A message for Yoani Sanchez
You are undoubtedly a heroine, not to mention the future of Cuba.
Regardless of any disagreement that we may have regarding U.S. policy towards Cuba, we certainly respect your right to voice that disagreement, as we're confident you respect our right to disagree.
That is the diversity of our views (and the roots of a future democracy).
Yet, any disagreement is minimal within the context of our fundamental agreement that the human rights of the Cuban people must be respected; that an end to the Castro regime's brutal dictatorship is imminent; and that a process of democratic change must take place.
That is the unity of our purpose.
Such diversity of views, in furtherance of this united purpose, make our Cuban family stronger.
So within our family, please indulge us with the following recommendation:
When you were abducted and assaulted by the Castro regime's thugs on November 6th, not one of the current 178 Members of Congress that have co-sponsored legislation to unconditionally lift tourism sanctions towards Cuba -- nor its advocates -- raised their voice in concern or condemnation.
Similarly, Friday's physical attack by the regime's thugs against your husband, Reinaldo, did not seem to disturb the conscience of those Members of Congress, nor their advocates. It was, once again, met with disturbing silence.
Yet, the same people that urged you to weigh-in on behalf of their views during last week's Congressional hearing on US policy towards Cuba, have left no stone unturned, exerting all of their energy and efforts, to exploit your views for their political gain.
Simply put, they seek to take advantage of our family's diversity, in the hopes of hindering our united purpose.
Therefore, we respectfully ask:
Make sure to hold them accountable for their silence.
In the meantime, we will continue working hard to do so.
And I feel the need to add that even some "friends" - who blog and serve as intermediary between those Congressmen and politicians in the US and yourself - have yet to publicly condemn the acts against you and your colleagues and husband.
Absolutely brilliant.
You know that's really ballsy for you to question Yoani like that...unlike you she could careless who the help to bring freedom to Cuba comes from, weather it's from the left or the right..Babalu use to be a blog that had only one goal and that was to bring freedom to Cuba. It has now turned into a totally right wing website who's only goal now is to attack anything that comes from the left...so much so that I have yet you see you post the response from Obama to Yoani's 7 questions....the president of the USA answered her questions and you dont think thats important!!! come on! .I am not an Obama fan and never will be don't be fooled to think we can forward the day Cuba is free without everyones help...who cares where it comes from we need all the help we can get...I dont know what happen to this blog that it's only enemy was the castro brothers...this blog has lost it's way and what a shame as it was the leader in getting the word out about a free Cuba...remember that going to far to the left is BAD but also remember that going to far to the right is just as bad....my only wish is that Babalublog goes back to being what it was a blog to promote the freedom of Cuba not a right-wing at all cost website...
to ilovecuba1...
chico o chica , no COMAS TANTA CACA. THAT RIGHT WING/LEFT WING CRAP DON'T GO NOWHERE'S AFTER 50 YRS.
COMEMIERDA. Put your cabeza back where it was.
ilovecuba1: This is the Babalú response to the seven questions:
http://babalublog.com/2009/11/seven-questions/
If it leaves you wanting, then perhaps you should start your own blog.
ilovecuba,
As Ziva posted above, I did cover Yoani's questions and responses from the administration.
However, Ill further that the reason I didnt go in depth is because that question and answer session detracts from the real issue. First, the situation Cubans live with is a result of simply and solely of the castro regime policy towards the Cuban people. US policy has nothing to do with the lack of human rights and civil liberties in Cuba. and yoani's question dont mention same and change the focus of the conversation we should be having from that of human rights issues in Cuba to US/Cuba policy.
Moreover, the majority of the Cuban exile community supports said US policy towards Cuba and the yoani post served as yet another wedge between Cubans, both on the island and in exile, pitting them against each other over their opinion over a policy that has absolutely nothing to do with the HR/CL situation in Cuba.
Thus that post served the regime perfectly well as it took the focus away from their brutality and oppression over to a US Policy issue that in reality has no chance of changing.
Reading ilovecuba1's lament over Babalublog's purported swing to the right brings up a few questions:
How many times does the left in this country have to screw the Cubans on the island and in exile before we call them out on it?
How many decades do we have to watch political groups on the left, like the Congressional Black Caucus, espouse the wonders of a murderous tyrant before we are allowed to speak out?
How many speeches praising a dictatorship do we have to hear from people on the left like Jose Serrano before we are given permission to express our disagreement?
Sure, there are those on right who have betrayed the Cuban people too, but they are a small minority and have been called to task on this blog every time they do it. The majority of the left in this country, however, appears to not give a rat's ass about the oppression the Cuban people suffer and on top of that, many go out of their way to express their support for the oppressors.
But hey, according to ilovecuba1, we're just supposed to be quiet and act like good little minorities. We should be expressing gratitude and pledging our loyalty to the leftist elites who will occasionally brush a few crumbs off the table for us, but only if we behave.
I don't think so.
ilovecuba,
I second Henry Agueros comment to you:
Dejate de comer tanta mierda que estas muy viejo para eso.
Don’t ever expect any help from the left on liberating Cuba from the Castro brothers when the left itself are worshippers of the Castro brothers. Look at the MSM, the Hollywood idiots and many members of Congress to name a few.
And don’t expect anything from Barack Hussein Obama in helping liberate Cuba from the Castro brothers, as he’s a Marxist himself. Yoanis Sanchez is making that big mistake but we here at this blog know better not to trust our current President on anything that comes out of his lying mouth.
And if believing in Freedom, Liberty, God and Country and the down to earth American values that are being attacked today by those who want to destroy America and not willing to be an accomplice to what the left is trying to do our country today is considered by you as right wingers then we carry it as a badge of honor and it displays what your true principles, values and loyalties are.
Thank you Val for your response you are a true gentleman. The rest of you I can care less specially the ones who attacked me personally which was no diffrent of an attack had I posted something on a castroite website...if i dont agree with you I'm a comemierda...no different opinions here no way..if you have diffrent thoughts you're a comemierda...i see how it is...thank god you dont know where I live or you might send un mitin de repudio like they did to Yoani's husband...I ask you what has the right done for the cause of freedom in Cuba? just as much as the left has...NOTHING! I never said not to speak out against the left...which you do on this blog on a daily basis...yet that was not the reason for my comment..I just find it hard to swallow that you called out a woman who is taking on the monster from the inside, that risks her life everyday to further freedom in Cuba while we sit nice and comfy behind our laptops enjoying true freedom. Some of you or maybe none of you have been to Cuba to truly experience the fear our people live on a daily basis...that you would have to be crazy or drunk like Panfilo to tell the truth about what's going on in Cuba..the courage that it must take to do what Yoani does is unbelieveable....that she maybe is making some mistakes along the way i will agree...but what she is doing has never been done in 50 years...she is the person many of us have been waiting for...someone brave enough to speak out and be heard from the inside..my other point was the change this blog has made...who cares aboiut christ and rubio who the hell cares about the left and Obama....you have lost your focus which always was Cuba primero Cuba despues y Cuba siempre...lets be civil with each other and clean our mouths before we attack another Cuban...because we should all be fighting for the Freedom of Cuba not the right wing agenda
Ilovecuva1, we don't call you a comemierda because you disagree with us. It's your commentary that gives you away.
:::clap, clap, clap:::
Bravo, ilovecuba1, bravo! I think there's something in my eye.
In my opinion it doesn’t help anybody, or the freedom for Cuba cause, to rain insults on anybody. We can’t object to that being done to Reinaldo Escobar, Vladimiro Roca or Marta Beatriz Roque and then turn right around and do it to a fellow freedom loving Cuban who disagrees on the embargo issue or questions the wisdom of certain stances. The statement by Capitol Hill Cubans is very well balanced. Their recommendation to Yoani is good, she needs to be careful about how she intervenes in US politics. But maybe Capitol Hill Cubans, and others, need to be more open to the views of an important sector of young Cuban society of which Yoani is an icon. They know well how the dictatorship uses the embargo to try to cover up the utter failure of the Communist system. Still, one can say that the lifting of the embargo is not the solution because it won`t change the dictatorship’s attitude about anything; true enough. On the other hand if it is lifted the Castros will lose that as an excuse to cover up the fundamental cause of the disaster: Communism. From the outside you may say that the cause is obvious, from the inside Yoani may be saying: not so to many Cubans in the island. The issue is complex, so I would say: let’s be patient and respectful.
On the Obama answer to Yoani: we may dislike him and most of his policies, but take into consideration that he did something nobody has been willing to do: make direct contact with someone who openly disagrees with the dictatorship. Moratinos and all the heads of state who have visited Cuba in the past year have refused to meet those demanding democratic changes. Obama has distanced himself in this respect from the Spanish position on Cuba, which the EU might buy. Yoani entirely bypassed the Castros as a legitimate Cuban voice and Obama said: O.K. Raúl must be fuming.
And Val, she is not driving a wedge anymore than you are. The coin has two sides.
ilovecuba,
I second George as it is your commentary what gives you away (and I could care less what you think about me).
By the way I grew-up under the Castro regime and spent a good chunk of my life there so I know extremely well how it is to live under that oppression.
j alvarez,
You may think that Obama is doing a great thing by talking to Yoanis. I'm sure that if Yoanis opposed him he would not be talking to her.
You failed to mention George W. Bush support for Dr. Biscet (and other Cuban dissidents) and how he invited his family to the White House, yet I have not seen Obama do likewise.
All Obama is doing is surrendering to the Castro dictatorship by providing it with the lifeline it needs to continue in power. You may be one of those that mistakenly think that the Castro brothers give a shit about their excuses if we drop the embargo and that is where you are fundamentally wrong.
The embargo issue has been debated and debunked in every which way possible on this site. If tomorrow the American government would go and drop the embargo the Castro brothers will take advantage of this opportunity and take all the money it could from American banks (that it won't repay) and the Cuban people will still be slaves for the next fifty years; make no mistake about that fact.
The Castro brothers will make another bullshit excuse why they should be still in power once the embargo is gone (that's their nature of ruling by lying, oppression and deceit, I wonder if you understand that fact after so many years), the difference this time will be the US government would be funding their dictatorship. And I'm not willing to support that policy in any way shape or form.
The sad truth is that no liberal like Obama will ever bring freedom to Cuba but on the other hand Obama is working his hardest to turn America into another Marxist/Socialist society.
We on this blog saw what happened to the land that we were born and we're surely oppose the same happening to this great country.
I definitely hope that Yoany's ideas are not going to be the future of Cuba. Regardless of how much she's against the Castro bros and their comrades, Yoani is a SOCIALIST!!!!!!
ilovecuba,
First, ill address the "change this blog has made."
I started this blog over six years ago. From day one, when I was the only commentator, it has covered a range of political topics, including, but not limited to, elections all across the board. From local to national elections. It has always - ill repeat ALWAYS been right of center, and, Ill venture to say, extremely right of center. Moreover, while the majority of topics we have discussed focus on Cuba, it has always focused on US politics as well.
While Cuba is our homeland, The United States of America is my home, and one that I love - as I believe we all do - as much as our homeland. And, believe it or not, whats happens here in the US, both locally and national, does, in fact have an effect on Cuba.
if you are looking for a Cuba blog 24/7 in English without any commentary on anything else, you might as well start one because I dont think youll find one.
With respect to Yoani, your accolades and opinions on her may be true and accurate, and I may or may not agree with you on same. However, with her position and her exposure and her notoriety comes one thing that - IN MY OPINION - she did not take into account both when she wrote the questions and when she wrote a letter to congress for the lifting of sanctions: RESPONSIBILITY.
Yoani should have known that the seven questions post and her subsequent ass kissing of a US congressman would take the focus away from the true and real issue, the VERY ISSUE SHE AND HER HUSBAND AND COLLEAGUES DEAL WITH EVERYDAY. And that is the brutality and mistreatment of the Cuban people at the hands of the castro regime. As I have stated earlier, the US isnt the entity that fucks the Cuban people on a daily basis, that is reserved for the cuban government and cuban government alone.
You can take everyone here to task for criticizing Yoani until you are blue in the face, it still does not make their criticism wrong.
jalvarez:
You are 100% incorrect in this:
On the Obama answer to Yoani: we may dislike him and most of his policies, but take into consideration that he did something nobody has been willing to do: make direct contact with someone who openly disagrees with the dictatorship.
Our former Commander in Chief not only made direct contact with many dissidents, but he followed up said contact with direct action. Moreover, he even hosted at the WHITE HOUSE the families of numerous political prisoners and confenred Dr. Oscar Elias Biscet with the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
let's keep the facts straight and lets not glorify seven verbal newspeak, softball responses from from most likely a state department staffer as "something no one's been willing to do." That is absurd.
Val, thank you for your response. Two things: First, yes indeed, Bush took the Cuban dissenters into consideration and displayed his support clearly. I think that was great of him. In redacting my comment I didn’t make myself clear, sorry. What I mean is this: of those foreign dignitaries who have visited Cuba in the past year (heads of state, foreign ministers like Moratinos, et. al.) none have been willing acknowledge those demanding democratic changes. The time frame for my comment came in the sentence after the one you quote and it should have come first. I think Moratinos fully expected Obama to support Spanish policy, but he has been left in a rather uncomfortable position.
Second, with respect to Yoani: I get the feeling she is trying to use her influence responsibly, which doesn’t make her infallible, and of course she thinks the embargo doesn’t help the struggle for freedom in Cuba. You think the contrary, and you are as entitled to your view as she is to hers. In any case she is very exposed to the consequences of her actions, whether they are based on mistaken views or not, so “responsibility” probably has a very special “flavor” for her. So I respect her for the risks she is taking as I respect her husband, Claudia Candelo, Orlando Pardo, Biscet, Ferrer, and some of the political figures like Oswaldo Payá (Christian Democrat), Vladimiro Roca (Social Democrat) and the list could go on and on. That doesn’t mean I will always agree with everything they say, in the first place because they disagree among themselves on certain issues, like the embargo.
"While Cuba is our homeland, The United States of America is my home, and one that I love - as I believe we all do - as much as our homeland."
Right on Val, America is our home and country today, and we're proud of that fact.
Val,
Look who sneaked thru the door...
Freedom,
Ahem...I see nothing...
Ladies and gentlemen, What are we talking about? The future of Cuba is in the hands of the cubans in Cuba. We,
as Cuban-Americans or cubans in exile, forfeited the opportunity to have our opinion taken seriously when we left our PATRIA in the hands of those that would eventually destroy it. Our opportunity now is to respect, support and perhaps humbly advice and provide ideas to those coragious Cubans, in Cuba, who risk it all by expressing their desire for change. We must do it "por amor a la PATRIA" in the best of Jose Marti's desires, and not for political or financial gains. Lets help our Cuban brothers and sisters to invent a free, democratic and prosperous nation - it must be a re-invation, a re-formation of all aspects of a crumbled society.
Uncledavid45:
So I guess, according to your logic, Jose Marti should have kept his mouth shut about Cuba for all those years he lived outside in exile. Since he "forfeited" his opportunity to have his opinion taken seriously when he left his PATRIA in the hands of those that wanted to destroy it--again, according to your logic--he should of just respected, supported, and humbly advised those that stayed behind.
Interesting.
My view is that all Cubans in and out of the island that don’t have the blood of their people in their hands have a right to Cuba’s future.
Whether they choose to exercise that right is another story.