354 and 3,022: These are the figures representing the number of politically motivated arrests of opposition members in Cuba in the month of October and the first ten months of 2011, respectively. There were three-hundred and fifty-four documented separate arrests and violations of the human rights of Cubans on the island in October 2011, which brings the total number of documented arrests for the first ten months of 2011 of peaceful Cuban democracy activists on the island to three-thousand, twenty-two.

I have spelled out these numbers because by themselves, they tell the story of repression and violence in Cuba. There is no need for pictures or narratives; these seven digits describe the human rights violations going on in Cuba perfectly, leaving no doubt or uncertainty for those who read them.

And there is the rub... for those who read them.

Unfortunately, too many people have refused to look at these numbers. They turn their eyes away, ignore them, pretend they do not exist. These numbers are too harsh, they force the reader to reconcile their ignorance against the suffering and misery of 11-million Cubans. To these people, the numbers are a slap in the face, a tall glass of ice water poured over their unsuspecting heads. So they look away or close their eyes, allowing their minds to wander to more pleasant things like cigars, mojitos, and white sandy beaches. That is the Cuba they want to think about, the one that only exists for the elite and the tourists. The real Cuba, the one where an entire nation is enslaved by a brutal and murderous dictatorship is a burden too heavy to carry. To view Cuba through the lens of these numbers would force them to view reality and eschew their ignorance, and in their opinion, that is just too much to ask of them.

And then you have those who do look at the numbers, understand the reality, and willingly and purposely do their best to hide them. They are the ones who serve the ignorant, the ones who tell those who ignore the reality of Cuba that it is alright to think of Cuba's cigars and sandy beaches and ignore the repression and misery on the island. As despicable as ignorance might be, the truly abhorrent ones are those who feed, or better said, starve that ignorance. They are the ones who provide the lies and the subterfuge to an all too willing public craving for unaccountability. I do not need to name them here, we all know who they are. And more importantly, they themselves know who they are.

The numbers that describe the reality of life in Cuba via CIHPRESS: