistakable music of padlocks, the garrulous sentinels...

I try also to forget the dismal silence of those petrified dungeons. The eternally cold nights spent in punishment cells. The rats, the cockroaches, the spiders...and most of all the swarm of mosquitoes that drained my blood every second of my ephemeral existence in that hell.

I aspire to sleep soundly, without being jolted awake. I aspire to live like a normal person, without daily visits from prison's ghosts.

I suffer when I see my brother for the cause, Juan Carlos Herrera Acosta, his lips sewn shut with wire to show his jailers that he prefers to die from starvation than to abandon his principles. I see Juan Carlos's eyes, at the edge of insanity, I see his skin, colorless after the suffering he has endured in the punishment cells. I see Juan Carlos and the anguish overcomes me.

I can no longer bear to see the image of Roberto Ramos Hernández -- who was arrested for robbery -- two syringe needles sticking into the dark part of his eyes, or that of him enveloped in a burning foam mattress engulfed in tongues of fire. I don't want to look upon the despair of this man, rendered blind by the negligence of his jailers who provoked his self-assault and then denied him the medical attention he required.

Another man appears to me crying from the pain of his rotting flesh after having injected petroleum into each of his legs. Jorge Ramírez Roja, alias Riquinbili (a motorized bicycle), also makes his way into my hostel room. This paraplegic, charged with robbery, uses a shaving knife to cut his scalp alongside the place where he had cerebral aneurysm surgery, in an effort to get the medicines and specialized medical care he has been denied for over six months. Not to mention the many that file through my nightmares each day with their guts open, with wounds on their arms, thighs, and anywhere else they can inflict injury, a tactic to try to gain prison rights established by law and so often violated with brazen impunity.

Nor do I wish to listen to the sad confessions of the torture victims, to see their tears or to feel, in my own flesh, the cold steel handcuffs pressing their wrists against the bars of their cells. I have even less desire to see them crucified naked on the bars awaiting a coldwater bath at dawn as the mosquitoes stick to their skin and suck, drop by drop, the little blood that is left to warm them.

I detest losing all sensation in my upper and lower limbs, as Amaury Fernández Tamayo--arrested for human trafficking--lost sensation when he was tortured. I detest having my hands handcuffed behind my back and attached to my feet, also handcuffed, and lying for hours on my side on the cold, damp cell floor while insects and rodents walk all over my garroted body being tortured with the technique known in prison slang as "Little Chair."

I want to sleep without enduring the pain caused by a rubber cane or tonfa used to bruise or break my skin.

Why does Roberto Rodríguez, a common criminal, visit me drowning in a pool of his own blood, unconscious, moribund, and denouncing the chief of conduct at the Kilo 7 prison, Lte. Didier Fundora Pérez, who ordered Unit Chief Daniel Primelles Cala to assassinate him? Why won't Roberto let me rest?

I have no desire to taste the burundanga, that main course composed, so they say, of animal guts, but which everyone knows contains skull, brain and even excrement. The dish's rank odor gives these ingredients away. Nor would I like to taste the flavor of rotten tenca, the fish that resembled a magnet covered with pins when it was served to us. I don't care to have the sensation of sandpaper scratching my throat when eating the famous cereal composed of God knows what for breakfast. It's best not to discuss the soups for that would only insult water with not quenching one's thirst.

My pen is still weak with hunger, with the gut-wrenching pain caused by my 19-day hunger strike.

But the hardest to forget is the suffering of my mother, my wife, and my daughter who, at barely one year of age, bit the scourge of treachery of the limitless cruelty of a communist government, just for being a dissident's daughter. Help me, my God. Help me to wipe the slate clean and to rid myself of the passive memory of the past 88 months, to see if I can live.

Obama Administration and Dissidents, Pt. 2

Last week, an article in The Daily Caller revealed how Cuban dissidents feel snubbed by the Obama Administration -- in particular by the U.S. Interests Section in Havana.

This week, there have been two thoughtful suggestions in follow-up columns.

One by Guillermo Martinez in the Sun-Sentinel:

Now it is obvious that Obama has decided to ignore the 1996 act of Congress. The House Foreign Relations Committee, headed by Ros-Lehtinen, should subpoena Farrar and other State Department officials and ask them under oath why they have decided to ignore and mistreat dissidents in the island.

And another by Rick Robinson also in The Daily Caller:

When Barack Obama was running for president, he stated that his policy towards Cuba would be guided by one word — "libertad." While stumping for votes in southern Florida he said, "The road to freedom for all Cubans must begin with justice for Cuba's political prisoners, the right of free speech, a free press, freedom of assembly, and it must lead to elections that are free and fair."

It is unclear how Obama's decision to appease Castro at the expense of those most needing his support meets his goal of supporting "libertad" [...]

President Obama needs to dust off that tough guy campaign speech and give it at the Southernmost Point in Key West. He should point to the island 90 miles away and demand freedom for political prisoners. Call for free and fair elections. Let Castro know that nothing will change in relations with the United States until people under his grip are free to simply assemble and speak openly.

The Worst of the Worst

The Chilean NGO, Latinobarometro, has just concluded its annual public opinion survey of the Western Hemisphere's best and worst leaders.

According to the results, Brazil's Lula da Silva and the U.S.'s Barack Obama are the Western Hemisphere's best and most respected leaders.

At the very bottom of the list is Cuban dictator Fidel Castro, with Venezuela's Hugo Chavez closely trailing.

The survey is based on some 19,000 interviews in 18 Latin American countries.

From The State Department, Pt. 2

One Year Continued Incarceration of Alan Gross

Philip J. Crowley
Assistant Secretary of State, Bureau of Public Affairs
Washington, DC

Today marks one year since Cuban authorities detained Alan Gross. Mr. Gross is an international development worker who traveled to Cuba to help connect members of the Jewish community in Havana with other Jewish communities throughout the world. We have repeatedly called on the Government of Cuba to immediately and unconditionally release Mr. Gross, who has been held all this time without charges.

Leaders and human rights organizations from the United States and other countries have appealed to the Government of Cuba to release Mr. Gross on humanitarian grounds, but to no avail. In June, Secretary Clinton met with Mrs. Gross and family to express her sympathy and concern for Mr. Gross' arrest and detention and stated publicly that the United States would view favorably the release of Alan Gross so that he can return to his family.

It is long overdue for Cuban authorities to release Mr. Gross. He has languished in a Cuban jail for a full year and the Cuban Government has yet to explain reasons for his detention or file charges. His arrest and continued detention without charge violate international standards of due process and judicial procedure. Mr. Gross is a husband, a father, and a dedicated professional with a long history of development assistance and support to communities in more than 50 countries. We are deeply concerned about his welfare, as well as that of his family members who are eager for his return.

Officials of the Department of State often meet with members of the Gross family to discuss Mr. Gross' continued incarceration and to express our concern for the family's plight. We will continue to use every available channel to urge the Cuban Government to put an end to Mr. Gross' long and unjustifiable ordeal. We have made it very clear to the Cuban Government that the continued detention of Alan Gross is a major impediment to advancing the dialogue between our two countries.

From The State Department

From yesterday's State Department Press Briefing with Assistant Secretary of State, P.J. Crowley:

CROWLEY: Tomorrow marks the one-year anniversary of the detention in Cuba of Mr. Alan Gross, a committed international development worker who was arrested by Cuban authorities for his activities, dedicated to helping the Jewish community in Havana connect with other Jewish communities throughout the world.

We have repeatedly called on the Government of Cuba to immediately and unconditionally release Mr. Gross, who has been held all this time without charge. We will continue to use all available channels to urge the Cuban Government to show humanitarian compassion and put an end to Mr. Gross's long and unjustifiable ordeal. And this afternoon, State Department officials will be meeting with the family members of Mr. Gross to discuss his continued incarceration.

Anticipating your question, the last time we had consular access to him was on November 16.

QUESTION: P.J., I wasn't aware --

QUESTION: Of this year?

CROWLEY: Yeah.

QUESTION: I was not aware of the connection to the Jewish communities around the world. I don't – maybe I missed that. Was that something that you have talked about before? And if not, can you give us a little detail?

CROWLEY: He is a contractor and he was trying to help connect communities in Havana to the rest of the world. And obviously, we think that is important for the development of civil society in Cuba.

QUESTION: P.J., what --

QUESTION: So the communications devices that have been mentioned --

CROWLEY: Connecting to the internet.

QUESTION: The internet?

CROWLEY: These are not revolutionary kinds of technology.

QUESTION: When the Secretary hosted Jewish groups several months ago and talked about this, she asked them to make appeals to the Cubans. Are you aware if any of them have?

CROWLEY: I mean, I think we – that's correct. And I think there have been some contacts. I mean, it's a broad-based community. I know there have been some suggestions publicly that, well, some groups know about him; some groups don't know about him. That really is beside the point.

QUESTION: Right.

CROWLEY: He has been incarcerated without charge for a year and we will continue to encourage his release.

Cuba is Not Vietnam

In a CNN opinion piece, two advocates of unconditionally normalizing relations with the Castro regime argue that Cuba is undertaking certain economic reforms and that the U.S. should use this as an excuse to engage.

Ironically, these same advocates have been arguing for years that the U.S. should unconditionally engage the Castro regime -- regardless of excuses or reforms, whether real or not.

However, their spin is worth noting, for they hold that Cuba is undertaking economic reforms similar to Vietnam, so therefore: "Why not adopt the Vietnam model for U.S. Cuba policy?"

Even if the economic adjustments made by the Castro regime amounted to genuine reforms, which history indicates they clearly do not, the answer is simple from a geopolitical scale:

Because Cuba is not Vietnam -- not to mention that the U.S.'s policy of unconditional engagement toward Vietnam has not resulted in freedom, democracy or even greater human rights for the Vietnamese people.

These advocates might think it's apt (or convenient) to measure Cuba and Vietnam on the same scale, even though dissimilarities between both nations grossly outweigh any similarities.

However, why not measure Cuba on the same scale as its neighbors -- the other 34 countries in the Western Hemisphere -- most of which have even experienced transitions from dictatorships to freedom and democracy?

Today these countries all share (some more hesitantly) a commitment to representative democracy, as embodied in the 2001 Inter-American Democratic Charter, which only Cuba refuses to sign and adhere to.

Or why not measure Cuba on the same scale as Western Europe, with whom Cuba shares cultural and historic ties, and with whom Cuba used to compete (and in many cases, outperform) in economic development indicators prior to Castro's rule? Many of these countries have also successfully transitioned from dictatorships to democracy.

Perhaps that's precisely what these advocates don't want -- or they somehow find economically stable dictatorships to be perfectly acceptable.

From State Control to State Control

Take a look at this interesting post from The Miami Herald's Cuban Colada blog:

Many firms lose foreign-trade privileges

Their import-export rights will be centralized

Several major business companies have been barred from trading abroad, in what seems to be a tightening of government control over import-export activities, perhaps combined with a drive against corruption.

Companies like Cuba Petróleos (Cupet), the mobile telecommunications firm Movitel, the Abdala music-recording company, the Socialist Vanguard Foundry, and the Beverage & Refreshments Exporting Co. must cease their import-export activities within 90 days and turn them over to the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Foreign Investment, the newspaper Juventud Rebelde reported Thursday.

Other targets include Maritime Port Supplies (SUMARPO), Fishing Products Import Co. (PROPES), the Food Corporation (CORALSA), Cuba Aluminum (ALCUBA) and Hotel Engineering. Future negotiations by those companies will be handled by an organization still to be determined, the paper said.

The first thing that comes to mind is: Whatever happened to Raul's market "reforms"?

Well, they're a hoax -- but we already knew that.

The interesting part is how all of these Cuban "firms" and "major business companies" sound like regular, independent entities.

Except they are not.

The Castro regime's Constitution requires all foreign trade (import-export) to be conducted by the State.

All of the companies mentioned in the Herald's post are owned and operated by the Castro regime.

Therefore, the so-called foreign trade "privileges" discussed have gone from a State agency to State company and now back to a State agency.

Talk about spin -- literally.

Cuba Travel Bill is Dead

From The Hill:

Cuba travel ban won't be lifted this year

Legislation eliminating a longstanding travel ban to Cuba is dead in this Congress, several senior Democrats said this week.

Rep. Bill Delahunt (D-Mass.), a strong backer of lifting the ban, called it "absurd" that Congress would maintain restrictions "predicated on a Cold-War mentality" irrelevant to current events. But with the year drawing to a close — and lawmakers reluctant to tackle yet another thorny topic in a politically polarized environment — the bill won't come up in the lame duck, he said.

"There will be no action," Delahunt, a senior member of the Foreign Affairs panel, told The Hill.

Rep. Brad Sherman (D-Calif.), another senior Foreign Affairs member, also indicated the bill won't resurface this year.

Inaction would be a blow to the Obama White House, which took administrative action to loosen the decades-old Cuba sanctions in the hope that a Democratic Congress would enact broader changes. Instead, the combination of a radioactive topic and election-year politics conspired to stop the legislation in its tracks.

After passing the House Agriculture Committee in June, the legislation stalled in September in the Foreign Affairs Committee. In the Senate, two similar bills introduced last year never made it that far.

With the Senate stalemate in mind, Delahunt noted, there's little reason for the House to consider the bill.

"There's a certain lack of utility in just sending messages," he said.

Sponsored by Agriculture Chairman Collin Peterson (D-Minn.), the House bill would allow all Americans unlimited travel to Cuba, expanding on the Obama administration's 2009 move to allow Cuban Americans to visit family members and send money. The bill would also loosen restrictions on U.S. farmers exporting goods to Cuba, which sits just 90 miles off the coast of Florida.

Supporters argue that opening Cuba to U.S. travelers and trade would benefit both countries.

"American farmers can greatly benefit from access to new markets in Cuba, particularly at a time when our economy needs it most," Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), a sponsor of one of the Senate bills, said in an e-mail. "This bill can help create jobs by promoting U.S. agriculture exports, and it would remove the travel ban to Cuba — allowing U.S. farmers and business owners the opportunity to develop a customer base in Cuba."

Peterson's office directed inquiries to the Foreign Affairs Committee, which did not return a series of calls and e-mails requesting comment.

If history is any indication, the bill will likely go nowhere in the next Congress once the House majority switches over to the Republicans, who controlled the chamber between 1995 and 2007 without easing Cuban sanctions. Contributing to that sentiment, the Foreign Affairs panel will be led next year by Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-Fla.), who says any relaxation of Cuba sanctions would simply prop up an abusive regime at the expense of an already destitute people.

"Any bit of money that's going to get in there is not going to benefit the people, it's going to benefit the regime," Ros-Lehtinen spokesman Bradley Goehner said this week. "Now is a particularly terrible time for any additional outreach."

Still, the bill's supporters are holding out hope that the incoming class of Republicans will feel differently than GOP leaders about the sanctions. Although many conservatives have traditionally supported the ban as a way of pressuring Cuba's communist dictatorship, the incoming class of Republicans brings with it a libertarian streak that favors individual freedoms above government intrusion, many observers note.

That position could place them at odds with GOP incumbents — notably Ros-Lehtinen — who have fought for years to keep U.S. restrictions on Cuba in place.

"They might not take kindly to the government telling them where they can and can't travel, where they can and can't trade," Jake Colvin, vice president of global trade at the National Foreign Trade Council, said of the incoming Republicans. "Their perspectives will be much more of a libertarian bent… The conventional wisdom that Republicans are more hard-lined on Cuba may not play out next year."

Jo Ann Emerson, who supports the legislation lifting the travel ban, agreed. The Missouri Republican said the hands-off approach to government advocated by incoming Republicans could pressure GOP leaders to rethink their strategy on Cuba — and the bill.

"I just don't think it's dead in the least," Emerson said.

Adela in Wonderland

Within hours of a statement by Alan Gross's family and lawyer on the one-year anniversary of his arbitrary imprisonment by the Castro regime, the AP put out this gem of a story (or hack job):

Cuba Jewish groups deny work with jailed American

The leaders of Cuba's two main Jewish groups both denied having worked with a jailed American contractor whose family says he was on the island to hand out communication equipment to Jewish organizations.

Cuban authorities have accused Alan Gross of espionage, though they have not pressed charges despite keeping him in custody since he was detained last Dec. 3.

Adela Dworin, president of Havana's Temple Beth Shalom and Cuba's largest Jewish organization, the Jewish Community House, told The Associated Press on Wednesday it's possible Gross came to the center as one of "hundreds" of foreign visitors it receives each year. But she said she doesn't remember meeting him and he certainly was not doing any work with her group [...]

Dworin said many visitors bring donations - medicine for a community pharmacy, books, DVDs, computer games, food for religious festivals - but she stressed that the group would not accept any contraband equipment, or even have need for it.

"We have all the necessary media to communicate with the entire Jewish world," Dworin said. "We are able to communicate freely."

"We respect the laws of the country where we were born," she added.

Unfortunately (or purposefully), the AP fails to disclose Dworin's close (or at least, compromised) relationship with the Castro regime.

You'd think the fantastical absurdity of her comments would tip them off -- that's just sloppy (or biased) reporting.

Dworin is the one recently pictured below with Cuban dictator Fidel Castro (and of course, The Atlantic's Jeff Goldberg).

We couldn't track down the picture of her kissing Fidel that appeared in Cuban state media, but we'll keep looking.

Statement by Alan Gross's Lawyer

Statement by Peter J. Kahn, Lawyer to Alan P. Gross

WASHINGTON, DC – Peter J. Kahn, counsel to Alan P. Gross, today released the following statement on the approaching one year anniversary of Alan's imprisonment by the Cuban government.

"Alan's incarceration for a year without clarity of the legal process he will face or its timing is a travesty. It violates every international standard of justice and due process. We continue to urge the Cuban authorities to release Alan immediately based on humanitarian grounds, as well as the fact that he has already served one year in a Cuban prison.

Alan has suffered tremendously while incarcerated. He has lost almost 90 pounds and his health has deteriorated significantly. He has had to endure the irreparable pain of being an absent father to his 26-year old daughter, who is fighting breast cancer, and being away from his family for an entire year."

Alan P. Gross was arrested and imprisoned in Havana on December 3, 2009. He was in Cuba to do the international community development work that he has done in more than 50 countries for the past 25 years. In Cuba, he was assisting the island's small Jewish community gain access to the Internet so that they can communicate with each other and other Jewish communities around the world.

Cuba Provides Refuge to Narco-Terrorists

Colombian narco-terrorists from the FARC and ELN "enjoy periods of rest and recuperation" in Cuba, according to a 2009 State Department cable revealed by WikiLeaks.

The Castro regime "allows these groups to enjoy R&R [rest and recuperation] in Cuba and receive medical care and other services (NFI). Reporting also indicates that the GOC is able to influence the FARC. The Cuban Communist Party International Department (PCC/ID) has close relationships with the Clandestine Communist Party of Colombia (PCC) which serves as the political wing of the FARC, and to some extent the ELN as well," the cable reads.

Revisiting the State-Sponsors of Terror Report

On August 6th of this year, we posted the following:

Cuba Remains a State-Sponsor of Terrorism

Yesterday, the U.S. State Department released its yearly compilation ["report"] of state-sponsors of terrorism.

Cuba remains on the list, along with Iran, Sudan and Syria.

First and foremost, the Administration should be commended for the appropriate inclusion of Cuba and the sanctions it implies.

Yet, how can the language [in the state-sponsors report] claim that "Cuba no longer supports armed struggle in Latin America," yet recognize its support for the narco-terrorist insurgency groups, FARC and ELN, in Colombia?

And what about the 30,000-50,000 Cuban personnel in Hugo Chavez's government in Venezuela?

Today --

Cables revealed by Wikileaks show serious concern about the extensive (and intimate) involvement of Cuban spies in Hugo Chavez's government, which further challenges the watered-down language in the report.

Yet, even more concerning --

Why isn't this issue (concern) mentioned in the report at all?