Gorki Aguila Carrasco, Yoani Sanchez, and others on Twitter and Facebook report that popular Porno Para Ricardo guitarist Ciro Diaz has been arrested in Cuba.

After being held hostage in Gaza for five years Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit is finally released and returning home to his devoted family in Israel.

Apparently the deal involved a prisoner exchange with Palestinians.

One IDF soldier for 1,027 Palestinian prisoners (terrorists).

TEL NOF AIR FORCE BASE, Israel — Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit returned to Israel Tuesday morning after five years of captivity in the Gaza Strip, gaunt and frail-looking but apparently healthy.

His release by the militant Palestinian group Hamas launched a prisoner swap that ultimately will include the release of 1,027 Palestinian prisoners from Israeli jails. A total of 477 prisoners were freed Tuesday, after Shalit was returned to Israel.

Shalit, now 25, was 19 years old when he was seized by Hamas militants who had tunneled under the border between Gaza and Israel. The campaign to free him drew support from across Israel, despite anguish over the decision to release of hundreds of Palestinians convicted of planning or carrying out attacks against Israeli civilians.

“Gilad Shalit has returned to his country, his homeland and his family,” Brig. Gen. Yoav Mordechai, an Israeli army spokesman, said after the young soldier’s release. “For over five years we have been .?.?. with Gilad Shalit. Today, Gilad Shalit is with us.”

Shalit was taken by Hamas officials from Gaza into Egypt, then turned over to Israeli officials and taken across the border. He was examined by doctors and given a chance to speak to relatives by telephone; at some point, he changed out of the plaid shirt he had been wearing and into an Israeli army uniform, which hung loosely on his thin frame.

“I thought that I would find myself in this situation many more years,” Shalit, who appeared somewhat dazed, said in a brief interview with Egyptian state television before he was brought into Israel. “If they wanted to secure my freedom, they had to pay a price for this.”

Shalit was flown by military helicopter to this air base in central Israel, where he was reunited with his family just after 1 p.m. local time (7 a.m. in Washington). He saluted Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who embraced him.

“How good that you have returned home,” Netanyahu told Shalit, according to Israeli media accounts.

Netanyahu told reporters that the case of the abducted soldier was among the toughest he inherited when he assumed office 2 1 / 2 years ago. He said Israel had paid a “heavy price” to secure Shalit’s release.

“On this day,” Netanyahu said, “all of us are united in happiness and pain.”

[...]

God bless Gilad Shalit. God bless and protect Israel.

Video added:

Frances Martel at Mediaite has written a lengthy article interviewing CNN's Dr. Sanjay Gupta in Havanna, Cuba. Dr. Gupta is in Cuba to investigate for himself the facts about Cuba's healthcare system that everyone seems determined to hold up as a prime example of a successful government/state-run system. Democrats, Hollywood celebrities such as Michael Moore and Oliver Stone, and the American media have selectively shown only one elitist aspect of CastroCare, deliberately omitting the entire cold harsh facts about the average Cuban who must depend on the government for its every medical need. Here is just a bit of Martel's report, but as I said it's lengthy so read the full article at the link above or in the box-quote:

90 miles and decades removed from the United States, the island of Cuba persists as a stubbornly living relic of the Cold War, excommunicated from the Western world just enough to make everything from its music to policy to its health care system a mystery. It was to explore this latter element that CNN’s Dr. Sanjay Gupta found himself Havana last week, from where he told Mediaite his first impressions and expectations on the island, and worked on an upcoming documentary on swimmer Diana Nyad’s attempt to traverse the stretch of water from Havana to Florida.

Many have argued that the Cuban health care system is somewhat of a marvel compared to the rest of the island’s industries– not the least due to the fact that the government made a very public push to make doctors its greatest export. This has led to both strong criticism from those that perceive it as a distraction from the goings-on otherwise on the island, or see it as a ploy for the nation to ingratiate itself internationally with nation’s that simply cannot afford good medical education. On the other hand, those who praise it cite numbers (mostly from the Cuban government) that show the average life of a Cuban to be, at least on paper, more disease-free than many in the Western world. To this end, Dr. Gupta traveled to the island to take a look himself and try to speak to as many people on the ground there as he could.

Journalistic missions like these, even if explicitly avoiding the political situation on the island, nevertheless touch on an emotional, political wound that hasn’t stopped bleeding for more than half a century. The relationship between Cuba, the Cuban exile community, and the American mainstream media is a tenuous one, and as a member of the Cuban exile community, this topic is particular is personally difficult for me. I grew up with an acute understanding of the systematic physical and psychological destruction the regime is to blame for– it is plain to see every day in the faces of our loved ones, and the former prisoners of conscience in our communities who huddle in cafes to reminisce about the time they served in brutally inhumane conditions for having complimented America once, or written a defiant essay, or even worn their hair long or listened to “yanqui” music. The pain is inked in the headlines of our media that dare publish stories of families of political prisoners being beaten and scorned on the streets.

In this context– and in the context of the mainstream media’s history with the communist dictatorship (from Herbert Matthews to 1990s Lou Dobbs to Michael Moore to Oliver Stone)– justifying a look at the health care system at face value is about as acceptable as an in-depth report on Mussolini-era Italy’s efficient train system. Regime sympathizers have used it as a smokescreen to shield eyes from the atrocities of the regime, and thus the distrust in the community is very high when such analyses come to the fore. But in the post-USSR, post-internet world, in a world where the demand for Happy Meals and iPods has proven a far more powerful political motivator than the temptations of abstract fundamental human rights, opening governments requires shining spotlights and exchanging culture. Even apolitical reports like Dr. Gupta’s force the regime to exhibit a candor with which it is unfamiliar, and serve to remind the world of the inconvenient fact that Cuban people, so many decades later, still live under the yoke of the Revolution’s dilapidated, rabid haughtiness.

With this heavy in mind, I spoke to Dr. Gupta earlier this week from Havana–who, as you will read, came into the experience acutely aware of the nature of the government, no agenda and plenty of curiosity. I found in him a refusal to subscribe to the Oliver Stone/Michael Moore school of willful blindness, admitting there were breathtaking elements to the island while acknowledging the scattering of asterisks and conjectures surrounding the statistics of the health care system, and the inability of journalists to paint a full picture.

Continue...

On YouTube you will find videos of Dr. Gupta's heated interview on CNN with Michael Moore on the heels of his pro-CastroCare movie "Sicko" in 2007 as the U.S. political season geared-up for the 2008 POTUS campaigns and government-run healthcare was a primary focus of the democrats running.

From The Americano:

I write this short introduction for I know both Ernesto Fernández Travieso, the Jesuit priest who presents what his brother Tomás Fernández Travieso witnessed as a political prisoner in Cuba when he was 18 years old. I knew their mother who protected me while worrying about her two sons. This is a tale of how Cuba arrested, tried and executed those who opposed the regime. They paid the ultimate sacrifice. We honor them by remembering.   – Guillermo I. Martínez

The story is posted in its entirety below the fold.

My brother Tommy recounts his trial in Havana on the day of the invasion of Bay of Pigs April 17, 1961 when the communist government, as retaliation, began to condemn political prisoners to the firing squad. This first group of eight was caught working in the resistance movement weeks or months before. Tapia Ruano (23), Campaneria (21), and Tomas (18) were students. My brother was the only witness in what happened that night.  Ernesto Fernández Travieso, S.J

“50? YEARS AGO

By Tomás Fernández-Travieso.

The sun was setting when we emerged from the trial. Luis Fernández-Caubí was the only lawyer that dared to defend our case. The trial took only 20 minutes; it was interrupted several times by the noise of the army tanks leaving La Cabaña fortress (site of the trials) racing towards Playa Girón (the Bay of Pigs): it was April 17, 1961.

Only those sentenced to die before the firing squads were kept in the chapel. The only one that we knew was already there was Carlos Rodríguez Cabo. The prosecutors were demanding a 30 year sentence for his partner in the struggle against Castro, Efrén Rodríguez López. Efrén would stay behind in the ward where we were jailed as they took us to be tried and when he came to say goodbye to us, very upset, he said: “Look, I hate to ask you this but I am sure you won’t be coming back here (meaning he was sure we were all destined for the firing squad). Say hello to Carlitos for me when you see him”. He could not utter another word as he embraced us crying.

Handcuffed, we crossed the drawbridge. Below, in the pit, a solitary pole stood in front of a wall of sandbags. Virgilio Campanería-Angel and I were handcuffed together. Alberto Tapia Ruano was by himself.

Upon arriving back at the prison, many cellmates greeted us in silence from the courtyard across the moat. We were taken through a galley where the guards were sleeping, until we came to the chapel (interior galley split into four cells with a central corridor).

We kept on walking along a long corridor. Four guards were escorting us. We crossed three barred gates with thick padlocks. On entering the chapel, from one of the cells, Efrén’s, strong and determined voice, greeted us: “It seems that they want to “tronar” (shoot) me too. They raised my sentence from 30 years to “paredón” (death by firing squad). Besides, Carlitos was all alone and I could not leave him like that”, added Efrén, laughing. We shared the information that we had of the landing at Playa Girón that would aid and support the anti- Castro clandestine movement. Efrén and Carlitos were from Revolutionary Rescue; Virgilio, Alberto and I were from the Revolutionary Student Directory. They put us in a cell illuminated by a fluorescent lamp with two berths without mattresses and a hole in the floor that served as the toilet.

A few moments later, they brought Lázaro Reyes Benítez and Filiberto Rodríguez Ravelo, both from Güines. Filiberto had been nick-named “the Martian” because, since being arrested and brought to La Cabaña, he insisted that he was an alien and that he was in constant contact with the Martians.

A little later on, they brought José Calderín who, along with Lázaro and Filiberto, was taken to another cell. Finally, they brought Carlos Calvo Martínez; like Virgilio and Tapita, he was 21 years old. He was charged with planting the bomb at El Encanto (Cuba’s largest and finest store). They placed him in our cell.

We were all there. A guard delivered our sentences. They changed my capital punishment to 30 years of prison “because these people cannot afford to shoot a minor”, all of them told me. I could no longer share their jokes and singing. I became the repository of their memories, their link with life. I would bear witness to their sacrifice.

Hours went by. I do not know how many, time did not exist there. We prayed the rosary, we all had rosaries.

Finally three locks rattled and boot steps resounded in the chapel. Sergeant Moreno called the first name: “Carlos Rodríguez Cabo “.” Present “, he shouted firmly. Two guards with rifles escorted him up to the door of our cell. We embrace each other across the bars. He entrusted his daughter to me, he was leaving her his ring which he gave me as he said: “Courage, good luck to you”.

In a few minutes, the sound of the FAL rifles filled the chapel, followed by a single pistol shot. “Sergeant Moreno is the one that gives the coup de grace”, they had told me.

The three locks were opened again, this time for Efrén: “Present”, he responded .He embraced me through the bars; he was leaving his lighter to his wife.

The FALs sounded close by, followed by the single “coup de grace”.

Virgilio was third. In our last hug he said to me: “Tommy, I am going to shout a Viva Cristo Rey, Viva Cuba Libre and Viva el Directorio that are going to rattle their cojones. Alberto (Tapita) clung to me: “I hope that I am next “. We embrace as we listen to Virgilio fulfilling his promise, the FALs sounded, this time there were three pistol shots.

” Alberto Tapia Ruano “, Dark-haired person called. ” The Virgencita heard me “, said Tapita happily. He ran out quickly.

Carlos Calvo and I were left alone in our cell.

“Do you think that Tapita counted Virgilio’s coup de grace shots? There were three. Anyhow he is going to see him on the ground; there is no time to remove the bodies in between executions … “he said.

The fourth was Filiberto, who, admitting his prank, confessed to me: “Not even the Martians can save me from the thunder (paredón) now “. He left singing the National Anthem. They gave him two coup de grace shots.

” Lázaro Reyes Benítez “.” Present “. He hugged me and was gone. “José Calderín”: “Present”. The penultimate hug and he went out.

Carlitos Calvo was the last one. I already knew all there was to know about him. Before they opened the cell, he asked me: “Count my last shots so you can tell me up there”.

They were eight in La Cabaña, 50 years ago.

TOMÁS FERNÁNDEZ-TRAVIESO, ex-member of the anti-communist Students Revolutionary Directory, was sentenced to 30 years in prison by the Castro regime. When his play “Prometheus Unchained” was smuggled out of prison and published in Miami, his sentence was increased. He served 19 years. His novel “El Silencio del Ayer” (Yesterday’s Silence) was published recently. He lives in Miami.

It's exciting as hell. Literally.

As Jewish American Alan Gross remains in a Cuban jail, held hostage by the Castro regime, Rep. Sam Farr (D-Calif.) gave a presentation on Sunday about how Cuba is “an exciting country” to visit and that all remaining restrictions on travel to Cuba should be lifted.

“Sharing a glimpse at his personal experiences in Cuba, Rep. Farr admitted that there is no more exciting place to visit on the American continent,” noted the Havana Times.

Farr spoke at the Washington, D.C. Travel & Adventure Show, where new “people-to-people” tours of Communist Cuba were one of the featured attractions. He has been urging Obama to normalize relations with Cuba and to remove Cuba as a state sponsor of terrorism.

However, fugitives from justice in America continue to remain in Cuba, under the protection of the Castro brothers’ regime. These include cop-killer Joanne Chesimard, Puerto Rican FALN bomb-maker William Morales, and Victor Manuel Gerena, a Puerto Rican terrorist involved in an armored car robbery. A WikiLeaks cable from a U.S. diplomat in Havana revealed that the regime continues to give sanctuary to members of various terrorist groups. “We have reliable reporting indicating the presence of ELN, FARC and ETA members here in Havana,” the cable says. The National Liberation Army (ELN) and Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) are Colombia’s main terrorist organizations, while the ETA is a terrorist separatist group operating in the Basque region of Spain.

Let's ask Alan Gross how much excitement he's enjoying, or how much excitement Biscet had in those wonderful eight years!

Fucking moron.

My daughter and I were privileged to be invited yesterday to a luncheon honoring recently released Cuban prisoner, Ariel Sigler Amaya and hosted by Asamblea de la Resistencia Cubana and commemorating the 8th anniversary of the Cuban Black Spring. Organized by former political prisoner, Fernando Marquet and our very own Ziva, it was a wonderful and memorable afternoon.

Ziva and myself greeting Ariel Sigler Amaya in Los Angeles

They showed the film "Todos Somos La Resistencia." ("We Are All the Resistance.") And we heard speakers from the Asamblea explain the goals they had for the organization. Mainly to build support and to unite the freedom fighters on the island with the Cuban exile community.

We were pleased to have been invited and knew we would be meeting Ariel Sigler Amaya at this luncheon. We had seen the dramatic photos of his arrival in the U.S. after 7 long years in Castro's jails and of him taking his first steps last week.

Many of the Cuban exiles in attendance were former prisoners of conscience themselves, some having served 20 year sentences. There were many Plantados - the immovable ones - who have endured the harshest punishments in Castro’s gulags. There were Pedro Pans, who were sent to the U.S. as children during those first years of the revolution.

And there were those of us who just fall into the group of Cuban exiles and friends who care passionately about the cause of freedom on the island. This eclectic mix of patriots welcomed Ariel Sigler Amaya to Los Angeles.

On behalf of US Congressional Representative Buck McKeon of California, Luis Alvarado presented Ariel with a Congressional Certificate of Recognition for his courage and sacrifice on behalf of freedom and democracy.

Speaker after speaker, the main thought that was expressed was that we are all ONE community. The prisoners, the Cuban bloggers (not just on the island, but also in the U.S. and around the world), those trying to scratch out a living on the island and those of us who have made our lives outside of it, are still, when all is said and done, Cubans who are unabashed lovers of liberty.

It’s to our credit that even after all Castro has done to divide us geographically and ideologically, we “gusanos” are still in the game. We care. This small fact is helping to give traction to the growing group of dissidents on the island. Knowing there are Cubans all over the world who are standing with them gives them hope and courage. And because they now know we are standing with them, it encourages those who were once without hope, to stand as well.

Ariel Sigler Amaya said as much to me yesterday and as if to illustrate that point, he stood up to embrace us.

Ariel stands on his own

There was that moment of “It just doesn’t get any better than this." That was when The Call came in.

Receiving a call from Dr. Biscet from Havana

On the other end of the line was Dr. Oscar Elias Biscet from Havana, newly released from prison himself, sending encouragement (!) to the group that was gathered. “The Castros are afraid of you. Of us,” he said over the cellphone speaker. “Keep the fight alive.”

The stunned group of Cubans then launched into the Cuban National Anthem. We sang proudly and loudly, knowing that our voices were being heard on the island. Overcome with emotion, I only captured the very end of the song on tape.

One last thing:
Ziva gave Ariel a ride back to his hotel and was playing Cuban music in her car. He asked if she had any “American rock and roll.” She found a local classic rock station which delighted him.

He quickly (and quite proudly) identified the band and the song. “Black Sabbath! Never Say Die!”

Ah, freedom! Never say die, indeed.

Well, he wanted to be just like his idol castro ...

It’s been two weeks, and Villca Fernández has not had a thing to eat.

Fernández, who is 28, is one of about 16 college students and professors in Venezuela who is on a hunger strike – the latest of several hunger strikes in the South American nation this year.

Fernández and his fellow hunger strikers are protesting what they see as President Hugo Chávez’s war on Venezuela’s public universities and the freedom of expression they harbor. They say the universities are starved of resources, the professors are not receiving fair wages, and the laboratories are falling into disrepair.

“We feel it’s intentional,” said Fernández, a political science major at La Universidád de los Andes, in a telephone interview from Venezuela. “Chávez sees the politics of public universities as not conforming to his interests. He sees the views among students and professors as a threat, so he’s not giving the universities support, or sufficient resources.”

Venezuelans increasingly are turning to the hunger strike as a way to pressure the Chávez government on the issue of human rights, and to draw international attention to other concerns. Marco Antonio Pónce of the Provea rights group said the organization had counted 35 hunger strikes so far this year - compared to 105 in all of 2010 and five during 2009, according to The Associated Press.

[...]

Last year a farmer, Franklin Brito, died after a hunger strike he held in a protest over land he said had been seized illegally by the Chávez government.

Earlier this year, scores of young activists around Venezuela held a hunger strike to call attention to human rights abuses by government forces, and to demand that the Chávez administration allow the Organization of American States, or OAS, to investigate what they said was the wrongful imprisonment and prosecution of political opponents.

The hunger strike, which resulted in several students needing hospitalization, prompted Chávez to make some concessions. Among those concessions, which led the students to end that hunger strike, was a vow by the Chávez administration to review the cases of people the protesters said had been jailed because of their political opposition to Chávez.

Read the whole thing ...

Slavery still exists. Of that there isn’t much dispute, if any. But how widespread is what many experts call modern-day slavery?

Estimates range from about 10 million to 30 million, according to policymakers, activists, journalists and scholars.

The International Labour Organization, an agency of the United Nations that focuses on, among other things, labor rights, put the number at a “minimum estimate” of 12.3 million in a 2005 report.

Kevin Bales, a sociologist who serves as a consultant to the United Nations and has authored several books about modern-day slavery, estimated the number was 27 million people in his book “Disposable People: New Slavery in the Global Economy.” The book was published in 1999.

There is yet another estimate. Siddharth Kara, a fellow on trafficking at Harvard University and also an author, recently told CNN that his calculations put the range between 24 million and 32 million. That number was current as of the end of 2006, he said.

There are several reasons behind the variance in numbers, said Ben Skinner, who published a book about modern-day slavery – “A Crime So Monstrous: Face-to-Face with Modern-day Slavery.”

“There are two big problems with the count,” Skinner, a Senior Fellow at the Schuster Institute for Investigative Journalism at Brandeis University, said during a telephone interview. “The first is that the people we are counting are, by definition, a hidden population.

“The second problem is more of a theoretical one where the definitions are not in place. We don’t have a common definition still as to what slavery is.”

Continue reading ...

(Bold emphasis mine)

Sure ... Okay, if you say so. Just a pointer to the U.N. 'counters', Cuba's slaves are NOT hidden ... just ignored.

Por la libertad de Cuba, Zapata Vive y el Asesinato de Hermanos al Rescate

(Click twice to enlarge)

Friends from the Los Angeles based Cuban run periodico, 20 de Mayo, serving the local community since 1969, created the wonderful collage of photos shown above.   The link to this weeks fine edition is here.

If you look close you´ll see yours truly as well as my personal, and Babalu friends Henry Agueros, and Zelde.  It was a great afternoon, and I'm pleased to report that no Che lovers made an appearance.

Markitos posted a two part video of the event at YouTube, here is Part 1.

 
Part 2 is here.

Huge thanks to Abel Perez, and Markitos.

Para conmemorar el 8vo Aniversario de los arrestos masivos de opositores en Cuba y su condena a largos años de prisión, se llevará a cabo un almuerzo patriótico en Los Angeles en apoyo a los presos políticos y a la oposición interna en nuestra Patria.

Asistirán a este acto dos valientes presos políticos recientemente excarcelados.  Ellos son Ariel y Miguel Amaya que junto con su hermano Guido, fueron arrestados y condenados a largos años de prisión por su oposición no violenta a la dictadura.  Ariel entró sano a prisión y salió casi esquelético, parapléjico y en silla de ruedas.  Guido condenado a 20 años permanece preso en Cuba por rehusar la expatriación como condición de encarcelamiento.  El prefiere seguir en prisión hasta obtener su libertad sin condiciones.

Así mismo vendrán desde Miami el secretariado de la Asamblea de la Resistencia, una unidad de propósitos, con el fin de aunar los esfuerzos de los cubanos de la isla y del exilio en pro de la liberación de nuestra Patria.

 SYLVIA IRIONDO /  M. A. R. POR CUBA

ORLANDO GUTIERRES /  DIRECTORIO DEMOCRÁTICO CUBANO

ANGEL DE FANA / PLANTADOS HASTA LA LIBERTAD DE CUBA

 LA ASAMBLEA DE LA RESISTENCIA, presentará al exilio patriótico de California los vínculos de cooperación existente con la oposición interna y el trabajo realizado en el área Internacional.  Se invita a todos a compartir con ellos y escuchar sobre la labor realizada y sus planes.  Se oirán sugerencias de ellos y las nuestras.

 ALMUERZO:
 Domingo,  13 de Marzo – 1:00 PM

 LA VILLA BASQUE RESTAURANTE

2801 Leonis Blvd., Vernon, CA  90058

Por adelantado $35.00 -  $40.00 en la puerta

RSVP – Información – 310.973.8694  o fmarquet@sbcglobal.net

Visite la página de Facebook aquí.

**Cross posted at Blog for Cuba

The mega A-List at last night's White House State Dinner for China's President Hu:

Celebrity star power arrived in the form of singer Barbra Streisand, her hubby-actor James Brolin and action film star Jackie Chan. Big business turned out in force, too, including Microsoft's Steven Ballmer and JPMorgan Chase's Jamie Dimon, among others. Among the big names: fashion's Vera Wang, Vogue's Anna Wintour, artist Maya Lin, Olympic figure skater Michelle Kwan, and Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer to add some gravitas. Former presidents Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter made the cut, too. [...]

The dinner's all-star jazz lineup included trumpeter Chris Botti, two-time Grammy Award-winning vocalist Dee Dee Bridgewater, jazz icon Herbie Hancock, rising pianist Lang Lang and four-time Grammy-winning vocalist Dianne Reeves.

Jazz pianist Peter Martin, part of the entertainment lineup, prepped for his appearance by springing for a tux.

New this state dinner: The 225 guests were spread out among three rooms: the State Dining Room, Blue Room and Red Room, then all shuttle to the East Room for the entertainment. Big video monitors were set up in the Blue and Red rooms for the outcasts to catch the dinner toasts. [...]

Asked for a thought on why she had been invited, she (Streisand) quipped: "I worked in a Chinese restaurant."

Wintour said she hoped to talk to Hu about -- what else? -- fashion, specifically investing in Chinese fashion. [...]

Not honored with an "Invite" to last night's White House State Dinner ...

The moral code, the moral compass of the State-Controlled Media is something to behold. Now, some of you may not know the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize Winner hosted a state dinner last night for Hu Jintao of China. Hu Jintao is holding the 2010 Nobel Peace Prize Winner in prison in China. Not making it up. The 2009 Nobel Peace Prize Winner hosted a dinner for the guy holding the 2010 Nobel Peace Prize Winner in prison, and the media does not get the irony of this at all. They're too busy running around chasing Sarah Palin and radio talk show hosts over "civility." Our media is so fraudulent. No talk about the political prisoners. No talk about the gulags.

A question about human rights, the ChiCom leader is allowed to slither out of the answer by saying, "I did not hear the question. I thought President Obama was going to answer that." There's no talk about how they harvest organs from prisoners in China -- and there's Obama, telling the head of this depraved society that we're all pleased with his country's progress. Meanwhile, the very same media is attacking innocent American citizens who have nothing to do with a horrible crime. The moral compass of our media is just stunning -- and, by the way, the media laughed when Hu Jintao side-stepped the question about human rights. Jimmy Carter has won a Nobel Peace Prize as well, and Jimmy Carter also attended Hu's dinner.

So you had two American Nobel Peace Prize Winners effectively honoring the head of a country who's holding 2010's Peace Prize Winner in prison -- and we had to listen to our fearless leader talk about aaaaall the great progress the ChiComs are making and how pleased we are with all that progress.

Bold emphasis mine ... No reports on what Liu Xiaobo had for dinner back in the comfort of the Chinese prison, or the entertainment he enjoyed.

Meanwhile this American singer is lamenting over should she or shouldn't she hold concerts in that 'disgusting' human rights violating land known as Israel.

Cross-Posted @ Chandler's Watch

Via Pinceladas de Cuba, with English subtitles a landmark documentary which screened this past summer in Miami on the life and activism of Orlando Zapata.  It's the first such project from the Institute  (Facebook),   that includes coordination with an opposition organization in Cuba, Plantados hasta la Libertad en Cuba.

Just released:  Powerful video interview with Ladies in White leader, Laura Pollan asking for support for true freedom for Cuba's political prisoners.  (Tissue warning)

From Human Rights Foundation:

Dr. Oscar Elias Biscet González, a devout Christian, follower of the philosophies of Henry David Thoreau, Martin Luther King, Jr., Mahatma Gandhi and the Dalai Lama, was arbitrarily detained 26 times from June 1998 to November 1999. This Cuban physician, a prisoner of conscience, has been mistreated physically and psychologically and has suffered beatings, threats, humiliations, blackmail, intimidating interrogations, and incarcerations in underground cells which he has had to share with insane individuals and common criminals. On several occasions, State Security has tried to subject Dr. Biscet to psychiatric examinations at Mazorra, the main psychiatric hospital in Havana. State security has also pressured him into leaving Cuba, to which he responded that he would never leave his country.  He was free for 36 days from October 31 to December 6 of 2002 when he was once again arrested and recived a sentence of 25 years.

Dr. Biscet wrote from prison on August 1, 2007:

Handkerchief Message from Dr. Biscet
Havana, August [1st. 2007] Prison Combinado del Este, 2nd floor, cell 12232
To the people of Cuba, fellow citizens, people in fasting
The people of Cuba have been suffering the contempt of a totalitarian tyranny, communism, for over more than four decades. Due to this cruel treatment where the honor of the people is violated, many Cubans have gotten indignant and have risen and joined together to fast and pray to the God of the Bible and demand that the government sign the International Agreements of Human Rights (International Agreements for Civil and Political Rights, and the other for the Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights) created in 1966 by the international community of the United Nations.
As we have well expressed, these demands are to the government of Cuba, independently of who is the head of the government because we say, like the people of Boston: “Tyranny is tyranny, no matter where it comes from.”
That’s why we must continue our day of prayer and fasting until the signing is achieved and the practice of respecting the human rights of the people of Cuba is fulfilled. We must speed up the quest for these basic human rights by means of civil disobedience, and by putting into practice all the methods to achieve our humanitarian aims. “If there is no fight, there is no progress…” Power does not grant anything without a demand. It has never done it, and it never will.” (Frederick Douglass)
We have the right to be free, to use our sovereignty as individuals and as people and “Only freedom produces peace and wealth.” (Jose Marti)
Here in this dark box where they make me live, I will be resisting until freedom for my people is gained. Dr. Oscar Elias Biscet. President of the Lawton Foundation for Human Rights.

Help spread the word about Dr. Biscet, buy the DVD and share it with friends, or  a t-shitrt, or a bumper sticker.  By doing so, you will be supporting the documentary, Oscar's Cuba.  

Here's the trailer:

Armando Valladares, former Ambassador to the United Nations Human Rights Commission,, and  former political prisoner of the Castro dictatorship, says Dr. Biscet is the most important living figure in the struggle for Cuban liberty. 

Please support that struggle;  all proceeds help finace the sceenings and distribution of  Oscar's Cuba.  For more information please visit Oscar's Cuba, and The Lawton Foundation.

The repression in Cuba continues unabated.  Here is a sampling from a Cuba Fact Sheet published by the Cuban Transition Project:

The recent talks between General Raul Castro and Cardinal Jaime Ortega were seen by many as a gleam of hope for the political prisoners and dissident movement on the island. This signified the first time in five decades of the Cuban revolution that the communist government was negotiating with a national and independent organization like the Cuban Catholic Church.

     During the talks, General Castro promised to transfer some political prisoners in poor health to hospitals, move other detained dissidents to prisons closer to their homes, and release some of Cuba’s estimated 190 prisoners of conscience. In July, Cuba pledged to release 52 political prisoners, mainly as a way to diminish international criticism following the death of Orlando Zapata Tamayo who died after being on a hunger strike for 83 days. To date, 36 political prisoners have been freed and sent to Spain, which has agreed to accept them.

     While some have applauded Raul Castro for these measures and presumed humanitarian actions, reality is significantly different. The Cuban government and its repressive apparatus continue to undermine human rights as evidenced in the island by the following actions, among many others, which took place throughout the month of September and beginning of October 2010. Opponents and political activists are being intimidated, beaten, and arrested almost on a daily basis. Using the police, Brigades of Rapid Response, and other forces of the Ministry of the Interior, the Castro government continues to terrorize the Cuban people.

 ·         William Rodriguez Paredes, delegate of Movimiento 24 de febrero, Habana Province, was detained in Zaragoza, San José de Las Lajas Municipality, and arrested. He was strip searched as police agents were in search of what they considered enemy propaganda, was interrogated for 7 hours, and was threatened with being charged with the Cuban Law of Social Dangerousness (1). (September 10, 2010)

 ·         Aliomar Janjaque Chivaz, President of the independent organization pro-human rights, Fundación Cubana LGBT Reinaldo Arenas en Memoria, was arrested by officials of the Policía Nacional Revolucionaria, PNR, after collecting video statements of homosexuals who suffered homophobic attacks in the Unidades Militares de Ayuda a la Produción, UMAP, in the 1960s and 1970s. (September 18, 2010)

 ·         Leaders of Partido Cuba Independiente y Democrática, CID, were arrested to prevent the celebration of the Sixth Anniversary of the magazine Misceláneas de Cuba. (September 19, 2010)

 ·         Ariel Medina Acosta, activist of the Partido Pro-Derechos Humanos, was physically assaulted at the aluminum factory in San José de Las Lajas, Habana Province, where he currently works. (September 23, 2010)

 ·         Members of Partido Republicano de Cuba, PRC, were arrested as they were returning from Nuestra Señora de la Merced Church in Habana Vieja. (September 24, 2010)

 ·         Pastor Pérez Sánchez and Santo Rivero Castro were harassed and threatened by Cuban security agents for their regular visits to the home of dissident Vladimir Alejo Miranda who is on strike. (September 27, 2010)

 ·         Joel Marín Cárdenas, ex-political prisoner and member of Movimiento Cuba Independiente y Democrática was brutally beaten by police in the Florida Municipality, Camaguey, after speaking at a park with two friends about the political and economic situation in the island. He received bruises on his face and several parts of his body, along with a broken right foot. He is now on a hunger strike. (September 29, 2010)

 ·         Julio Beltrán Iglesias, independent journalist and spokesperson for Partido Republicano de Cuba, was arrested by police as he was traveling to Vedado, Havana City. (September 30, 2010)

 ·         More than a dozen dissidents, members of Alianza Democrática Oriental, were detained and threatened in Guantanamo Province to prevent them from assisting a peaceful meeting held in Maisí. (October 2, 2010)

 ·         Jorge Luís García Pérez (Antúnez) and his wife, Iris Tamara Pérez Aguilera, were condemned to house arrest. (October 5, 2010)

 ·         Vladimir Calderón Fria , Director of Partido Republicano de Cuba, was arrested while walking with his wife, Tay Benítez, through Centro Habana. (October 8, 2010)

 ·         The home of Rogelio Tabío, dissident and delegate of the political party 30th of November was surrounded by a mob of several hundred and led by security officers. The crowd chanted derogatory slogans, threw rock and eggs, and assaulted several men and women, including Eliecer Aranda Reinier, a nine year old boy. (October 10, 2010)

 ·         Members of Partido Democrático 30 de Noviembre "Frank País" protested in Cárdenas, Matanzas for the continued arrests and oppression of its members throughout the island by the Departamento de la Seguridad del Estado (State apparatus). They are being targeted simply for being peaceful activists and defenders of human rights. (October 10, 2010)

 Notes:

 (1) The Law of Social Dangerousness is a legal charge under Cuban law which allows the authorities to detain people whom they "think" are likely to commit crimes. The charge carries a penalty of up to four years in prison.

 * This report was prepared by Susel Pérez, Program Coordinator, Cuba Transition Project, Institute for Cuban and Cuban-American Studies, University of Miami.

  Where:  Manuel Artime Theatre 900 SW 1st St, Miami, FL 33130-1156

  When:    Sunday, August 22 from 3:00 pm to 4:30 pm

 No RSVP is needed and the event is open to the public.  Please spread the word and bring as many friends and family to the screening as possible!

Oscar's Cuba,  produced by the Pan-American Development Foundation and In Altum Productions, is a feature-length documentary video that will help spread the message and story of Dr. Oscar Biscet, a prisoner of conscience currently serving a 25-year prison sentence in Cuba for his promotion of human rights. Oscar's Cuba will highlight the courage, faith and hope of Dr. Biscet and others working for democracy on the island. The goals of Oscar’s Cuba include raising public awareness about the plight of the Cuban people, helping individuals to stand and work in solidarity with those unjustly imprisoned and, ultimately, helping to secure the release of Dr. Biscet and all of Cuba's prisoners of conscience.

“Here, in this dark jail where they force me to live, I will be resisting until the freedom of my people is obtained.”-Dr. Oscar Biscet

Please consider donating to this project. I believe this profound documentary can make a real difference in the fight for Dr. Biscet's and Cuba's freedom.   This is not a Hollywood backed film and is being financed privately by the producers.  They need your help to bring Oscar's Cuba to the American audience.  

All donations are tax-deductible. 
Go to: Media Serve International and donate  here.   Also, checks made out to MediaServe International can be mailed to:
In Altum Productions
7621 Provincial Dr. #201
McLean, VA 22102

For more information and to watch the trailer visit:

http://www.oscarscuba.com
http://www.inaltumproductions.com
http://www.lawtonfoundation.org

Dear Sir or Madam:

We write to you worried about the police and paramilitary harassment denounced from Banes, a small town in the Cuban province of Holguín, by Reina Luisa Tamayo. She is the mother of Orlando Zapata Tamayo the prisoner of conscience who died on 23 February after a prolonged hunger strike that up to its tragic and fatal outcome had little coverage in the international press.

Every Sunday, we receive, mostly through phone interviews broadcast by the US-based Radio Martí, the same report from Reina Luisa describing how she is beaten, insulted and how [the government directed mob] prevents her from going to the town’s church to pray for her son and the health of all Cuban political prisoners still in jail. The repressive organs of the Cuban regime also impede her to visit her son’s tomb.

It is surprising to us that despite the wide coverage dedicated to Cuban topics, your organization has not reported on this. We know of the limitations to movement within Cuba, but we also understand that any foreign reporter has the means and resources to travel to the Eastern part of the island and give an eyewitness report of what happens there, in front of Reina Luisa Tamayo’s home.

We do not wish to tell the media what they should do, but to share with you our concern for the life of a woman who has lost her son in unjust circumstances and is clamoring for the world’s help to avoid more deaths.

We, the promoters of the #OZT: I accuse the Cuban government Campaign that demands the unconditional and immediate release of all peaceful political prisoners in Cuba and the respect of all Cubans’ human rights; write to you because we know that the international press in Cuba not only bears witness to what happens there, but can also help prevent and stop harassment incidents like those suffered by the Ladies in White in March of this year.

We would also like to know if there is any kind of legal hindrance or of any other sort that prevents your reporter in La Habana from traveling to other regions of Cuba.

We thank you in advance for your reply.

Sincerely,

#OZT: I accuse the Cuban government Campaign

DIRECCIONES DE MEDIOS DE ESPAÑA:

escribanos@bbc.co.uk ( en "asunto" poner "mensaje para BBC Mundo)
cartasdirector@elpais.es
cartas.director@elmundo.es
cartas@abc.es
internacional@abc.es
internacional@elmundo.es
espanaexterior@efe.es
iberoamerica@europapress.es
noticias@europapress.es
director@libertaddigital.com
internacional@larazon.es

CONTACTO CON LA OFICINA PRINCIPAL DE AMNISTIA INTERNACIONAL DE ESPANA:
Esteban Beltrán- Director Amnistía Internacional – Sección Española
Dirección Secretariado Estatal
Fernando VI, 8, 1º izda.28004 Madrid España
Teléfono
+ 34 902 119 133
+ 34 91 310 12 77 (información general)
Fax
+ 34 91 319 53 34
Correo- e info@es.http://www.facebook.com/l/d02a0t3Xy_KBspVEkowL6dP3OuQ;amnesty.org
Para Asociarte a Amnistia Internacional: http://www.facebook.com/l/d02a02250XAqSzyb5guRJFqS1xw;www.es.amnesty.org/inicio/

En español abajo/In Spanish below

Carta abierta a directores de medios de prensa acreditados en Cuba

Sr. Director:

Nos dirigimos a usted preocupados por la situación de acoso policial y paramilitar que denuncia desde Banes ?un pequeño poblado cubano de la provincia de Holguín?, Reina Luisa Tamayo, madre de Orlando Zapata Tamayo, preso de conciencia fallecido el pasado 23 de febrero tras una huelga de hambre que, hasta su fatal y trágico desenlace, tuvo escaso impacto en la prensa internacional.

Cada domingo nos llega a través de conversaciones telefónicas, casi siempre de la emisora estadounidense Radio Martí, el parte de Reina Luisa, en el que invariablemente describe cómo la golpean, la insultan y le impiden acercarse hasta la iglesia del pueblo a rezar por su hijo y por la salud del resto de los presos políticos que permanece en las cárceles de la isla. De igual modo, los órganos represivos del gobierno cubano le impiden visitar la tumba de su hijo.

Nos sorprende que a pesar de la amplia cobertura que su medio está dando al tema Cuba, todavía no haya reportado sobre este particular. Sabemos de las limitaciones de movimiento que existen en Cuba, pero también entendemos que cualquier corresponsal extranjero tiene medios y recursos para trasladarse, acaso por un par de días, hasta el otro extremo de la isla para contar de primera mano qué ocurre allí, frente a la casa de Reina Luisa Tamayo.

En nuestro ánimo no está el indicarles a los medios qué deben hacer, sino compartir con usted nuestra preocupación por la vida de una mujer que ha perdido a su hijo en unas condiciones injustas y que está clamando por la ayuda del mundo para evitar “más muertes”.

Nosotros, promotores de la campaña #OZT: yo acuso al gobierno cubano, que reclama la excarcelación inmediata y sin condiciones de todos los presos políticos pacíficos en Cuba y el respeto a los derechos humanos de todos los cubanos, le escribimos desde el convencimiento de que los ojos de la prensa extranjera acreditada en Cuba no sólo sirven para contar lo que pasa, sino también para evitar y frenar episodios de acoso como el vivido por las Damas de Blanco en La Habana durante el pasado mes de marzo.

Nos gustaría saber, asimismo, si existe algún impedimento legal o de otra índole para que su corresponsal en La Habana pueda dirigirse a otras zonas del territorio cubano.

Gracias de antemano por su respuesta,

#OZT: yo acuso al gobierno cubano
--------------------

Cardenal Ortega is certainly looking out for his lord and master, castro, inc.   After Cuban state thugs beat the defiant and now paraplegic former political prisoner, and that negative news hit the Internet, the Cardinal helped the regime see the error of their ways, and now they've had a change of heart.  Bastards, the only reason he needs medical treatment is due to the torture and mistreatment he suffered as a political prisoner. 

Ariel Sigler Amaya before his arrest:

Ariel Sigler Amaya after castro care in the gulag:

Regime gives Permit to Leave the Country to Ariel Sigler Amaya after the intercession of Cardinal Ortega

Radio Marti informs [in Spanish] that after yesterday's assault, and subsequent phone call from Cuban Cardinal and La Habana's Archbishop Jaime Ortega. Ariel's wife, Oelia, explained to Radio Martí that Ortega had called to tell her that he had personally interceded with the authorities for Ariel, and that they would be contacting her soon to confirm. They called her today. She stated that despite the outcome, she was not happy given "the high price that must be paid in Cuba to be able to leave the country."

One thing is very clear, now is not the time to bail out this bankrupt brutal dictatorship, but to end it, and the castro brothers atrocities against the Cuban people permanately.  ¡YA NO MÁS!

First the lying dictators said there were no political prisoners in Cuba; then they announced they were releasing them. Where are they? Still in prison, behind bars, or the prison of forced exile.

Today is Dr. Oscar Biscet's birthday, he is 49 years old. Why isn't he free?

We demand the unconditional release of all Cuban political prisoners. Total freedom, without exile.

Happy Birthday Oscar.