Math that kills

In a despicable yet not surprising manipulation of questionable statistical data, the mainstream media has launched a new effort to cover for the murderous regime in Havana. Citing statistical data from before the infamous 1959 revolution that brought death to tens of thousands of Cubans and destroyed a thriving country, the media is attempting to gloss over and bury what took place in Cuba between 1959 and 2010.

Reuters and the AP, along with many other news organizations are touting that the number of political prisoners in Cuba today are — get this — the lowest since 1959 when Fidel Castro took power. This blatant and vile misrepresentation of data is not only erroneous math, it is a math that kills. For every shred of cover provided to the murderous Castro regime, it is Cubans who end up paying for it with their lives.

Our good friend Mauricio Claver-Carone over at CapitolHillCubans has more on what he calls, “Fuzzy (and Dangerous) Math.

Fuzzy (and Dangerous) Math

Let’s be absolutely clear — one political prisoner is one too many.

Every effort must be made to ensure that every single political prisoner is freed — not just released and forcibly exiled — by the Castro regime.

Furthermore, every effort must be made to ensure that every Cuban is able to freely express their political views and opinions without the risk or fear of imprisonment.

Therefore, the media must be cautious in making non-factual assertions or to — even unintentionally — “gloss over” a single political prisoner.

I know there will be some who will want to give the media the benefit of the doubt and will interpret this as a bad choice of comparative data. But considering the long history of a shilling press covering for a murderous dictator, I have a hard time accepting that as an explanation. Herbert Matthews could not have written this story any better.

3 thoughts on “Math that kills”

  1. Does anyone else see this statement by Elizardo Sanchez’s “human rights organization” as part of the campaign to lessen the blow when Farinas dies? If its not part of the smoke that the Church, Moratinos, etc.. is blowing [and I would have to suspend belief in order not to believe it], its the worst timing on the face of the earth!

    But then again, the mainstream media’s favorite dissident, Sanchez seems to do nothing more than emit these stats [and we all know how stats can be manipulated] that continually make the regime look better all of the time.

    What does it matter if there are only 167 dissidents in jail, when there are people under house arrest, people who are under constant surveillance and threats of future imprisonment, people who are arrested temporarily, released and then re-arrested and people who are released [such as Farinas] because they are too sick to stay in jail and castro doesn’t want people to die in jail?

    Seriously, with allies like Sanchez, who needs enemies?

  2. Cubans had better learn that if you piss in your own soup, shit on your own furniture or otherwise screw yourself over, you’d better be prepared to clean up or fix the mess yourself, because nobody else will. They will either ignore your problem or find a way to take advantage of it. Don’t waste time or energy waiting for fairy godmothers or the kindness of strangers. It’s not happening. You broke it, you fix it.

  3. Asombra,

    History repeats itself. During the Cuban War of Independence, NOBODY sided with us. While Simon Bolivar united with other generals to help liberate a host of countries, when it came to Cuba, he said: NO! And countries like Argentina were prepared to send troops to help the Spaniards! And the Church, well, they sided squarely with the Crown!

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