As the old refrain says, every dark cloud has a silver lining. And in the case of the repressive and vicious regime in Cuba that has killed tens of thousands of innocent people and destroyed the lives of millions more, the BBC has managed to find that fabled lining in the ominous dark cloud that has been over Cuba for nearly half a century. Ever since little brother raul ascended to power, the BBC, along with the rest of the mainstream media, has been incessant in informing us of his supposed pragmatic attributes and openness to reform. In the past, I have disagreed with that assessment, until I read this passage from a BBC article:
‘Preventative repression’
The number of political prisoners in Cuba has fallen since Raul Castro, brother of President Fidel Castro, took over as acting president on 31 July 2006, according to the Cuban Commission for Human Rights and Reconciliation.
But the group, illegal but tolerated by the authorities, says there has been a marked increase in police activity in recent weeks.
Its head, Elizardo Sanchez, said the authorities were using a new tactic which he called “preventative repression.”
“For example, if a group is going to meet in a house or park, they will detain people so they can’t get there,” Mr Sanchez said.
“Before, it wasn’t so subtle, just pure hard repression, straight to prison. Now the authorities are being more careful.”
The Cuban government has long said there are no political prisoners in Cuba, and that those it jails are mercenaries paid by the US government to undermine the Cuban Revolution.
Now I realize that raul is indeed a pragmatist and open to reform. He has reformed his normally brash and violent state police into a more subtle and violent state police. It is a transformation that makes the lives of reporters sympathetic to the monarchical dictatorship in Cuba much easier, and will most certainly ensure their continued support and advocacy for the regime. It appears that raul is without a doubt, a kindler, gentler dictator; unfortunately for the Cuban people, he has reserved this kindness and gentleness only for the media.
For the eleven million Cubans who have to continue suffering however, the world press has yet to find the silver lining in their black and overcast sky.
Read the entire BBC article HERE.
There is a very real rise in manifestations of dissent that appears to be independently spreading throughout the island, and increasing daily, based on all of the monitering information that is coming out from many sources.
This is unlike anything we have seen in very long time.
There are two components that are causing this, for which the tyranny will have NO effective response other than the repression route.
1. The economic and societal situation is at its worst in Cuba’s history.
2. Many people, as a consquence, are starting to ignore their fear, and finally conclude “NO MAS” and “BASTA”.
You can compare this to the simmering cauldron in a “pre-boiling” stage, where prior to the outright boiling phase, there begins to appear in small but ever increasing magnitude of small particles of air bubbles rising from the bottom to freedom at the top!