Comments on: US Senators on the Cuban Blogger Beatings

By: Honey

Honey — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 13:55:10 +0000

This lovely bit from Nordlinger today in NR online:

Blogging brave, &c.
By Jay Nordlinger

Who is more admirable than people under dictatorship who stick their necks out for freedom and decency? Not many, you will agree. I have taken special note, over the years, of people in Cuba who stick their necks out, and who often suffer horrible consequences for their efforts. Not a few of these people are young. For example, there is a group called Jóvenes sin Censura, or Youth without Censorship. I wrote about them once, in a piece for National Review, paying special attention to Liannis Meriño Aguilera and Luis Esteban Espinosa. (To see that piece, go here.)

Another person to know — there are so many — is Yoani Sánchez. She is a blogger, and was going to an anti-violence march with some of her fellows. This was on Friday. On their way to the march, they met with violence, at the hands of the state. Yoani and another blogger were seized and beaten, but they resisted mightily, and the goons apparently considered them more trouble than they were worth that day. They dumped them on the sidewalk. And Yoani has written about the episode here. You may well be amazed.

Some have observed that the Obama administration is trying a very soft approach to Cuba — they have softened up, even cozied up, in multiple ways. And what are we getting for it? Any relaxation of the chokehold that the dictatorship has over the people? If there is to be a payoff — when will it come? It would be pleasant to say that “The whole world is watching,” to borrow an old line, but, unfortunately, when it comes to Cuba, this is rarely true.

Still, many are optimistic — optimistic that the regime will breathe its last. Here is what Yoani Sánchez says at the end of her blog entry, linked to above: “I managed to see . . . the degree of fright of our assailants, the fear of the new, of what they cannot destroy because they don’t understand, the blustering terror of he who knows that his days are numbered.”

By: Eddy Gonzalez

Eddy Gonzalez — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 01:15:02 +0000

Mr. Mojito, unfortunately, yes. It's a fact of life that people care most about issues that affect themselves, their families, or those close to them. Where is the outrage over the (probably much worse) barbarities that go on every day in places like Zimbabwe, Sudan, Uganda, Somalia, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Uzbekistan, Burma? These places don't have as much representation in the states, well-organized lobbying groups, or elected members of Congress--therefore, most people don't care about or even think about them. At the governmental level, this manifests itself in the way we trade with, do business with, and allow travel to almost all of these countries, whereas Cuba gets special attention, because it is in our hemisphere (physical proximity) and because of the high level of representation and political penetration in the US. Whether the correct way of resolving the inconsistency is by removing sanctions from Cuba or sanctioning everyone else obviously depends on your philosophy, but the current state of affairs is undeniably hypocritical at best.

By: Mr. Mojito

Mr. Mojito — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 23:02:26 +0000

Today, U.S. Senators Robert Menendez (D-NJ), Senator George LeMieux (R-FL), Senator Bill Nelson (D-FL), Senator Ted Kaufman (D-DE), Senator Chuck Grassley (R-IA), Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), and Senator Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ), condemned the attacks. It's hard not to be cynical and see political motivation at work when 4 of the 7 Senators are from the states with the most Cuban-American voters. So basically exiles just need to have clout in all 50 states before the full Senate will give a F#$K !

By: Robert Molleda

Robert Molleda — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 22:29:17 +0000

Giving credit where credit is due...congratulations to the senators from both parties for speaking out against the brutality of the castro regime.