Cuba imports more control and repression: The Chinese in Villa Maristas
posted on Wednesday, May 12, 2010By Juan Carlos Linares
LA HABANA, Cuba, May 2010 (Source: www.cubanet.org) Residents of a Havana neighborhood have noticed the comings and goings of Chinese people to and from Villa Maristas, Cuban Political Police main headquarters. “Chinese from China!” shouted a citizen.
"Villa Maristas" inspires fear, not only because it is the most infamous of the Minister of Interior’s building, more specifically the Political Police, or because its inner interrogation precincts that await visitors, and its underground cells. It is just that once inside, the judicial system evaporates for those detained. Lawyers, laws and judicial procedures can exert very little influence inside this mansion with a deceptively peaceful façade that swallows its “guests.”
In democratic countries, the government guarantees and defends its citizens’ safety, even against abuses committed by official institutions. There are laws that defend the individual and commissions formed by parliamentarians, jurists, social activists, that protect the citizen. In Cuba, nothing of the sort exists, and the citizen that enters the sinister building at Villa Maristas is completely at the mercy of the not less sinister Political Police.
On the other hand, the Chinese that enter and exit Villa Maristas do not seem to be “guests.” Their presence there could be related, more than to the physical repression of dissidents, to the technical advise that the Chinese give the Cuban dictators on wiretapping, controlling the information flow on the nets, and interference of foreign radio and TV stations.
It is curious that last February 24th, several bank agencies and other enterprises in the city of Havana, lost their intranet connection. Coincidentally, that day was the 142nd anniversary of the final insurrection against Spain, the 14th anniversary of the shutdown of two civilian airplanes by Cuban military jets in which four crew members died, and the day before the dissident Orlando Zapata Tamayo had died.
As Raúl Castro’s government deteriorates, the regime’s international image crumbles.
Once and again, we shall mention the name of Adrián Leiva, independent journalist who recently died in Villa Maristas after attempting to return to Cuba by sea, after the authorities denied him the permit to return to his homeland. This incident has not yet been clarified by the Ministry of Interior.
"Villa Maristas" inspires fear, not only because it is the most infamous of the Minister of Interior’s building, more specifically the Political Police, or because its inner interrogation precincts that await visitors, and its underground cells. It is just that once inside, the judicial system evaporates for those detained. Lawyers, laws and judicial procedures can exert very little influence inside this mansion with a deceptively peaceful façade that swallows its “guests.”
In democratic countries, the government guarantees and defends its citizens’ safety, even against abuses committed by official institutions. There are laws that defend the individual and commissions formed by parliamentarians, jurists, social activists, that protect the citizen. In Cuba, nothing of the sort exists, and the citizen that enters the sinister building at Villa Maristas is completely at the mercy of the not less sinister Political Police.
On the other hand, the Chinese that enter and exit Villa Maristas do not seem to be “guests.” Their presence there could be related, more than to the physical repression of dissidents, to the technical advise that the Chinese give the Cuban dictators on wiretapping, controlling the information flow on the nets, and interference of foreign radio and TV stations.
It is curious that last February 24th, several bank agencies and other enterprises in the city of Havana, lost their intranet connection. Coincidentally, that day was the 142nd anniversary of the final insurrection against Spain, the 14th anniversary of the shutdown of two civilian airplanes by Cuban military jets in which four crew members died, and the day before the dissident Orlando Zapata Tamayo had died.
As Raúl Castro’s government deteriorates, the regime’s international image crumbles.
Once and again, we shall mention the name of Adrián Leiva, independent journalist who recently died in Villa Maristas after attempting to return to Cuba by sea, after the authorities denied him the permit to return to his homeland. This incident has not yet been clarified by the Ministry of Interior.
Catholic News Agency: Ladies in White to request mediation from Vatican to free Cuban dissidents
posted on Wednesday, May 12, 2010Havana, Cuba, May 11, 2010 / 09:56 pm (CNA).- "Berta Soler, a member of the Women in White (sic) in Cuba, said this week that the group will ask the Vatican’s Secretary for Relations with States, Archbishop Dominique Mamberti, to provide mediation for the release of the country's prisoners of conscience when he travels to Cuba in mid-June.
The [Ladies] in White movement is comprised of the wives of Cuban political prisoners.
Speaking to reporters, Soler said, 'the Vatican representative could influence the release of many people, not only political prisoners, but also common ones as well, as occurred during the visit by Pope John Paul II' in 1998. On June 15, Archbishop Mamberti will open the 10th Catholic Social Week at the University of Havana, during which there will be a debate on the reality of Cuba between various Catholic and non-Catholic intellectuals.
After a peaceful march this past Sunday carried out by 60 Women in White in Havana, Soler said, 'We are hopeful that even if all the remaining 53 men (out of the 75 imprisoned in 2003) are not released, at least the ones who are sick will be freed.'
Solar emphasized the 'important role' that the Catholic Church is playing, referring to the mediation two weeks ago by Cardinal Jaime Ortega, who was able to lift the official prohibition against the [Ladies] in White from marching without an official permit.
Sunday’s march was led by Reina Tamayo, the mother of Orlando Zapata, who died February 23 after an 85 day-long hunger strike."
The [Ladies] in White movement is comprised of the wives of Cuban political prisoners.
Speaking to reporters, Soler said, 'the Vatican representative could influence the release of many people, not only political prisoners, but also common ones as well, as occurred during the visit by Pope John Paul II' in 1998. On June 15, Archbishop Mamberti will open the 10th Catholic Social Week at the University of Havana, during which there will be a debate on the reality of Cuba between various Catholic and non-Catholic intellectuals.
After a peaceful march this past Sunday carried out by 60 Women in White in Havana, Soler said, 'We are hopeful that even if all the remaining 53 men (out of the 75 imprisoned in 2003) are not released, at least the ones who are sick will be freed.'
Solar emphasized the 'important role' that the Catholic Church is playing, referring to the mediation two weeks ago by Cardinal Jaime Ortega, who was able to lift the official prohibition against the [Ladies] in White from marching without an official permit.
Sunday’s march was led by Reina Tamayo, the mother of Orlando Zapata, who died February 23 after an 85 day-long hunger strike."
One of the members of the #OZT Campaign has just spoken to Reyna Luisa Tamayo, the mother of the late Orlando Zapata Tamayo. She reports that the Cuban police have a siege on her house since this morning, to prevent her from receiving visitors.
Ms. Tamayo decided to go to the cemetery to paint the tombstone of her Orlando, whose birthday would have been on May 15th. When she arrived there, she found five members of the political police (some in plain clothes, some in uniform) who were erasing her son’s name from his tomb (probably so that she couldn’t find him). She reported that the police have set up a sentry post by a pine tree in the cemetery with round the clock surveillance.
During the conversation, it was heard how Ms. Tamayo was telling them that she would not allow anyone under the command of the Castro brothers to touch her and she accused the Cuban dictatorship and its dictators by name.
Ms. Tamayo had already reported this siege on her Twitter account.
Fariñas: "If I die tomorrow, my last wish will still be that Cubans can find forgiveness and reconciliation"
posted on Tuesday, May 11, 2010After more than 70 days of hunger strike, psychologist and independent journalist Guillermo Fariñas stands firm by his decision of taking his peaceful protest against the Cuban dictatorship that keeps more than 200 political prisoners, to the last consequences.
Nevertheless, according to Clara Pérez Gómez—Fariñas’s wife— in an interview [in Spanish] to Canarian newspaper Diario de Avisos, his body is beginning to show signs of fast deterioration like the persistent high fevers and weakness.
Fariñas also suffers from generalized acute body aches since he initiated his fast last February 24th to condemn the death of prisoner of conscience Orlando Zapata Tamayo, and to demand the liberation of 26 political prisoners who are gravely ill in Cuban prisons.
Nevertheless, according to Clara Pérez Gómez—Fariñas’s wife— in an interview [in Spanish] to Canarian newspaper Diario de Avisos, his body is beginning to show signs of fast deterioration like the persistent high fevers and weakness.
Fariñas also suffers from generalized acute body aches since he initiated his fast last February 24th to condemn the death of prisoner of conscience Orlando Zapata Tamayo, and to demand the liberation of 26 political prisoners who are gravely ill in Cuban prisons.
During the interview, Fariñas confessed that he is surprised “that some people, at this point in time, from the right or the left, close to Fidel Castro or not, can [still] state with certainty that in this country, basic rights are not violated.”
The opposition activist exhorted those unconditional supporters of the regime to visit the island and seek the truth about the human rights situation there.
“That is why, I would ask them that before they state with certainty that this is about a media campaign against the Cuban government, they asked [about] the truth to those who have suffered the daily beatings, [while] peacefully and constantly defending [even] in the most absolute abandonment, their political ideals”
Fariñas also remarked that “it is important that God has mercy on Cuba and that a transition happens without delay and without bloodshed. If I die tomorrow, my last wish will still be that Cubans can find forgiveness and reconciliation [among] all so that we can put that dark page of our history behind.”
At age 48, Fariñas has conducted 23 hunger strikes against the castroite regime, which makes him a symbol of the Cuban people’s resistance.
In 2007, Reportiers Sans Frontières (Reporters Without Borders) gave Fariñas its Cyber-freedom prize for “demanding free internet access for all Cubans.” On that same year, the city of Weimar in Germany, gave him their Human Rights Prize.
In an article titled Molina stands by ‘my truth’ about Cuba the Buenos Aires Herald's Michael Soltys, chronicles the presentation by Dr. Hilda Molina of a book, Antes que amanezca y otros relatos (Before Day Comes and Other Tales) written by Cuban former political prisoner Jorge Olivera Castillo.
Dr. Molina, a Cuban opposition leader who after rising to prominence in Cuba, founding and directing the International Center for Neuro-transplant and Neurological Restoration in 1987, was a member of the Cuban "parliament" (National Assembly of Popular Power) broke with the regime in 1994, and was allowed to leave the island for Argentina last year after years of battling with the Cuban dictatorship; was the victim of pogrom-like “acts of repudiation” at the presentation of her own book, Mi Verdad (My Truth) last month in Buenos Aires.
During the presentation of Olivera’s book, the article tells us that she described how "this 'very Cuban' writer once believed in a revolution two years older than himself to the extent of going to fight in Angola ‘exporting subversion’ — brainwashed but essentially human. Much like the neurosurgeon Molina, Olivera started to dissent from Fidel Castro’s ‘Stalinist’ regime in 1993 with metaphor as his chosen vehicle, as in the 15 short stories of the book presented yesterday.” She remarked that “these metaphors describe the existential anguish of a people compelled to live a lie for over 50 years — the hunger and the lack of even water which forces people to rob for the black market, even dead bodies. The regime of the Castro brothers has caused a ‘genocide of the family’ via intense militarization but also a homophobic hell for Cuban gays, constantly exposed to blackmail and driven to suicide.”
The article also carries the words of Argentinean politician Martín Borrelli and Chilean Christian Democrat Senator Patricio Walker.
Borrelli pondered why the “[Argentinean] May Revolution whose Bicentennial is justifiably being celebrated, [it is so by comparing it] now [to] the wrong kind of revolution in Cuba, saluting the memory of hunger strike martyrs Pedro Luis Boitel and Orlando Zapata Tamayo. He also stressed the threat of Venezuela, where Cuban military training is now underway, and pointed out that the fuel sale scandals now being probed helped to finance the pickets who disrupted Molina’s book presentation, among other things.”
Walker offered his advise on a future Cuban transition to democracy based on his personal experiences with Chile’s own transition from tyranny in 1990.
Entire article here.
Dr. Molina, a Cuban opposition leader who after rising to prominence in Cuba, founding and directing the International Center for Neuro-transplant and Neurological Restoration in 1987, was a member of the Cuban "parliament" (National Assembly of Popular Power) broke with the regime in 1994, and was allowed to leave the island for Argentina last year after years of battling with the Cuban dictatorship; was the victim of pogrom-like “acts of repudiation” at the presentation of her own book, Mi Verdad (My Truth) last month in Buenos Aires.
During the presentation of Olivera’s book, the article tells us that she described how "this 'very Cuban' writer once believed in a revolution two years older than himself to the extent of going to fight in Angola ‘exporting subversion’ — brainwashed but essentially human. Much like the neurosurgeon Molina, Olivera started to dissent from Fidel Castro’s ‘Stalinist’ regime in 1993 with metaphor as his chosen vehicle, as in the 15 short stories of the book presented yesterday.” She remarked that “these metaphors describe the existential anguish of a people compelled to live a lie for over 50 years — the hunger and the lack of even water which forces people to rob for the black market, even dead bodies. The regime of the Castro brothers has caused a ‘genocide of the family’ via intense militarization but also a homophobic hell for Cuban gays, constantly exposed to blackmail and driven to suicide.”
The article also carries the words of Argentinean politician Martín Borrelli and Chilean Christian Democrat Senator Patricio Walker.
Borrelli pondered why the “[Argentinean] May Revolution whose Bicentennial is justifiably being celebrated, [it is so by comparing it] now [to] the wrong kind of revolution in Cuba, saluting the memory of hunger strike martyrs Pedro Luis Boitel and Orlando Zapata Tamayo. He also stressed the threat of Venezuela, where Cuban military training is now underway, and pointed out that the fuel sale scandals now being probed helped to finance the pickets who disrupted Molina’s book presentation, among other things.”
Walker offered his advise on a future Cuban transition to democracy based on his personal experiences with Chile’s own transition from tyranny in 1990.
Entire article here.
Fariñas tells Catholic Church leaders that he will not give up his hunger strike
posted on Monday, May 10, 2010Diario de Cuba informs (in Spanish) that “two members of the Catholic Church’s hierarchy in Cuba paid a visit to Guillermo Fariñas at the intensive care unit of Arnaldo Milián Castro Hospital in Santa Clara, where the dissident is on hunger.
According to Fariñas, the visitors were Monsignor José Félix Viera, Assistant Secretary of the Cuban Catholic Conference of Catholic Bishops (COCC, in Spanish) and Monsignor Ramon Suárez, Chancellor of the Archdiocese of Havana, Radio Martí reported.
'They came to know to what limit I am taking this hunger strike. I told them that ['I will take it'] to the ultimate consequences' stated Fariñas who initiated his hunger strike on February 24th, demanding the liberation of 26 [gravely] ill political prisoners. The dissident has been hospitalized since March 11th, and receives medication and nutrition intravenously.
Fariñas reported that the priests suggested possible steps the Church could take to prevent his death, and to mediate in his conflict with the government.
'I told them that […] my motive is the liberation of the political prisoners, above all else,' remarked the dissident. He added that the priests understood his petition, and stated that it coincides with that of the Church."
According to Fariñas, the visitors were Monsignor José Félix Viera, Assistant Secretary of the Cuban Catholic Conference of Catholic Bishops (COCC, in Spanish) and Monsignor Ramon Suárez, Chancellor of the Archdiocese of Havana, Radio Martí reported.
'They came to know to what limit I am taking this hunger strike. I told them that ['I will take it'] to the ultimate consequences' stated Fariñas who initiated his hunger strike on February 24th, demanding the liberation of 26 [gravely] ill political prisoners. The dissident has been hospitalized since March 11th, and receives medication and nutrition intravenously.
Fariñas reported that the priests suggested possible steps the Church could take to prevent his death, and to mediate in his conflict with the government.
'I told them that […] my motive is the liberation of the political prisoners, above all else,' remarked the dissident. He added that the priests understood his petition, and stated that it coincides with that of the Church."
Cuban blogger and independent journalist, Dania Virgen García was released from prison, pending an upcoming judicial process. Marc Masferrer has more details on his blog.
The Ladies in Support to the Ladies in White were verbally warned against marching (according to Radio Martí, in this Spanish language piece) with the latter on Saturday, but then ultimately allowed to march on Sunday as reported by Yoani Sánchez via Twitter. The Ladies in White also stated that they hope some prisoners will be freed during or after the Vatican’s foreign minister’s visit to Cuba next month.
Orlando Zapata Tamayo’s mother, Lady in White Reina Luisa Tamayo, joined Twitter on Saturday, and already has gathered more than 440 followers.
The platform “Cuba Democracia Ya!” organized in Madrid (Spain) an act of solidarity with the Ladies in White and for the liberation of all Cuban political prisoners in the island.. It was scheduled to coincide with Mother’s Day celebrations in most countries of the Western Hemisphere, including Cuba.
Misceláneas de Cuba reported (in Spanish) that there is a growing sense of alarm among the doctors who care for opposition activist Guillermo Fariñas as his health continues to deteriorate. Guillermo is on his 75th day (today) of a hunger strike he initiated on February 24th, 2010.
The Ladies in Support to the Ladies in White were verbally warned against marching (according to Radio Martí, in this Spanish language piece) with the latter on Saturday, but then ultimately allowed to march on Sunday as reported by Yoani Sánchez via Twitter. The Ladies in White also stated that they hope some prisoners will be freed during or after the Vatican’s foreign minister’s visit to Cuba next month.
Orlando Zapata Tamayo’s mother, Lady in White Reina Luisa Tamayo, joined Twitter on Saturday, and already has gathered more than 440 followers.
The platform “Cuba Democracia Ya!” organized in Madrid (Spain) an act of solidarity with the Ladies in White and for the liberation of all Cuban political prisoners in the island.. It was scheduled to coincide with Mother’s Day celebrations in most countries of the Western Hemisphere, including Cuba.
Misceláneas de Cuba reported (in Spanish) that there is a growing sense of alarm among the doctors who care for opposition activist Guillermo Fariñas as his health continues to deteriorate. Guillermo is on his 75th day (today) of a hunger strike he initiated on February 24th, 2010.
The dictatorship blocks “#OZT: I accuse the Cuban government” in Cuba
posted on Sunday, May 09, 2010May 9, 2010. The “#OZT: I accuse the Cuban government” campaign denounces that its website, created to collect signatures on the Internet, might have been blocked by the Castro regime in public points of Internet access, according to reports from independent bloggers in the island who have tried unsuccessfully to open the campaign’s website.
The reports state that at certain specific hotels in the center of Havana that are administered by Spanish companies, such as Meliá Cohiba and the Parque Central (operated by NH Hoteles), the web page through which people can add their signature to demand the release of Cuban political prisoners is blocked.
Until now, the campaign has managed to gather more than 47,000 signatures, including those of very prominent figures in the political, cultural and social spheres from Europe, Latin America and United States.
We, the #OZT Campaign, firmly believe that the Cuban regime is behind these technical measures to deny more voices from the within the island the opportunity to sign a document that demands the immediate and unconditional release of Cuban political prisoners. The Cuban telephone company ETECSA, a mixed capital corporation that involves the Cuban regime and Italian company Telecom Italia, is responsible for blocking the website, and this affects some independent Cuban blogs as well.
Currently, we are coordinating delivery of the signatures, both on the island and abroad. In future press releases, we will give more details on these deliveries.
Reporters Without Borders (RSF): Cuban Journalist held without trial, more serious charge considered
posted on Friday, May 07, 2010Reporters Without Borders (Reporters Sans Frontières) informs on the situation of jailed independent journalist, Calixto Ramón Martínez Arias. The prestigious international organization echoes earlier reports on the arrest and confusing charges leveled against the independent communicator:
“In the latest ongoing wave of repression, it seems the Cuban authorities are bringing more serious charges against Calixto Ramón Martínez Arias, the Hablemos Press reporter, who was arrested with force on 23 April while covering an activity commemorating imprisoned dissident Orlando Zapata Tamayo’s death.
Initially charged with ‘insulting behaviour,’ Martínez is still being held and is now apparently accused of ‘aggravated violence’ against a police officer at the time of his arrest although the authorities have offered no details about what allegedly took place. The vagueness indicates that the authorities themselves are not sure what they are claiming.
During his transfer to Valle Grande prison in La Lisa, on the outskirts of Havana, on 30 April, Martínez insisted that the charges were baseless. ‘This is an invention designed to stop my work and neither the police nor the prosecutor’s office can agree on the lies they are going to use to convict me,’ he said.”
RSF then “calls for the immediate release of Martínez, who has been arrested many times in the past and deported three times to the eastern city of Camagüey, each time in connection with his journalistic work.”
The organization warns that “[the Cuban] government’s treatment of independent journalists has been worsening of late in a new crackdown on anyone trying to express dissident views under a regime marked by a complete absence of civil liberties."
On a previous note from April 29th, RSF reported on the situation of jailed independent journalist Dania Virgen García, the arrest of Yosvani Anzardo Hernández, editor of the online newspaper candonga.org [at the time this note was being redacted, their web site was not accessible], and the summons to appear before the Revolutionary National Police served to Magaly Norvis Otero Suárez.
“In the latest ongoing wave of repression, it seems the Cuban authorities are bringing more serious charges against Calixto Ramón Martínez Arias, the Hablemos Press reporter, who was arrested with force on 23 April while covering an activity commemorating imprisoned dissident Orlando Zapata Tamayo’s death.
Initially charged with ‘insulting behaviour,’ Martínez is still being held and is now apparently accused of ‘aggravated violence’ against a police officer at the time of his arrest although the authorities have offered no details about what allegedly took place. The vagueness indicates that the authorities themselves are not sure what they are claiming.
During his transfer to Valle Grande prison in La Lisa, on the outskirts of Havana, on 30 April, Martínez insisted that the charges were baseless. ‘This is an invention designed to stop my work and neither the police nor the prosecutor’s office can agree on the lies they are going to use to convict me,’ he said.”
RSF then “calls for the immediate release of Martínez, who has been arrested many times in the past and deported three times to the eastern city of Camagüey, each time in connection with his journalistic work.”
The organization warns that “[the Cuban] government’s treatment of independent journalists has been worsening of late in a new crackdown on anyone trying to express dissident views under a regime marked by a complete absence of civil liberties."
On a previous note from April 29th, RSF reported on the situation of jailed independent journalist Dania Virgen García, the arrest of Yosvani Anzardo Hernández, editor of the online newspaper candonga.org [at the time this note was being redacted, their web site was not accessible], and the summons to appear before the Revolutionary National Police served to Magaly Norvis Otero Suárez.
Radio Martí reports that “Reina Luisa Tamayo Dánger, the mother of [late] political prisoner Orlando Zapata Tamayo, refused to accept the alleged verbal explanation from the Cuban authorities about the circumstances surrounding her son’s death on February 23rd [of this year] after an 85-day long hunger strike.
The Lady in White continues to demand from Raúl Castro’s government a death certificate and the exhumation of Zapata’s mortal remains to know the real cause of the Cuban dissident’s death.
‘I will continue to state that they have denied me that document and that they must recognize that my son was murdered by the Castro brothers and all their henchmen’ remarked Reyna Luisa on the phone with Radio Martí.
Orlando Zapata’s mother told [the radio station] that plain cloth government agents and a doctor came to her house and told her that they cannot issue any document.
According to the Lady in White, the authorities again said that her son died because of a generalized multiple-organ infection. ‘But, why were Zapata’s organs damaged?’ she asked. Then she showed them the blood stained t-shirt that belonged to Zapata in prison. She told the agents and the doctor that they [the penal authorities] kept Orlando without water for 18 days in prison. ‘The doctor had to bow his head [in shame]. He acknowledged all the truths I told him’ said Reina Luisa.
(Source in Spanish: Radio Martí)
In 1980, shortly after making a dramatic exit from Cuba, the magnificent writer Reinaldo Arenas collected in a book his more combative articles and essays and titled it “The Need for Freedom.”
It was a shout. Reinaldo felt the need to be free. Human beings need to be free. He was asphyxiating in Cuba. He lived in sadness, fear and indignation. None of those three emotions is pleasant, and sometimes they twisted in his heart to the point of desperation.
After finding exile, Reinaldo felt profound relief and said something that was both wondrous and painful: for the first time, he had shown his true face. He had “unmasked” himself and felt the warm sensation of being himself, without the fear that such an act might bring him punishment and alienation.
In totalitarian societies, the pain of not being free and moving about in disguise becomes somatic in various ways, from a knot in the throat to a diffuse malaise expressed by assorted neurotic behaviors.
What is freedom? It is the ability we have to make decisions based on our individual beliefs, convictions and interests, without external pressures.
Freedom is choosing the god who best fits our religious perceptions, or choosing no god if we don’t feel the spiritual need to transcend.
Freedom is fearlessly offering our affection and loyalty to the people we love, or to the groups with which we feel a kinship.
Freedom is choosing without interference what we want to study, where and how we wish to live, the ideas that best reflect our vision of the social problems or the ideas that best seem to explain them.
Freedom is selecting the artistic expressions that please us the most, or, conversely, rejecting them without consequences.
Freedom is being able to undertake or renounce an economic activity without reporting to anyone, beyond the formalities established by law.
Freedom is spending our money as we see fit, acquiring the goods that satisfy us and disposing of our legitimate properties. Without freedom, the creation of wealth is weakened to the point of misery.
José Martí, the illustrious journalist who generated Cuba’s independence, contributed another definition: “Freedom is the right of every man to be honest, and to think and speak without hypocrisy.”
Tyrannies deny us the right to be honest when they force us to applaud what we detest or reject what we secretly admire.
When Cubans parade, shouting slogans they don’t believe in, they are not honest. When they applaud the leader they abhor or laugh at the nonsense he spouts, they are not honest.
That simulation creates in us an uncomfortable psychological dissonance. When we sacrifice our honesty, when we renounce our internal consistency to avoid harm or obtain a privilege, we feel “dirty” and internally ashamed. Hypocrisy is a behavior that wounds the person who practices it and repels the person at whom it’s directed.
But there’s more. At some point in the evolutionary process, when human beings abandoned the rule of instinct and began to guide themselves by reason, they discovered the agonizing process of making decisions by constantly shuffling the prevailing moral values, material interests, and psychological impulses.
To make such decisions, it was necessary to become informed. Totalitarian violence tries to prevent people from becoming informed. Why become informed if all the decisions are made by the State and all the truths have already been discovered?
In Cuba, there are numerous police brigades whose task it is to remove parabolic antennas, find satellite phones, confiscate banned books, and deny Internet access to anyone who is minimally independent. I cannot think of a more wretched activity.
When Spanish socialist Fernando de los Ríos asked Lenin when he was going to institute a regime of freedoms in the fledgling Soviet Union, the Bolshevik answered with a question loaded with cynicism: “Freedom for what?”
The answer to that is manifold: freedom to investigate, to generate wealth, to seek happiness, to reaffirm the individual ego in a human tide, all of them tasks that depend on our ability to make decisions.
The history of the West is the history of societies that have progressively expanded the horizons of free people.
Gradually, they took away from the monarchs and the religious and economic oligarchies their exclusive powers to decide in the name of the whole. The poor and the foreigners attained their rights. The same happened with the races considered to be inferior, with the women, with the people who were alienated because of their sexual preferences. Slavery was finally eradicated.
It is possible to narrate the long, historical trek of human beings as the constant adventure of our species in the quest for a gradual increase in the number of people given the right to make their own decisions.
Sometimes, the exercise of that ability assumes heroic proportions. Some weeks ago, Cuban political prisoner Orlando Zapata Tamayo decided to die of hunger and thirst to protest against the injustice and abuses of the dictatorship. All he had to defend his dignity as a human being was his life — and he gave it. To him, to his sad memory, with deep emotion, I dedicate these words.
[© FIRMAS PRESS]
* Speech by Carlos Alberto Montaner, upon receiving the “Juan de Mariana Award for an exemplary trajectory in the defense of freedom,” Madrid, April 30, 2010.
Martí Noticias reports that the health of political prisoner Nelson Vázquez Lima, president of Jóvenes por la Democracia Movement, and in prison since 1991, has deteriorated gravely due to a month long hunger strike. Other contributing factors to the state of his health have been the several beatings administered by the prison guards.
Vázquez Lima started his hunger strike on April 5th demanding, among other things, to be able to receive family visits, religious assistant, and to stop the abuses committed against him and other prisoners by the penal authorities.
(H/T Marc Masferrer at Uncommon Sense)
By Ernesto Ariel Suárez
Today, May 4th, 2010 I received the following reply to a letter I sent to my congressional representative in the US House of Representatives, Emanuel Cleaver II, on March 23, 2010:
Dear Ernesto:
Thank you for contacting me regarding the state of affairs in cuba (sic). I appreciate hearing from you on this important issue.
It is an honor to serve as your representative in Congress. Your thoughts on this issue are important to me as I continue my work in the 111th Congress. Please know that I am working hard for the people of the 5th district of Missouri. I am very interested in hearing the concerns of my constituents, so I will be better able to serve you as your elected representative.
Again, thank you for sharing your views with me. Please do not hesitate to contact me in the future if I may be of further assistance. Also, I encourage you to visit my website at http://www.house.gov/cleaver, where you can sign up for my electronic newsletter and receive updates on my latest activities as your Representative.
Sincerely
Emanuel Cleaver, II
Member of Congress
I would like to believe that, judging from the first paragraph (lack of proper word capitalization aside), Mr. Cleaver actually wrote this reply after he read my letter. However, the rest of the email shows that it is just a form letter probably sent by an aide.
In my letter I offered Mr. Cleaver a summary (with links to further details) of the circumstances surrounding Orlando Zapata Tamayo’s death, the (still ongoing) hunger strike by Guillermo Fariñas, and by inference, the situation of other Cuban political prisoners. I also urged Mr. Cleaver to sign the petition for the liberation of all Cuban political prisoners, but Mr. Cleaver did not sign.
I want to believe that Mr. Cleaver is perhaps too busy, working for the people of District 5, to take five seconds to sign the petition. I want even to believe that Mr. Cleaver thinks that I, with my request that he takes a just stance for others’ human rights, do not represent an important part of his constituency. And that is fair enough, albeit all the negative implications of considering some constituents more important than others, or simply ignoring them.
I cannot forget, however, that Mr. Cleaver visited Cuba in 2009 as part of a Congressional Black Caucus delegation. I cannot forget that Mr. Cleaver said of Raul Castro that the aging dictator is “one of the most amazing human beings I’ve ever met."
It is sadly imprinted in my mind a statement made by Mr. Cleaver after he saw the Potemkin villages the Cuban regime shows visitors to the island:
“To see all of these myths melt right in front of my eyes was something to behold. We’ve been led to believe that the Cuban people are not free, and they are repressed by a vicious dictator, and I saw nothing to match what we’ve been told."
I would like to believe that Mr. Cleaver is just naïve or misinformed. Nevertheless, I have provided Mr. Cleaver with documentary proof that the Cuban people are not free, and are repressed by a vicious dictator. Even if I had not done so, Orlando Zapata Tamayo, Guillermo Fariñas, the Ladies in White and other opposition leaders have been almost constantly on the news lately. Furthermore, even before all these recent events unfolded, there are more than 50 very well documented years of terror, abuse, and constant violation of human rights committed by that regime against the entire Cuban people.
How could Mr. Cleaver be so misinformed? He, is a very educated man and a member of the US House of Representatives Committee in Homeland Security with access to extensive information on foreign affairs.
Has Mr. Cleaver chosen to ignore the truth and instead, believe the tall tales the regime told him?
Will Mr. Cleaver side with a regime that let one valiant black man die of a hunger strike, ignores the two-month long hunger strike of another valiant black man and keeps dozens of black men, like Dr. Oscar Elías Biscet, in prison just because they dared to think differently?
If so, as a constituent, I demand to know why. Why would he, a man of God, a pastor, side with a regime that for decades prohibited, and continues to obstruct, the free practice of religion (even as they deny it, and use a minuscule group of loyal pastors as a show of tolerance)?
The rights of all humans are sacred, Mr. Cleaver. Do not forget that.
You are missing out, Mr. Cleaver. You will not join thousands of people worldwide in a just cause. You will not sign a demand to release unjustly incarcerated people whose only crime is to want to build a better future, a much freer future for their homeland.
Mr Cleaver at Havana's exclusive Hotel Nacional on April of 2009. He's the one on the left wearing an olive green guayabera.
According to Hablemos Press News Agency, their independent journalist, Calixto Ramón Martínez Arias, has been transferred to Valle Grande prison after being under arrest at a police station for more than a week.
Roberto de Jesús Guerra Pérez, the agency’s director writes:
Calixto Ramón was arrested by Security of State agents on April 23rd while reporting on an activity conducted by opposition activists. The act was violently repressed by paramilitary brigades who invaded [opposition activist] Damián Prito Blanco’s home and assaulted the participants. The journalist is accused of assault.
The reporter was beaten by the paramilitary brigades and subsequently arrested by Security of State agents. “I’m being charged with assault” —he said on the phone on April 30th—“although previously the authorities charged me with ‘disrespect’”
“The booking officers stated that I hit a policeman in blue [uniform] inside the house. [However] The prosecution is charging me with hitting a Security [of State] agent.”
“While I was covering the activity, I didn’t see any policeman in blue [uniform]. But, those who came in beating us were dressed in civilian clothes, if they were agents, they did not identify themselves as such. And why did they beat us if they said they were ‘the people’ but turned out to be agents?” —added Calixto.
“This is all a sham to disrupt my work as a communicator, and neither the police nor the prosecution can agree on a lie with which to charge me.”
“Apparently this is a new wave [of repression] from the regime to silence those who try to have an [alternative] opinion,” stated Rodolfo Ramírez Cardoso, president of Movimiento Nueva Línea Democrática, and who sheltered Calixto for a long time.
Roberto de Jesús Guerra Pérez, the agency’s director writes:
Calixto Ramón was arrested by Security of State agents on April 23rd while reporting on an activity conducted by opposition activists. The act was violently repressed by paramilitary brigades who invaded [opposition activist] Damián Prito Blanco’s home and assaulted the participants. The journalist is accused of assault.
The reporter was beaten by the paramilitary brigades and subsequently arrested by Security of State agents. “I’m being charged with assault” —he said on the phone on April 30th—“although previously the authorities charged me with ‘disrespect’”
“The booking officers stated that I hit a policeman in blue [uniform] inside the house. [However] The prosecution is charging me with hitting a Security [of State] agent.”
“While I was covering the activity, I didn’t see any policeman in blue [uniform]. But, those who came in beating us were dressed in civilian clothes, if they were agents, they did not identify themselves as such. And why did they beat us if they said they were ‘the people’ but turned out to be agents?” —added Calixto.
“This is all a sham to disrupt my work as a communicator, and neither the police nor the prosecution can agree on a lie with which to charge me.”
“Apparently this is a new wave [of repression] from the regime to silence those who try to have an [alternative] opinion,” stated Rodolfo Ramírez Cardoso, president of Movimiento Nueva Línea Democrática, and who sheltered Calixto for a long time.
The Cardinal and the Ladies in White, cartoon by ArístidesBy Ernesto Ariel Suárez
Havana’s archbishop, Cardinal Jaime Ortega Alamino, has made seemingly disparate moves and statements this past weekend. He met with the Ladies in White, stated that through his intercession with the Castro regime, they would be allowed to march without interference, and publicly asked the regime to respect them. However, Monsignor Ortega also called on Guillermo Fariñas to “be flexible” on his position, and to end his hunger strike. The Cardinal did not mention the causes for Fariñas’s hunger strike: the 26 prisoners of conscience that are on such precarious health that some of them are teetering on the verge of death. The Cardinal did not call on the Cuban government to answer Fariñas’ demands, and free these prisoners. The Cardinal did not ask the regime to free any other political prisoners.
As a Cuban Catholic, I am aware of the sometimes extreme difficulties to operate that the Church has faced and continues to face in Cuba. I can understand the difficult position in which the Church’s hierarchy, especially Monsignor Ortega, finds itself while trying to function within the tight control of the Stalinist dictatorship. I can also imagine the pressure from the Vatican hierarchy, some of whose members are not shy about their sympathies for the Castro regime. I welcome His Eminence’s recent statements on the state of crisis of Cuban society, on the urgent need for change, and his more recent ones about the Ladies in White and their plight.
I am also aware that many Cuban Catholics support the opposition, and that many of them, like the Ladies in White, Oswaldo Payá and Dania Virgen García, are part of that movement. Many Catholics risk their lives and whatever very little personal freedom they have daily to peacefully oppose and end a bloody and unjust regime that has sent many of us to prison, exile and death.
I call on His Eminence to listen to those Cuban Catholics, and to remember the words of the Holy Father said to him when he was elevated to the office he now occupies, on the Sixth Ordinary Consistory, November 26th, 1994:
“This red is a sign of the dignity of the office of Cardinal. It means that you must be ready to act with fortitude, to the point of shedding your own blood for the growth of the Christian faith, for peace and harmony within God’s people, for the freedom and expansion of the Holy Roman Catholic Church”
I am not asking him to shed his blood. I cannot in good conscience do so, just as I cannot encourage Fariñas to maintain his hunger strike. However, I am asking the Cardinal to act on the orders given to him by the Holy Father, and to act with fortitude and join the voices of so many thousands of others to demand the liberation of all Cuban prisoners of conscience. I am calling on His Eminence to join so many Cuban Catholics who are working peacefully to end a regime that has brought neither peace nor harmony to God’s people. I hope that he can find in his heart and in his unquestionable faith in Christ, the strength to do it.
Havana’s archbishop, Cardinal Jaime Ortega Alamino, has made seemingly disparate moves and statements this past weekend. He met with the Ladies in White, stated that through his intercession with the Castro regime, they would be allowed to march without interference, and publicly asked the regime to respect them. However, Monsignor Ortega also called on Guillermo Fariñas to “be flexible” on his position, and to end his hunger strike. The Cardinal did not mention the causes for Fariñas’s hunger strike: the 26 prisoners of conscience that are on such precarious health that some of them are teetering on the verge of death. The Cardinal did not call on the Cuban government to answer Fariñas’ demands, and free these prisoners. The Cardinal did not ask the regime to free any other political prisoners.
As a Cuban Catholic, I am aware of the sometimes extreme difficulties to operate that the Church has faced and continues to face in Cuba. I can understand the difficult position in which the Church’s hierarchy, especially Monsignor Ortega, finds itself while trying to function within the tight control of the Stalinist dictatorship. I can also imagine the pressure from the Vatican hierarchy, some of whose members are not shy about their sympathies for the Castro regime. I welcome His Eminence’s recent statements on the state of crisis of Cuban society, on the urgent need for change, and his more recent ones about the Ladies in White and their plight.
I am also aware that many Cuban Catholics support the opposition, and that many of them, like the Ladies in White, Oswaldo Payá and Dania Virgen García, are part of that movement. Many Catholics risk their lives and whatever very little personal freedom they have daily to peacefully oppose and end a bloody and unjust regime that has sent many of us to prison, exile and death.
I call on His Eminence to listen to those Cuban Catholics, and to remember the words of the Holy Father said to him when he was elevated to the office he now occupies, on the Sixth Ordinary Consistory, November 26th, 1994:
“This red is a sign of the dignity of the office of Cardinal. It means that you must be ready to act with fortitude, to the point of shedding your own blood for the growth of the Christian faith, for peace and harmony within God’s people, for the freedom and expansion of the Holy Roman Catholic Church”
I am not asking him to shed his blood. I cannot in good conscience do so, just as I cannot encourage Fariñas to maintain his hunger strike. However, I am asking the Cardinal to act on the orders given to him by the Holy Father, and to act with fortitude and join the voices of so many thousands of others to demand the liberation of all Cuban prisoners of conscience. I am calling on His Eminence to join so many Cuban Catholics who are working peacefully to end a regime that has brought neither peace nor harmony to God’s people. I hope that he can find in his heart and in his unquestionable faith in Christ, the strength to do it.
The BBC reports that:
"The wives and mothers of political prisoners held in Cuba have been allowed to hold their weekly protest for the first time in three weeks.
Government supporters had blocked the women, known as Ladies in White, from marching for the past two Sundays.
The archbishop of Havana said he had intervened on behalf of the women.
Cardinal Jaime Ortega said the authorities had agreed to allow the marches during the month of May, after which they would review their decision."
More at the link.
The negotiation of Cardinal Ortega has succeeded in Havana, where Ladies in White walked today, but has not come to Holguin. Reyna Luisa Tamayo continues to face harassment from the regime, even to leave out of her house to go to church or the cemetery.
The website of the Ladies in White reports that proponents of the system prevented Reyna Luisa Tamayo Danger from assisting to mass today at the church of Nuestra Señora de la Caridad del Cobre, in the municipality of Banes, home to the lady in white.
“They don’t let me go out, I cannot go to church, they don’t let me go to the cemetery to offer some flowers to my son,” said the mother of the deceased prisoner of conscience Orlando Zapata Tamayo.
“I do not bow down to anyone, I'm denouncing that my son was left to die, not given water, they [the Cuban government] beat him in jail,” she added.
Security agents of the State are leading the protest, which started from the early hours of Sunday.
To listen the audio report on Reyna’s voice (in Spanish) click here.
Threats to the family
Another son of Reyna Luisa, José Luis Ortiz Tamayo, and his wife were called the past Friday to a meeting to threaten them and to prohibit them to take their 11 year old daughter with them to Sunday’s mass, reported to Radio Martí the independent journalist Mildred Noemí Sánchez Infante.
In the meeting, in which had been present, among others, the director of the school to which the young girl goes, and the Captain Juan Carlos Escalona, Social Worker Prevention officer, Ortiz Tamayo defended the religious liberty of his daughter and assured that she will continue attending the religious worships. The little girl has been a victim of the mobs that organizes the state against the Tamayo family in front of their house, and on the way out of the church.
Here is the audio (in Spanish) with Sánchez Infante’s report.
The website of the Ladies in White reports that proponents of the system prevented Reyna Luisa Tamayo Danger from assisting to mass today at the church of Nuestra Señora de la Caridad del Cobre, in the municipality of Banes, home to the lady in white.
“They don’t let me go out, I cannot go to church, they don’t let me go to the cemetery to offer some flowers to my son,” said the mother of the deceased prisoner of conscience Orlando Zapata Tamayo.
“I do not bow down to anyone, I'm denouncing that my son was left to die, not given water, they [the Cuban government] beat him in jail,” she added.
Security agents of the State are leading the protest, which started from the early hours of Sunday.
To listen the audio report on Reyna’s voice (in Spanish) click here.
Threats to the family
Another son of Reyna Luisa, José Luis Ortiz Tamayo, and his wife were called the past Friday to a meeting to threaten them and to prohibit them to take their 11 year old daughter with them to Sunday’s mass, reported to Radio Martí the independent journalist Mildred Noemí Sánchez Infante.
In the meeting, in which had been present, among others, the director of the school to which the young girl goes, and the Captain Juan Carlos Escalona, Social Worker Prevention officer, Ortiz Tamayo defended the religious liberty of his daughter and assured that she will continue attending the religious worships. The little girl has been a victim of the mobs that organizes the state against the Tamayo family in front of their house, and on the way out of the church.
Here is the audio (in Spanish) with Sánchez Infante’s report.
The Cuban Network Community Communicators invites members of Cuban civil society, for a day of support for the Ladies in White, on Sunday, May 9, Mother's Day in Cuba.
As in Havana can not go along with them to the church of Santa Rita, on the existing police harassment, you will hear Mass in any church in the community, throughout the country, asking the intercession of the Virgin Mary, Mother of God, in favor of political prisoners and family members who share with them this suffering.
To symbolize this support, people dressed in white, men and women, at least one piece of clothing.
We remind all respect for the Temple, which is the house of God and those who profess their faith, so it is important for appropriate behavior within this sacred place.
We also call on the brothers of the Cuban nation in exile, to participate this day in supporting these worthy women who desperately need our solidarity and prayers we make to God to achieve freedom for their imprisoned relatives .
It would be beneficial to anyone who receives this call, both outside and inside the country, make known to others through the means they have available:telephone, emails and even personally, as they communicated the Apostles.
Martha Beatriz Roque Cabello
Cuban Community Communicators Network
Taken from: Puntos de Vista Cuba.
As in Havana can not go along with them to the church of Santa Rita, on the existing police harassment, you will hear Mass in any church in the community, throughout the country, asking the intercession of the Virgin Mary, Mother of God, in favor of political prisoners and family members who share with them this suffering.
To symbolize this support, people dressed in white, men and women, at least one piece of clothing.
We remind all respect for the Temple, which is the house of God and those who profess their faith, so it is important for appropriate behavior within this sacred place.
We also call on the brothers of the Cuban nation in exile, to participate this day in supporting these worthy women who desperately need our solidarity and prayers we make to God to achieve freedom for their imprisoned relatives .
It would be beneficial to anyone who receives this call, both outside and inside the country, make known to others through the means they have available:telephone, emails and even personally, as they communicated the Apostles.
Martha Beatriz Roque Cabello
Cuban Community Communicators Network
Taken from: Puntos de Vista Cuba.
This is an act of solidarity with Cubans, especially with prisoners of consciousness and their families. On March 18th of 2003, 75 independent journalists, opposition activists and others who dared to stand up to the regime of Castro brothers were imprisoned because of their beliefs. All they wanted was freedom and respect of human rights.
We invite you to send your pictures with texts like: Libertad para Cuba, Libertad para los presos políticos (Freedom for Cuba, Freedom for political prisoners)...
Just write the text (doesn't have to be in Spanish) with big letters (so they are visible in the picture) and post them on Facebook or send to info@solidarity.com.pl . All pictures will be send to Cubans who will share our gesture of solidarity with their compatriots.
We invite you to send your pictures with texts like: Libertad para Cuba, Libertad para los presos políticos (Freedom for Cuba, Freedom for political prisoners)...
Just write the text (doesn't have to be in Spanish) with big letters (so they are visible in the picture) and post them on Facebook or send to info@solidarity.com.pl . All pictures will be send to Cubans who will share our gesture of solidarity with their compatriots.
Read more at Global Solidarity.
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