President’s Budget Boosts ALBA Tyrants while Democracy Advocates in Cuba, Venezuela See Cuts, Ros-Lehtinen Says
House Foreign Affairs Committee
U.S. House of Representatives
Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, Chairman
For IMMEDIATE Release - February 14, 2012
President’s Budget Boosts ALBA Tyrants while Democracy Advocates in Cuba, Venezuela See Cuts, Ros-Lehtinen Says
(WASHINGTON) - U.S. Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL), Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said today that she is “disappointed” that President Obama’s budget for Fiscal Year 2013 cuts democracy assistance to the opposition in Cuba and Venezuela while increasing development assistance to the oppressive government of Bolivia, Ecuador, and Nicaragua compared to the Fiscal Year 2012 budget. In addition, the Organization of American States (OAS) will receive a $1.5 million funding increase. Statement by Ros-Lehtinen:
“The President’s policy towards Latin America has largely sought to make concessions to the region’s dictators, and this budget puts that in ink for all to see. I am disappointed that this Administration continues to downplay the threats posed to democracy and human rights by the Western Hemisphere’s despots.
“The U.S. should stand in solidarity with the people of Cuba and Venezuela, who are in desperate need of democracy assistance. It is regrettable that the President’s budget turns its back against pro-democracy advocates who are seeking freedom from the shackles of tyranny. Cutting funds for democracy support while increasing aid to rogue regimes signifies that the Obama Administration is out of touch with priorities in the region.
“The Morales, Correa and Ortega regimes have aggressively attacked basic democratic principles and should not receive an increase of U.S. funds this year, as proposed by the President.
“It is also disappointing that the President deemed the OAS worthy of more U.S. taxpayer dollars, even though the organization fails to follow the tenets of its Inter-American Charter and has proven itself unwilling or unable to stand up to the region’s dictators.
“This budget shows that the Administration is taking the wrong side. Tyrants like Ortega, Morales and Correa do not deserve more U.S. assistance, and the freedom-loving people of Cuba and Venezuela do not deserve reductions. This budget sends the wrong message to oppressed people and dictators alike.”
NOTE: The President’s budget cuts democracy assistance to the people of Cuba by $5 million and to Venezuela by $2 million. The budget also provides increases in development assistance to the governments of Bolivia, Ecuador, and Nicaragua by $1 million, $2 million, and $3.1 million respectively.
http://gulagbound.com/26169/econonomic-sabotage-a-case-for-the-fbi-occupy-wall-street-and-the-cuban-connection/
Econonomic Sabotage? A Case for the FBI? Occupy Wall Street and the Cuban Connection
February 14, 2012, 3:54 pm By Trevor Loudon Leave a Comment
0
New Zeal
Occupy Wall Street and its hundreds of offshoots, cost the U.S. hundreds of millions of dollars in a few short months. Cleanup costs, police overtime, lost and disrupted production and countless smaller issues hit cash strapped communities at a time they could least afford it.
If, as some (including myself) predict, the movement expands and becomes better organized and more violent next Spring and Summer, the costs could become astronomical.
If you were an enemy of the U.S., a hostile power intent on bringing America to its knees, would you like to see this movement grow? Maybe even help it along a little? There is some evidence that one country has been doing just that.
That country is Cuba.
The O.W.S. movement got more than a little attention at a recent Cuban sponsored convention of communist led labor unions in Tijuana, Mexico.
The 8th U.S./Cuba/Mexico Latin American Labor Conference took place in Tijuana, Baja California, within sight of the U.S. border, December 2-4., 2011.
Speakers included several high ranking Cuban officials, including Heriberto González del Valle, a professor at the Lázaro Peña National School for Union Cadres in Havana, Dr. Raymundo Navarro Fernández, member of the Secretariat of the Central de Trabajadores de Cuba and Cuban Gilda Chacón, representing the formerly Soviet controlled international communist front World Federation of Trade Unions.
At the meeting, João Batista of the Central dos Trabalhadores e Trabalhadoras do Brasil stated that “that the Occupy movement has brilliantly shown the world that “U.S. imperialism” also affects the 99 percent at home.”
Certainly “Occupy” was on the conference agenda. Detroit activist and former conference organizer Cheryl LaBash, wrote in a November 5 article in Worker’s World, the publication of the militantly pro-CubanWorker’s World Party:
The “National School for Trade Union Cadres Lazaro Pena” is affiliated with the Cuban Workers Trade Union Central and works with the Cuban office of the World Federation of Trade unions to “train” Caribbean and Latin American labor officials, from its base in Havana.
It is an organ of the ruling Communist Party of Cuba, charged with spreading Castroite doctrine throughout the region, by way of the labor movement.
A key US attendee at the Tijuana conference was Eric A. Gordon, an affiliate of both the Los AngelesCommunist Party USA and its front organization, the Los Angeles Workers’ Center – which is headed by communist and Occupy Los Angeles leader Arturo Cambron.
Occupy “city liason” Mario Brito also has a long Communist Party record, as do several others in the organization.
Mario Brito with Occupy LA protestors
Communist Party members have played leading roles in the “Occupy” movement well beyond Los Angeles.
On Tuesday, October 11, 2011, the Communist Party held a national teleconference to discuss the “Occupy Movement,” which by then had spread to 200 cities. Arturo Cambron, of the Communist Party and Occupy Los Angeles was the key speaker on the call:
Connecticut activist Lisa Bergmann gave a report on behalf of the Young Communist League USA to a gathering of another international communist front, the World Federation of Democratic Youth, in Lisbon, Portugal, November 1-3. Bergmann praised the O.W.S. movement and explicitly linked it to the campaign to re-elect President Barack Obama.
The Worker’s World Party also plays a big role in Occupy Los Angeles and other movements across the country from Michigan to New York. W.W.P. member Mike Martinez, also a participant in the Tijuana Conference, explained his party’s strong role in Occupy Los Angeles in a November 2 article for Worker’s World:
Ron Gochez, another Tijuana conference attendee, infamous in Los Angeles for his anti-police activism, created a stir at an occupy Los Angeles demonstration when he made the statement that “police are not part of the 99%.” His remarks were met with jeers from some of the crowd, who tried to shout him down. Later he said, “Although they (cops) might make the money of the 99%, they represent and defend the 1%.”
Martha Grevatt, a member of Detroit’s UAW Local 869 and a W.W.P. organizer, was also in Tijuana.
Grevatt says that considering the anemic job market, there is very little distinction between the labor and Occupy movements. She says autoworkers have responded accordingly. “I work on the auto shop floor, and working people really identify with the fact that people are standing up to the banks,” Grevatt said at a November 6 Detroit rally. “They’re standing up to the bosses, they’re saying no more cutbacks, no more givebacks. We demand jobs.”
Grevatt says union participation has graduated beyond pronouncements and vocal support. “It means everything that labor is involved. There are people who are union members and union leaders who have been camping out, who have been here every day.”
Perhaps the most influential and potentially destructive dangerous Tijuana conference attendee was Clarence Thomas, an ILWU Local 10 Executive Board member, an Oakland California identity and an affiliate of both the Communist Party and, more recently, the W.W.P. MORE
http://gulagbound.com/26169/econonomic-sabotage-a-case-for-the-fbi-occupy-wall-street-and-the-cuban-connection/
Bravo Miriam! I've been called names for this, but I don't care. Fidel Castro and Co. has their fingerprints on every bad thing that has happened in the world since he gained control of Cuba, and that's not counting his earlier terrorism in Cuba, and el Bogotazo. He and his followers are a cancer upon this planet and like all cancers need to be excised. Note also that Ron Gochez is the communist comemierda that interrupted the Los Angeles march for the Ladies in White by standing on a nearby hill with a bullhorn shouting pro-castro slogans while waving a desecrated Cuba flag superimposed with the image of che. This piece of shit president, (No I will not afford him the respect normally accorded to his office) is putting our hard earned tax dollars to work funding our enemies and despots. This is treason, or should be.
Yes, let's follow Obama and open trael and tourism to Cuba, our enemy.
And Obama wants to cut aid to Israel and give aid to "the Palestinians" and other Arabs who are "reforming".
Every day Obama does dangerous and destructive things to this country and the free world.
Hillary and Barak want to put the U.S. under the sovereignty of the World Court and the U.N. Obama asked that we reduce our nuclear arsenal by 80%.
What is it going to take to see that we must elect a Republican president and congress? When will liberals get it?