Only God knows how much more the Cuban people can take of the magnanimous and marvelous “reforms” being implemented by Cuba’s apartheid Castro dictatorship. The latest recipients of this benevolence ended up bloodied and with broken ribs.
The Castro regime arrested over 23 dissidents from the Cuban Patriotic Union (UNPACU) today, as they tried to gather for a regional meeting of the organization in the province of Villa Clara.
Among those arrested was Sakharov Prize winner, Guillermo Farinas, who was savagely beaten and held in a freezing cell.
Farinas suffered two broken ribs from the beating.
On eighth day of hunger strike, Cuban activist Antunez vomiting blood
His hunger strike against the Castro regime is taking a heavy toll on Cuban activist Jorge Luis Perez Garcia, “Antunez.”
Dissident Martha Beatriz Roque on Tuesday reported via email that Antunez that day had vomited blood and bile, as his body reacts to his decision to stop eating on Feb. 10.
Antunez started his hunger strike after Castro police and other goons on Feb. 5 broke into his home in Placetas, ransacked the place and stole many personal items. They also arrested Antunez.
He subsequently was arrested three more times in the next 10 days. The goons also did more damage to his home, including painting over anti-Castro slogans he had painted on the facade of his house.
Roque, who has had her own struggles with the dictatorship trying to besiege her in her home, on Tuesday posted on YouTube a video of Antunez narrating what happened during the first two raids on his home.
Torture in Castro’s prisons, drawing by prisoner Ángel García Rivero
…. but…. but… but…. somehow, Castrogonia comes out squeaky clean and gets a seat on the UN Human Rights Council.
Why? … Need you ask?… Don’t you know?
The Castro dynasty is not at all to be confused with the Kim dynasty of North Korea.
The Castros are humanitarians who have taught an illiterate nation to read, created hospitals in a hell-hole that had none at all before they came along, helped end apartheid in South Africa, and provided third-world youth with scholarships.
The Kims are brutal dictators and sociopaths, and the current monarch should be tried in the International Criminal Court.
Just look at this picture, depicting his cruelty:
North Korean prisoners described ‘pigeon torture,’ an agonizing stress position some were forced to endure for three days straight.
The Castros, in contrast, should have won the Nobel Peace Prize long ago. They have never tortured anyone, or killed any truly innocent people.
You don’t believe this? Why… then… just Google “testimony Castro prisoners” and see if you can find any evidence of cruelty in Cuba. You will find zero. Instead, all you will find are news stories about the Cleveland women kidnapped by Puerto Rican hyper-pervert Ariel Castro.
The Cuban Castros are saints, and can do no wrong, so anyone they imprison or kill must really, really deserve it.
The Kims repress their people and ruthlessly crush all dissent. The Castros are kind idealists and reformers who are always looking for ways to improve the lives of their people.
How dare you even ask such questions? Would Saint Nelson Mandela have ever been capable of loving a genuine tyrant? Are you nuts, or something? How dare you impugn the sanctity of the Infinitely Holy Mandela? How dare you question the judgment of the UN, which deems Castrogonia a protector of human rights but excoriates North Korea in such strong terms, and asserts that the Kim Kingdom has “no parallels” at all?
What kind of moron are you, anyway? Or are you just evil?
You *&^%$#@! fascist. Nazi scum. Go back to where you came from on your nicely-drawn Oliphant boat. And don’t you ever dare to accuse of bigotry anyone who unmasks YOUR congenital idiocy and ill-will. You’re the bigot, you %$#@!&^ evil moron, just for asking such questions.
Illustrations of hell: North Korean defector sketches horrors of prison camps
The drawings are part of a new United Nations report that implicates Kim Jong Un in atrocities reminiscent of Nazi Germany. The panel calls for Kim to face charges in the International Criminal Court.
A North Korean defector sketched disturbing scenes of torture and starvation from his six years in one of the country’s brutal prisons.
The illustrations are part of a new, damning United Nations report that directly implicated leader Kim Jong Un in crimes against humanity reminiscent of the Nazis.
“There is an almost complete denial of the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion, as well as of the rights to freedom of opinion, expression, information and association,” the report stated.
“The gravity, scale and nature of these violations reveal a state that does not have any parallel in the contemporary world.”
The unimaginable horrors at prison camps include starving inmates eating rats and snakes, female prisoners raped and then forced to kill their own newborns, bodies burned and used for fertilizer, prisoners used for martial-arts practice and a technique called “pigeon torture,” in which a prisoner is handcuffed behind his back and then held aloft in such so he couldn’t stand or sit…
…The 372-page report called for Jong-Un to be tried in the International Criminal Court.
The most recently approved regulations which now govern self-employment (private labor) prohibit the sale of manufactured goods. Henceforth, budding private businesses may sell only hand-made goods. Applying such obsolete rules in the twenty-first century is akin to feudalism and amounts to a return to a pre-industrial era.
Meanwhile, the government purchases shoddy goods at clearance sale prices from China, Vietnam, Brazil, Mexico and other countries. It later offers them for sale in its hard currency stores at exorbitant prices which are several times higher than their original wholesale costs. This puts them well out of reach of most Cubans and creates a monopoly in the sale of manufactured goods.
Many years ago, at the beginning of the experiment, its chief inventor said, “This is the revolution of the poor, by the poor and for the poor.” It seems to have quickly lost direction, becoming instead a behemoth which threatens the poor, one which does not allow them to either develop their initiatives or get ahead.
Never before in Cuba’s history as a nation has a government manipulated and abused so many of its citizens. Cubans have endured family separation, persecution for political, religious, sexual and even musical preferences, as well as a decades-long prohibition against travelling abroad, buying or selling a home or car, or staying in resort hotels.
Cubans have had to endure poverty-level wages and pensions. Professionals have been contracted out to other countries as slave labor. Cubans have served as cannon fodder for foreign wars, have suffered the loss of moral values and have been subjected to inflated prices for both basic commodities and non-essential goods. They have had to put up with low-quality social services, denial of home internet access, press censorship, repression of freedom of thought, and so on.
José Martí warned us of this but we did not take heed. He cautioned that socialism poses two dangers: the first stems from misunderstood and incomplete readings of the works of foreign writers; the second from the arrogance and repressed rage of ambitious men, who rise up by standing on the shoulders of others, pretending to be ardent defenders of the helpless (Collected Works, volume 3, page l68, published in Cuba).
How Much Capital Does Castro Require for “Influence”?
Last month, the European Union agreed to begin talks with the Castro dictatorship in pursuit of a special cooperation accord by the end of 2015.
If an accord is reached, it would replace the EU’s 1996 Common Position towards Cuba, which is composed of a symbolic set of diplomatic sanctions.
But here’s the money quote, literally:
“Cuba wants capital and the European Union wants influence,” one person involved in the talks told Reuters.
How could that be?
Upon the collapse of the Soviet Union, European nations began investing billions in the Castro regime.
During the “Special Period,” it was European investment in Cuba’s tourism industry (in minority partnership with Castro’s monopolies) and its “leisure” travelers that economically sustained the regime.
Even after the Common Position, European companies and tourists have been unwilling to cut their revenue stream to the regime. To the contrary, it has steadily increased.
And yet, they have no influence?
Of course not.
So how many more billions does the Castro regime require for “influence”?
Needless to say, this is the same “suckers” model that Castro’s lobbyists would like the U.S. to pursue.
President Obama wants to modify U.S. policy toward Cuba. It is not an important priority, so he won’t put too much effort into it, but he will try to do something if he doesn’t find too much resistance on the way.
What does he propose to do? Maybe inaugurate a period of “benign neglect,” ignore what’s happening in Cuba, even the plaints of the victims, and cancel any display of anti-Castro hostility. After all, Obama wasn’t even born when this folly began.
Will Obama persist in his intent? He’ll probably discover that it’s not worth the trouble. The abuse occurs too close to the United States to look in another direction. Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton tried to do so in the past but unsuccessfully. The dictatorship’s behavior always prevented it. Havana can’t help it. It’s like a Doberman; biting is in its nature.
Ongoing right now is a ferocious repressive wave that can be watched on YouTube thanks to cell phones and the denunciations of people like Yoani Sánchez. Goons savagely beat the opposition democrats who protest, be they men, women or children. The legendary Jorge Luis García (“Antúnez”) has received his umpteenth beating and has begun his umpteenth hunger strike. The musician Gorki, who is as brave as Pussy Riot without a Madonna to defend him, has again been jailed for singing irreverent songs.
What are the government measures that Obama wants to eliminate or modify?
For half a century, U.S. policy toward Cuba has had three pillars: anti-Castro propaganda, economic restrictions (the embargo) and diplomatic isolation. Beginning with Lyndon B. Johnson, the intention was no longer to kill the Doberman but to leash and muzzle it.
But the Soviet Union disappeared and communism became discredited as a form of government, even though Cuba, North Korea and other enclaves indifferent to reality clung stubbornly to error and power, thanks to the unlimited authority exercised by their chieftains.
In Cuba, the same faces remain, the same policemen, the same jail cells. Nevertheless, the “containment” of the island lost momentum little by little. From Washington’s perspective, the regime in Havana was a hazy anachronism, an absurd relic of the Cold War that would crumble as time went on.
From the Cuban standpoint, the view was different. To Raúl, the relic was not his archaic regime but the U.S. policy that opposed him. The ones who needed to change were the Americans, not them. Except that, to modify Washington’s behavior it was indispensable to pretend that the regime was transforming itself.
The fear and desperation in Havana this morning must be suffocating. After investing so much time and energy in taking over and colonizing the resource-rich nation of Venezuela, Cuba’s Castro dictatorship is watching their possession and the billions of dollars it pumps into their personal Swiss bank accounts slip right through their fingers.
But Havana is not giving up their prized possession without a fight. By orders from and under the direct supervision of Cuba’s East German Stasi-trained State Security forces, armed Venezuelan forces are violently lashing out at the opposition, student protestors, and dissenters. And just like it happens in Cuba, those they manage to get their hands on are being viciously beaten, imprisoned, tortured, and even murdered.
The latest such attack on the opposition took place yesterday when armed forces raided the base of an opposition organization.
Venezuelan security forces raid major opposition base
CARACAS — Security forces raided the headquarters of a major Venezuelan opposition party accused of fomenting recent violence, according to eyewitnesses, after last week issuing an arrest warrant for the party’s leader Leopoldo López on charges of murder and terrorism.
López is a hardline member of the country’s opposition and has backed recent student protests. However, he has been in hiding since the arrest warrant was issued.
Critics of the government suspect that it is doing it utmost to capture him before a major march planned for Tuesday in which the 42-year-old, once touted as the country’s next president, has said he will surrender to authorities.
The offices of his Popular Will party were stormed on Monday by what appear to be security forces in a video released by the party as well as eyewitnesses spoken to by USA Today.
“Four guys, dressed entirely in black, violently broke down the doors. They weren’t police; they weren’t National Guard,” said volunteer Lisett Esteves, 24. “They asked for leaders of the party. Intelligence agents then came in with a warrant to take away all of our equipment.”
Esteves, and other eyewitnesses, said that mobile phones and computers were taken and tear gas was released within the building when the attackers met resistance. The video showed men brandishing guns forcing their way into the party’s offices. A broken door at the scene corroborated the video.
David Smolansky, the mayor of El Hatillo, one of Caracas’ municipalities, was also inside during the raid. “They were looking for Leopoldo and all the leaders of our political party,” he said. “It’s more proof that in Venezuela we don’t have democracy.”
But the violence and repression unleashed on the Venezuelan people by their colonial masters in Havana may not be enough to keep hold of their colony. A massive protest march is scheduled to take place today and Havana, their puppet dictator, and the colonial regime the Castro dictatorship installed in Venezuela is bracing itself.
Showdown looms for Venezuela as protest leader Leopoldo López vows new march
MEXICO CITY — After five days of bloody student-led street protests, Venezuela appeared headed for a dangerous new showdown as opposition leader Leopoldo López said he will emerge from hiding Tuesday to lead an anti-government march.
The Venezuelan government charged López with “terrorism” and other crimes after demonstrations Wednesday in Caracas left three dead and more than 60 injured. Smaller protests in the capital and other cities have followed, including on Monday, setting the country on edge and pitting sometimes-violent demonstrators against police using batons, water cannons and tear gas.
Meanwhile, President Nicolás Maduro announced Sunday that he had expelled three U.S. Embassy officials, accusing them of conspiring against his government. It is the third time in less than a year that Maduro has ordered U.S. diplomats out of the country.
“Go back to Washington and conspire,” Maduro said during a televised address. “Leave Venezuela alone.” The State Department denied that it was helping to organize the protesters or trying to undermine Venezuela’s leftist government.
López has emerged as the most forceful and fearless critic of Maduro, at a time when annual inflation is topping 50 percent and the oil-rich country’s economy is tanking, with citizens facing chronic shortages of toilet paper, milk and other basic goods.
The former mayor of a Caracas municipality, López, 42, released a three-minute video statement Sunday calling for a fresh rally against the government in the capital Tuesday and said he would end the march by offering himself up for arrest.
The announcement raised the possibility of new clashes if protesters rush to his defense.
“I have nothing to fear,” López said in the video. “I have committed no crime. I have been a Venezuelan with deep commitments toward my country and my people.”
Maduro and other Venezuelan officials have goaded the protesters for days by calling them “fascists” and depicting them as U.S. agents involved in destabilization plots.
The protests are the most serious challenge to date for Maduro, 51, who was narrowly elected in April to succeed Hugo Chávez, his mentor. Chávez ruled Venezuela for 14 years until his death from cancer last March, and Maduro has adopted Chávez’s blustery rhetoric to vilify critics as “parasitic bourgeoisie” and traitorous Nazis.
We’ve seen this movie many times before. It starts with a country giving Cuba a line of credit or going around the US embargo. It is followed by high expectations that Cuba will change once Cubans in the island greet foreign tourists or Spaniards build hotels.
However, the movie always ends the same way: Cuba can’t pay the loans and Cubans are still living in a repressive state.
We’ve seen that movie several times since the collapse of the Soviet Union in ’92. Just ask all of the countries who’ve had to reschedule their loans to Cuba or just forgive old ones.
First, no talks at any level until Cuba releases Mr. Allan Gross unconditionally. Simply hand him over to the Red Cross so that he can be reunited with his family. No meeting or talks until that happens first;
Second, the world should demand a democratic transition in Cuba. No more “wishful thinking” about reforms that don’t really reform or “expectations” of change that never comes.
This is the moment for the US to draw the line and say “enough” in Cuba.
#SOSVenezuela Update: Maduro Regime Strikes Back Against Nonviolent Students
“We are not going to give in or kneel. We are going to continue in the streets, fighting for Venezuelans and the youths who want a democratic country, with free media that aren’t censored or self-censored, with justice and equity.” – Juan Requesen, student leader at the Universidad Central de Venezuela.
Over the past 24 hours the news of violence, brutality, torture, and killing of students has increased to disturbing proportions. This is a strategic decision of the Maduro government and their Cuban handlers. The successful mass mobilization of millions of Venezuelans to take to the streets in Venezuela and join mass protests led and organized by students is due to their independent and nonviolent character. It has also captured the imagination of activists all over the world and solidarity demonstrations have been held in different cities. I attended one yesterday afternoon in Miami. Videos are appearing of students from around the world demonstrating their solidarity with student protesters in Venezuela.
This is not to say that demonstrators are unaware of the danger of violence against their persons, but they know that they do not need to engage in acts of violence to take part in these demonstrations. What the regime is doing with the violent provocations that involve beatings, anally raping a student with a rifle butt, disappearing students, and shooting students in the head seeks to turn the nonviolent movement violent.
The most recently approved regulations which now govern self-employment (private labor) prohibit the sale of manufactured goods. Henceforth, budding private businesses may sell only hand-made goods. Applying such obsolete rules in the twenty-first century is akin to feudalism and amounts to a return to a pre-industrial era.
President Obama wants to modify U.S. policy toward Cuba. It is not an important priority, so he won’t put too much effort into it, but he will try to do something if he doesn’t find too much resistance on the way.
