Wait, are you really saying that your beloved third world Utopia might be unjust?
Most unusual. An editorial in the Washington Post that dares to question the "official" pronouncements of the Castro regime and refrains from quoting the usual Cuba "experts." What? And no one claims authorship, save for the "Editorial Board." Say that again? It's enough cognitive dissonance to throw any troglodyte Cuban exile intransigent off balance. Did we all wake up in Bizarro World, by any chance? Or did those Cuban Watergate burglars break into the Post and insert this editorial into its pages as a prank, just to celebrate the 40th anniversary of their major screw-up?
A Pawn in Cuba’s power game
By Editorial Board, Washington Post, Published: October 16
ANGEL CARROMERO, a 26-year-old youth leader in Spain’s ruling Popular Party, was the driver of a car that ran off a rural road in Cuba and crashed on July 22, killing one of the country’s leading dissidents, Oswaldo Payá, as well as another activist. Mr. Carromero denies he was at fault; a surviving passenger, a young Swedish activist, has said that “it’s wrong to accuse” him of culpability. The families of the two dissidents agree and declined to press charges against him.
Nonetheless, on Oct. 5 a Cuban court convicted the Spaniard of vehicular homicide. On Monday, he was sentenced to four years in prison. Mr. Payá‘s family was excluded from the brief trial; 42 dissidents were detained on the day it was held. The blogger Yoani Sanchez, who had driven to the town of Bayamo in order to cover it, was arrested and jailed for 30 hours.
Why did Cuban authorities respond in this way to what they describe as a one-car accident? Mr. Payá’s widow believes she knows the answer: The authorities, she charges, are trying to cover up what really happened in the crash. Family members have received accounts that the sedan Mr. Carromero was driving may have been forced off the road by another vehicle. They have called for an independent investigation with international involvement.
Spanish observers have their own suspicions. The regime of Raúl Castro, they say, is likely seeking to punish the ruling Spanish party for supporting the Cuban opposition. In a news conference orchestrated by Cuban authorities, Mr. Carromero and the Swedish activist said they had brought money for Mr. Payá and were helping to organize a youth movement.
Mr. Carromero’s sentence will come as no surprise to the family of Alan Gross, an American development contractor who has been a prisoner in Cuba since 2009. Mr. Gross was arrested for supplying computer equipment to Cuba’s tiny Jewish community under a U.S. aid program. Sentenced to 15 years, he has become a pawn in a gambit by the Castro regime to secure the return of five acknowledged Cuban spies who were captured and convicted of espionage in the United States.
Mr. Carromero may be in prison as a way of preventing the true story of Mr. Payá’s death from emerging, as his family believes. Or he may be a victim of a crude attempt by the Castro regime to extort concessions from the Spanish government. Spain is still attempting to obtain Mr. Carromero’s release — just as the Obama administration has tried, so far in vain, to free Mr. Gross without meeting the regime’s demands.
What’s sure is that Mr. Carromero should not be in prison because of Mr. Payá’s death. That he is offers a clear answer to those who wonder whether the Castro regime is changing for the better.
Well, we must be grateful for small favors and hope it is a good beginning. And a good thing would be for many to write letters to the editors on this to applaud them for this piece. Show them that there are readers who are glad to see this in the WP.
All due respect Prof. Eire, the Washington Post has moderated considerably regarding their coverage of Cuba in the last year or two. A friend of mine told me that it had to do with the woman who owned the WP. She was quite radical, but has since passed away. As of late, they have covered Cuba quite fairly. The paper that remains totally recalcitrant and unrepentant is the dastardly New York Times.
Yes, it has moderated, but it still can't escape the gravitational pull of leftist pro-Castro "Cuba experts" who are quoted constantly while genuine Cuban experts are ignored. Just yesterday they published an article by William Booth on the easing of travel restrictions that was infected by their tainted perspective. It even led Frank Calzon to send them an irate letter. No response yet. Let's say they are now the NYT "Light"....
Dastardly? Try maliciously perverse, on top of hopelessly arrogant.
When WaPo officially apologizes for that infamously vile Oliphant cartoon, we can talk.
asombra, re cartoon - touche.
Why did Cuba do this? Because it knows it can. Ask Alan Gross.
Look, when even the Miami Herald is as dubious as it is and long has been regarding Cuba, what can we possibly expect from papers/media elsewhere? True, the Herald could have been kept much more honest if local Cubans had been more serious and self-respecting, but what leverage do we have with the NYT or WaPo?