Friday, November 23, 2018

Not mourning the death of Fidel Castro is punishable by prison, beatings and death in Cuba.

Cuban dictator Fidel Castro is still dead. With apologies to Chevy Chase and Saturday Night Live


Fidel Castro's gone but when will the dictatorship he created follow him?
Two years ago, on a Black Friday that fell on November 25, 2016, Cuban tyrant Fidel Castro died at the age of 90 never having had to answer for his many crimes against humanity both in and out of Cuba. From Nicaragua, to Ethiopia, to Venezuela, and in many other places the Castro regime assisted tyrants and dictators to hold on to and consolidate their power.  One day later in a blog post I predicted what would come next. 
"Predictably over the next few weeks inside Cuba the world will see spectacles organized by the totalitarian dictatorship to "mourn the great leader." The regime has already started with nine days set aside for official mourning. This will not be the first time that monsters are mourned by an oppressed people through different methods of command, control and manipulation. The world has witnessed it before in the Soviet Union in 1953 and more recently in North Korea with the Kim dynasty. The death of Stalin as dramatized in the film "The Inner Circle" is recommended viewing for those about to follow the circus in Cuba in the wake of Fidel Castro's death.  Meanwhile in Cuba as the regime prepares its state funeral the Castro dictatorship's secret police begin to make threats, round up and take dissidents to undisclosed location and commit acts of violence." 
 The two year mark will be reached in two days, but the record is already evident for those willing to look with a critical eye. When Fidel Castro's death was announced mourning was obligatory, and failure to do so had serious consequences.

Some were jailed for refusing to mourn the Cuban dictator's death but were released from prison over the course of 2017. Others remain jailed.


Cuban family arrested for not mourning death of Cuban dictator Fidel Castro.
An entire family in Holguin made up of Maydolis Leyva Portelles and her children: Fidel Batista Leyva, and twins Adairis and Anairis Miranda Leyva, were arrested for "defamation of martyrs of the homeland" because they refused to mourn the dictator.  Amnesty International recognized them as prisoners of conscience and when they were released in April 2017 following a prolonged hunger strike they continue to be harassed by State Security.

Darío Pérez Rodríguez, who refused to watch the funeral ceremony on television saying that they disgusted him, was released in October 2017. Luis Andrés Domínguez Sardiñas was arrested on November 27, 2016 and accused of celebrating Fidel Castro's death, and advocating that Raul Castro be gotten rid of as well. 


Eduardo Cardet Concepción, a Cuban physician,  human rights defender, and national coordinator of the Christian Liberation Movement (MCL) gave a critical assessment of Fidel Castro's rule to the international press following the dictator's death. He returned home to Cuba, and was beaten up by the secret police in front of his wife and two children. Cardet was beaten up again in prison, subjected to a political show trial and sentenced to three years in prison. He was stabbed with a sharp object repeatedly, and denied family visits because they were campaigning for his release. One week from today, on November 30th will mark two years that he has been unjustly jailed.

In at least one case celebrating the death of Castro proved a death sentence. Prisoner Hermenegildo Duvergel was badly beaten by prison guards for celebrating the death of Castro on the day the dictator died. The beating was so severe that they broke his ribs, and did not give him medical assistance. He died from the injuries caused by the beating.

Taking the above reality into account, and previous historical examples with the death of another tyrannical monster, Josef Stalin, the scenes from Cuba should not have come as a surprise. However, the actions by some in the international community and democratic heads of state was shocking.

Photo taken by Cuban Mission to the UN during moment of silence for Castro
On December 1, 2016 at the United Nations General Assembly held a moment of silence for Fidel Castro in New York City. Five days later on December 6, 2016 the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva Switzerland held another moment of silence for the tyrant ignoring the dictator's terrible human rights record. Two weeks later on December 20, 2016 the General Assembly of the United Nations once again paid tribute to the dead autocrat. 

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, issued an official statement upon Castro's death, repeating the regime's propaganda talking points to justify five decades of authoritarian rule claiming Castro as “a legendary revolutionary and orator" who "made significant improvements to the education and healthcare of his island nation." 


This not only ignores the dismal human rights record in Cuba, but also the unpleasant fact that Cuban education has been destroyed under the Castro regime with deteriorating schools, ideology prioritized over education, and poorly trained teachers.  


With regards to healthcare in the island nation. There is a health care system which is decent, but it is for regime elites in good favor and tourists with hard currency.  The other, the one for everyday Cubans is a disaster. There have been outbreaks of cholera and dengue which points to failures in the public health system



Praising Castroism while ignoring the ruins the regime created in Cuba and successfully spread to Venezuela is a dangerous conceit that may come back to haunt these apologists, if they believe the regime's lies and try to implement their models of education and healthcare.

Spain's socialist prime minister today failed to speak out publicly for Cuban prisoner of conscience Eduardo Cardet, but pledged to pour money into the Cuban dictatorship that will strengthen the military and police state. 


Fidel Castro's regime lives on and so do the useful idiots that continue to underwrite it.



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