By Rosa Maria Rodriguez in Translating Cuba:

To Silence the Different

My appreciated usual accomplices and visitors:

On May 15th my husband’s laptop just died. It blinked when I was working on it and the monitor turned itself off forever. It was the family computer, a practical tool that, like housing and multiple personal articles in Cuba have to shared with sons, their girlfriends and friends. It was six years old and we’d had it repaired on several occasions, but this time it decided to rest from the overwork and heat we submitted it to for years.

Just when we are engaged in the promotion of the “360 Cuba” Project, we published here, the sudden loss of this instrument central to the methodological and sustainable deployment of the program and the rhythm of publication of opinions in the blog.

The lack of support in resources — I’m one of the bloggers who doesn’t have a PC — makes me think that perhaps there has been a sustained move by the Cuban political police to obstruct our development — my husband is an opposition leader and also has a blog — stopping our development or better still, killing us through the media.

Of course that will reduce my writing output, but would not give up my right to continue broadcasting my opinions, because I consider it a duty of every citizen with their time, history and homeland, charting the reality that surrounds him with words and complaints, especially when it involves, as in the case of Cuba, a dictatorship.

This inconvenience has paralyzed us for now, but circumstances sometimes impose challenges on us which, while closing a door open windows and lead us to creativity. I looked for possible alternatives because I refuse to passively accept the situation which gives another victory to the Cuban dictatorship, and although small, a defeat to those of us who push for and defend democracy.

A piece from Cuban dissident artist El Sexto (via Punto Cuba):

Highly amusing video in Spanish.

Before you click it on, however, a meditation is suggested.

Imagine Mr. Rogers introducing a Twilight Zone episode.  He is sitting on the corpse of Rod Serling, zipping up his sweater and smiling.

"Somewhere in the sweltering tropics, a life-long member of the Communist Party talks to a camera for about 5 minutes about mistreatment she received at a police station.

She can't understand why she was treated so badly, and at one point flashes her communist credentials to prove that she should have been above and beyond  harassment.

She repeatedly boasts about being a "militant" defender of the Revolution, and points out that she is now 61 years old, which means that she has been backing the Castro regime for all 54 years and five and a half months of its existence.

And now she whines and complains about the treatment she has received, which is no different from that doled out day after day to the vast majority of Cubans who don't have a little red Communist passport.

"Estoy decepcionada,"  she moans. "I am disillusioned."

So, what is the lesson here, boys and girls?    What will we learn today?

Many things.  So many, in fact, that they would be hard to list.

But one lesson does seem most obvious:  This militant Communist harpy who has probably abused and harassed her neighbors for years and has cheered as others were beaten, arrested, tortured, executed, or exiled -- and who has probably taken part in acts of repudiation --  suddenly realizes that her beloved  Revolution is far from wonderful, because its sheer brutality finally touched her.

Poetic justice, in that neighborhood beyond imagination, beyond dualities, where black is white and white is black, where all ills are banished simply with a few turns of phrase and a little red book that identifies you as a militant defender of those turns of phrase -- a neighborhood where every day is beautiful because someone says it is, a neighborhood where you have nothing, but everything belongs to you, a paradise for thieves in which there is no stealing, a haven for thugs, where torture is always called something else -- that neighborhood you visit in your nightmares, also known as the Castro Zone."

The Cubanization of Venezuela continues, which means the corruption is reaching new levels in that country.

Propagandists: Venezuelan propagandist Mario Silva flees to Cuba to hide out as the scandal surrounding his recorded conversation with a Cuban State Security operative in Venezuela grows:

Venezuela talk-show host, who revealed infighting among Chavistas takes ‘leave of absence’ in Cuba

A popular pro-Venezuelan government television talk show host took leave of absence alleging ‘medical reasons’ for a few days following the release on Monday of a recording where he can be heard talking with a Cuban intelligence officer about the ‘sea of shit’ which is drowning Chavismo because of internal infighting and corruption.

The fact that Mario Silva has decided to be absent from the talk show and has flown to Cuba, “is clear indication that the recording, despite official rejection of its contents, is true”, said Venezuelan political analyst Carlos Romero.

Silva and his talk show ‘La Hojilla’ which was one of the favorites of the deceased Chavez who usually would participate making official announcements said as a first reaction that the recording was a ‘drag’ but later announced he had a “vesicle sac complication’ to be treated in Cuba and thus would be absent for ‘several days’.“Silva’s exit means he has to hide, following the release of a recording which has him involved with Cuban intelligence with non polite words towards the current situation in the Chavista government”, added Romero.

“There is no doubt it is his voice in the audio” said Romero although what he revealed and commented to the Cuban intelligence officer Aramis Palacio is nothing new, it’s an open secret in Venezuela”.

Continue reading HERE.

Bribery: Café Fuerte reports that Chavista dictator Nicolas Maduro has dipped his hand into Venezuela's treasury to gift 20,000 automobiles to officers in the Venezuelan military (my translation):

Maduro to give 20,000 automobiles to members of the military

It is an obvious attempt to reward officers in the military at a time where Chavismo must play its most valuable cards: President Nicolas Maduro has approved the purchase of 20,000 automobiles, which will be given to members of the National Bolivarian Armed Forces (FANB) this year.

Defense Minister Diego Molero announced this week the delivery to members of the FANB of the first 88 Orinoco and Arauca cars, manufactured by Chery, a joint venture with China. "Not only are we giving away these cars but also Aveos, Corollas, and Corsas, which we will be delivering through the program The Black First Grand Mission."

The move is an inevitable reminder of the methods of stimulation towards generals and high-ranking officials used in Castroite Cuba. The Ladas and Moskichs were considered trophies for a history of loyalty or for the accomplishment of an international mission. A status symbol in the Castro nomenclature. For Maduro, it is about giving out treats in order to win over some of the Armed Forces who are trapped in uncertainty and doomed to a process of forced political radicalization.

Continue reading (in Spanish) HERE.

Greenbacks: FrontPage's Daniel Greenfield reports how Venezuela's dictatorship can only survive if it can continue to get its hands on enough American greenbacks. This leads to a thriving black market, just like Cuba.

Venezuelan Socialist Paradise: “We Depend Completely on the Dollar”

There are two Venezuelas. One is the Socialist thugocracy of Chavez’s cronies that attracts lefties like Sean Penn. And there is the real Venezuela, which despite its massive oil deposits, is a failed state where everyone is waiting to ride out the coming economic collapse.

Black-market dealers operating on the thriving underground market sell greenbacks at more than four times the official, government-set rate of 6.3 bolivars to the dollar. And the price they’re getting these days — 28 per dollar — is more than three times what it was just eight months ago.

Because the bolivar is artificially overvalued and practically worthless outside Venezuela, everyone here is desperate for dollars, from auto-part importers to supermarkets to ordinary Venezuelans planning to travel abroad. Even government officials and the politically connected businessmen who have made fortunes off the free-spending state search out and trade in dollars.

Chavez’s attempts at controlling every aspect of the economy, drew most of the country into the black market economy where the only way to get fair value is to sell illegally and trade in dollars.

Continue reading HERE.

 

Clark Whelton writes in "City Journal" about Obama's "Death by Media"...

Through two presidential campaigns and Obama’s first term, mainstream editors, editorial writers, and journalists served as de facto auxiliaries for the White House press office. Certain that they were serving a noble cause, they soft-pedaled bad news about the economy and ignored or played down the president’s gaffes. Aided by one-liners from late-night talk-show hosts, they attacked and ridiculed Fox News or any reporter, radio commentator, writer, or blogger not riding Obama’s bandwagon. They hounded and harassed Sarah Palin—author Joe McGinnis even moved next door to her home—determined to destroy someone they perceived as a threat to Obama’s power. They rode shotgun as Obamacare made its way through Congress. And they led the chorus of derision that greeted early reports of political corruption inside the IRS.

[...]

In the morning, those who have engaged in whorish behavior—or in this case, those rewarded with invitations to insider Washington parties and access to private e-mail lists—are somehow astonished by a lack of respect. Members of the media, including Associated Press reporters, after favoring and flattering Obama for years, were stunned to discover that Obama’s Department of Justice was treating them like tarts and had targeted the AP with secret subpoenas.

The end of the affair is always painful and poignant. Unaccustomed to sunlight, fleeing suspicions of malfeasance and outright criminality, the Obama administration is pleading guilty to incompetence and ignorance...

An independent press is a compass, a vital part of the American system of checks and balances. It can provide the ship of state with mid-course corrections. But a compass that swings any way the helmsman wants is worse than useless. It points the way to disaster.

Read in full...

HT: Ziva

The Obama administration, in the end, simply just didn't trust the media that was eating out of the palm of its unclenched hand ... even when it was making them feel so important and successful at their job of making his time in office a success.

And if reporters and investigative journalists dare to do what is true to their job description they are punished:

"Stratfor Email: Brennan Behind 'Witch Hunt' of Journalists Reporting Leaks"

"Fired KMOV anchor Larry Conners defends Facebook comments about IRS"

"NY Times Scrubs Article Critical Of IRS…"

"Chuck Todd: Obama Administration Wants To Criminalize Journalism"

"DOJ Denies it Hacked Attkisson’s Computer"

"DOJ invoked Espionage Act in calling Fox News reporter criminal 'co-conspirator'"

"House pushes judicial oversight of DOJ in wake of Associated Press leaks case"

From my morning email from NRO:

 

Morning Jolt . . . with Jim Geraghty

May 23, 2013

So, Media, When Will You Stop Giving Obama the Benefit of the Doubt?

Oh, Doyle McManus:

There are plenty of juicy targets for investigators in the IRS scrutiny of conservative organizations that applied for tax-exempt status, but the most dangerous for President Obama is this: Did bureaucrats in Cincinnati create this mess on their own? Or did someone in the White House give the marching orders to target the president's enemies?

The Treasury Department's inspector general asked that latter question of the IRS brass, and they said no — but he didn't demand their emails and phone records.

So Congress is demanding them now. On Monday, Sens. Max Baucus (D-Mont.) and Orrin G. Hatch(R-Utah), the top members on the Senate Finance Committee, asked the IRS for all records of communications with "any and all White House employees — including, but not limited to, the president."

Obama shouldn't merely allow the IRS to cooperate; he should order the IRS to cooperate fully and enthusiastically. Meantime, the White House staff should also begin combing their own records to see if there's anything else they need to fess up. Under the doctrine of executive privilege, internal White House records are normally immune from congressional probing, but it would benefit Obama to be forthcoming.

The reason is simple: The president needs to prove a negative. He needs to show that there was no political influence over the IRS decisions. Proving a negative is never easy; it's doubly difficult when others are beginning to doubt your word.

The White House hasn't done much to bolster the president's credibility so far. While Obama himself has said the right things, his aides have sounded grouchy and grudging about cooperating with congressional investigations.

When spokesman Jay Carney was asked whether the White House would disclose emails to Congress, he refused to say — beyond a general promise to cooperate with any "legitimate congressional oversight."

White House advisor Dan Pfeiffer was downright pugnacious. "This is a Republican playbook," Pfeiffer charged during one of his Sunday TV appearances. "When they don't have a positive agenda, [they] try to drag Washington into a swamp of partisan fishing expeditions, trumped-up hearings and false allegations."

It is time for the political press corps to open themselves to the possibility that this administration is being run just the way President Obama wants it. Enough of this "if only the czar knew "/"if only Stalin knew" excuse-making, and the notion that all of this malfeasance, intimidation, harassment, cover-ups, story-revising, lying, blame-shifting, prosecutorial wild abandon, and strategic leaks are somehow occurring every time Obama leaves the room, perpetuated by a cabinet and staff that nefariously betray the good example he sets.

If Obama continually fails to take actions to suggest that he wants to cooperate, it's time to recognize that maybe he doesn't want to cooperate.

Obama may very well want a war with congressional Republicans on these matters. His poll numbers haven't suffered much because of these scandals so far. (See more on this topic below.) He may be very eager to re-play the 1998 midterm election playbook: "I'm trying to get things done on the real priorities of the American people, while the congressional Republicans waste time on this partisan witch hunt." Remember, Jay Carney asserted that the Benghazi attack occurred "a long, long time ago." How long until he and other administration officials try the same defense on tax shenanigans that occurred before Benghazi?

A Delayed Reaction to Obama Scandals, or No Reaction at All?

Will the scandals hurt President Obama's approval rating? National Journal's Michael Catalini looks at polling history and suggests we may see a delayed reaction within a few months:

A CNN/ORC poll showed that 53 percent of Americans approve of the job he's doing. That is about where he stood in April, when the same poll found he had a 51 percent approval rating. A Gallup poll showed 49 percent approved of the job he's doing, and a Washington Post /ABC survey had his approval rating at 51 percent, nearly the same as his 50 percent rating in April…

The break-in at the Watergate occurred in June 1972, five months before Nixon rode to a landslide reelection, but the scandal did not damage his approval ratings until after two aides were convicted of conspiracy in January 1973. Between January and August, his approval rating dropped from 67 percent to 31 percent after the resignation of his top staffers, attorney general and deputy attorney general…

Ronald Reagan's approval rating dipped from 63 percent in October of 1986 to 47 percent in December 1986, a month after Reagan organized the special commission to investigate whether arms were traded for hostages as part of the Iran-Contra affair.

I'd note that I'm not sure we can or should compare the media environments of 1974 or 1986 to today. At first glance, you would point out that we're no longer in an era where the Big Three evening newscasts and the Associated Press wire service dominate the news coverage. Newsweeklies had much bigger influence; Newsweek isn't even around today.

So perhaps we shouldn't be surprised that it took two months for Watergate or Iran-Contra to be "digested" by the electorate.

Now there are millions of outlets, ranging from 24-7 cable news channels to talk radio to a million sites and blogs on the Internet. This means that news events and developments are brought to the public's attention faster, but those events also get overridden and overshadowed by new developments and other news quickly. (The Boston bombings were five weeks ago — doesn't it feel like it was a long time ago?)

The news cycle moves so quickly, The Flash has trouble keeping up. The argument under the Faster-Feiler theory is that the public is getting better at processing the information quickly. But perhaps that assessment is mistaken. Perhaps the decline of the 1970s and 1980s-era dominant media institutions, and the explosion of other media, haven't resulted in a uniformly better-informed public. We now seem to be in an era of at least three tiers of news consumption.

News junkies — which probably includes you and me — are aware of what Mickey Kaus called "undernews" — stories that never quite break out of the blogs. John Edwards's scandal was well-known to most in the political press, but a lot of mainstream-media institutions averted their eyes for a long time from the evidence. ( Working in the news-gathering profession does not necessarily expose one to under-news, as shown by the woman who didn't understand why President Obama was joking about eating a dog in his 2012 White House Correspondent's Dinner speech.)

Somewhere in the middle you've got the folks who follow the big headlines, but don't search out alternative media to get this "undernews." And then there's the completely oblivious citizen, who follows no news at all, and ends up spectacularly uninformed, or ill-informed, about what's going on in his country:

A new survey's findings show many of the people who say they haven't decided who to vote for in the race for president are either uninformed or uninterested.

A study by YouGov.com has found only 40 percent of undecided voters know that John Boehner is the Speaker of the House.

A whopping 31 percent don't know who Vice President Joe Biden is.

In one focus group, one undecided voter said he thought President Obama made a mistake not visiting New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina, when in fact President George Bush was president at the time.

Good to know that every once in a while, the dolts end up preferring our guy, huh?

So the "undernews" crowd may use these recent scandals in deciding what they think of the president, but the other two groups may not be connecting these stories to the president yet.

When pollsters ask the "how closely are you following [X story]?" question, I find myself thinking of Jimmy Kimmel's recurring feature when he gets people on the street to answer questions about news events that never occurred. (Admittedly, he's asking people on Hollywood Boulevard.) His staff found people with strong views about who won the First Lady Debate between Michelle Obama and Ann Romney, people who claimed to have witnessed an asteroid that didn't reach Earth yet, and people giving their opinion on Obama's decision to appoint Judge Judy to the Supreme Court. (All of those people are presumably eligible to vote.)

So, you see, if we are uninformed on current events and breaking news stories that are, more times than not, being covered-up by the MSM we can blame the media, but we have to blame our own laziness as well.

The humor of Garrincha:

A new PBS documentary explores the sensational story of Loreta Janeta Velazquez, a Cuban woman who fought in America's Civil War.

Via The Miami Herald:

Cross-dressing Cuban woman who fought for Confederacy a rebel in more ways than one

She was an enigma wrapped in a riddle surrounded by an iron corset. Loreta Janeta Velazquez fought in the American Civil War as man, spied — perhaps for both sides — as a woman, and was denounced as one of the great literary hoaxers of the 19th century after she wrote a book about it. And a century after being erased from U.S. history, she’s back in a PBS documentary.

Rebel, airing Friday as an episode of the Latin history and culture series Voces, is the second television documentary in recent years involving the elusive Velazquez. She was one of several women who fought in the Civil War featured in the History Channel’s 2007 Full Metal Corset.

Rebel brings her into sharper focus, which paradoxically shows how little we really know about her. Born in Cuba, dispatched to New Orleans to learn to be a lady by a father determined to rub out her tomboy streak, Velazquez infuriated her relatives by marrying an American soldier rather than the Cuban aristocrat favored by her father.

For a time, she played the conventional roles of wife and mother. But in 1861, when she was just 20, outbreak of fever killed her three children and her husband, a Texan who had joined the Southern rebels when the Civil War broke out. And the now rootless Velazquez returned her tomboy ways and then some.

She strapped down her figure with a metal corset, donned a uniform and enlisted in the Confederate army. Two years later, when her ruse was discovered, the Confederates made her a spy. She eventually turned up in Baltimore, working for the Union’s intelligence forces. To which government she was really loyal is abundantly unclear.

In 1876, more than a decade after the war’s end, Velazquez published a 600-page account of her war exploits. It caused a sensation, not only for its scandalous gender-bending but its disputation of the Civil War as a heroic experience.

The Southern troops alongside whom she fought were not chivalrous but seedy, Velazquez wrote: “Self-seeking is more common than patriotism. And in camp, a spirit of petty jealousy is even more common than it is at a girls boarding school.”

And the leadership of both sides was dominated by war profiteers. “War corrupts, and few are innocent,” she declared. “May my words convey what war really is, such that good people will hesitate to solve anything with war again.”

Her revisionist view triggered furious denunciations by the Confederate veterans who might otherwise have verified Velazquez’s account. Her book was denounced as a hoax and largely forgotten — as was Velazquez, despite some minor notoriety years later as a firebrand advocate of Cuban independence from Spain. The date and manner of her death are lost to history, and we don’t even know where she was buried.

Continue reading HERE.

In an interview with imprisoned Cuban writer Angel Santiesteban, the independent journalist and dissident addresses the speculation that the Castro regime will only release him from prison if he accepts forced exile (via Punto Cuba - my translation):

"There are many who predict I will be offered freedom only if I go into exile, and at this moment my answer to that is a resounding NO; I will only leave [Cuba] if Fidel and Raul Castro are on that plane with me."

There may not be enough milk or food in Venezuela, and we all know there is a dire shortage of toilet paper. But there is enough resources in Venezuela to pay the Cuban military to restore decades-old missiles in preparation for a war against... of course, the enemies of the revolution!

Via Capitol Hill Cubans:

Venezuela Launches Cuban-Restored Missile

Today, the Venezuelan government conducted the test launch of an Otomat missile, model MK2.

Eighteen of these missiles have been restored, thanks to Cuban specialists, for use by Venezuela's Bolivarian Armed Forces.

Venezuela's appointed leader, Nicolas Maduro, announced the launch (and Cuba's support) with much fanfare, as well as the upcoming restoration of AMX 3 light tanks and EE-11 Urutú armored personnel carriers.

What exactly is Cuba's dictatorship arming Venezuela, which currently even has shortages of toilet paper, for?

Over the past week or so, there have been several news articles showcasing new photos Beyonce and Jay-Z released from their vacation in apartheid Cuba. It is really astonishing to see how this extremely wealthy and powerful American couple allowed themselves to be used as tools by the repressive and racist, white dictatorship in Cuba. Obviously, musical talent and business acumen is simply not enough to prevent these two from acting and appearing like insensitive dolts.

The Cuba portrayed in Beyonce and Jay-Z's vacation album is the Cuba only tourists see. It is the Potemkin Village, the Castro zoo, where enslaved Cubans are displayed in their cages for tourists to gawk at and take pictures. It is the Cuba where champagne flows freely, every restaurant has steak and lobster, and the air-conditioning runs all day and all night. Beyonce and Jay-Z's Cuba  is one typical Cubans can only imagine for they are prohibited by their white slave masters from enjoying. It is a Cuba where being black is the proverbial black mark, where white slaves are treated differently from the black slaves.

The real Cuba is a much different island from what Beyonce and Jay-Z limited themselves to seeing. It is a heinous and heartbreaking place where innocent victims, the majority of them black, are rotting in prison cells for speaking out against their enslavement. It is a place where slaves must struggle daily to find enough food to eat, risking arrest and prison if they are caught taking a scrap of food from a trashcan outside a tourist hotel. It is the place where dissidents are ruthlessly beaten, unjustly imprisoned, and brutally murdered.

This is the Cuba Beyonce and Jay-Z never saw, and apparently the Cuba they have no interest in seeing.

The real Cuba is the island where black rapper Yunier Ramon remains imprisoned in a Castro gulag for performing music that criticizes his white slave masters. He was already in prison when Beyonce and Jay-Z visited Cuba, but neither of them bothered to say a word about him, let alone visit a fellow artist in need.

You see, Beyonce and Jay-Z have no interest in the real Cuba; they only want to sip cognac and smoke Cuban cigars in air-conditioned comfort while in the company of the island's slave masters.

Astonishing.

Via Pedazos de la Isla:

Jose Daniel Ferrer: Summary of activism out on the streets of Eastern Cuba

The leader of the Patriotic Union of Cuba highlights the situation which a number of political prisoners of the mentioned group are facing, speaks about the repressive methods employed by the State against activists and affirms that activism and opposition out on the streets has only increased in the Eastern region of the country, attracting further solidarity from everyday people.

Protests

Protest marches, debates and the handing out of flyers with pro-freedom messages are occurring with much more frequency in different areas of Eastern Cuba. Jose Daniel Ferrer Garcia, former political prisoner and current executive secretary of the Patriotic Union of Cuba (UNPACU), points out that in the month of May these actions have increased as part of the Boitel and Zapata Live Campaign, where dissidents throughout the country pay tribute to martyrs Pedro Luis Boitel and Orlando Zapata Tamayo, both deceased after lengthy hunger strikes in prison.

On May 20th, Cuba’s Independence Day, two marches were carried out in Santiago de Cuba. One of them was led by 11 activists and finished in the Antonio Maceo Plaza, where police officials beat the demonstrators with helmets, sticks and other objects, all of this while everyday citizens were watching.

A second march was carried out by 16 dissidents who managed to walk down various blocks of the El Sueno neighborhood, shouting pro-freedom messages. The result was police persecution. “State Security and Rapid Response Brigade agents came and began to throw rocks and beat activists“, recounted Ferrer Garcia. The repressors also threw tar and tried to raid the home of Daniel Barriel, secretary of the “Zapata Lives” sector of UNPACU in that neighborhood, where the activists congregated after the march. But the police was not able to achieve their objective, considering that the civic protests of the dissidents only intensified, forcing the aggressors to leave.

Continue reading HERE.

Amnesty International has released its 2013 report on Cuba documenting the drastic increase in repression on the island:

Cuba

Repression of independent journalists, opposition leaders and human rights activists increased. There were reports of an average of 400 short-term arrests each month and activists travelling from the provinces to Havana were frequently detained. Prisoners of conscience continued to be sentenced on trumped-up charges or held in pre-trial detention.

Rights to freedom of expression, association, movement and assembly

Peaceful demonstrators, independent journalists and human rights activists were routinely detained for exercising their rights to freedom of expression, association and assembly. Many were detained and others were subjected to acts of repudiation by government supporters.

• In March, local human rights activists faced a wave of arrests and local organizations reported 1,137 arbitrary detentions before and after the visit of Pope Benedict XVI.

The authorities adopted a range of measures to prevent activists reporting on human rights including surrounding the homes of activists and disconnecting phones. Organizations whose activities had been tolerated by the authorities in the past, such as the Cuban Commission on Human Rights and National Reconciliation, were targeted. Independent journalists reporting on dissidents’ activities were detained.

The government continued to exert control over all media, while access to information on the internet remained challenging due to technical limitations and restrictions on content.

• In July, Oswaldo Payá Sardiñas, one of Cuba’s most respected human rights and pro-democracy campaigners, died in a car accident in Granma Province. Several journalists and bloggers covering the hearing into the accident were detained for several hours.
• Roberto de Jesús Guerra Pérez, founder of the independent news agency Let’s Talk Press (Hablemos Press), was forced into a car in September, and reportedly beaten as he was driven to a police station. Before being released, he was told that he had become the “number one dissident journalist” and would be imprisoned if he continued his activities.

A number of measures were used to stop or penalize activities by political opponents. Many attempting to attend meetings or demonstrations were detained or prevented from leaving their homes. Political opponents, independent journalists and human rights activists were routinely denied visas to travel abroad.

• For the 19th time since May 2008, Yoani Sánchez, an opposition blogger, was denied an exit visa. She had planned to attend the screening in Brazil of a documentary on blogging and censorship in which she featured.
• In September, around 50 members of the Ladies in White organization were detained on their way to Havana to attend a public demonstration. Most were immediately sent back to their home provinces and then released; 19 were held incommunicado for several days.

In October, the government announced changes to the Migration Law that facilitate travel abroad, including the removal of mandatory exit visas. However, a series of requirements – over which the government would exercise discretion – could continue to restrict freedom to leave the country. The amendments were due to become effective in January 2013.

The rest of the report is available HERE.

I am sure Brazil's decision to cancel the purchase of slave labor from Cuba has less to do with morality and more to do with internal politics, but we are happy the end result is the same.

Via International Business Times:

Brazil Says They Will Not Hire Cuban Doctors; Turns To Spanish And Portuguese Physicians Instead

Brazil’s interior provinces are daunting for the uninitiated. They are remote, isolated and very, very poor. And though malaria, yellow fever and tuberculosis run rampant, Brazilian doctors often refuse to be assigned to areas like Pará, Goiás or Mato Grosso.

The Brazilian government, it turns out, has started looking for foreign physicians who would be willing to travel to these areas and provide the kind of medical care that is needed. Earlier this month, the government announced that they were in talks with ministries in Spain, Portugal and Cuba, who might be up for helping out in those regions where there are only two doctors per 1,000 inhabitants, according to the Spanish newspaper El País.

Brazilian Health Minister Alexandre Padilha made public a slew of requirements for potential incoming doctors: They would have to pass an exam, since there would not be an automatic transferal of degrees, and doctors from countries where there are less than 1.7 doctors per 1,000 inhabitants -- which is the rate in Brazil -- would not be accepted.

The project took a turn on Wednesday, when Padilha announced that Brazil would not be accepting Cuban doctors, since their qualifications are not comparable to Brazilian medical degrees. “We rejected doctors who have had less time than necessary to practice medicine, without specialization or residencies,” Padilha stated.

Padilha added that the focus would be on locating qualified doctors from Spain and Portugal, and he confirmed that the Spanish Ministry of Health was interested. “The Ministry has expressed interest in cooperating and exchanging professionals, as well as interest in cooperating in specific projects,” Padilha said to the website Terra Brazil.

Continue reading HERE.

We all know what the verdict will be before the trial even begins, but Cuba's Castro crime syndicate likes to put on a show. A Canadian businessman who ran afoul of the Cuban mafia, headed by the Castro crime family, will be joined by Canadian diplomats as the Cuban dictatorship puts on a show trial, which will eventually end in the former business partner being given a lengthy prison sentence.

That is, of course, unless the Canadian government offers to pay a ransom and "buy" their citizen back from the Castro mafia.

Via Toronto's The Star:

Cuba: Diplomats in courtroom as Canadian businessman’s corruption trial begins

After two years in jail with no charges, North York’s Sarkis Yacoubian now faces serious corruption charges that could get him 12 years in prison.

When Sarkis Yacoubian walks into a courtroom in Havana Thursday to face serious corruption charges that could send him to prison for 12 years, the North York businessman will have a high-powered diplomat keeping a close eye on his trial — Canada’s ambassador to Cuba.

As the Toronto Star revealed last week, Yacoubian, who ran a successful $30 million transport and trading company called Tri-Star Caribbean, was handed a 63-page indictment by Cuban prosecutors in April accusing him of three counts of bribery, ta

After almost two years in custody without charges, Yacoubian’s fate will be decided by a panel of five judges in a hearing that is expected to last no longer than two days at the Criminal Court of the Peoples’ Tribunal for Havana Province.

Other jailed foreigners and diplomats are nervously watching to see how far the Cuban justice system, not known for its transparency or independence, will go in pursuing a case that has become an international political flashpoint.

In an apparent signal about just how seriously Ottawa views the case, the Department of Foreign Affairs this week informed Julian Falconer, Yacoubian’s lawyer in Canada, that Ambassador Matthew Levin will attend both days of the trial along with the Consul General at the embassy.

“It is very rare for the ambassador to show up in a courtroom,” said Gar Pardy, a former director general of consular services for Canada. “It sends a message to the Cuban authorities: this is a case of direct interest to the government of Canada.”

Levin had previously visited Yacoubian at least four times while he was in La Condesa prison on the outskirts of Havana.

Yacoubian was arrested in July 2011 as part of the Cuban Communist Party’s highly-charged political campaign against corruption.

Continue reading HERE.

"To change the perception of reality of every American to such an extent that despite the abundance of information no one is able to come to sensible conclusions ... Most of it is done by Americans to Americans ... The time bomb is ticking ... You will have nowhere to defect to ... This is the last country of freedom and possibility."

Former Soviet KGB operative Yuri Bezmenov revealed 30 years ago the communist playbook on how to take over a nation...

Sound familiar? Very familiar? Evaluate what has happened to this country's MSM. Look at the current major scandals of the Obama administration that the MSM is sweating over to sweep under the rug so they can retain covering for this administration's wrong-doing. And these are just the scandals we know about. As Bezmenov stated, you can point all this out to those who refuse to believe, those who claim this is "tin foil hat" territory, show them the evidence to back-up the truth, and they still will not see it until it hits them and it's too late. The fact is, there is a percent of America that lingers just below the 50% mark that would view this video, and his others, and are completely unable to recognize we are far more than just in the middle of what he describes. We are past the middle and heading for the end game. Want to know how I figure that? Because I have friends and family that now want to hear what I have been warning them about for these last several years ... and I just don't know where to start. He's right. It is not only near impossible to bring people up to speed with all the information the MSM has kept from them, but to try to deal with the mind-set that has taken over their individual thought process in order for them to make the connections that have been obvious to most of the rest of us...

HT: B.Z.

By Anddy Sierra Alvarez in Translating Cuba:

Cuban Hospitals Don’t Offer Complete Service

The poor hygiene threatens the health of the patient

The Julio Trigo and The Dependent Hospitals don’t offer full service. Doctors choose to give basic treatment to avoid complications due to lack of hygiene and the poor condition of patient rooms.

An unnamed doctor “Julio Trigo” says that he has been forced to send patients for home treatment. “I should not be so, but the hospital is horrifying conditions, cockroaches walking through walls, this is a disaster!” Says the doctor.

Julio Trigo Hospital is the main one for the municipality of Arroyo Naranjo and The Dependent Hospital is one of the main hospitals for the municipality of Cerro. They have lost the confidence of the residents of the two areas, according to  the comments of delegates (one delegate from Cerro and one from Arroyo Naranjo) from each municipality, who did not want to be identified.

An unnamed doctor at “Julio Trigo” says that he has been forced to send patients home for treatment. “I should not be so, but the hospital conditions are horrifying, cockroaches walking along walls, this is a disaster!” Says the doctor.

Marielena Garcia, 45, accompanying a patient explains she was waiting for her mom to get better to take her from the hospital to finish the treatment at home. “I was sitting on the side of the bed and a cockroach dropped on my face. The beds are dirty, you even get the smell of urine, you have to bring several sheets to avoid complications of infection,” says Garcia.

An unnamed doctor at The Dependent Hospital says that all the patients who come to the hospital complain about dirt. “It’s a risk to send the patient home, but better than the complications with bacteria,” said the doctor.

Alfredo Gonzalez, 32, says that in the middle of 2012 he went to The Dependent Hospital with a deep machete wound and almost lost his leg to an infection acquired from instruments that weren’t disinfected.

Maria Rodriguez, 48, says she’s complained about the management, but never had the chance to see the hospital director in person.

The country has refurbished hospitals in the capital, but after a year many are back to the previous bad condition. The chairs, the beds and the drinking fountains reflect the care of the people and the workers.

Via the Gulf Times:

‘Europe has fallen’ into Cuban regime’s trap

Cuban dissident Guillermo Farinas said in Miami that migration reforms that have allowed several high-profile dissidents off the communist island in recent weeks is a “trap” into which Europe has fallen.

Farinas said Cuban leaders “are trying to clean up their international image, including with left-wingers, who think that Cuba has a reactionary image, and they are cosmetically trying to change that. They are only looking for financing from the European Union and North America.”

Farinas is the latest member of the Cuban dissident movement to leave the island since rules allowing citizens to travel outside the country were loosened in January.

The reforms scrapped the need for exit permits, which Cuban authorities had for decades systematically denied to dissidents.

Cuban President Raul Castro’s government is only seeking “financing and investment” from Havana’s foreign critics, Farinas said in a joint event with the dissident Cuban group Damas de Blanco (Ladies in White) in Miami.

“They are negotiating to do away with the common position (of EU members on Cuba). The Europeans fell into the trap of letting us leave. It is the way that economic blocks can grant (Cuba) loans and investment,” Farinas said.

Farinas, who is well known for his hunger strikes and other forms of peaceful protests and was awarded the 2010 Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought by the European Parliament, said he was “a little bit surprised” that such change in Cuba has happened before “the natural death of Fidel Castro.”

“The fact that they have had to do it before that is because the economic, social and political situation is very bad for them. It is not out of goodness, because the Cuban government is cruel and inhumane,” he said. “It has been achieved because there is an internal opposition that has earned it an exile community that has not given up and an international community that has demanded it.”

Farinas said he had felt welcomed by exiles in Miami even though he feared criticism from its most militant members because his protests were peaceful.

“We realise that the government has bombarded our minds saying that you are different, that Miami is different from Cuba, and now one realises that it is not,” he said.

The humor of Garrincha in El Nuevo Herald:

"We have been running some tests on Chavismo, commandant."

"And? What is the diagnosis?"

"He is suffering from Chavismo."

Pedazos de la Isla has a photo report of Monday's visit to Miami's Freedom Tower by a group of Cuba's Ladies in White:

Photos: Ladies in White at the Freedom Tower in Miami

This 20th of May 2013, Cuban Independence Day, Cuban exiles and other members of the community of Miami went to the historic Freedom Tower, where hundreds of Cubans passed through in the 1960?s when they arrived to the United States as refugees, to participate in a chat with 3 Ladies in White: Berta Soler (national representative of the group), Laura Labrada (daughter of Laura Pollan) and Belkis Cantillo (representative of the group in Santiago de Cuba).  It was an event organized by Miami Dade College.

Before the chat, the 3 Ladies in White offered a press conference, in which dissident Guillermo Farinas also took part in.  There, they responded various questions by the press and debated topics such as the constant repression they face in the island for trying to assist Sunday Mass, the fact that former political prisoners of conscience can’t travel outside of the country, the warm welcome on behalf of the Cuban exile community and the current situation of the youth on the island.

Soler called on young Cubans on the island to not leave the country and to stay and fight for it, while she also called on the children and grandchildren of the older exiles to keep supporting the struggle for freedom from wherever they are.

See the rest of the photos and the continuation of the report HERE.

From the For Another Cuba poster project by Lia Villares (via Translating Cuba):

The Associated Press continues its policy of carrying water for the vile, murderous, and repressive Castro dictatorship in Cuba.

Via Capitol Hill Cubans:

The AP's Havana Bureau is "Out-of-Touch"

The AP's Havana bureau ran a story today about U.S. diplomat Conrad Tribble's efforts to interact with some of the Castro regime's official bloggers.

Of course, no story from the AP's Havana bureau is complete without taking a shot at Cuba's courageous dissidents.

(And its apparent hope that U.S. diplomats are diverting their focus from supporting dissidents to "seducing" their harassers.)

Thus, the AP writes:

"Washington is eager to reach a more diverse audience, as shown by a leaked U.S. diplomatic cable published in 2010 by WikiLeaks that described the small opposition as aging, ineffective, torn by infighting and hopelessly out of touch with most Cubans."

Here's the cable referred to in the AP's story.

Can someone pinpoint where it says that Cuba's dissidents "are hopelessly out of touch"?

Let's save you some time.

It doesn't.

How about "ineffective"?

No, doesn't use that term either.

These terms were courtesy of the sensationalist editing of the AP's Havana bureau, in order to keep its hosts (and biases) happy.

However, the cable does say that Cuba's dissidents are "comparatively old" (not sure to whom) and that they lack "unity of purpose" (a ridiculous claim).

In this regards, the cable (written by former USINT principal, Jonathan Farrar) was plain wrong -- and time has proven it.

In the last few months, the world has witnessed first-hand the young, united and dynamic faces of Cuba's pro-democracy movement.

Do these people (picture below) seem old and lacking "unity of purpose" to you?

(From left: Antonio Rodiles, Roberto de Jesús, Laritza Diversent, Mirian Celaya, Eliecer Ávila and Yoani Sánchez.)

And that's not to mention Jose Daniel Ferrer, Sara Marta Fonseca, Rosa Maria Paya, Jorge Luis Garcia Perez "Antunez" and all of these young women that strike fear into Castro's regime.

If anyone is old and out-of-touch, it's the octogenarian Castro regime -- and the AP's Havana reporting.

Fabiola Santiago in The Miami Herald:

Damas de Blanco are true heroes

Whether in the streets of Cuba, at international forums — or now in Miami before they return to the island — these brave women are a peaceful but powerful force to behold.

Las Damas de Blanco.

Ten long years ago they came together after the government crackdown on dissidents and independent journalists known as Black Spring, when 74 men and one woman were thrown in prison and handed long sentences.

The men were their husbands, fathers, sons and brothers. The Ladies in White became their voices on the outside.

To this day, despite beatings and detentions, in Havana and eastern Santiago de Cuba, they silently march together to church on Sundays wearing white and carrying gladioli to call the world’s attention to the regime’s repression and abuses.

“The love of family,” the women say, united them and fueled a movement that despite the increasing repression, the brutal beatings by police and paramilitary thugs, the suspicious death of their founder, Laura Pollán, and the incarceration of members, is growing.

In temporary freedom in Miami — where as Belkis Cantillo, leader in Santiago de Cuba puts it, “we feel at home” — they tell their story with simple but effective words.

The Cuban regime’s brutes — grown men with closed fists — beat them and drag them from the street into buses to keep them away from public view.

One of those men who hit and dragged her into a bus was a 26-year-old named Norberto.

Cantillo told him: “You really don’t want to hit us, but you’re doing it for the jaba,’’ the bag of needed supplies with which the government rewards loyalty.

He lowered his head, Cantillo says.

Continue reading HERE.

He swears he is innocent and has done nothing wrong. That the recorded conversation between him and a Lieutenant Colonel from Cuban State Security discussing how to ensure Venezuela remains under dictatorial rule was all fabricated by Israel's Mossad. Nevertheless, the "innocent" Mario Silva has gone off the air.

Via the Associated Press:

Venezuela TV host goes off air after audio scandal

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — A prominent Venezuelan talk show host has gone off the air after allegedly being caught on tape discussing politics inside Venezuela's ruling party with a Cuban intelligence official.

Mario Silva, whose show on state TV features verbal attacks against the socialist government's opponents, said that he would go on sick leave for "several days."

The announcement on his programme "La Hojilla" (The Razor Blade) late Monday came hours after opposition lawmaker Ismael Garcia released a recording in which Silva purportedly is heard discussing divisions in the government following the death of President Hugo Chavez.

Garcia said Silva was talking to a Cuban intelligence official he identified as Lieutenant Colonel Aramis Palacios. Garcia didn't say when the conversation was recorded or how he obtained it.

Silva said the recording was "absolutely fake" and suggested it had been put together by editing clips from his show, which has been on the air for nine years.

"I'm going to be off the air for a few days," Silva said on the late-night show. "But let me tell you something: I insist I don't owe anyone an apology, because I haven't done anything that isn't revolutionary."

Continue reading HERE.

This year's Cuba Nostalgia was quite a momentous one and your physically and emotionally exhausted Babalú crew is still recovering from all the excitement. We want to thank all our readers, friends, new friends, and families who came out this past weekend for stopping by and sharing a beer, a mojito, a laugh, and sometimes a few tears with us. It was truly an amazing weekend where we got to celebrate not only Babalú's 10th anniversary, but also meet and spend time with some amazing people such as Ladies in White leader Berta Soler along with Cuban dissidents Guillermo Fariñas and Manuel Cuesta Morua.

We also want to thank our special guests who helped make this year's Cuba Nostalgia very special:

• Silvio Canto Jr.
• Omar Santana
• George Utset
• Michael Mut and his band Electric Piquete
• Luis Felipe Rojas
• Dr. Darsi Ferret
• And our very own, Humberto Fontova

But along with the physical and mental exhaustion, your Babalú crew is also economically exhausted. Your generous donations were not enough to cover the expenses for this year's festivities and we are deep in the hole. Any little bit of your generosity to help us cover the costs for this event will be greatly appreciated and are as easy as clicking the link below.

Now, let's get on to pictures of the Cuba Nostalgia 2013 experience through the eyes of Babalú (below the fold):