Cultural Exchange Sin Culture: Cuban Women Filmmakers in LA

A Cuban friend and I attended the USC portion of the Cuban Women Filmmakers U.S. Showcase tour last night. It was a mammoth display of shameless hypocrisy, the very pinnacle of castrolandia’s atheist, godless twisted revolutionary culture, wrapped up in an ugly radical feminist package for dissemination in the U.S.

On display were three Cuban women filmmakers, all playing their orchestrated roles to perfection. Marina Ochoa, as the older, kindly motherly figure, sharing her struggles back in the day—hint, hint pre-Castro Cuba, where there were no film schools, opportunities for women, and now of course it’s all free! There was Milena Almira, a recent grad of the Onelio Jorge Cardoso Literary Training Center, as the ingénue, no doubt for the comfort of young women in the audience, and in the lead, Claudia Rojas as the avant-garde decadent, the Andy Warhol want-to-be. (More on her later in the post.)

Before they turned off the lights and rolled the film, they informed us that there would be some violence, that some might find disturbing, or some such words. I’m not prudish, but nothing in my life experience prepared me for this deeply disturbing display. It was the most hateful, violent conclave of anti-male radical feminist, anti-American, anti-Judeo-Christian tradition she-fest imaginable. We witnessed scenes of horrific human depravity, and sadly, I think an ad. An ad for atheist ideology, for the most depraved sex tourism conjured up by dark forces, and in referencing the Afro-Cuba Yoruba tradition, for the most sinister proclivities of racism. This should have come not with a general warning of violence, but a triple-X alarm. One of the shorts, contained horrific images in the style of slasher pornography. I found all but one short in the hour-long compilation boring, amateurish, and pointless, and that one not for artistry, but shock value, La Bestia.

An excerpt from the synopsis of La Bestia provides a clue, but it doesn’t prepare you for the nightmare portrayed:

“From that moment on, an uncontrollable thirst of revenge takes hold of her body and soul. A combination of magic realism, eroticism, and extreme terror that explores dark spaces of human nature.”

Dark spaces indeed, so dark no normal person would ever imagine it, much less choose to view such horror. The cast of La Bestia includes a child actress, a girl of about 7 or so, as just a child of the family, crying out for her mother, she is with ears and eyes, not a participant in the worst, however she too takes her revenge in the final scenes. (One more example of the terrible abuse of children allowed by the Castro regime.) I can’t imagine how they were allowed to show this on a college campus, after all, it’s not every day that one is able to view “slasher porn” screened at the USC School of Cinema. As a parent, I would not be pleased to know that this is what the almost $60,000 a year in tuition and other costs pays for.

The filmmakers took turns giving their spiel, each of course reminding the audience of how poor Cuba is—no money you know—but how as artists they struggle and strive out of love for all the high noble causes; justice, equality for women, an end to paternalism, etc. Anti-paternalism in the cult land of Fidel, or is it now Raul, or still Che? Whatever. The horror of these shorts should drive any sane person, women especially, running, screaming back into the arms of protective paternalism, but no of course it’s twisted… this is all the fault of that tradition. Never mind the facts, the statistics on family and health, crime, etc., that say otherwise. Sadly, my impression was that for the most part, I think the audience bought what they were selling.

I’ll single out Claudia Rojas since it’s obvious she wants to be a star. She described in detail an afternoon with her friend Queen Nzinga Maxwell, Womb Warrior, (whatever the hell that is) an artist who paints with her menstrual blood, (yes, that sick) and some connection with Assata Shakur (revolution?). I haven’t figured that out yet. I couldn’t keep up with her hedonistic narrative, but got that it’s about freeing yourself; take your clothes off, morph into, please forgive me for repeating this… La Caridad Del Cobre, then into whoever the Orisha goddess of Yoruba is. All of this delivered with a teasing smile and breathlessness to encourage the audience, and to remind us of how uninhibited and hip she is, leading us to the finale, no graphic detail necessary, as the audience gets it, the one word that will conquer all and bring world peace and justice…wait for it… LOVE, sweet love… you know, that’s what it’s all about.

They allowed three questions, I was chosen for one of them. I began citing human rights violations in Cuba, and the panel and audience immediately tried to shout me down, but I persisted and finished my statement and question, asking if there were plans to document the human rights violations and political prisoners in Cuba.

The collective reply was a non-answer, not worth repeating.

It was a sickening, orchestrated display. Pure evil. Their purpose, unspoken, was clear. Come to Cuba, come to Cuba where anything, anything you desire can happen; just bring money—no God of morality imposing rules of restraint here. This is what the Castro regime has done to the once great civil society of Cuba; they are now slaves, servicing, quite literally, the lowest human depravities.

I gained one invaluable affirmation from this event: my belief that communism is an evil, godless ideology, and that we must fight against it with everything we have.

More on the tour here.

Remembering Col. Cornelio Rojas Fernandez

Tonight on Cubanarama Blog Talk Radio, Barbara Rangel and Silvio Gonzalez, grandchildren of Col Rojas, along with guests, will discuss the life of Col. Cornelio Rojas Fernandez. Born in Cuba in the early 1900’s, following family tradition, he spent his life in the service of his country. He was Chief of Police in the Leoncio Vidal Regiment in Santa Clara when his detention was ordered by Che Guevara. His family was told that no harm would come to him, but as was typical of the regime’s tactics to terrorize the population, just days later, his family watched in horror when regular television programming was interrupted to broadcast his execution.

Guests include:

Agustin Blazquez – Cuban Filmmaker of Documentary “COVERING CUBA 7: Che Guevara. The other side of an Icon”
Steve Pichan – Songwriter / recording artist of “You don’t know Che”
Humberto Fontova – Author of book “Exposing the Real Che Guevara and the Useful Idiots Who Idolize Him”
Brian Llyod French – Author of book “Mojito!”

Click here to listen to the show tonight at 8pm CST.

Read more here.

H/T: Agustin

“The Cuban nation has died, it was murdered”

Far too little attention is given to the true story of the Bay of Pigs invasion, the men who risked and sacrificed their lives in the hope of liberating their homeland, and the international repercussions of that failure. I urge you to watch this interview with Bay of Pig veterans Javier Souto and Jose Regalado.

Almost every word spoken during this hour and half plus video is memorable, inspiring, and heartbreaking.

On the executions: “We could stay here the whole day reciting names.”

On the outcome of the revolution: “The Cuban nation has died, it was murdered.”

On Castro’s international campaigns and influence: “It is amazing what the little island of Cuba… has cost the world.”

On the resistance: “The Cuban people have never stopped working against the Castro regime.”

On international reaction: “Everybody has been helping Castro.”

On island Cubans who assisted: “They had nothing to gain, everything to lose. They did it for Cuba.”

Assessing current reality: “It’s not over.”

These men are heroes; it is a privilege to listen to their words. Tissue warning.

Javier Souto & Jose Regalado – Bay of Pigs – Veteran Interviews from Momentum Miami on Vimeo.

Congressman Mario Diaz-Balart press release on Alan Gross “Abandon unilateral concessions to the Castro dictatorship”

 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

December 3, 2012

December 3, 2012 Marks the Three Year Anniversary of American Aid Worker’s Imprisonment

Washington, D.C. –Congressman Mario Diaz-Balart (R-FL) released the following statement on the 3rd anniversary of American humanitarian aid worker Alan Gross’ imprisonment by the Cuban regime:

“Today marks three years since Alan Gross, a humanitarian aid worker and U.S. citizen, was arrested and imprisoned for the so-called ‘crime’ of helping Cuba’s small Jewish community access the internet.  During his three years in prison, Mr. Gross has lost more than 100 pounds and is suffering from a growth on his shoulder that has neither been properly diagnosed, nor treated.

“The continued, unjustifiable imprisonment of the ailing Mr. Gross is a grim reminder of the true nature of the Castro regime which brutally oppresses Cuba’s pro-democracy activists, suppresses all outside information, and maintains a stranglehold on all aspects of daily life in Cuba.  Mr. Gross’ imprisonment and fifteen-year sentence for attempting to bring internet access to a small group of Cubans is yet another example of the ruthless nature of the totalitarian regime.

“The Obama Administration should abandon its failed policy of providing unilateral concessions to the Castro dictatorship in the form of expanded travel, increased remittances, and the granting of U.S. visas to high-level regime operatives. It is time for the Administration to stop appeasing the Castro dictatorship and its egregious human rights record, and immediately cease the channeling of U.S. currency to the Cuban people’s oppressors.

“At the time of his arrest, Mr. Gross was engaged in America’s noble effort to bring outside information to the Cuban people. Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights explicitly lists the ‘right … to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers’ as an essential liberty. His imprisonment, and the regime’s brutal oppression of pro-democracy activities, demonstrates the pressing need for increased solidarity with Cuba’s pro-freedom opposition and a deepened commitment to assisting the Cuban people in their struggle for basic liberties.”

How many Cubans have to suffer before people see?

Yes, how many years can some people exist
Before they’re allowed to be free ?
Yes, how many times can a man turn his head
Pretending he just doesn’t see ?

Dylan was wrong, the answer is not “Blowin’ In The Wind”, but hidden by complicit propagandists to a murderous regime, who clearly see and ignore.

Brutal repression continues to increase in Cuba.  A record breaking 533 political arrests were documented in the month of September, bringing the total number of 2012 arrests to 5,105, compared to 4,123 in 2011, and 2,074 in 2010.  That is 533 people subjected to unchecked police brutality, terrorized family members, including children, and here,  as is the norm in Cuba.   Where is the outrage from all those bleeding heart humanitarian liberals?  I suggest they are happily ignoring what doesn’t fit their agenda in the same smelly damp place as those liberals and MSM Obama hacks not outraged over the brutal murder of Ambassador Stevens:  CNN, ABC, NBC, CBS, NYT, LAT, WAPO, etc, etc.

farinas-110-4-12

Thanks to our friend Mauricio at Capitol Hill Cubans for the above, and for this:

Over 20 Dissidents Arrested Today  at3:25 PMThursday, October 4, 2012

The Castro regime has arrested 22 Cuban pro-democracy activists who sought to attend a peaceful gathering in the town of Santa Clara to discuss the petition, “Citizen’s Demand for Another Cuba.”

This petition simply asks for the Cuban government to ratify and respect international political and civil rights covenants.

For this, they were brutally arrested.

Among those arrested are 2010 Sakharov Prize winner Guillermo Farinas and former political prisoner Librado Linares.

More “reform” you can’t believe in.

Cuba: Death threats, beatings, arrests, just another day in paradise

The repression of peaceful dissent in Cuba is relentless and violent.  God help those Cubans who dare to exercise their God given rights, and freely speak out against the regime’s atrocities.

 This is a sampling of the brutality of the Castro regime’s daily method of silencing dissent excerpted from  Varios Arrestos en el Dia del Opositor .   (my translation)

Dania Virgen García – Cuba – Sept. 18, dissidents celebrating the Day of Opposition in various provences were arrested and beaten.

Pinar del Río:  Members of several different groups were meeting, and attacked by State security officers.  Arrested were Miakel Alexander Hernández, José Antonio  Martínez Márquez, Caridad Tornado Gutiérrez, Misael Hernández Valdez, Juan Cruz Castro, and Yosbel González Miranda.  Misael Hernández and Yosbel González were released after interrogation, however, Juan Cruz´ whereabouts are unknown.

Manzanillo, Granma Province:  The home of Alberto Moreno Fonseca, President of the Partido Obrero Campesino, was surrounded by State security.  According to group member Yuleisy García, National Security Police detained Bartolo Vega Suárez, Rafael Díaz Martínez, Yordanis Yoel Lago Meza,

According to Misleivi Calbente Figueredo, fellow member Osvaldo Pérez Rojas was arrested, and detained for two hours during which time he was beaten, and threatened with death.  He was told by the Captain of State Security that they were going to kill all of them, that they were authorized to kill them and they could do nothing.

Cuba has condemned a deadly attack on a U.S. diplomatic mission in Libya

Of course they have,   it’s expected from the Castro’s well oiled propaganda machine that the world’s useful idiots lap up.  This is the unelected brutal Cuban tyrants pretending they are a lawful government.  The Castro’s seized power in Cuba through terror, and  their hands are just as bloody as those who murdered the four American victims in Libya, and the terrorists they have supported for decades. The Castro regime has ties to Al Qaeda, and Hezbollah enjoys the Castro brothers’ hospitality

The Real Cuba: 1957- Store front destroyed by a bomb, one of 18 that exploded in Havana that night
The Real Cuba: 1957- Store front destroyed by a bomb, one of 18 that exploded in Havana that night

It is a fact, that the Castro regime has ties to just about every known international terrorist organization for the past fify years.  Here’s a list, compiled from news articles, and  The Institute for Cuban & Cuban-American Studies.

Al-Qaeda – The Cuban regime could have links with Al-Qaeda through the Polisario, a terrorist group fighting for the independence from Morocco of the Western Sahara. Cuba has been sponsoring and supporting the Polisario since its birth in 1973. In recent years, the Moroccan government has accused the Polisario of “coordination and cooperation with al-Qaeda.” According to the UM, “the ‘Cuban brigade’ of advisors and intelligence operatives stationed within the Polisario zone may be directly or indirectly supporting al-Qaeda operations and training camps. At the very least, it would be unwise to assume that Cuba’s sophisticated intelligence apparatus is not providing valuable information and guidance to Polisario with a tacit consent to pass it on to an enemy (al-Qaeda) of a mutual enemy (the U.S.).” In 2011, the Spanish Civil Guard arrested a suspected Al-Qaeda operative originally from Cuba. http://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/2457/al-qaeda-mallorca-sahara

BPP – Black Panther Party – Founded in the United States in 1966 by Huey P.
Newton and Bobby Seale. It adopted Marxist-Leninist principles along with
urban guerrilla warfare, and a structure similar to the American Communist
party.

DGI – Directrio General de Inteligencia – The Cuban Department in charge of
collecting intelligence and carrying out covert operations outside Cuba.

DA – America Department – Centralized control over Cuban activities for
supporting national liberation movements, responsible for planning and
coordinating Cuba’s secret guerrilla and terrorist camps, and propaganda
apparatus.

DLN – National Liberation Directorate – Organization created in Cuba to
support revolutionary groups throughout the world. Responsible for planning
and coordinating Cuba’s terrorist training camps in the island, covert
movement of personnel and military supplies from Cuba, and propaganda
apparatus.

EGP – Ejercito Guerrillero de los Pobres – A political-military
Marxist-Leninist organization that followed Cuba and Vietnam as
revolutionary models. This Guatemalan insurgent organization was trained in
Cuba and was very active during the 1970s, seeking to depose the political
and military structure of the country.

ELF – Eritrean Liberation Front – The most influential Eritrean organization
fighting for secession from Ethiopia in the 1960s, actively supported by the
Cuban and Syrian regime since 1965. Various internal divisions developed
later on until the late 1970s, when a new front was built based on very
different domestic and external alliances and, eventually led the Eritreans
to victory. Cuba’s support to Mengistu Haile Mariam’s regime in 1978 meant
the cessation of previous Cuban backing to the Eritrean cause.

ELN – National Liberation Army – Organized by the Castro regime, this
Colombian Marxist insurgent group was founded in 1965. Its main terrorist
activities includes kidnapings and extortion targeting foreign employees of
large corporations.

ETA – Basque Separatist Movement – This organization was founded by
militants and leftist students from the University of Madrid in 1962. They
formed guerilla units that commit violent terrorist acts claiming that they
are fighting for freedom of the Basque Region, in Spain. This group has
close relations with the IRA. The two groups have offices in Havana and
their members have found safe haven in Cuba.

FALN – Fuerzas Armadas de Liberacion Nacional – A Venezuelan guerrilla
organization trained by Cuba in violence and terrorism.

FARC – Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia – Established in 1964, the
FARC is the oldest and best-equipped Marxist insurgency in Colombia. It is a
well-organized terrorist group that controls several rural and urban areas.
It has received financial and military aid from Cuba and many of its members
were trained in Havana.

FATAH – Palestine National Liberation Movement – Founded in 1959 by younger
generations of Palestinians that had experienced the defeats of 1948 and
1956. The FATAH are strongly committed to a radical nationalist platform to
fight for Palestine and against Arab intervention and manipulations of the
Palestinian problem. Mostly an underground organization until the June War
in 1967 when it transformed itself into the most powerful and influential
party inside Palestinian and Arab politics.

The list continues below the fold.

Read more

Must Read: “Art” in a place of grief and tragedy

We are required to remember those events in history when humanity disappeared, and evil prevailed, lest we forget them and descend into barbarism.   To do so, we must preserve those sites, those killing arenas where atrocities occurred, whether they be fields, forests, concentration camps, or prison walls as sacred ground.  We must hold them sacred for the memory of the victims, because if we forget the victims of evil, if we remain silent, we are complicit.

This is a must read from the Miami Herald via Capitol Hill Cubans:  

“Art” in a place of grief and tragedy

As a Cuban woman living in exile, I am well aware of the abuses committed against the Damas de Blanco, of the increase in arrests of dissidents, of the journey of His Holiness and those who traveled to Cuba as “pilgrims” under the pretext of “reconciliation,” of the possibility of investing in the island, of the hunger strikes, of those who travel to Cuba to find out how they can help, of celebrating New Year’s Eve oblivious to the suffering of the Cuban people and of many other topics related to our homeland.

But I have never expressed myself in writing before. And why am I writing now? Because I read a recent article about the 11th Havana Biennial titled “ La Cabaña, site of the largest Cuban art exhibition.” Its last paragraph reads: “In the plazas, streets, pits and dungeons of La Cabaña one can appreciate this art selection.”

This exhibition was visited by a large number of Americans and Cuban Americans who entered this jail with the excuse that they went to see art — ignoring the memory of the many who suffered and were executed there.This lack of sensibility prompted me into writing this article about what La Cabaña really means to thousands and thousands of Cuban families. Why conceal the real story?

La Cabaña represents grief, separation from loved ones, months and years of incarcerations, crammed cells totally lacking in hygiene, suffocating heat, beatings, hunger strikes, firing squads, death, and the echo of the executed last words: “Hail Christ the King,” “Long Live a Free Cuba.”

La Cabaña represents relatives at the base of La Fortaleza de La Cabaña under inclement weather waiting to hear the name of their loved ones called out. Their name is called and one begins climbing the steep hill towards the jail, passing by the wall where the executions take place and then a long wait in line for the humiliating personal search. Finally, the jail’s iron gate is reached and for some it meant a hug, a kiss to their loved ones and perhaps sharing a minute or an hour with them — it did not matter — but for many others, reaching the iron gate meant hearing, in a cruel and scornful way, that their loved one had been executed the night before.

La Cabaña represents trials which were a farce, presided by men devoid of scruples, enjoying the suffering of all political prisoners and their relatives, with pre-determined sentences be it death by execution, or many years of imprisonment. “Defense attorneys” were denied the right to exercise their profession and were subjected to derision.

La Cabaña represents the days of the Bay of Pigs invasion. Cuba in mourning. Cuba bathed in blood. Daily executions from east to west. At La Cabaña, every single day the living said good-bye to their brothers in arms sentenced to be executed. Those that stayed behind remained in their cells engulfed in silence, prayers, tears and those sentenced to die walked in chains to their encounter with God without a last kiss or embrace to their parents, wives or children?… ? “Hail Christ the King,” “Long Live a Free Cuba.”

I lived all this. I visited this horrible political prison innumrable times. I was present in several of the trials of my husband, my brother and my sister.I was also present on April 19, 1961 when my brother-in-law’s trial took place at La Cabaña. It began at 9 a.m. and finished at 9 p.m. On that day eight men were sentenced to death by firing squad and all were executed, among them my brother-in-law, at dawn on April 20, 1961 at La Cabaña, site of this “art exhibition.”

La Cabaña represents not art but men with courage, men of principles, and men with dignity, men who never surrendered, men who gave their best for love of country and for all of us.

Ileana Arango Puig is the wife and sister of political prisoners, sister-in-law of a political prisoner executed by firing squad and cousin of two members of Brigade 2506. She is vice president of Mothers and Women Against Repression.