The skeleton crew is here -- Val, Maggie, Ziva and yours truly -- ready for another sore feet day.
Come by today to talk with author Brian Latell will be here signing copies of his book, Castro's Secrets: The C.I.A. and Cuba's Intelligence Machine, today from 1:00 pm to 3:00 pm. I have quite few questions about the events of November 22, 1963, which happened to be my seventh birthday.
We also have Viviam Marie from WDNA and the band Ma'Duro playing later tonight.
Come and join us in the yearly festival of Cubania.
Presumptive GOP presidential candidate Gov. Mitt Romney has released remarks on Cuban Independence Day this May 20th:
Remarks by Gov. Romney for Cuban Independence Day
Boston, MA – Mitt Romney today made the following remarks on Cuban Independence Day, which is celebrated this coming Sunday, May 20th:
Today, I join with the Cuban people—on the island, here in America, and elsewhere in the world—in honoring the independence that was so dearly won by brave Cubans over a century ago. The struggle for Cuban independence was based on the principles of liberty, and won through the courage and sacrifice that the yearning for freedom inspires.
Today is a recognition of freedom’s triumph, but it’s also a sobering reminder that over 50 years of Cuba’s history have been lost to the tyranny of the Castro regime.
Since Castro took power, the Cuban people have been denied basic human freedoms. No freedom of religion, no freedom of the press, no political freedom. And the regime uses brutality and violence to suppress these freedoms and impose its will.
In recent years and months, we have seen the deaths of Orlando Zapata Tamayo, Juan Wilfredo Soto, Wilman Villar and Laura Pollan at the hands of the dictatorship. We have witnessed the continued incarceration of peaceful pro-democracy activists and the unlawful imprisonment of Alan Gross.
These injustices make painfully clear that the Castros’ grip on power remains as tight as ever. The regime touts so-called “reforms,” but the facts point to continued oppression. The Cuban people still live in constant fear of a brutal totalitarian regime that has demonstrated time and again its utter disregard for basic human dignity.
The fight for a free Cuba has gone on for far too long.
Too many dreams have been shattered, too many lives have been ruined, and too many families have been separated by the tyranny of the Castro regime.
Too many Independence Day celebrations have passed with that regime still clinging to power.
And too many political leaders—on both sides of the aisle—have lauded the dream of a free Cuba on this day over the years, only to falter in realizing that dream once in office.
In recent years, we have seen the United States back away from pressuring the Castro regime, under the misguided view that placating them with an open hand would yield progress. That naiveté has invited only more cruelty and oppression in return.
Today, we join Cubans around the world in celebrating independence and remembering the brave men and women who gave their lives in the fight for freedom. And to those who continue the fight, I offer not only words of support, but the promise of action.
If I am elected President, the Castro regime will have no reason to doubt our unwavering commitment to your cause. The regime will feel the full weight of American resolve.
The international community will know that the future of Cuba is within the leadership of the Cuban pro-democracy movement, represented in men and women like Jose Daniel Ferrer, Jorge Luis Garcia Perez “Antunez,” Sara Marta Fonseca, and Berta Soler.
And, together, we will hasten the day when the regime will come to an end.
"Like bones to the human body, the axle to the wheel, the wing to the bird, and the air to the wing, so is liberty the essence of life." These were the words of Jose Marti at the time of Cuba’s fight for independence.
Those words rang true for Cuba a century ago. Soon, they will ring true once again.
Oil well in Cuba comes up dry, raises questions about future exploration
After reporting that it found no oil in its well in Cuba, Repsol will likely now consider leaving the country.
Cuba’s dreams of an oil bonanza suffered a tough but possibly temporary setback Friday when the Spanish Repsol company confirmed it hit a dry hole when it drilled a well off the island’s northwest coast.
The dry well will put more pressure on Cuba’s dependence on Venezuelan oil and means the government of Raúl Castro needs to continue nurturing its tight relations with the ailing president of Venezuela, Hugo Chávez, one analyst said.
The development also may temporarily allay fears of an oil spill in Cuban waters that could foul the Florida Keys and the U.S. eastern seaboard, although several other foreign oil companies have options to explore in Cuban waters and Repsol had contracted to drill a second exploratory well.
Repsol spokesman in Kristian Rix confirmed to journalists in Havana Friday that the Scarabeo-9 floating drill platform found nothing in a well in more than 6,000 feet of water about 20 miles northwest of Havana. The well will be capped, he added.
The announcement was a tough blow to Cuba’s hopes for finding crude that could fuel its anemic economy.
It seems that as we learn more about the visit to the U.S. soon to take place by Mariela Castro, the daughter of Cuban dictator Raul Castro, the worse the U.S. State Department is looking. The scandal surrounding the visa authorization by the State Department to allow a high-ranking Cuban dictatorship official to enter the U.S. is growing. Now we learn that the Obama administration has allowed the Cuban dictator's daughter to bring along 60 members of her entourage as they tour the U.S. The number started at 77, but State Department has not yet decided on six of them and have already denied the visa applications of 11 Cuban academics who interestingly enough, have a history of cooperating with their U.S. counterparts.
HAVANA (AP) — The political hubbub over Washington's decision to grant a visa to the daughter of Cuban President Raul Castro has eclipsed the fact the State Department simultaneously denied nearly a dozen other prominent Cubans permits to attend an academic conference in California, among them some of the island's most independent and open-minded scholars.
They include academics with a history of collaborating with American researchers, distinguished visiting professors who took up temporary posts at universities like Harvard and Columbia, and some of the most outspoken voices for change on the island, Cuba watchers and analysts said Friday.
The ruling has many scratching their heads.
"It's just bizarre," said Joy Olson, executive director of the Washington Office on Latin America, or WOLA, an independent think tank. "I have trouble believing that all of these people who have been up here working at the most prestigious universities in the United States have gone from one day to the next to being a security threat."
"These are the people we as a country should want to be talking to," Olson added.
The State Department does not talk about individual visa cases as a matter of policy, but spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said Friday that 77 Cubans had applied to attend the Latin American Studies Association, or LASA, conference in San Francisco next week. Of those, 60 were approved, 11 were rejected and six are still pending.
Nuland said denials happen for numerous reasons including security concerns or other questions about applicants' reasons for traveling.
Video: Arrest of Various Activists After Candlelight Vigil. May 2nd 2012; Santa Clara Cuba
This video was taken on the night of May 2nd, 2012 in Santa Clara, Cuba, after the accustomed candlelight vigil which is held throughout the island for “the freedom, without exile, of all political prisoners“. In this specific case, the vigil is being held in the city of Santa Clara at the home of Damaris Moya Portieles. That night, as the vigil came to an end, the activists stepped outside to take photos of themselves and to record a message of solidarity with the political prisoners, but the civic activity was violently interrupted by police agents of the Cuban regime who rapidly detained all the participants.
Just moments after the arrest, Damaris Moya denounced that she was confined to a dungeon in a local police unit while State Security agents threatened to rape her 5 year old daughter (the entire testimony can be read here). The main culprit for this threats was agent Eric Francis Aquino Yera, who also participated (and conducted) the arrest hours earlier.
Apparently, the Cuban oppressors think that their actions- physical aggressions and verbal threats included- will go unpunished and/or undocumented. However, the fact that their are videos and audios of these events proves that the outcome will not be like that.
Today I received an email from a reader who disagreed with my essay on reconciliation, and compared me to those who crucified Christ. I post this missive below, and my response to it.
Wishing I could be at Cuba Nostalgia.........................
The e-mail:
Reconciliation in religious terms begins as an intimate human process and completes or complements its spiritual goals of salvation with our neighbors, with God at the heart of the process.If you review carefully the Lord’s Prayer, reconciliation is implied the moment you ask God for forgiveness of your sins as you forgive the person who offends you. That’s it.Also reconciliation lies at the very center of Gospel teaching in the parable of the Prodigal and in other very important biblical passages, as you know.Accusing the Cuban Catholic Church, as you have done, of using frequently and very carelessly the word “reconciliation”, is unfair.Christians -Catholics and Protestants- have to live in permanent reconciliation with their neighbors before God, regardless of their nature.You are crucifying the Catholic Church, I am sure unintentionally, in the same way that the Jewish authorities crucified Jesus of Nazareth, because you are confusing political power with spiritual salvation.“Reconciliation” has not suddenly become a key word with Catholic bishops, as you unjustly affirm. Reconciliation is in the central message of the Ten Commandments, it is in the heart of the Sermon of the Mount, and in the forgiveness Christ asks on the Cross for those who crucified him.You should be concerned, on the contrary, if the Catholic Church and the Protestant Churches in Cuba do not speak of reconciliation.Carlos, theologically “reconciliation” is more that conversion, penance, change of behavior, and the forgiveness of sin, “reconciliation” is loving God above all else and our neighbor as ourselves.Your error lies in that you want the Catholic Church and the bishops to speak in political terms. That is the same error the Jewish authorities in Jerusalem made with Jesus.Why were you bothered by the recent “pilgrimage of reconciliation” led by Archbishop Wenski of Miami to Cuba, to share with Pope Benedict XVI and the Cuban people the commemoration of the 400th anniversary of the finding of the statue of Our Lady of Charity?It is a wonderful miracle that during the year prior to the Pope’s visit to Cuba the statue of the Virgin travelled from one end to the other of the island visiting many towns and blessing the Cuban people oppressed by the dictatorship of more than 50 years.Christians -obviously Catholics also- have the permanent moral obligation of reconciling with all, because before God we are all prodigal children. I know that it is hard and humbling for Catholic and Protestant churches in Cuba to be faithful to this, however this is the way that Jesus teaches us.You have to understand that this peculiar scenario of moral values is totally different from the political game.However, if you insist in the political game, let me advise you to check or review the process of political democratization in Poland, South Africa, Spain and Chile, to mention a few of the countries that have journeyed through human reconciliation to achieve freedom.This is not easy Carlos, because it is full of misunderstandings, but it is the way…
My Response:
Thanks, hermano, for sharing your thoughts.
You and I disagree on many points. Most of the disagreements stem from misunderstandings of what I said in my essay on reconciliation. You simply do not understand what I am saying. Other disagreements between us stem from a very different interpretation of the gospel, of the essence of the Christian religion, and of the relation between religion and politics. I think that these secondary disagreements have led you to misread and misunderstand what I had to say. You have read my essay with a hermeneutic of suspicion. In other words: you made up your mind that I was wrong before you even began to read the essay, so you didn’t really even give it a chance.
Please allow me to respond to these three levels of disagreement one by one. Much of what I have to say is based on my study of Christian theology and history at the professional level, which is now in its forty-third year. The rest is based on common sense and my experiences with the Castro regime.
First, concerning my essay: you seem to think that I am against genuine reconciliation, or mutual forgiveness. That is not the case at all. I am simply saying that the word “reconciliation” has a deep level of meaning that is being ignored by some bishops. And this misuse of the term has turned it into an ugly codeword that causes friction and deepens divisions.
That level of meaning is this: genuine reconciliation between two parties requires MUTUAL repentance and forgiveness. In the case of Cuba, the word is being used incorrectly to describe a ONE-SIDED encounter, in which the exiles have to repent and forgive, and the criminals who created the exile do NOTHING except to continue oppressing the Cuban people. There is no repentance whatsoever on the other end. You ignore this key fact.
What the bishops are doing is confusing two very different things: 1. the relation between exiles and ordinary Cubans; 2. the relation between exiles and the oppressors who created the exile and enslave the Cuban people. On item 1, there is really no need for reconciliation. There is no broken relationship, no guilt on either side. It is wrong to speak of “reconciliation” in reference to this relationship.On item 2: that is THE broken relationship, and those who created it have not repented, and show no signs of repenting.
Second, concerning the gospel, and the essence of the Christian religion:
Yes, we are supposed to forgive those who do us wrong. But forgiving is NOT AT ALL the same as condoning the behavior of those who do us wrong, especially if they keep committing the same offenses, over and over, with no sign of repentance or change.
Case in point: if you saw someone torturing and raping your relatives, day after day, and did absolutely nothing except to say “I love you” to them, allowing them to keep on torturing and raping, that would not count as reconciliation, but rather as abject irresponsibility and a sin on your part. John’s gospel speaks of the ultimate love as laying down one’s life for one’s brethren, not as idly watching them suffer. Much less does it speak of kissing their tormentors or putting money in their pockets, to help them continue their sadistic behavior.
Yes, I know the Lord’s Prayer. It says “forgive us as we forgive those who trespass against us.” It doesn’t say “O Father please love me and forgive me even though I have no intention of repenting. Please let me keep sinning without any consequences.” Nor does it say, “O Father help me ignore the suffering of others.”
You mention the parable of the prodigal son. Good one. Guess what the prodigal son did before his father forgave him? HE REPENTED, and begged his father’s forgiveness.
You say Christians have to live in permanent reconciliation with their neighbors. Yes. With neighbors, yes. But NOT WITH CRIMINALS who cause suffering to others. It is a Christian’s duty to stand up for justice, and to condemn injustice.
Third, concerning religion and politics:
You seem to think that these are two completely different realms. They are not. Religion and politics are inseparable, and the gospels are full of testimony to this fact.
What did Jesus do to the money changers in the temple? Did he say, “O I love you, let me change some currency with you right now, please?” NO. He attacked them with a whip and overturned their tables. I suppose that you might not count this as a political act on the part of Jesus. But IT WAS.
And what about the many times that Jesus insulted the Pharisees, Sadducees, Scribes, and Temple Priests, calling them hypocrites and whitened sepulchers and all sorts of other sorts of nasty things, like blind guides, etc... Don’t you realize Jesus was being very political in challenging the authorities?
And, by the way, the Jewish authorities did not crucify Jesus. It was the Romans who did that.
Ask yourself: would Romans crucify anyone who wasn’t viewed as a political threat? It was an execution normally reserved for those who threatened their rulership.
Plus: why were Christians persecuted in the early years of the Church? Because the Roman Empire saw them as a POLITICAL threat. Their beliefs challenged the emperor’s authority: they could not accept him as divine, or offer sacrifices for him at pagan temples. And they were always criticizing the status quo, refusing to do “normal” simple things, like attending the gladiatorial contests with their neighbors, where human beings cut each other to pieces as entertainment.
Also, at the highest level, personal sins can be political. If I am a dictator and kill others and imprison them unjustly and abuse their human rights, these acts are MY personal sins, yes, but they are also something very political. Are Christians supposed to condone sin? Forgive yes, but condone, never.
Finally, on another level, you bring up the cases of Poland, South Africa, Spain and Chile, as examples of reconciliation. Yes, they do stand out. Thanks for bringing them up. Guess what? The reconciliation in all of these places took place AFTER the evildoers were no longer in power. So, this is perhaps one of the most convincing arguments I can offer, not on theological grounds, but simple common sense.
Wounds cannot be healed until the wounding is over. Reconciliation is impossible while the wounding continues.
And.... in case you don’t know this already: one of the oldest and most overused tricks employed by tyrants is the misuse of language. Oddly and sadly enough, it works, because most people are easily fooled. In the case of Cuba, this misuse has been turned into an art form. I am reminded of the slogan formerly used by Radio Havana: “Broadcasting from Cuba, the only free country in America.”
And... the second oldest of such tricks is dangling shiny objects to distract attention. Allowing the image of the Virgin of Charity to be taken from one end of the island to the other is nothing more than a decoy tactic. Yes. The icon can travel freely. But no one else can. And neither can any dissidents attend the pope’s masses.... The icon is no threat to the criminals who rule the island. But Cubans who long for freedom are.
And so are Cubans and Christians who are not easily fooled by their tricks.
I hope that this time around, you understand what I am saying.
Many blessings to you and yours.
Carlos
P.S.: I will post your letter and my response on Babalu, without using your name, because I think our exchange can shed further light on this very important issue.
Henry Juszkiewicz, Chairman and CEO of Gibson Guitar Corp. ... and a republican... believes his non-Obama/democrat political leanings and political contributions might have something to do with the federal targeting of the non-union plant ... especially since other guitar companies with the same business practices and materials sources have not been raided. To top it all off, AG Eric Holder's DOJ suggested Gibson ship out manufacturing labor overseas (I won't go into how a percentage of the alleged jobs created by Obama are actually overseas and not here). During this time the musical artists that treasure their high-end Gibson guitars, some either personally designing or having Gibson design signature guitars for them, have been relatively quiet, possibly out of fear. However, their silence may have not mattered, as their fears might be coming true...
Lawmakers are scrambling to save the summer concert season from federal agents poised to seize the instruments of rock and country stars because the wood used to make them may have been illegally harvested--and without their knowledge.
“I don’t want the musicians from Nashville who are flying to Canada to perform this summer to worry about the government seizing their guitars,” said Tennessee Republican Sen. Lamar Alexander.
Alexander, whose state is home to famed Gibson Guitars used by bands and stars like Van Halen, the Allman Brothers, Sheryl Crow, Ted Nugent and Paul McCartney, said Friday that he and Oregon Sen. Ron Wyden are working to protect the artists, their instruments and makers and eventually change the law governing illegal wood harvesting.
“Senator Wyden and I are going to write the U.S. Department of Justice and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service a letter in the next couple of weeks and try to make it clear that wood harvested before 2008 to make musical instruments can’t be seized by the federal government,” Alexander said in a statement. “The Justice Department and Fish and Wildlife have said they have no intention of doing that, but Sen. Wyden and I are going to make it absolutely clear. We hope to get a clear ruling within a few weeks, and if we can’t get a clear ruling, we’ll introduce legislation to change the Lacey Act.”
The 112-year-old Lacey Act regulates the trade in bird feathers for hats and was amended in 2008 to cover wood and plants. The goal: make sure the woods used were not exported in violation of another country’s laws.
Their goal is to protect wooden instruments built with materials imported before 2008, when the Act was expanded. “This law was never intended to apply to those instruments,” said Alexander.
They are also working to help companies like Gibson--raided by the Feds recently--figure out what imports are legal.
Wyden and Alexander met with representatives from the music industry, wood import business and environmental and conservation groups Thursday to settle on a solution.
The Gibson Guitar case is more complex than a simple news blurb about being in violation of the Lacey Act, and accused of using "illegal wood" to manufacture their guitars. The company has proven they have not been in violation, and filled out and filed all appropriate documents regarding the wood materials while being even more careful since the 2009 raid ... and the CEO Henry Juszkiewicz continues to question why other guitar and other instrument companies that get the same wood from the same place have not been targeted, as they have been, by the feds.
A couple years ago Henry posted something chiding Hollywood director Steven Soderbergh's film "Che". In the post Henry offered a video clip from Andy Garcia's more accurate film version of the Cuban Revolution under Che Guevara and Fidel Castro. The scene depicted a communist revolutionary hench-woman Miliciana Muñoz (played by Elizabeth Peña) appearing at Fico Fellove's (played by Garcia) night club with armed comrades and confiscating a saxophone. The YouTube video from Henry's original post has since been blocked as "private" but below the fold you will find a nutshell summary of the scene. The Gibson Guitar Corp. case reminds me of it...
LAST year Coral Capital, one of the biggest private investors in Cuba, released a glossy brochure for a property development. “Live in Havana,” said the blurb. “You know you want to.” It was anticipating a new law that, for the first time since the revolution, would allow foreigners to buy property, in this case around a couple of golf courses which the company was intending to develop. Now Coral Capital’s top two bosses, both British citizens, are under arrest, caught up in an investigation that has in equal measure bemused and alarmed foreigners doing business in Cuba.
Since last summer dozens of senior Cuban managers, in industries from nickel to cigars, have been arrested, along with some established foreign businessmen. They include two Canadian executives who managed trading companies. Another target was Max Marambio, a Chilean former guerrilla and friend of Fidel Castro, who made a fortune after setting up a fruit-juice company that was one of Cuba’s first joint enterprises. He was convicted in absentia.
Coral Capital says it has invested around $75m in Cuba, notably in doing up the Saratoga, Havana’s most luxurious hotel. Its chief operating officer, Stephen Purvis, was arrested as he was about to take his children to school. Though assured that he will not face serious charges, he has reason to be worried. His boss, Amado Fahkre, was picked up last October and is still being held (he has not been formally accused of any crime). Both men have been questioned at Villa Marista, the notorious counter-intelligence headquarters of the Ministry of Interior. Cuban intelligence officials boast that, eventually, everyone “sings” after a stay at the villa.
These arrests have not been mentioned in the state media. But they appear to form part of an inquiry into illegal payments to Cuban citizens. Officially, almost all Cubans, including the managers of businesses which turn over many millions of dollars, are paid a state salary of around $20 a month. Under-the-table payments are commonplace. “We are somewhat in the dark here,” says a European businessman based in Havana. “If I pay my manager an extra $100 a month, as I feel I should. Is that a crime against national security?” It seems so.
If Confirmed That Repsol Has Found No Oil In Cuban Waters, This Would Be A Setback To Cuban Dictatorship’s Desperate Attempts To Find Other Sources of Oil Due To Chavez’ Failing Health
Washington, DC – Congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen issued the following statement after press reports indicated that the Spanish oil conglomerate, Repsol, announced that it had found no oil in Cuban waters.
Ros-Lehtinen’s Statement:
“Repsol’s inability to find oil off of Cuba’s northern coast is a blow to the dictatorship’s desperate search to find other sources of revenue other than the billion dollar oil subsidies it receives from fellow tyrant Hugo Chavez. If true, it would be a serious setback to the Cuban regime's attempts to use oil as a lifeline to maintain its hold on power.
The Castros are fully aware that the lack of hard currency is sinking their already disastrous economy and with the prospect of a change in leadership in Venezuela, the dictators in Havana are in a state of chaotic paralysis.
Unfortunately, the Cuban people are not yet out of the woods as Malaysia’s oil giant Petronas and Russia’s Gazprom-Neft are next in line to use the oil rig to rape and pillage Cuba’s natural resources. These companies don’t care about the suffering of the Cuban people, their main concern is profits and their bottom line.
The Obama Administration looked the other way as Repsol aided the Cuban tyranny’s dangerous scheme to become the oil barons of the Caribbean. This is why my colleagues and I have pending bills in Congress to do deny this option to the regime to finance their repression against the Cuban people.”
A year ago this month, Bolivian President Evo Morales inaugurated the College for Defense of the Bolivarian Alternative of the Americas (ALBA) with a speech in which he called for the expulsion of U.S. intelligence agencies, a new military doctrine based on “asymmetrical war” against “imperialism” and the “abolition” of the U.N. Security Council. He also attacked the press, calling CNN a “tool of capitalism”,
Morales spoke in the presence of Iran’s defense minister, Gen Ahmed Vahidi, who had to be rushed from the ceremony when it was learned that Argentine prosecutors were issuing an international arrest warrant over his alleged role in the 1994 Hezbollah bombing of a Jewish community center in Buenos Aires that killed 85 people.
ALBA is a Venezuelan-led association of anti-U.S. governments which also includes Cuba, Ecuador, Nicaragua and some Caribbean island states dependent on Venezuelan oil subsidies. The fledgling alliance has been given little importance by U.S. intelligence analysts, who tend to dismiss it as a purely ideological entity.
Its 5,000-square-meter military facility outside the city of Santa Cruz, built at the cost of $2 million, remains empty, according to Bolivian defense spokesmen who say that they are awaiting “input” from other member states. One Bolivian army officer ventures to say that it is on “standby,” pending the elections in Venezuela.
Despite ALBA’s vacant real estate, it is becoming increasingly clear that member governments are in the process of forming a military and intelligence network aided and influenced by Iran that could leverage events in the hemisphere, in the absence of effective U.S. leadership.
Thousands of Cuban security advisors have played a critical role in consolidating the regime of Hugo Chávez in Venezuela and have similarly assisted leftist governments in Bolivia, Ecuador, Nicaragua and now, possibly, Argentina.
The Cuban dictatorship on losing the court battle in the U.S. to use the Havana Club Rum brand it stole outright from the Arechebala family in Cuba when it illegally expropriated their rum company when they took power:
Cuba on Thursday accused the United States of "theft" over a ruling that Bacardi could sell Puerto Rico-made "Cuban" rum in America, after Pernod Ricard's original Cuba-made Havana Club rum was defeated.
Congressman Connie Mack on Cuba’s Global Intelligence Reach
Cuba, a Small Island with a Global Reach
Cuba’s ongoing relationship with terrorist groups, espionage and other acts of information warfare represent a serious national security threat to the United States and the region. The real threat in this case comes from a lack of public information, and therefore an insufficient degree of attention, focused on countering Cuba’s perilous global network.
The U.S. State Department’s latest Country Reports on Terrorism reported that Cuba continues to have ties to active terrorist organizations. Experts on various methods of irregular warfare have identified the Cuban regime as a trafficker of U.S. intelligence with illegal groups that utilize terrorist methods and with State Sponsors of Terrorism. The sharing of intelligence by Cuban spies has reportedly degraded U.S. counterterrorism efforts in the Middle East and elsewhere. According to the FBI, Cuban spies like Ana Montes have been “leaking classified U.S. military information.” Cuba also shares information and collaborates with countries that are established cyber warfare threats. A threat assessment published in 2000 by the U.S. Navy’s Strategic Planning Guidance, stated that, “Russia, China, India, and Cuba have acknowledged policies of preparing for information warfare.” Experts have also warned that that China “has a listening post of some importance in cooperation with Cubans” and has supported Cuba in “the development and use of sophisticated radar, early-detection, and anti-aircraft systems.”
According to Scott W. Carmichael, a former counterintelligence investigator for the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA), “the Cuban Intelligence Service has penetrated the United States government” and is sharing classified information with U.S. adversaries like China, Russia, Iran, and Venezuela. The Cuban regime’s pervasive, global intelligence network, collection methods, and their willingness to share critical U.S. military and policy information to U.S. adversaries harms U.S. interests, military personnel, and the national security of the United States. This Thursday, May 17, I will be holding a hearing entitled, “Cuba’s Global Network of Terrorism, Intelligence, and Warfare” in Rayburn 2172 at 3:00pm, to shed light onto Cuba’s alarming activities and global capabilities.
We already had one visitor utter the inanity in the title to us. Obviously, a moron. We directed her to Humberto's book, but I fear a brain like that is incapable of learning...
Joint Statement: Diaz-Balart, Ros-Lehtinen, Sires, and Rivera Condemn Visas Provided to High-Ranking Cuban Regime Officials
Washington, D.C. – Representatives Mario Diaz-Balart (R-FL), Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL), Albio Sires (D-NJ), and David Rivera (R-FL) sent a letter to Secretary Hillary Clinton expressing outrage that the Obama Administration provided entry visas to high-level Cuban Communist Party operatives Josefina Vidal Ferreiro, Eusebio Leal, and Mariela Castro Espin. They released the following comments in regards to the abysmal circumstances:
“It is appalling that the Obama administration is welcoming high-level agents of the Castro dictatorship onto U.S. soil. While the Cuban people are struggling for basic freedoms in the face of increasingly brutal repression, and American humanitarian aid worker Alan Gross languishes in prison, the Obama administration has made a reckless and dangerous decision to embrace regime operatives. This is yet another example of the administration's misguided policy of rewarding the murderous Castro dictatorship for its atrocious human rights record and persistent attacks on U.S. interests worldwide.” –Rep. Diaz-Balart
“I am opposed to the granting of visas by the State Department to three high-level Cuban regime officials in recent weeks. This ‘open door’ policy for operatives of a state-sponsor of terrorism is dangerous and has granted the Castro brothers and their espionage activities direct access to the United States. Josefina Vidal Ferreiro, Eusebio Leal, and Mariela Castro Espin are part of a regime that denies its citizens basic human rights and actively undermines the interests of the U.S. at every turn. Granting visas to the oppressors of the Cuban people is an affront to all the freedom fighters in Cuba who work to rid their nation of that despised dictatorship. The State Department needs to wake up from its delusional love fest with the dictators in Havana. I urge them to immediately revoke these visas.” –Rep. Ros-Lehtinen
“It is indefensible that the United States would allow these Cuba officials entry visas to the United States. Such action is not only a unilateral concession to the oppressive Cuban regime, but it directly conflicts with current law, which forbids such visas from being issued. By issuing these visas, the United States is sending a message to Cuba and to the rest of the world that our country does not take known threats seriously.” –Rep. Sires
“By granting entry visas to Cuban Communist Party representatives Josefina Vidal Ferreiro, Eusebio Leal and Mariela Castro Espin, the State Department is sending a message that is contradictory to established U.S. policy—specifically the Cuban Liberty and Democratic Solidarity Act and Presidential Proclamation 5377—which suspends entry of and denies visas to officers and employees of the Cuban dictatorship and the Cuban Communist Party. Vidal Ferreiro, Leal and Castro Espin are all vocal advocates for the tyrannical and oppressive Castro regime. The State Department should not be putting out the welcome mat for officials from countries that have officially been designated as State Sponsors of Terrorism.” –Rep. Rivera
Romney campaign hits Obama over decision to give Cuban president's daughter US visa
Mitt Romney's campaign is blasting the Obama administration after the State Department approved a travel visa for Mariela Castro, the daughter of Cuban President Raul Castro.
The decision to grant a travel visa has already drawn heavy criticism from some in the Cuban exile community in Florida, a crucial swing state in the 2012 campaign. The move by the State Department is also drawing fire from some Democrats.
“The Obama administration’s decision to grant a visa to Mariela Castro, daughter of the Cuban dictator Raul Castro, is a slap in the face to all those brave individuals in Cuba who are enduring relentless persecution for fighting for the universal rights we Americans hold dear. Unfortunately, this decision is part of a larger pattern. For even as the Castro brothers have tightened repression on the island over the past three years, the Obama administration has softened its approach. The United States should be standing up for freedom, not coddling the privileged children of communist dictators," said Romney policy director Lanhee Chen in a statement.
Mariela is a gay-rights activist and the head of Cuba's National Center for Sex Education, and had petitioned to attend a panel discussion on sexual diversity next week in San Francisco. The Castro daughter, who has been a vocal advocate for same-sex marriage in Cuba, will also attend an event at the New York Public Library.
House Approves Rivera Amendment to Prohibit Dept of Defense from
Contracting with Businesses That Do Business with State Sponsors of Terrorism
Companies that do business with terrorist nations dealt major blow
Washington, DC- The House of Representatives approved an amendment presented by Congressman David Rivera (FL-25) to the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2013 by a voice vote on Thursday night.
In a major blow to companies that do business with terrorist nations, the Rivera amendment prohibits the Department of Defense from contracting goods or services from any person or business that does business with a U.S.-designated State Sponsor of Terrorism. The amendment stops the flow of taxpayer dollars to business entities that do business with terrorist states and closes the loophole that allows foreign companies like Repsol to partner with State Sponsors of Terrorism while simultaneously profiting from American taxpayers through their subsidiaries. Repsol has over $300 million in contracts with the Department of Defense while also partnering with the Cuban dictatorship in oil exploration efforts.
Currently, the Department of State designates Cuba, Iran, Sudan and Syria as State Sponsors of Terrorism.
“Many Americans would be outraged to know that there are foreign businesses conducting business with terrorist nations, while at the same time engaging in contract and procurement activity with the Department of Defense. I believe most Americans would agree this is not only a threat to American security, but also a threat to American jobs because these foreign businesses are taking job opportunities from American businesses that could be contracting with the Pentagon,” Congressman Rivera stated.
“This amendment would prohibit businesses that engage in business activity with terrorist nations—those nations that have been officially designated as sponsor of terrorism by our own government—from contracting and procurement opportunities with the Department of Defense. This is an issue of protecting not only American security, but protecting American jobs.” Congressman Rivera concluded.
Passage of this amendment further confirms and reiterates congressional intent concerning the prohibition of public tax dollars going to business entities that do business with terrorist states.
Click here to view video of Congressman Rivera speaking about the amendment on the House Floor.
How to reach achieve real political reform in Cuba
What’s the best way to mark the fifth annual Cuba Solidarity Day? If we want to help the long-suffering people of Fidel Castro’s island “paradise,” the answer should be obvious: Shine a light on the repression and tyranny that makes daily life there such a grinding ordeal. Show unflinching support for dissidents and advocates of non-violent change on the island.
That’s what the George W. Bush administration did on the first Cuba Solidarity Day, May 20, 2008. Worldwide efforts focused on political prisoners and the demands for progress and democratic change. That first Solidarity Day attempted to look below the decks of the Cuban ship, boring down to the unrest and unhappiness on the galley-level.
But there’s another school of thought on how best to mark this day — one that encourages “engagement” and leans more on diplomacy than accountability.
Today, thanks to the Obama administration, as well as left-leaning think tanks in Washington and New York, an effort is underway to steer an opposite course — one that moves, incredibly enough, closer to cooperation with the Castro regime. Tossed overboard are demands for human rights, freedom and dignity for Cubans. In their place: the siren song of tourism partnerships and exchanges of academics and musicians.
A fresh wave of Cubans is disembarking on and around May 20 to participate in Cuba’s latest charm offensive. The capstone visit for this round features Mariela Castro Espín, daughter of Raul Castro and an activist for gay and lesbian rights, at the Latin American Studies Association in San Francisco. She will be received with acclaim as a voice of progressive tolerance on issues of individual sexual preference.
The objective of these latest Cuban visitors — salaried employees and privileged members of the regime — is to convince ordinary Americans that Cuba is already on a course to better days. We’re to believe that major economic change is underway, and that small portions of “democratic space,” as the Obama administration fondly refers to it, are being carved out.
The ultimate goal of spokespersons such as Mariela Castro is relatively simple: Win the coveted U.S. imprimatur of acceptance for Cuban-style, post-Castro socialism, and smooth the way for full diplomatic recognition. The eventual goal, of course, is to bring down the 1996 Helms-Burton Act and with it the trade embargo. That way, the fabled Castro Revolution may continue on a course of channeled change, with a succession of next-generation party apparatchiks, bureaucrats and military leaders fully in control in the wheelhouse.
Yet, as the Bush administration knew, and the Obama administration seems to forget, authentic change in Cuba requires far more than institutional tinkering and piecemeal economic reform or the creation of manufactured “democratic space.” It means taking these five fundamental steps toward authentic political reform:
• Recognition of the right to independent political parties to exist legally and operate freely.
• Free and fair elections.
• Genuine freedom of expression, including unfiltered access to the Internet.
• Freedom of association for civil society, private enterprise and organized labor.
• Genuine rule of law and human rights standards, which include the release of all remaining political prisoners.
From the American Enterprise Institute panel discussion this past Wednesday in Washington D.C., video of their event, "Post-Castro Cuba: What future will Raúl leave behind?" featuring our good friend Marc Wachtenheim:
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