From today's U.S. State Department Press Briefing:
QUESTION: On Cuba, Alan Gross, the American, has been detained there. The Cuban Government is saying that they are going to seek a 20-year sentence. Have you gotten any confirmation on that? And did Alan Gross, in fact, work for the State Department in any capacity in Cuba?
[Assistant Secretary of State, P.J.] CROWLEY: Well, we released a statement on Friday that made clear he was an international development worker in Cuba, providing support to members of the Cuban Jewish community, and that we are disappointed in the intent to seek a 20-year sentence.
QUESTION: Follow-up on Gross again, there's a sense that Cuban Government wants a quid pro quo with the so-called five spies. Your reaction to that, please?
MR. CROWLEY: Look, we want to see Mr. Gross return to the United States. What he did was not a crime. We're not negotiating on his – we'd like to see him released. And his case should not be attached to any other.
Cardinal Ortega Lies Again
Last Friday, the Archdiocese of Havana -- led by Cardinal Jaime Ortega -- put out the following press release:
ARZOBISPADO DE LA HABANA
NOTA DE PRENSA
En continuidad con el proceso de liberación de prisioneros, se informa que otros dos (2) serán excarcelados próximamente. Ellos son:
1- ÁNGEL JUAN MOYA ACOSTA, quien desea permanecer en Cuba, y
2- GUIDO SIGLER AMAYA, quien ha manifestado que desea trasladarse a los Estados Unidos.
Orlando Márquez Hidalgo
La Habana, 4 de febrero de 2011
It says that two political prisoners would soon be released: Angel Moya, who remains in prison, and Guido Sigler Amaya, who was released the following day.
Pursuant to Guido Sigler Amaya's name, it caveats: "who has expressed that he wishes to leave for the United States."
In other words, that Sigler Amaya accepted the Cardinal's banishment condition (a further violation of his human rights), which the Cardinal has successfully pushed on 41 other political prisoners.
So Sigler Amaya set the record straight:
"That is completely false. They are miserable rats. Never at any moment did I speak with them regarding that matter. Cardinal Jaime Ortega on repeated occasions insisted that I abandon my country and accept forced exile, to which I always refused. I remember that on one occasion I told him that only in a casket would I be forced into exile to another country directly from prison, and for them to release me so I could go home since only in liberty can a man decide his destiny, not imprisoned."
Your Eminence: Isn't lying a sin, or at least, unholy?
ARZOBISPADO DE LA HABANA
NOTA DE PRENSA
En continuidad con el proceso de liberación de prisioneros, se informa que otros dos (2) serán excarcelados próximamente. Ellos son:
1- ÁNGEL JUAN MOYA ACOSTA, quien desea permanecer en Cuba, y
2- GUIDO SIGLER AMAYA, quien ha manifestado que desea trasladarse a los Estados Unidos.
Orlando Márquez Hidalgo
La Habana, 4 de febrero de 2011
It says that two political prisoners would soon be released: Angel Moya, who remains in prison, and Guido Sigler Amaya, who was released the following day.
Pursuant to Guido Sigler Amaya's name, it caveats: "who has expressed that he wishes to leave for the United States."
In other words, that Sigler Amaya accepted the Cardinal's banishment condition (a further violation of his human rights), which the Cardinal has successfully pushed on 41 other political prisoners.
So Sigler Amaya set the record straight:
"That is completely false. They are miserable rats. Never at any moment did I speak with them regarding that matter. Cardinal Jaime Ortega on repeated occasions insisted that I abandon my country and accept forced exile, to which I always refused. I remember that on one occasion I told him that only in a casket would I be forced into exile to another country directly from prison, and for them to release me so I could go home since only in liberty can a man decide his destiny, not imprisoned."
Your Eminence: Isn't lying a sin, or at least, unholy?
Here's Another "Reform" Sham
Burma and Cuba are inter-changeable.
From the Washington Post's Editorial Board:
The right way to help Burma's democracy movement
SOME OBSERVERS have hailed the inauguration of a new parliament this week as an augur of a potentially more democratic era for the sad, Southeast Asian nation of Burma (also known as Myanmar). If so, it's an odd sort of democracy.
The session took place in Naypyidaw, the remote and lavish new capital that Burma's ruling generals constructed, at huge expense, reportedly on the advice of astrologers. The city's chief feature is that almost no one lives there, and almost no one who doesn't live there is permitted to visit. Parliamentary rules were consistent with that paranoia. Journalists were barred, as were ordinary citizens, and even parliamentarians were not allowed to bring in cellphones, cameras or recording devices. Any legislator who wants to ask a question has to submit it 10 days in advance, with the regime ruling on its appropriateness.
This would be amusing if it weren't so tragic. The Burmese people have shown, through courageous uprisings in 1989 and 2007, that they are desperate to govern themselves. But unlike in Egypt so far, the Burmese army has proved willing to kill as many civilians as necessary to maintain power. The regime, led by Gen. Than Shwe, is one of the world's most brutal, and it has led the nation of 50 million - once among Asia's most prosperous and educated - steadily downward.
The latest farce of controlled elections to a pseudo-parliament is hopeful in one sense, though: It shows that the generals care enough about global opinion at least to pretend at democracy. That in turn suggests that outside nations could exert some influence if they chose.
Which brings us to the failing policy of the Obama administration, ostensibly a marriage of engagement and targeted sanctions. In practice, engagement has been half-hearted and fruitless - the regime seems uninterested - and sanctions have been allowed to languish. The administration hasn't added a single name to the Treasury Department's Burma sanctions list or cracked down on a single bank doing business with the regime - even as the generals sign multibillion-dollar development deals with companies in China, Thailand and elsewhere.
There's an honest debate to be had about whether sanctions hurt ordinary people more than their rulers. But a focused effort to target the regime and its cronies might leave more room to expand humanitarian aid to the population. Right now, the administration has the worst of all worlds. It's not influencing events, it's not helping the people and it's positioning itself to be blamed nonetheless.
A less honest debate would be one that blames the administration's lassitude on Aung San Suu Kyi, the leader of Burma's democracy movement, or argues that sanctions should await a clear pronouncement from her. Though she was recently freed from house arrest, Aung San Suu Kyi is not in an easy position; if she did call forthrightly for enhanced sanctions, she would be vilified in the poisonous state-controlled press. The biggest help the West could give the democracy movement would be to freeze the bank accounts of the nation's rulers and their relatives, to keep them from stealing more of their nation's patrimony, and let Aung San Suu Kyi call for relaxation when and if events merit. The opening of a Potemkin parliament wouldn't qualify as one such event.
From the Washington Post's Editorial Board:
The right way to help Burma's democracy movement
SOME OBSERVERS have hailed the inauguration of a new parliament this week as an augur of a potentially more democratic era for the sad, Southeast Asian nation of Burma (also known as Myanmar). If so, it's an odd sort of democracy.
The session took place in Naypyidaw, the remote and lavish new capital that Burma's ruling generals constructed, at huge expense, reportedly on the advice of astrologers. The city's chief feature is that almost no one lives there, and almost no one who doesn't live there is permitted to visit. Parliamentary rules were consistent with that paranoia. Journalists were barred, as were ordinary citizens, and even parliamentarians were not allowed to bring in cellphones, cameras or recording devices. Any legislator who wants to ask a question has to submit it 10 days in advance, with the regime ruling on its appropriateness.
This would be amusing if it weren't so tragic. The Burmese people have shown, through courageous uprisings in 1989 and 2007, that they are desperate to govern themselves. But unlike in Egypt so far, the Burmese army has proved willing to kill as many civilians as necessary to maintain power. The regime, led by Gen. Than Shwe, is one of the world's most brutal, and it has led the nation of 50 million - once among Asia's most prosperous and educated - steadily downward.
The latest farce of controlled elections to a pseudo-parliament is hopeful in one sense, though: It shows that the generals care enough about global opinion at least to pretend at democracy. That in turn suggests that outside nations could exert some influence if they chose.
Which brings us to the failing policy of the Obama administration, ostensibly a marriage of engagement and targeted sanctions. In practice, engagement has been half-hearted and fruitless - the regime seems uninterested - and sanctions have been allowed to languish. The administration hasn't added a single name to the Treasury Department's Burma sanctions list or cracked down on a single bank doing business with the regime - even as the generals sign multibillion-dollar development deals with companies in China, Thailand and elsewhere.
There's an honest debate to be had about whether sanctions hurt ordinary people more than their rulers. But a focused effort to target the regime and its cronies might leave more room to expand humanitarian aid to the population. Right now, the administration has the worst of all worlds. It's not influencing events, it's not helping the people and it's positioning itself to be blamed nonetheless.
A less honest debate would be one that blames the administration's lassitude on Aung San Suu Kyi, the leader of Burma's democracy movement, or argues that sanctions should await a clear pronouncement from her. Though she was recently freed from house arrest, Aung San Suu Kyi is not in an easy position; if she did call forthrightly for enhanced sanctions, she would be vilified in the poisonous state-controlled press. The biggest help the West could give the democracy movement would be to freeze the bank accounts of the nation's rulers and their relatives, to keep them from stealing more of their nation's patrimony, and let Aung San Suu Kyi call for relaxation when and if events merit. The opening of a Potemkin parliament wouldn't qualify as one such event.
Hosni Mubarak is a Piker
By Mary Anastasia O'Grady in the Wall Street Journal:
Will Cuba Be the Next Egypt?
The most striking difference between the two countries is Internet access.
Developments in Egypt over the last two weeks brought Cuba to my mind. Why does a similar rebellion against five decades of repression there still appear to be a far-off dream? Part of the answer is in the relationship between the Castro brothers—Fidel and Raúl—and the generals. The rest is explained by the regime's significantly more repressive model. In the art of dictatorship, Hosni Mubarak is a piker.
That so many Egyptians have raised their voices in Tahrir Square is a testament to the universal human yearning for liberty. But it is a mistake to ignore the pivotal role of the military. I'd wager that when the history of the uprising is written, we will learn that Egypt's top brass did not approve of the old man's succession plan to anoint his son in the next election.
Castro has bought loyalty from the secret police and military by giving them control of the three most profitable sectors of the economy—retail, travel and services. Hundreds of millions of dollars flow to them every year. If the system collapses, so does that income. Of course the Egyptian military also owns businesses. But it doesn't depend on a purely state-owned economy. And as a recipient of significant U.S. aid and training for many years, the Egyptian military has cultivated a culture of professionalism and commitment to the nation over any single individual.
In Cuba there are no opposition political parties or nonstate media; rapid response brigades enforce the party line. Travel outside the country is not allowed without state approval. If peaceful dissidents with leadership skills can't be broken, they are eventually exiled. Or they are murdered.
The most striking difference between Cuba and Egypt is access to the Internet. In a March 2009 Freedom House report on Internet and digital media censorship world-wide, Egypt scored a 45 (out of 100), slightly worse than Turkey but better than Russia. Cuba scored a 90, making it more Net-censored than even Iran, China and Tunisia. Cellphone service is too expensive for most Cubans.
Yet technology does somehow seep into Cuba. When Fidel took the life of prisoner of conscience Pedro Boitel in 1972 by denying him water during a hunger strike, the world hardly noticed. By contrast, news of the regime's 2010 murder of prisoner of conscience Orlando Zapata Tamayo hit the Internet almost immediately and was met with worldwide condemnation. The military dictatorship was helpless to contain the bad publicity.
In a similar fashion, when the Ladies in White—a group of wives, sisters and mothers of political prisoners—walking peacefully in Havana were roughed up by state security last year, the images were captured on cellphones and immediately showed up on the Web. It was more bad PR for the Castro brothers and their friends like Mexican President Felipe Calderón and Spanish President José Luis Zapatero.
Technology-induced international pressure is making the regime increasingly reluctant to flatten critics the old-fashioned way. In an interview in Argentina's Ambito Financiero on Jan. 27, internationally recognized Cuban blogger Yoani Sánchez said the "style" of state repression has shifted from aggressive arrests and long sentences to targeted attempts at defamation and isolation. Ms. Sanchez also said that uniformed police are "distancing themselves from the political theme, not by orders from above, but because they no longer want to be associated with the repression." Now, she said, the intimidation and arbitrary arrests are largely carried out by the secret police in civilian clothes.
A little more space has emboldened the population. Ms. Sánchez also said in the interview that she is "optimistic about the slow and irreversible process of interior change in Cubans. In that the citizen critic will grow, will have less fear, and will feel that the mask is increasingly unnecessary and that it doesn't any longer translate into privileges and subsidies."
Last week a leaked video of a Cuban military seminar on how to combat technology hit the Internet. It demonstrates the dictatorship's preoccupation with the Web. The lecturer warns about the dangers of young people with an appealing discourse sharing information through technology and trying to organize. Real-time chat, Twitter and the emergence of young leaders in cyberspace—aka "a permanent battlefield"—are perils outlined in the hour-long talk. The lecturer also shares his concerns about U.S. government programs that try to increase Internet access outside of officialdom on the island.
On Friday, the regime further displayed its paranoia by charging U.S. Agency for International Development contractor Alan Gross with spying. Mr. Gross has been in jail for 14 months for giving Cuban Jews computer equipment so they could connect with the diaspora.
With very limited access, Cubans are already using the Internet to share what has until now been kept in their heads: counterrevolutionary thoughts. If those go viral, even a well-fed military will not be able to save the regime. But for now, Cubans can only dream about the freedoms Egyptians enjoy as they voice their grievances.
Will Cuba Be the Next Egypt?
The most striking difference between the two countries is Internet access.
Developments in Egypt over the last two weeks brought Cuba to my mind. Why does a similar rebellion against five decades of repression there still appear to be a far-off dream? Part of the answer is in the relationship between the Castro brothers—Fidel and Raúl—and the generals. The rest is explained by the regime's significantly more repressive model. In the art of dictatorship, Hosni Mubarak is a piker.
That so many Egyptians have raised their voices in Tahrir Square is a testament to the universal human yearning for liberty. But it is a mistake to ignore the pivotal role of the military. I'd wager that when the history of the uprising is written, we will learn that Egypt's top brass did not approve of the old man's succession plan to anoint his son in the next election.
Castro has bought loyalty from the secret police and military by giving them control of the three most profitable sectors of the economy—retail, travel and services. Hundreds of millions of dollars flow to them every year. If the system collapses, so does that income. Of course the Egyptian military also owns businesses. But it doesn't depend on a purely state-owned economy. And as a recipient of significant U.S. aid and training for many years, the Egyptian military has cultivated a culture of professionalism and commitment to the nation over any single individual.
In Cuba there are no opposition political parties or nonstate media; rapid response brigades enforce the party line. Travel outside the country is not allowed without state approval. If peaceful dissidents with leadership skills can't be broken, they are eventually exiled. Or they are murdered.
The most striking difference between Cuba and Egypt is access to the Internet. In a March 2009 Freedom House report on Internet and digital media censorship world-wide, Egypt scored a 45 (out of 100), slightly worse than Turkey but better than Russia. Cuba scored a 90, making it more Net-censored than even Iran, China and Tunisia. Cellphone service is too expensive for most Cubans.
Yet technology does somehow seep into Cuba. When Fidel took the life of prisoner of conscience Pedro Boitel in 1972 by denying him water during a hunger strike, the world hardly noticed. By contrast, news of the regime's 2010 murder of prisoner of conscience Orlando Zapata Tamayo hit the Internet almost immediately and was met with worldwide condemnation. The military dictatorship was helpless to contain the bad publicity.
In a similar fashion, when the Ladies in White—a group of wives, sisters and mothers of political prisoners—walking peacefully in Havana were roughed up by state security last year, the images were captured on cellphones and immediately showed up on the Web. It was more bad PR for the Castro brothers and their friends like Mexican President Felipe Calderón and Spanish President José Luis Zapatero.
Technology-induced international pressure is making the regime increasingly reluctant to flatten critics the old-fashioned way. In an interview in Argentina's Ambito Financiero on Jan. 27, internationally recognized Cuban blogger Yoani Sánchez said the "style" of state repression has shifted from aggressive arrests and long sentences to targeted attempts at defamation and isolation. Ms. Sanchez also said that uniformed police are "distancing themselves from the political theme, not by orders from above, but because they no longer want to be associated with the repression." Now, she said, the intimidation and arbitrary arrests are largely carried out by the secret police in civilian clothes.
A little more space has emboldened the population. Ms. Sánchez also said in the interview that she is "optimistic about the slow and irreversible process of interior change in Cubans. In that the citizen critic will grow, will have less fear, and will feel that the mask is increasingly unnecessary and that it doesn't any longer translate into privileges and subsidies."
Last week a leaked video of a Cuban military seminar on how to combat technology hit the Internet. It demonstrates the dictatorship's preoccupation with the Web. The lecturer warns about the dangers of young people with an appealing discourse sharing information through technology and trying to organize. Real-time chat, Twitter and the emergence of young leaders in cyberspace—aka "a permanent battlefield"—are perils outlined in the hour-long talk. The lecturer also shares his concerns about U.S. government programs that try to increase Internet access outside of officialdom on the island.
On Friday, the regime further displayed its paranoia by charging U.S. Agency for International Development contractor Alan Gross with spying. Mr. Gross has been in jail for 14 months for giving Cuban Jews computer equipment so they could connect with the diaspora.
With very limited access, Cubans are already using the Internet to share what has until now been kept in their heads: counterrevolutionary thoughts. If those go viral, even a well-fed military will not be able to save the regime. But for now, Cubans can only dream about the freedoms Egyptians enjoy as they voice their grievances.
Rubio Calls on Obama to Revert Concessions
Sunday, February 6, 2011
Rubio Calls On Obama Administration To Halt "Unilateral Gift To The Castro Brothers"
Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senator Marco Rubio issued the following statement regarding the news that Cuban prosecutors will seek a 20-year prison sentence for U.S. aid worker Alan Gross:
"I condemn in the strongest possible terms the Cuban regime's decision to seek a 20 year prison sentence for Alan Gross. Mr. Gross is simply a humanitarian who was seeking to help the Jewish community in Cuba access the internet. Only the most oppressive, totalitarian regime would seek to jail someone for trying to expand access to information.
I call on the Obama administration to halt the planned implementation of their new Cuba policies that liberalize travel and expand allowable remittances to Cuba. This unilateral gift to the Castro brothers by the Obama administration is totally unwarranted, especially in light of Mr. Gross's case.
President Obama and Secretary of State Clinton must readjust their recently announced concessions in light of this disproportionate action against an innocent American citizen."
Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senator Marco Rubio issued the following statement regarding the news that Cuban prosecutors will seek a 20-year prison sentence for U.S. aid worker Alan Gross:
"I condemn in the strongest possible terms the Cuban regime's decision to seek a 20 year prison sentence for Alan Gross. Mr. Gross is simply a humanitarian who was seeking to help the Jewish community in Cuba access the internet. Only the most oppressive, totalitarian regime would seek to jail someone for trying to expand access to information.
I call on the Obama administration to halt the planned implementation of their new Cuba policies that liberalize travel and expand allowable remittances to Cuba. This unilateral gift to the Castro brothers by the Obama administration is totally unwarranted, especially in light of Mr. Gross's case.
President Obama and Secretary of State Clinton must readjust their recently announced concessions in light of this disproportionate action against an innocent American citizen."
On a Bipartisan Note
Today, we honor President Ronald Reagan's contributions to human freedom (see post below).
On a bipartisan note, let's also remember -- in light of current events in Tunisia, Egypt, Venezuela and Cuba -- the lasting words of former U.S. Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan (D-NY), who in May 1974 stated:
"There will be no struggle for personal liberty (or national independence or national survival) anywhere in Europe, in Asia, in Africa, in Latin America which will not affect American politics. In that circumstance, I would argue that there is only one course likely to make the internal strains of consequent conflict endurable, and that is for the United States deliberately and consistently to bring its influence to bear on behalf of those regimes which promise the largest degree of personal and national liberty…. We stand for liberty, for the expansion of liberty. Anything else risks the contraction of liberty: our own included."
Moynihan went on to warn about those "who know too much to believe anything in particular and opt instead for accommodations of reasonableness and urbanity that drain our world position of moral purpose."
On a bipartisan note, let's also remember -- in light of current events in Tunisia, Egypt, Venezuela and Cuba -- the lasting words of former U.S. Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan (D-NY), who in May 1974 stated:
"There will be no struggle for personal liberty (or national independence or national survival) anywhere in Europe, in Asia, in Africa, in Latin America which will not affect American politics. In that circumstance, I would argue that there is only one course likely to make the internal strains of consequent conflict endurable, and that is for the United States deliberately and consistently to bring its influence to bear on behalf of those regimes which promise the largest degree of personal and national liberty…. We stand for liberty, for the expansion of liberty. Anything else risks the contraction of liberty: our own included."
Moynihan went on to warn about those "who know too much to believe anything in particular and opt instead for accommodations of reasonableness and urbanity that drain our world position of moral purpose."
When Cuban-Americans Turned Republican
On President Ronald Reagan's 100th birthday, we honor his unforgettable contribution to the cause of human freedom.
The picture and caption below -- from Corbis Images -- are from May 20, 1983.
President Ronald Reagan's limousine passes through the heart of Miami's Little Havana, where thousands of enthusiastic Cuban exiles waved flags and banners. Reagan was in town to help celebrate the 81st anniversary of Cuban Independence, and charged Cuba's "new fascist regime" with peddling drugs and revolution.
The picture and caption below -- from Corbis Images -- are from May 20, 1983.
President Ronald Reagan's limousine passes through the heart of Miami's Little Havana, where thousands of enthusiastic Cuban exiles waved flags and banners. Reagan was in town to help celebrate the 81st anniversary of Cuban Independence, and charged Cuba's "new fascist regime" with peddling drugs and revolution.
Rafin, S.A. = Raul & Fidel, Inc.
Saturday, February 5, 2011
Tragically, this is not a joke.
Last week, we posted that Telecom Italia re-sold its 27% stake in the Castro regime's telecom monopoly, ETECSA, to the Cuban military for $706 million.
The transaction was completed by Rafin, S.A., which we noted was a financial arm of the Cuban military.
We also noted that in May 2010, Rafin, S.A., had created a joint venture with the secretive, South Pacific Holdings, Ltd., which is believed to be controlled by Russian finance players.
Little else had been known about Rafin, S.A. -- until now.
It turns out Rafin, S.A. stands for "Raul and Fidel Investments" ("Raul y Fidel Inversiones").
According to Juan Juan Almeida (in Diario de Cuba), son of recently deceased Cuban Vice-President (and 3rd highest ranking official of the Castro regime), General Juan Almeida Bosque, the abbreviation was concocted by the Castro brothers during a cocktail party with other military officials at an exclusive residence in Havana.
The remaining 73% of ETECSA is also owned by front-companies of the Castro brothers.
They are:
Telefónica Antillana S.A with 51%, Universal Trade & Management Corporation S,A (Utisa) with 11%, Banco Financiero Internacional with 6.15%, Negocios en Telecomunicaciones with 3.8% and Banco Internacional de Comercio with 0.9%
Lessons to be learned:
For lawmakers -- the more money that is sent to Cuba's totalitarian economy is the more money the Castro brothers will have to repress and censor the Cuban people.
For foreign companies -- business deals with the Castro brothers are not profitable in the long-term.
For "Cuba experts" and the Obama Administration (that argue travel and remittances will somehow help the Cuban people become "independent" of the regime, despite its closed economy) -- that policy has a zero-sum (if not outright negative effect), as it frees up resources for the Castro brothers to deploy on even more repression and censorship.
Cuba's kleptocracy at its finest.
Last week, we posted that Telecom Italia re-sold its 27% stake in the Castro regime's telecom monopoly, ETECSA, to the Cuban military for $706 million.
The transaction was completed by Rafin, S.A., which we noted was a financial arm of the Cuban military.
We also noted that in May 2010, Rafin, S.A., had created a joint venture with the secretive, South Pacific Holdings, Ltd., which is believed to be controlled by Russian finance players.
Little else had been known about Rafin, S.A. -- until now.
It turns out Rafin, S.A. stands for "Raul and Fidel Investments" ("Raul y Fidel Inversiones").
According to Juan Juan Almeida (in Diario de Cuba), son of recently deceased Cuban Vice-President (and 3rd highest ranking official of the Castro regime), General Juan Almeida Bosque, the abbreviation was concocted by the Castro brothers during a cocktail party with other military officials at an exclusive residence in Havana.
The remaining 73% of ETECSA is also owned by front-companies of the Castro brothers.
They are:
Telefónica Antillana S.A with 51%, Universal Trade & Management Corporation S,A (Utisa) with 11%, Banco Financiero Internacional with 6.15%, Negocios en Telecomunicaciones with 3.8% and Banco Internacional de Comercio with 0.9%
Lessons to be learned:
For lawmakers -- the more money that is sent to Cuba's totalitarian economy is the more money the Castro brothers will have to repress and censor the Cuban people.
For foreign companies -- business deals with the Castro brothers are not profitable in the long-term.
For "Cuba experts" and the Obama Administration (that argue travel and remittances will somehow help the Cuban people become "independent" of the regime, despite its closed economy) -- that policy has a zero-sum (if not outright negative effect), as it frees up resources for the Castro brothers to deploy on even more repression and censorship.
Cuba's kleptocracy at its finest.
Obama's Gross Problem (and Blunder)
Taking a page from the Obama Administration's playbook -- or perhaps mocking its announcement of unilateral concessions exactly three weeks earlier -- the Castro regime also chose a late Friday afternoon to announce its charges (and a potential 20-year prison sentence) against U.S. development worker, Alan Gross.
It took the Castro regime more than 14 months to file charges against Alan Gross (for helping Cuba's Jewish community to freely connect to the Internet).
So what are these charges that took 14 months of "intrigue"?
Gross was charged with violating Castro's arbitrary "Law Against Independence and Territorial Integrity." In other words, for disrespecting the absolute authority of the Castro brothers.
Ironically, this is the same "crime" for which the Castro regime imprisons Cuban dissidents -- except it only takes them overnight to invent charges in those cases.
So now what happens?
There will surely be a show trial and Gross will be found "guilty."
The question then becomes -- will the regime make Gross serve the 20-year sentence or release him on "humanitarian" grounds (and thereafter seek international praise for releasing a man that should have never been arrested in the first place)?
Time will tell. However, one thing is for sure -- it will be a very well-orchestrated show trial.
The audience? U.S. travelers.
The message? Bring me your money and shut up (or you too can become a hostage).
And unfortunately, the Obama Administration just made that a whole lot easier three weeks ago.
It took the Castro regime more than 14 months to file charges against Alan Gross (for helping Cuba's Jewish community to freely connect to the Internet).
So what are these charges that took 14 months of "intrigue"?
Gross was charged with violating Castro's arbitrary "Law Against Independence and Territorial Integrity." In other words, for disrespecting the absolute authority of the Castro brothers.
Ironically, this is the same "crime" for which the Castro regime imprisons Cuban dissidents -- except it only takes them overnight to invent charges in those cases.
So now what happens?
There will surely be a show trial and Gross will be found "guilty."
The question then becomes -- will the regime make Gross serve the 20-year sentence or release him on "humanitarian" grounds (and thereafter seek international praise for releasing a man that should have never been arrested in the first place)?
Time will tell. However, one thing is for sure -- it will be a very well-orchestrated show trial.
The audience? U.S. travelers.
The message? Bring me your money and shut up (or you too can become a hostage).
And unfortunately, the Obama Administration just made that a whole lot easier three weeks ago.
White House Statement on Alan Gross
Friday, February 4, 2011
When will the Obama Administration realize that the Castro brothers are not rational actors?
From The White House:
Alan Gross has been unjustly detained and deprived of his liberty and freedom for the last 14 months. Instead of releasing Mr. Gross so he can come home to his wife and family, today's decision by Cuban authorities compounds the injustice suffered by a man helping to increase the free flow of information, to, from, and among the Cuban people.
We remain deeply concerned for Mr. Gross' well being and that of his family and reiterate our call for his immediate release.
From The White House:
Alan Gross has been unjustly detained and deprived of his liberty and freedom for the last 14 months. Instead of releasing Mr. Gross so he can come home to his wife and family, today's decision by Cuban authorities compounds the injustice suffered by a man helping to increase the free flow of information, to, from, and among the Cuban people.
We remain deeply concerned for Mr. Gross' well being and that of his family and reiterate our call for his immediate release.
Time for a Congressional Investigation
Yesterday, the Office of the Inspector General at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services released a list of the Top 10 most-wanted health care fugitives, who have defrauded U.S. taxpayers of over $124 million.
Sadly, seven out of the ten are of Cuban origin. Six of them are currently hiding in Cuba.
Meanwhile, a recent report by the University of Miami entitled, "The Cuban Government and Multi-Million Medicare Fraud in South Florida," traces back its potential high-level links to Havana:
In a discussion with a high-level former intelligence official with the Cuban Government... who asked to remain unnamed, [he] states that there are indeed strong indications that the Cuban Government is directing some of these Medicare frauds as part of a desperate attempt to obtain hard currency. The source notes that the Cuban Government is also assisting (while not directing) other instances of Medicare fraud – providing perpetrators with information with which to commit fraud.
The former Cuban official goes on to say that, in the instances where the Cuban Government is not directing or facilitating the fraud, it does provide Cuba as a place for fugitives to flee. This gives the Castro regime a convenient and care-free way to raise hard currency. The source specified that any fugitive in Cuba needs to pay astronomically large sums of money to the Cuban Government in order to enter and remain in the country.
Clearly, it's time for Congress to look into this concerning matter.
Sadly, seven out of the ten are of Cuban origin. Six of them are currently hiding in Cuba.
Meanwhile, a recent report by the University of Miami entitled, "The Cuban Government and Multi-Million Medicare Fraud in South Florida," traces back its potential high-level links to Havana:
In a discussion with a high-level former intelligence official with the Cuban Government... who asked to remain unnamed, [he] states that there are indeed strong indications that the Cuban Government is directing some of these Medicare frauds as part of a desperate attempt to obtain hard currency. The source notes that the Cuban Government is also assisting (while not directing) other instances of Medicare fraud – providing perpetrators with information with which to commit fraud.
The former Cuban official goes on to say that, in the instances where the Cuban Government is not directing or facilitating the fraud, it does provide Cuba as a place for fugitives to flee. This gives the Castro regime a convenient and care-free way to raise hard currency. The source specified that any fugitive in Cuba needs to pay astronomically large sums of money to the Cuban Government in order to enter and remain in the country.
Clearly, it's time for Congress to look into this concerning matter.
In My Humble Opinion, Pt. 24
Thursday, February 3, 2011
From the St. Petersburg Times:
With Cuba poised to drill for oil off its coast as early as this spring, Florida lawmakers are renewing efforts to block it, citing fears about damage to the state's beaches in the event of a major oil spill.
Sarasota Republican Rep. Vern Buchanan introduced legislation to allow the U.S. Interior Department to deny oil and gas leases to companies involved in Cuba's oil drilling operations. Sen. Bill Nelson plans to reintroduce legislation to pull the visas for executives of such companies. Nelson also is hoping to "outline our position'' in a yet-to-be-scheduled meeting with officials from the Spanish energy giant, Repsol, which is working with Cuba [...]
The renewed push for legislation that seeks to dampen global interest in Cuba's offshore industry comes as a semisubmersible rig is being readied in Singapore for use in Cuba. Repsol, which drilled an exploratory well in 2004 off the coast near Havana, has contracted to drill the first of several exploratory wells. Other countries have also expressed interest in drilling in Cuba.
The Interior Department and the White House declined to comment on Buchanan's legislation.
A spokesman for Repsol said the company had no comment, but noted that its plans for 2011 include one well in Cuba, as well as one offshore and two onshore rigs in the United States.
Buchanan said his legislation would force Repsol "to make a choice — Cuba or the U.S." He noted that Repsol "scrapped'' plans to build a gas development plant in Iran amid U.S. pressure [...]
A leading embargo supporter suggests Havana is touting its oil reserves in hopes of rallying support for easing the embargo. The embargo already affects the oil program: The country had to secure a rig that didn't violate the law, which prevents vessels with more than 10 percent U.S. parts from operating in Cuba.
"This is part of a decade-long propaganda campaign by the regime in order to secure the oil industry's support for joining the lobby against the embargo," said Mauricio Claver-Carone, director of a leading pro-embargo lobby, the U.S. Cuba Democracy political action committee. He notes that Cuba lacks capacity for refining crude oil.
"We've been through this before," Claver-Carone said of reports Cuba is ready to drill. "It's the little boy who cried wolf."
EDITOR'S NOTE: For more background on this topic, click here to read the New York Times op-ed, "How the Cuban Embargo Protects the Environment."
With Cuba poised to drill for oil off its coast as early as this spring, Florida lawmakers are renewing efforts to block it, citing fears about damage to the state's beaches in the event of a major oil spill.
Sarasota Republican Rep. Vern Buchanan introduced legislation to allow the U.S. Interior Department to deny oil and gas leases to companies involved in Cuba's oil drilling operations. Sen. Bill Nelson plans to reintroduce legislation to pull the visas for executives of such companies. Nelson also is hoping to "outline our position'' in a yet-to-be-scheduled meeting with officials from the Spanish energy giant, Repsol, which is working with Cuba [...]
The renewed push for legislation that seeks to dampen global interest in Cuba's offshore industry comes as a semisubmersible rig is being readied in Singapore for use in Cuba. Repsol, which drilled an exploratory well in 2004 off the coast near Havana, has contracted to drill the first of several exploratory wells. Other countries have also expressed interest in drilling in Cuba.
The Interior Department and the White House declined to comment on Buchanan's legislation.
A spokesman for Repsol said the company had no comment, but noted that its plans for 2011 include one well in Cuba, as well as one offshore and two onshore rigs in the United States.
Buchanan said his legislation would force Repsol "to make a choice — Cuba or the U.S." He noted that Repsol "scrapped'' plans to build a gas development plant in Iran amid U.S. pressure [...]
A leading embargo supporter suggests Havana is touting its oil reserves in hopes of rallying support for easing the embargo. The embargo already affects the oil program: The country had to secure a rig that didn't violate the law, which prevents vessels with more than 10 percent U.S. parts from operating in Cuba.
"This is part of a decade-long propaganda campaign by the regime in order to secure the oil industry's support for joining the lobby against the embargo," said Mauricio Claver-Carone, director of a leading pro-embargo lobby, the U.S. Cuba Democracy political action committee. He notes that Cuba lacks capacity for refining crude oil.
"We've been through this before," Claver-Carone said of reports Cuba is ready to drill. "It's the little boy who cried wolf."
EDITOR'S NOTE: For more background on this topic, click here to read the New York Times op-ed, "How the Cuban Embargo Protects the Environment."
A Video Worth Watching
If you have some time (for it's a bit long), please watch the following video that was recently smuggled out (thus exemplifying internal discord) of Cuba.
It's a conference given to the Cuban military on how to fight against the "threats" that the Internet and technology poses to the Castro regime.
You can click forward, but it's worth watching throughout.
Bottom line: They are quite concerned about the Cuban people being able to freely express themselves.
Unfortunately, it's only in Spanish (for now).
If you don't understand Spanish, at least take a look at the pictures (below) of the "students" (military thugs) in this censorship class (h/t Penultimos Dias).
Courtesy of Generation Y.
La ciber policia en Cuba from Coral Negro on Vimeo.
It's a conference given to the Cuban military on how to fight against the "threats" that the Internet and technology poses to the Castro regime.
You can click forward, but it's worth watching throughout.
Bottom line: They are quite concerned about the Cuban people being able to freely express themselves.
Unfortunately, it's only in Spanish (for now).
If you don't understand Spanish, at least take a look at the pictures (below) of the "students" (military thugs) in this censorship class (h/t Penultimos Dias).
Courtesy of Generation Y.
La ciber policia en Cuba from Coral Negro on Vimeo.
Bracketing Political Prisoners
Another month has passed since the heralded announcement of July 2010 -- that 52 specifically-named Cuban political prisoners would be released by the Castro regime.
And still, there has only been one release in Cuba.
Of those 52 political prisoners, 40 have been forcibly banished to Spain and 11 remain in prison for refusing banishment as a pre-condition.
Just this week, one of those 11, Diosdado Gonzalez, along with his wife, Alejandrina Garcia, a founding member of the Ladies in White, began a hunger strike demanding his release.
But before the foreign media could even report (or so we hope) on the hunger strike of Diosdado Gonzalez and his wife, the Castro regime (and its accomplices) moved quickly to announce the banishment of four previously unknown prisoners.
A coincidence? Far from.
The regime -- cleverly -- wanted to bracket any news stories about another month passing without the release of any of the 11, or the hunger strike by Diosdado Gonzalez and his wife.
Thus, the AP reported (and bracketed):
Cuba's government has agreed to free four opposition prisoners and send them into exile in Spain, a Roman Catholic Church official said Wednesday, but none of them are among a group of 11 prominent peaceful dissidents jailed since a 2003 crackdown on dissent.
And well-within the story, it mentions:
Alejandrina Garcia, the wife of one of those 11 prisoners, began a hunger strike on Friday to demand her husband's release.
Garcia's husband, Diosdado Gonzalez, and another dissident prisoner, Pedro Arguelles, joined the hunger strike on Tuesday. Gonzalez is being held at a maximum security prison in Matanzas, while Arguelles is in jail in the central province of Ciego de Avila.
It's imperative that we remind the international community (and the short-term memory of the Catholic Church) the names of the 11 political prisoners still awaiting for release within their homeland (which is their fundamental human right):
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 and Guido Sigler Amaya.
And still, there has only been one release in Cuba.
Of those 52 political prisoners, 40 have been forcibly banished to Spain and 11 remain in prison for refusing banishment as a pre-condition.
Just this week, one of those 11, Diosdado Gonzalez, along with his wife, Alejandrina Garcia, a founding member of the Ladies in White, began a hunger strike demanding his release.
But before the foreign media could even report (or so we hope) on the hunger strike of Diosdado Gonzalez and his wife, the Castro regime (and its accomplices) moved quickly to announce the banishment of four previously unknown prisoners.
A coincidence? Far from.
The regime -- cleverly -- wanted to bracket any news stories about another month passing without the release of any of the 11, or the hunger strike by Diosdado Gonzalez and his wife.
Thus, the AP reported (and bracketed):
Cuba's government has agreed to free four opposition prisoners and send them into exile in Spain, a Roman Catholic Church official said Wednesday, but none of them are among a group of 11 prominent peaceful dissidents jailed since a 2003 crackdown on dissent.
And well-within the story, it mentions:
Alejandrina Garcia, the wife of one of those 11 prisoners, began a hunger strike on Friday to demand her husband's release.
Garcia's husband, Diosdado Gonzalez, and another dissident prisoner, Pedro Arguelles, joined the hunger strike on Tuesday. Gonzalez is being held at a maximum security prison in Matanzas, while Arguelles is in jail in the central province of Ciego de Avila.
It's imperative that we remind the international community (and the short-term memory of the Catholic Church) the names of the 11 political prisoners still awaiting for release within their homeland (which is their fundamental human right):
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 and Guido Sigler Amaya.
Castro's HIV Prisons
Are there any limits to the cruelty of the Castro regime?
Yesterday, we posted an editorial on the tragic murder of 26 patients in a Cuban psychiatric hospital -- due to starvation and medical negligence.
Today, Diario de Cuba exposes Castro's five prison facilities for Cubans suffering from HIV-AIDS.
They are sent to these prisons under the draconian "Law Against Social Dangerousness" -- ironically, the same law under which Castro arrests political prisoners. (A good reminder for those normalization advocates that always talk about "respecting Cuban law.")
At these facilities, they suffer from lack of medical care, hygiene, nutrition and all sorts of brutal abuse.
Needless to say, these prisons are not part of Castro's health care "propaganda tours" for foreign visitors.
Here's a picture of Castro's Santa Clara HIV Prison, where over 235 "inmates" are held.
No wonder Castro refuses to allow the International Committee on the Red Cross and U.N.'s Special Rapporteur Against Torture to enter Cuba.
Yesterday, we posted an editorial on the tragic murder of 26 patients in a Cuban psychiatric hospital -- due to starvation and medical negligence.
Today, Diario de Cuba exposes Castro's five prison facilities for Cubans suffering from HIV-AIDS.
They are sent to these prisons under the draconian "Law Against Social Dangerousness" -- ironically, the same law under which Castro arrests political prisoners. (A good reminder for those normalization advocates that always talk about "respecting Cuban law.")
At these facilities, they suffer from lack of medical care, hygiene, nutrition and all sorts of brutal abuse.
Needless to say, these prisons are not part of Castro's health care "propaganda tours" for foreign visitors.
Here's a picture of Castro's Santa Clara HIV Prison, where over 235 "inmates" are held.
No wonder Castro refuses to allow the International Committee on the Red Cross and U.N.'s Special Rapporteur Against Torture to enter Cuba.
Sounds Like a "Hardliner"
Wednesday, February 2, 2011
"I will never get into a dialogue… while Mubarak is in power. Because all… you do is you… give that regime a legitimacy, which I… in my view, they have lost. But more importantly… I don't think he understands what democracy means. I don't think he understands… you know, I don't think he understands that he really needs to… let go."
-- Mohamed El Baradei, 2005 Nobel Peace Prize winner, former head of the International Atomic Energy Agency and prominent opponent of Egyptian dictator Hosni Mubarak, CBS Evening News, 2/2/11.
-- Mohamed El Baradei, 2005 Nobel Peace Prize winner, former head of the International Atomic Energy Agency and prominent opponent of Egyptian dictator Hosni Mubarak, CBS Evening News, 2/2/11.
The Real Criminals Are Still at Large
From The Miami Herald's Editorial Board:
Mazorra's crimes
Cuba's public health system is held up to the world as one of the glories of the revolution. It's supposed to be a major achievement of the Castro dictatorship, consistently used to justify the deprivations Cuba's people are forced to endure every day.
Most Cubans, if not all, know that's an exaggeration, to put it mildly. Yes, Cubans get free medical care. But it's neither quality care nor particularly good. Indeed, a form of healthcare apartheid exists in Cuba that offers a higher level of medical treatment for foreigners and anyone else who can pay for it, but doles out aspirin to everyone else (if they're available) regardless of ailment.
That hasn't kept the Cuban propaganda mill from extolling the virtues of the state-run healthcare system. But the latest events surrounding the horrific findings at the Havana Psychiatric Hospital, known as Mazorra, where electroshock "treatment'' for political dissidents has been commonly used, are eye-opening and disgusting.
Pictures of the cadavers of 26 patients whose deaths were officially attributed to cold and malnutrition were widely circulated on the Internet. They looked like victims of a concentration camp, an embarrassment that forced the dictatorship to put some of the medical personnel on trial. Thirteen were convicted, with sentences ranging from 15 to five years in jail.
Cuba's healthcare system, like so much of Fidel and Raúl Castro's revolution, stands exposed as a fraud and a failure. The scapegoats are headed for prison. The real criminals are still at large.
Mazorra's crimes
Cuba's public health system is held up to the world as one of the glories of the revolution. It's supposed to be a major achievement of the Castro dictatorship, consistently used to justify the deprivations Cuba's people are forced to endure every day.
Most Cubans, if not all, know that's an exaggeration, to put it mildly. Yes, Cubans get free medical care. But it's neither quality care nor particularly good. Indeed, a form of healthcare apartheid exists in Cuba that offers a higher level of medical treatment for foreigners and anyone else who can pay for it, but doles out aspirin to everyone else (if they're available) regardless of ailment.
That hasn't kept the Cuban propaganda mill from extolling the virtues of the state-run healthcare system. But the latest events surrounding the horrific findings at the Havana Psychiatric Hospital, known as Mazorra, where electroshock "treatment'' for political dissidents has been commonly used, are eye-opening and disgusting.
Pictures of the cadavers of 26 patients whose deaths were officially attributed to cold and malnutrition were widely circulated on the Internet. They looked like victims of a concentration camp, an embarrassment that forced the dictatorship to put some of the medical personnel on trial. Thirteen were convicted, with sentences ranging from 15 to five years in jail.
Cuba's healthcare system, like so much of Fidel and Raúl Castro's revolution, stands exposed as a fraud and a failure. The scapegoats are headed for prison. The real criminals are still at large.
Castro vs. Mubarak's "Reforms"
While we disagree with the overall pessimism in Daniel Greenfield's recent column on Egypt, the following observation is quite noteworthy:
"Consider the pundits who have urged us to embrace Castro's reforms, but would like us to see remove Mubarak. There is little difference between the men in principle. Mubarak is certainly less of a tyrant than Castro. But Cuba is the left's pet cause. And they fantasize that Egypt will see a left wing government take hold once Mubarak is gone."
That's hard to argue against.
If you haven't seen the video interview we posted with a young, Egyptian, anti-Mubarak protester on Capitol Hill Cubans TV, please click here to do so.
If that's what the protesters are selling for Egypt (or Cuba for that matter) -- then we're certainly buying.
Finally, a word of caution for all the zealous U.S. supporters of normalizing relations with the Castro regime:
When the U.S. colludes with dictators for a short-term gain, it always risks losing the people in the long-term.
A very risky arbitrage.
It's always in the long-term interests of the U.S. to stand -- unequivocally -- behind its democratic values and principles.
"Consider the pundits who have urged us to embrace Castro's reforms, but would like us to see remove Mubarak. There is little difference between the men in principle. Mubarak is certainly less of a tyrant than Castro. But Cuba is the left's pet cause. And they fantasize that Egypt will see a left wing government take hold once Mubarak is gone."
That's hard to argue against.
If you haven't seen the video interview we posted with a young, Egyptian, anti-Mubarak protester on Capitol Hill Cubans TV, please click here to do so.
If that's what the protesters are selling for Egypt (or Cuba for that matter) -- then we're certainly buying.
Finally, a word of caution for all the zealous U.S. supporters of normalizing relations with the Castro regime:
When the U.S. colludes with dictators for a short-term gain, it always risks losing the people in the long-term.
A very risky arbitrage.
It's always in the long-term interests of the U.S. to stand -- unequivocally -- behind its democratic values and principles.
A Must-Read on Tunisia-Cuba
By Anna Mahjar-Barducci in Hudson-NY:
The Tunisian Revolution As Seen By Cuba
The Tunisian Revolution did not echo only in the Arab world, but also in Latin America. After the fall of the former Tunisian President Ben Ali, the Mexican paper "La Mañana" wrote that this was a "clear message to the other authoritarian leaders in the world: a dictator fell and sooner or later the other dictators will also follow the same fate." The op-ed stresses that regimes such as the one in La Havana are now feeling uncertain, and anxious that similar protests could also explode in their countries. Cuban dissidents, too, see many similarities, especially between the Castro regime, in power for more the fifty years, and the dictatorship in Tunisia, which for 23 years had been pillaging the country.
In Tunisia, as in Cuba, there are more than a million exiled people, and a frustrated youth with high-education, but no employment. In Tunisia, there are pockets of real poverty, particularly in the interior regions, such as Sidi Bouzid and Kasserine, where the revolt started. The unemployment rate is 14.7%, for a population of ten and a half million. Further, salaries for manual labor are unbearably low: having a job does not always avoid having a miserable life.
In Cuba, with a population similar to Tunisia's -- around 11 million -- an administrative chaos reigns. Even though, as the Associated Press reports, unemployment is minuscule -- it has not risen above 3% in eight years -- the official data ignore "thousands of Cubans who are not looking for jobs that pay monthly salaries worth only $20 a month on average."
Tunisia was a police state, as Cuba still is. During Ben Ali's regime, policemen in plain clothes and network of spies were everywhere. Outside a supermarket in Tunis, you could even see a shoeshine pull out a big walkie-talkie, like those in use with the police, and talk to somebody clearly not his wife. After a while, in Tunisia, you are under the impression that Big Brother is always watching you.
In Cuba, it is the same. As reported on the State Department website: "Cuba is a totalitarian police state which relies on repressive methods to maintain control. These methods include intense physical and electronic surveillance of both Cuban citizens and foreign visitors."
Further, in Tunisia, as in any dictatorship, public order was implemented with force -- all too often excessive force - without taking into account torture practices used behind closed doors and in prisons, as many witnesses have recounted during the last few days. Once, you could even seen a beggar without legs being harshly taken away, and the person who accompanied him being repeatedly punched in the head. Such unnecessary violence was a standard practice.
In Cuba, Human Rights Watch reports, conditions in prisons are inhuman, and political prisoners suffer additional degrading treatment and torture. The dissident website Cubanet writes that "day and night, the screams of tormented women [in prison] in panic and desperation who cry for God's mercy fall upon the deaf ears of prison authorities. They are confined to narrow cells with no sunlight called 'drawers' that have cement beds, a hole on the ground for their bodily needs, and are infested with a multitude of rodents, roaches, and other insects".
Tunisia, like Cuba, was also a country with no freedom of press. One of the main dailies, in French, La Presse, contained only a list of presidential activities and praise and applauses for the regime's personalities. Even the foreign press was kept under control. There was also the problem of corruption -- that does not exempt the Socialist Cuba. In Tunisia, not only there was a rampant corruption from the members of the government-for-life, but even the President's family was one of the main actors in robbing the country. The President's wife, Leila Trabelsi, fled Tunisia after having taken 1.5 tons of gold from the Central Bank; and her family had been borrowing money from the bank at an interest of 0.25 per thousand (not per cent, which would already be negligible, but per thousand).
The only difference from Cuba is that Tunisia was considered by many Western governments as a "moderate" country, seen as a buttress against Islamism. Although Ben Ali himself used religion to give credibility to his regime, under his dictatorship Islamism grew as it represented the only real and strong opposition. Cuba instead lives under an embargo.
In the meantime, while the Tunisians are still fighting for their freedoms, hoping that the future will not be uncertain, in Cuba the opponents to the regime write that the "Jasmine Revolution" has renewed their hopes.
This new hope is why the Cuban government pretends that almost nothing has happened in Tunisia: it fears similar protests. The media outlet, Diario de Cuba, writes that every year Ben Ali would send messages to La Havana to congratulate it for the anniversary of its triumphant Revolución. Even this year, in the midst of the protests, on January 6, Ben Ali expressed his desire to serve the interests of these two friendly countries. However, "there was not even one line in the Cuban press on the fall of the 'friend' Ben Ali. And until now, we could not enjoy one of those farsighted 'reflections' by Fidel Castro illustrating the subject. What a pity!"
The Tunisian Revolution As Seen By Cuba
The Tunisian Revolution did not echo only in the Arab world, but also in Latin America. After the fall of the former Tunisian President Ben Ali, the Mexican paper "La Mañana" wrote that this was a "clear message to the other authoritarian leaders in the world: a dictator fell and sooner or later the other dictators will also follow the same fate." The op-ed stresses that regimes such as the one in La Havana are now feeling uncertain, and anxious that similar protests could also explode in their countries. Cuban dissidents, too, see many similarities, especially between the Castro regime, in power for more the fifty years, and the dictatorship in Tunisia, which for 23 years had been pillaging the country.
In Tunisia, as in Cuba, there are more than a million exiled people, and a frustrated youth with high-education, but no employment. In Tunisia, there are pockets of real poverty, particularly in the interior regions, such as Sidi Bouzid and Kasserine, where the revolt started. The unemployment rate is 14.7%, for a population of ten and a half million. Further, salaries for manual labor are unbearably low: having a job does not always avoid having a miserable life.
In Cuba, with a population similar to Tunisia's -- around 11 million -- an administrative chaos reigns. Even though, as the Associated Press reports, unemployment is minuscule -- it has not risen above 3% in eight years -- the official data ignore "thousands of Cubans who are not looking for jobs that pay monthly salaries worth only $20 a month on average."
Tunisia was a police state, as Cuba still is. During Ben Ali's regime, policemen in plain clothes and network of spies were everywhere. Outside a supermarket in Tunis, you could even see a shoeshine pull out a big walkie-talkie, like those in use with the police, and talk to somebody clearly not his wife. After a while, in Tunisia, you are under the impression that Big Brother is always watching you.
In Cuba, it is the same. As reported on the State Department website: "Cuba is a totalitarian police state which relies on repressive methods to maintain control. These methods include intense physical and electronic surveillance of both Cuban citizens and foreign visitors."
Further, in Tunisia, as in any dictatorship, public order was implemented with force -- all too often excessive force - without taking into account torture practices used behind closed doors and in prisons, as many witnesses have recounted during the last few days. Once, you could even seen a beggar without legs being harshly taken away, and the person who accompanied him being repeatedly punched in the head. Such unnecessary violence was a standard practice.
In Cuba, Human Rights Watch reports, conditions in prisons are inhuman, and political prisoners suffer additional degrading treatment and torture. The dissident website Cubanet writes that "day and night, the screams of tormented women [in prison] in panic and desperation who cry for God's mercy fall upon the deaf ears of prison authorities. They are confined to narrow cells with no sunlight called 'drawers' that have cement beds, a hole on the ground for their bodily needs, and are infested with a multitude of rodents, roaches, and other insects".
Tunisia, like Cuba, was also a country with no freedom of press. One of the main dailies, in French, La Presse, contained only a list of presidential activities and praise and applauses for the regime's personalities. Even the foreign press was kept under control. There was also the problem of corruption -- that does not exempt the Socialist Cuba. In Tunisia, not only there was a rampant corruption from the members of the government-for-life, but even the President's family was one of the main actors in robbing the country. The President's wife, Leila Trabelsi, fled Tunisia after having taken 1.5 tons of gold from the Central Bank; and her family had been borrowing money from the bank at an interest of 0.25 per thousand (not per cent, which would already be negligible, but per thousand).
The only difference from Cuba is that Tunisia was considered by many Western governments as a "moderate" country, seen as a buttress against Islamism. Although Ben Ali himself used religion to give credibility to his regime, under his dictatorship Islamism grew as it represented the only real and strong opposition. Cuba instead lives under an embargo.
In the meantime, while the Tunisians are still fighting for their freedoms, hoping that the future will not be uncertain, in Cuba the opponents to the regime write that the "Jasmine Revolution" has renewed their hopes.
This new hope is why the Cuban government pretends that almost nothing has happened in Tunisia: it fears similar protests. The media outlet, Diario de Cuba, writes that every year Ben Ali would send messages to La Havana to congratulate it for the anniversary of its triumphant Revolución. Even this year, in the midst of the protests, on January 6, Ben Ali expressed his desire to serve the interests of these two friendly countries. However, "there was not even one line in the Cuban press on the fall of the 'friend' Ben Ali. And until now, we could not enjoy one of those farsighted 'reflections' by Fidel Castro illustrating the subject. What a pity!"
An Offensive Headline
Tuesday, February 1, 2011
Analyze the following AP headline:
"Pizza bakers, mule drivers, shoe shiners: New entrepreneurs lead Cuba's year of economic change"
If this headline were about a U.S. minority group, e.g. African-Americans, or ethnic group, e.g. Mexicans, it'd be considered offensive -- if not xenophobic.
Yet, for Castro's slaves, it's somehow heralded when a Cuban is given "permission" to be a pizza baker, mule driver or shoe shiner -- and only on a "lease" from the regime, for they are still prohibited from actually owning any business, property or other means of production.
They (the few thousand Cubans that are granted one of Castro's self-employment licenses) are simply permitted to pay the regime an overwhelming tax in order to offer one of 178 (previously designated and limited) menial services.
This is particularly offensive (and degrading), for when Cubans are given freedom (in this case, exile), they have proven to climb -- through their hard-work and innovation -- to the highest echelons of international business.
There's only one standard under which economic progress should be measured in Cuba -- entrepreneurial freedom, equal opportunity and property rights for all.
"Pizza bakers, mule drivers, shoe shiners: New entrepreneurs lead Cuba's year of economic change"
If this headline were about a U.S. minority group, e.g. African-Americans, or ethnic group, e.g. Mexicans, it'd be considered offensive -- if not xenophobic.
Yet, for Castro's slaves, it's somehow heralded when a Cuban is given "permission" to be a pizza baker, mule driver or shoe shiner -- and only on a "lease" from the regime, for they are still prohibited from actually owning any business, property or other means of production.
They (the few thousand Cubans that are granted one of Castro's self-employment licenses) are simply permitted to pay the regime an overwhelming tax in order to offer one of 178 (previously designated and limited) menial services.
This is particularly offensive (and degrading), for when Cubans are given freedom (in this case, exile), they have proven to climb -- through their hard-work and innovation -- to the highest echelons of international business.
There's only one standard under which economic progress should be measured in Cuba -- entrepreneurial freedom, equal opportunity and property rights for all.
USINT Chief: "Profound Changes Required"
From the Voice of America (VOA):
Washington, D.C. - The top U.S. diplomat in Cuba told VOA Tuesday the Castro government has "taken some steps" to improve relations with the United States, but there is a "long way to go" before the U.S. trade embargo can be lifted.
Jonathan Farrar, the Chief of Mission at the U.S. Interests Section in Cuba, made the comments at VOA's Washington headquarters, where the top U.S. diplomats from 14 South American and Caribbean nations discussed key regional developments, including the situation in Haiti.
In his comments on Cuba, Farrar called the continued detention of 62 year-old U.S. aid worker Alan Gross, "an obstacle for increased dialogue between both countries." Asked about the possibility of lifting the U.S. embargo, Farrar said, "as President Obama has stated, that would require profound changes in the conditions that are present in Cuba today."
Washington, D.C. - The top U.S. diplomat in Cuba told VOA Tuesday the Castro government has "taken some steps" to improve relations with the United States, but there is a "long way to go" before the U.S. trade embargo can be lifted.
Jonathan Farrar, the Chief of Mission at the U.S. Interests Section in Cuba, made the comments at VOA's Washington headquarters, where the top U.S. diplomats from 14 South American and Caribbean nations discussed key regional developments, including the situation in Haiti.
In his comments on Cuba, Farrar called the continued detention of 62 year-old U.S. aid worker Alan Gross, "an obstacle for increased dialogue between both countries." Asked about the possibility of lifting the U.S. embargo, Farrar said, "as President Obama has stated, that would require profound changes in the conditions that are present in Cuba today."
The Invisible Hostage Crises
By former NSC official, Elliott Abrams, at the Council on Foreign Relations:
It is now a year and a half since Iran jailed three American hikers on trumped-up spying charges. The three, Shane Bauer, his fiancée Sarah Shourd, and Josh Fattal were detained on July 31, 2009; Shourd was released on September 14 of last year. Recalling the hostage crisis that helped bring down Jimmy Carter in 1980 and that ended on the twentieth of January thirty years ago, it is striking that the Administration appears only mildly disturbed that they continue to sit in jail—as does Congress.
Nor are Bauer and Fattal the only American hostages. The USAID contractor Alan Gross has been imprisoned in Cuba for 13 months now. He was there to help the tiny Cuba Jewish community connect with Jewish communities around the world, and for this "crime" he is accused of espionage. If that verdict of Administration indifference seems too harsh, it is striking that the Administration just two weeks ago announced a loosening of travel restrictions to Cuba whose goals include to "enhance contact with the Cuban people and support civil society through purposeful travel, including religious, cultural, and educational travel" and especially to "Allow religious organizations to sponsor religious travel to Cuba." To encourage contact with religious communities in Cuba while the last guy who tried remains in jail does not suggest that Mr. Gross's release is at the top of the Administration's agenda.
Perhaps there is a secret deal here, and he will be released within days. But if there was no agreement of any kind, the Administration's move seems callous. According to the Washington Post, "The new regulations had been drawn up by Obama administration officials last summer. But, wary of political fallout, they had held off introducing them until after the November elections. Another complicating factor has been the detention of Alan P. Gross, a Potomac contractor who was arrested in Havana in December 2009…." The question is precisely whether Mr. Gross is regarded as an American whose freedom should be our top priority, or a "complicating factor" in the Administration's drive to liberalize travel to Cuba. Even if that were a worthy goal, it is difficult to see why it is a more vital national interest than freeing our citizens.
As to those held in Iran, is it not fair to ask how far we will go to free them? No doubt the Administration has reached out to many interlocutors it believes capable of persuading the ayatollahs: Switzerland (which represents us in Iran), Russia, China, Turkey and who knows how many others. And it was quite sensible initially to believe that quiet diplomacy was more likely to free the two men than loud pressure.
Except it isn't working. Appropriate holidays for "humanitarian" releases have come and gone, and then come and gone again. Those of a historical bent may think back to "Perdicaris Alive or Raisuli Dead," the battle cry Theodore Roosevelt used in 1904 during his campaign that year, and wonder whether something more forceful would work better. That is debatable; what cannot be debated is that Iran has felt itself able to imprison innocent Americans endlessly without worrying about the consequences [...]
Although we are not at war with Iran its rulers have been killing Americans for a very long time—in terrorist attacks and more recently in Iraq and Afghanistan. Perhaps they would take us more seriously in the future, in ways that would even help our diplomatic negotiations with Iran, if we now imposed a penalty on the regime. Or would it be OK to see Mr. Fattal and Mr. Bauer sit in prison for their second anniversary, and then their third?
It is now a year and a half since Iran jailed three American hikers on trumped-up spying charges. The three, Shane Bauer, his fiancée Sarah Shourd, and Josh Fattal were detained on July 31, 2009; Shourd was released on September 14 of last year. Recalling the hostage crisis that helped bring down Jimmy Carter in 1980 and that ended on the twentieth of January thirty years ago, it is striking that the Administration appears only mildly disturbed that they continue to sit in jail—as does Congress.
Nor are Bauer and Fattal the only American hostages. The USAID contractor Alan Gross has been imprisoned in Cuba for 13 months now. He was there to help the tiny Cuba Jewish community connect with Jewish communities around the world, and for this "crime" he is accused of espionage. If that verdict of Administration indifference seems too harsh, it is striking that the Administration just two weeks ago announced a loosening of travel restrictions to Cuba whose goals include to "enhance contact with the Cuban people and support civil society through purposeful travel, including religious, cultural, and educational travel" and especially to "Allow religious organizations to sponsor religious travel to Cuba." To encourage contact with religious communities in Cuba while the last guy who tried remains in jail does not suggest that Mr. Gross's release is at the top of the Administration's agenda.
Perhaps there is a secret deal here, and he will be released within days. But if there was no agreement of any kind, the Administration's move seems callous. According to the Washington Post, "The new regulations had been drawn up by Obama administration officials last summer. But, wary of political fallout, they had held off introducing them until after the November elections. Another complicating factor has been the detention of Alan P. Gross, a Potomac contractor who was arrested in Havana in December 2009…." The question is precisely whether Mr. Gross is regarded as an American whose freedom should be our top priority, or a "complicating factor" in the Administration's drive to liberalize travel to Cuba. Even if that were a worthy goal, it is difficult to see why it is a more vital national interest than freeing our citizens.
As to those held in Iran, is it not fair to ask how far we will go to free them? No doubt the Administration has reached out to many interlocutors it believes capable of persuading the ayatollahs: Switzerland (which represents us in Iran), Russia, China, Turkey and who knows how many others. And it was quite sensible initially to believe that quiet diplomacy was more likely to free the two men than loud pressure.
Except it isn't working. Appropriate holidays for "humanitarian" releases have come and gone, and then come and gone again. Those of a historical bent may think back to "Perdicaris Alive or Raisuli Dead," the battle cry Theodore Roosevelt used in 1904 during his campaign that year, and wonder whether something more forceful would work better. That is debatable; what cannot be debated is that Iran has felt itself able to imprison innocent Americans endlessly without worrying about the consequences [...]
Although we are not at war with Iran its rulers have been killing Americans for a very long time—in terrorist attacks and more recently in Iraq and Afghanistan. Perhaps they would take us more seriously in the future, in ways that would even help our diplomatic negotiations with Iran, if we now imposed a penalty on the regime. Or would it be OK to see Mr. Fattal and Mr. Bauer sit in prison for their second anniversary, and then their third?
A Canadian With a Conscience
By Canadian columnist Bill Tieleman:
Cuba no fun in the sun
"I cannot go to Cuba to relax on the beach and keep my eyes shut while dozens of political prisoners are behind bars there."
- Former Czech president Vaclav Havel, 2006
Each year over 800,000 Canadians visit Cuba for a sun-filled holiday of beaches, rum and great music.
I have not and will not be one of them.
Unfortunately for Cubans, their country is run by a repressive military dictatorship that rejects democracy and severely punishes those who speak out for change.
Even leaving the country is close to impossible for most citizens.
I cannot therefore in good conscience support Cuba's government by being a Canadian tourist there.
Like Havel – who fought his own country's repressive regime and was jailed for five years – I'm deeply troubled by the Cuban communist government of former President Fidel Castro, and now his brother Raul's, ongoing violations of human rights.
Amnesty International hasn't been allowed to visit Cuba since 1990. That alone should give Canadians pause before heading to the beaches of Veradero.
But Amnesty has still documented repeated and severe abuses of Cubans for attempting to exercise basic human rights. Its 2010 Report on Cuba says:
"Civil and political rights continued to be severely restricted by the authorities. Government critics continued to be imprisoned; many reported that they were beaten during arrest."
Despite the repression there are Cubans fighting for change.
Yoani Sanchez is – somewhat amazingly – a pro-democracy blogger in Cuba. Her life has been extremely difficult and her courage extraordinary.
"In November, Yoani Sánchez and blogger Orlando Luis Pardo were forced into a car by state security agents and beaten and threatened before being released," Amnesty International says. "The attackers told Sánchez 'this is the end of it'."
Individual Canadian tourists can send a strong message to the Cuban dictatorship by vacationing elsewhere. Tourism is Cuba's second largest revenue stream and Canada its number one source of visitors.
It's simply a personal choice – something citizens of Canada and other democracies are privileged to have.
The counter argument is Cuba has many positive accomplishments, despite its repressive government. Infant mortality is among the world's lowest and better than the United States. Its medical services to citizens are vastly superior to most developing countries.
But Cubans pay a heavy and unnecessary price with the loss of liberty and democracy.
It's a personal choice for every Canadian who has the opportunity to travel to decide where they go on vacation.
After all, unlike Cuba, it's a free country.
Cuba no fun in the sun
"I cannot go to Cuba to relax on the beach and keep my eyes shut while dozens of political prisoners are behind bars there."
- Former Czech president Vaclav Havel, 2006
Each year over 800,000 Canadians visit Cuba for a sun-filled holiday of beaches, rum and great music.
I have not and will not be one of them.
Unfortunately for Cubans, their country is run by a repressive military dictatorship that rejects democracy and severely punishes those who speak out for change.
Even leaving the country is close to impossible for most citizens.
I cannot therefore in good conscience support Cuba's government by being a Canadian tourist there.
Like Havel – who fought his own country's repressive regime and was jailed for five years – I'm deeply troubled by the Cuban communist government of former President Fidel Castro, and now his brother Raul's, ongoing violations of human rights.
Amnesty International hasn't been allowed to visit Cuba since 1990. That alone should give Canadians pause before heading to the beaches of Veradero.
But Amnesty has still documented repeated and severe abuses of Cubans for attempting to exercise basic human rights. Its 2010 Report on Cuba says:
"Civil and political rights continued to be severely restricted by the authorities. Government critics continued to be imprisoned; many reported that they were beaten during arrest."
Despite the repression there are Cubans fighting for change.
Yoani Sanchez is – somewhat amazingly – a pro-democracy blogger in Cuba. Her life has been extremely difficult and her courage extraordinary.
"In November, Yoani Sánchez and blogger Orlando Luis Pardo were forced into a car by state security agents and beaten and threatened before being released," Amnesty International says. "The attackers told Sánchez 'this is the end of it'."
Individual Canadian tourists can send a strong message to the Cuban dictatorship by vacationing elsewhere. Tourism is Cuba's second largest revenue stream and Canada its number one source of visitors.
It's simply a personal choice – something citizens of Canada and other democracies are privileged to have.
The counter argument is Cuba has many positive accomplishments, despite its repressive government. Infant mortality is among the world's lowest and better than the United States. Its medical services to citizens are vastly superior to most developing countries.
But Cubans pay a heavy and unnecessary price with the loss of liberty and democracy.
It's a personal choice for every Canadian who has the opportunity to travel to decide where they go on vacation.
After all, unlike Cuba, it's a free country.
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