No one can argue Cuba was perfect before Fidel Castro took power in 1959, but with the arrival of his socialist revolution and communism, the Cuban people went from the frying pan into the fire. Batista may have been a corrupt authoritarian, but his regime’s crimes pale in comparison with the corruption and murderous brutality of the totalitarian Castro dictatorship. For 72 years now, Cuba has been ruled by dictators, but the first 7 were a walk in park compared with the last 65.
Via the Center for a FREE Cuba:
72 years of struggle against dictatorship, remembering those still jailed, and two leaders who passed in 2023
This CubaBrief establishes a new custom, a year-end column devoted to acknowledging meaningful Cuban political leaders who passed away during the year, and those currently imprisoned in Cuba for nonviolently exercising their rights.
Cuba has been under dictatorship for 72 years. Seven years under Fulgencio Batista (1952- 1959) and 65 years under the Castro brothers (1959 – present) who claimed to be liberators but created a more brutal totalitarian dictatorship. .
2023 has been a terrible year for Cubans. Over 1,000 Cuban political prisoners continue to rot in the Castro dictatorship’s dungeons.
Two of them are father and daughter human rights defenders.
On March 2, 2022 the Cuban dictatorship confirmed the prison sentences against two Cuban human rights defenders. Félix Navarro Rodríguez, ( age 68 ), condemned to 9 years in prison. His daughter, Sayli Navarro (age 35), was condemned to eight years in prison. Both are long time human rights defenders who have reported on systematic human rights violations in Cuba. They were detained after visiting a police station to learn more about the situation of the nonviolent demonstrators who had been imprisoned during the July 11, 2021 protests in Cuba.
Felix Navarro is a member of the International Society for Human Rights (ISHR) board of directors. He has been arbitrarily jailed since July 12, 2021. Sayli Navarro became a Lady in White, together with her mom. campaigning for her dad’s release following his arrest in 2003.
Sayli was also detained on July 12th, but was released hours later, and had been staying with her mother, who is in poor health. She has also spoken out against her father’s arbitrary imprisonment. Sayli was taken, with her hands and feet chained, to prison on April 18, 2022. On March 18, 2023, a recording was released of Sayli stating that state security is pressuring her to go into exile in order to get out of prison, and that she rejected their offer.
Cuban diaspora thought leaders Carlos Alberto Montaner and Rosa Leonor Whitmarsh y Dueñas passed away in 2023. Their loss is deeply felt, and their lives are highlighted below.
Continue reading HERE.
Batista was a POLITICAL problem which could and should have had a political solution. He did NOT mess with the economy, society or people’s daily lives. There is NO comparison between the Batista era and the Castro nightmare, and any attempt at equivalence is automatically a sign of either ignorance or bad faith.
I agree. Batista was corrupt, yes, but Fidel and Raul are just sadists. They enjoy hurting the Cuban people, they enjoy making them suffer. Batista just wanted to be a big shot, invited to all the Rich Cuban people’s yacht parties. The Castros want the ordinary Cuban people to have a fate worse than death.