Mauricio Claver-Carone in the Miami Herald:

Support Cuba’s dissidents, commissioners

Among Cubans and Cuban Americans, a number of foreign companies have earned a place in the “hall of infamy” for their outright complicity with the Castro dictatorship. These include Spain’s Sol-Melia hotel chain and Canada’s Sherritt mining company for profiting from long years of the Castros’ apartheid brand of tourism and exploitation of Cuba’s natural resources.

However, Brazil’s Odebrecht construction conglomerate is now placing itself in a reprehensible class of its own. Foreign companies that seek to do business in Cuba generally recognize they must choose either to profit from the monopoly of the Castro dictatorship or from Cuban Americans in Florida’s free market.

In the 1990s, Sol-Melia and Sherritt shamefully chose the Castro dictatorship, giving up opportunities in Florida. Odebrecht feels it is duly entitled to both.

Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff traveled to Cuba last week to promote the company’s business arrangements with the Castros’ dictatorship. These include enlarging the Port of Mariel, which Raúl Castro considers the single most important project to ensure the economic survival of his regime, and a new 10-year agreement to revitalize the island’s moribund sugar industry. During her trip, Rousseff made a point of shunning Cuban dissidents and even refused opportunities to criticize the Castros’ human-rights record.

Meanwhile, a couple hundred miles to the north, for more than a decade Odebrecht has been seducing Miami-Dade County commissioners, taking in more than $4.8 billion in taxpayer dollars — much of it from Cuban-American victims of its business partners in Havana.

Continue reading HERE.

It is Saturday morning, the last day of CPAC 2012, and yesterday was indeed an interesting day. Returning from a meeting outside the hotel, I came up the escalator of the Metro station located right outside CPAC to find a gaggle of Occupy protestors holding up signs and mindlessly chanting. I could not understand what they were saying, but I was able to glean from one of their signs that I, as an attendee of CPAC, am a bigot, a racist, and I hated gays. This was news to me, but I guess I have to take their word for it; who would know better what I am, me or some unwashed and ignorant kids who have never met me?

Nevertheless, I must thank them for the comic relief. Although my parents always taught me not to laugh at someone else's misfortune, I just could not help myself. Especially when a young racist, bigot, who hates gays posed next to them with his Romney sign.

But it was last evening when it got real interesting. I got into a long conversation with an Occupier who decided to infiltrate the conference. He was wearing a tie and a jacket, which by his own admission, felt like it was burning his flesh. This Occupier, who will remain unnamed, let loose a long string of inanities and ridiculous arguments as to why he and his people were wonderful and why we were all evil. However, when the conversation turned to Iran, his true colors came out. When he complained that we should leave Iran alone and let their government do whatever they want, I asked him about the Green Revolution and the activist in Iran who were killed by this government. This was his response: "I don't give a sh*t about that, they [the Iranian government] can do whatever the f*** they want."

There you have it in a nutshell. It is not the evil that bothers them, it is who is carrying out that evil. For people such as this Occupier, evil from some is acceptable, while evil from others is not.

It the same mindset and ignorance that has plagued the Cuban people for more than five decades. Since Fidel is considered a hero to these people, his evil is not only acceptable, it is good.

De madre

Val and I are having a great time at CPAC 2012 in Washington D.C. We are meeting plenty of wonderful folks and fellow bloggers trying our best to help them understand the miserable situation in Cuba. We are still amazed how many well-meaning people are out there who are not aware of the atrocities that take place in Cuba and have no idea what a threat the Castro dictatorship is to America and our way of life. This is a product, of course, of the MSM's concerted effort to hide the crimes taking place in Cuba and glorify the murderous and criminal Castro government. However, we are happy that so far, we have had a great response and support from everyone we have spoken to.

We would also like to thank our friends who have stood by us and given our cause for a free Cuba unlimited support. These friends include Ed Morrisey, Fausta Wertz. Peter Da Tech Guy, Jimmie at Sundries Shack, and many more.

Via Fellowship of the Minds: Oh yes, they can. And if you let them, they will...

Via Notes from the Cuban Exile Quarter:

Don't end economic sanctions on Castro regime

The 50th anniversary of the establishment of US sanctions by President John F. Kennedy on the Castro regime in Cuba is an excellent moment to reflect on whether they should be maintained, changed, strengthened or abolished. The argument made below in 2003 holds true today but unfortunately the trade embargo on Cuba for all practical purposes was ended in 2000. Economic sanctions remain but since 2001 there has been over $3.5 billion dollars in trade between American businesses and the Cuban dictatorship. The human rights situation on the island has not improved.

President John F. Kennedy signed a decree broadening trade restrictions with Cuba on February 7, 1962

FLORIDA TODAY

Feb 13, 2003

Don't end embargo on Cuba trade

By John J. Suarez Guest Columnist

There is a tragic sham that harms Americans, but it is not the trade embargo on communist Cuba. Rather, it is the cliche that "to pull down barriers," by ending trade sanctions on a ruthless communist dictatorship and provide it with subsidies would bring political reforms.

The sham seen today in China is proof that such a policy would also be a disaster in Cuba, and only serve multinational interests and Cuba's communist regime.

America normalized relations with Beijing in 1979. The belief then was that normal relations would lead to more human rights and a peaceful transition to democracy. The opposite has been the case.

In the Soviet Union, confrontation and economic isolation led to a relatively peaceful implosion of the regime. In China, the policy of trade and political engagement has led to a thriving economic system under communist control, and modernization and expansion of the military and state security apparatus.

In Cuba today, political opposition is growing, and human-rights abuses although systematic and pervasive have in practice declined in numbers. This is not due to the good will of Fidel Castro's regime, but a lack of resources.

Continue reading HERE.

At least the Castro regime was able to copy something we have correctly: Ecured, the Castro dictatorship's version of Wikipedia, is just as useless and filled with leftist propaganda as our own Wikipedia.

Via AFP:

Cuban 'Wikipedia' includes entry for dissident blogger

HAVANA — Cuba's EcuRed digital encyclopedia, inspired by Wikipedia and operated by the island's Communist Youth, has added an entry for award-winning dissident blogger Yoani Sanchez.

The unusual turn of events in the Communist country, where information is tightly controlled and dissent is barely tolerated, comes with a price: Sanchez, 36, is described as a "cybermercenary."

Sanchez has been speaking her mind on the "Generation Y" blog since 2007 and has long traded barbs with a regime.

The humor of Garrincha:

Translation:

"There he goes reflecting again..."

Emilio T. Gonzalez at Univision:

Opinion: Illusions of Cuba clash with reality

The Castro brothers are as bad as ever, but some U.S. politicians and government institutions want to give them a free pass. (Flickr: fotoscubahoy)

Of the four remaining Republican presidential candidates, Ron Paul’s foreign policy views really stand out. His libertarian “we love everybody” mentality is naïve at best and dangerous at worst. His Cuba policy is a perfect example.

Rep. Paul easily dismisses serious threats posed by Cuba’s communist dictatorship, which just hosted a meeting with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

“It’s time to change. The Cold War is over. They’re not going to invade us and I just think that a better relationship and trade relationship,” he said at a recent presidential debate in Florida. “I think the people have changed their mind … I don’t think they see a Jihadist under the bed every night.”

Sadly, he is not alone.

A few weeks ago I received invitations to travel to Cuba by two venerable institutions; the National Geographic Society and the Smithsonian Institution. Both offered friendly “People-to-People” tours in accordance with U.S. Department of the Treasury regulations. One tour even offered to take their participants to the site of the 1961 Bay of Pigs debacle.

Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-Fla.), Chair of the House Committee on Foreign Relations was outraged and rightfully condemned these trips. Chairman Daniel Lungren (R-Calif.) of the House Committee on Administration promised an investigation to find out why the Smithsonian Institution, a tax-payer funded organization, would schedule tours of a country listed as a state sponsor of terrorism by the Department of State.

But my dilemma clearly served to highlight that after 50-plus years of dictatorial rule in Cuba, some of our more prestigious institutions and politicians continue to see Cuba as something it’s not.

There is nothing that can be said about the Castro dictatorship that they cannot explain away or ignore outright. Somehow, when it comes to Cuba, normal rational and well-educated people tend to give this particular dictatorship a pass. People who are otherwise horrified at what the Kim’s totalitarian rule has done to North Korea or how China has ravaged and occupied Tibet, think that it is trendy to be seen in Castro’s Cuba.

The saddest part about all of this is that few nations in the past 50 years have been as virulently anti-U.S. and anti-democracy as Cuba. The gerontocracy ruling the island today is, with few exceptions, the same people that came to power in January 1959.

Continue reading HERE.

Via the Herald's Naked Politics blog:

Miami-based Cuban lawyers slam American Bar Association for trips to Cuba

The Cuban American Bar Association is mad at its national sister organization, the American Bar Association, for planning to send two groups to learn about the justice system in Cuba.

In a press release issued Wednesday, the Miami-based Cuban lawyers group said it persuaded the ABA's Criminal Law section from visiting the island. But its Family Law and Health Law sections "have refused to engage" in conversations regarding the trips, CABA says.

"As it has done in the past, the Cuban government will undoubtedly use these visits by the world's largest voluntary professional lawyers association to bolster their shameful justice system," the release says. "The ABA should not be used in this way."

American lawyers should set up meetings with independent jurists on the island, the group added.

Read CABA's letter to the ABA here.

Val and I are both in Washington D.C. today attending CPAC 2012 and we are looking forward to the Cuba panel scheduled for today.

Via Capitol Hill Cubans:

Cuba Panel at CPAC 2012

Thursday, February 9th, 2011
Marshall Ballroom
Marriott Wardman Park, Washington, D.C.

12:00 pm - From Fidel to Chavez: How Do We Stop the Resurgence of Socialism in Latin America

- The Honorable Mario Diaz-Balart (R-FL), United States Representative
- The Honorable Otto Reich, President, Otto Reich Associates, LLC, Former Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs, Former United States Ambassador to Venezuela
- The Honorable David Rivera (R-FL), United States Representative

Moderator: Mauricio Claver-Carone, Executive Director, Cuba Democracy Public Advocacy

About the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC)

Taking place in Washington, DC each year, CPAC brings together nearly 10,000 attendees and all of the leading conservative organizations and speakers who impact conservative thought in the nation. Regularly seen on C-SPAN and other national news networks, CPAC has been the premiere event for any major elected official or public personality seeking to discuss issues of the day with conservatives. From Presidents of the United States to college student leaders, CPAC has become the place to find our nation's current and future leaders.

See the complete agenda here.

Orlando Gutierrez-Boronat in the Miami Herald:

Setting record straight on a program to help Cuba

Totalitarian regimes and their apologists have turned the manipulation of facts and the distortion of reality into a science. Dictatorships believe that political power flows from moral power, therefore character assassination of their opponents is imperative.

That’s why the Castro regime has launched diverse campaigns to taint those who stand up for the rights of the Cuban people. Regrettably, some in the pro-democracy movement echo these regime “lines,” focusing on the supposed ineffectiveness of federal aid to the Cuban resistance.

Let’s set the facts straight:

A nonviolent grassroots pro-democracy movement with the potential to transform the tragedy of Cuban politics has risen to challenge the most repressive, brutal and media-savvy tyranny in the history of Latin America. In this, the Cuban resistance is no different from other liberation movements, such as Washington’s Continental Army, De Gaulle’s Free French or Walesa’s Solidarity, all of which needed foreign assistance to confront dictatorships that far surpassed them in material power.

The truth is that the Cuban people are up against a totalitarian state that cannot run an economy and improve the livelihood of the nation but is excruciatingly adept at holding on to power. American aid — from the world’s foremost democracy — has been indispensable in allowing the Cuban resistance to have a permanent support infrastructure.

This support is indispensable in empowering the Cuban people to counter, even in a limited manner, the enormous resources channeled by the Castro-Chávez axis to perpetuate their oppression.

The historical experience of freedom struggles has demonstrated that foreign assistance is essential in three key areas: providing captive populations with uncensored and objective information, enabling international solidarity that provides dissidents with a network of associations that elevate the political cost of repression, and channeling direct logistical aid to resistance activists.

Continue reading HERE.

Via Pedazos de la Isla:

Agent of the Regime to Ladies in White: “You Will Not Be Allowed to Go to Church”

Marta Diaz Rondon being beaten/dragged by Cuban regime mobs. Havana, 2010

When 6 Ladies in White were violently arrested this past Sunday February 5th in the city of Holguin, they were also warned that they could not continue trying to assist mass in church, according to Marta Díaz Rondón, one of the activists who was attacked.

After a brutal detention which consisted of “twisted arms and aggressive shoves against the police vehicles“, Diaz Rondon denounces that once inside the dungeons of the Pedernales Unit, an official (whom she does not know the name of) violently threatened her, telling her that they would not be allowed to carry out their activities.  “He told me that he would not allow us, the Ladies in White and other dissidents, to continue doing what we were doing“.  Rondon’s response was a question: “Not allow what? That we go to Church?“, to which the regime official aggressively responded, “that was what he had said and he did not have to talk about anything else with us“.

After this confrontation and 6 hours in sealed off dark and damp cells, the women were released.  In the case of Rondon and Gertrudis Ojeda Suarez- both from Banes- they were taken to their municipality but abandoned miles from their homes.

Marta Díaz explains that her home has been under “total vigilance“, as have the homes of “all the Ladies in White in the Cuban East“.  The dissident adds that “they do not let us move from one place to another, but we are going to continue marching and taking to the streets, despite the threats“.

Continue reading HERE.

Janine Mendes-Franco at Global Voices:

Cuba: Bloggers Say Pope Should Postpone Trip

Cuban bloggers have been making their feelings known about the impending papal visit to Cuba, their main concern being that the Vatican is putting its stamp of approval on the Castro regime despite regular reports of human rights violations coming out of the island.

In light of new reports of state-sanctioned actions against members of Las Damas de Blanco Last weekend, diaspora blogger Uncommon Sense suggested that:

Pope Benedict XVI should postpone his planned visit in late March to Cuba. The visit was part of a quid pro quo between the regime and the church, but continued repression of women trying to go to Mass should not have been part of the deal.

The blogger also posted a link to an e-Petition soliciting signatures from people who agreed with the postponement of the pontiff's visit “until human rights conditions improve in Cuba”.

Pedazos de la Isla echoed this concern, as he reported on “another Sunday of repression”:

Just weeks before Pope Benedict’s visit to Cuba in March, another Sunday on the island- February 5th 2012- was marked by an excessive level of violence on behalf of the dictatorship against the peaceful Resistance, for simply trying to attend church.

In the city of Holguin, 5 Ladies in White were brutally arrested around 9 in the morning as they tried to reach the Jesus Christ Redeemer of Men Church.

Continue reading HERE.

I came across this photograph on Facebook last night. It certainly brought back some incredible memories of my childhood, and those often dreaded Saturday afternoon excursions to the Zayre on NW 7th street and 37th avenue with my mother and older sister. Spending what felt like countless hours waiting while my mother and sister fished through those huge bins of ladies garments was punishment enough, but the requisite visit to the "Three Sisters" women's clothing store located at that same shopping center was the ultimate punishment.

Nevertheless, I also have fond memories of Zayre. It is there where my dad bought me my first Big Wheel. And later on, as an adolescent, it was the place to go for a t-shirt where you can pick out the iron-on design of your choice and have it pressed into the shirt before your very eyes. Good times.

H/T Luly Tester

By Luis Felipe Rojas:

The mother waits in the hospital lobby.  Outside, it is very cold- very unusual considering the accustomed high temperatures which whip through the Cuban East.  The young man is barely 22 years old, he jumped in to separate two of his friends in a street brawl, and when the police arrived they began to hit them with sticks and kick them.  He suffered the worst part.  One of his friends went to get me because they had convinced him to give me all the details.  The mother shut down all sorts of dialogues in order to protect him.  It was pointless for me to explain his rights to him.  My arguments that he should denounce the events were not worth anything.  She would return home, ‘either way in this country nothing works…get out of here, don’t bother me anymore‘, she told me.

Just three days ago, I was publicly approached by an Honorary Official (OH) of State Security.  His intention was to have me stay in my house.  That way, he would save many hours which he would otherwise be chasing me.  Since I responded to him by citing my citizen rights, he whipped out his blue-lettered ID tag to threaten- not me- but the passer-bys.  Despite the heated discussion and his boasting that he would call a police vehicle, no one responded, no one moved.  When I said- in a loud voice- that the streets belong to the people and not the revolutionaries, no one echoed the phrase.  It’s true that I did not suffer a repudiation this time, but the people are just absorbed by their bags of food and I suppose they do not have time for these trifles, right?

Institutions such as the Fiscal Military, the three kinds of tribunals (municipal, provincial, and national) and, time and time again,  the offices of Citizen Attention dodge the complaints against functionaries of the order and only in counted occasions- after violations are very evident- does the Counter Intelligence do something.  These obsolete organisms have, in part, helped everyday people put on their own censors.  Since no one defends their rights, then they mistrust everything, they fall into the generalized apathy and end up giving in to their very own henchmen. Only after seeing the gloomy face of the television presenter announcing, in yet another trick, some other dismissal, are people able to see that Cuban public institutions are also there to watch for some things, for the interests of some citizens and so that some rights be respected.

The Ecuadorian National Assembly of dictator Rafael Correa issued a resolution condemning the "assassination" of the vicious and psychopathic murderer, Ernesto "Ché" Guevara. According the Ecuadorian National Assembly's version of history, Ché was in effect murdered in 1967 by Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher, who apparently both boarded a time machine and went back in time to snuff out this "great revolutionary hero."

My translation of a report on this resolution:

The author of this resolution, Tomas Zevallos, a representative of the Orellana provice (Amazonia), reminded everyone that October 8 was the 44th anniversary of the assassination of Ernesto Guevera, "who died for his ideals and revolutionary projects belonging to the youth of the time, struggling against the neo-liberalism of Margaret Thatcher and the so-called 'conservative revolution of Ronald Reagan,'" said the assembly member.

A postcard from our friends at Guamá:

Ernesto Hernandez Busto at Penúltimos Días:

The Cuban Situation and the ‘Fallacy of the Broken Window’

One of the collateral effects of the Raúl Castro’s regime and its program of economic reforms, is the passion for self-deception it arouses on the other side of the Florida Straits. I recently watched a speech by Carlos Saladrigas and asked myself is there is no one capable of telling this gentleman that his enthusiasm for the Cuban “opportunity” is nothing more than a nostalgic mirage disguised as common sense.

The mirage takes on mutant forms, and the most recurrent in recent months seems to be the argument of money as a liberator. That is, in my judgment, a metamorphosis of the famous Fallacy of the Broken Window, so well explained in “conservative” thought. Let’s see: it all starts with a catastrophe or an act of destruction. In this we see (a posteriori) a future economic benefit. The neighbors who get together to discuss the baker’s broken window look a lot like the lobby that today defends the Cuban crisis as a business opportunity. If you think about it — they assure many entrepreneurs — perhaps the current Cuban disaster isn’t such a bad thing. Because it means that everything needs to be done, that free enterprise is about to substitute for the role of the political authority, and that as a part of this process of state capitalism, Cubans will be able to get dollars, and even spend them, which satisfies those advocates of the perfect investment, for whom the greatest possible freedom is the freedom to invest.

The initial act of thuggery — that is the Cuban Revolution — now begins to be seen as a stimulus to the economy, and self-employment as equal to “job creation,” protocapitalism, “the right path,” etc. All this semi-pragmatic opining, ostentatious or discrete, is nothing more than judging the dismal situation of the island from a moral perspective, instantaneously effective, cheap and abstract.

Continue reading HERE.

Via Punt de Vista (my translation):

What are they smoking over at Cubadebate?

Beware of Dogs": Should this warning be hung over at Cubadebate?

It is clear that in the writing at Cubadebate, they twist things around to their liking in order to produce their more creative articles. Otherwise, there is no way to explain the latest reporting bombshell from the Castro news source, in which they expose a script where Luis Posada Carriles appears to be the central figure in a mega operation against the Cuban government coordinated from Miami. It claims the plan is to attack the regime on various fronts, and it implicates each and every anti-Castro agent: from Posada Carriles to Yoani Sanchez to the very last Cuban who posts counterrevolutionary news on Facebook.

We will be on the lookout for when the movie finally hits theaters...

Via Capitol Hill Cubans:

Obama, Hostages and USAID

In December 2009, an American development worker, Alan Gross, was arrested and sentenced to 15 years in prison by the Castro regime for helping Cuba's Jewish community connect to the Internet.

Despite this hostage-taking, in January 2011, the Obama Administration rewarded the Castro regime by lifting sanctions related to non-humanitarian travel.

This week, the Egyptian military announced the prosecution of 19 American development workers for supporting human rights and pro-democracy groups in the North African nation.

In response, the Obama Administration is threatening Egypt with repercussions, including cutting off U.S. aid.

Thus, two hostage situations -- one rewarded with concessions, while the other with consequences.

Any bets on which country will release the American development workers first?

Time will tell.

And while we are on this issue, where are all the USAID critics that slammed the Cuba democracy programs after Alan Gross's arrest, arguing that these were "covert regime change" programs and that Castro's absurd "laws" (decrees) should be respected?

Why aren't they making the same accusations about USAID's programs in Egypt? Or in Syria or Iran, for that matter?