Of course they do, because:

"Cuba is Canada's largest market in the Caribbean and Central American region, with two-way trade topping $1 billion in 2010. A Canadian oil and gas company, Sherritt International, is the largest foreign investor in Cuba."

From this article wherein the Canadian minister for Latin America trips all over herself  trying to display concern about Human Rights where there is none:

"We see a very significant process of economic reform and liberalization in Cuba," Ablonczy told The Canadian Press in a pre-trip interview.

 Ablonczy does not necessarily believe this will lead to greater democratic freedoms any time soon in a country where the government exerts Soviet-era control over its 11 million citizens.

 "Political change is not what Cuban leadership has in mind," she said.

 "There's a lot of debate around these things and there's a lot of caution too. But Canada, as an investor in Cuba, with lots of people-to-people contact, wants to play as positive and constructive role as possible."

 Ablonczy said Canada stands ready to share experiences and best practices "as Cuba moves forward, very gradually, towards some needed changes and modernization."

She said it's important to be very respectful of her hosts and "what they want to achieve and their own goals and objectives." 

And this:

 "In a country like Cuba, a decentralizing dynamic is also a democratizing dynamic."

  Tell that to the Chinese and Vietnamese.

If you love visiting Cuba why not join Club Cubano and start earning rewards-brought to you by Cuba Explorer:

American Club members are credited in U.S. dollars... 

Cubaexplorer.com also doing business as Cuba Treks, specializes in Cuba tours for schools, in collaboration with:

Asociación Cubana de Limitados Físicos y Motores

Asociación de Pedagógos

Casa del Niño y la Niña

Casas de orientación a la Mujer y la Familia

Central de Trabajadors de Cuba

Centro Nacional de Educación Sexual

Consejo Mundial por La Paz

Escuela Lationoamericana de Medicina

Facultad de Lenjuas Extranjeras, Universidad de la Habana

Ferderación Cubana de Béisbol

Federación de Mujeres Cubanas

Federacioón Estudiantil Universitaria

Instituto Cubano de Amistad con Los Pueblos

Instituto Superior de Arte

Museo de la Alfabetización

I saved this one for last, especially in light of the recent passing of Laura Pollán, and her close up experience with her local CDR:

Comité de Defensa de la Revolución-Described as:  CDR (Committee for the Defense of the Revolution) are voluntary non'governmental organizations, existing on nearly every block, that finace activities through annual dues paid by their members.  From a North American perspective, they are similar to a combination of a block watch committee, community center and neighborhood enhancement project.

This video recording of a tour by eighteen Canadian high school students includes a visit to a CDR. (Take barf bag) If you sign up for their Quarterly Education Tours Newsletter, you'll receive Classroom aide material which includes the video and a poster of Che with the quote, "A true revolutionary is guided by great feelings of love."

¡Cuba que linda es Cuba! | Cuba, what a beautiful island! from Marcel Hatch on Vimeo.

Check out their staff, including American Marcel Hatch, who previously served as a volunteer press correspondent for the Pastors for Peace Caravan.

Their Website is extensive, with many many links. Check it out here. Since 1997, they've sent thousands of students and teachers on study abroad tours to Cuba. They want to hear from you!

1 888 965 5647 Toll free
1 877 687 3817 Toll free
1 604 874 9048 Long distance
1 604 874 9041 Facsimile
1 778 859 1048 Mobile for emergencies
Email: hello@cubaexplorer.com

Or writel to:
Zunzun Education Services Ltd
[dba] Cuba Education Tours
2278 East 24th Avenue
Vancouver, British Columbia
V5N 2V2 Canada

Not much is uglier than people vacationing in a Potemkin village while ignoring  human rights atrocities  right under their noses.   However, I think Congressmen Jeff Flake and Charles Rangel naming a bill allowing  just that the "Export Freedom to Cuba Act," is an affront to all those in Cuba struggling for freedom.  Ugly Americans indeed.

From The Hill: 

Inspired by Cuba's pro-democracy leaders

 

By Mauricio Claver-Carone,a director of the U.S.-Cuba Democracy PAC and founding editor of CapitolHillCubans.com in Washington, D.C - 10/12/11 01:01 PM ET

 What could be more pompous (and insulting) than the argument that American and foreign tourists can "inspire" the Cuban people to seek democracy? Not much.

Well, on second thought, maybe Republican Congressman Jeff Flake of Arizona and Democratic Congressman Charlie Rangel of New York calling their bill to sweep away all remaining restrictions on American travel to Cuba, the "Export Freedom to Cuba Act."

Or, the Obama Administration, which rejects American exceptionalism everywhere else in the world, arguing that American travelers (that have been carefully screened for entry by the Castro regime) are our best "Ambassadors of Freedom" to the Cuban people.

 Their argument is that Cubans, upon seeing spring breakers and tourists enjoying luxury "people-to-people" tours and Cuban-American "mules" peddling flat-screen TV's, will suddenly realize what they're missing under the Castros' totalitarian dictatorship, as if Cubans don't already know what's missing, and life under a brutal regime was their voluntary choice.

The argument further holds that American travelers are different from the throngs of Canadian snowbirds and the European sex tourists visiting the island for the last two decades, frequently degrading the Cuban people while bankrolling the repressive regime.

American travelers, in other words, will be "truly inspirational."

Americans are undoubtedly the kindest, noblest and most charitable people in the world. But it's extraordinarily arrogant to argue that any foreign tourist is needed to inspire or empower the Cuban people, when some of the most courageous and inspirational people in this world are living in Cuba.

Meet Ivonne Mayeza Galano.

Last month, this amazing woman stood alone on the steps of the Capitol building in Havana. Knowing the brutality of the repression that awaited her, she nonetheless, peacefully held up a sign reading:

"Cambios en Cuba Sin Dictadura" ("Change in Cuba Without Dictatorship")

She was promptly arrested, stripped naked, searched and violently interrogated.

Two weeks later, four other women, Sara Marta Fonseca, Mercedes García Álvarez, Tania Maldonado Sánchez and Odalys Zurma González, continued her protest. Predictably, they too were arrested, but this time it took Castro's security forces 40-minutes to drag them away, as a gathering crowd of bystanders began to heckle the oppressors.

Or how about Iris Perez Aguilera?

This Afro-Cuban pro-democracy leader is the founder of the Rosa Parks Feminist Movement for Civil Rights. She undertakes weekly protests and sit-ins. As a result of these, Castro's secret police, on numerous occasions, has abused and brutally beaten her -- to the point of hospitalization.

Or how about Iris's husband, Jorge Luis Garcia Perez "Antunez?"

Antunez, often referred to as Cuba's Nelson Mandela, spent 17-years as a political prisoner for protesting in the public square of his hometown. Today, still a young 46-years old, he is the leader of Cuba's civil disobedience movement.

Or how about Dr. Oscar Elias Biscet?

A charismatic physician, he spent nearly 11-years in political prison for his democratic advocacy as head of the Lawton Foundation for Human Rights. At a recent concert, U2's Bono honored Dr. Biscet as a true inspiration.

Or Marcelino Abreu, who has spent over 100 days on a hunger strike, protesting his unjust four-year prison-sentence. His crime was refusing to show a police officer identification after walking nearby the Castro regime's tourist-only Hotel Nacional. Abreu still holds that Cubans should be free to walk on the public streets and enter the public buildings of their homeland. Cuban authorities disagree.

Or the young rappers and rockers that defy the Cuban dictatorship through their lyrics and whose concerts and music festivals are under constant siege by the "Ministry of Culture" backed by the regime's armed police.

Or the bloggers and social media activists who brave the Castros' censors to inform the world of the harsh brutality and injustices the Cuban people face.

How can foreign travelers —ignorant of life under tyranny and repression– represent democratic ideals better than these icons who have spent years in political prison, and brave daily violence and beatings, to express their democratic aspirations and promote change in Cuba?

Let those of us who live in the United States stop insulting courageous pro-democracy leaders in Cuba with talk of "inspiring" them. The Cuban people don't need to be "inspired" by people abroad. They need our unwavering support for their struggle and for tangible pressure against the dictatorship that represses them.

The Los Angeles Latin American Film Festival, in collaboration with the Si Cuba Festival, presented Estela Bravo's documentary, Operation Pedro Pan: Flying Back to Cuba. Estela Bravo, a New York native, has lived and worked in Cuba since 1963.  Her work includes the documentary Fidel, a total pro-Castro whitewash seen by useful idiots on Cuba’s "tourist indoctrination tour." 

This event perfectly illustrates the one-sided nature of “Cultural Exchanges” with Cuba. There is no exchange, no sharing of American ideals of democracy and respect for Human Rights at these events, not here in the States, and certainly not in Cuba.  Celia Cruz was never allowed to return to Cuba, and you don't see Willy Chirino playing Havana.

We received the following (Edited by me, and approved by the author) from friend and Pedro Pan member Oscar B. Pichardo.  He attended two screenings of the film, and shares his review of the film, and the presenter's treatment of audience members not on board with the Castro approved version of events portrayed in the documentary. 

The film lasted about 60 minutes. It was plagued by some technical interruptions and loss of sound, to which a wag in the audience shouted,”must be the CIA.”  Make no mistake, this film in nothing like the “unfinished” documentary Bravo released 10 years ago that we have seen.  This is a top of the line production and the picture and sound are excellent.  The editing is well done and crafted out of context to support their arguments.

The film can be summarized as follows.  Part 1:  Pedro Pan was a scam perpetrated by the U. S. State Department, the CIA, and the Catholic Church.  This segment is composed mostly from footage from the “unfinished” documentary going on ad nauseam using footage and interviews from the 70s and 90s cleverly edited to support the “scam theory.” Weaving interviews with the Pedro Pan, the parents etc., a distorted picture is presented.

Much is made in the film about the Visa waivers being granted only to the minor children by the U.S. No mention is made that the reason Cuban parents petitioned for visa waivers for the kids was due to the onerous restrictions and extreme obstacles placed by the Cuban regime once a request for an exit visa was made.  In many cases, the regime would not grant exit permits to the whole family, so parents were forced to make the decision to divide the family in the hope they would eventually reunite.

In the second half, the storyline is based on the premise that all Pedro Pans must return to Cuba as a group to be healed. It opens with footage showing the five PP arriving in Cuba, as if this is their first visit back, but these quaint vignettes of interviews on the tarmac are staged; all five of the featured PP had returned to Cuba multiple times over the last 15 or so years, and some as far back as the late 1970’s.

No mention is made of the repressive policies of the Castro regime that is the direct cause of the mass exodus, which has been taking place from the island since 1959 and continues to this day.

The whole production is very crisp, well presented, slanted, and very believable… without the proper historical background the average viewer will swallow it hook, line and sinker!

The Q&A session:  Davd Ansen introduced Estela Bravo and the four Pedro Pans present. They all spoke, basically regurgitating the interviews from the film.  Bravo of course took off on the propaganda trail regarding the CIA having documents it will not declassify, false rumor of patria potestad, ran operation, Radio Swan broadcasts etc…  Then she got around to the 5 PP and how they bonded on trip to Cuba etc., a lot of the effort due to Elly who had “found’ over 2000 PP, and dedicated to her dream of taking PP back…

Finally, they got to audience questions.  Frank Varela introduced himself self as a Pedro Pan and said,  “Although I had some shared experiences, such as the anxiety of not knowing if I would ever see my parents again, I feel that all the Pedro Pan parents were heroes, preferring to send their children away to live in freedom instead of growing up in a communist dictatorship, and whatever hardships the Pedro Pans and their parents had to endure at the beginning was a small price to pay compared to the misery the millions of Cubans left behind in the island had to suffer.”  At that point, Estela Bravo cut him off and told him it was her film and he should do one and tell his own story.  This seems to be her polished standard answer when face with questions or facts she does not wish to address.

The next question was from an older gentleman who asked for a comparison between the 10 thousand Jewish children spirited out of Europe from the Nazis (Kindertransport) and similarities with Pedro Pan.  This seemed to throw Bravo of her game she appeared flustered and babbled something about the Jewish kids not allowed into the U.S., and brought up Eleanor arguing with Franklin, and how the Pedro Pan kids were allowed into the U.S.  It appears our erstwhile documentarian has her history confused as Kindertransport was strictly a European Endeavour and none of the children was sent to the U.S. during the war.

The last question came from a lady who I believe said she was not a PP but had been on, or left the island during the same time and remembered the pecera and having to walk through a gauntlet of milicianos with rifles and machine guns and asked if anyone would comment on that.  Bravo cut the question off saying that had been addressed in the film which if it was I must have missed that segment.

Finally, David Ansen gave the floor back to Bravo and she closed the session with a propaganda diatribe on eliminating the embargo, and changing travel policy so everyone could go to Cuba…

Observation: The Castro propaganda machine is doing an excellent job of promoting these “cultural exchanges” and using them to promote their political agenda.  Bravo is a formidable and valuable asset to the Cuban propaganda venture and not to be taken lightly.

Next:  June 27, a group of Southern California Pedro Pans attended a screening of the documentary at the Warner Grand Theatre in San Pedro, where during the Q&A, their attempts to address the omissions of the Castro's role in the the Pedro Pan story were rudely dismissed.  According to Mr. Pichardo, she was very patronizing, and in a dismissive manner, she cavalierly challenged them to make their own film.

This is their response:

Dear Pedro Pan Brothers and Sisters:                 

Recently there has been considerable local publicity regarding a “Cultural Exchange” in the Los Angeles area featuring exhibitions at area museums by Cuban artists and musical performances. The “Cultural Exchange” is publicized as an apolitical “West Coast Celebration of Cuban Arts & Culture” by the sponsoring organization ¡Sí CubaSocal!  Nothing could be further from the truth.

 Among the commonly cited reasons for having these “cultural exchanges” is to promote a better understanding between the local Southern California and Cuban communities, and that politics has no place in the arts.  A noble and admirable goal not supported by the facts.

 One of the featured “artists” is filmmaker Estela Bravo. Ms. Bravo, who resides in Havana, has a long history of churning out pro-Castro government sponsored propaganda – including her personal tribute to the tyrant, Fidel. Her contribution to this travesty is the film “Operation Peter Pan: Flying Back to Cuba,” which presents a pro-Castro distorted view of the exodus of over 14, 000 Cuban children sent to the U. S. by their parents to escape the terror of the Castro communist regime.

 On June 27, 2011, a group of Cuban Kids from the 60’s Exodus - Pedro Pan of California friends attended the screening of Bravo’s pseudo documentary Operation Peter Pan: Flying Back to Cuba at the Warner Grand Theatre in San Pedro, California.

During the post screening Q&A session the filmmaker refused to address valid comments and questions regarding the inadequacy of the film dealing with the actions of the Castro government which provoked the exodus of the Cuban children.

 While asserting in a very patronizing and dismissive manner that it was her film and she could do what she wanted she cavalierly challenged us to make our own film.

 This is our film. We are Pedro Pan by the grace of God and our parents. We can do anything!

In conjunction with the Si Cuba!  (Whose partner organizations include The Int'l Committee for the Freedom of the Cuban 5 and SPARC) event at the Getty Museum in Los Angeles, Arturo Sandoval is in concert at the Hollywood Bowl with Orquesta Buena Vista Social Club featuring Omara Portuondo. 

This special Cuban-themed evening of scorching rhythms and infectious improvisations includes projections of photos depicting historic and present day Cuba.

AUG 24: This concert will feature photo projections from the Getty’s historic photographic exhibit, A Revolutionary Project: Cuba from Walker Evans to Now, showing May 17-Oct 2, 2011 at the Getty Center.

Isn't that truly special.  The prodigal son, an escaped slave now living in freedom, dances for the former slave master. 

This just breaks my heart, as I just love, love, Arturo's music.  No more.

Here's the graphic of choice for Si Cuba, they should get together with Oliphant.

Thanks to the inimitable Paquito D'Rivera for shedding light on this phenomenon, because I've been unable to understand how it is beneficial for Americans to spend their hard-earned, and increasingly hard to acquire dollars on propaganda shows produced by tyrannical dictators who enslave their people and hate us. While it's easy to understand why the dictator's agents of influence would promote such events, I have a hard time understanding why respected institutions of culture agree to participate, or why someone who escaped the plantation is now willing to dance for the former master, or why a son of an exile would dishonor his  father.

Yes… Libya!

By Paquito D'Rivera

Years ago, Miami’s Willy Chirino had a hit song—a cute Cuban Guaracha— with a chorus that went: “If she wears a Bikini… punish her!, If she wears a mini-skirt… punish her!” The song was about a tycoon whose wife was kind of loose. Each time she slipped, her husband would “punish” her by buying her a mansion, the latest model sports car, or a vacation with her girlfriends in The Bahamas.

Apparently the US government has taken Chirino’s parody too seriously, or perhaps someone has convinced them to apply such a peculiar disciplinary concept to the most cruel and dangerous of dictatorships in this convoluted world of ours. In a friendly and conciliatory gesture, on February 2008, the Bush administration sent the New York Philharmonic Orchestra to a gala concert in North Korea. Naturally, the despotic Kin Jon-Il didn’t even bother to attend. His answer was to increase even more his threatening atomic arsenal. Two years later, among a myriad of atrocities taking place in Cuba, pacifist Afro-Cuban doctor Oscar Elias Biscet, a devoted follower of Dr. Martin Luther King’s ideas, was sentenced to 25 years in prison; Orlando Zapata-Tamayo’s death in a hunger strike; the physical and mental abuse of his mother Reina Luisa Tamayo and to the self-sacrificing Ladies in White; the incarceration of hundreds of dissidents and even the arbitrary detention of American citizen Alan P. Gross.

It seems like to celebrate such horrors, the New York City Ballet, the Wynton Marsalis Orchestra, and also Chico O’Farrill’s orchestra, under his son Arturo’s direction, traveled to Cuba. The Ministry of Culture of the oldest (and most ridiculous) dictatorship in the hemisphere invited them. “Ours is not a political visit. It is strictly musical”, the travelers simply affirmed as if in a totalitarian country like Cuba, everything, absolutely everything, didn’t have markedly political intentions.

The examples of “friendly aggressions” of Americans against ill-governed nations by never ending tyrannies have been quite many. Of the shameful case of China business affairs we better not even talk about. But we must recognize that the massive repressive escalation of the Castro brothers’ dictatorship, finally gained the support of many more nations that united to condemn these five decades plus of abuse and arbitrariness. In the meantime, President Obama’s administration, following the Chirino song’s chorus, “punishes” the repressor by encouraging travel and cultural exchanges (unilateral of course) of American artists and their counterparts (in what is left) of the island in ruins. This basically translates into considerable new revenue of extra cash for the Castro government. Also the sponsorship of a huge Cuban festival in the city of the skyscrapers, facilitating the free use of US territory as an enormous exhibit warehouse, where they will showcase only what they decide people should see.

As we expected, in the expo named “¡Sí Cuba!”, or Yes Cuba!”, the valuable contributions of Celia Cruz, Cachao, Guillermo Cabrera Infante, Zoé Valdés, Andy García, Gloria Estefan, Olga Guillot, Carlos Alberto Montaner, Bebo Valdés and so many other giants of our national culture will be absent. They have been systematically deleted from our suffering country’s history books because they oppose communism.

So, following the above mentioned examples, now that the Libyans, with the support of the civilized world, are liberating a crucial battle against Muhammar Gaddafi (or however the hell it’s spelled), I propose that –through the Libyan Embassy in Washington DC– we request that the Bedouin Coronel’s Ministry of Culture, organize the “Yes Libya!” festival. It’ll be pretty much like Fidel’s, but instead of mambos and rhumbas, they can play their own nawbah and takambas; musical styles danced by Libyans (at least by those who are still alive).

I suggest the festivities to begin with a great demonstration on camelbacks and dromedaries, loaned by the nation’s zoos that house those particular species. The camel riders, dressed as they do in the dessert, will be carrying curved swords, daggers, hand-grenades, anti-yankee placards, life size posters of the brother leader of the revolution and AKG rifles, fired occasionally by the cavalry men. (About the possible throwing of hand-grenades and other explosives against opposing demonstrators, we would submit this option to a democratic vote from the Libyan government’s organizing committee).

The cavalcade, preceded by the RPSBB (Retired Palestinian Suicide Bombers Band) and by women covered with veils and burkas, would march from Times Square to Ground Zero’s esplanade, where counting on the voluntary assistance of Casa de las Americas, Pastors for Peace, the Venceremos Brigade and the diplomatic representation of Venezuela, Cuba and Nicaragua, would put up the dictator’s (pardon me, the leader’s) legendary Bedouin tent. Once in the neighborhood, there will be a prayer on the site of the mosque that was to be built there and had caused so much controversy among the intolerant families of the twin towers’ victims; little incident that occurred so long ago. At the end of the prayers, there will be free shish kebab, couscous with chickpeas and barbecued goat testicles. Passages of the Koran will be read and there will be a give-away of the famous green book, autographed by the remarkable author, father of the revolution. A Libyan boy, wearing a Che Guevara T-Shirt, machine gun in hand, will unveil a beautiful statue of Benjamin Netanyahu hanging from an olive tree in the heart of the historical plaza, once home of the twin towers, a symbol of capitalism. At the end of the ceremony, Mayor Bloomberg will read a proclamation declaring the official day of Tripoli in New York. As evidence of Islamic tolerance, accompanied by the Retired Palestinian Suicidal Bombers Band, Louis Fahrakan will interpret the Arab version of Willy Chirino’s “Punish Her,” especially orchestrated by Robert Mugabe for this occasion. To close with a golden seal, 100 members of the Palestinian band, activating their explosive vests at the cry of “Yes Libyaaa!” would blow to pieces and in the name of the eternal brotherhood between our people, 40 American flags will be burned along with 49 Israeli flags and a Cohiba cigar. Allah-Akbar!

Paquito D’Rivera.
Bern, Switzerland,
April 27-2011

 

For Immediate Release

16 February 2011

A respected Baptist pastor in Cuba has published an open letter denouncing government persecution targeting him and his church. Pastor Homero Carbonell, long-time leader of La Trinidad First Baptist Church in Santa Clara, and a high-level denominational leader, says he has been forced to retire due to prolonged government pressure and threats made against his church.

The twelve page letter, sent by Pastor Carbonell to Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW), gives details of the Religious Affairs Office’s treatment of Pastor Carbonell and his church over the past three years. Spurious accusations against Pastor Carbonell, including allegations that he is associated with the counterrevolution and is tied to unspecified “illegalities” culminated in a serious of penalties being applied to his church. While Pastor Carbonell finally stepped down from his role as leader of the church in October 2010, the sanctions have not been lifted.

Numerous requests for clarification on the part of church leaders went unanswered and a series of meetings with officials from the Religious Affairs Office, headed by Caridad Diego, failed to rectify the situation. In one meeting, government officials concluded the meeting by telling Pastor Carbonell to behave himself.

In the open letter, Pastor Carbonell echoes calls by other religious leaders in Cuba for legislation regulating religious practice, as such a law “would not only regulate believers, but would also regulate the government, and would give believers a legal instrument to deal with any legal dispute to support their claims and not leave them subject to political decisions emanating from groups in power, who can take coercive, wrong, or privileged decisions in matters of conscience.”

The government’s focus on Pastor Carbonell and his church appears to be driven by the church’s consistent refusal to expel family members of political prisoners and members of the human rights or pro-democracy groups from the congregation. The Cuban government has long heavily pressured church leaders of all denominations to shun anyone linked to human rights or pro-democracy activism.

Pastor Carbonell’s experience is in line with the conclusions by a 2010 CSW report which found that while overt forms of persecution such as the destruction of unauthorized churches had diminished somewhat, government pressure on individual church leaders had reached unprecedented levels. One church leader told CSW that government persecution had not been as subtle or as effective since the 1980s.

CSW’s Advocacy Director Andrew Johnston said, “We are deeply concerned and stand in solidarity with Pastor Carbonell and the entire La Trinidad Baptist Church. While the Cuban government has implemented some economic reforms over the past year, there appears to be little official will to consider reforms that would protect basic human rights like religious freedom. It is troubling that the situation for many church leaders across the island appears to be growing steadily worse. We call on the Cuban government to cease its harassment of Pastor Carbonell and his family, to remove the sanctions against La Trinidad First Baptist Church, and back his call for new legislation that would establish clear legal parameters and recourse for appeal regarding all religious activity.”

For further information or to arrange interviews please contact Kiri Kankhwende, Press Officer at Christian Solidarity Worldwide on +44 (0)20 8329 0045 / +44 (0) 78 2332 9663, email kiri@csw.org.uk or visit www.csw.org.uk.

Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW) is a Christian organization working for religious freedom through advocacy and human rights, in the pursuit of justice.

 

 

The Office for Religious Affairs of the Central Committee of the Cuban Communist Party has sole responsibility for regulating all religious activity on the island. The long-time head office, Caridad Diego, has been repeatedly criticized by leaders of all denominations. As the office is an arm of the Communist Party, there is no legal mechanism for church’s to appeal decisions they feel are unfair are in error.

La Trinidad First Baptist Church of Santa Clara is part of the Western Convention of Cuban Baptists and is not a member of the Cuban Council of Churches. Together, the Eastern and Western Conventions of Baptists form one of the largest Protestant denominations on the island.

Penalties applied to the church include a prohibition on any foreigner traveling with a religious visa from visiting the Trinidad First Baptist Church, non-authorization of the purchase of a church van, and refusal to issue permission to Pastor Carbonell to leave the country to attend religious conferences abroad. In addition, officials have threatened to cancel the church’s bank account which they have held since 1988.

Pastor Carbonell’s letter is available in English and in Spanish.

CSW’s 2010 report on religious liberty in Cuba is available in English and in Spanish on our website at http://dynamic.csw.org.uk/article.asp?t=report&id=128

 

Has a nice ring doesn’t it?   Considering Havana’s legendary influence on the success of American Jazz, it seems more than appropriate that since Cuba has become a third world country in dire need of well... everything, giving back sounds like a good thing.  Is it? 

What criterion determines the selection process for which students are accepted into the music schools that will supposedly benefit from this program?  This is important, note that only those from families with a clean record of support for the “revolution” need apply.  There is nothing in Cuba for the people, only for state that oppresses them.   For decades, these goods for the needy in Cuba junkets are the bread and butter of the regime's propaganda machine, providing feel good stories that tap into anti-American sentiment.  It's completely beyond logic—the proud revolutionary Cuba as David to the bullying U. S. Goliath whose embargo and imperialism are responsible for misery on the island.  Always missing from the narrative is the reality of living under the boot heel of the Castro brother's Stalinist police state, or how they use children as actors in their theatre of propaganda.   

Children should be off limits to dictators, but sadly, under the Castro regime, everyone is just a commodity of the state.

Excerpt from All About Jazz:

Horns to Havana: Bringing Jazz instruments—and the spirit of jazz—to students in Cuba

NEW YORK, NY—Horns to Havana a non-profit organization in New York City announced a very special partnership with Music for Lifelong Achievement (MFLA) based at the Sheldon Concert Hall in St. Louis, Missouri. Throughout February and March 2011, MFLA will team up with Horns to Havana to collect used musical instruments to be delivered to students in Cuba in the Fall of 2011. Instrument donations will be accepted at any Sheldon Concert Hall performance during the months of February and March, as well as at The Sheldon's administrative offices during normal business hours, Monday—Friday, 9 a.m.? p.m.

Music for Lifelong Achievement is the first organization in the country to partner with Horns to Havana on this project. “The Sheldon and our Music for Lifelong Achievement program here in St. Louis are proud to partner with Horns to Havana to provide instruments for disadvantaged young musicians in Havana, Cuba," says Sheldon Executive Director Paul Reuter. “Music is important to the lives of young people everywhere and we're especially happy to foster connections between our cultures and the people in both countries."

Members of Horns to Havana, on a recent trip to Cuba, observed gifted students without instruments, violins and guitars with broken strings, saxophones without pads and trumpets without valves. In Havana, in even the best schools, there are not nearly enough working instruments for the young people who want to learn to play.

The article is here.

“My policy toward Cuba will be guided by one word: Libertad. And the road to freedom for all Cubans must begin with justice for Cuba's political prisoners, the rights of free speech, a free press and freedom of assembly; and it must lead to elections that are free and fair.” – Obama speech to the Cuban American National Foundation in Miami (5/23/08)

In spite of the combined treachery of the regime, the Catholic Church, the Spanish Government, "Cuba experts", and the MSM to convince us otherwise, there has been no movement toward greater freedom in Cuba.  There is still no justice for Cuba's political prisoners. There is still no right of free speech in Cuba, there is still no free press and no freedom of assembly, and the unelected illegitimate brutal repressive Castro dictatorship still has its boot heel firmly planted on the backs of the Cuban people.
Obama's further easing of restrictions  is an insult to Cuba's political prisoners and the citizens of Cuba forced to live as oppressed slaves with no Human Rights.  How dare Obama cloak his bailout to the regime, which is exactly what it is, with stale propaganda, long ago debunked, here, here, and here for starters.   

"These measures will increase people-to-people contact; support civil society in Cuba; enhance the free flow of information to, from, and among the Cuban people; and help promote their independence from Cuban authorities," the White House said in a statement.

Blah, blah, blah.  2012 can't come fast enough.

Go, but be prepared to leave your rights at the border. 

Via Capitol Hill Cubans:

U.S. Public Official Detained in Cuba

at 6:30 PM Friday, October 29, 2010

From WBIR in Knoxville, Tennessee:

 The chair of the Knox County Commission is glad to be back on American soil after being detained by Cuban Immigration officials.

 The Cuban Government stopped Mike Hammond, along with three others on a [religious] mission trip from leaving the airport or the country. The four Americans declared themselves political prisoners and demanded to speak to the Swiss Embassy.

 Hammond believes talking to those Swiss officials got the ball rolling and the group was finally allowed to fly into Mexico before returning to the U.S.

 "I understand now what it's like to lose your rights, and to have no rights. when they tell you you can't make a phone call and they've seized your passport. You'll eat when they tell you you can eat and you are confined to an area. That's not a good feeling. I understand now, lack of freedom, and what happens when you don't have freedoms," said Hammond.

I have no sympathy for anyone who travels to a country where there is no rule of law,  no respect for human rights, and where every dollar they spend benefits a totalitarian dictatorship.

It was recently announced that the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra would travel to Cuba as part of a cultural exchange under the auspices of the Cuban Institute of Music, an agency of the Cuban Ministry of Culture.

The venerable Paquito D’Rivera shares his thoughts about traveling to Cuba, and so-called "non-political" events in Cuba.

Going to Cuba, What For?

Everyone knows that in a totalitarian regime like the Cuban is, absolutely everything is organized, coordinated and controlled by the state, including, and very mainly the arts. So a few days ago when my colleagues at Jazz at Lincoln Center naively told me that "Good thing we're going to Cuba for musical, not political reasons”, I immediately, kindly but firmly replied: I’m sorry, but there is not such a thing as a non-political event in Cuba, and sadly enough, great artists like my dear friend Chucho Valdés are nothing else but tools of that lamentable regime. You should ask Chucho why his own father's many achievements as well as Cachao, Julio Gutierrez, Celia Cruz and so many of us Cuban exiled artists has been silenced and banned from the official history books in our own land. And please take the opportunity to ask also about the Ladies in White, Dr. Oscar Elias Biscet–a follower of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.–, Orlando Zapata Tamayo, Dr. Darsi Ferrer, Guillermo Fariñas, Yoani Sanchez, and so many other Cubans (most of them blacks), discriminated against, harassed or even left to die or serving up to 30 years in prison just for speaking their minds. And believe me that this is just the very tip of the iceberg about the horrors hidden behind those so publicized Castro's free schools and health (or rather HELL) systems. Everybody should know by now that every single activity there, is related and connected to a political goal, and relevant names–like Wynton Marsalis or Tania León, for example– will be used, no doubts about it, for propaganda matters, help legitimizing the 50 year plus old dictatorship, and against those of us, fighting for a better future for our people. On the other hand, three times already this year I turned down pretty juicy propositions to go to Communist China, the same way so many artists refused to perform in a racist South Africa in the past. I simply refuse to visit cages to play for prisoners with no crimes committed. How would it feel to criticize Cuban tourism while sending post-cards from Tiananmen Square?!

So quoting Cuban exiled journalist Miguel Pérez: “I tell my non-Cuban friends that I probably have much better reasons for wanting to go to the Island. But sarcastically, I also explain that I've managed to resist the temptation because I suffer from an illness called "principles" and that traveling to my country under the hideous regime from which I fled is bad for my health. Until Cuba is truly free, I'm not going to be traveling with them.”

So, bon voyage!

Paquito D’Rivera

September 21-2010

H/T: Zelde
Published with Paquito's permission

Presenting "mindful" travel and tourism to Cuba, more familiarly known as those indoctrinating "cultural" tours to Cuba.  

Ethical Traveler and Global Exchange’s Reality Tours have joined forces to create an extraordinary journey: an in-depth exploration of Cuba, with a focus on the country’s huge potential for mindful travel and tourism.

The delegation will be led by Malia Everette – who has been facilitating educational and customized trips to Cuba for 20 years and overseeing Reality Tours to Cuba for over 13 years.   Jeff Greenwald, Executive Director of Ethical Traveler, will be co-hosting the delegation. During the 11 days in Cuba the delegation will meet with grassroots community organizers, and visit ecotourism projects across the island. The group will dialogue with cultural leaders, educators and travel professionals, exploring how the future of US/Cuba relations will create new opportunities for the ethical traveler. Participants can look forward to experiencing some of Cuba’s timeless attractions—including Old Havana and Viñales Valley (World Heritage Sites), the Tropicana Nightclub, the white sand beaches of Varadero, and emerging ecotourism resorts in Pinar del Rio and Cayo Coco.

Who are these people?  The program is sponsored by Ethical Traveler (sic), and pro-castro radical Medea Benjamin's group, Global Exchange.  Leader Malia Everette, you may remember was among the Code Pink "ladies" who travelled to Iraq to aid and abet the terrorists who were murdering Iraqi's and U.S. servicemen.

The details are here.

Please share your knowledge of Cuba's eco-system with them.

While the butchers in La Habana continue their bloody work, they also find there is no shortage of useful idiots willing to prop up their image:

IN AN INTERNATIONAL FIRST, DIRECTOR OF Cuban AUTO MUSEUM
visits UNITED STATES To Judge at Major Concours d'Elegance

They call it "car guy" diplomacy, and never mind reality, because:

There is an important link to American history and the automotive heritage of Cuba; as embargo laws prevented the importation of vehicles to Cuba, Cuban enthusiasts have kept some of the most beloved American cars of the 1950s alive and running through innovation, improvisation and creativity for more than 50 years. Though these vehicles have not been seen in the U.S. for that long, generations atop generations of Cuban families have taken care of and passed down these amazing American relics, in addition to other great collectible automobiles from around the world.

Contact info for The Amelia Island Concours d'Elegance Office:

3016 Mercury Road South
Jacksonville, Florida 32207
Office:  (904) 636-0027
Fax: (904) 636-0171

or electronically at:  https://www.ameliaconcours.org/contactus/

A church group from Portland is denied entry by Cuban authorities, detained, and sent back to Mexico and whom do they blame?  Not the Stalinist regime responsible, but the unfortunate American held in a Cuban prison accused of trying to “destabilize” said regime.   How rude!  After all, this church group loves Cuba; they’ve never had a problem in the past.

Pssst!  Guess what useful idiot Americans; you’ve been used by the dictator.  How does it feel?

The brief detention in Havana, Cuba, last week of a Portland, Oregon, church group comes on the heels of the detention of an American contractor and could indicate an increasingly chilly reception for some American visitors, according to the church travelers.

The December 26 trip for 14 members of the First Unitarian Church of Portland is a reminder of the entrenched tensions between Cuba and the United States despite the Obama administration's loosening of previous restrictions.

The church group was traveling on a U.S.-issued license and planned to do humanitarian work. The group was denied entry to Cuba. Part of the group spent the night detained inside the Havana airport before being put on a plane to Mexico, the church's social justice minister, the Rev. Kate Lore, told CNN.

"I don't blame the Cuban government, or our government, but I truly believe something has to be done to normalize relations," Jones said.

The nine others who had already passed through customs faced additional questioning and were detained inside the airport overnight, Carol Slegers, who was part of that group, told CNN.

Later, it was learned that Cuban authorities considered imprisoning them, she said. Instead, they were left to find a place to sleep on the floor of the airport.

The group ended up sleeping underneath a staircase, using fabric they brought for the clothes-making project as sheets, Slegers said. The next morning, they were put on a plane to Mexico.

The Cuban officials "were rude and cold and indifferent," Slegers said. "It was very psychologically disarming."

Read the whole convoluted thing here.

Penultimos Dias has word that Yoani Sanchez and other Cuban bloggers have been arrested in Havana.

Yoani Sánchez, Orlando Luis Pardo, Ciro Díaz and Claudia Cadelo among those arrested. Cadelo is reported to have already been released. Details on whereabouts of other dissident bloggers are still sketchy.

UPDATE 6:46 EST: Im told all were picked up, harassed, manhandled and released at some distance away from where the march was to take place. Will keep updating as the news trickles in.

UPDATE 7:15: Penultimos Dias reports the Yoani and Orlando were verbally abused and severely beaten. Yoani was told that "this is as far as she would go."

Ernesto, acabo de hablar con Yoani, Ya está en su casa. Tiene un golpe en un ojo. La han agredido física y verbalmente. A Orlando también. Les gritaban dentro de la patrulla que hasta ahí habían llegado, la pusieron con la cabeza hacia abajo y los pies hacia arriba y les aplicaron golpes de karate. Estaba muy nerviosa. Yo también.

Please help with translation.

UPDATE (translation):

Ernesto, I have just spoken to Yoani. She is now back home. She has bruising around one eye. She has been verbally and physically assaulted. Orlando was too. "This is as far as you're getting!" was repeatedly shouted at them inside a patrol car. She was placed head over heels and subjected to karate blows. She is very nervous. I am too.

WHERE IS THE ARMY OF DAVIDS?

UPDATE 2:04: Here's video of the march the castro monarchical dictatorship just couldn't allow Cuban bloggers to participate in:

UPDATE: Yeah! Let's lift the embargo, dialogue with fidel and raul and co., and allow Americans to travel freely to Cuba so they can witness Yoani and her colleagues be treated like chattel!!

Update 8:15 AM Saturday: From Orlando Luis Pardo, posted at Penultimos Dias:

Miro mi nuca.
No ha sido nada.
Un cinturón de petequias por la demasiada fuerza de un efebo oficial y acaso por mi mala coagulación.
Miro mi nuca en un jpg.
Según se interprete, es insultante o interesante de contar.
En el principio no fue el Verbum, sino la Barbariem.
Violencia extra-verbal a pulso.
Caminar en El Vedado será a partir de hoy una experiencia extrema.
La Avenida de los Presidentes remitirá ahora a una prisión post-principesca.
En segundos, Yoani y yo estábamos de brazos torcidos dentro de un auto importado desde nuestra Madrastra Patria: China.
Mi cabeza contra la alfombra del carro y Yoani casi de patas arriba.
No pude verla, la identifiqué porque no se callaba ni maniatada.
En segundos, la oí gritar con la vehemencia del ser más libre del planeta.
Tenía una rodilla de macho cubano clavada en el pecho y todavía los increpaba.
En segundos, de esa energía chupé fuerzas para sostener un poco mi voz.
Me dijeron que le dijera a Yoani que se callara.
Esa frase, pronunciada por tres desconocidos a nombre del Estado Cubano, resume toda la escenografía obsoleta y obscena de este país:
Díganle a Yoani que se calle.
Díganle a Yoani que se calle.
Díganle a Yoani que se calle.
En segundos, nos depositaron despóticamente en una esquina que confundí con el patio interior de un barracón.
Yo estaba mareado.
Sentí asco, tuve ganas de vomitar.
No podía mover el cuello.
Abracé a Yoani (antes nunca lo había hecho).
Empezó a sollozar.
La mujer más grande de Cuba parecía una niñita de cero años.
Porque Yoani es eso: el futuro de Cuba cristalizado sobre un esqueleto frágil e irrefrenable.
La besé en la cabeza. Su pelo tironeado con odio olía a la libertad.
Una.
Dos.
Diez.
Incontables veces besé su cabeza sin edad.
Pero nunca le dije que se callara.
Pero nunca le dije que se callara.
Pero nunca le dije que se callara.

Orlando Luis Pardo
La Habana

Update 8:38 AM: Ninety-five pound Yoani Sanchez takes a beating for 12 million Cubans and writes:

Cerca de la calle 23 y justo en la rotonda de la Avenida de los Presidente, fue que vimos llegar en un auto negro —de fabricación china— a tres fornidos desconocidos: “Yoani, móntate en el auto” me dijo uno mientras me aguantaba fuertemente por la muñeca. Los otros dos rodeaban a Claudia Cadelo, Orlando Luís Pardo Lazo y una amiga que nos acompañaba a una marcha contra la violencia. Ironías de la vida, fue una tarde cargada de golpes, gritos y malas palabras la que debió transcurrir como una jornada de paz y concordia. Los mismos “agresores” llamaron a una patrulla que se llevó a mis otras dos acompañantes, Orlando y yo estábamos condenados al auto de matrícula amarilla, al pavoroso terreno de la ilegalidad y la impunidad del Armagedón.
Me negué a subir al brillante Geely y exigimos nos mostraran una identificación o una orden judicial para llevarnos. Claro que no enseñaron ningún papel que probara la legitimidad de nuestro arresto. Los curiosos se agolpaban alrededor y yo gritaba “Auxilio, estos hombres nos quieren secuestrar”, pero ellos pararon a los que querían intervenir con un grito que revelaba todo el trasfondo ideológico de la operación: “No se metan, estos son unos contrarrevolucionarios”. Ante nuestra resistencia verbal, tomaron el teléfono y dijeron a alguien que debió ser su jefe: “¿Qué hacemos? No quieren subir al auto”. Imagino que del otro lado la respuesta fue tajante, porque después vino una andanada de golpes, empujones, me cargaron con la cabeza hacia abajo e intentaron colarme en el carro. Me aguanté de la puerta… golpes en los nudillos… alcancé a quitarle un papel que uno de ellos llevaba en el bolsillo y me lo metí en la boca. Otra andanada de golpes para que les devolviera el documento.
Adentro ya estaba Orlando, inmovilizado en una llave de kárate que lo mantenía con la cabeza pegada al piso. Uno puso su rodilla sobre mi pecho y el otro, desde el asiento delantero me daba en la zona de los riñones y me golpeaba la cabeza para que yo abriera la boca y soltara el papel. En un momento, sentí que no saldría nunca de aquel auto. “Hasta aquí llegaste, Yoani”, “Ya se te acabaron las payasadas” dijo el que iba sentado al lado del chófer y que me halaba el cabello. En el asiento de atrás un raro espectáculo transcurría: mis piernas hacia arriba, mi rostro enrojecido por la presión y el cuerpo adolorido, al otro lado estaba Orlando reducido por un profesional de la golpiza. Sólo acerté a agarrarle a éste —a través del pantalón— los testículos, en un acto de desespero. Hundí mis uñas, suponiendo que él iba a seguir aplastando mi pecho hasta el último suspiro. “Mátame ya” le grité, con la última inhalación que me quedaba y el que iba en la parte delantera le advirtió al más joven: “Déjala respirar”.
Escuchaba a Orlando jadear y los golpes seguían cayendo sobre nosotros, calculé abrir la puerta y tirarme, pero no había una manilla para activar desde adentro. Estábamos a merced de ellos y escuchar la voz de Orlando me daba ánimo. Después él me dijo que lo mismo le ocurría con mis entrecortadas palabras… ellas le decían “Yoani sigue viva”. Nos dejaron tirados y adoloridos en una calle de la Timba, una mujer se acercó “¿Qué les ha pasado?”… “Un secuestro”, atiné a decir. Lloramos abrazados en medio de la acera, pensaba en Teo, por Dios cómo voy a explicarle todos estos morados. Cómo voy a decirle que vive en un país donde ocurre esto, cómo voy a mirarlo y contarle que a su madre, por escribir un blog y poner sus opiniones en kilobytes, la han violentado en plena calle. Cómo describirle la cara despótica de quienes nos montaron a la fuerza en aquel auto, el disfrute que se les notaba al pegarnos, al levantar mi saya y arrastrarme semidesnuda hasta el auto.
Logré ver, no obstante, el grado de sobresalto de nuestros atacantes, el miedo a lo nuevo, a lo que no pueden destruir porque no comprenden, el terror bravucón del que sabe que tiene sus días contados.

Yoani Sánchez
La Habana

From Claudia Cadelo:

Friday at the Blogger Academy, we ended the day with a class on Cuban culture with Miriam. Relaxed atmosphere: the Tainos and their myths. Before leaving Ivan told me, “See you at five-thirty.” We had found out from friends we knew that Aldo, Luis Eligio, Amaury and other young people were going to walk today from 23rd and G Street to L Street, with signs against violence. A civic march in a country where citizenship has been kidnapped by the totalitarianism, where power has grown old and the ultimate death rattles of a collapsing system are a blind response, pure temper tantrum.

We stayed, Orlando Luis (Pardo Lazo), his girlfriend, Yoani and I, cleaning up until it was time for the march. We left the house nervous, but confident that we wouldn’t be alone. By G Street Orlando was making jokes that I don’t remember but I was falling out laughing. A man was masturbating in broad daylight in Zapata, Havana looked the same as always.

The bus stop for the P11 was full, at 27th and G, the only corner from where you can catch something to take you to Alamar. The car appeared from nowhere, yellow plates, a new Chinese model: money for repression. “Let’s go in comfort,” Yoani said to me jokingly, and the guys got out with faces that were not pleasant, it must be sad to be a thug. We refused to get in the car, there were three of them and they threatened us:

"Get in the car, now."
"Let us see your documents, or wear a uniform."

Orlando had his cell phone in his hand. “Pardo, don’t record,” said the said the one in the orange shirt, and I got my cell out. Nobody noticed me, I sent the first Tweet…

In less than three minutes a patrol car came up with a couple of cops—a woman and a man—completely dumbstruck by the scene. The carried out their orders almost in slow motion, the woman told me:

"Don’t resist."
"They are undocumented," it occurred to me to enlighten her.

Yoani was clinging to a bush, I was clinging to her waist, and the woman was pulling me by the leg. They had already dragged Orlando off, outside my field of vision. A man stopped, looking on with an expression of terror, people didn’t say a single word. The officer, very young, got me in an armlock that immobilized me, I could have kicked a little but I was too astonished at seeing Yoani’s legs sticking out of the rear window of the State Security car.

They shoved me into the patrol car while I was screaming, “Yoani! Yoani!” But I realized that no one could hear me, everything was hermetically sealed, Orlando’s girlfriend was struggling with the police, Yoani’s body was being pushed headfirst into the car, and Orlando’s telephone flew out through the window… I sent the second Tweet hoping someone would be able to understand it with my terrible typing. The girl cop got in the patrol car and said to me,

“Why did you resist? We don’t want to hit you.”
“You almost ripped my shirt,” said the other PNR (National Revolutionary Police), meanwhile putting Orlando’s girlfriend in the car.

They looked embarrassed, for a moment I thought they were going to apologize:

“Do you have your identity cards handy,” she said, almost sweetly, and passed us Orlando’s phone which wouldn’t stop ringing.

Unfortunately, the one in the orange shirt got in and shut the door… I fell over. The police fell silent and started the dialog.

“Claudia, turn off the telephone.”
“Forget it.”
“How disgusting,” said Orlando’s girlfriend.
The rest pure insult, a surrealistic rage.

“Your name is not going to go down in history,” he said.
“I don't care, you don’t even have a name.”
“Then it will be worse.”
“Your threats are your fear. That’s their purpose.”
“Comedian.”

Stepping foot on the corner by Yoani’s house made me dizzy, there was no light in the building, I couldn’t get anyone’s cell, and I was losing my balance. Then the first call came with a 00 international prefix and I knew nothing had been in vain, even if we had all been arrested and the march suspended. When, later, I saw the video that Ciro brought me I knew for certain: They lost, it’s the countdown.

Millions of tourists from democratic countries, including the U.S. have visited Cuba, but somehow, contrary to the kool-aid crowd school of thought, the Cuban people still have NO HUMAN RIGHTS. To those bozos who argue for the lifting of the embargo what do you have to say about this? How do you think more Americans visiting Cuba will end castro's embargo against the Cuban people? Will you travel to Havana, bypass the mojito tour and demand justice for Cubans denied their rights?

From the Herald:

U.S. scholarships get Cuban college students expelled

The Cuban government has denied exit permits to about 30 Cuban college students who had been offered U.S. government-funded scholarships for academic programs at American academic institutions.

Not only did the students lose the chance to attend classes for free in the United States, but some were accused of ideologically losing their way and were expelled from their colleges in Cuba. Those who were members of the Communist Youth Union were booted out, several students said.

"I've been told that I have been expelled from the university and that I have a hearing pending with the Communist Youth, where I am to receive a temporary sanction due to the fact that, in self-criticism, I acknowledged having applied for the scholarship,'' wrote a student selected for a leadership program in the United States.

The student, who asked to remain anonymous, said there is deep frustration among the selected students.

"Our state of mind couldn't be worse. We feel unprotected. Nobody will defend us nor challenge the Cuban government to claim our right to exercise the option any university student in the world has.''

So much for cultural exchange and it begs the question—why would anyone want their kids to study in a place that suppresses true learning by subverting inquiry, and which denies its citizens access to information?

Read the whole thing here.

Here's how Americans traveling to Cuba will help the "natives:"

H/T Gabe M.

There are millions of exiled Cubans who can answer that question.

AP shill for the dictator, Anita Snow, provides us with the New York Philharmonic’s president, Zarin Mehta thoughts as he considers a possible tour to Cuba:

Mehta said the orchestra is concentrating on people rather than politicians: "We just want to come and play music and let others worry about the politics. That's their problem."
He noted that no major change in U.S.-North Korean relations occurred after the orchestra played in the North Korean capital in February 2008, the first performance by a major visiting orchestra in that totalitarian state.
Still, Mehta said, the music did seem to touch many of the North Korean concertgoers, who included government officials and military officers.
"Here you have all these people who have been taught that Americans are the devil," he said. "When we played a Korean piece, you should have seen the change in the stoic, impassive faces of the Koreans. Many of them were weeping."

I’m sure Hitler and Stalin occasionally shed a tear or two in their time as well—murderous dictators have tear ducts; no need to entertain them while their victims suffer to prove that. I think it is safe to assume that those North Korean concertgoers were hand picked by the regime, just as they would be in Cuba.

According to the article, it may be as long as a month before the board makes a decision on the Cuba trip. I urge our readers to contact them and let them know why they should not travel to Cuba to entertain the elite.

New York Philharmonic
Avery Fisher Hall
10 Lincoln Center Plaza
New York, NY 10023-6970

Public Relations:
Administrative Offices: 212.875.5900
Public Relations and Press Queries: 212.875.5700, Email: pr@nyphil.org
Katherine E. Johnson Associate Director of Public Relations
Eric M. Gewirtz, Assistant Director, Public Relations, Media and Touring

Board:
Paul B. Guenther, Chairman
Gary W. Parr, Chairman Designate

Complete list of Philharmonic Board and Staff can be found  here.

You can read the entire article here.

More home video of a lovely holiday in Cuba. Notice how they are talking to dissidents about their important work and how they discuss the merits of representative democracy with people on the streets.

I don't know about you guys but watching that video infuriates me. These people are frolicking in a country that was STOLEN from the Cuban people. Stolen from our parents, from out grandparents and yes STOLEN from the Cubans still on the island.

Lift the travel ban and Cuba will be democratized by American versions of "Sava and his mummy, daddy, granny and granda."

Don't miss the pirate show.