tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14195587039189752452024-03-19T04:47:44.251-04:00Notes from the Cuban Exile Quarter"The first victory we can claim is that our hearts are free of hatred. Hence we say to those who persecute us and who try to dominate us: ‘You are my brother. I do not hate you, but you are not going to dominate me by fear. I do not wish to impose my truth, nor do I wish you to impose yours on me. We are going to seek the truth together’. THIS IS THE LIBERATION WHICH WE ARE PROCLAIMING."
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Oswaldo José Payá Sardiñas (2002)John Suarezhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11333798474560217548noreply@blogger.comBlogger2981125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1419558703918975245.post-18813272301360857782024-03-10T15:08:00.002-04:002024-03-10T15:08:30.896-04:0072 Years without Democracy in Cuba: Seven Years of authoritarianism with Batista and 65+ Years of totalitarianism with the Castros <p> <span style="font-family: times;"><span style="background-color: white;"></span><i style="background-color: white;">From bad (<a href="https://youtu.be/UAgrp4-s1r8" style="text-decoration-line: none;">authoritarian dictatorship</a>) to worse (<a href="https://youtu.be/UAgrp4-s1r8" style="text-decoration-line: none;">totalitarian dictatorship</a>)</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: times;"><i style="background-color: white;"></i></span></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghJiJLUrgFGea81N8-9mUiDcZ8DBkp_fD4M0E2GnbvASm8ZAkpVfhdqUdkl8LQZgBhoFlfYTjfjih7cxjcz6aqB_7IuLvTA2V2B4cjWGy9lStXlSnzvT0aD1eXdB89jiFp9ivlVwO_fnDYxB9MAYiyKDGUvnP3_RNhXkyRceHHVgzae5qxhxBBYyzoH7y7/s2248/somoscontd4.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1032" data-original-width="2248" height="184" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghJiJLUrgFGea81N8-9mUiDcZ8DBkp_fD4M0E2GnbvASm8ZAkpVfhdqUdkl8LQZgBhoFlfYTjfjih7cxjcz6aqB_7IuLvTA2V2B4cjWGy9lStXlSnzvT0aD1eXdB89jiFp9ivlVwO_fnDYxB9MAYiyKDGUvnP3_RNhXkyRceHHVgzae5qxhxBBYyzoH7y7/w400-h184/somoscontd4.png" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif;">#TheyAreContinuity #TheyAreDictators ( #SomosContinuidad #SonDictadores)</span></span></td></tr></tbody></table><p></p><p><span style="font-family: times;"><span style="background-color: white;">Democracy ended in Cuba seventy two years ago on <a href="https://cubanexilequarter.blogspot.com/2020/03/march-10th-cuba-and-tibets-shared-day.html">March 10, 1952</a>. It was ended by General</span></span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: times;"> Fulgencio
Batista who carried out a military coup against the legitimately
elected democratic government. The last democratically
elected president, Carlos Prio, and <a href="https://cubanexilequarter.blogspot.com/2010/09/mary-tarrero-de-prio-last-first-lady-of.html">his first lady</a> went into exile, and over the next seven years, an authoritarian dictatorship ruled Cuba, becoming increasingly unpopular. </span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; word-break: break-word;"><span style="font-family: times;">The
refusal of Batista to give up power through a process of dialogue
opened the path for Fidel and Raul Castro to violently seize it, but
they did not do it alone.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; word-break: break-word;"><span style="font-family: times;"><br /></span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; word-break: break-word;"><span style="font-family: times;">They had the help of <a href="https://cubanexilequarter.blogspot.com/2017/10/how-communism-arrived-in-cuba.html" style="text-decoration-line: none;">the Communist International</a>, <a href="https://cubanexilequarter.blogspot.com/2019/08/the-new-york-times-castro-regime-and.html" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><i>The New York Times</i></a>, an <a href="https://cubanexilequarter.blogspot.com/2019/03/we-too-have-memory-when-fidel-castro.html" style="text-decoration-line: none;">arms embargo placed on Batista</a> in March 1958 by the United States, and <a href="https://cubanexilequarter.blogspot.com/2019/11/president-john-f-kennedys-assassination.html" style="text-decoration-line: none;">pressure from the U.S. Ambassador to Cuba</a> in December 1958, the authoritarian dictator fled Cuba in the early morning hours of January 1, 1959.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #414141; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; word-break: break-word;"><span style="font-family: times;"><span style="color: #333333;"><br /><br /></span></span></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPjUddGwif0LV2sa8YqjY65TTfFSH8zHDq_Ij3WkHZkQuBj26TIem45UD1c1U5kowNxw0VL2GaCnI6lOZuMzIaIbbvJjj5SmyPxTAJrHwuuVf4inHh-nsbOE-Kn96t41QwnhL3sEWj4rfezYTYeRq37x1sWdU_VbZSTWQDtxylDsMW-MbNckJogsJOqMWD/s372/presidentsofcuba.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="372" data-original-width="372" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPjUddGwif0LV2sa8YqjY65TTfFSH8zHDq_Ij3WkHZkQuBj26TIem45UD1c1U5kowNxw0VL2GaCnI6lOZuMzIaIbbvJjj5SmyPxTAJrHwuuVf4inHh-nsbOE-Kn96t41QwnhL3sEWj4rfezYTYeRq37x1sWdU_VbZSTWQDtxylDsMW-MbNckJogsJOqMWD/w400-h400/presidentsofcuba.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Presidents of Cuba from 1902 to 1952 and dictator Batista</span></span></td></tr></tbody></table><p></p><p style="background-color: white; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; word-break: break-word;"><span style="font-family: times;"> </span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; word-break: break-word;"><span style="font-family: times;">This
put an end to a half century of democratic Cuban governments, and
within nine years the Castro regime seized Cuban's private sector and
centralized economic control under Havana's totalitarian communist
dictatorship. Cuba's official motto was changed from Homeland and
Liberty (Patria y Libertad) by the new communist regime to Homeland or
Death, We Shall Triumph (¡Patria o Muerte, Venceremos!).</span></p><p style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: times;">Since
the beginning of their struggle in 1953, the Castro brothers pledged a
democratic restoration in Cuba, but all along planned a Marxist-Leninist
takeover and the imposition of a totalitarian communist dictatorship,
killing <a href="https://cubanexilequarter.blogspot.com/2017/12/red-killings-in-cuba-cost-in-cuban-lives.html" style="text-decoration-line: none;">tens of thousands</a> of Cubans. They <a href="https://cubanexilequarter.blogspot.com/2019/09/six-decades-of-prisoners-of-conscience.html" style="text-decoration-line: none;">systematically denied human rights</a> to all Cubans while exporting their repressive model to Africa and Latin America, creating misery for millions.</span></p><p style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: times;"></span></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7hLKGdCLbfqdbRi_OSH2rsGPvIwMcOvU-54ee3HJvL9Yo_iu7Ed-WYcQfqbRzYf4inI7fupy8dFt_xsCpNQ13kuKG89vHq3Mc8kHYI-huMQQVh81uwUdC8tkvKpo0IoFfRlhnSXYT5tsfuuLrH5BYCzyQUqutQThyphenhyphenFNudrzTkP4Ur_f3mLYD0I-Z_jgPf/s398/FusilamientoMultiple.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="200" data-original-width="398" height="201" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7hLKGdCLbfqdbRi_OSH2rsGPvIwMcOvU-54ee3HJvL9Yo_iu7Ed-WYcQfqbRzYf4inI7fupy8dFt_xsCpNQ13kuKG89vHq3Mc8kHYI-huMQQVh81uwUdC8tkvKpo0IoFfRlhnSXYT5tsfuuLrH5BYCzyQUqutQThyphenhyphenFNudrzTkP4Ur_f3mLYD0I-Z_jgPf/w400-h201/FusilamientoMultiple.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Firing squads in Cuba ordered by the Castro brother</span></span></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"> </span></span></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr></tbody></table><p></p><p style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: times;">The Communist regime rewrote Cuban history,</span><span style="font-family: times;"> </span><a href="https://cubanexilequarter.blogspot.com/2016/01/exposing-11-myths-of-revolution-in-cuba.html" style="font-family: times; text-decoration-line: none;">creating myths</a><span style="font-family: times;"> </span><span style="font-family: times;">to justify its tyrannical rule. The reality was that between 1902 and 1952, there</span><span style="font-family: times;"> </span><a href="https://cubanexilequarter.blogspot.com/2020/07/from-batista-to-castro-transition-from.html" style="font-family: times; text-decoration-line: none;">existed in Cuba a system</a><span style="font-family: times;"> </span><span style="font-family: times;">that had overseen</span><span style="font-family: times;"> </span><a href="https://cubanexilequarter.blogspot.com/2020/07/from-batista-to-castro-transition-from.html" style="font-family: times; text-decoration-line: none;">rising living standards</a><span style="font-family: times;"> </span><span style="font-family: times;">for five decades and had been on the</span><span style="font-family: times;"> </span><a href="https://cubanexilequarter.blogspot.com/2018/12/cubas-human-rights-legacy-then-and-now.html" style="font-family: times; text-decoration-line: none;">cutting edge of human rights</a><span style="font-family: times;">. The Marxist-Leninist dictatorship would</span><span style="font-family: times;"> </span><a href="https://cubanexilequarter.blogspot.com/2017/04/castros-war-against-human-rights-in-cuba.html" style="font-family: times; text-decoration-line: none;">declare war on human rights</a><span style="font-family: times;"> </span><span style="font-family: times;">at home and abroad.</span><i style="font-family: times;"> </i></span></p><p style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: times;">Generations of Cubans resisted this communist dictatorship from 1959 to the present. </span></span></p><p style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: times;">Tens of thousands of Cubans <a href="https://cubanexilequarter.blogspot.com/2021/07/11july-one-week-later-and-nonviolent.html" style="text-decoration-line: none;">risked everything in July 2021</a>,<span data-offset-key="83kpp-0-0"> taking to the streets in peaceful protests demanding an end to the dictatorship. T</span>he Castro regime <a href="https://cubanexilequarter.blogspot.com/2021/07/11july-one-week-later-and-nonviolent.html" style="text-decoration-line: none;">responded</a> by
firing on unarmed protesters, imprisoning hundreds, and condemning many
of them to 20 and 30 year prison sentences over the Christmas holidays
for exercising their right to peaceful assembly.</span></span></p><p style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: times;"> </span></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCSncCCEmf8RUNQm-RnBipFTF4snGKve1pL_evLB55jYq6hEySadUZc7U1HHh6rFqEu2nlYx2l8NrFrdu-tcMXenvxhC9CBmv2VhVk_WEWi-F4PizEhOVetse5jVKZC-oqRFJxRB4COYTe-KXuB5pUUVtwlcoHPfTEgI_kQm-v2YRhR-24KnIenDoNTG1V/s400/patriabvida.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="225" data-original-width="400" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCSncCCEmf8RUNQm-RnBipFTF4snGKve1pL_evLB55jYq6hEySadUZc7U1HHh6rFqEu2nlYx2l8NrFrdu-tcMXenvxhC9CBmv2VhVk_WEWi-F4PizEhOVetse5jVKZC-oqRFJxRB4COYTe-KXuB5pUUVtwlcoHPfTEgI_kQm-v2YRhR-24KnIenDoNTG1V/w400-h225/patriabvida.png" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">On the streets of Cuba on July 11, 2021</span></span></td></tr></tbody></table><p></p><p style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: times;">On this March 10th, as Cubans observe 70 years without democracy and pledge to <a href="https://cubanexilequarter.blogspot.com/2018/12/cuba-lost-cause.html" style="text-decoration-line: none;">redouble their efforts</a> to achieve a <a href="https://cubanexilequarter.blogspot.com/2020/12/internatonal-human-rights-day.html" style="text-decoration-line: none;">democratic restoration</a> in
Cuba it is a good moment to condemn the Castro dictatorship for its
63-year betrayal of the democratic aspirations of the Cuban people. It
is a good day to remember President </span><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: times;">Carlos Prio Socarrás and his wife Mary Tarrero de Prio.</span></span></p><p style="background-color: white;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: times;"></span></span></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4ET6KybeBUxuoArATKa3wG8sXC9DUihlIL_4tCSN_8oawAi3CLZ67E-upsaIHJsrQ2Ye9pFRa31WlFX-Flg9DkouxZj_69LEIZ-UpNvDhSbQD_VhY_wraN3KH1bXDm0gfXzWxZ34NdGebYnXgAfPzgHRUK2amUrgns8AicFeBoTwXW_vzQbusHHmCm1Eq/s399/91511764_2518117745183301_364490896336486400_n.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="396" data-original-width="399" height="398" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4ET6KybeBUxuoArATKa3wG8sXC9DUihlIL_4tCSN_8oawAi3CLZ67E-upsaIHJsrQ2Ye9pFRa31WlFX-Flg9DkouxZj_69LEIZ-UpNvDhSbQD_VhY_wraN3KH1bXDm0gfXzWxZ34NdGebYnXgAfPzgHRUK2amUrgns8AicFeBoTwXW_vzQbusHHmCm1Eq/w400-h398/91511764_2518117745183301_364490896336486400_n.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: times; text-align: left;">President </span><span style="color: #050505; text-align: left; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: times;">Carlos Prio Socarrás and his wife Mary Tarrero de Prio</span></span></span></span></td></tr></tbody></table><span style="font-family: times;"> </span><p></p><p style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: times;"> Communists lie when they say that the Batista dictatorship in the 1950s was backed by the United States. </span></span></p><p style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span face="arial,sans-serif"><span><span>Professor Jaime Suchlicki, of the Cuban Studies
Institute <a href="https://cubanstudiesinstitute.us/principal/background-to-revolution-the-batista-dictatorship-and-the-decline-of-democracy-in-cuba/">analyzed the conditions</a> and circumstances </span></span></span><span><span face="arial,sans-serif">that led to the 1952 Batista dictatorship.</span><br /><span face="arial,sans-serif"></span></span></span></p><div><span style="font-size: small;"><span><span face="arial,sans-serif">In a <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=http://www.latinamericanstudies.org/cable/cable-3-22-52.htm&source=gmail&ust=1615506958738000&usg=AFQjCNHXLTFt3W0AwGU32dfCFv26UB55qg" href="http://www.latinamericanstudies.org/cable/cable-3-22-52.htm" target="_blank"><i>Memorandum of Conversation, by the Ambassador in </i></a><i><a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=http://www.latinamericanstudies.org/cable/cable-3-22-52.htm&source=gmail&ust=1615506958738000&usg=AFQjCNHXLTFt3W0AwGU32dfCFv26UB55qg" href="http://www.latinamericanstudies.org/cable/cable-3-22-52.htm" target="_blank">Cuba</a> </i><i>(Beaulac) </i>with
Dr. Miguel Angel de la Campa, Minister of State datelined Habana, March
22, 1952 and marked secret the U.S. Ambassador indicated that
<a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=http://www.latinamericanstudies.org/cable/cable-3-22-52.htm&source=gmail&ust=1615506958738000&usg=AFQjCNHXLTFt3W0AwGU32dfCFv26UB55qg" href="http://www.latinamericanstudies.org/cable/cable-3-22-52.htm" target="_blank">according to Dr. Campa</a>:<br /></span>
</span></span><blockquote><span style="font-size: small;"><span><span face="arial,sans-serif">
“ Cuba intended to restore normal
relations with countries toward which the former Cuban Government had
had an attitude of hostility. He mentioned Spain and the Dominican
Republic in particular. He said he thought the United States should
recognize promptly; that it was in our interest that the situation
should develop in an orderly way. I reminded Dr. Campa that our
Government had not been consulted about the <i>coup d'etat </i>and that Cuba could not expect automatic recognition from us.” <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://web.archive.org/web/20151127040123/http://www.directorio.org/cubafacts/index.php%23_ftn12&source=gmail&ust=1615506958738000&usg=AFQjCNEJ_ckfKdtV1-USZlAB3kame9evkQ" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20151127040123/http://www.directorio.org/cubafacts/index.php#_ftn12" name="m_-8654534092804409091__ftnref12" target="_blank"></a></span></span></span> </blockquote><span style="font-size: small;"><span>
</span></span><div><span style="font-size: small;"><span>
</span></span><div><span style="font-size: small;"><span face="arial,sans-serif">On March 24, 1952 in a <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1952-54v04/d327&source=gmail&ust=1615506958738000&usg=AFQjCNEZBhnck7tiSmkVN_ovXsQCb9ESew" href="https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1952-54v04/d327" target="_blank">memorandum</a> by the Secretary of State Dean Acheson to President Harry S. Truman expressed surprise and "
deplore[d] the way in which the <span>Batista</span> coup was brought about and is
apprehensive that this kind of thing may occur in other countries of
Latin America where elections are being held this year." </span><span face="arial,sans-serif"></span></span></div><div><span style="font-size: small;"><span face="arial,sans-serif"><br /></span></span></div><div><span style="font-size: small;"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4bFKybMkvheMW1dVvMwi-QqWzXqbVG6iRWhVXN26atzYInPxeQo1irQ5Ams3_5WLuPyt95NHhpdKdgOOGpp5hYFsWP5H5wghEZ0kA6ZA0mPWxoVf8Aoc_96lwHQXwWZgB5syOyuOTWJrcHsQOVNif7xt9RoMQUVw2vhT7AX2C1OV3tmJ3PxCHdPpB9pal/s400/truman.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="392" data-original-width="400" height="393" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4bFKybMkvheMW1dVvMwi-QqWzXqbVG6iRWhVXN26atzYInPxeQo1irQ5Ams3_5WLuPyt95NHhpdKdgOOGpp5hYFsWP5H5wghEZ0kA6ZA0mPWxoVf8Aoc_96lwHQXwWZgB5syOyuOTWJrcHsQOVNif7xt9RoMQUVw2vhT7AX2C1OV3tmJ3PxCHdPpB9pal/w400-h393/truman.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span face="arial,sans-serif"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span face="arial,sans-serif"><span>Secretary of State Dean Acheson and President Harry S. Truman</span></span></td></tr></tbody></table></span></td></tr></tbody></table></span><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: small;"><span><span face="arial,sans-serif">The U.S. eventually recognized the Batista regime, but the ambivalence remained. On May 20, 1957 Fidel Castro <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nytgimes.com/1957/05/20/archives/rebel-urges-us-stop-arming-cuba-castro-in-broadcast-here-asks-for.html&source=gmail&ust=1615506958738000&usg=AFQjCNHf_CbTM5f7TGWNCn62blNqOO8QJg" href="https://www.nytgimes.com/1957/05/20/archives/rebel-urges-us-stop-arming-cuba-castro-in-broadcast-here-asks-for.html" target="_blank">requested</a> that the United State stop sending arms to Batista. The United States complied with an arms embargo <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nytimes.com/1958/04/03/archives/u-s-embargo-set-on-arms-to-cuba-shipment-halted-rifles-ordered-by.html&source=gmail&ust=1615506958738000&usg=AFQjCNEHwyABqJeoRRUdHp2PCC72Mk-t3w" href="https://www.nytimes.com/1958/04/03/archives/u-s-embargo-set-on-arms-to-cuba-shipment-halted-rifles-ordered-by.html" target="_blank">imposed</a> on the Batista regime less than a year later.</span></span></span></div></div></div><div><span style="font-size: small;"><span><span face="arial,sans-serif"><br /></span></span></span></div><div><span style="font-size: small;"><span><span face="arial,sans-serif">
In January of 1958 the United States <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1958-60v06/pg_66&source=gmail&ust=1615506958738000&usg=AFQjCNHgirviS9KAIA9qk_4EFAWypi9tMg" href="https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1958-60v06/pg_66" target="_blank">was pressuring Batista to restore Constitutional guarantees</a> in exchange for the sale of arms.<br /></span></span></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span><span face="arial,sans-serif"><br />
On March 14, 1958 the State Department in a <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1958-60v06/pg_60&source=gmail&ust=1615506958738000&usg=AFQjCNGPLcK8ba1K-tD8Zurgm3VX1TnxrA" href="https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1958-60v06/pg_60" target="_blank">telegram</a> to the U.S. Embassy in Cuba requested that the export license for 1,950 M-1 rifles for the Cuban Army awaiting shipment be <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1958-60v06/pg_67&source=gmail&ust=1615506958738000&usg=AFQjCNFCaNv3-y_nCJN4ifqrM2gFyuZXgA" href="https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1958-60v06/pg_67" target="_blank">suspended</a>.
This was done because the State Department felt that the Cuban
government had failed to "create conditions for fair elections." </span></span></span></div><div><span style="font-size: small;"><span><span face="arial,sans-serif"></span></span></span></div><p><span face="arial,sans-serif"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><br /><br /></span><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjz9QOeapqoEdCvaNeoWmW6aaGuGT3skh8T6MUIqPFPFwgJiAJBlSe0MjrkAiBuH4WabqbUjVwZKVILzgLovWL926qISMIWrwXlpK6rwcBal2R-kFxfp0eIApfpkoEeIIhRCwagjqxvxMhFeK_ZeWYEXPMrUBigoQKvkdDIdVXMHdgZhzAN5THmNWvWzvVO/s357/1113000043-l.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="357" data-original-width="248" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjz9QOeapqoEdCvaNeoWmW6aaGuGT3skh8T6MUIqPFPFwgJiAJBlSe0MjrkAiBuH4WabqbUjVwZKVILzgLovWL926qISMIWrwXlpK6rwcBal2R-kFxfp0eIApfpkoEeIIhRCwagjqxvxMhFeK_ZeWYEXPMrUBigoQKvkdDIdVXMHdgZhzAN5THmNWvWzvVO/w278-h400/1113000043-l.jpg" width="278" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span face="arial,sans-serif"><span face="arial,sans-serif"><span><span style="font-size: small;">Manuel Urrutia</span></span></span></span></td></tr></tbody></table></span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: small;"><span face="arial,sans-serif"><span><span>On March 17, 1958 Fidel Castro's future candidate for provisional president, Manuel Urrutia, along with a delegation of other <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1958-60v06/pg_63&source=gmail&ust=1615506958739000&usg=AFQjCNFnV15JSZ0sgMK_niXuIYM3ZUmqsw" href="https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1958-60v06/pg_63" target="_blank">supporters in exile of the July 26th movement</a>,
met with officials at the State Department. They lobbied the U.S.
government and argued that arms shipments to Cuba were for hemispheric
defense, and they claimed that Batista using them against Cuban
nationals was in violation of the conditions agreed to between the two
countries. On the same day the Cuban Government presented to
the U.S. Embassy in Havana <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1958-60v06/pg_65&source=gmail&ust=1615506958739000&usg=AFQjCNF-ed_Ha6vz4q17qSh-YtcdNLs0oQ" href="https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1958-60v06/pg_65" target="_blank">a formal note protesting</a> the delay in the shipment of M-1
rifles to the Cuban Army, and warned that it would weaken the Cuban government and lead to its possible downfall.<span> </span> <br /></span></span></span></span></p><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: small;"><span><span face="arial,sans-serif">
On March 26, 1958 in <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1958-60v06/pg_71&source=gmail&ust=1615506958739000&usg=AFQjCNFRWGPksL6LccMkjpZOWJZKEe4Ybw" href="https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1958-60v06/pg_71" target="_blank">another telegram</a>
from the State Department to the U.S. Embassy in Havana the view was
expressed how the arms embargo could lead to the fall of Batista's
regime:<br /></span></span></span>
<blockquote><span style="font-family: times; font-size: small;"><span><span face="arial,sans-serif">
“Department has considered possibility its actions could have an adverse
psychological effect GOC and could unintentionally contribute to or
accelerate eventual Batista downfall. On other hand, shipment US combat
arms at this time would probably invite increased resentment against US
and associate it with Batista strong arm methods, especially following
so closely on heels of following developments:<br /></span>
</span></span><ol style="text-align: left;"><li><span style="font-family: times; font-size: small;"><span>Government publicly desisted from peace efforts.</span></span></li><li><span style="font-family: times; font-size: small;"><span>Government suspended guarantees again.</span></span></li><li><span style="font-family: times; font-size: small;"><span>Batista expressed confidence Government will win elections with his
candidate and insists they will be held despite suspension guarantees
but has made no real effort to satisfy public opinion on their fairness
and effectiveness as possible means achieve fair and acceptable
solution.</span></span></li><li><span style="font-family: times; font-size: small;"><span>Batista announced would increase size arms and informed you he would
again undertake mass population shift Oriente, and otherwise acted in
manner to discourage those who supported or could be brought to support
peaceful settlement by constructive negotiations. </span></span></li></ol></blockquote><span style="font-family: times; font-size: small;"><span>
</span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: small;"><span><span face="arial,sans-serif">The United States would continue to pressure Batista to hold free elections and leave office for the remainder of 1958.</span><span style="color: black;"><span face="arial,sans-serif"><span style="background-color: white; display: inline; float: none; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"> Earl E. T. Smith, t</span></span><span style="background-color: white; display: inline; float: none; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><span face="arial,sans-serif">he U.S. ambassador to Cuba, on December 17, 1958 <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://cubanexilequarter.blogspot.com/2019/03/we-too-have-memory-when-fidel-castro.html&source=gmail&ust=1615506958739000&usg=AFQjCNFBbKKWsZPKkBKnrvOMxxzT7OTY8w" href="https://cubanexilequarter.blogspot.com/2019/03/we-too-have-memory-when-fidel-castro.html" target="_blank">delivered a message</a> from the State Department to Fulgencio Batista that the United States viewed "with </span><span style="background-color: white; display: inline; float: none; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><span face="arial,sans-serif">skepticism
any plan on his part, or any intention on his part, to
remain in Cuba indefinitely."</span></span></span></span></span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: small;"><span><span style="color: black;"><span style="background-color: white; display: inline; float: none; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="background-color: white; display: inline; float: none; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><span face="arial,sans-serif"> </span></span></span></span></span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: small;"><span><span style="color: black;"><span style="background-color: white; display: inline; float: none; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="background-color: white; display: inline; float: none; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><span face="arial,sans-serif"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYKj97Zo5zB-ib9RPLuqbH1cAq54PsfGzhLSfuTkGP4NxEhRKtYm9K0rjVblJeiY5dVWo1jGLn3tFkQVeEHK9Rj3He91ot8iNtDKGk1Gc-tYkIaYcisPTHsstgIHgSyqYxrKJS9vFlCpQOFVCQYumn1p7DF6jWBQNKke3wicNiH-LVGgOrCdWTJb3NZUVJ/s320/smith.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="320" data-original-width="252" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYKj97Zo5zB-ib9RPLuqbH1cAq54PsfGzhLSfuTkGP4NxEhRKtYm9K0rjVblJeiY5dVWo1jGLn3tFkQVeEHK9Rj3He91ot8iNtDKGk1Gc-tYkIaYcisPTHsstgIHgSyqYxrKJS9vFlCpQOFVCQYumn1p7DF6jWBQNKke3wicNiH-LVGgOrCdWTJb3NZUVJ/w315-h400/smith.png" width="315" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "times","times new roman",serif;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="background-color: white; display: inline; float: none; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="background-color: white; display: inline; float: none; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><span face="arial,sans-serif"><span><span style="font-family: "times","times new roman",serif;"><span style="color: black;"><span face="arial,sans-serif"><span><span style="background-color: white; display: inline; float: none; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">Ambassador Earl E. T. Smith</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></td></tr></tbody></table><br /></span></span></span></span></span></span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "times","times new roman",serif;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="background-color: white; display: inline; float: none; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="background-color: white; display: inline; float: none; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><span face="arial,sans-serif"><span><span>The U.S. government had dealt Batista a
mortal blow, and fourteen days later the Cuban dictatorship fell, and the Castro era had started. </span></span></span><span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: "times new roman";"></span></span></span></span></span></span>This was not a U.S. backed dictatorship.<span style="font-family: times;"><span><span style="color: black;"><span style="background-color: white; display: inline; float: none; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="background-color: white; display: inline; float: none; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><span face="arial,sans-serif"></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></div>John Suarezhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11333798474560217548noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1419558703918975245.post-67303613170108534072024-03-10T13:43:00.006-04:002024-03-10T13:44:38.326-04:00March 10th: Cuba and Tibet's shared day of tragedy <p> We remember</p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvyGAbafV8WfZmQowUrfvsv5-vmFava1Shb8l17fnTyswPDnLNRSai3Vjn4JcZnS8UPhHiL2yJzyGrEOL3PctdTflnR3giGOBVnjZLlFpn6YEpBqEY3nAP1E0xnx4igYaYJjkDQc_y-v_JuU-IIAGpoTO9kQDO8Tlcf4Htrjhsc8jbDQe0VWH1poJJGZQN/s400/maofulgencio.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="260" data-original-width="400" height="260" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvyGAbafV8WfZmQowUrfvsv5-vmFava1Shb8l17fnTyswPDnLNRSai3Vjn4JcZnS8UPhHiL2yJzyGrEOL3PctdTflnR3giGOBVnjZLlFpn6YEpBqEY3nAP1E0xnx4igYaYJjkDQc_y-v_JuU-IIAGpoTO9kQDO8Tlcf4Htrjhsc8jbDQe0VWH1poJJGZQN/w400-h260/maofulgencio.png" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Tibetan national uprising crushed, Cuban democracy destroyed. </td></tr></tbody></table><p></p><p>Notwithstanding our dissimilar histories and religious practices,
Cubans and Tibetans have two things in common which unite us in our
misery. For both countries, <a href="https://cubanexilequarter.blogspot.com/2019/03/60th-anniversary-of-tibetan-national_10.html">March 10th</a> is a somber day. March 10th is a day for sad reflection despite being seven years apart. </p><p><span style="font-size: 100%;">Since
the early 1950s, both peoples have endured oppression, and more than 70
years later, they are still fighting for the restoration of freedom. In
1949, China adopted a communist government and soon started claiming
Tibet as its own. In 1950, </span><span style="font-size: 100%;"></span><a href="https://freetibet.org/about/history">Communist China invaded and occupied Tibet</a><span style="font-size: 100%;">. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: 100%;"> </span>
<iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/HwF1xWEddfo?si=wJMWNu5qbqhHjl2x" title="YouTube video player" width="420"></iframe> </p><p><span style="font-size: 100%;">Up until March 10, 1952, when Fulgencio Batista ousted the democracy in a coup d'état against </span><span style="font-size: 100%;"><a href="https://cubanexilequarter.blogspot.com/2018/10/carlos-prio-socarras-cubas-last.html">the last democratically elected president</a></span><span style="font-size: 100%;">, Carlos Prio Socarras, </span><span style="font-size: 100%;">within days of free elections</span><span style="font-size: 100%;">, Cuba was a free and independent nation with a constitutional democracy. Hence, the </span><span style="font-size: 100%;"><a href="https://cubanexilequarter.blogspot.com/2020/01/cubas-last-free-election-was-in-1950.html">last free election</a></span><span style="font-size: 100%;"> in Cuba was held in 1950. <br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 100%;">The
irony is that Fulgencio Batista's destruction of Cuba's democracy set
the stage for Fidel Castro to seize power seven years later, despite
Batista's claims that he staged the coup to avert a severe
dictatorship. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: 100%;">Both Cubans
and Tibetans saw 1959 as a chance to restore democracy and achieve
freedom. Instead, despotism consolidated its power.</span></p><p></p>
<iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Vo-A9ExHj-0?si=dH_BKu4XcXtpsWfA" title="YouTube video player" width="420"></iframe>
<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: 100%;"> </span></div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: 100%;">The Cuban
nightmare began amidst the hope on January 1, 1959 that <a href="https://cubanexilequarter.blogspot.com/2019/03/we-too-have-memory-when-fidel-castro.html">the departure of Fulgencio Batista into exile</a> would mean a <a href="https://cubanexilequarter.blogspot.com/2017/03/castros-legacy-and-future-of-cuba-whats.html">democratic restoration</a> and
an end to authoritarian tyranny instead it was the <a href="https://cubanexilequarter.blogspot.com/2017/03/castros-legacy-and-future-of-cuba-whats.html">beginning of a new totalitarian communist tyranny</a> headed by Fidel Castro. </span></div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: 100%;"><br /></span></div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: 100%;">Cloaking itself
in the legitimacy of nationalism and anti-Americanism it justified the
systematic denial of human rights in the rhetoric of anti-imperialism and the “Yankee threat.”</span><br /><br />
<span style="font-size: 100%;"><span style="font-size: 100%;">Tibetan hopes <a href="https://savetibet.org/solidarity-with-tibetans-on-61st-anniversary-of-national-uprising/">that a national uprising that erupted in Lhasa on March 10, 1959</a>
would drive the Chinese
occupiers out of their homeland. Instead His Holiness the Dalai Lama
had to flee to India to avoid imprisonment or assassination as the
Chinese communists crushed the uprising.</span></span></div><p></p>
<iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/lounJuTaiSc?si=tnnRoTHWwGAXKGfS" title="YouTube video player" width="420"></iframe><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: 100%;"><span style="font-size: 100%;"> </span></span></div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: 100%;"><span style="font-size: 100%;">The Castro regime claim of "anti-imperialism" proved hollow and history demonstrated that it was <a href="https://cubanexilequarter.blogspot.com/2013/12/fidel-and-raul-castro-lap-dogs-of.html">conditioned upon ideology</a>. </span><span style="font-size: 100%;">This was witnessed with the Castro regime’s support of the Soviet invasion of
<a href="https://cubanexilequarter.blogspot.com/2009/11/fidel-castro-carlos-franqui-and-1968.html">Czechoslovakia in 1968</a> and its invasion of <a href="https://cubanexilequarter.blogspot.com/2013/12/fidel-and-raul-castro-lap-dogs-of.html">Afghanistan in 1979,</a> and Russia's invasion of <a href="https://www.cubacenter.org/archives/2024/2/20/cubabrief-setting-the-record-straight-on-cuba-russia-relations-and-the-need-to-support-ukraine">Ukraine in 2022</a> are high profile examples.<br /></span></span></div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: 100%;"><span style="font-size: 100%;"><br /></span></span></div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: 100%;"><span style="font-size: 100%;">The same holds true for Tibet. </span>Fidel
Castro in his March 31, 2008 “<a href="https://www.liberationnews.org/08-03-31-reflections-fidel-chinese-victo-html/">reflection</a>” titled “<a href="https://www.liberationnews.org/08-03-31-reflections-fidel-chinese-victo-html/">The Chinese Victory</a>”
denies that Tibet was ever independent justifying and defending the
Chinese occupation<span style="font-size: 100%;"> of that small country. It is a shameful re</span></span><span style="font-size: small;">writing of history.</span></div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span><span> </span></span></span></div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span>On July 1, 2020 the Cuban dictatorship <a href="https://bitterwinter.org/the-axis-of-shame-july-2020-the-countries-that-supported-china-on-hong-kong/">introduced the resolution</a> at the UN Human Rights Council praising China for the passing of the Hong Kong National Security Law that <a href="http://cubanexilequarter.blogspot.com/2020/07/the-castro-regimes-role-in-legitimizing.html">ended freedom in Hong Kong</a>. </span><span><span> </span><br /> </span></span></div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;">With
Russia's ongoing aggressio</span><span style="font-size: 100%;">n against its neighbors, the Castro
dictatorship has carried on this tradition to the present day.<br /></span></div><p><span style="font-size: 100%;"></span></p><div>Vladimir Putin's attacks against <a href="https://www.csmonitor.com/World/Europe/2008/0920/p01s01-woeu.html" style="color: #5588aa; text-decoration-line: none;">Georgia in 2008</a>, <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/russia-annexes-crimea-away-from-ukraine-with-signature-from-vladimir-putin/" style="color: #5588aa; text-decoration-line: none;">Crimea in 2014</a> and the eight years long low intensity war in the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_in_Donbas" style="color: #5588aa; text-decoration-line: none;">Donbas region in Eastern Ukraine</a>, and the February 24, 2022, <a href="https://www.deseret.com/utah/2022/2/27/22951594/what-led-to-the-russian-invasion-of-ukraine-questions-usu-professor-anna-pechenkina-russian" style="color: #5588aa; text-decoration-line: none;">multi-pronged Russian invasion</a> of Ukraine were all acts of aggression in violation of international law.</div><div><br /></div><div><div>The Russian dictator's repeated aggressions were all backed by Cuba.</div></div><p><span style="font-size: 100%;">Both <a href="https://cubanexilequarter.blogspot.com/2017/12/red-killings-in-cuba-cost-in-cuban-lives.html">the Castro regime</a> and the <a href="https://cubanexilequarter.blogspot.com/2019/10/70-years-of-communism-in-china-nothing.html">Chinese communists</a> must be held accountable for their many crimes, their hypocrisy on the issue of imperialism, and the <a href="https://cubanexilequarter.blogspot.com/2018/12/cubas-human-rights-legacy-then-and-now.html">historical facts</a> they have sought to disappear must be shared widely.</span></p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p dir="ltr" lang="en">65 years ago today, the Tibetan people rose up<br /><br />Thanks to their bravery, the Tibetan cause is alive & strong to this day<br /><br />On this <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/TibetanUprisingDay?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#TibetanUprisingDay</a>, we honor the resistance & resilience of the Tibetan people<br /><br />After 65 years, it's time to <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/ResolveTibet?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#ResolveTibet</a>➡️ <a href="https://t.co/YVMP2eqfyS">https://t.co/YVMP2eqfyS</a> <a href="https://t.co/AmDekDEVCv">pic.twitter.com/AmDekDEVCv</a></p>— International Campaign for Tibet (@SaveTibetOrg) <a href="https://twitter.com/SaveTibetOrg/status/1766811867756875822?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 10, 2024</a></blockquote> <script async="" charset="utf-8" src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script>
<p><span style="font-size: 100%;">Tibetans, today, March 10th, reflect <a href="https://tibet.net/statement-of-kashag-on-the-sixty-fifth-anniversary-of-tibetan-national-uprising-day/">on the 65th anniversary of their national uprising</a></span><span style="font-weight: 400;"> against the occupation of Tibet by the People’s Republic of China, and recommit to their struggle for freedom.</span></p><p><span style="font-weight: 400;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIYJhbtGvhSLb2G852GCfu3AJ80GgOwUH1RUkCpmdnGQr6DAo-m3Aau0EZilC2v1Ua-Gkzbud2ylec33-jR1R5WAzPAYesTr9h7geEWy6wPsE91Rs0qe-dQWfa5Z_Ald_1kXfTw6CRfkiN_cO2I5EJmjheIi1NZaPSEyrXtHDN-RV7JyvhZ5LJal_S8jDN/s2048/GHXTvUuXgAIraeT.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="2048" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIYJhbtGvhSLb2G852GCfu3AJ80GgOwUH1RUkCpmdnGQr6DAo-m3Aau0EZilC2v1Ua-Gkzbud2ylec33-jR1R5WAzPAYesTr9h7geEWy6wPsE91Rs0qe-dQWfa5Z_Ald_1kXfTw6CRfkiN_cO2I5EJmjheIi1NZaPSEyrXtHDN-RV7JyvhZ5LJal_S8jDN/w400-h400/GHXTvUuXgAIraeT.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-size: 100%;">At the same time, today, March 10, is
a significant day for Cubans to recall the ways in which Fulgencio
Batista destroyed their democracy and the ways in which <a href="https://cubanexilequarter.blogspot.com/2022/03/70-years-without-democracy-in-cuba-63.html">those effects continue to impact Cuba today</a>.</span><p></p><p><span style="font-size: 100%;"></span></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_uZD1XDe27SwYx42roDYHPgsuP6okP-HHr9uKS0qO48SHQ2n0J8jm6R0APPOoj4tyCU4h4-HDChHxW48eTIV13n598v2EPYwgBo0KionYKahV9COK8OI_XFEyE_QcPVmN17_D2_bvSAX10lZz7WS9zviNgKVfMpeQ2U65tsQdNSiqq9Mj2bpOy4BXRckW/s2248/somoscontd4.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1032" data-original-width="2248" height="184" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_uZD1XDe27SwYx42roDYHPgsuP6okP-HHr9uKS0qO48SHQ2n0J8jm6R0APPOoj4tyCU4h4-HDChHxW48eTIV13n598v2EPYwgBo0KionYKahV9COK8OI_XFEyE_QcPVmN17_D2_bvSAX10lZz7WS9zviNgKVfMpeQ2U65tsQdNSiqq9Mj2bpOy4BXRckW/w400-h184/somoscontd4.png" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif;">#TheyAreContinuity #TheyAreDictators ( #SomosContinuidad #SonDictadores)</span></span></td></tr></tbody></table><span style="font-size: small;"> </span><p></p><p><span style="font-size: small;">Therefore on this day let us call for Freedom for Cuba and Tibet!</span> <br /></p>John Suarezhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11333798474560217548noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1419558703918975245.post-11728071865686136672024-03-05T05:45:00.003-05:002024-03-05T05:45:51.502-05:00We Remember: 84 years ago today the order that led to the Katyn Massacre was signed by Josef Stalin <p> <span style="font-style: italic;">To forget would be not only dangerous but offensive; to forget the dead would be akin to killing them a second time.”</span><span style="font-style: italic;"> - Elie Wiesel, <u>Night</u></span></p><p><span style="font-style: italic;"><u> <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlInruAkBKGoYcvHbj-GP4sDFCGpJQdZNMT4WtpBkmMhOEeIHvlrSy-uZ30_EXSy3rQSYo9GuxGdNHdYTjf83j-Hz1bzdwr96YnMKsSPmzb7DTPGYuRRWwlL8euGfPuiwTx_NYcJ0Wy9JDgLWx7aBNCrNHEtPSZ6nFaO6eR56Iya3VvcX4cfBwk4c-3Go1/s448/ESYV02kWsAAzIw-.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="448" data-original-width="391" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlInruAkBKGoYcvHbj-GP4sDFCGpJQdZNMT4WtpBkmMhOEeIHvlrSy-uZ30_EXSy3rQSYo9GuxGdNHdYTjf83j-Hz1bzdwr96YnMKsSPmzb7DTPGYuRRWwlL8euGfPuiwTx_NYcJ0Wy9JDgLWx7aBNCrNHEtPSZ6nFaO6eR56Iya3VvcX4cfBwk4c-3Go1/s16000/ESYV02kWsAAzIw-.jpg" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="css-901oao css-16my406 r-1qd0xha r-ad9z0x r-bcqeeo r-qvutc0">Josef Stalin in the foreground, and Lavrentiy Beria seated behind him.</span></td></tr></tbody></table><br /> </u></span><span class="css-901oao css-16my406 r-1qd0xha r-ad9z0x r-bcqeeo r-qvutc0">On March 5, 1940 the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union <a href="https://twitter.com/katyn1940/status/970475830743851011">passed a resolution</a>
to shoot Polish prisoners of war held in the camps in Kozelsk,
Starobielsk and Ostashkov and those detained by the NKVD in prisons in
Western Belarus and Ukraine. </span></p><p><span class="css-901oao css-16my406 r-1qd0xha r-ad9z0x r-bcqeeo r-qvutc0"><a href="https://www.polskieradio.pl/395/7989/Artykul/2468104,Anniversary-80-years-ago-Stalin-ordered-murder-of-Polish-POWs">Eighty four years ago</a>
today Josef Stalin signed Lavrentiy Pavlovich Beria's order, condemning
22,000 Polish POWs and civilians to death. Beria was Stalin's </span><span class="css-901oao css-16my406 r-1qd0xha r-ad9z0x r-bcqeeo r-qvutc0">head of the People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs (<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lavrentiy_Beria#Head_of_the_NKVD">NKVD</a>) from 1938 until 1945. He was the head of the secret police in the Soviet Union.</span></p><p><span class="css-901oao css-16my406 r-1qd0xha r-ad9z0x r-bcqeeo r-qvutc0"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrZytW7tpeDsmoKs7EQxo9LdcrQ-H6Eip0HiMRQTcMhwjSzDPHU4zswmo1pTE-YQ69EoqsqTT1qHBI1yylUn5ycbEWKgCtJ3jgdBFAy_4kHITkBrhOqPS1wcXVbSy6MsrNuIThHkIBDwHk8RbLb0nNwP93KaAHjD1kGHoW-O11k9Z_zYfhBI24JSLmsY0Y/s1431/ESYV22MWsAA0NpA.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1431" data-original-width="992" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrZytW7tpeDsmoKs7EQxo9LdcrQ-H6Eip0HiMRQTcMhwjSzDPHU4zswmo1pTE-YQ69EoqsqTT1qHBI1yylUn5ycbEWKgCtJ3jgdBFAy_4kHITkBrhOqPS1wcXVbSy6MsrNuIThHkIBDwHk8RbLb0nNwP93KaAHjD1kGHoW-O11k9Z_zYfhBI24JSLmsY0Y/w277-h400/ESYV22MWsAA0NpA.jpg" width="277" /></a></div><p></p><div class="css-901oao r-hkyrab r-1qd0xha r-a023e6 r-16dba41 r-ad9z0x r-bcqeeo r-bnwqim r-qvutc0" dir="auto" id="tweet-text" lang="en">
<span class="css-901oao css-16my406 r-1qd0xha r-ad9z0x r-bcqeeo r-qvutc0">Beria's
March 5, 1940 note requested that the cases of the Polish POWs and
those arrested in a special manner should be dealt the highest penalty -
by shooting and without a formal trial.</span></div>
<br />
<div class="css-901oao r-hkyrab r-1qd0xha r-a023e6 r-16dba41 r-ad9z0x r-bcqeeo r-bnwqim r-qvutc0" dir="auto" id="tweet-text" lang="en">
</div>
<div class="css-901oao r-hkyrab r-1qd0xha r-a023e6 r-16dba41 r-ad9z0x r-bcqeeo r-bnwqim r-qvutc0" dir="auto" id="tweet-text" lang="en">
<span class="css-901oao css-16my406 r-1qd0xha r-ad9z0x r-bcqeeo r-qvutc0">This crime would forever be linked to the Katyn Forest, <a href="https://katynpromemoria.pl/?lang=en">where some of the mass graves</a> were first discovered. This dark anniversary was observed four years ago in a conference titled </span><span class="css-901oao css-16my406 r-1qd0xha r-ad9z0x r-bcqeeo r-qvutc0">"Generations of Memory - Testimonies."</span></div>
<div class="css-901oao r-hkyrab r-1qd0xha r-a023e6 r-16dba41 r-ad9z0x r-bcqeeo r-bnwqim r-qvutc0" dir="auto" id="tweet-text" lang="en">
</div>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-twitter-extracted-i1709634771887299996="true">
<div dir="ltr" lang="en">
First panel <a href="https://twitter.com/CPRDiP?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@CPRDiP</a>
Katyń conference on "Generations of Memory - Testimonies" underlining
how important it is for families to keep visiting the Katyń cemeteries
to keep the memory alive and to promote to Russians how to remember own
victims of Stalinism. <a href="https://t.co/CaYqaISuKx">pic.twitter.com/CaYqaISuKx</a></div>
— Katyń 1940 (@katyn1940) <a href="https://twitter.com/katyn1940/status/1235499908309946368?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 5, 2020</a></blockquote><p>
<span class="css-901oao css-16my406 r-1qd0xha r-ad9z0x r-bcqeeo r-qvutc0">This mass execution was carried out while Communist Russia and Nazi Germany were allies that <a href="https://cubanexilequarter.blogspot.com/2019/09/joint-soviet-nazi-military-parade-held.html">divided Poland</a> and the rest of Central Europe between the two totalitarian powers in the 1939 <a href="https://cubanexilequarter.blogspot.com/2019/08/molotov-ribbentrop-pact-at-80-exploring.html">Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact</a>.</span></p><p><span class="css-901oao css-16my406 r-1qd0xha r-ad9z0x r-bcqeeo r-qvutc0">During this one year 10 month "honeymoon" between Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union, Stalin's regime also <a href="https://cubanexilequarter.blogspot.com/2020/03/eighty-years-ago-stalin-sent-german.html">handed over Jewish refugees</a> to the Nazi Gestapo. </span><br />
<br />
<span class="css-901oao css-16my406 r-1qd0xha r-ad9z0x r-bcqeeo r-qvutc0">The
crimes of Katyn and the Soviet Union's aiding of Nazi Germany's crimes
against the Polish and Jewish peoples between September 1939 and June
1941 must not be forgotten at a time that Russia's Vladimir Putin <a href="https://www.rferl.org/a/russia-katyn-massacre-rewriting-history-removal-plaques/30338487.html">is trying to rewrite history</a> in an Orwellian fashion, while he writes <a href="https://www.icc-cpi.int/victims/ukraine">new chapters of infamy in Ukraine</a>.</span><span class="css-901oao css-16my406 r-1qd0xha r-ad9z0x r-bcqeeo r-qvutc0"><br /></span></p>John Suarezhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11333798474560217548noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1419558703918975245.post-83455966172580236502024-02-29T01:20:00.002-05:002024-02-29T01:23:39.690-05:00Oswaldo Payá Sardiñas born 72 years ago: Honoring Cuba's Consistent Human Rights Defender <p><span style="font-size: normal;"><span><i>"In Cuba we are being prohibited from preparing that future, working
now at night for the following morning, because someone has said that
the night will not end. But the night will not be eternal, it is
ending." - <a href="https://twitter.com/CUBADECIDE/status/1497972941778259976">Oswaldo Payá Sardiñas</a></i></span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: normal;"><span><i></i></span></span></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixPGluQF6D22dSDw0uKHo4Qh6NEg6D9IfuQlSIF_5Felp1zBnIPVG2srlgqcC_AEfzM5MlxYdY7itO5xu5lyKzcKMJb01gtfrmWo8atT-mx_OQv8ktMjiUtitzszPvGBLBIrEI2UyU3h9XehfOKPaRb3QPDIUYJ6PvPte0r8rDlNGW7_lVSyzUt4EcrOL1/s400/Oswaldo.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="400" data-original-width="366" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixPGluQF6D22dSDw0uKHo4Qh6NEg6D9IfuQlSIF_5Felp1zBnIPVG2srlgqcC_AEfzM5MlxYdY7itO5xu5lyKzcKMJb01gtfrmWo8atT-mx_OQv8ktMjiUtitzszPvGBLBIrEI2UyU3h9XehfOKPaRb3QPDIUYJ6PvPte0r8rDlNGW7_lVSyzUt4EcrOL1/w366-h400/Oswaldo.jpg" width="366" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: normal;"><span><i></i></span></span><p><span style="font-size: normal;"><span>Oswaldo Payá Sardiñas</span></span></p></td></tr></tbody></table><span style="font-size: normal;"><span><i><br /> </i>Oswaldo José Payá Sardiñas was born 72 years ago on February 29, 1952 and was
<a href="https://cubanexilequarter.blogspot.com/2017/11/remembering-some-of-victims-of-cuban_11.html">extrajudicially executed in Cuba</a> by Castro's secret police on July 22, 2012 along with <a href="https://cubanexilequarter.blogspot.com/2018/01/remembering-some-of-victims-of-cuban_27.html">Harold Cepero</a>.</span><span><i> </i></span></span><p></p><p style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: normal;">Ten years ago Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights <a href="https://www.oas.org/en/iachr/decisions/2023/ADM_14-196_EN.pdf">petitioned the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights</a> (IACHR) to examine the evidence around the deaths of Oswaldo and Harold on July 22, 2012.</span></p><p style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: normal;">On June 12, 2023 the IACHR <a href="https://www.oas.org/en/iachr/jsForm/?File=/en/iachr/media_center/preleases/2023/116.asp">published their report on the merits</a> that found Cuban government agents responsible for the deaths of the two pro-democracy leaders and Christian Liberation Movement leaders</span></p><p style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: normal;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: normal;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6vZzAFf4b09eU7LWruC52nQbFeIwtGamMSiqz7f_gFt-PYY6w7zkCx6zZ3IpTS1y2puJlk70HHUkGKKh9Fr6PPPpnCSta7hNZlHXe-Wlw5W9uOnbjT9LgNLQmsaiYPNlVoF4nhlLfPBS-UjpJmNUt-qseKPfATacgn-1up4DRDF78mFaGVh95o_MKeQ5o/s1569/Ecx-W1aWAAEb9AQ.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1242" data-original-width="1569" height="316" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6vZzAFf4b09eU7LWruC52nQbFeIwtGamMSiqz7f_gFt-PYY6w7zkCx6zZ3IpTS1y2puJlk70HHUkGKKh9Fr6PPPpnCSta7hNZlHXe-Wlw5W9uOnbjT9LgNLQmsaiYPNlVoF4nhlLfPBS-UjpJmNUt-qseKPfATacgn-1up4DRDF78mFaGVh95o_MKeQ5o/w400-h316/Ecx-W1aWAAEb9AQ.png" width="400" /></a></span></div><p></p><p style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: normal;"><span>Twenty two years earlier, Oswaldo Payá along with other members of the Christian Liberation Movement in May 2002 <a href="https://cubanexilequarter.blogspot.com/2014/05/remembering-project-varelas-importance.html">turned in thousands of signatures</a> from the Varela Project, a petition that called for human rights to be respected in Cuba, and that the matter be debated before the National Assembly.</span> </span></p><p style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: normal;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: normal;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiY00d3voYK9cQmozSyThR3jQqq6GqFVKM2FKYEVeo1xCKw9pwf2kIxhNwoG-MZJxfFvsdwfo6UH-agpujM48ExyNQd7OYTQ1UfUC2a0lhNBt1M_QUbw4GFz7E72rVUEoYts3BfJDKRhWTzSQuZRAL0-Ia5U1Gyy6ikITfpyfbVyhjE44Y6JvmQ4pQj24sR/s324/C0WJaXnUAAAxcTL.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="216" data-original-width="324" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiY00d3voYK9cQmozSyThR3jQqq6GqFVKM2FKYEVeo1xCKw9pwf2kIxhNwoG-MZJxfFvsdwfo6UH-agpujM48ExyNQd7OYTQ1UfUC2a0lhNBt1M_QUbw4GFz7E72rVUEoYts3BfJDKRhWTzSQuZRAL0-Ia5U1Gyy6ikITfpyfbVyhjE44Y6JvmQ4pQj24sR/w400-h266/C0WJaXnUAAAxcTL.jpg" width="400" /></a></span></div><p></p><p style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: normal;"><span><span>In December of 2002, thanks to lobbying and pressure from Spain, Oswaldo Payá was able to travel to Strasbourg, France to receive the European Union's <a href="https://cubanexilequarter.blogspot.com/2010/10/sakharov-prize-who-is-it-named-after.html">Sakharov</a> Prize and <a href="https://cubanexilequarter.blogspot.com/2019/12/world-listens-to-free-cubans-oswaldo.html">address the chamber</a>.</span></span> </span></p><p style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: normal;"><span><span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">In 2011, seven Norwegian members of parliament <a href="http://www.prio.org/about/peaceprize/prio-directors-speculations-2011/">nominated Oswaldo Payá</a> for the Nobel Peace Prize. (Václav Havel had also twice nominated Oswaldo Payá ).</span></span><br /></span><span><span> </span></span></span></p><p style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: normal;"><span><span></span></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: normal;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhX73el35WqiNyus1HHemO1gWc7Wi_vPKC5KARrl9UYUlcBV5dCp0xY-bG0nD2yjURT5cItEVzaCsMNuztI22zas37TKHycR8kFH_IABm1xdtysSvXnYR1pJIszzJCm5lpAYYy8R3geUY7AxfUNh9t_aWU1DowbDZsOd3kLVSUNnVDTbE4PU03CUe_Cz_e_/s320/C0WJXLIUsAAPZ3c.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="240" data-original-width="320" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhX73el35WqiNyus1HHemO1gWc7Wi_vPKC5KARrl9UYUlcBV5dCp0xY-bG0nD2yjURT5cItEVzaCsMNuztI22zas37TKHycR8kFH_IABm1xdtysSvXnYR1pJIszzJCm5lpAYYy8R3geUY7AxfUNh9t_aWU1DowbDZsOd3kLVSUNnVDTbE4PU03CUe_Cz_e_/w400-h300/C0WJXLIUsAAPZ3c.jpg" width="400" /></a></span></div><span style="font-size: normal;"><br /> Following the untimely deaths of Oswaldo and Harold, the Cuban opposition leader's family was subjected to death threats and heightened surveillance by state security. </span><p></p><p><span style="font-size: normal;"><span><span>On June 21, 2022 </span><span><span class="css-901oao css-16my406 r-poiln3 r-bcqeeo r-qvutc0">David Hoffman's book on </span></span><span><span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Oswaldo Payá, </span></span></span><span class="css-901oao css-16my406 r-poiln3 r-bcqeeo r-qvutc0">"<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Give-Me-Liberty-Oswaldo-Daring/dp/1982191198">Give Me Liberty: The True Story of Oswaldo Payá and his Daring Quest for a Free Cuba</a>" was made available for purchase. You can purchase it <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Give-Me-Liberty-Oswaldo-Daring/dp/1982191198">here</a>.</span></span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: normal;"><span></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: normal;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLstsFgLyaKCyZuIExH8OhkMNmbEUa2eyQA9S_cyc3bT0Um7rdjqVvTwbM-BB-CGQDF6g_7gABenYZtTyTBqj5j1HIL9wUIGUrwaj2abLodNWYJs3P2jjclSIuwV_23ccXtBbBD6hyphenhyphenPUgG3dUbYn1TFXqnrwcfJnsTxKYs9GKhEC86vLr_bB-xYLyfh2jc/s400/FJ_gwymXIAgzBdI.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="400" data-original-width="268" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLstsFgLyaKCyZuIExH8OhkMNmbEUa2eyQA9S_cyc3bT0Um7rdjqVvTwbM-BB-CGQDF6g_7gABenYZtTyTBqj5j1HIL9wUIGUrwaj2abLodNWYJs3P2jjclSIuwV_23ccXtBbBD6hyphenhyphenPUgG3dUbYn1TFXqnrwcfJnsTxKYs9GKhEC86vLr_bB-xYLyfh2jc/w268-h400/FJ_gwymXIAgzBdI.jpg" width="268" /></a></span></div><span style="font-size: normal;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: normal;"><span><span><span class="css-901oao css-16my406 r-1qd0xha r-ad9z0x r-bcqeeo r-qvutc0"><span class="css-901oao css-16my406 r-poiln3 r-bcqeeo r-qvutc0"><span class="css-901oao css-16my406 r-1qd0xha r-ad9z0x r-bcqeeo r-qvutc0">Today on his birth anniversary, let us also remember and pray for the soul of this <a href="https://cubanexilequarter.blogspot.com/2013/05/remembering-oswaldo-paya-sardinas.html">good man</a>, who sacrificed all for the freedom of the Cuban people.</span></span></span></span></span></span><p></p><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/d4EJtQtSeOg?si=d96Fw2oZZ33mQQHF" title="YouTube video player" width="420"></iframe>
John Suarezhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11333798474560217548noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1419558703918975245.post-29465262654209098672024-02-24T02:15:00.003-05:002024-02-24T23:21:24.989-05:00The Brothers to the Rescue shootdown 28 years later: Continuing the struggle for truth, justice, and memory <p> <b>#TruthJusticeMemory</b></p><p><b></b></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsUcMCLfH7V7TWqLxp53nuLS9PESh9VByg1GjOsoGLSkIs5WuOVszPlAsqzfIo2ke6LQ0bnIXpGisSoO2z6baL7mSgUiA-l7CnyWf55PozQY8ilHYhnbxpcGvTsdZVvN5xFnYsLVRmMU77newwvEewBQS5ItYky039UY4jD00KXrdHQW7Uhoalk7jfyFwl/s500/bttrhor.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="182" data-original-width="500" height="146" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsUcMCLfH7V7TWqLxp53nuLS9PESh9VByg1GjOsoGLSkIs5WuOVszPlAsqzfIo2ke6LQ0bnIXpGisSoO2z6baL7mSgUiA-l7CnyWf55PozQY8ilHYhnbxpcGvTsdZVvN5xFnYsLVRmMU77newwvEewBQS5ItYky039UY4jD00KXrdHQW7Uhoalk7jfyFwl/w400-h146/bttrhor.jpg" width="400" /></a></b></div><b><br /></b>On February 24, 1996, at 3:21 and 3:27 PM, heat-seeking air-to-air
missiles fired from a MiG-29 UB piloted by Lorenzo Alberto Peréz Peréz
that destroyed the two planes the men were onboard, and <a href="https://cubanexilequarter.blogspot.com/2023/02/fact-sheet-on-february-24-1996-brothers.html">killed</a>
Mario de la Peña, age 24; Carlos Costa, Pablo Morales, both 30, and
Armando Alejandre Jr., 45. Mario, Carlos,Pablo and Armando were members
of the humanitarian organization Brothers to the Rescue.<p></p><p></p><p>This was a <a href="https://cubanexilequarter.blogspot.com/2023/02/fact-sheet-on-february-24-1996-brothers.html">premeditated act of state terrorism</a> carried out by Mr.
Peréz Peréz on the orders of both Fidel and Raul Castro and through the
chain of command issuing the unlawful order that murdered these four men.</p>
<p>
<iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/wTWkGvRjFl4?si=U6WWWC5ut_bfxlBU" title="YouTube video player" width="420"></iframe></p>
<p><a href="https://www.latinamericanstudies.org/espionage/military-messages.htm">Cuban spies</a>
learned the flight schedules and were instructed not to fly on February
24 and, if they had to, to alert the MiGs with a motion while in flight
to save them from suffering the same fate as the other planes.</p><p><a href="https://cubanexilequarter.blogspot.com/2024/02/fact-sheet-on-february-24-1996-brothers.html">Ana Belen Montes</a>, a Cuban <a href="https://cubanexilequarter.blogspot.com/2024/02/fact-sheet-on-february-24-1996-brothers.html">spy</a> working in the Pentagon's Defense Intelligence Agency, <a href="https://www.renewamerica.com/columns/vernon/090406">carried out an influence operation</a> to shift responsibility from the Cuban dictatorship, to its victims in Brothers the Rescue. </p><p>Twenty eight years later, and we are just learning that Ambassador Manuel Roche, a high level spy for Havana, <a href="https://www.nbcmiami.com/news/local/accused-us-diplomat-turned-cuban-spy-avoided-scrutiny-for-decades-despite-red-flags/3234875/">who in 1996 was the principal deputy of the U.S. Interests Section in Havana</a>, and may have played a role in assisting the Cuban dictatorship minimize its accountability in this act of terrorism it committed against U.S. civilians in international airspace.<br /></p><p>
<iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/fZyCXYXCfIE?si=1tLGbGuBde_4ixvr" title="YouTube video player" width="420"></iframe></p><p>This was a premeditated killing over international airspace. The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) <a href="https://cubanexilequarter.blogspot.com/2021/02/fact-sheet-on-february-24-1996-brothers.html">concluded that</a>
the two planes "were shot down miles away from Cuba’s boundary having
never entered or touched it on that day and the planes had been in
contact with the Cuban tower throughout the flight."</p><p>They failed to destroy a third plane with <span class="css-901oao css-16my406 r-poiln3 r-bcqeeo r-qvutc0">Sylvia Iriondo, Andrés Iriondo, Jose Basulto, and Arnaldo Iglesias on board. </span>
</p><p>There is no statue of limitations on murder and state terrorism. There is much more in the <a href="http://cidh.org/annualrep/99eng/Merits/Cuba11.589.htm">Inter-American Commission on Human Rights</a> report on the Brothers to the Rescue shoot down.</p><p></p><p></p><p>
<iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/tkDczKjO88E?si=MjMOx_8vCj6jsbmY" title="YouTube video player" width="420"></iframe></p><p>Over
the past 28 years friends, and family have continued to demand truth,
respect memory and demand justice through protests, petitions, and <a href="https://cubanexilequarter.blogspot.com/2021/02/fact-sheet-on-february-24-1996-brothers.html">law suits</a>. </p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSn0OlVFv6Uox-Dba3c7GIVICtqrWbCHQjoFL8nmKND25Pn-ZQA4sP8X4C6kzSqNKaL3mBfpJHb-FniMed05tUqWo3X5M_MDBVw07msTbRKJzXghfFL5Ba8PGBRCaY3G-8UQjNozc5MDcixfo7mBL0aeN2VSdM5hyiCsNb4Kvyw9ihMA9FsuE-s4x3gRZC/s1000/On%20Behalf%20of%20the%20Camp%204%20Justice%20Foundation%20(1)(1).png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1000" data-original-width="772" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSn0OlVFv6Uox-Dba3c7GIVICtqrWbCHQjoFL8nmKND25Pn-ZQA4sP8X4C6kzSqNKaL3mBfpJHb-FniMed05tUqWo3X5M_MDBVw07msTbRKJzXghfFL5Ba8PGBRCaY3G-8UQjNozc5MDcixfo7mBL0aeN2VSdM5hyiCsNb4Kvyw9ihMA9FsuE-s4x3gRZC/w309-h400/On%20Behalf%20of%20the%20Camp%204%20Justice%20Foundation%20(1)(1).png" width="309" /></a></div><p><br />Family members held a silent vigil for their loved ones on February 23rd, gathering at 3:15 pm at Florida International University, with the vigil starting at 3:21pm and ending at 3:27pm. On February 22nd a <a href="https://www.cubacenter.org/archives/2024/2/23/cubabrief-vigil-for-justice-for-orlando-zapata-tamayo-and-brothers-to-the-rescue-members-martyred-by-communist-cuba-for-defending-human-rights">vigil was held in Washington DC outside of the Embassy of Cuba</a>.</p><p>Today at 10:30am at Opa-locka airport, where <a href="https://cubanexilequarter.blogspot.com/2016/02/brothers-to-rescue-and-shootdown.html">Brothers to the Rescue</a> had their hangar, Jose Basulto, and other survivors of the February 24, 1996 shoot down will gather together to hold a vigil. <br /></p><p></p><p>
<iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/uB84mnDCpfk?si=DfcJSxDvBMFWzkwz" title="YouTube video player" width="420"></iframe></p>John Suarezhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11333798474560217548noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1419558703918975245.post-86931758941010437392024-02-23T01:01:00.011-05:002024-02-23T22:18:19.158-05:00Fourteen years ago on February 23, 2010 prisoner of conscience Orlando Zapata Tamayo was killed by Cuban guards while on hunger strike in Cuba <p><span style="font-size: normal;"><span style="font-family: times;"><span><span><i>"Long live human rights, with my blood I wrote to you so
that this be saved as evidence of the savagery we are subjected to </i><i>that are victims of the Pedro Luis Boitel political prisoners [movement]" - Orlando Zapata Tamayo,<a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20040706090215/https://www.cubanet.org/CNews/y04/apr04/23a5.htm"> letter smuggled</a> out April of 2004*</i></span></span></span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: normal;"><span style="font-family: times;"><span><span><i></i></span></span></span></span></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwSIwf763Kr_E-srzz1aP2AhBDkUtDtkM8hjj00qqjIUrcna9KekSYe3RVBMGpcrNpWYKqJKZIjT18eb3OJesMlExylQ552XwJq8eo_G6P-Tl7B7u3_kEEFA7kaZadIVTwIHaZ1eMzdKdeiqFBytyOutImV1dsUFIsrY8_KwpP2AmgXh6TJAw8ZKqOr0fh/s283/Orlando12023.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="283" data-original-width="226" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwSIwf763Kr_E-srzz1aP2AhBDkUtDtkM8hjj00qqjIUrcna9KekSYe3RVBMGpcrNpWYKqJKZIjT18eb3OJesMlExylQ552XwJq8eo_G6P-Tl7B7u3_kEEFA7kaZadIVTwIHaZ1eMzdKdeiqFBytyOutImV1dsUFIsrY8_KwpP2AmgXh6TJAw8ZKqOr0fh/w319-h400/Orlando12023.jpg" width="319" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span><span>Orlando Zapata Tamayo May 15, 1967 - February 23, 2010</span></span></td></tr></tbody></table><p></p><p><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: times;"><span><span><span>Fyodor Dostoevsky wrote in his 1861 book, <span style="text-decoration: underline;">The House of the Dead</span>
that "the degree of civilization in a society can be judged by entering
its prisons." What does this say about the Cuban government that has
barred the International Committee of the Red Cross <a href="https://www.cubacenter.org/archives/2019/9/19/s8a8ujak4hctor15v8wqiwf52i64hv" target="_blank">from visiting</a> Cuba's prisons for decades?</span></span></span></span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: normal;"><span style="font-family: times;"><span><span><span>Many
Cubans have died over the past 64 years suffering cruel treatment at
the hands of communist prison officials in the Castro dictatorship.</span></span></span></span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: normal;"><span style="font-family: times;"><span><span><span>Today marks the death of one more. His name was <a href="https://cubanexilequarter.blogspot.com/2022/02/fact-sheet-on-orlando-zapata-tamayo.html">Orlando Zapata Tamayo</a>.<br /></span></span></span></span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: normal;"><span style="font-family: times;"><span><span><span>Orlando Zapata Tamayo was a human rights
defender who was unjustly imprisoned in the Spring of 2003 and was
tortured by Cuban prison officials and state security agents over the
next six years and ten months. He was killed on February 23, 2010 <a href="http://cubanexilequarter.blogspot.com/2017/11/remembering-some-of-victims-of-cuban.html">following a prolonged hunger strike</a>, during which prison guards repeatedly refused him water over 18 days causing his kidneys to fail. He is a <a href="http://cubanexilequarter.blogspot.com/2017/11/remembering-some-of-victims-of-cuban.html">martyr of Cuban communism</a>.</span></span></span></span></span></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnxzX-MCpYgDMOkt4Hf7AI_cNehfID_CjWCidyDTIAUGAvGQuUquppc0XudCUhXIsjFQC6Qx4NiKgXfhZpMic25eS_TrhaxfFtcOUzSHbiCMQ4F76_Zv7jaDeDrTiyMsDCfTxjby2_tL-nggI2uEn44zSRWUys4lz9KCpqtEtdKl7aG0bwSURpmfmRwBXz/s320/oswaldoorlando.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="236" data-original-width="320" height="295" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnxzX-MCpYgDMOkt4Hf7AI_cNehfID_CjWCidyDTIAUGAvGQuUquppc0XudCUhXIsjFQC6Qx4NiKgXfhZpMic25eS_TrhaxfFtcOUzSHbiCMQ4F76_Zv7jaDeDrTiyMsDCfTxjby2_tL-nggI2uEn44zSRWUys4lz9KCpqtEtdKl7aG0bwSURpmfmRwBXz/w400-h295/oswaldoorlando.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span><span>Oswaldo Payá Sardiñas with photocopy image of Orlando Zapata Tamayo</span></span></td></tr></tbody></table><p></p><p><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: times;"><span><span><span>Cuban opposition leader Oswaldo Payá Sardiñas, who was <a href="https://www.oas.org/en/iachr/decisions/2023/ADM_14-196_EN.pdf">murdered by agents of the Cuban dictatorship</a> on July 22, 2012, <a href="http://cubanexilequarter.blogspot.com/2010/03/oswaldo-paya-orlando-zapata-tamayo-dies.html">issued a statement</a>
the same day that Orlando died and appeared in a photograph holding up a
photocopy of the martyred human rights defender name and image.<span class="longtext"><span style="background: white;"> </span></span></span><i><br />
</i></span></span></span></span></p><blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-size: normal;"><span style="font-family: times;"><span><span><span class="longtext"><span style="background: white;">"Orlando
Zapata Tamayo, died this afternoon, February 23, 2010, after suffering
many indignities, racist slights, beatings and abuse by prison
guards and State Security. </span>Zapata was killed slowly over many days and many months in every prison in which he was confined. </span><span class="longtext">Zapata
was imprisoned for denouncing human rights violations and for daring to
speak openly of the Varela Project in Havana's Central Park.
He was not a terrorist, or conspirator, or used violence. Initially he
was sentenced to three years in prison, but after successive
provocations and maneuvers staged by his executioners, he was sentenced
to more than thirty years in prison." </span></span></span></span></span></blockquote><p><span style="font-size: small;"><b>A brief biography of Orlando Zapata Tamayo</b> <br /></span></p><div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-size: normal;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: normal;"><span><span><a href="http://cubanexilequarter.blogspot.com/2010/02/orlando-zapata-tamayos-triumph-over.html">Orlando Zapata Tamayo</a> was born in <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20110728152258/https://www.payolibre.com/PRESO-%20Orlando%20Zapata.htm">Santiago, Cuba</a> on <a href="http://cubanexilequarter.blogspot.com/2012/05/orlando-zapata-tamayo-was-born-45-years.html">May 15, 1967</a>. He was by vocation a <a href="http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/cuba/100302/hunger-strike-dissident-death">brick layer</a> and also a human rights activist, a member of the <i>Movimiento Alternativa Republicana,</i> Alternative Republican Movement, and of the <i>Consejo Nacional de Resistencia Cívica,</i> National Civic Resistance Committee. Orlando gathered signatures for the <a href="http://cubanexilequarter.blogspot.com/2010/03/oswaldo-paya-orlando-zapata-tamayo-dies.html">Varela Project</a>, a <a href="http://www.cubaverdad.net/varela_project.htm">citizen initiative to amend the Cuban constitution </a>using legal means with the aim of bringing Cuba in line with international human rights standards.</span></span></span></span></div><p>
<span style="font-size: normal;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: normal;"><span><a href="https://www.amnesty.org/en/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/amr250022004en.pdf">Amnesty International</a>
had documented how Orlando had been arrested several times in the past.
For example, he was temporarily detained on 3 July 2002 and <a href="http://www.cubanet.org/CNews/y02/oct02/30o4.htm">28 October 2002</a>.
In November of 2002 after taking part in a workshop on human rights in
the central Havana park, José Martí, he and eight other government
opponents were arrested and later released. He was also <a href="https://www.amnesty.org/en/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/amr250022005en.pdf">arrested on December 6, 2002</a> along with fellow prisoners of conscience Oscar Elías Biscet and <span style="background: transparent;"><span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span lang="en-GB">Raúl Arencibia Fajardo.</span></span></span></span> </span></span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: normal;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: normal;"><span>Dr. Biscet just released from prison a month earlier had sought to form a
grassroots project for the promotion of human rights generally and the
Universal Declaration of Human Rights more specifically, called "Friends
of Human Rights." State security prevented them from entering the home
of
Raúl Arencibia Fajardo, Oscar Biscet, Orlando Zapata Tamayo,Virgilio
Marante Güelmes and 12 others held a sit-in in the street in protest and
chanted "long live human rights" and "freedom for political prisoners."
They were then arrested and taken to the Tenth Unit of the National
Revolutionary Police, Décima Unidad de La Policía Nacional
Revolucionaria (PNR)<br />
<br />
<a href="http://cubanexilequarter.blogspot.com/2010/04/cubas-orlando-zapata-tamayo-irelands.html">Orlando Zapata Tamayo</a>
was released three months later, on March 8, 2003, but Oscar Elias
Biscet, Virgilio Marante Güelmes, and Raúl Arencibia Fajardo remained
imprisoned. On the morning of <a href="https://www.amnesty.org/en/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/amr250022005en.pdf">March 20, 2003</a> whilst taking part in a fast at the <i>Fundación Jesús Yánez Pelletier,</i> Jesús Yánez Pelletier Foundation, in Havana, to demand the release of
Oscar Biscet and the other political prisoners. Orlando was taken to the Villa Marista State Security Headquarters.<br />
<br />
He was moved around different prisons, including Quivicán Prison,
Guanajay Prison, and Combinado del Este Prison in Havana. According to Amnesty International <a href="https://www.amnesty.org/en/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/amr250022004en.pdf">on October 20, 2003 Orlando was dragged along the floor</a> of Combinado del Este Prison by prison officials after requesting medical attention, leaving his back full of lacerations. Orlando managed to smuggle a letter out following another brutal beating <a href="https://www.cubanet.org/htdocs/CNews/y04/apr04/23a5.htm">that was published in April of 2004</a>:
<br />
</span></span></span></p><blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-size: normal;"><span style="font-family: times;"><span><span>"My
dear brothers in the internal opposition in Cuba. I have many things to
say to you, but I did not want to do it with paper and ink, because I
hope to go to you one day when our country is free without the Castro
dictatorship. Long live human rights, with my blood I wrote to you so
that this be saved as evidence of the savagery we are subjected to that
are victims of the Pedro Luis Boitel political prisoners [movement]."* </span></span></span></span></blockquote><p><span style="font-size: normal;"><span style="font-family: times;"><span>
On May 18, 2004 Orlando Zapata Tamayo, Virgilio Marante Güelmes, and Raúl Arencibia Fajardo were each <a href="https://www.orlandosentinel.com/2004/05/20/cuban-dissidents-get-prison-for-discussing-human-rights/">sentenced to three years in prison for contempt for authority, disorderly conduct and resisting arrest</a>
in a one-day trial. Orlando Zapata Tamayo would continue his
rebelliousness and his non-violent resistance posture while in prison
and suffer numerous beatings and <a href="http://www.cubanet.org/CNews/y06/jun06/27a5.htm">new charges</a> of disobedience and disrespect <a href="https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/press-release/2010/02/death-cuban-prisoner-conscience-hunger-strike-must-herald-change/">leading to decades added to his prison sentence in eight additional trials</a>.</span></span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: times;"><span><b>Protests for Orlando Zapata Tamayo continue</b></span></span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: normal;"><span style="font-family: times;"><span>Even though it
has been fourteen years, the martyred Cuban human rights defender is
still remembered. The dictatorship tried from the start to put down and
stifle protests and acts of remembrance for him, but they were
unsuccessful. Last night in Washington DC outside of the Cuban Embassy <a href="https://twitter.com/cubacenter/status/1760813778977874313">activists gathered to demand justice for Orlando Zapata Tamayo</a>, and <a href="https://youtu.be/HVMmoGH7Jyw?si=G8WtsQn5AE9xTM70">others martyred</a> by the communist dictatorship in Cuba.</span></span></span></p><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/HVMmoGH7Jyw?si=Dcir8TCviHFRM_MA" title="YouTube video player" width="420"></iframe><p><span style="font-size: normal;"><span style="font-family: times;"><span>On September 30, 2010 the Canadian punk rock band I.H.A.D. released a
song linking what happened to Orlando Zapata Tamayo to the indifference
of Canadian tourists visiting Cuba asking the question: Where were you
the day Orlando Zapata died? On May 10, 2012 the Free Cuba Foundation
published a video accompanying the song, after receiving the band's
permission, <a href="http://cubanexilequarter.blogspot.com/2017/11/remembering-some-of-victims-of-cuban.html">with images and song lyrics</a>. </span></span><span style="font-family: times;"><span> </span></span></span></p><p></p><p></p><p><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/uvmTgtNZ1Gw?si=BXZi5yRwOx38heuP" title="YouTube video player" width="420"></iframe></p><p>
Cuban Historical Political Prison and the United Exile Now on Saturday, February 24, 2024 at 2:00pm <a href="https://www.cubanet.org/noticias/exiliados-cubanos-se-reuniran-en-miami-y-washington-d-c-para-homenajear-a-orlando-zapata/">at the headquarters of Cuban Historical Political Prison</a> located on 140 SW 13th Avenue in Miami, Florida will pay homage to Orlando Zapata Tamayo.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdnejnudCmXd8fnXYH9Ph7jqv9kzniGAZ8V5HEofvJvgzkNqzKunaDFSStEwDVJlRrBiTjyVypAlGmCG8aQSO0f49J9DpaO8ym3oZuojElWG_3NlCrMv9hpZbrl1imGVgE46KGqlUk3eOzWXHMUGYxOe70RmWJNQCu4gitVy6-8AXJT6iqvlsJ103vWEqo/s2804/GGpMiVvXsAAlFdT.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2682" data-original-width="2804" height="383" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdnejnudCmXd8fnXYH9Ph7jqv9kzniGAZ8V5HEofvJvgzkNqzKunaDFSStEwDVJlRrBiTjyVypAlGmCG8aQSO0f49J9DpaO8ym3oZuojElWG_3NlCrMv9hpZbrl1imGVgE46KGqlUk3eOzWXHMUGYxOe70RmWJNQCu4gitVy6-8AXJT6iqvlsJ103vWEqo/w400-h383/GGpMiVvXsAAlFdT.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>John Suarezhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11333798474560217548noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1419558703918975245.post-5667793884176182482024-02-19T00:00:00.001-05:002024-02-19T00:00:00.263-05:00Fact Sheet on February 24, 1996 Brothers to the Rescue Shoot down<p><i>“Facts are stubborn things; and whatever may be our wishes, our
inclinations, or the dictates of our passion, they cannot alter the
state of facts and evidence.”― <a href="https://oll.libertyfund.org/person/john-adams">John Adams</a>, <a href="http://www.bostonmassacre.net/trial/acct-adams1.htm">Boston Massacre trial</a> (1770)</i></p><p><i></i></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHnv0zdTnEtYJYdvtXZzcRRTjOGYsyqOJE67qjL8vzcFKN5Y7C5RKtqUFjULXx29hNx_bRu9QP2OdSPyREjfdEKu2PLfmVGX2ISYNdi35JpjJNLWv-mUE4q1NbdUoYt1uSDF7X-IdVpo4pdvyiHmyvV710rychi979P1-feya444-uYWWPGUIq2Ve8ozVf/s400/thefour.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="400" data-original-width="306" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHnv0zdTnEtYJYdvtXZzcRRTjOGYsyqOJE67qjL8vzcFKN5Y7C5RKtqUFjULXx29hNx_bRu9QP2OdSPyREjfdEKu2PLfmVGX2ISYNdi35JpjJNLWv-mUE4q1NbdUoYt1uSDF7X-IdVpo4pdvyiHmyvV710rychi979P1-feya444-uYWWPGUIq2Ve8ozVf/s16000/thefour.jpg" /></a></i></div><i><br /></i><b>February 24, 1996 shoot down was an act of state terrorism that blew two civilian aircraft
out of the sky with air to air missiles while in international airspace after regime planned
the act months beforehand with its espionage network in the United States.</b><br />
<b> </b>
<br />
<b> FACT 1: </b>By definition: Terrorism is the calculated use of
violence (or the threat of violence) against civilians in order to
attain goals that are political or religious or ideological in nature;
this is done through intimidation or coercion or instilling fear) <br /><p></p><p><b>Source: </b>Wordnet Search <a href="http://wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn?s=terrorism">http://wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn?s=terrorism </a><br />
<br />
<br />
<b>FACT 2:</b> Cuba is responsible for violating the right to life (Article I of the American Declaration
of the Rights and Duties of Man) to the detriment of Carlos Costa, Pablo Morales, Mario De La
Peña, and Armando Alejandre, who died as a result of the direct actions of its agents on the
afternoon of 24 February 1996 while flying through international airspace.<br />
<br />
<b>Source: </b>Inter-American Commission on Human Rights September 29, 1999 Report on the Merits
<a href="http://www.cidh.org/annualrep/99eng/Merits/Cuba11.589.htm">http://www.cidh.org/annualrep/99eng/Merits/Cuba11.589.htm </a><br />
<br />
<b>FACT 3: </b>Cuba is responsible for violating the right to a fair trial (Article XVIII of the American
Declaration of the Rights and Duties of Man) to the detriment of the relatives of Carlos Costa,
Pablo Morales, Mario De La Peña, and Armando Alejandre, in that to date the Cuban authorities
have not conducted an exhaustive investigation with a view toward prosecuting and punishing
the perpetrators and have not indemnified those same relatives for the damage they suffered as a
result of those illicit acts.<br />
<br /><b>Source: </b>
Inter-American Commission on Human Rights September 29, 1999 Report on the Merits
<a href="http://www.cidh.org/annualrep/99eng/Merits/Cuba11.589.htm">http://www.cidh.org/annualrep/99eng/Merits/Cuba11.589.htm </a><br />
<br />
<b>FACT 4:</b> In Alejandre v. Republic of Cuba, 996 F.Supp. 1239 (S.D.Fla. 1997), a federal district
court awarded the families of three of the four occupants of the “ Brothers to the Rescue” planes
shot down by Cuba in 1996 a total of $187.7 million in damages against Cuba.<br />
<br /><b>Source: </b>
Lawsuits Against State Supporters of Terrorism: An Overview by Jennifer K. Elsea
<br />
<a href="https://fas.org/sgp/crs/terror/RS22094.pdf">https://fas.org/sgp/crs/terror/RS22094.pdf</a><br />
<br />
<b>FACT 5:</b> WASP spy network was involved. One of the “illegal officers” (Gerardo Hernandez)
was convicted of conspiracy to commit first-degree murder based on his role in the February 24,
1996, shoot-down of two unarmed civilian aircraft in international airspace by Cuban Air Force
jet fighters, which resulted in the deaths of four people, three of them U.S. citizens.<br />
<br /><b>Source: </b>
Department of Justice on Obama Commutations <br />
<a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20160115002512/http://www.justice.gov/pardon/obama-commutations#dec152014">http://www.justice.gov/pardon/obama-commutations#dec152014 </a><br />
<br />
<b>FACT 6:</b> Brothers to the Rescue had spotted and saved thousands of rafters in the Florida Straits
and was engaged in such a mission on that day. The one plane that skirted the boundary briefly
was the only one to return. The other two were shotdown miles away from Cuba’s boundary
having never entered or touched it on that day and the planes had been in contact with the Cuban
tower throughout the flight.<br />
<br /><b>Source: </b>
ICAO Resolution on February 24 shootdown <br />
<a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20050324125113/http://www.icao.int/icao/en/nr/1996/pio199606_e.pdf">http://www.icao.int/icao/en/nr/1996/pio199606_e.pdf</a> <br />
<br />
<b>FACT 7:</b> On July 26, 1996 the United Nations Security Council: "Noting that the unlawful
downing of two civil aircraft on 24 February by the Cuban Air Force violated the principle that
States must refrain from using weapons against airborne civil aircraft, the Security Council this
afternoon condemned such use as being incompatible with the rules of customary international
law " <br />
<br /><b>Source: </b>
ICAO Resolution on February 24 shootdown <br />
<a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20050324125113/http://www.icao.int/icao/en/nr/1996/pio199606_e.pdf">http://www.icao.int/icao/en/nr/1996/pio199606_e.pdf</a><br />
<br />
<b>FACT 8: </b>Ana Belen Montes, the US intelligence community's top analyst on Cuban affairs had
throughout a sixteen-year career at the Defense Intelligence Agency sent the Cuba intelligence
service sensitive and secret information and helped to shape US opinion on Cuba. Investigation
against her was triggered by her odd behavior before and after the Brothers to the Rescue shoot
down. On September 21 2001 Ana Belen Montes was arrested and subsequently charged with
Conspiracy to Commit Espionage for the government of Cuba. Montes eventually pleaded guilty
to spying, and in October, 2002, she was sentenced to a 25-year prison term followed by 5 years
of probation.<br />
<br /><b>Source: </b>
True Believer: Inside the Investigation and Capture of Ana Montes, Cuba's Master Spy
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/True-Believer-Inside-Investigation-Capture/dp/1591141001">http://www.amazon.com/True-Believer-Inside-Investigation-Capture/dp/1591141001 </a><br />
<br />
<b>FACT 9:</b> On December 27, 2010 and again in a January 19, 2011 clarification the defense of
Cuban spy-master Gerardo Hernandez acknowledged that "there was overwhelming evidence
that the 1996 shoot-down of two Brothers to the Rescue planes occurred in international
airspace, not Cuban territory."<br />
<br />
<b>Source: </b>The Miami Herald: Cuban spymaster now claims Brothers to the Rescue shooting was outside
Cuban airspace by Jay Weaver December 27, 2010 <a href="https://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/fl-xpm-2010-12-27-fl-cuba-spy-20101227-story.html">https://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/fl-xpm-2010-12-27-fl-cuba-spy-20101227-story.html</a><br />
<br />
<b>FACT 10:</b> On December 17, 2014 President Barack Obama commuted Gerardo Hernandez’s two life
sentences and returned him along with two other spies jailed for crimes in the United States to
Cuba where they were received with a hero’s welcome in what is an immense propaganda victory for the Castro regime.<br />
<br /><b>Source: </b>
Department of Justice on Obama Commutations <br />
<a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20160115002512/http://www.justice.gov/pardon/obama-commutations#dec152014">http://www.justice.gov/pardon/obama-commutations#dec152014 </a></p><p><b>FACT 11: </b>Netflix
<a href="https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/business/business-news/netflix-settles-defamation-suit-brought-cuban-exiles-wasp-network-1235806098/">settled a defamation lawsuit</a> in <a href="https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/USCOURTS-flsd-1_22-cv-21796/summary">brought by Jose Basulto</a> of Brothers to the Rescue, who accused the streamer of falsely portraying him as a
terrorist and drug trafficker in Olivier Assayas’ political spy thriller
<i>Wasp Network</i>.</p><p><b>Source: </b>Netflix Settles Defamation Suit Brought By Cuban Exiles Over Spy Thriller ‘Wasp Network’ <a href="https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/business/business-news/netflix-settles-defamation-suit-brought-cuban-exiles-wasp-network-1235806098/">https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/business/business-news/netflix-settles-defamation-suit-brought-cuban-exiles-wasp-network-1235806098/</a></p>
<p> <iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/fZyCXYXCfIE?si=uy6ha6GTNnIu7TZE" title="YouTube video player" width="420"></iframe> </p>John Suarezhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11333798474560217548noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1419558703918975245.post-36555479840247781162024-02-18T20:38:00.005-05:002024-02-18T20:38:55.764-05:00Fact Sheet on Orlando Zapata Tamayo <p><span style="font-size: normal;"><i><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">"Long live human rights, with my blood I wrote to you so
that this be saved as evidence of the savagery we are subjected to </span></i><i><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">that are victims of the Pedro Luis Boitel political prisoners [movement]</span>" - Orlando Zapata Tamayo,<a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20040706090215/https://www.cubanet.org/CNews/y04/apr04/23a5.htm"> letter smuggled</a> out April of 2004*</span></i></span></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsKR_PMNPtI7NQypPuLsHJN2bvBe34wXdwHVrGYsLKy0FLvm5EOCdrNRNbcIBlPHd6DxfvtEbsgM8ET79gkI1STKDaExKCjzP8-NI35ZB8GkVQcfkrQkWU1PrB8FRZdkEk9gkC37rJKIAOebGsHVuhQmDShsK4EGpwg4T6cM7eHA9aM3sHohwt0vbUupzY/s320/oztthennow2020.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="215" data-original-width="320" height="269" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsKR_PMNPtI7NQypPuLsHJN2bvBe34wXdwHVrGYsLKy0FLvm5EOCdrNRNbcIBlPHd6DxfvtEbsgM8ET79gkI1STKDaExKCjzP8-NI35ZB8GkVQcfkrQkWU1PrB8FRZdkEk9gkC37rJKIAOebGsHVuhQmDShsK4EGpwg4T6cM7eHA9aM3sHohwt0vbUupzY/w400-h269/oztthennow2020.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span> Orlando Zapata Tamayo tortured and killed by prison officials on February 23, 2010</span></span></td></tr></tbody></table><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div><p></p><p><b>Fact #1 Orlando Zapata Tamayo was murdered by Cuban government officials</b> </p><p>Both Abel Lopez Perez and Reina Luisa Tamayo charge that Cuban prison
officials denied Orlando Zapata Tamayo water in an effort to break his
spirit. Reina Luisa Tamayo in an interview with Yoani Sanchez, hours
after her son’s death denounced that officials had denied him water.[1]
Abel Lopez corroborates the charge stating: “Before Zapata was checked
into the hospital, he was regularly taking some vitamins. He was in a
weak state of health. </p><p>A military chief known as ‘Gordo’, who was the one
responsible for ordering all of Zapata’s things to be taken out of the
cell and to stop giving him water, also took his bottle of vitamins and
poured all the pills down a drain. He told him, ‘Those who are in
protest here don’t drink vitamins. I think those are pills sent to you
by the Yankees so you can continue your hunger strike.’ Those were the
exact words said to him, I verified them. His vitamins were taken away,
as were any other medications. And they stopped giving him water for a
while.”[2] This type of practice was also documented in the 1966 death
of another Cuban hunger striker, Roberto López Chávez.[3], [4] Denying
water to a man on water only hunger strike is cruel and inhuman
treatment that contributed to his death.<br />
<br />
<br />
<b>Fact #2 Orlando Zapata Tamayo was an Amnesty International prisoner of conscience</b><br />
<br />
Orlando Zapata Tamayo was recognized as an Amnesty International (AI)
prisoner of conscience on January 29, 2004 a designation given only to
nonviolent activists after careful examination.[5] On January 29, 2004
Amnesty International outlined Orlando Zapata Tamayo’s past arrests:<br />
<br />
“He has been arrested several times in the past. For example he was
temporarily detained on 3 July 2002 and 28 October 2002. In November
2002 after taking part in a workshop on human rights in the central
Havana park, José Martí, he and eight other government opponents were
reportedly arrested and later released. He was also arrested on 6
December 2002 along with Oscar Elías Biscet[6], but was released on 8
March 2003. Most recently, he was arrested on the morning of 20 March
2003 whilst taking part in a hunger strike at the Fundación Jesús Yánez
Pelletier, Jesús Yánez Pelletier Foundation, in Havana, to demand the
release of Oscar Biscet and other political prisoners.”[7]<br />
<br />
Orlando Zapata Tamayo appeared photographed in the Cuban government’s
own publication Los Disidentes, in photos prior to his 2003 arrest and
was then recognized by Cuban officials as a dissident. The Spanish
newspaper El Mundo carried a photo the day after the Cuban regime
announced the death of Orlando Zapata Tamayo with prominent Cuban
dissidents.[8]<br />
<br />
<br />
<b>Fact #3 Orlando Zapata Tamayo’s hunger strike was an act of non-violent self-defense</b><br />
<br />
Orlando Zapata Tamayo waz beaten and tortured on more than one
occasion by prison guards and state security along with other prisoners.
His body was scarred and his health in decline. For example Amnesty
International reported that, on "October 20, 2003 [Orlando Zapata] was
dragged along the floor of Combinado del Este Prison by prison officials
after requesting medical attention, leaving his back full of
lacerations."[9] Cuban political prisoner Abel Lopez Perez transferred
to the same prison in Camaguey as Orlando Zapata Tamayo on December 3,
2009 briefly saw him and heard from other prisoners “that a few days
before being taken away, Zapata stood up and shouted, ‘People, don’t let
yourselves be lied to. Don’t believe anything that they tell you. I’m
not demanding a kitchen or any of the things they took away from me. I’m
demanding an improvement of treatment for all prisoners, and so you all
know, I am going to die for it.’”[10] The case of Ariel Sigler Amaya,
another Cuban prisoner of conscience, is instructive. He had to threaten
a hunger strike, although already emaciated and crippled, to obtain
medical treatment to save his life.[11] The hunger strike was not an act
of suicide but rather a tactic of self defense within the arsenal of
nonviolent options.<br />
<br />
<b>Fact #4 Between 1966 and 2021 at least nine Cuban political prisoners
died while on hunger strike: Roberto López Chávez , Carmelo Cuadra
Hernández , Pedro Luis Boitel, Olegario Charlot Pileta, Enrique García
Cuevas, Orlando Zapata Tamayo, Wilman Villar Mendoza, and Yosvany Arostegui Armenteros.</b><br />
<br />
Roberto López Chávez, 25 years old, died on December 11, 1966 in Isla de
Pinos prison on hunger strike without medical assistance.[12] Armando
Valladares, in his prison memoir, Against All Hope described the
circumstances surrounding his death: “When Roberto López Chávez, went on
a hunger strike to protest the abuses in the prison, the guards
withheld water from him until he became delirious, twisting on the floor
and begging for something to drink. The guards then urinated in his
mouth. He died the next day.”[13], [14]<br />
<br />
Carmelo Cuadra Hernández, died in La Cabaña prison in April of 1969 on
hunger strike, after suffering mistreatment and torture over eight and a
half months, without receiving medical care and was the third political
prisoner that has died on a hunger strike.[15], [16]<br />
<br />
Pedro Luis Boitel died on hunger strike on May 25, 1972.[17],[18]<br />
<br />
Olegario Charlot Pileta, died in the famous "Escaleras" (staircase) of
the Boniato prison, in of January 1973 during a hunger strike, without
medical assistance and is described in documents as a “black youth.”
[19],[20]<br />
<br />
Enrique García Cuevas died on a hunger strike, without receiving medical
care, in cell No. 4 of the new Provincial Jail of Santa Clara, on June
24, 1973.[21]<br />
<br />
Two of the four outlined above died on hunger strikes after Pedro Luis
Boitel and there are partial estimates that place the number identified
to have died while on hunger strike at twelve including both Boitel and
Zapata. Since the death of Pedro Luis Boitel there are partial lists
identifying six political prisoners dead on hunger strikes between May
25, 1972 and February 23, 2010.[22]<b></b></p><p><b></b></p><p><b></b></p><p><a href="https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2012/01/cuban-authorities-responsible-activists-death-hunger-strike/">Wilman Villar Mendoza</a>, a Cuban prisoner of conscience <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/cuban-dissident-dies-after-hunger-strike-1.1293336">died on January 19, 2012</a>
from complications of pneumonia after a 50-day hunger strike. [ 23],[24] </p><p><a href="https://www.radiotelevisionmarti.com/a/270203.html" target="_blank">Cuban dissident</a> Yosvany Arostegui Armenteros died on August 7, 2020 in Cuba while <a href="https://www.radiotelevisionmarti.com/a/declaraciones-de-yadisley-rodr%C3%ADguez-sobre-fallecimiento-de-yosvany-arostegui/270202.html" target="_blank">in police custody</a> following
a 40 day hunger strike. He had been jailed on false charges in the Kilo
8 prison of Camagüey. His body was quickly cremated by the
dictatorship. [25]</p><p><iframe width="420" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/uvmTgtNZ1Gw?si=0VOhTUOSQYWZxRjS" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen></iframe><br />
<br />
<b>Sources:</b><br />
<br />
1. Sanchez, Yoani “Orlando Zapata Tamayo's Mother Speaks After Her Son's Death” The Huffington Post February 24, 2010 <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/yoani-sanchez/orlando-zapata-tamayos-mo_b_475006.html">http://www.huffingtonpost.com/yoani-sanchez/orlando-zapata-tamayos-mo_b_475006.html</a><br />
<br />
2. Felipe Rojas, Luis “Abel Remembers the Last Days of Zapata in a
Prison of Camaguey” Crossing the Barbed Wire November 24, 2010<a href="http://cruzarlasalambradaseng.wordpress.com/2010/11/24/abel-remembers-the-last-days-of-zapata-in-a-prison-of-camaguey/"> http://cruzarlasalambradaseng.wordpress.com/2010/11/24/abel-remembers-the-last-days-of-zapata-in-a-prison-of-camaguey/</a><br />
<br />
3. Valladares, Armando Against All Hope: The Prison Memoirs of
Armando Valladares (1st edition Knopf April 12, 1986) quote taken from
(1st Edition Encounter Books April 1, 2001) pg. 379<br />
<br />
4. Glazov, Jamie United in Hate: The Left's Romance with Tyranny and Terror WND Books, 2009 Pg 48 <br />
<br />
5. Amnesty International “CUBA Newly declared prisoners of conscience” January 29, 2004 <br />
<a href="https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/AMR25/002/2004/en/">https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/AMR25/002/2004/en/</a><br />
<br />
6. Quintero, Tania “CUBA | Llorando a un amigo ¡Así te voy a recordar, Orlando!” El Mundo February 24, 2010 <a href="http://www.elmundo.es/america/2010/02/24/cuba/1267020583.html%20">http://www.elmundo.es/america/2010/02/24/cuba/1267020583.html </a><br />
<br />
7. Amnesty International “CUBA Newly declared prisoners of conscience” January 29, 2004 <a href="https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/AMR25/002/2004/en/">https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/AMR25/002/2004/en/</a><br />
<br />
8. Felipe Rojas, Luis “Abel Remembers the Last Days of Zapata in a
Prison of Camaguey” Crossing the Barbed Wire November 24, 2010 <a href="http://cruzarlasalambradaseng.wordpress.com/2010/11/24/abel-remembers-the-last-days-of-zapata-in-a-prison-of-camaguey/%20">http://cruzarlasalambradaseng.wordpress.com/2010/11/24/abel-remembers-the-last-days-of-zapata-in-a-prison-of-camaguey/ </a><br />
<br />
9. Rodriguez, Eliott “Paralyzed Former Cuban Prisoner Arrives In Miami” CBS4 July 28, 2010 <br />
<br />
10. Inter-American Commission on Human Rights “Annual Report 1975: 1805 Cuba” <a href="http://www.cidh.org/annualrep/75eng/Cuba1805.htm">http://www.cidh.org/annualrep/75eng/Cuba1805.htm</a><br />
<br />
11. Valladares, Armando Against All Hope: The Prison Memoirs of
Armando Valladares (1st edition Knopf April 12, 1986) quote taken from
(1st Edition Encounter Books April 1, 2001) pg. 379<br />
<br />
12. Glazov, Jamie United in Hate: The Left's Romance with Tyranny and Terror WND Books, 2009 Pg 48<br />
<br />
13. Inter-American Commission on Human Rights SITUATION OF POLITICAL PRISONERS IN CUBA (1976) <a href="http://www.cidh.org/countryrep/cuba76eng/chap.1.htm">http://www.cidh.org/countryrep/cuba76eng/chap.1.htm</a><br />
<br />
14. Inter-American Commission on Human Rights SEGUNDO INFORME SOBRE
LA SITUACIÓN DE LOS PRESOS POLÍTICOS Y SUS FAMILIAS EN CUBA May 7, 1970
<a href="http://www.cidh.org/countryrep/Cuba70sp/cap.1b.htm">http://www.cidh.org/countryrep/Cuba70sp/cap.1b.htm</a><br />
<br />
15. Amnesty International “CUBA Newly declared prisoners of conscience” January 29, 2004 <a href="https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/AMR25/002/2004/en/">https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/AMR25/002/2004/en/</a><br />
<br />
16. Inter-American Commission on Human Rights “<b>Annual Report 1975: 1805 Cuba</b>” <a href="http://www.cidh.org/annualrep/75eng/Cuba1805.htm">http://www.cidh.org/annualrep/75eng/Cuba1805.htm</a> <br />
<br />
17. Tamayo, Juan O. “Jailed Cuban activist Orlando Zapata Tamayo dies on hunger strike” The Miami Herald February 23, 2010 <a href="https://newcentrist.wordpress.com/2010/02/23/jailed-cuban-activist-orlando-zapata-tamayo-dies-on-hunger-strike/">https://newcentrist.wordpress.com/2010/02/23/jailed-cuban-activist-orlando-zapata-tamayo-dies-on-hunger-strike/</a><br />
<br />
18. Inter-American Commission on Human Rights 6TH REPORT ON THE
SITUATION OF POLITICAL PRISONERS IN CUBA: CHAPTER III: AN ANALYSIS OF
CERTAIN INDIVIDUAL CASES SUBMITTED TO THE IACHR 14 December 1979 <a href="http://www.cidh.org/countryrep/cuba79eng/chap.3.htm%20">http://www.cidh.org/countryrep/cuba79eng/chap.3.htm </a><br />
<br />
19. Inter-American Commission on Human Rights CHAPTER I SITUATION OF POLITICAL PRISONERS IN CUBA (1976) <a href="http://www.cidh.org/countryrep/cuba76eng/chap.1.htm%20">http://www.cidh.org/countryrep/cuba76eng/chap.1.htm </a><br />
<br />
20. Inter-American Commission on Human Rights “Annual Report 1975: 1805 Cuba” <a href="http://www.cidh.org/annualrep/75eng/Cuba1805.htm">http://www.cidh.org/annualrep/75eng/Cuba1805.htm</a><br />
<br />
21. Inter-American Commission on Human Rights CHAPTER I SITUATION OF POLITICAL PRISONERS IN CUBA (1976) <a href="http://www.cidh.org/countryrep/cuba76eng/chap.1.htm%20">http://www.cidh.org/countryrep/cuba76eng/chap.1.htm </a><br />
<br />
22. Corzo, Pedro “El calvario de las prisiones cubanas” El Nuevo Herald March 13, 2010 <a href="https://democraciaparticipativa.net/foro/iberoamerica-y-espana-latin-america-spain/3038-el-calvario-de-las-prisiones-cubanas">https://democraciaparticipativa.net/foro/iberoamerica-y-espana-latin-america-spain/3038-el-calvario-de-las-prisiones-cubanas</a></p><p>23. Amnesty International "Cuban authorities 'responsible' for activist's death on hunger strike" January 20, 2012 <a href="https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2012/01/cuban-authorities-responsible-activists-death-hunger-strike/">https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2012/01/cuban-authorities-responsible-activists-death-hunger-strike/</a> </p><p>24. CBC Radio Canada "Cuban dissident dies after hunger strike: Prisoner of conscience, Amnesty International says" January 20, 2012 <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/cuban-dissident-dies-after-hunger-strike-1.1293336">https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/cuban-dissident-dies-after-hunger-strike-1.1293336</a></p><p>25. Center for a Free Cuba. "CubaBrief: Yosvany Arostegui Armenteros and the continuing six decade tragedy of political prisoners in Cuba " August 12, 2020. <a href="https://www.cubacenter.org/archives/2020/8/12/cubabrief-yosvany-arostegui-armenteros-and-the-continuing-six-decade-tragedy-of-political-prisoners-in-cuba">https://www.cubacenter.org/archives/2020/8/12/cubabrief-yosvany-arostegui-armenteros-and-the-continuing-six-decade-tragedy-of-political-prisoners-in-cuba</a> <br /></p></div>John Suarezhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11333798474560217548noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1419558703918975245.post-56038347361392365242024-01-30T05:24:00.005-05:002024-01-30T06:19:38.993-05:00On this day 76 years ago Mohandas Gandhi was assassinated: Today we initiate a Season of Nonviolence<p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: small;"><span><i>"Terrorism and deception are weapons not of the strong but of the weak." - <a href="http://www.mkgandhi.org/epigrams/d.htm#top">Mohandas K. Gandhi</a></i></span><span><i> <br /></i></span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: small;"><span><i>"We are ruthless and ask no quarter from you. When our turn comes we shall not disguise our terrorism." - <a href="http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Karl_Marx">Karl Marx</a>, Marx-Engels Gesamt-Ausgabe, vol. vi pp 503-5 (The final issue of Neue Rheinische Zeitung, 18 May 1849)</i></span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: small;"><span><i> </i></span></span></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHfTvaP4RejmnxqVfMqjW0jwyMmMQBcFPFbWryQ07ZccKt2_vxJAjkB7mu3Ll_NznOGjZ4WN3fXgNdTd7yv2EeBnQ4OtEB-q31BM1wicVWo4sb9nmzVLGCaTw-9694FEcr3UQxppXcRAqu1lom0QHX873hjNoXIipKC5SJtDdkBV0wjxPCevhvxT63hiRN/s700/Godse%20and%20Gandhi_0.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="400" data-original-width="700" height="229" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHfTvaP4RejmnxqVfMqjW0jwyMmMQBcFPFbWryQ07ZccKt2_vxJAjkB7mu3Ll_NznOGjZ4WN3fXgNdTd7yv2EeBnQ4OtEB-q31BM1wicVWo4sb9nmzVLGCaTw-9694FEcr3UQxppXcRAqu1lom0QHX873hjNoXIipKC5SJtDdkBV0wjxPCevhvxT63hiRN/w400-h229/Godse%20and%20Gandhi_0.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i><a href="http://www.mkgandhi.org/epigrams/d.htm#top">Mohandas K. Gandhi</a> and his assassin </i></span><span style="font-size: small;"><span><span><i><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20020213002118/https://time.com/time/asia/magazine/2000/0214/india.godse.html">Nathuram Godse</a>.</i></span></span></span></td></tr></tbody></table><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: small;"><span><i> <span><span> </span></span></i></span></span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: small;"><span><i><span><span>“In politics you cannot follow nonviolence. You cannot follow
honesty. Every moment you have to give </span></span></i></span></span><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: small;"><span><i><span><span>a lie. Every moment you have
to take a bullet in hand and kill someone.” - </span></span></i><span><span><i>
<a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20020213002118/https://time.com/time/asia/magazine/2000/0214/india.godse.html">Gopal Godse</a>, co-conspirator in Gandhi's assassination, Time Magazine, February 2000.</i></span></span></span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: small;"><span>Seventy six years ago Mohandas Gandhi was shot three times in the chest
and killed by Hindu nationalist </span></span><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: small;"><a href="https://www.theleaflet.in/book-review-gandhis-assassin-the-making-of-nathuram-godse-and-his-idea-of-india-by-dhirendra-k-jha/"><span data-offset-key="fvp9l-0-0"><span data-text="true">Nathuram </span></span></a></span><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: small;"><span><span><span><span><span><a href="https://www.theleaflet.in/book-review-gandhis-assassin-the-making-of-nathuram-godse-and-his-idea-of-india-by-dhirendra-k-jha/">Godse</a></span></span></span><i><span><span><span><i> </i></span></span></span></i></span>at 5:17pm. Godse was part of a <a href="https://www.firstpost.com/india/madhya-pradesh-shivraj-singh-chouhan-says-decision-on-reopening-schools-to-be-taken-after-consulting-experts-10331981.html">team of assassins</a> that had tried 10 days earlier to bomb and kill Gandhi.</span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: small;"></span></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEje9Ah7tvG9pF8bFvqhTXGvVhg0B5ueomCWSTQxYpLVBjfRYZoIVrkCy_cnEldAX_d9icbLjrgRS3WAHWHUqBynPjX8KT9LjeIGWobaTKe39w-WHuN1eS32c6axfQ1w-4BRHa9haUlhHH9nezgAxF1T4JpkwBY8vmtbGbh9aF_MKuNhlQtad92L5PWSqI-a/s400/gandhiassassinated.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="286" data-original-width="400" height="286" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEje9Ah7tvG9pF8bFvqhTXGvVhg0B5ueomCWSTQxYpLVBjfRYZoIVrkCy_cnEldAX_d9icbLjrgRS3WAHWHUqBynPjX8KT9LjeIGWobaTKe39w-WHuN1eS32c6axfQ1w-4BRHa9haUlhHH9nezgAxF1T4JpkwBY8vmtbGbh9aF_MKuNhlQtad92L5PWSqI-a/w400-h286/gandhiassassinated.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span><span style="font-family: arial;">Body of Indian leader Mahatma Gandhi lies in state at Birla House in New Delhi.</span></span></span></td></tr></tbody></table><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: small;"><span><span><span>Gandhi despite his successful struggle for independence and the establishment of the largest democracy on the
planet was felled, after <a href="https://www.thebetterindia.com/129424/mahatma-gandhi-assassination-attempts/">repeated assassination attempts</a>, <a href="http://www.eyewitnesstohistory.com/gandhi.htm">gunned down</a>
as he went to worship. </span></span></span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: small;"><span><span><span>The assassins murdered the independence leader because they did not
believe that India could survive with Gandhi promoting Satyagraha and a Muslim state next door.
Gopal Godse, a co-conspirator and <a href="http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/india/090203/analysis-the-man-who-killed-gandhi">brother of the assassin</a> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20071112073306/http://shaunak.wordpress.com/2005/09/27/nathuram-godses-speech-in-court/">Nathuram Godse</a>, argued as late as February 2000 in a <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20020213002118/https://time.com/time/asia/magazine/2000/0214/india.godse.html">Time magazine interview</a> that:
“In politics you cannot follow nonviolence. You cannot follow
honesty. Every moment you have to give a lie. Every moment you have
to take a bullet in hand and kill someone.”</span></span></span></span></p><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: small;"><span><span><span>Communists view nationalists <a href="https://oxford.universitypressscholarship.com/view/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195051032.001.0001/acprof-9780195051032">as a threat to their revolutionary project</a>, and nationalists often have a critical view of Marxist-Leninists, but they both agreed in their hostility to Mohandas Gandhi. </span></span></span></span></div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: small;"><span><span><span><br /></span></span></span></span></div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: small;"><span><span><span>The
nationalists were open and transparent about their evil intent, but the
communists had more guile, and their reasons for rejecting him more
complex. </span></span> <br /></span></span></div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: small;"><span> </span></span></div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: small;"><span>The Soviet press published
an article written by S.M. Vakar in 1948
following Gandhi's assassination on January 30, 1948 titled "<a href="http://dlib.eastview.com/browse/doc/13681621">The Class Nature of the Gandhi Doctrine</a>" subtitled "<a href="http://cubanexilequarter.blogspot.com/2010/10/gk-chesterton-mohandas-gandhi-rejection.html">Gandhi as a Reactionary Utopian</a>" in the Soviet philosophy journal <a href="http://logic.ru/en/node/276">Voprosy filosofii</a> (Questions of Philosophy). The Marxist Leninist argument was outlined as follows: <br /></span></span>
<blockquote><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: small;"><span>
Although
Gandhi regarded the union and independence of the Indian peoples as
his goal, his reactionary-Utopian social theory and the reformist
methods of struggle connected with it caused his activity to fail in
facilitating overthrow of the colonial yoke [...] The social essence of
the Gandhi doctrine and its fundamentally reactionary role in the
history of <a href="http://www.mmisi.org/ma/04_03/roy.pdf">India's national liberation</a>
movement has hardly been treated in Marxist literature. Yet this
doctrine still retards the development of class awareness among the
Indian masses.</span></span></blockquote><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: small;"><span>
What was this social essence of Gandhian
thought that so troubled the Marxist-Leninists in the Soviet Union?
First, the reformist methods of struggle referred to in the above quote
was nonviolent resistance and secondly his social theory rejected class
struggle as another manifestation of destructive violence. On <a href="http://cubanexilequarter.blogspot.com/2010/09/other-september-11-and-how-satyagraha.html">September 11, 1906 a new word came into existence</a> that would give a better understanding of Gandhi's social theory and method of struggle which he described as:<br /></span></span>
<blockquote>
<span style="font-family: arial; font-size: small;"><span><span style="color: black;">'Satyagraha.'
Truth (Satya) implies love, and firmness (agraha) engenders and
therefore serves as a synonym for force. I thus began to call the Indian
movement 'Satyagraha,' that is to say, the Force which is born of
Truth and Love or non-violence, and gave up the use of the phrase
'passive resistance,' in connection with it, so much so that even in
English writing we often avoided it and used instead the word
'Satyagraha' itself or some other equivalent English phrase. </span></span></span></blockquote><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: small;"><span>
The
Marxist-Leninists embrace revolutionary violence and a movement led by
a small vanguard of intellectuals and professional revolutionaries that
carry out the changes "necessary" by whatever means necessary and
reject nonviolence as naive. They follow the doctrine of Vladimir
Lenin as
presented in his 1902 revolutionary tract "<a href="http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/1902lenin.html">What is to be done</a>."</span></span></div><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: small;"><span><span><span><i> </i></span></span></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: small;"><i><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3mWAVehx4aPBABaf1SlWbzxGWIG2d0Mzxy7FozU0Y9awsYa1tO4L4xk_sRYdHVTzkeuOQDWa8kvtavwk6XwXWXsCP3Yd6f5D9JJRpOoEzJysdPZuDNd-b46MYk8WyZwGmJCQK4Fu3mPY9lBbFp4zdptAANEBC9CkRSJlAlYxLg6ftiEH6q2WgKAUVq4TT/s399/DyIwFFFWkAImQ0n.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="297" data-original-width="399" height="297" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3mWAVehx4aPBABaf1SlWbzxGWIG2d0Mzxy7FozU0Y9awsYa1tO4L4xk_sRYdHVTzkeuOQDWa8kvtavwk6XwXWXsCP3Yd6f5D9JJRpOoEzJysdPZuDNd-b46MYk8WyZwGmJCQK4Fu3mPY9lBbFp4zdptAANEBC9CkRSJlAlYxLg6ftiEH6q2WgKAUVq4TT/w400-h297/DyIwFFFWkAImQ0n.jpg" width="400" /></a></i></span></div><p></p><p><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Over a century has passed since both sets of ideas have been set out and applied around the world. An analysis done by <a href="http://belfercenter.ksg.harvard.edu/files/IS3301_pp007-044_Stephan_Chenoweth.pdf">Maria J. Stephen and Erica Chenoweth</a>
systematically explores the strategic effectiveness of both violent and
nonviolent campaigns using data on 323 campaigns carried out between
1900 and 2006.[1] Their findings demonstrate that major non-violent
campaigns were successful 53% of the time versus only 26% for major
violent campaigns and terrorist campaigns had a dismal 7% success rate.</span></span></p><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></span>
</div><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Today,
India with all its flaws is the world's largest democracy with a
growing economy that presents new competitive challenges to the
developed world and Communism has amassed a body count of 100
million dead and counting. It would appear that Gandhi's criticisms of
the communists were prescient:<br /></span></span>
<blockquote class="tr_bq"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: arial;">
"The
socialists and communists say, they can do nothing to bring about
economic equality today. They will just carry on propaganda in its favor
and to that end they believe in generating and accentuating hatred.
They say, when they get control over the State, they will enforce
equality. Under my plan the State will be there to carry out the will of
the people, not to dictate to them or force them to do its will." - <a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=Er59fRsspgoC&pg=PA141&lpg=PA141&dq=The+socialists+and+communists+say,+they+can+do+nothing+to+bring+about+economic+equality+today.+They+will+just+carry+on+propaganda+in+its+favor+and+to+that+end+they+believe+in+generating+and+accentuating+hatred.+They+say,+when+they+get+control+over+the+State,+they+will+enforce+equality.+Under+my+plan+the+State+will+be+there+to+carry+out+the+will+of+the+people,+not+to+dictate+to+them+or+force+them+to+do+its+will.&source=bl&ots=dXMl1YNMf9&sig=bbeA1zyFv5jTGoeNTfu3B1cjuko&hl=en&ei=Vk1GTfn8L8fZgAfg67XgAQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=4&ved=0CCoQ6AEwAw#v=onepage&q=The%20socialists%20and%20communists%20say%2C%20they%20can%20do%20nothing%20to%20bring%20about%20economic%20equality%20today.%20They%20will%20just%20carry%20on%20propaganda%20in%20its%20favor%20and%20to%20that%20end%20they%20believe%20in%20generating%20and%20accentuating%20hatred.%20They%20say%2C%20when%20they%20get%20control%20over%20the%20State%2C%20they%20will%20enforce%20equality.%20Under%20my%20plan%20the%20State%20will%20be%20there%20to%20carry%20out%20the%20will%20of%20the%20people%2C%20not%20to%20dictate%20to%20them%20or%20force%20them%20to%20do%20its%20will.&f=false">Mohandas Gandhi</a><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br />
"It
is my firm conviction that if the State suppressed capitalism by
violence, it will be caught in the coils of violence itself, and will
fail to develop non-violence at any time. The State represents violence
in a concentrated and organized form. The individual has a soul, but as
the State is a soulless machine, it can never be weaned from violence to
which it owes its very existence." - <a href="http://www.mkgandhi.org/momgandhi/chap26.htm">Mohandas Gandhi</a></span></span></blockquote><p><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: arial;">
It is <a href="http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/lucknow/Gandhis-satyagraha-still-holds-relevance-/articleshow/7393945.cms">Satyagraha that is relevant today</a>
in 2022 and offers an alternative to the conflagrations suffered in the
20th century and the wars that plague the world now. Gandhi's
Satyagraha is a call to principled non-violence but even pragmatists and
realists looking over the historical record cannot fail to be
influenced by the fact that<a href="http://cubanexilequarter.blogspot.com/2011/03/in-defense-of-mohandas-gandhi-and.html"> non-violent civic resistance works</a> and offers a better chance of a better life for more people.</span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: arial;"></span></span></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_iN-4ipbkqTEO792BlJSH1vTOYcO626UE11ZrKLqOQPmuEr-7GqrW_yDrujSQ1Hg4IgmGo3MebrlhZt3zQmBuuPlkiv82sWsmeOMi-vM8iUmBAsP-YObxNZOFscKFb9KOkWnwMmaTCTm58T09c0IvWhXGpQkdaeKfF42kehUvPQHMe4XHk9KusaeU2ER8/s960/F7aJgYPXAAAowkO.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="960" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_iN-4ipbkqTEO792BlJSH1vTOYcO626UE11ZrKLqOQPmuEr-7GqrW_yDrujSQ1Hg4IgmGo3MebrlhZt3zQmBuuPlkiv82sWsmeOMi-vM8iUmBAsP-YObxNZOFscKFb9KOkWnwMmaTCTm58T09c0IvWhXGpQkdaeKfF42kehUvPQHMe4XHk9KusaeU2ER8/w400-h300/F7aJgYPXAAAowkO.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The author in Geneva, Switzerland paying his respects to Bapu.<br /></td></tr></tbody></table><p></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: small;">His example has inspired me to commit to nonviolent strategic resistance as a method of struggle, and others have also embraced his legacy, and that of one of his disciples, Martin Luther King Jr., to observe their death anniversaries of January 30, 1948 and April 4, 1968 as a Season of Nonviolence, a time for right action. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: small;">Arun Gandhi, the grandson of Mohandas Gandhi, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Season_for_Nonviolence">founded the Season of Nonviolence in 1988</a> as an annual celebration honoring the philosophies and lives of Martin Luther King Jr. and Mohandas Gandhi. Dr. Michael Beckwith assisted in the development of this initiative.2024 marks 36 years of this observance. <a href="https://freecubafoundation.blogspot.com/2024/01/gandhi-king-paya-season-for-nonviolence.html">Over 174 days on a weekly basis there will information highlighting the nonviolent philosophies of Gandhi, King, and Oswaldo Payá </a>.<br /></span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8KUngBHpfDaLw8UUVSwa-FpoDG3ckpgsAMXlZJNxrrxBCQ_MPXffi9HcEi8ZU1WHwxZTthdhrdhDFtdMy56LKWn5oRtCOPTBH1ywhBF9KDGEDlsdeGJPqn3vp5C5lJ5o1ylH3EKcGvvt_yBT0Jqy0XoD4WVSluazGnQ6Dx9TZznkHv0U5Dn4jn6lIxlbp/s1280/COCCF-08_SNV_towerheader.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="1280" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8KUngBHpfDaLw8UUVSwa-FpoDG3ckpgsAMXlZJNxrrxBCQ_MPXffi9HcEi8ZU1WHwxZTthdhrdhDFtdMy56LKWn5oRtCOPTBH1ywhBF9KDGEDlsdeGJPqn3vp5C5lJ5o1ylH3EKcGvvt_yBT0Jqy0XoD4WVSluazGnQ6Dx9TZznkHv0U5Dn4jn6lIxlbp/w400-h150/COCCF-08_SNV_towerheader.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><p></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: small;">A <a href="https://youtu.be/hpZwCRInrgo">2018 documentary</a> by <i>Deutsche Welle</i> about the assassination of Mohandas Gandhi <a href="https://youtu.be/hpZwCRInrgo?si=MLs_t7rfSmkKqmvl">is available online</a>. It is also <a href="https://youtu.be/mVNsckqcKwg">available in Spanish</a>.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: small;">There are many disciples of Gandhi and King that have continued their good works around the world. <br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: small;"><span>Oswaldo Payá Sardiñas, </span></span><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: small;">a non-violent icon born in Havana, Cuba on February 29, 1952 who's compatriots lovingly called him "Bapu" is one of them. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: small;">Oswaldo Payá Sardiñas <a href="https://cubanexilequarter.blogspot.com/2017/11/remembering-some-of-victims-of-cuban_11.html">spent</a> his <a href="http://cubanexilequarter.blogspot.com/2013/01/martyred-prophets-of-nonviolence-martin.html">entire adult life</a> defending the human rights of the Cuban people. He founded the Christian Liberation Movement (MCL) in 1988 and <a href="http://cubanexilequarter.blogspot.com/2013/01/martyred-prophets-of-nonviolence-martin.html">used nonviolent means</a> to demand that human rights be respected in Cuba. He <a href="http://cubanexilequarter.blogspot.com/2012/05/project-varela-looking-back-at.html">mobilized tens of thousands of Cubans</a> through the Varela Project on the need for a democratic transition. However, he did not only focus on the human rights
violations of the Castro regime and consistently defended human rights
in stark contrast to the current government in Oswaldo's homeland.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: small;">Two instances separated by a decade involving the United States and Iran
demonstrate this courageous consistency in speaking truth to power.<br /></span>
<span style="font-family: arial; font-size: small;"><br />
On January 12, 2002, the <a href="http://www.worldpress.org/Americas/371.cfm">Cuban Communist Party's daily newspaper <i>Granma</i></a> <a href="http://www.worldpress.org/Americas/371.cfm"> offered the official position of the dictatorship on the prison camp in Guantanamo</a>:
"We will not create any obstacles to the development of the [U.S.
military] operation, though the transfer of foreign prisoners of war by
the U.S. government to the base—located on a space in our territory
upon which we have been deprived of any jurisdiction—was not part of
the agreement that the base was founded upon."<br /></span>
<span style="font-family: arial; font-size: small;"><br />
The <a href="http://www.oswaldopaya.org/es/">first Cuban</a>
on the island to criticize and denounce the United States for housing Afghan
prisoners in Cuba and demanding they be treated with dignity was <a href="http://www.crosswalk.com/1177060/">Cuban opposition leader Oswaldo Payá Sardiñas on December 17, 2002</a>: <b> </b><br /></span>
</p><blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: small;">"It's
obviously a matter of shame that our land is being used for that
purpose, having foreign prisoners brought to Cuba. Even if they are
terrorists, they deserve respect. Their human rights should be respected." </span></i></blockquote><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: small;">
Ten years later, on January 11, 2012, <a href="http://cubanexilequarter.blogspot.com/2011/10/oswaldo-paya-sardinas-i-say-freedom.html">Oswaldo Payá</a> was <a href="http://www.oswaldopaya.org/es/2012/01/11/una-ofensa-a-los-cubanos/">criticizing the honoring</a> of the Iranian despot Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, denouncing both his antisemitism and brutal human rights record:</span></p><p><i><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: small;"></span></i></p><blockquote><p><i><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: small;">"Tyrant lizard on the hill. Currently, Ahmadinejad speaks at the University of Havana. It is an insult to the students and an outrage to the sacred remains of Father Varela, and against the virtue and homeland of the Cubans." </span></i> <br /></p></blockquote><blockquote><p><i><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: small;">"Mahmoud, why do you deny the Holocaust? Would you repeat it? Never again against any people."</span></i></p></blockquote><blockquote class="tr_bq"><i><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: small;"></span></i></blockquote><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: small;">
Twelve years ago on<a href="http://cubanexilequarter.blogspot.com/2012/07/oswaldo-paya-cuban-human-rights.html"> July 22, 2012</a> this consistent human rights defender was killed in what was a premeditated<a href="http://cubanexilequarter.blogspot.com/2012/07/killing-future.html"> state security operation</a>
that led to the car crash, <a href="https://cubanexilequarter.blogspot.com/2017/07/remembering-oswaldo-paya-harold-cepero.html">together with the killing</a>
of MCL youth leader Harold Cepero Escalante. Over the past decade his
family and friends have demanded an investigation into these two
deaths, and in June 2023 the <a href="https://www.oas.org/en/iachr/decisions/2023/ADM_14-196_EN.pdf">Inter-American Commission on Human Rights</a> confirmed that the two human rights defenders <a href="https://rfkhumanrights.org/inter-american-commission-holds-cuba-responsible-for-the-killing-of-pro-democracy-leaders-oswaldo-pay%C3%A1-and-harold-cepero">had been assassinated by Cuban government agents</a>.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: small;">The hatred and violence promoted by communists and ultra-nationalists only end in death and destruction, but time has also demonstrated the constructive power of love and nonviolence. On this Martyr's Day lets us remember Gandhi, King, and Payá and their constructive nonviolent legacies that decade later continue to have positive results.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: small;">Over the next 64 days this site will be highlighting some of them. <br /></span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEge3nWHppupQtEwR9I9-vvQQssg2JGuCy0k2rvq4AlQ1POGpENDPs8rno9W-fRvx0zifKTTp0Fzlk8mDbEJrPP6nSAX3COIEUbpP9lz8jky2ySUaJ-kTQ942urP2kQxZgNHs9dPcj3dEVk-0tOK52uQdoE0iObEBHnFe2Hk1EDfY_ib06PPMj2XBP3cFnxI/s1104/Cm9Zwt4WgAA6fau.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="413" data-original-width="1104" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEge3nWHppupQtEwR9I9-vvQQssg2JGuCy0k2rvq4AlQ1POGpENDPs8rno9W-fRvx0zifKTTp0Fzlk8mDbEJrPP6nSAX3COIEUbpP9lz8jky2ySUaJ-kTQ942urP2kQxZgNHs9dPcj3dEVk-0tOK52uQdoE0iObEBHnFe2Hk1EDfY_ib06PPMj2XBP3cFnxI/w400-h150/Cm9Zwt4WgAA6fau.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: small;"><br /></span><p></p>John Suarezhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11333798474560217548noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1419558703918975245.post-63403687047029197812024-01-28T03:51:00.009-05:002024-01-28T14:09:29.597-05:00Remembering José Martí and his legacy on his 171st birth anniversary<p> <i><span id="result_box" lang="en"><span class="hps">"Freedom</span> <span class="hps">can not be fruitful</span> <span class="hps alt-edited">for the peoples</span> <span class="hps">who have</span> <span class="hps">their </span><span class="hps alt-edited">forehead stained in blood</span>." <span class="hps">-</span> </span>José Martí<span id="result_box" lang="en"><span class="hps">*</span></span></i></p><p><i><span id="result_box" lang="en"><span class="hps"></span></span></i></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8cLbgMTOkYXfILRlaBEFn4Z-X82rEiSyxl51GkiYYz9A4NGmxJE-ebVLm2f1UInbrdDCXOn2awDrsqamh5qaY4reclntp9Yu0K5O60yhztsmHMPrH1z9V8zOQpBn64Ap9eWKHLRNdwIFKPkCRXWUOwKQhxvXuJqzdcX2z_V8xTBmEkrV2N4Bo6dRmZ_jH/s500/Jose%20Marti.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="369" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8cLbgMTOkYXfILRlaBEFn4Z-X82rEiSyxl51GkiYYz9A4NGmxJE-ebVLm2f1UInbrdDCXOn2awDrsqamh5qaY4reclntp9Yu0K5O60yhztsmHMPrH1z9V8zOQpBn64Ap9eWKHLRNdwIFKPkCRXWUOwKQhxvXuJqzdcX2z_V8xTBmEkrV2N4Bo6dRmZ_jH/w295-h400/Jose%20Marti.jpg" width="295" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">José Martí, 28 January 1853 – 19 May 1895</td></tr></tbody></table><i><span id="result_box" lang="en"><span class="hps"> </span></span></i><br />
<span id="result_box" lang="en"><span class="hps">He re-launched an independence struggle, but he did so without inciting hatred or dehumanizing his opponents. He was a fervent supporter of civil liberties, particularly the freedom of thought and expression. In addition, he worked as a journalist and poet, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20010607011643/http://www.fiu.edu/~fcf/jmarti.html">having previously been imprisoned</a> by the Spanish monarchy for his political views. </span></span><span id="result_box" lang="en"><span class="hps">Today,
January 28 marks 171 years since the day </span></span>José Julián Martí Pérez was born.<br /><span id="result_box" lang="en"><span class="hps"> </span></span><br />
Cubans of all ideological stripes claim him as their own, but
objectively who has maintained the spirit of his words and ideas? There
is <a href="http://cubanexilequarter.blogspot.com/2014/01/origins-and-growth-of-democratic.html">a movement</a>
in Cuba that seeks to restore human rights and liberties using
nonviolent means. There are courageous Cubans who risk everything
standing up to dictatorship and some of them <a href="https://rfkhumanrights.org/inter-american-commission-holds-cuba-responsible-for-the-killing-of-pro-democracy-leaders-oswaldo-pay%C3%A1-and-harold-cepero">have been assassinated</a> in the process and <a href="http://cubanexilequarter.blogspot.com/2013/03/rosa-maria-paya-acevedo-death-threats.html">their families targeted</a> for <a href="https://www.oas.org/en/iachr/decisions/2023/ADM_14-196_EN.pdf">reprisals, and forced into exile</a>.<br />
<br />
<a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20010413001859/http://www.fiu.edu/~fcf/marti.pensamientos.10797.html">José Martí</a> wrote <a href="https://www.google.com/books/edition/Doctrinas_M%C3%A1ximas_Y_Aforismos/MhzsAAAAMAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&bsq=%22There+is+no+forgiveness+for+acts+of+hatred.+Daggers+thrust+in+the+name+of+liberty+are+thrust+into+liberty%27s+heart.%22&dq=%22There+is+no+forgiveness+for+acts+of+hatred.+Daggers+thrust+in+the+name+of+liberty+are+thrust+into+liberty%27s+heart.%22&printsec=frontcover">that</a> "There is no forgiveness for acts of hatred.
Daggers thrust in the name of liberty are thrust into liberty's heart."
Following this statement to its logical conclusion leads us over a
century later to new generations carrying on his legacy.<br />
<p></p><blockquote class="tr_bq">
"The first victory we can claim is that our hearts are free
of hatred. Hence we say to those who persecute us and who try to
dominate us: ‘You are my brother. I do not hate you, but you are not
going to dominate me by fear. I do not wish to impose my truth, nor do I
wish you to impose yours on me. We <span style="font-size: normal;">are going to seek the truth
together.’" - </span><a href="http://cubanexilequarter.blogspot.com/2009/12/oswaldo-payas-december-17-2002-speech.html"><span>Oswaldo Payá Sardiñas</span></a><span style="font-size: normal;">, <span style="font-size: small;">December 17, 2002 <br /></span></span>
</blockquote><blockquote><p><span style="font-size: small;"><span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span class="long_text" id="result_box" lang="en"><span class="hps"><span class="long_text" id="result_box" lang="en"><span class="hps">"Those who steal</span> <span class="hps">the rights of others</span> <span class="hps">steal</span> <span class="hps">from</span> <span class="hps">themselves.</span> <span class="hps">Those who</span> <span class="hps">remove</span> <span class="hps">and crush</span> <span class="hps">freedom</span> <span class="hps">are the true</span> <span class="hps">slaves.</span></span>" </span></span></span></span><span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span class="long_text" id="result_box" lang="en"><span class="hps"><span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span class="long_text" id="result_box" lang="en"> - </span></span></span><span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span class="long_text" id="result_box" lang="en"><a href="http://cubanexilequarter.blogspot.com/2013/07/harold-ceperos-letter-of-protest.html">Harold Cepero Escalante</a></span></span></span>, November 3, 2002</span></span></span></span><span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span> </span></span></span></span></span></p></blockquote><p><span style="font-size: normal;"><span style="font-size: small;">In their writings and in their lives, Oswaldo and Harold exemplified the best qualities o</span>f José Martí, rejecting hatred and continuing to defy injustice while pursuing liberation and national reconciliation. </span></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtk9Vy-hLFEvrgAcLQqM2Opc0BgzBYO3sfkYMv5_r9N9_rRw64VXSir69Hwhqi-teWoN0GRDSTHENQrc2CvFTwJyRAT7IatbJPbn6tCq1nL0-Vk6sn-XohBvr-Pdwca_uK9_NCmShuTDzq-Z8W7OqrTNXVisY0EgcKJyoghrNie4LmT8BtKgGdiiuwgasi/s624/CloS_dXWEAA2twc.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="393" data-original-width="624" height="253" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtk9Vy-hLFEvrgAcLQqM2Opc0BgzBYO3sfkYMv5_r9N9_rRw64VXSir69Hwhqi-teWoN0GRDSTHENQrc2CvFTwJyRAT7IatbJPbn6tCq1nL0-Vk6sn-XohBvr-Pdwca_uK9_NCmShuTDzq-Z8W7OqrTNXVisY0EgcKJyoghrNie4LmT8BtKgGdiiuwgasi/w400-h253/CloS_dXWEAA2twc.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Cuban Martyrs: Oswaldo Payá Sardiñas, and Harold Cepero Escalante,</td></tr></tbody></table><p></p><p>Today in Cuba <a href="https://lista.prisonersdefenders.org/">over a thousand Cubans are jailed</a> for calling for freedom, and an end to dictatorship. They are the direct heirs of José Martí. Let us honor them, and Cuba's apostle <a href="https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1qHNIWQvaPyrdAmDC8k1ohQ6J-0dXRIZgeOUW6NMKKS8/viewform?edit_requested=true">in campaigning for their freedom</a>, and for the liberation of Cuba from the present communist dictatorship. <br /></p><p><i>*"La libertad no puede ser fecunda para los pueblos que tienen la frente manchada de sangre." - Jose Marti </i><span id="result_box" lang="en"><span class="hps"></span></span></p>
John Suarezhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11333798474560217548noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1419558703918975245.post-44056152415886009532024-01-27T12:21:00.001-05:002024-01-27T12:23:36.713-05:00#WeRemember: International Holocaust Remembrance Day is January 27th <p><span style="font-size: small;"><i><span>"It happened, therefore it can happen
again: this is the core of what we have to say. It can happen, and it
can happen everywhere." - Primo Levi, 1986 <a href="https://www.amazon.com/The-Drowned-Saved-Primo-Levi/dp/067972186X/freecubafoundati">The Drowned and the Saved</a></span></i></span></p><p><span style="font-size: small;"><i><span>Never Again is Now.</span></i></span></p><p><span style="font-size: small;"><i><span></span></i></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiO_6btRYgzQWC9iuubfFcQgzHJpRudqoGDf7WjEL2q34NZQyaXjQgs3f_SWkChHnCLLZMXVJXW7ZyjStV4uoUI0V5fa10JQJsZERGhRLw7aKK5ce6A9XYiqihamqahweKYPdd_dkDJ9s-eUz5NzfhMaqNE7U5KFs6enHdN4PodcpH4PZuGfi0uRwmJIFed/s4096/GE2-SdxWcAAJuH_.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4096" data-original-width="4096" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiO_6btRYgzQWC9iuubfFcQgzHJpRudqoGDf7WjEL2q34NZQyaXjQgs3f_SWkChHnCLLZMXVJXW7ZyjStV4uoUI0V5fa10JQJsZERGhRLw7aKK5ce6A9XYiqihamqahweKYPdd_dkDJ9s-eUz5NzfhMaqNE7U5KFs6enHdN4PodcpH4PZuGfi0uRwmJIFed/w400-h400/GE2-SdxWcAAJuH_.jpg" width="400" /></a></i></span></div><span style="font-size: small;"><i><br /></i><span><span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="background-color: white;"><a href="http://cubanexilequarter.blogspot.com/2015/01/liberation-of-auschwitz-70-years-ago.html">Today,</a> January 27, 2024 is recognized by the <a href="https://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10008232">United Nations</a> as <a href="http://www.ushmm.org/information/exhibitions/online-features/special-focus/international-holocaust-remembrance-day">International Holocaust Remembrance Day</a> and is observed <a href="http://www.yadvashem.org/27th/index.asp">around the world</a>. </span></span></span></span></span></span><p></p><p><span style="font-size: small;"><span><span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="background-color: white;">We
must never forget what happened, </span></span></span></span></span><span class="css-901oao css-16my406 r-poiln3 r-bcqeeo r-qvutc0"> 6 million Jews murdered by the Nazis during the Holocaust,</span><span><span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="background-color: white;"> and remain vigilant now and in the
future to battle against the mass destruction of innocent human beings. </span></span></span></span></span></span></p><span style="font-size: small;"><span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="background-color: white;"> </span></span></span></span></span><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="background-color: white;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMrwhed7p26qo8FuDIgNo9C3LQD8LNNw5uab3eBCjXx_AGiE58SaJULfJiWWBqlAka_DGzcdBI8g5uSzVy_0eIa_qLpdNSS3BKnCbn5KvMlCFRs9xhbRKefBRGF4e9imU9NAZrH2Iqpz0_bvLBB8LuhsBt8mI6T-ZO0B9Rt2IdsR-bApUT0vSnDlQf1lZP/s320/Dx7hpnVWwAAJPpS.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="304" data-original-width="320" height="380" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMrwhed7p26qo8FuDIgNo9C3LQD8LNNw5uab3eBCjXx_AGiE58SaJULfJiWWBqlAka_DGzcdBI8g5uSzVy_0eIa_qLpdNSS3BKnCbn5KvMlCFRs9xhbRKefBRGF4e9imU9NAZrH2Iqpz0_bvLBB8LuhsBt8mI6T-ZO0B9Rt2IdsR-bApUT0vSnDlQf1lZP/w400-h380/Dx7hpnVWwAAJPpS.jpg" width="400" /></a></div></span></span></span></span></span><span style="font-size: small;"><span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="background-color: white;"> </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="background-color: white;"><a href="https://mjhnyc.org/blog/primo-levi-at-100/">Primo Levi</a> was right, <a href="https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_Drowned_and_the_Saved/s90nDwAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=The+Drowned+and+the+Saved+Primo+Levi,%22It+happened,+therefore+it+can+happen+again:+this+is+the+core+of+what+we+have+to+say.+It+can+happen,+and+it+can+happen+everywhere.%22&printsec=frontcover">it can happen anywhere</a> - even in Israel, and even here. </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><span><span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="background-color: white;"> </span></span></span></span></span></span><p>Three months and twenty one days ago on October 7, 2023, Hamas, an Iranian proxy, invaded and attacked Israel <a href="https://apnews.com/article/hamas-israel-unaccounted-people-095f64d06108416ff9c58ea7550b9a74">killing 1,200 and taking 240 hostages</a>.
This strike ignited a Middle East war between Israel and the terrorist
organization Hamas, which has its base of operations in Gaza.<span style="font-size: small;"><span><span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="background-color: white;"> This was the largest mass killing of Jewish people since the Holocaust. </span></span></span></span></span></span><span style="font-size: small;"><span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="background-color: white;">Two days after the Hamas terrorist attacks, before Israel had responded to the attacks, </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><a href="https://nypost.com/2023/10/10/reprehensible-protestors-chant-gas-the-jews-outside-sydney-opera-house/">on the steps of the Sydney Opera House in Australia</a> over a thousand protesters chanted, “Gas the Jews.” Sadly, <a href="https://thehill.com/opinion/international/4270996-cubas-dictatorship-has-a-serious-problem-with-jews/">the Cuban dictatorship </a><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: small;"><a href="https://thehill.com/opinion/international/4270996-cubas-dictatorship-has-a-serious-problem-with-jews/">backs Hamas, and is spreading anti-Semitic tropes</a>.</span><span style="font-size: small;"><span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="background-color: white;"> </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: small;"><span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="background-color: white;">Three years and twenty one days ago on January 6, 2021, when the citadel of American democracy <a href="https://www.dw.com/en/capitol-hill-riots-are-western-democracies-under-attack/a-56163820">was laid siege</a> by an angry mob that resulted in five deaths - Nazis where there in the crowd. </span></span></span></span><span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="background-color: white;">Robert Keith Packer, age 56, was </span></span></span></span><span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="background-color: white;"><a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/man-camp-auschwitz-shirt-photographed-u-s-capitol-riot-arrested-n1254070">wearing a "Camp Auschwitz" t-shirt</a>, making light of the notorious death camp. <a href="http://auschwitz.org/en/">Auschwitz</a>
was the largest of the German Nazi concentration camps and
extermination centers. Over 1.1 million men, women and children lost
their lives there.</span></span></span></span></span></p><blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p dir="ltr" lang="en">“The moment infants are killed in their beds, women are raped, people are thrown on the ground and murdered, cruelly, satanically, and having done no wrong - that is a Holocaust”<br /><br />Ruth Haran survived both the Holocaust and the October 7 Hamas massacre. <a href="https://t.co/hOP2Q4IbY5">pic.twitter.com/hOP2Q4IbY5</a></p>— Aviva Klompas (@AvivaKlompas) <a href="https://twitter.com/AvivaKlompas/status/1750843533722853675?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 26, 2024</a></blockquote> <script async="" charset="utf-8" src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script> <p><span style="font-size: small;"><span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="background-color: white;"> Five years and three months ago </span></span></span></span></span>on October 27, 2018, <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/US/pittsburgh-synagogue-mass-shooting-jury-reaches-verdict-death/story?id=101220141">Robert Bowers</a> entered the Tree of Life synagogue with an <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pittsburgh_synagogue_shooting">AR-15,</a> and three handguns <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/27/us/active-shooter-pittsburgh-synagogue-shooting.html">shouting anti-Semitic slurs and opened fire</a> killing eleven, and wounding six others. It was believed to be the <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2018/10/brief-history-anti-semitic-violence-america/574228/">deadliest attack against Jewish people in U<span style="font-size: small;">.S. history, but it was not the first</span></a><span style="font-size: small;">.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: small;"><span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="background-color: white;">Unfortunately
the international community has failed more than once since 1945 to
prevent another mass slaughter. Cambodia under the Khmer Rouge murdered
between one fourth and one third of its population between 1975 and
1979, civil libertarian Nat Hentoff pointed to another genocide<a href="http://www.villagevoice.com/news/a-holocaust-we-could-have-stopped-6422259"> that could have been stopped</a> in Rwanda in 1994, and in 2016 we <a href="http://cubanexilequarter.blogspot.com/2016/11/syria-and-iraq-civil-war-and-genocide.html">witnessed another in Syria</a> where religious minorities, including Christians were being targeted. Today, we are witnessing the <a href="https://www.cfr.org/backgrounder/china-xinjiang-uyghurs-muslims-repression-genocide-human-rights">genocide of Muslim Uyghurs</a> in China.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: small;"><span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white;"></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicPiLzlxXRdcc-7n9QROiIbV91YUe1Ve5wQPrVABXj0JIJtVTAjJmlRtLn2_7lD2CQIG_dHDWilshQBowZwA3PuFTycM7Kln3bDBYCfY7hWFOnytkL87ad9dMlk-_mw58-cQjZR-5m3Nsm1vScd-ZjjQRFBdK_zYdb8tO1LzqnJchiBK4rSU2jC6HSYroA/s400/EO1tAtzX0AARjIg.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="200" data-original-width="400" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicPiLzlxXRdcc-7n9QROiIbV91YUe1Ve5wQPrVABXj0JIJtVTAjJmlRtLn2_7lD2CQIG_dHDWilshQBowZwA3PuFTycM7Kln3bDBYCfY7hWFOnytkL87ad9dMlk-_mw58-cQjZR-5m3Nsm1vScd-ZjjQRFBdK_zYdb8tO1LzqnJchiBK4rSU2jC6HSYroA/w400-h200/EO1tAtzX0AARjIg.jpg" width="400" /></a></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></div><span style="font-size: small;"><span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><span style="font-size: small;"><span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="background-color: white;">It is also important to remember that <a href="http://www.jpost.com/Not-Just-News/The-time-has-comefor-world-leadership-tostand-up-to-antisemitism-488704">antisemitism is on the rise</a>
world wide and people of the Jewish faith need our solidarity and
support now more than ever in confronting rising hatred and intolerance to ensure that <a href="http://www.yadvashem.org/yv/en/remembrance/multimedia.asp">what Nazi Germany did </a>never be repeated. </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><p></p><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;"><p><span style="font-size: small;"><span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "georgia" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "georgia" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white;">At the same time it is <a href="http://www.yadvashem.org/yv/en/remembrance/2017/torchlighters.asp?utm_source=social&utm_medium=tw">important to remember</a>
and honor the martyrs and <a href="https://cubanexilequarter.blogspot.com/2020/01/wallenberg-at-75-saved-over-140000-jews.html">heroes</a> who resisted the Nazis. Including <a href="https://cubanexilequarter.blogspot.com/2020/01/wallenberg-at-75-saved-over-140000-jews.html">Raoul Wallenberg</a>, who saved 140,000 Jewish people, and was disappeared by the Soviets in January 1945. </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: times, "times new roman", serif;">They are
exemplars in moral courage that are much needed today. </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: small;"><span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: times, "times new roman", serif;"></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: times, "times new roman", serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnvojcn9JVvfDdpCdldso_jsHthi8RE0lLHv8lSnqjh8eerC3f7EoJvbwzSOSVd59SZSvemEWOiMFUsn3C82JcIDLwpT1wfMI1QILjqTsvBLVOBFU1SC3lox8jayNebkJv-qYyYFOWXm_7nuqjMjnc4Cnoi5SZvzindBg8YxyiAle_6mofzVvs4kYN3fB1/s1280/GE2dvpUXIAAWs_M.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1280" data-original-width="1280" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnvojcn9JVvfDdpCdldso_jsHthi8RE0lLHv8lSnqjh8eerC3f7EoJvbwzSOSVd59SZSvemEWOiMFUsn3C82JcIDLwpT1wfMI1QILjqTsvBLVOBFU1SC3lox8jayNebkJv-qYyYFOWXm_7nuqjMjnc4Cnoi5SZvzindBg8YxyiAle_6mofzVvs4kYN3fB1/w400-h400/GE2dvpUXIAAWs_M.jpg" width="400" /></a></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></div><span style="font-size: small;"><span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="background-color: white;">
<span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "georgia" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "georgia" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span>
<span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "georgia" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "georgia" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white;">In 2017 in the
United States we saw Neo-Nazis on the march in <a href="http://cubanexilequarter.blogspot.com/2017/08/charolettesville-when-hate-and-hate.html">Charlottesville, North Carolina</a>
first in a torchlight parade chanting anti-Semitic rants that the
following day turned deadly in violent clashes that claimed an innocent
life.</span></span></span></span></span></span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"> We must remain vigilant and denounce this evil ideology wherever and whenever it arises.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><p></p><p><span style="font-size: small;"><span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">It can happen here. It can happen anywhere. <a href="https://youtu.be/XDJXo2Gn-ww?si=urXhLBnoR1x_gmCZ">We are not "OK".<br /></a></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: small;"><span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">When violence erupts in a society where the rule of law exists, it must not be tolerated, but dealt with an expeditious manner through the judicial system. However, where the poisonous tropes of anti-Semitism, and hatred against the Jewish people arise, it must not be censored by the government, but challenged by people of good will in the battle of ideas to expose both its intellectual and moral bankruptcy. </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></p><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/qdvTtKCCZGo?si=H_zLIwhCg7DBgPDO" title="YouTube video player" width="420"></iframe><p><span style="font-size: small;"><span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><a href="https://www.cato.org/events/marxist-origins-hate-speech-legislation-political-correctness">Hate speech has Marxist origins</a> that are in opposition to free expression. Perversely, it claims that language can be violence to censor speech while at the same time <a href="https://www.stephenhicks.org/2013/02/18/marxs-philosophy-and-the-necessity-of-violent-politics/">defending physical violence as justified</a>. When you outlaw speech and drive it underground you imbue it with power and credibility it does not deserve. <a href="http://cubanexilequarter.blogspot.com/2017/08/weimar-germany-had-hate-speech-laws-and.html">They tried this approach in Wiemar Germany</a> and it only helped the Nazis take power.<br /></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: small;"><span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span><span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i><span style="background-color: white;"><i>"To
forget the victims means to kill them a second time. So I couldn't
prevent the first death. I surely must be capable of saving them from a
second death." - <a href="http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2016/07/02/166184644/elie-wiesel-holocaust-survivor-and-nobel-laureate-dies-at-87" style="text-decoration: none;">Elie Wiesel</a></i></span></i></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: small;"><span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span><span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i><span style="background-color: white;"><i></i></span></i></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i><span style="background-color: white;"><i><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6cTywnTkjzZPULziyLanS4Fmd3_sK9PSSiAiiuuUpenTsSTxxog8Dplq_Gf7n7NkLdYE_0Np7868QfmJy0iOS8N-cbKGF7tCa7KkpLotdlH7AKlgu2xPkyervKH2AEqhL_63YkP6M8tBOxjioFkT4tPSy3C5m0QLxRWPVadyHmSKyKg4lb8EgAAzy0XSn/s1080/DxjIIMaWoAAYAeW.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1080" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6cTywnTkjzZPULziyLanS4Fmd3_sK9PSSiAiiuuUpenTsSTxxog8Dplq_Gf7n7NkLdYE_0Np7868QfmJy0iOS8N-cbKGF7tCa7KkpLotdlH7AKlgu2xPkyervKH2AEqhL_63YkP6M8tBOxjioFkT4tPSy3C5m0QLxRWPVadyHmSKyKg4lb8EgAAzy0XSn/w400-h400/DxjIIMaWoAAYAeW.jpg" width="400" /></a></i></span></i></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></div><span style="font-size: small;"><span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i><span style="background-color: white;"><i><br /> </i></span></i></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><p></p></div></div>John Suarezhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11333798474560217548noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1419558703918975245.post-58814680678859684852024-01-21T17:07:00.000-05:002024-01-21T17:07:01.417-05:00Vladimir Lenin died 100 years ago today and Communist Cuba's hand picked president is celebrating his legacy <div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;"> #Lenin100</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;">Today, 100 years ago, Vladimir Lenin died. His bloody revolutionary career claimed millions of lives through politically orchestrated famines or outright murders, and he sentenced the peoples of the Soviet Union to seven decades of despotism</span>. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><p><b>Communist Cuba's president pays homage to Lenin.</b><br /></p>Raul Castro's handpicked president, <span class="css-901oao css-16my406 css-1hf3ou5 r-poiln3 r-bcqeeo r-qvutc0"><span class="css-901oao css-16my406 r-poiln3 r-bcqeeo r-qvutc0">Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez, today <a href="https://twitter.com/johnjsuarez/status/1749177504827331027">over Twitter</a> observed the death of </span></span><span>Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov, better known as Vladimir Lenin and honored the late mass murderer, and despot. Below is the text translated to English, and a screen grab of what the Cuban president posted.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span></span></div><blockquote><div style="text-align: left;"><span><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="HwtZe" lang="en"><span class="jCAhz ChMk0b"><span class="ryNqvb">"#Lenin100 is trending on this platform today, a century after the physical disappearance of the leader of the October Socialist Revolution and the world proletariat.</span></span><span class="jCAhz"><span class="ryNqvb">
</span></span><span class="jCAhz ChMk0b"><span class="ryNqvb">#Cuba honors his memory."</span></span></span></div></blockquote><div style="text-align: left;"><span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_Z5gO07Gh7voyc6XP7RZffAwNLrWmIJUvkKMhUg-XsN5Hoa6G_VN5d8tcLGP3fqPEFVGjOECaBWrz15_6yi6wtcWUZnam_nTgHXzaWkfnz49d3elIbrT8XpbuqVzrTYQ37dchfMOMGjsjlFNgq3BtxQetjiXGHJxZPG3ODSSrjmElnfB2aqxEPJj2Jczo/s990/lenin100.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="990" data-original-width="579" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_Z5gO07Gh7voyc6XP7RZffAwNLrWmIJUvkKMhUg-XsN5Hoa6G_VN5d8tcLGP3fqPEFVGjOECaBWrz15_6yi6wtcWUZnam_nTgHXzaWkfnz49d3elIbrT8XpbuqVzrTYQ37dchfMOMGjsjlFNgq3BtxQetjiXGHJxZPG3ODSSrjmElnfB2aqxEPJj2Jczo/w374-h640/lenin100.png" width="374" /></a></div><br /></span><span class="HwtZe" lang="en"><span class="jCAhz ChMk0b"><span class="ryNqvb"><a href="https://twitter.com/johnjsuarez/status/1749177383003816093">Responded to his X post pointing out</a> that it was the dictatorship in Cuba honoring Lenin's memory, not the Cuban people, and added that</span></span> "<span class="jCAhz ChMk0b"><span class="ryNqvb">Lenin was truly one of the bloodiest mass murderers in history as well as a dictator and psychopath.</span></span> <span class="jCAhz ChMk0b"><span class="ryNqvb">You should be ashamed honoring this monster."</span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="HwtZe" lang="en"><span class="jCAhz ChMk0b"><span class="ryNqvb"> </span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b><span>Soviet leader: Lenin worse than Stalin <br /></span></b><p><span>Who was this man, whom the Castro regime honored today on the 100th anniversary of his death?<br /></span></p><p><span>The Russian communist revolutionary had several hundred aliases, but Lenin <a href="https://www.rbth.com/history/332831-vladimir-lenin-nickname">was the one he was best known for</a>, and that he used politically. All the Bolshevik leaders used aliases. </span><span> </span><br /></p><p><span>Molotov, a contemporary who held a leadership position in the Soviet Union, was quoted in David Remnick's 2014 book, <a href="https://www.google.com/books/edition/Lenin_s_Tomb/dEvoAgAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=0"><u><i>Lenin's Tomb: The Last Days of the Soviet Empire</i></u></a>. <br /></span></p><p><span></span></p><blockquote><p><span>"'You
know its a pity that Lenin died so early. If he had lived longer,
everything would have been normal.' But Molotov said, 'Why do you say
that?' My friend said, 'Because Stalin was a bloodsucker and Lenin was a
noble person.' Molotov smiled, and then he said, ' Compared to Lenin,
Stalin was a mere lamb." <br /></span></p></blockquote><p><span></span></p>Molotov was born <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Vyacheslav-Molotov">Vyacheslav Mikhailovich Skryabin</a>
and took the revolutionary name Vyacheslav Molotov. Molotov was one of
the few Bolsheviks in Moscow, and he was part of the group that
successfully carried out a coup against the social democrats in October
2017, and he was in the leadership group with both Lenin and Stalin
throughout. He held leadership positions in the Soviet Union from the
1920s until 1961, <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Vyacheslav-Molotov">when he was expelled from the Communist Party</a> for opposing Khrushchev's de-Stalinization policy. Molotov could assess both Lenin and Stalin's ruthlessness. <br /><p>The Library of Congress <a href="https://www.loc.gov/exhibits/archives/intn.html">has communications between Lenin and Molotov</a>. For example in a letter dated March 19, 1922, from Lenin via Molotov to members of
the Politburo, he outlined "a brutal plan of action against the 'Black
Hundreds' clergy and their followers, who were defying the
government decree to remove church valuables (purported by the
government to be used to fund famine relief). Lenin proposed the
arrest and quick trial of the insurrectionists in Shuia, followed by a
ruthless campaign to shoot a large number of the reactionary clergy
and bourgeoisie and urged that removal of valuables from the
richest churches and monasteries be finished quickly."<span class="HwtZe" lang="en"><span class="jCAhz ChMk0b"><span class="ryNqvb"> <br /></span></span></span></p><span class="HwtZe" lang="en"><span class="jCAhz ChMk0b"><span class="ryNqvb"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjz7Q34r4scRMV2NOXRrMq-vGzkMdA32X7JZjZbqdKxFIRubuFIrHRBMqECu3yvjWCnp3o1-8D5jSp5UmWVG09Zu6I5XXnfiVo2tZHRKUnXI09WpfL_9cNGtWiUkuQ4FuBI4m3UpjfPIbo1w4GOdRga1F_qETmb9YbCq5hhyUvphMBG_L7CClnnUnoDm-Yd/s849/lenintomolotov.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="849" data-original-width="813" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjz7Q34r4scRMV2NOXRrMq-vGzkMdA32X7JZjZbqdKxFIRubuFIrHRBMqECu3yvjWCnp3o1-8D5jSp5UmWVG09Zu6I5XXnfiVo2tZHRKUnXI09WpfL_9cNGtWiUkuQ4FuBI4m3UpjfPIbo1w4GOdRga1F_qETmb9YbCq5hhyUvphMBG_L7CClnnUnoDm-Yd/w383-h400/lenintomolotov.jpg" width="383" /></a></div></span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><p><span style="font-size: small;">Lenin and the Bolsheviks did not depose the Czar. They overthrew the <a href="https://www.thoughtco.com/who-were-the-mensheviks-and-bolsheviks-1221813">social democrats</a> who had <a href="https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/czar-less-russia-winning-was-easy-governing-was-harder-180962897/">forced the Czar to abdicate</a> and placed him under house arrest, and were navigating power <a href="https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/news/articles/centennial-russian-revolution-mencheviks">through democratic processes</a> that were unprepared for the terror and conspiracies of the Bolsheviks.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: small;"><b>Lenin's body count</b> <br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: small;">From November 1917 until his death in January 1924, the publication Counting Stars <a href="https://www.outono.net/elentir/2020/04/22/lenin-numbers-data-and-images-of-the-crimes-of-the-first-communist-dictator/">provided a summary of the victims of Leninism</a> which is reproduced below. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><b><span></span></b></span></p></div><blockquote><div style="text-align: left;"><p><span style="font-size: large;"><b><span>The figures of victims of Leninism, from November 1917 to January 1924</span></b></span></p>
<ul><li><span style="font-size: small;">More than a million people murdered for political or religious reasons.</span></li><li><span style="font-size: small;">Between 300,000 and 500,000 Cossacks killed.</span></li><li><span style="font-size: small;">Hundreds of thousands of workers and peasants killed for striking.</span></li><li><span style="font-size: small;">240,000 killed in the suppression of the Tambov rebellion.</span></li><li><span style="font-size: small;">More than 50,000 white prisoners of war executed.</span></li><li><span style="font-size: small;">Between 3.9 million and 7.75 million deaths from famines among Russians, Kazakhs and Tatars." <br /></span></li></ul></div><p> <span style="font-size: large;"><b>A communist coup d'etat that aborted democracy in Russia</b></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><b></b></span></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqy-kLrItiyQFwLfoGGeafk5RAXCc1E8f6l-6DJ1MMDBU1fXKo4GLnHxljc8Vh_GcaNzsao2aQaH-MOfTB8HuPPB1dgfxAevvIJNU4l_6LeNmDnVn9Qa5MdArQSRcZNXX2DI1PxWCFOk4YHXfae2DRWNqmG4MFMEpVcLG0flVFqrEQmUGNwfhUR3yhLYPx/s559/Lenin_mitin_1919-03-18.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="385" data-original-width="559" height="275" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqy-kLrItiyQFwLfoGGeafk5RAXCc1E8f6l-6DJ1MMDBU1fXKo4GLnHxljc8Vh_GcaNzsao2aQaH-MOfTB8HuPPB1dgfxAevvIJNU4l_6LeNmDnVn9Qa5MdArQSRcZNXX2DI1PxWCFOk4YHXfae2DRWNqmG4MFMEpVcLG0flVFqrEQmUGNwfhUR3yhLYPx/w400-h275/Lenin_mitin_1919-03-18.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><small>Lenin at a rally on March 18, 1918.</small></td></tr></tbody></table><p></p><p><b>To demystify Lenin one must first break other myths.</b> The most basic is that when the Bolshevik coup d'etat broke out on November 7, 1917, <b>the communists did not overthrow the Tsar - which no longer reigned - but aborted the incipient democracy in Russia</b>,
taking advantage of the crisis that arose between conservatives and
socialists. After the violent assault on power by the communists, a
civil war broke out that lasted five years, and in which - already in
power - the Bolsheviks - who were victorious - faced all their rivals. <b>It was the beginning of a bloody dictatorship that would last more than 70 years</b>, until the disappearance of the USSR in 1991."</p></blockquote><p><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Ideas have consequences</b> </span></p><p>The body count amassed by
Vladimir Lenin and his fellow Bolsheviks was not an accident, but the
result of the ideas that animated them, and continue to animate the
Cuban communists today.<span class="css-901oao css-16my406 r-1qd0xha r-ad9z0x r-bcqeeo r-qvutc0"><span class="fn"> <br /></span></span></p><p><span class="css-901oao css-16my406 r-1qd0xha r-ad9z0x r-bcqeeo r-qvutc0"><span class="fn">On October 2, 1920, the first leader of the Soviet Union, Vladimir Lenin, </span></span><span class="css-901oao css-16my406 r-1qd0xha r-ad9z0x r-bcqeeo r-qvutc0"><span class="fn"><a href="http://cubanexilequarter.blogspot.com/2017/02/payaprize-castro-regime-reveals-its.html">stated</a></span></span><span class="css-901oao css-16my406 r-1qd0xha r-ad9z0x r-bcqeeo r-qvutc0"><span class="fn"> in a speech to Russian communist youth: </span></span></p><p><span class="css-901oao css-16my406 r-1qd0xha r-ad9z0x r-bcqeeo r-qvutc0"><span class="fn"></span></span></p><blockquote><p><span class="css-901oao css-16my406 r-1qd0xha r-ad9z0x r-bcqeeo r-qvutc0"><span class="fn"> "The class struggle is
continuing and it is our task to subordinate all interests to that
struggle. Our communist morality is also subordinated to that task. We
say: morality is what serves to destroy the old exploiting society and
to unite all the working people around the proletariat, which is
building up a new, communist society." <br /></span></span></p></blockquote><p><span class="css-901oao css-16my406 r-1qd0xha r-ad9z0x r-bcqeeo r-qvutc0"><span class="fn"></span></span></p><p><span class="css-901oao css-16my406 r-1qd0xha r-ad9z0x r-bcqeeo r-qvutc0"><span class="fn">This is at the heart of communist
morality, the ends justify the means, a profound immorality and a
pillar of international communism. It also leads to the doctrine of the "big lie."</span></span><span style="font-size: normal;"><i> </i><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/1987/04/12/magazine/on-language.html">According to Lenin</a>, </span><span style="font-size: normal;">"To speak the truth is a <i>petit-bourgeois</i> habit. To lie, on the
contrary, is often justified by the lie's aim." </span><span style="font-size: normal;">
</span><br /><span class="css-901oao css-16my406 r-1qd0xha r-ad9z0x r-bcqeeo r-qvutc0"><span class="fn">
<br />
The Third International was founded by Lenin in 1915 and held its first
of seven world congresses on March 2, 1919 and was also known as the
Communist International, and was known by its abbreviated form the
Comintern. It was an international communist organization that advocated
world communism. The International <a href="https://www.marxists.org/history/international/comintern/2nd-congress/ch10a.htm">intended to fight</a> "by all available
means, including armed force, for the overthrow of the international
bourgeoisie and for the creation of an international Soviet republic as a
transition stage to the complete abolition of the State". </span></span></p><p><span class="css-901oao css-16my406 r-1qd0xha r-ad9z0x r-bcqeeo r-qvutc0"><span class="fn">The Soviet State was never abolished, but a new class created, "<a href="https://thediplomat.com/2016/10/two-chinas-the-nomenklatura-and-the-rest/">the nomenklatura</a>"
that spent decades ruling over the proletariat with a ruthlessness that
led workers in communist regimes, to prefer a return to market systems
and democracy. It is a historical irony that Communism in Eastern Europe
and the Soviet Union was brought to an end by the rise of an
independent trade union movement in Poland. </span></span></p><p><span class="css-901oao css-16my406 r-1qd0xha r-ad9z0x r-bcqeeo r-qvutc0"><span class="fn"><b>Castroism's Leninist continuity</b> </span></span></p><p><span class="css-901oao css-16my406 r-1qd0xha r-ad9z0x r-bcqeeo r-qvutc0"><span class="fn">The
Castro regime took a country with one of the largest middle classes in
Latin America, in part due to a strong labor movement that had existed
and grown more powerful for over 50 years. The Batista dictatorship was
unable to crush it, but Castro's communist dictatorship over a couple of
years crushed this workers movement, and 64 years later the
nomenklatura lives with great wealth and privileges while the rest of
the Cuban populace is immiserated. </span></span></p><p><span class="css-901oao css-16my406 r-1qd0xha r-ad9z0x r-bcqeeo r-qvutc0"><span class="fn">Fidel
Castro, and the rest of the Cuban communists embraced Lenin's
"communist morality" and "the big lie." Consider the late dictator's own
words on the subject.</span></span></p><p><span class="css-901oao css-16my406 r-1qd0xha r-ad9z0x r-bcqeeo r-qvutc0"><span class="fn"></span></span><span style="font-size: normal;"> <a href="https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Fidel_Castro">Fidel Castro</a> on December 2, 1961 </span><span style="font-size: normal;">in
a moment of frankness confessed: "If we had paused to tell the people
that we were Marxist-Leninists
while we were on Pico Turquino and not yet strong, it is possible that
we would never have been able to descend to the plains." He was able to
"confess" that he had always been a communist because he had
consolidated power and killed or imprisoned all his enemies, and shut
down all independent media. He had imposed a totalitarian dictatorship
on Cubans.<i><br /></i></span></p><p><span class="css-901oao css-16my406 r-1qd0xha r-ad9z0x r-bcqeeo r-qvutc0"><span class="fn"></span></span><span style="font-size: normal;"><span class="m_8068601478858348835gmail-_Tgc">Years later </span><span class="m_8068601478858348835gmail-_Tgc"><span class="m_8068601478858348835gmail-_Tgc">on March 26, 1964,</span> Fidel Castro <a href="https://slideshowes.com/doc/1055991/0016-suarez---redes-totalitarias">explained</a>: "I conceive the
truth in terms of a just and noble end, and that is when the truth is
truly true. If it does not serve a just, noble and positive end, truth,
as an abstract entity, philosophical category, in my opinion, does not
exist." </span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: normal;"><span class="m_8068601478858348835gmail-_Tgc">Mr. Castro's philosophy is not original, but Leninism with tropical flair, and the <a href="http://www.autentico.org/oa09358.php">speaking style</a> of <a href="https://amherststudent.com/article/castro-s-legacy-will-be-less-romantic-than-that-of/">Benito Mussolini</a>. <br /></span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: normal;"><span class="m_8068601478858348835gmail-_Tgc">Cuban scholar and Christian Democrat <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=http://cubanexilequarter.blogspot.com/2013/10/jose-ignacio-rasco-on-fidel-castros.html&source=gmail&ust=1564200741806000&usg=AFQjCNGaaL97sWq5j_ZWvPFTCaLcPM1M-g" href="http://cubanexilequarter.blogspot.com/2013/10/jose-ignacio-rasco-on-fidel-castros.html" target="_blank">Jose Ignacio Rasco</a>,
who knew Fidel Castro from primary school and onward, concluded that the
Cuban revolutionary had been a committed communist by 1950.</span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: normal;"><span class="m_8068601478858348835gmail-_Tgc"><b>Terrorism and Communism</b></span></span></p><p>Author and Journalist <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Claire_Sterling">Claire Sterling</a> in her March 1, 1981 article in The New York Times, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/1981/03/01/magazine/terrorism-tracing-the-international-network.html">TERRORISM TRACING THE INTERNATIONAL NETWORK</a> touched on terrorism's links to international communism <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/1981/03/01/magazine/terrorism-tracing-the-international-network.html">beginning with Lenin</a>, but moved on to the pivotal role played by the Castro regime in Cuba.</p><p></p><blockquote><p>"Lenin's definition
-- 'the purpose of terror is to terrorize' -- is a useful beginning. The
terrorist uses violence not to punish the victim but to intimidate the
audience, to impose his political will by force when he cannot achieve
it by democratic means". <br /></p></blockquote><p></p><p>The Castro regime fully embraced terrorism as a global strategy and <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/1981/03/01/magazine/terrorism-tracing-the-international-network.html">built an international terrorist network</a>. <br /></p><blockquote><p>..."Fidel Castro had been operating his own schools for guerrillas since
1961, starting with recruits from Latin America and Africa. By 1964,
Palestinians and Europeans had joined the ranks." ..."The
roots of the terrorist network can be traced directly to the
Tricontinental Congress held in Havana in January 1966. More than 500
delegates passed resolutions emphasizing the need for close
collaboration between 'Socialist countries' --i.e., the Soviet Union and
its satellites -- and national liberation movements." <span style="font-size: normal;"><span class="m_8068601478858348835gmail-_Tgc"><b>... </b>"</span></span>It
was, unmistakably, a call for a Guerrilla International. And the call
was heeded. Ten months later, a new cluster of more than a dozen
training camps for guerilla fighters from all over the world was opened
in Cuba." <span style="font-size: normal;"><span class="m_8068601478858348835gmail-_Tgc"> <br /></span></span></p></blockquote><p><span style="font-size: normal;"><span class="m_8068601478858348835gmail-_Tgc">Bombing
campaigns were carried out in the United States, and innocents were
murdered. Some of these terrorists were captured, placed on trial, but
then broke out of prison and <a href="https://www.cubacenter.org/archives/2023/1/21/87oj7a87bqaovxrsqm5wu6x591fv34">ended up being harbored by the Castro regime</a>.
They continue to advocate terrorism, and justify their violence. Worse
yet, communist networks claim these killers are "political prisoners."</span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><b> </b></span></p>
<p>
<iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/nIy0HZbHFeM?si=1lzucnMZVN__HzFZ" title="YouTube video player" width="420"></iframe></p><p><span class="css-901oao css-16my406 r-1qd0xha r-ad9z0x r-bcqeeo r-qvutc0"><span class="fn">Lenin died 100 years ago today. </span></span><span class="css-901oao css-16my406 r-1qd0xha r-ad9z0x r-bcqeeo r-qvutc0"><span class="fn">The tragedy is that he was able to cause so much harm in his 53 years of life.</span></span><span class="css-901oao css-16my406 r-1qd0xha r-ad9z0x r-bcqeeo r-qvutc0"><span class="fn"> He is the intellectual author of the Soviet Union, </span></span><span class="css-901oao css-16my406 r-1qd0xha r-ad9z0x r-bcqeeo r-qvutc0"><span class="fn"> <a href="https://youtu.be/gTse1tyVDs0">a system correctly described as anti-human</a> by British conservative Peter Hitchens.</span></span></p><p><span class="css-901oao css-16my406 r-1qd0xha r-ad9z0x r-bcqeeo r-qvutc0"><span class="fn">Diaz- Canel is part of a regime that is a continuity of the system created by Lenin.</span></span></p><p><span class="css-901oao css-16my406 r-poiln3 r-bcqeeo r-qvutc0">The Cuban communist <a href="https://www.cubacenter.org/archives/2022/12/12/cubabrief-democratic-lawmakers-visit-havana-meet-with-cuban-president-cubas-poverty-is-the-result-of-socialism-not-a-blockade">channeled Lenin on July 11, 2021</a> when tens of thousands of Cubans took to the streets nonviolently across Cuba demanding freedom: </span></p><p><span class="css-901oao css-16my406 r-poiln3 r-bcqeeo r-qvutc0">"The
order to fight has been given — into the street, revolutionaries!
...They will have to walk right over our corpses. We are ready to do
anything if they want to confront the revolution."</span></p><p></p><p></p><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/t7MX8O3L5WM?si=CcBgSR_gjUJrDRq_" title="YouTube video player" width="420"></iframe><p><span class="css-901oao css-16my406 r-poiln3 r-bcqeeo r-qvutc0">Díaz-Canel's
call to violence had deadly consequences for Cubans. Regime agents went
out into residential neighborhoods firing on protesters. </span><span class="css-901oao css-16my406 r-poiln3 r-bcqeeo r-qvutc0"></span><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">Cuban protester <a href="https://youtu.be/RHBORuEBBLg">Diubis Laurencio Tejeda</a>, (age 36) was shot in the back and killed on July 12, 2021 <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-62179137">by police</a>.</span></p><p><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">The Cuban president's honoring of Lenin, a mass murdering psychopath, conforms to the actions he has taken since being handpicked for the post by Raul Castro in 2018. </span><span class="ILfuVd" lang="en"><span class="hgKElc">Dr. Maya Angelou once said, “When people show you who they are, believe them the first time,” and Cuba watchers should believe Diaz-Canel is a Leninist.</span></span><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></p><p></p><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/QvoNgIf6i2s?si=OmwyTkWFBKi12ndk" title="YouTube video player" width="420"></iframe>John Suarezhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11333798474560217548noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1419558703918975245.post-39613110834193772632024-01-15T14:35:00.001-05:002024-01-15T14:35:12.291-05:00Reverend Martin Luther King Jr was born 95 years ago today <p><span style="font-size: small;"> <span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>"Nonviolence
is a powerful and just weapon, which cuts without wounding and ennobles
the man who wields it. It is a sword that heals." - Reverend Martin
Luther King Jr., <a href="https://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/peace/laureates/1964/king-lecture.html">Nobel Lecture</a>, December 11, 1964</i></span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i></i></span></span></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuDZiCR3U62Xm6F-oa6_Trwoxwai1kQMno0V9VYd5F0KaH1fNUhr0uqLBa9wmedpR8PrpXpFS0mQnfvACJi9VBlohGY_GuGHotOJEySzrTH2xJzCFrTLe59buFrKVdurgZKGtBPb4Yb8pkZhYnsyN6BLlV5XwDtQGU2hG9NnVAmRHrsgukyoY7FGPKiusB/s400/Dw9GIddV4AAIxI8.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="400" data-original-width="398" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuDZiCR3U62Xm6F-oa6_Trwoxwai1kQMno0V9VYd5F0KaH1fNUhr0uqLBa9wmedpR8PrpXpFS0mQnfvACJi9VBlohGY_GuGHotOJEySzrTH2xJzCFrTLe59buFrKVdurgZKGtBPb4Yb8pkZhYnsyN6BLlV5XwDtQGU2hG9NnVAmRHrsgukyoY7FGPKiusB/w398-h400/Dw9GIddV4AAIxI8.jpg" width="398" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Martin Luther King Jr. January 15, 1929 - April 4, 1968</td></tr></tbody></table><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i><br /></i></span></span><span style="font-size: small;"><span><span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Reverend </span></span></span><span><span><span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span><a href="https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/news/commemorating-50th-anniversary-kings-berlin-trip">Martin Luther King Jr</a>. </span></span></span></span></span><span><span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">
was born in Atlanta, Georgia 95 years ago today, but he never lived to
see his 40th birthday because he was assassinated on April 4, 1968.</span></span></span></span><p></p><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span><span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">A little more than a year before his untimely death, the nonviolent icon delivered an important speech at </span></span></span><span><span><span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span><a href="http://auroraforum.stanford.edu/files/transcripts/Aurora_Forum_Transcript_Martin_Luther_King_The_Other_America_Speech_at_Stanford_04.15.07.pdf">Stanford University</a></span></span></span></span></span><span><span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"> that is well worth hearing and </span></span></span><span><span><span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span><a href="https://cubanexilequarter.blogspot.com/2017/01/reverend-martin-luther-king-jr-was-born.html">studying</a></span></span></span></span></span><span><span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">. </span></span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span></span></span></div><blockquote><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span>"<span>Let me say as I've always said, and I will always continue to say, that
riots are socially destructive and self-defeating. I'm still convinced
that <a href="http://cubanexilequarter.blogspot.com/2016/01/martin-luther-king-jr-and-his-constant.html">nonviolence</a>
is the most potent weapon available to oppressed people in their
struggle for freedom and justice. I feel that violence will only create
more social problems than they will solve." </span></span><span><span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"> <br /></span></span></span></span></div></blockquote><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span><span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"></span></span></span></span></div><div><span style="font-size: small;"><span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"></span></span></span></div><p><span style="font-size: small;">Dr. King's message is still <a href="http://cubanexilequarter.blogspot.com/2010/08/martin-luther-king-jr-on-importance-of.html">relevant</a> today, and his family works at <a href="https://thekingcenter.org/">The King Center</a> to teach new generations about nonviolence and to share his writings and speeches.</span></p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-media-max-width="560"><p dir="ltr" lang="en">The Drum Major for Justice<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/MLK?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#MLK</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/MLKDay2024?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#MLKDay2024</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/MLK95?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#MLK95</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/MLKDay?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#MLKDay</a> <a href="https://t.co/uXUP5Biaqr">pic.twitter.com/uXUP5Biaqr</a></p>— The Martin Luther King, Jr. Center (@TheKingCenter) <a href="https://twitter.com/TheKingCenter/status/1746907266387734957?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 15, 2024</a></blockquote> <script async="" charset="utf-8" src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script> <p><b>King's radical critique of the United States</b> <br /></p><p><a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/martin-luther-king-jr-was-a-true-conservative/2017/01/15/b0f465e4-d9c6-11e6-9a36-1d296534b31e_story.html">Martin Luther King Jr.</a> was an outspoken critic of American society. He repeatedly challenged the United States <a href="http://kingencyclopedia.stanford.edu/encyclopedia/chronologyentry/1965_07_04.1.html">to live up to</a> its own lofty <a href="https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/king-papers/documents/i-have-dream-address-delivered-march-washington-jobs-and-freedom">ideals</a>, seeking reforms to end segregation and ensure voting rights for African Americans through nonviolent action and <a href="https://www.nationalreview.com/2007/01/mlk-grassroots-lobbyist-stephen-m-hoersting/">democratic norms</a>. He was also a <a href="https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/encyclopedia/communism">radical critic</a> of <a href="https://cubanexilequarter.blogspot.com/2020/01/selected-quotes-by-martin-luther-king.html">communism</a>.<br /></p><p>Reverend King's political philosophy is best described as <a href="http://www.kas.de/wf/doc/kas_21408-1522-2-30.pdf?110620094744">Christian Democracy</a>. This school of thought, which includes parties on the center left and center right, is based, like Reverend King, on a <a href="http://www.kas.de/wf/doc/kas_21408-1522-2-30.pdf?110620094744">Christian view of humanity</a> in which "every individual is considered unique and must be treated with dignity." In his April 4, 1967 speech, <a href="http://kingencyclopedia.stanford.edu/encyclopedia/documentsentry/doc_beyond_vietnam/">Beyond Vietnam</a> gave full expression to this outlook:<br />
</p><blockquote>
"We must rapidly begin the shift from a thing-oriented society to a
person-oriented society. When machines and computers, profit motives and
property rights are considered more important than people, the giant
triplets of racism, militarism and economic exploitation are incapable
of being conquered. A true revolution of values will soon cause us to
question the fairness and justice of many of our past and present
policies. On the one hand we are called to play the Good Samaritan on
life’s roadside, but that will be only an initial act. One day we must
come to see that the whole Jericho Road must be transformed so that men
and women will not be constantly beaten and robbed as they make their
journey on life’s highway. True compassion is more than flinging a coin
to a beggar. It comes to see than an edifice which produces beggars
needs restructuring. " </blockquote><p>Mohandas Gandhi, <a href="https://lareviewofbooks.org/article/what-king-learned-from-gandhi/">a major influence</a> on King, advocated for social responsibility and trusteeship. Gandhi, <a href="http://www.mkgandhi.org/momgandhi/chap50.htm">a self-described socialist</a>, was not an enthusiastic supporter of an expanded social-welfare state, <a href="http://www.mkgandhi.org/momgandhi/chap26.htm">arguing</a>: </p><blockquote>"The State represents violence in a concentrated and organized form. The
individual has a soul, but as the State is a soulless machine, it can
never be weaned from violence to which it owes its very existence. Hence
I prefer the doctrine of trusteeship. [...] What I would personally
prefer would be not centralization of power in the hands of the State,
but an extension of the sense of trusteeship, as, in my opinion, the
violence of private ownership is less injurious than the violence of the
State. However, if it is unavoidable, I would support a minimum of
State-ownership." <br /></blockquote><p></p><p>Furthermore, both <a href="http://kingencyclopedia.stanford.edu/encyclopedia/documentsentry/doc_beyond_vietnam/">King</a> and <a href="https://www.mkgandhi.org/momgandhi/chap26.htm">Gandhi</a>'s
critique of a "thing-oriented" society or the state as a "soulless
machine" focuses on the person or the individual rather than an economic
mechanism or economic class. The emphasis is on the human person and
policies that recognize and respect the uniqueness and dignity of each
human being. </p><p><b>King was targeted by both the FBI and the KGB</b></p><p><b></b></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNjZIRBwOKaiq9wAyn2YbTUbI6h0_D_ZrcmOOV9ZnuRfKWBIzXIXs5ANYZRqvICU1BcQwwH5fOvpmR6AsiZOGI-Xr7dDv_5MxD3NV196yQzU8kIqikEiYqJdIztW3HnKG7pmKuW39K9IVDMPxuCQGrKkI6NvpK-hQGxG9aWPkQRGPM8_nzZj7eok9JvNj7/s400/kgb_badge_.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="266" data-original-width="400" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNjZIRBwOKaiq9wAyn2YbTUbI6h0_D_ZrcmOOV9ZnuRfKWBIzXIXs5ANYZRqvICU1BcQwwH5fOvpmR6AsiZOGI-Xr7dDv_5MxD3NV196yQzU8kIqikEiYqJdIztW3HnKG7pmKuW39K9IVDMPxuCQGrKkI6NvpK-hQGxG9aWPkQRGPM8_nzZj7eok9JvNj7/w400-h266/kgb_badge_.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">KGB targeted Martin Luther King Jr. for active measures.</td></tr></tbody></table><b><br /></b><p></p><p>When he was alive, the civil rights leader was a divisive figure. The FBI in the United States <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2002/07/the-fbi-and-martin-luther-king/302537/">wiretapped</a> Martin Luther King Jr., <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2010/sep/14/photographer-ernest-withers-fbi-informer">monitored the Civil Rights Movement</a>, and took <a href="http://dailycaller.com/2018/01/15/the-fbi-once-sent-mlk-a-letter-telling-him-to-kill-himself/">active measures</a> against him.<br />Many
people are aware of this, but few are aware of the other campaign
launched against the civil rights leader by Soviet intelligence, also
known <a href="http://ourweekly.com/news/2018/jan/12/dr-martin-luther-king/?page=3">as the KGB</a>. It is also important to remember that Russian intelligence operatives have <a href="https://cubanexilequarter.blogspot.com/2018/04/reverend-martin-luther-king-jr-and-his.html">previously attempted</a> to sow discord, division, and hatred among citizens in the United States. </p><p>A
high-ranking Russian intelligence officer defected to the United
Kingdom in 1992, bringing with him notes and transcripts compiled over
the previous thirty years as he relocated entire foreign intelligence
archives to a new headquarters just outside of Moscow. Vasili Mitrokhin
was the Russian intelligence officer whose information became known as <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mitrokhin_Archive">The Mitrokhin Archive</a>. </p><p>In Christopher Andrew and Vasili Mitrokhin's 1999 book <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Sword-Shield-Mitrokhin-Archive-History/dp/0465003125">The Sword and the The Shield: The Mitrokhin Archive and the Secret History of the KGB</a>, details were obtained from the Mitrokhin Archive on Soviet efforts to replace <a href="http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9D04E2DF113DF931A2575AC0A96F958260">Martin Luther King Jr</a>. with a "more radical and malleable leader" such as <a href="http://www.dademag.com/features/2020/6/23/op-ed-john-suarez-reform-or-revolution">Stokeley Carmichael</a> in order to incite a race war in the United States.</p><p>The following <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=9TWUAQ7Xof8C&pg=PA237&lpg=PA237&dq=%E2%80%9CIn+August+1967+the+Centre+approved+an+operational+plan+by+the+deputy+head+of+Service+A,+Yuri+Modin,+former+controller+of+the+Magnificent+Five,+to+discredit+King+and+his+chief+lieutenants+by+placing+articles+in+the+African+press,+which+could+then+be+reprinted+in+American+newspapers,+portraying+King+as+an+%E2%80%9CUncle+Tom&source=bl&ots=LYbb33dnAC&sig=ACfU3U1Re_dl63r2ENiQDujHPMEyO3TT6A&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiuy-u_q8r8AhWDmYQIHbg9C6kQ6AF6BAgFEAM#v=onepage&q=%E2%80%9CIn%20August%201967%20the%20Centre%20approved%20an%20operational%20plan%20by%20the%20deputy%20head%20of%20Service%20A%2C%20Yuri%20Modin%2C%20former%20controller%20of%20the%20Magnificent%20Five%2C%20to%20discredit%20King%20and%20his%20chief%20lieutenants%20by%20placing%20articles%20in%20the%20African%20press%2C%20which%20could%20then%20be%20reprinted%20in%20American%20newspapers%2C%20portraying%20King%20as%20an%20%E2%80%9CUncle%20Tom&f=false">excerpts</a> from <i>The Sword and the Shield</i> detail elements of the Soviet intelligence campaign and the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Active_measures">active measures</a> arrayed against the civil rights leader: </p><p></p><blockquote><p>“In
August 1967 the Centre approved an operational plan by the deputy head
of Service A, Yuri Modin, former controller of the Magnificent Five, to
discredit King and his chief lieutenants by placing articles in the
African press, which could then be reprinted in American newspapers,
portraying King as an “Uncle Tom” who was secretly receiving government
subsidies to tame the civil rights movement and prevent it threatening
the Johnson administration." </p><p>[...] </p><p>"King’s assassination on
April 4, 1968 was quickly followed by the violence and rioting which the
KGB had earlier blamed King for trying to prevent. Within a week riots
erupted in over a hundred cities, forty-six people had been killed,
3,500 injured and 20,000 arrested. To “Deke” DeLoach, it seemed that,
“The nation was teetering on the brink of anarchy.”86 Henceforth,
instead of dismissing King as an Uncle Tom, Service A portrayed him as a
martyr of the black liberation movement and spread conspiracy theories
alleging that his murder had been planned by white racists with the
connivance of the authorities."<b> <br /></b></p></blockquote><p><b></b> </p><p>On September 28, 1999, <a href="http://www.cam.ac.uk/">University of Cambridge</a> professor Christopher Andrew, who coauthored <a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=9TWUAQ7Xof8C&pg=PR24&lpg=PR24&dq=MLK+kgb+active+measures&source=bl&ots=LV4a-4kexB&sig=6KayiZpaqmEFpAE1Aqs0Gln42Hc&hl=en&ei=iHmhTazlGoL2gAel6tnaBQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=4&ved=0CC4Q6AEwAw#v=onepage&q&f=false%20">The Sword and the Shield</a>
with Vasili Mitrokhin, was interviewed by Charlie Rose on PBS about the
book and, near the end of the interview, discussed how the Soviets
celebrated the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. by James Earl
Ray. The Russians rejoiced because they did not want an independent
African American leader over whom they had no control and <a href="https://cubanexilequarter.blogspot.com/2023/01/martin-luther-king-jrs-principled.html">who practiced principled nonviolence</a>.</p><p>Taylor Branch wrote about the Reverend's <b>views on the militant call to armed struggle</b>
in the streets of the United States in January 1968 in the third book
of his trilogy on Martin Luther King Jr. and the civil rights movement, <a href="http://taylorbranch.com/king-era-trilogy/at-canaans-edge/at-canaans-edge-excerpt/">At Canaan's Edge</a>.</p><blockquote><p> “Riots just don’t pay off,” said King. He <b>pronounced them an objective failure</b>
beyond morals or faith. “For if we say that power is the ability to
effect change, or the ability to achieve purpose,” he said, “then it is
not powerful to engage in an act that does not do that–no matter how
loud you are, and no matter how much you burn.” Likewise, he exhorted
the staff to combat the “romantic illusion” of guerrilla warfare in the
style of Che Guevara. No “black” version of the Cuban revolution could
succeed without widespread political sympathy, he asserted, and only a
handful of the black minority itself favored insurrection. King extolled
the discipline of civil disobedience instead, which he defined not as a
right but a personal homage to untapped democratic energy. The staff
must “bring to bear all of the power of nonviolence on the economic
problem,” he urged, even though nothing in the Constitution promised a
roof or a meal. “I say all of these things because I want us to know the
hardness of the task,” King concluded, breaking off with his most basic
plea: “We must not be intimidated by those who are laughing at
nonviolence now.”</p></blockquote><p></p><p>These words are as true
today as they were over a half-century ago. Reverend King's legacy
continues to inspire activists worldwide. This Baptist minister who
risked everything for the freedom of all African Americans and the
redemption of the United States by fulfilling the creed that all men are
created equal.</p><p></p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-media-max-width="560"><p dir="ltr" lang="en">95 years ago today, a King was born.<br /><br />He was a dreamer…and so much more.<br /><br />A defender of those being oppressed and a challenger of oppressors.<br /><br />A student of the human condition and a strategist for humane change.<br /><br />A teacher, a thinker, a truth teller.<br /><br />King.<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/MLKDay?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#MLKDay</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/MLK95?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#MLK95</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/MLK?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#MLK</a> <a href="https://t.co/77aZxduv2l">pic.twitter.com/77aZxduv2l</a></p>— The Martin Luther King, Jr. Center (@TheKingCenter) <a href="https://twitter.com/TheKingCenter/status/1746864893658104043?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 15, 2024</a></blockquote> <script async="" charset="utf-8" src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script> <p>Unlike others who were funded and supported by the Soviet Union,
Martin Luther King Jr. was targeted by both American and Russian
intelligence agencies because he was his own man, with no one
controlling him except his conscience. He did not advocate or engage in
violence while changing the United States and the world for the better. <br /></p><p><b>King's living legacy</b></p><p></p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-media-max-width="560"><p dir="ltr" lang="en">2024 Beloved Community Commemorative Service <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/MLKDay2024?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#MLKDay2024</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/MLKDay?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#MLKDay</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/MLK95?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#MLK95</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/MLK?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#MLK</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/ShiftTheCulture?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#ShiftTheCulture</a><a href="https://t.co/5b4b763Ban">https://t.co/5b4b763Ban</a></p>— Be A King (@BerniceKing) <a href="https://twitter.com/BerniceKing/status/1746911826384662699?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 15, 2024</a></blockquote> <script async="" charset="utf-8" src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script> <p>Bernice King, Martin Luther King Jr.'s daughter, is hosting the
aforementioned Beloved Community Global Summit and carrying on her
father's work to advance nonviolence.</p><p>Today, on what would have
been his 95th birthday, let us remember him and renew our commitment to
continuing his work "to shift from a thing-oriented society to a
person-oriented society." </p><p></p><blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p dir="ltr" lang="en">Martin Luther King, Jr. Day of Service, 2024<a href="https://t.co/jt9AuPqpUR">https://t.co/jt9AuPqpUR</a> <a href="https://t.co/LnyAtbc8Eq">pic.twitter.com/LnyAtbc8Eq</a></p>— CaribbeanNewsGlobal (@GlobalCaribbean) <a href="https://twitter.com/GlobalCaribbean/status/1746946574574391586?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 15, 2024</a></blockquote> <script async="" charset="utf-8" src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script> <p></p><p>Let us participate in the King
Center's day of service today, and if you are in the Atlanta area,
please join the King family in carrying on Reverend Martin Luther King
Jr.'s <a href="https://twitter.com/TheKingCenter/status/1614291008296034306">mission</a>.</p><p>His legacy transcends borders, and ideologies. The Glenn Show explored it, and engaged in dialogue on what MLK Day is supposed to mean, and posted it today.<br /></p>
<p></p>
<iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/paEfZa-wHtw?si=BMrJ-2xBDM4Sz_W5&start=635" title="YouTube video player" width="420"></iframe>John Suarezhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11333798474560217548noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1419558703918975245.post-15783605620877578762024-01-06T23:53:00.004-05:002024-01-07T01:57:59.235-05:00Correcting some of Chuck Offenburger's errors about the Cuban revolution and the dictatorship in Havana - Part 2 <p> <i>Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not to his own facts.” - Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan</i></p><p><i></i></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8HxdUqKv73RTXul_xX-IDVhXGuSEiRFgixvI5lZJHu28q8Tfj_wZ55dhiM9qCOwm6C7ltZXlHgaq_83FjPxmHkcqogDnuxjfAbFD8HSaH8SYdVUS7UTc1JXQxju-3EfwJRvxqDjIg85GGw5rFmUmaGV8kDOleUlXMc_qMrifyzmQh6VB1cBRlwxpmrU1F/s1200/EAhDiu8XkAATVsF.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1200" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8HxdUqKv73RTXul_xX-IDVhXGuSEiRFgixvI5lZJHu28q8Tfj_wZ55dhiM9qCOwm6C7ltZXlHgaq_83FjPxmHkcqogDnuxjfAbFD8HSaH8SYdVUS7UTc1JXQxju-3EfwJRvxqDjIg85GGw5rFmUmaGV8kDOleUlXMc_qMrifyzmQh6VB1cBRlwxpmrU1F/w400-h300/EAhDiu8XkAATVsF.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Three wise men replaced with images of Fidel Castro,other revolutionaries<br /></td></tr></tbody></table><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i></i></div><p></p><p><span style="font-size: small;"><span>Chuck Offenburger has written a blog entry "<a href="https://twitter.com/chuckoburger/status/1736427149244891643">Banning Christmas in Cuba was an ‘error’ that Fidel Castro fixed: It’s time for the U.S. to correct our own errors there</a>" that regurgitates Cuban communist propaganda. I do not believe that was his intent.</span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: small;"><span><span><span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Totalitarian regimes have a track record of effectively using tourism, <a href="http://cubanexilequarter.blogspot.com/2015/08/berlin-1936-and-beijing-2022.html">athletic events</a>, and <a href="http://www.academicmatters.ca/2010/04/business-as-usual-elite-universities-during-the-1930s/">academic exchanges</a> to present their regimes in a manner that <a href="https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2009/06/17/nazism">legitimizes them</a>
and covers up their hostile objectives. </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: small;"><span><span><span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">An excellent accounting of these practices and their impacts on
national and international politics is found in Paul Hollander's book <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Political-Pilgrims-Western-Intellectuals-Society/dp/1560009543/ref=freecubafoundati">Political Pilgrims</a> that should be required reading for anyone traveling to Cuba, China, Iran, Nicaragua, North Korea, Venezuela, or Vietnam<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: small;"><span><span><span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">There is much to address, and it will be broken up into a series of blog entries. </span></span></span></span></span></span></span><span><span><span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"> </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: small;"><span><span><span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">These blog entries will review a number of the claims Mr. </span></span></span></span></span></span><span>Offenburger </span><span><span><span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"> makes in chronological order, and provide documented sources to test them.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span> </span></span></span>This blog entry will explore two claims made by Offenburger that Fidel Castro banned organized religion in 1959, and that Eisenhower's "blockade" led Cuba to the Soviet Union for help. <br /></p><p><span style="font-size: small;">First, the Catholic Church was not clinging to the Batista regime in the
1950s, as some communists claim. It was a Catholic priest who saved Fidel Castro's life following
the disastrous July 26, 1953 assault on the Moncada barracks. Castro
portrayed himself as <span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">a Jeffersonian democrat </span></span>who would restore the
preexisting democratic order.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: small;">Restrictions on religion began slowly in 1960 and continued to increase. <br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span>Fidel Castro <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/news/cuba-ends-its-30-year-ban-on-christmas-1193525.html">canceled Christmas</a> in 1969 under the pretext to prevent work shortages for the 1970 ten million ton sugar harvest but continued the ban <a href="http://www.cnn.com/WORLD/9712/15/castro.christmas/">until 1997</a>, and sent mobs to intimidate Cubans who attended religious services. Three Kings Day and Easter were <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=Pe_XAQAAQBAJ&pg=PA186&lpg=PA186&dq=UMAP+priests+nuns+Cuba+Unidades+Militares+de+Ayuda+a+la+Producci%C3%B3n,&source=bl&ots=ERGRjrwwqz&sig=ACfU3U2CpqzMx8IHDL3kuR02P7cFZm2waQ&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwi_9Yvc1NHjAhWuuVkKHY8wBisQ6AEwBHoECCgQAQ#v=onepage&q=UMAP%20priests%20nuns%20Cuba%20Unidades%20Militares%20de%20Ayuda%20a%20la%20Producci%C3%B3n%2C&f=false">also abolished</a>. Priests who stayed behind often <a href="http://cubanexilequarter.blogspot.com/2018/04/religious-repression-in-cuba-half.html">paid a terrible price</a>.</span></span><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span>In 1976 the Castro dictatorship adopted a constitution which turned Cuba into an <a href="https://www.hrw.org/reports/1999/cuba/Cuba996-10.htm">atheist state</a>. </span></span><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span>Today,
the Office of Religious Affairs (<a href="https://www.csw.org.uk/2018/09/24/press/4081/article.htm">ORA</a>), an arm of the Central Committee
of the Cuban Communist Party, still oversees religious affairs in Cuba,
and exists to monitor, hinder and restrict religious activities. </span></span><br /></span>
</p><div>
<span style="font-size: small;"><b></b></span></div><div><span style="font-size: small;"><b></b></span></div><div><span style="font-size: small;"><b></b></span></div><div><span style="font-size: small;"><b></b></span></div><div><span style="font-size: small;"><b><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5xQ2OvxJ4re0vzgE8aZT8W1vB7RGvrzTCN6XiY1LSrRBiR8IGiGSWF45DjAb3lfNgrhZE9JP7JNLWGcPAbLWDcnx-cTv95t40exDzQERdcqRdf2zbxOGWsvEQm8wypV6lwj8zDGQQxt-pkjRQKom_K5D5i9LwYUmbAOJOLtT6Niz_vqUGYwyQKS1tNV7H/s846/Screen+Shot+2021-04-07+at+10.16.15+AM.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="482" data-original-width="846" height="228" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5xQ2OvxJ4re0vzgE8aZT8W1vB7RGvrzTCN6XiY1LSrRBiR8IGiGSWF45DjAb3lfNgrhZE9JP7JNLWGcPAbLWDcnx-cTv95t40exDzQERdcqRdf2zbxOGWsvEQm8wypV6lwj8zDGQQxt-pkjRQKom_K5D5i9LwYUmbAOJOLtT6Niz_vqUGYwyQKS1tNV7H/w400-h228/Screen+Shot+2021-04-07+at+10.16.15+AM.png" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Richard Nixon met with Fidel Castro in April 1959. </td></tr></tbody></table> </b></span></div><div><span style="font-size: small;"><b>Mr. Offenburger got it backwards. Castro's alliance with the Soviet Union and Beijing to overthrow governments in Latin America led to sanctions on Havana.</b></span></div><div><span style="font-size: small;"><b></b></span></div><div><span style="font-size: small;"><b></b></span></div><div><span style="font-size: small;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span class="css-1qaijid r-bcqeeo r-qvutc0 r-poiln3" style="text-overflow: unset;">Fidel Castro visits Caracas on January 23, 1959 and <a href="https://www.bbc.com/mundo/noticias-america-latina-46605505">meets with Venezuelan President Romulo Betancourt</a> "to enlist cooperation and financial backing for 'the master plan against the gringos.'"</span></div><div><span class="css-1qaijid r-bcqeeo r-qvutc0 r-poiln3" style="text-overflow: unset;"> </span></div><div><span class="css-1qaijid r-bcqeeo r-qvutc0 r-poiln3" style="text-overflow: unset;">On March 3, 1959 the Castro regime <a href="https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/post-revolution-cuba/">expropriates properties</a> belonging to the International Telephone and Telegraph Company, and took over its affiliate, the Cuban Telephone Company.</span></div><div><span class="css-1qaijid r-bcqeeo r-qvutc0 r-poiln3" style="text-overflow: unset;"> </span></div><div><span class="css-1qaijid r-bcqeeo r-qvutc0 r-poiln3" style="text-overflow: unset;">Fidel Castro visited the United States for eleven days in April 1959, <a href="https://academic.oup.com/dh/article-abstract/4/4/425/364101?redirectedFrom=PDF&login=false">culminating in a three-hour meeting with Vice President Richard Nixon</a> on April 19, 1959. </span></div><div><span class="css-1qaijid r-bcqeeo r-qvutc0 r-poiln3" style="text-overflow: unset;"> </span></div><div><span class="css-1qaijid r-bcqeeo r-qvutc0 r-poiln3" style="text-overflow: unset;">Havana beginning in 1959 <a href="https://www.cia.gov/readingroom/docs/DOC_0000109057.pdf">sent armed expeditions</a> to Panama, Haiti, Nicaragua, Venezuela and the Dominican Republic to overthrow their governments. </span></div><div><span class="css-1qaijid r-bcqeeo r-qvutc0 r-poiln3" style="text-overflow: unset;"> </span></div><div><span class="css-1qaijid r-bcqeeo r-qvutc0 r-poiln3" style="text-overflow: unset;">On February 6, 1960 <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/01/world/americas/01iht-web.0801key.castro.2355445.html">talks began publicly between the U.S.S.R and Fidel Castro</a>. The Soviet Union agreed to buy five million tons of sugar over five years. They also agreed to support Cuba with oil, grain, and credit. </span></div><div><span class="css-1qaijid r-bcqeeo r-qvutc0 r-poiln3" style="text-overflow: unset;"> </span></div><div><span class="css-1qaijid r-bcqeeo r-qvutc0 r-poiln3" style="text-overflow: unset;"><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Sn3OP0a8TxA?si=AJNj2GWftdkfdPB6" title="YouTube video player" width="420"></iframe></span></div><div><span class="css-1qaijid r-bcqeeo r-qvutc0 r-poiln3" style="text-overflow: unset;"> </span></div><div><span class="css-1qaijid r-bcqeeo r-qvutc0 r-poiln3" style="text-overflow: unset;">On July 6, 1960 the Castro regime <a href="https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1958-60v06/d545">passed a nationalization law authorizing nationalization of U.S.- owned property</a> through expropriation. Texaco, Esso, and Shell oil refineries were taken.</span></div><div><span class="css-1qaijid r-bcqeeo r-qvutc0 r-poiln3" style="text-overflow: unset;"> </span></div><div><span class="css-1qaijid r-bcqeeo r-qvutc0 r-poiln3" style="text-overflow: unset;">In September 1960 <a href="https://www.csis.org/analysis/cubas-changing-guard-and-sino-cuban-relations">the Cuban government diplomatically recognized</a> the People's Republic of China. </span></div><span class="css-1qaijid r-bcqeeo r-qvutc0 r-poiln3" style="text-overflow: unset;"> </span><div>The Eisenhower State Department in response to the above actions <a href="https://time.com/4076438/us-cuba-embargo-1960/" target="_blank">imposed the first trade embargo on Cuba</a> on October 19, 1960, and it "covered all U.S. exports to Cuba except for medicine and some foods." It was not a blockade.<br /></div><div><span class="css-1qaijid r-bcqeeo r-qvutc0 r-poiln3" style="text-overflow: unset;"> </span></div><div><div><span class="css-1qaijid r-bcqeeo r-qvutc0 r-poiln3" style="text-overflow: unset;">On
November 19, 1960 Ernesto "Che" Guevara heading a Cuban delegation in
Beijing met with Mao Zedong <a href="https://digitalarchive.wilsoncenter.org/document/115155">between 4:20pm and 6:30pm and discussed revolutionary objectives in Latin America</a>.</span></div><div><span class="css-1qaijid r-bcqeeo r-qvutc0 r-poiln3" style="text-overflow: unset;"> </span></div><span class="css-1qaijid r-bcqeeo r-qvutc0 r-poiln3" style="text-overflow: unset;"></span><span class="css-1qaijid r-bcqeeo r-qvutc0 r-poiln3" style="text-overflow: unset;"><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/2KTanos5p0Q?si=_DjRH173XcvIYODP" title="YouTube video player" width="420"></iframe></span></div><div><span class="css-1qaijid r-bcqeeo r-qvutc0 r-poiln3" style="text-overflow: unset;"> </span></div><div><span class="css-1qaijid r-bcqeeo r-qvutc0 r-poiln3" style="text-overflow: unset;">Offenburger's trips to Cuba filled him with disinformation, and it should not be a surprise. The Castro regime came to power using lies, and continues power through systematic misinformation. </span><span style="font-size: small;"><b> </b></span></div><div><span style="font-size: small;"><b> </b></span></div><div><span style="font-size: small;"><b>Communist morality</b></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span class="m_8068601478858348835gmail-_Tgc">Fidel Castro at the time was repeatedly claiming that
he was not a communist because he knew that speaking the truth would
lead Cubans to abandon him. On December 2, 1961 he explained <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Fidel_Castro&source=gmail&ust=1564200741806000&usg=AFQjCNFFkVo0PJnUOBzy6U-PoXyqD6piEg" href="https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Fidel_Castro" target="_blank">his reasoning</a>.</span></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span class="m_8068601478858348835gmail-_Tgc"><br /></span></span></div>
<div style="margin-left: 40px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span class="m_8068601478858348835gmail-_Tgc">
<i>"If we had paused to tell the people that we were Marxist-Leninists
while we were on Pico Turquino and not yet strong, it is possible that
we would never have been able to descend to the plains."</i>
</span></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span class="m_8068601478858348835gmail-_Tgc"><br /></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span class="m_8068601478858348835gmail-_Tgc"> Years later </span><span class="m_8068601478858348835gmail-_Tgc"><span class="m_8068601478858348835gmail-_Tgc">on March 26, 1964, </span>after announcing that he had always been a Marxist Leninist, Fidel Castro explained: "I conceive the
truth in terms of a just and noble end, and that is when the truth is
truly true. If it does not serve a just, noble and positive end, truth,
as an abstract entity, philosophical category, in my opinion, does not
exist." <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=http://cubanexilequarter.blogspot.com/2013/10/jose-ignacio-rasco-on-fidel-castros.html&source=gmail&ust=1564200741806000&usg=AFQjCNGaaL97sWq5j_ZWvPFTCaLcPM1M-g" href="http://cubanexilequarter.blogspot.com/2013/10/jose-ignacio-rasco-on-fidel-castros.html" target="_blank">Jose Ignacio Rasco</a>,
who knew Fidel Castro from school and afterwards concluded that the
Cuban revolutionary had been a committed communist by 1950.</span><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span class="m_8068601478858348835gmail-_Tgc">Castro is copying Lenin. </span><span class="m_8068601478858348835gmail-_Tgc">The
first leader of the Soviet Union, Vladimir Lenin on October 2, 1920 in a speech to Russian communist youth <a href="http://cubanexilequarter.blogspot.com/2017/02/payaprize-castro-regime-reveals-its.html">stated</a>: "The class struggle is
continuing and it is our task to subordinate all interests to that
struggle. Our communist morality is also subordinated to that task. We
say: morality is what serves to destroy the old exploiting society and
to unite all the working people around the proletariat, which is
building up a new, communist society." He also addressed the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/1987/04/12/magazine/on-language.html">necessity of the lie</a> observing: </span>"'To speak the truth is a petit-bourgeois habit. To lie, on the
contrary, is often justified by the lie's aim." </span>John Suarezhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11333798474560217548noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1419558703918975245.post-70053076282538019102024-01-05T23:56:00.004-05:002024-01-06T09:44:18.823-05:00R.I.P. María Victoria Garcia, truth-teller and survivor of the tugboat "13 de marzo" massacre.<p><i>María Victoria Garcia passes away in Miami. She was a survivor of the tugboat "13 de marzo" massacre, which remains an unpunished atrocity.</i></p><p><i></i></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgI3GdobIUU6pvhPon0GZjZ4fSEIg3AmnHJ6IUDh3_QcS5k4wmmbMzT6BizpxpAKLJvlk5l3XFJT7Ra_9FvYya2FVgaUpXMoLOCE6DLXgpi7oQkWLEW4DLU9Hc6mtCRpS-p8AFH3rwt4c6MPsSZZDNxIG5NsQfInPVNknBu0zFol-TzZtpZG3l8KNXlk9z6/s490/maria.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="305" data-original-width="490" height="249" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgI3GdobIUU6pvhPon0GZjZ4fSEIg3AmnHJ6IUDh3_QcS5k4wmmbMzT6BizpxpAKLJvlk5l3XFJT7Ra_9FvYya2FVgaUpXMoLOCE6DLXgpi7oQkWLEW4DLU9Hc6mtCRpS-p8AFH3rwt4c6MPsSZZDNxIG5NsQfInPVNknBu0zFol-TzZtpZG3l8KNXlk9z6/w400-h249/maria.jpg" width="400" /></a></i></div><p></p><p><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "times", "times new roman", serif;"><span>Three
Cuban families totaling about 70 persons seeking a better life in freedom boarded the Cuban tugboat "13 de Marzo" on July 13, 1994. 17 were members of the Garcia family. The captain of the tug was among those
who wanted to depart. Despite their best efforts, an informant had
already reported them to State Security.</span></span> <span><span style="font-family: "times", "times new roman", serif;"> The Cuban dictatorship's actions on July 13, 1994, were premeditated.<br /></span></span><span><span><span style="font-family: "times", "times new roman", serif;"><br /></span></span></span></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span><span style="font-family: "times", "times new roman", serif;">The "13 de Marzo" left the port at 3:00am and almost immediately were being pursued by other tugboats<span style="letter-spacing: -0.15pt;"> of the Ministry of Transportation.</span>
Seven miles from the Cuban coast line<span style="letter-spacing: -0.15pt;"> </span>the “13 de Marzo” tugboat was confronted by the tugboats. <a href="https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/amr25/013/1997/en/">Amnesty International</a> in their <a href="https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/amr25/013/1997/en/">1997 investigation</a>
reported that the vessels which attacked the “13 de Marzo” were Polargo
2”, “Polargo 3″ and “Polargo 5″ and identified as belonging to the
Ministry of Transport. According to the <a href="https://www.cidh.oas.org/annualrep/96eng/Cuba11436.htm">IACHR report</a> the attack did not appear
improvised. </span></span><span><span style="font-family: "times", "times new roman", serif;">The Amnesty International <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150106231513/https://www.amnesty.org/en/library/asset/AMR25/013/1997/en/0f6d3a5e-ea51-11dd-965c-b55c1122d73f/amr250131997en.html">report</a> mentions another vessel that "appeared to be directing operations was believed to belong to the
Cuban Coast Guard, which is part of the Ministry of the Interior.”</span></span></span></p><span style="font-size: small;"></span><p><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/9bud8kvas8M?si=l0pXm55Tu3S8qrBB" title="YouTube video player" width="420"></iframe><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: normal;"> </span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: small;"><span><span style="font-family: "times", "times new roman", serif;">Despite
the “13 de Marzo” tugboat stopping and passengers attempting to
surrender the other tugboats continued to ram the tug and use high
pressure hoses to blast them overboard. Following this the attackers
began to circle the wreckage with the aim of <a href="http://www.cidh.org/annualrep/96eng/cuba11436.htm">creating a whirlpool effect</a> to ensure that all would drown. Sergio Perodin, one of the survivors who lost his wife and
young son during the incident, explained how the massacre stopped when </span></span><span><span style="font-family: "times", "times new roman", serif;">a
boat with a Greek flag appeared in the area. "lt looked like the boat
was watching what they were doing, the murder they were committing. So
they stopped and decided to pick us up."</span></span>
<span><span style="font-family: "times", "times new roman", serif;">
It was then and only then that the
attack was suspended and the survivors were picked up by the Cuban Coast Guard.</span></span></span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: normal;"> <br /></span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: normal;">María Victoria García, was one of three members of the </span></span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: normal;">García family </span></span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: normal;">who survived the
massacre. Fourteen</span></span> members of the <span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: normal;">García</span></span> family were murdered, including her 20 year old brother, and <span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: normal;">María Victoria's</span></span> ten-year-old son Juan Mario Gutiérrez García. <span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: normal;"> <br /></span></span></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7po13-FyNE_zp_M9gohyYqlav10EZVZdVMZiP4F87kLdbrV0A9refYGSshekxCtDR5YC-sNVJJV0OHFYsRJIEZOfIbS9RlV6zRVBwA3LmyGWr5ePvQ9Ts3nk4Krq71cvYe3NtX94GPgoGmatE8TIkFF8L_Z48AVZH2s8JGDtvOHD4F6tK22bu8ZjOTsXS/s222/remolcadorbigjm.JPG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="222" data-original-width="193" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7po13-FyNE_zp_M9gohyYqlav10EZVZdVMZiP4F87kLdbrV0A9refYGSshekxCtDR5YC-sNVJJV0OHFYsRJIEZOfIbS9RlV6zRVBwA3LmyGWr5ePvQ9Ts3nk4Krq71cvYe3NtX94GPgoGmatE8TIkFF8L_Z48AVZH2s8JGDtvOHD4F6tK22bu8ZjOTsXS/s16000/remolcadorbigjm.JPG" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Juan Mario Gutiérrez García</i></td></tr></tbody></table><p></p><p><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: normal;">Her father, <a href="http://cubanexilequarter.blogspot.com/2010/07/jorge-garcia-lost-14-family-members-on.html">Jorge García </a>who survives his daughter also <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h_pXjIuPCxk&feature=share&list=PLpLkDkw5gTw4Yba6bdFKJwFkoDiGwy9lG">sat down and spoke on camera</a> about what he had learned about the actions of the Cuban government both before and after the massacre. He had been detained and
interrogated
on several occasions by state security. His longest detention was for 15
days. </span></span></p><p><a href="http://cubanexilequarter.blogspot.com/2010/07/jorge-garcia-lost-14-family-members-on.html"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: normal;">María Victoria García</span></span></a><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: normal;"><a href="http://cubanexilequarter.blogspot.com/2010/07/jorge-garcia-lost-14-family-members-on.html"> spoke out</a> but it nearly came at a great cost according to Jorge,
</span></span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: normal;">"[t]hey tried on several occasions to kill my daughter,
because she was the first to speak out and contradict the regime’s
official narrative.</span></span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: normal;"> <br /></span></span></p><p>The massacre and the aftermath left her physically and psychologically scarred for the rest of her life.. </p><p><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: normal;">Jorge and his daughter left Cuba for exile. He <a href="https://www.amazon.com/El-Hundimiento-Del-Remolcador-Marzo/dp/B004TXI8K8/ref=sr_1_1?crid=3AJ4XURIDW4Y8&keywords=Jorge%20Garc%C3%ADa%20remolcador%2013%20de%20marzo&qid=1704512383&sprefix=jorge%20garc%C3%ADa%20remolcador%2013%20de%20marzo%2Caps%2C120&sr=8-1">wrote a book about this crime</a> that is a must read. <span style="font-size: 100%;"><a href="http://cubanexilequarter.blogspot.com/2010/07/jorge-garcia-lost-14-family-members-on.html">During a question and answer session </a>at Florida International University <a href="http://www.latinamericanstudies.org/human-rights/sinking.htm">on July 13, 2004</a> he spoke of the need for justice:</span></span></span><br />
</p><blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-size: 100%;">''There
are those who think that we should be full of rancor and a thirst for
vengeance but I don't want revenge. I feel sorry for the people who
assassinated my family. I can never be compensated for my loss. I will
never be happy again with my family surrounding me. There will always be
a tinge of sadness but I do want there to be a trial so that this
situation can serve as a lesson and that these people or others like
them in other parts of the world, don't do this kind of thing again. Not
in Cuba. <span style="font-size: normal;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Not anywhere.''</span></span></span></blockquote><p>
María Victoria described what happened to <a href="https://youtu.be/VcknbIFzPck?si=PSpwQxJcwM_CBR32">Voces de Cuba</a> in an interview
nine years ago, about when she confronted an official saying, "I told
the colonel that it had not been an accident, that they sank us."<span style="font-size: normal;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"> <br /></span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: normal;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">The <a href="http://cubanexilequarter.blogspot.com/2013/07/placing-massacre-of-cuban-civilians.html">following persons were executed extrajudicially</a> by the Castro regime on July 13, 1994, in the "13 de Marzo" tugboat massacre, and thirty years later justice has still not been provided them and their loved ones.</span></span><br /><br /><b>Helen Martínez Enríquez ( 5 months)<br /> Cindy Rodríguez Fernández (age 2)<br /> José Carlos Nicole Anaya (3)<br /> Angel Rene Abreu Ruiz ( age 3) <br /> Yisel Borges Alvarez (4) <br /> Caridad Leyva Tacoronte (age 5)<br /> Juan Mario Gutiérrez García (age 10)<br /> Yousell E. Perez Tacoronte (age 11)<br /> Yasser Perodin Almanza (age 11)<br /> Eliecer Suarez Plasencia ( age 12) <br /> Mayulis Mendez Tacoronte (age 17)<br /> Miladys Sanabria Cabrera ( age 19 )<br /> Odalys Muñoz García (age 21) <br /> Yuliana Enríquez Carrazana (age 22)<br /> Yaltamira Anaya Carrasco (age 22)<br /> Lissett María Álvarez Guerra (age 24)<br /> José Gregorio Balmaceda Castillo (24) <br /> Joel García Suárez (age 24)<br /> Ernesto Alfonso Loureiro (age 25)<br /> María Miralis Fernández Rodríguez (age 27) <br />Pilar Almanza Romero (age 28)<br /> Leonardo Notario Góngora ( age 28)<br /> Jorge Arquímides Lebrijio Flores (age 28) <br /> Rigoberto Feut Gonzáles (age 31)<br /> Omar Rodriguez Suarez (age 33)<br /> Lázaro Enrique Borges Briel (age 34) <br /> Julia Caridad Ruiz Blanco (age 35) <br /> Martha Caridad Tacoronte Vega (age 36)<br /> Eduardo Suárez Esquivel ( age 39) <br /> Martha M.Carrasco Sanabria (age 45) <br /> Augusto Guillermo Guerra Martínez ( age 45) <br /> Rosa María Alcalde Puig (age 47) <br /> Estrella Suárez Esquivel (age 48) <br /> Reynaldo Joaquín Marrero (age 48) <br /> Manuel Cayol (age 50) <br /> Amado Gonzáles Raices (50)<br /> Fidelio Ramel Prieto-Hernández (51) </b></p><p><span class="css-1qaijid r-bcqeeo r-qvutc0 r-poiln3" style="text-overflow: unset;">María Victoria García, survivor of the July 13, 1994 “13 de Marzo” Tugboat massacre, courageously spoke out about what had happened while still in Cuba. She denounced this mass murder carried out by the Cuban dictatorship. </span><span class="css-1qaijid r-bcqeeo r-qvutc0 r-poiln3" style="text-overflow: unset;">María Victoria</span><span class="css-1qaijid r-bcqeeo r-qvutc0 r-poiln3" style="text-overflow: unset;"> died on January 4, 2023 at age 58 </span><span class="HwtZe" lang="en"><span class="jCAhz ChMk0b"><span class="ryNqvb"><a href="https://www.cibercuba.com/noticias/2024-01-05-u1-e43231-s27061-muere-miami-sobreviviente-hundimiento-remolcador-13-marzo">due to complications arising from heart surgery performed in December</a>.</span></span></span><span class="css-1qaijid r-bcqeeo r-qvutc0 r-poiln3" style="text-overflow: unset;">. My prayers go out to her, her father Jorge A. García, and her friends and family. My sincerest condolences on this terrible loss.<br /></span></p><p><span class="css-1qaijid r-bcqeeo r-qvutc0 r-poiln3" style="text-overflow: unset;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span class="css-1qaijid r-bcqeeo r-qvutc0 r-poiln3" style="text-overflow: unset;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyZX8DI-i8rguIOQlx1Fp1Ju12dhj4GimWJJteer08DwUjC48Nr0fR0kzwr6RY5_pDF32gUhl-Igc-bEhv8d3lvpYnqkKssdw1S5Dy0DgennlbzFH7OU2yWTJ2669FfsjAgB_JhBCdI4gPrx2ynwvrnMq4bWcGVY5WFGyp3ojYQsAKCJxcKj6hhj66GaB4/s1600/GDF1nPAWIAAar87.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1600" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyZX8DI-i8rguIOQlx1Fp1Ju12dhj4GimWJJteer08DwUjC48Nr0fR0kzwr6RY5_pDF32gUhl-Igc-bEhv8d3lvpYnqkKssdw1S5Dy0DgennlbzFH7OU2yWTJ2669FfsjAgB_JhBCdI4gPrx2ynwvrnMq4bWcGVY5WFGyp3ojYQsAKCJxcKj6hhj66GaB4/w400-h400/GDF1nPAWIAAar87.jpg" width="400" /></a></span></div><span class="css-1qaijid r-bcqeeo r-qvutc0 r-poiln3" style="text-overflow: unset;"> </span><p></p><p><span class="css-1qaijid r-bcqeeo r-qvutc0 r-poiln3" style="text-overflow: unset;"> </span><i><span class="css-901oao css-16my406 r-poiln3 r-bcqeeo r-qvutc0">Requiescat in pace </span>María Victoria Garcia<span class="css-901oao css-16my406 r-poiln3 r-bcqeeo r-qvutc0">, and the 37 victims of the July 13, 1994 tugboat massacre.</span></i></p><p> </p>John Suarezhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11333798474560217548noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1419558703918975245.post-80303374195924920902023-12-31T14:52:00.007-05:002023-12-31T14:53:18.665-05:0072 Years of Dictatorship in Cuba: 65 Years of the Castros and 7 Years of Batista <p> <i>From bad (<a href="https://youtu.be/UAgrp4-s1r8">authoritarian dictatorship</a>) to worse (<a href="https://youtu.be/UAgrp4-s1r8">totalitarian dictatorship</a>)</i></p><p><i></i></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVnZxP_lS6qGqOvQHc6np-gJu6MNRHowBlZdo6H3Fr2Yi7dkXWbrtb1cwpzV2upo6YxGZHobpvzi72D7B0rspEoRg0eLZ68NObFMZ6Yx-tbH8FtfBuBuVC66k9gdGykDyMW9ZkmT-kA96ofEdxiv5GDUGvuROR85IewI0VodV9FM86xCvn_GAxGnBnEi-5/s2161/FNbt9AJVcAERz6m.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1031" data-original-width="2161" height="191" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVnZxP_lS6qGqOvQHc6np-gJu6MNRHowBlZdo6H3Fr2Yi7dkXWbrtb1cwpzV2upo6YxGZHobpvzi72D7B0rspEoRg0eLZ68NObFMZ6Yx-tbH8FtfBuBuVC66k9gdGykDyMW9ZkmT-kA96ofEdxiv5GDUGvuROR85IewI0VodV9FM86xCvn_GAxGnBnEi-5/w400-h191/FNbt9AJVcAERz6m.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">#TheyAreContinuity #SonContinuidad <br /></td></tr></tbody></table><br /> Cuba has been under a dictatorship for 72 years. On <a href="https://cubanexilequarter.blogspot.com/2020/03/march-10th-cuba-and-tibets-shared-day.html">March 10, 1952</a>, Fulgencio Batista brought an end to Cuban democracy. Carlos Prio, the last democratic president, and his <a href="https://cubanexilequarter.blogspot.com/2010/09/mary-tarrero-de-prio-last-first-lady-of.html">first lady</a> were forced into exile. An increasingly unpopular authoritarian and corrupt regime ruled Cuba for the following seven years. <p></p><p>The hope for the restoration of democratic governance came to an end when Batista refused to cede power nonviolently through a dialogue process, <a href="https://cubanexilequarter.blogspot.com/2020/07/from-batista-to-castro-transition-from.html">opening a path</a> for Fidel and Raul Castro to take it by force. Although they had repeatedly pledged to restore the 1940 Constitution<i>, </i>and Cuban democracy they imposed a communist dictatorship<i>.</i></p><p>Cuba's official motto was
changed from Homeland and Liberty (Patria y Libertad) to Homeland or
Death, We Shall Triumph (<i><span class="blue-underline" data-endindex="29" data-paragraphid="11" data-startindex="0">¡Patria o Muerte, Venceremos!).</span></i></p><p><i><span class="blue-underline" data-endindex="29" data-paragraphid="11" data-startindex="0"></span></i></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgazreNWvc2M7fqJfYvoMppBspO0tkPVr2AE_wAeMpatRvESvNwrdQviQN2X3vQyemuGU6-DmHlZTlKwX8cclep3wMBUJtzj-dr5O9RQ_WMutVHB0qgnGfnDbpU0kd-opI2toRv45-LTmU9l_KRhjKYXsjs6DTbGnAKss4Lu65_zoIQ3uyc49GocpOYzUd/s372/presidentsofcuba.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="372" data-original-width="372" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgazreNWvc2M7fqJfYvoMppBspO0tkPVr2AE_wAeMpatRvESvNwrdQviQN2X3vQyemuGU6-DmHlZTlKwX8cclep3wMBUJtzj-dr5O9RQ_WMutVHB0qgnGfnDbpU0kd-opI2toRv45-LTmU9l_KRhjKYXsjs6DTbGnAKss4Lu65_zoIQ3uyc49GocpOYzUd/w400-h400/presidentsofcuba.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Presidents of Cuba from 1902 to 1952 and dictator Batista</td></tr></tbody></table><p></p><p><span class="blue-underline" data-endindex="29" data-paragraphid="11" data-startindex="0">Fulgencio Batista, the authoritarian dictator, fled Cuba early on January 1, 1959, thanks to the conspiracies of the </span><a href="https://cubanexilequarter.blogspot.com/2017/10/how-communism-arrived-in-cuba.html">Communist International</a>,<span class="blue-underline" data-endindex="29" data-paragraphid="11" data-startindex="0"> </span><a href="https://cubanexilequarter.blogspot.com/2019/08/the-new-york-times-castro-regime-and.html">The New York Times</a><span class="blue-underline" data-endindex="29" data-paragraphid="11" data-startindex="0"> pro-Castro propaganda, </span><a href="https://cubanexilequarter.blogspot.com/2019/03/we-too-have-memory-when-fidel-castro.html">an arms embargo imposed on</a><span class="blue-underline" data-endindex="29" data-paragraphid="11" data-startindex="0"> him by the United States in March 1958, and pressure for him to go </span><a href="https://cubanexilequarter.blogspot.com/2019/11/president-john-f-kennedys-assassination.html">from the U.S. Ambassador to Cuba</a> <span class="blue-underline" data-endindex="29" data-paragraphid="11" data-startindex="0">in December 1958.</span></p><p>Since <a href="https://cubanexilequarter.blogspot.com/2023/07/moncada-at-70-from-bad-batista-to-worse.html">the beginning</a> of their struggle <a href="https://www.cubacenter.org/archives/2023/7/25/cubabrief-seven-things-to-read-and-watch-on-the-70th-anniversary-of-the-moncada-attack-to-get-the-facts-of-what-actually-happened-and-avoid-propaganda">on July 26, 1953</a>, the Castro brothers
promised a democratic restoration, but all along planned a
Marxist-Leninist takeover. They imposed a totalitarian communist
dictatorship, killing <a href="https://cubanexilequarter.blogspot.com/2017/12/red-killings-in-cuba-cost-in-cuban-lives.html">tens of thousands</a> of Cubans. The Castro regime <a href="https://cubanexilequarter.blogspot.com/2019/09/six-decades-of-prisoners-of-conscience.html">systematically denied human rights</a> to all Cubans while exporting their repressive model to Africa and Latin America, creating misery for millions more.</p><p>
<iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/eGLZ_ays8H8?si=koRnu3GBGVpqQxdq" title="YouTube video player" width="420"></iframe></p><p>The communist regime has re-written the history of Cuba, <a href="https://cubanexilequarter.blogspot.com/2016/01/exposing-11-myths-of-revolution-in-cuba.html">creating myths</a> to justify its tyranny. The reality is that between 1902 and 1952, there <a href="https://cubanexilequarter.blogspot.com/2020/07/from-batista-to-castro-transition-from.html">existed a system</a> that oversaw <a href="https://cubanexilequarter.blogspot.com/2020/07/from-batista-to-castro-transition-from.html">rising living standards</a> for five decades and <a href="https://cubanexilequarter.blogspot.com/2023/12/the-universal-declaration-of-human.html">had been</a> on the <a href="https://cubanexilequarter.blogspot.com/2018/12/cubas-human-rights-legacy-then-and-now.html">cutting edge of human rights</a>. </p><p>The Marxist-Leninist dictatorship in Cuba <a href="https://cubanexilequarter.blogspot.com/2017/04/castros-war-against-human-rights-in-cuba.html">declared war on human rights</a> at home and abroad to the present day.</p><p>From 1959 till now, generations of Cubans have resisted this communist regime. <br /></p><p>Hundreds of thousands of Cubans <a href="https://cubanexilequarter.blogspot.com/2021/07/11july-one-week-later-and-nonviolent.html">risked everything in July 2021</a><span data-offset-key="83kpp-0-0"><span data-text="true">, taking to the streets in nonviolent protests demanding an end to the dictatorship. T</span></span>he Castro regime <a href="https://cubanexilequarter.blogspot.com/2021/07/11july-one-week-later-and-nonviolent.html">responded</a>
by firing on unarmed protesters, imprisoning over a thousand, and condemning
many of them to 20 and 30 year prison sentences for exercising their right to peaceful assembly.</p><span class="blue-underline" data-endindex="29" data-paragraphid="11" data-startindex="0">Remembering <a href="https://cubanexilequarter.blogspot.com/2018/12/cuba-lost-cause.html">this sad past</a>, we resolve to work even harder <a href="https://cubanexilequarter.blogspot.com/2020/12/internatonal-human-rights-day.html">to bring democracy back</a> to Cuba, replacing Homeland or Death (¡Patria o Muerte!) with Homeland, Life, and Liberty (Patria, Vida y Libertad). <br /></span><p><span class="blue-underline" data-endindex="29" data-paragraphid="11" data-startindex="0">Please take two actions: 1) sign this <a href="https://chng.it/ZKH2X54Rfw">appe</a>al for an end to repression in Cuba and release of all Cuban political prisoners and 2) sign this <a href="https://www.change.org/p/expel-cuba-from-the-un-human-rights-council">petition to expel Cuba from the UN Human Rights Council</a>. </span></p><p><span class="blue-underline" data-endindex="29" data-paragraphid="11" data-startindex="0">Both petitions are addressed to members of the international community.</span></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUBucJkYSg1xEu6orM_ZOho7NGy3N2thM8AQUE1bcuGcH1-oVim9U8Ipp5Ijf8IM_3CLc9HOxiDVzc-pMyaa5X9rnb4f5So4G-73V40bjU8TSQC0KYRO5ujDtywHGwwCJXbJTn408JXsELETLGapRnl8ql45ptS7f6MGmBM6IKTvfcPpz8OdpDuqULWkX6/s920/patriabvida.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="518" data-original-width="920" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUBucJkYSg1xEu6orM_ZOho7NGy3N2thM8AQUE1bcuGcH1-oVim9U8Ipp5Ijf8IM_3CLc9HOxiDVzc-pMyaa5X9rnb4f5So4G-73V40bjU8TSQC0KYRO5ujDtywHGwwCJXbJTn408JXsELETLGapRnl8ql45ptS7f6MGmBM6IKTvfcPpz8OdpDuqULWkX6/w400-h225/patriabvida.png" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">On the streets of Cuba on July 11, 2021</td></tr></tbody></table><p><span class="blue-underline" data-endindex="29" data-paragraphid="11" data-startindex="0"></span></p><p><span class="blue-underline" data-endindex="29" data-paragraphid="11" data-startindex="0">Wishing
you all a happy new year in 2024, and through the continuing work and
struggle for a free Cuba may freedom be restored that will finally fulfill Cuban exiles goal of "this year in Havana!"</span></p>John Suarezhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11333798474560217548noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1419558703918975245.post-52905013433038282652023-12-30T18:17:00.004-05:002023-12-30T18:53:25.306-05:00Correcting some of Chuck Offenburger's errors about the Cuban revolution and the dictatorship in Havana<p> <i>Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not to his own facts.” - Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan</i></p><p><span style="font-size: small;"> </span></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZjG60jLKzD92qZ9TMmSVEJwsop2HtfQJcP24rpJiwpoBdF1592-EL_2dIaHk6JoNwGv1uzBWH1qRc-knPf-lionVuukWUa99c3q_MIz6vLguwAhQI06an1WmfyL-xTPz0gZq-RCXYoGTF8CihoYiIPObLWfSO_cQFhdLCGvtypovWkqkLIKi5AlEYZpGh/s450/suarez_castro.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="450" data-original-width="350" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZjG60jLKzD92qZ9TMmSVEJwsop2HtfQJcP24rpJiwpoBdF1592-EL_2dIaHk6JoNwGv1uzBWH1qRc-knPf-lionVuukWUa99c3q_MIz6vLguwAhQI06an1WmfyL-xTPz0gZq-RCXYoGTF8CihoYiIPObLWfSO_cQFhdLCGvtypovWkqkLIKi5AlEYZpGh/s16000/suarez_castro.jpg" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Reverend Raul Suarez with Fidel Castro<br /></td></tr></tbody></table><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span><p></p><p><span style="font-size: small;">Chuck Offenburger has written a blog entry "<a href="https://twitter.com/chuckoburger/status/1736427149244891643">Banning Christmas in Cuba was an ‘error’ that Fidel Castro fixed: It’s time for the U.S. to correct our own errors there</a>" that regurgitates Cuban communist propaganda. I do not believe that was his intent.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: small;"><span><span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Totalitarian regimes have a track record of effectively using tourism, <a href="http://cubanexilequarter.blogspot.com/2015/08/berlin-1936-and-beijing-2022.html">athletic events</a>, and <a href="http://www.academicmatters.ca/2010/04/business-as-usual-elite-universities-during-the-1930s/">academic exchanges</a> to present their regimes in a manner that <a href="https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2009/06/17/nazism">legitimizes them</a>
and covers up their hostile objectives. </span></span></span></span></span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: small;"><span><span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">An excellent accounting of these practices and their impacts on
national and international politics is found in Paul Hollander's book <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Political-Pilgrims-Western-Intellectuals-Society/dp/1560009543/ref=freecubafoundati">Political Pilgrims</a> that should be required reading for anyone traveling to Cuba, China, Iran, Nicaragua, North Korea, Venezuela, or Vietnam<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: small;"><span><span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">There is much to address, and it will be broken up into a series of blog entries. </span></span></span></span></span></span></span><span style="font-size: small;"><span><span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"> </span></span></span></span></span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: small;"><span><span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">These blog entries will review a number of the claims Mr. </span></span></span></span></span></span><span style="font-size: small;">Offenburger </span><span style="font-size: small;"><span><span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"> makes in chronological order, and provide documented sources to test them.</span></span></span></span></span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: small;"><span><span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">They will also highlight some of the errors made by the United States in dealing with the Cuban revolution (1953 - 1959) and the Communist dictatorship (1959 - present).</span></span></span></span></span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: small;"><span><span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"> Mr. Offenburger begins his blog entry with the claim that "</span></span></span></span></span></span>religious and church life in Cuba is thriving, and has been since the 1990s." He then goes on to cite as a source for this claim Reverend Raúl Suárez.</p><p>This blog entry will explore who is Reverend Raúl Suárez and his claims about Fidel Castro "fixing" the error of banning religion.<br /></p><p>Reverend Raúl Suárez was expelled in 1986 from the Baptist Convention in Cuba for <a href="https://religionrevolucion.blogspot.com/2010/04/todas-las-iglesias-apoyan-la-dictadura.html">"apostasy and heresy"</a> for his unconditional support for the regime. He had created within the Baptist Church an Association of Churches with that political purpose. Suárez, far from complying, robbed the Baptist Convention of the Temple, the house and its bank account of 25,000 pesos, and with the support of the Government - which did not pursue the accusation of theft presented by the Baptist Convention - he registered the new convention."<br /></p>Reverend Suárez <a href="https://evangelicalfocus.com/features/15127/11j-a-turning-point-in-the-repression-of-evangelicals-in-cuba-2">in 2022 was described by Cuban independent journalist Yoe Suárez</a> (no relation) as being an example of one of the pastors who emerged from historic churches, <b>"who support the regime</b>." <p>Human Rights Watch in their 1999 report Cuba's Repressive Machinery: Human Rights Forty Years After the Revolution provided more context, and the leverage placed by Havana in <a href="https://www.hrw.org/reports/1999/cuba/Cuba996-10.htm#P1842_459541">advancing a policy for sanctions to be lifted, and democracy promotion ended.</a></p><blockquote><p><span style="font-family: Times New;">Cuba grants the Department of Attention to Religious
Affairs of the Central Committee of the Communist Party (Departamento de
Atención a los Asuntos Religiosos del Comité Central del Partido Comunista)
a prominent role in overseeing religious institutions. </span><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">Not
surprisingly, religious leaders who support the government face fewer impediments
to their activities than do believers who find themselves at odds with
the ruling party. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">At the 1991 Communist Party Fourth Congress, the party
decided that religious belief would no longer pose an obstacleto membership.<a href="https://www.hrw.org/reports/1999/cuba/Cuba996-10.htm#P1867_466995">84</a>
In the wake of this decision, some religious figures are now members of
the Communist Party or even political leaders themselves, such as Pablo
Odén Marichal, the president of the Cuban Council of Churches (Consejo
Cubano de Iglesias), who is a deputy in Cuba's National Assembly. <b>Baptist
Minister Raúl Suárez Ramos,</b> with the Cuban Council of Churches, also
is a deputy in Cuba's National Assembly, and heads the Martin Luther King
Memorial Center, a nongovernmental group with close ties to the government.<a href="https://www.hrw.org/reports/1999/cuba/Cuba996-10.htm#P1868_467684">85</a>
Suárez Ramos earned government acclaim in 1990 when he lauded the revolution
as "a blessing for our poor people" and criticized U.S. policy toward Cuba
as an "economic, political, radio, and television aggression."<a href="https://www.hrw.org/reports/1999/cuba/Cuba996-10.htm#P1869_468112">86</a> </span></p><p><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">Both deputies often travel internationally and participate in conferences
on religion in Cuba. But the party treats distinctly those who do not share
its political views. The current head of the party's religious affairs
office, Caridad Diego, criticized an American Catholic priest who had worked
in the Villa Clara area for supporting "counterrevolutionary groups."<a href="https://www.hrw.org/reports/1999/cuba/Cuba996-10.htm#P1870_468606">87</a>
The priest, Patrick Sullivan, had posted copies of the Universal Declaration
on Human Rights in his church and had urged his parishioners to defend
those rights. In April 1998, facing increasing government pressure, Sullivan
chose to leave Cuba. Although Cuba and the Vatican had agreed that the
pope would visit Cuba in 1989, the Catholic church's failure to condemn
the U.S. embargo at that time apparently contributed to the several-year
delay in finalizing the visit.<a href="https://www.hrw.org/reports/1999/cuba/Cuba996-10.htm#P1871_469175">88</a> When the pope
did travel to Cuba in early 1998, the Cuban government trumpeted his criticisms
of the U.S. embargo.</span></p></blockquote><p><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"></span>
</p><p></p><p>Let us briefly review the steps taken by the Castro regime to crush religion in Cuba, and those measures that remain in place.</p><p>In May 1961, <a href="https://www.cubacenter.org/archives/2019/7/16/cubabrief-presentation-on-cuba-at-the-captive-nations-week-summit" target="_blank">the Cuban dictatorship</a> confiscated private schools ( both religous and <a href="https://www.cubanet.org/noticias/instituto-edison-memorias-de-un-colegio-privado-en-cuba/">secular</a>) and most seminaries in an effort to eliminate religion. <a href="https://www.telemundo51.com/noticias/cuba/renace-negocio-de-escuelas-privadas-en-cub0a/107350/">Private religious schools remain illegal</a> in Cuba in 2023, and <a href="https://diariodecuba.com/cuba/1682697709_46567.html">some Cubans in the island are demanding their return due to the low quality of the public schools</a>. There are private schools <a href="https://www.ishavana.org/www/about-ish/our-history">for the children of foreign diplomats</a>, and foreign business people.<br /></p><p>In September 1961, the Castro regime at gunpoint collected 131 priests,
brothers and a bishop, placing them on board the Spanish ship Covadonga
and deported them from Cuba. Many of the remaining priests <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-cuba-cardinal/cuban-cardinal-jaime-ortega-leading-political-figure-dead-at-82-idUSKCN1UL1LH" target="_blank">were sent</a> to forced labor camps. Over 300 priests, brothers, and nuns <a href="https://www.valoresreligiosos.com.ar/Noticias/fidel-castro-y-la-iglesia-catolica-una-larga-historia-con-idas-y-vueltas-8754" target="_blank">were expelled </a>from Cuba in 1961 alone.</p><p>The communist dictatorship declared itself an <a href="https://www.valoresreligiosos.com.ar/Noticias/fidel-castro-y-la-iglesia-catolica-una-larga-historia-con-idas-y-vueltas-8754" target="_blank">atheist state</a> in 1962, and openly hostile to religion. Christmas ended as a holiday in Cuba in 1969. </p><p>The collapse of the Eastern European communist block in 1989, and the
Soviet Union in 1992 led Havana to seek bankrolling from the West, and
necessitated a limited opening on the religous front in 1992. The
restoration of Christmas in 1997 was a concession granted to the Vatican
to obtain a state visit by Pope John Paul II, in which he called for
the World to open to Cuha, and for Cuba to open to the World.. <br /></p><p style="white-space: pre-wrap;">Today, the Office of Religious Affairs (ORA), an arm of the Central Committee of the Cuban Communist Party, still oversees religious affairs in Cuba, and exists to monitor, hinder and restrict religious activities. They also <a href="https://www.cubacenter.org/cuban-images/2017/4/6/acts-of-repudiation-to-the-camaguey-headquarters-of-the-apostolic-ministry-nations-for-christ" target="_blank">continue to demolish churches</a> with bulldozers and organize mobs to harass Christians in acts of repudiation coordinated with the Ministry of the Interior. </p><p style="white-space: pre-wrap;">On April 9, 2015 on the eve of the Summit of the Americas in Panama, <a href="https://translatingcuba.com/video-of-act-of-repudiation-by-cubans-against-cubans-in-panama/">agents</a> of the Castro regime <a href="https://www.miamiherald.com/news/nation-world/world/americas/cuba/article18508925.html">carried out </a>various <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/latino/opinion-so-it-begins-n340186">acts of repudiation</a> against Cuban and Venezuelan members of civil society that they deemed unacceptable due to their dissent or <a href="https://youtu.be/CLu6ystI1Jc?si=MOCDBf3EvbRiqeqK">opposition</a> with either Havana or Caracas.</p><p style="white-space: pre-wrap;">Physical violence ensued, and <a href="http://cubanexilequarter.blogspot.com/2015/04/the-castro-regimes-idea-of-dialogue.html">people were hurt</a>.</p><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/B8YgSXnE76k?si=cXPMvEKld7ZX0uvx" title="YouTube video player" width="420"></iframe><p style="white-space: pre-wrap;">Reverend Raúl Suárez <a href="https://dialogardialogar.wordpress.com/2015/04/28/en-panama-mas-que-nunca-cerca-de-dios/">in an interview published in a pro-regime blog</a> on April 28, 2015 celebrated his own participation in these actions, saying "he had never been closer to God," and gave it a pro-regime spin.<b> </b>Below is a translation <a href="https://dialogardialogar.wordpress.com/2015/04/28/en-panama-mas-que-nunca-cerca-de-dios/">excerpted from that interview</a>.</p><blockquote><b>In a meeting that recently took place at the Ministry of Culture, where the attitude of the Cuban delegation in Panama was recognized, you said that you had never been closer to God in those days. Why</b>?<br /><br />I said it for two reasons. Because when I am among people who do not have religious beliefs, I like to place the topic of faith in an attractive way, so that there is the highest level of understanding and empathy among everyone. On the other hand, in churches there is sometimes the opinion that a Christian's participation in politics is a mistake, some even say that it is a sin. That is not right. I am not interested in politics that has to do with political campaigns, fundraising, fights between politicians... The politics that interests me is that which starts from the etymology of the term, referring to the people, the polis, which is the organization of the people for the common good, in this case, the quality of life of the Cuban people. That is why I felt that presence of God in Panama, when I opposed in a fair fight against those who wanted to turn the “house of prayers into a den of thieves”, against those who want to bias the right of Cubans to choose their own system. </blockquote>In 2015 the dictatorship ordered that <a href="https://www.christiantoday.com/article/cuba-government-orders-demolition-of-five-churches/72221.htm" target="_blank">five churches</a> in the Abel Santa Maria neighbourhood of the city of Santiago de Cuba be demolished. According to <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Christianity Today</span> the order was <a href="https://www.christiantoday.com/article/cuba-government-orders-demolition-of-five-churches/72221.htm" target="_blank">issued on November 27, 2015</a> and pastors and their families, living on Church grounds, were evicted.<p></p><p style="white-space: pre-wrap;">Homeschooling, to avoid anti-Christian indoctrination taught in the schools, is prohibited in Cuba. Two Christian pastors were jailed for homeschooling their children, and an independent journalist was beaten
and jailed for covering their trial in April 2019. Pastor Ayda Expósito <a href="https://www.uscirf.gov/news-room/press-releases-statements/uscirf-welcomes-the-release-ayda-exp-sito-calls-release-other" target="_blank">was released</a> from prison nearly a year later on April 3, 2020, and her husband Pastor Ramón Rigal <a href="https://www.uscirf.gov/news-room/press-releases-statements/uscirf-welcomes-the-release-pastor-ram-n-rigal-calls-release" target="_blank">was released</a> three months later on July 1, 2020. Independent journalist Roberto Quiñones Haces was released on September 4, 2020 in an emaciated state, compared to when he entered prison on September 11, 2019. </p>
<p></p><p>Unable to destroy religion, the Castro dictatorship now manipulates it, <a href="https://www.christianpost.com/voices/chinas-latest-crackdown-on-underground-churches-is-concerning.html">similar to Communist China</a>. There is
an official Church, and the underground Church that continues to be persecuted. Reverend Raúl Suárez is part of the official church, that uses the name of Martin Luther King Jr. while celebrating violence against pro-democracy activists, remaining silent before the demolition of Churches on the island,.and <a href="https://havanatimes.org/features/churches-reject-us-report-on-religious-freedom/">denying ongoing religious persecution</a>.</p><p>Mr. Offenburger should reach out to other religious figures on the island who bear witness for the persecuted Church.</p><p><span style="font-size: small;">Would recommend speaking to, <a href="https://www.christianitytoday.org/stories/what-people-are-saying/2019/this-cuban-pastor-was-on-ct-cover-authorities-threatened.html">and reading about Reverend Mario Felix Lleonart</a>, a Cuban pastor who <a href="https://www.miamiherald.com/news/nation-world/world/americas/cuba/article150602062.html">obtained political asylum in the United States in 2016</a>, but maintains connections with the island. If you <a href="https://twitter.com/maritovoz/status/1740058363008782477">had followed his social media</a> you'd know that religious figures in Cuba were visted on Christmas day, and told to report to state security the following day.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: small;">Would also recommend reading the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights <a href="https://www.oas.org/en/iachr/decisions/2023/ADM_14-196_EN.pdf">report on the murders of Catholic laymen, and human rights defenders Oswaldo Payá Sardiñas, and Harold Cepero Escalante</a> that was published in June 2023 that <a href="https://rfkhumanrights.org/inter-american-commission-holds-cuba-responsible-for-the-killing-of-pro-democracy-leaders-oswaldo-pay%C3%A1-and-harold-cepero">holds the Cuban government responsible for their killings</a>.<br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: small;">Cuba is a totalitarian communist dictatorship that also successfully oversaw the dismantlement of democracies in Venezuela, Nicaragua<i>, </i>and continues to sponsor and support international terrorism through alliances with Iran, North Korea, and Syria.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: small;"><i>This is the first in a series. Stay tuned.<br /></i></span></p>John Suarezhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11333798474560217548noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1419558703918975245.post-63310473900708352922023-12-25T23:30:00.001-05:002023-12-25T23:30:24.934-05:00A Christmas Miracle: The End of the Soviet Union<p><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">"My religion is based on truth and non-violence. Truth is my God. Non-violence is the means of realising Him. "</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"> - <a href="https://cubanexilequarter.blogspot.com/2020/01/remembering-how-gandhi-lived-on-72nd.html">Mohandas Gandhi</a></span></i></span></span></p><p><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"></span></i></span></span></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBlwVhXnyt2PrkncLLXNB_TJApTk2g47-xPot70gm3TUnaz7jCEG2-CeoBCKV7cfDzE4AtlvbOzhFgqpGYIQi8ZPdK2tlrEadS1kcdjZLLbMS1NmwpfzsNcabxsScjq3evY-PVODK1c5X1eDgE5JBXX1ik0FbGsveVfdgLWbZ_ZIsG3buw5-WvtVWIW_X5/s400/russia-christmas-2008-12-25-10-33-6.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="400" data-original-width="274" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBlwVhXnyt2PrkncLLXNB_TJApTk2g47-xPot70gm3TUnaz7jCEG2-CeoBCKV7cfDzE4AtlvbOzhFgqpGYIQi8ZPdK2tlrEadS1kcdjZLLbMS1NmwpfzsNcabxsScjq3evY-PVODK1c5X1eDgE5JBXX1ik0FbGsveVfdgLWbZ_ZIsG3buw5-WvtVWIW_X5/w274-h400/russia-christmas-2008-12-25-10-33-6.jpg" width="274" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Christmas returned to the Kremlin</td></tr></tbody></table><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"> </span></i></span></span><p></p><p>Thirty two years ago, on December 25, 1991, a regime born in 1917 and formerly named in 1922 <a href="http://www.c-spanvideo.org/program/195809-1">came to an end</a>. The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR), or as it was also known, the Soviet Union, was formerly <a href="https://rt.com/news/soviet-union-collapse-analysis-635/">brought to an end</a> on Christmas day and replaced by the <a href="https://rt.com/news/ussr-collapse-agreement-331/">Commonwealth of Independent States</a>. The <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Moscow-December-25-1991-Soviet/dp/1586487965">last day of the Soviet Union</a> was on Christmas day. Let that <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/1991/12/26/world/end-of-the-soviet-union-text-of-gorbachev-s-farewell-address.html">sink in</a> for a moment.<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"> <br /></span></i></span></span></p><p>
</p><p></p><p><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/028gd8Sn3m0?si=zaMjOSOCtsVQy_ee" title="YouTube video player" width="420"></iframe></p><p>Now there are those <a href="https://www.c-span.org/video/?195809-1/fifteenth-anniversary-end-soviet-union">who claim</a> that the world is a less stable place without the Soviet Union, and <a href="http://www.thenation.com/article/165317/world-really-safer-without-soviet-union?page=0,0">Mikhail Gorbachev claims that it could have been reformed</a>. Academic Stephen F. Cohen <a href="http://www.thenation.com/article/165316/soviet-unions-afterlife">goes further and quotes </a><a href="http://www.thenation.com/article/165316/soviet-unions-afterlife">approvingly both Putin and Mikhail Khodorkovsky with the adage</a>:
"Anyone who does not regret the breakup of the Soviet Union has no
heart. And anyone who thinks it can be reconstructed has no head." <a href="https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/V%C3%A1clav_Havel">Vaclav Havel</a>,
a man who had both head and heart, understood why this kind of regime
was so profoundly inhuman: "As soon as man began considering himself the
source of the highest meaning in the world and the measure of
everything, the world began to lose its human dimension, and man began
to lose control of it."</p><p>
<iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/fFSTcRyeB_Q?si=4SYPUyev_PvLn2AJ" title="YouTube video player" width="420"></iframe></p><p>
</p><p>The optimism expressed by Gorbachev and the nostalgia of Cohen fails to
take into account the human cost of the USSR. The Soviet Union took the
lives of an estimated <a href="https://www.hawaii.edu/powerkills/COM.ART.HTM?PHPSESSID=2a47ce24761a818095b37d0dd2e2112c">61 million</a> human beings. It was a brutal and evil system <a href="https://cubanexilequarter.blogspot.com/2019/09/80-years-ago-today-soviet-union-invaded.html">that allied with Nazi Germany</a> to start WW2 in 1939, and afterwards spawned other brutal regimes around the globe that claimed over <a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0674076087/freecubafoundati">100 million lives</a>. Their lives mattered. Vaclav Havel, in his <a href="http://old.hrad.cz/president/Havel/speeches/1990/0101_uk.html">1990 New Years Speech,</a> called on his countrymen not to forget: </p><p></p><blockquote>"The rivers of blood that have flowed in Hungary, Poland, Germany and
recently in such a horrific manner in Romania, as well as the sea of
blood shed by the nations of the Soviet Union, must not be forgotten.
First of all because all human suffering concerns every other human
being. But more than this, they must also not be forgotten because it is
these great sacrifices that form the tragic background of today's
freedom or the gradual emancipation of the nations of the Soviet Bloc,
and thus the background of our own newfound freedom." </blockquote><p></p><p>The
number of lives lost is only the material accounting and does not take
into account the spiritual ruin visited upon billions and its aftermath
to the present day. The late Czech president <a> </a><a href="http://old.hrad.cz/president/Havel/speeches/1990/0101_uk.html">explained it in the very same address</a>.</p><p></p><blockquote>"The worst thing is that we live in a contaminated moral environment. We
fell morally ill because we became used to saying something different
from what we thought. We learned not to believe in anything, to ignore
one another, to care only about ourselves. Concepts such as love,
friendship, compassion, humility or forgiveness lost their depth and
dimension, and for many of us they represented only psychological
peculiarities, or they resembled gone-astray greetings from ancient
times, a little ridiculous in the era of computers and spaceships."</blockquote><p></p><p>The
destruction, both material and spiritual, generated by the Soviet Union
over seventy years will take centuries to repair and transcend. That
hard truth may not be cause for celebration, but the end of the system
that wreaked so much damage is cause for celebration, not regret. To do
otherwise is to be heartless. The fact that it happened without violence
on Christmas Day in 1991 is also cause for joy. </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgd7-53Hpm6AiOWFFsXjy_ph4jiJXhl-qFtfS-57YZIi8l9gI9giiixFWIj9rgGtqeEFEaHqC9B0CV4_ffcElVjHChpoIJhRORWWlZpwtEaW2gMlA6d3fbaHKtnjR8_xVWMi7vr19ZEFwXygRflUaoNsJdjcY62IQs5fwBORRWzidMP3Epeejb6lwd8gmtt/s400/EqCKU_SXAAA7AWH.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="268" data-original-width="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgd7-53Hpm6AiOWFFsXjy_ph4jiJXhl-qFtfS-57YZIi8l9gI9giiixFWIj9rgGtqeEFEaHqC9B0CV4_ffcElVjHChpoIJhRORWWlZpwtEaW2gMlA6d3fbaHKtnjR8_xVWMi7vr19ZEFwXygRflUaoNsJdjcY62IQs5fwBORRWzidMP3Epeejb6lwd8gmtt/s16000/EqCKU_SXAAA7AWH.jpg" /></a></div><br /><p>Sadly, Vladimir Putin <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/putin-orders-military-operations-ukraine-demands-kyiv-forces-surrender-2022-02-24/">on February 24, 2022</a> expanded his war into Ukraine in what some view as an attempt to <a href="https://www.atlanticcouncil.org/blogs/belarusalert/soviet-reunion-belarus-ukraine-and-vladimir-putins-dreams-of-empire/">resurrect the Soviet empire</a> and the rivers of blood are flowing again, and we do not know how it will end. Gorbachev <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-62732447">passed away on August 30, 2022</a> a respected figure abroad, but reviled in Russia. He was in many ways the polar opposite of Vladimir Putin.<br /></p><p>Secondly, the largest remaining communist regime, the Peoples Republic of
China, remains in power and with
the aid of smaller communist powers (<a href="https://www.cubacenter.org/archives/2022/9/23/cubabrief-zelenskyy-calls-out-cuba-in-his-un-video-address-for-trying-to-silence-him-overview-of-havanas-actions-backing-the-moscows-imperial-invasion-of-ukraine">Cuba</a>, Laos, Nicaragua, North Korea,
Venezuela, Vietnam, and their networks) is <a href="https://www.politico.eu/article/china-xi-give-most-direct-backing-putin-invasion-ukraine/">backing Putin's invasion of Ukraine</a>. The Chinese Communist Party
celebrated the 100th anniversary of its founding in 2021. It is a
tragedy that they did not go the same way as the Soviet Union in 1991.</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhf44YWl459prR7aNJ79VEQwoYXS_1rcSbobCcKaWeTCnPYLTBgow0WRqatTcNcBVu2utDNgKfbEcGzdclyIYjeVVfBG9jiogG9iYylDRIYDKwWXvKEGDBjEasOtHHSv_F2G2zvlewnNANRvDKFma7FTpMGgF9dU7wOnpW_x1lEQ7Gs0xCHv1eNwk88ATmx/s275/ukraine.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="183" data-original-width="275" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhf44YWl459prR7aNJ79VEQwoYXS_1rcSbobCcKaWeTCnPYLTBgow0WRqatTcNcBVu2utDNgKfbEcGzdclyIYjeVVfBG9jiogG9iYylDRIYDKwWXvKEGDBjEasOtHHSv_F2G2zvlewnNANRvDKFma7FTpMGgF9dU7wOnpW_x1lEQ7Gs0xCHv1eNwk88ATmx/w400-h266/ukraine.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><p></p><p>Over <a href="https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/">6.8 million people</a> have died due to a <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2021/05/25/timeline-how-wuhan-lab-leak-theory-suddenly-became-credible/">pandemic unleashed by the communist dictatorship</a> in Beijing. However, this is a small number for the Communist Chinese Party that <a href="https://cubanexilequarter.blogspot.com/2021/07/the-communist-party-in-china-turns-100.html">has killed more than ten times as many Chinese people</a> to advance communist policies in China alone. <br /></p><p>People of goodwill must continue to work for and <a href="https://cubanexilequarter.blogspot.com/2021/05/reflection-on-final-day-of-week-of.html">pray for</a>
the day that a second miracle can be celebrated with the the end of
communism in China, and a third miracle with the defeat of the Russian invaders in Ukraine. </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjE3S2mjPenZduOUfziEEcz0MBj2Sgx50hL753TxLyAbfve1mgiqhTTb7z6QYVWQbwk3cjC8n1bQoL_05TwHZtkuO-N87cxIvyUnxbr1_Y03jBTqyCmzxNCVbGVbGVzW8Y0zqbmaqTtmSqR_mEyTF-_2C-tU2RNMcLFqxO-_ySltQyyi_QwuyENgC3h3y2N/s400/saypray.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="349" data-original-width="400" height="349" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjE3S2mjPenZduOUfziEEcz0MBj2Sgx50hL753TxLyAbfve1mgiqhTTb7z6QYVWQbwk3cjC8n1bQoL_05TwHZtkuO-N87cxIvyUnxbr1_Y03jBTqyCmzxNCVbGVbGVzW8Y0zqbmaqTtmSqR_mEyTF-_2C-tU2RNMcLFqxO-_ySltQyyi_QwuyENgC3h3y2N/w400-h349/saypray.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><p></p><p></p>John Suarezhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11333798474560217548noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1419558703918975245.post-42742661500008262362023-12-24T01:57:00.001-05:002023-12-24T02:03:45.079-05:00Christmas Message from the Christian Liberation Movement <p><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: normal;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: normal;"><span style="font-size: normal;"> </span></span></span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: normal;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: normal;"><span style="font-size: normal;"><i><span style="color: black;"><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 20.7833px;">"We
have not chosen the path of peace as a tactic, but because it is
inseparable from the goal for which our people are striving." - </span></span></i></span></span></span><i><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: normal;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: normal;"><span style="font-size: normal;">Oswaldo Payá Sardiñas</span></span></span></i></p><p><i><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: normal;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: normal;"><span style="font-size: normal;"></span></span></span></i></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXZ53I-GcPs0asBPjRgj7KNOk5D1_IQYkna7ci0c4f6ByHGbzXf8lwDmtV4jSEuzT6W5knI8qfmcjDdovcRzBV0t3s5P9KooR6005dBsPwFbxHX1vn7bNZlov_nk0A_xGQ9WViT59fugZ_V8zvB2ge9wyXWx1Zp59g2U9hy0c-UCgupnve8ck5s1bWNcu9/s1024/1-Paya-Sardinas-17-12-2002_web.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="768" data-original-width="1024" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXZ53I-GcPs0asBPjRgj7KNOk5D1_IQYkna7ci0c4f6ByHGbzXf8lwDmtV4jSEuzT6W5knI8qfmcjDdovcRzBV0t3s5P9KooR6005dBsPwFbxHX1vn7bNZlov_nk0A_xGQ9WViT59fugZ_V8zvB2ge9wyXWx1Zp59g2U9hy0c-UCgupnve8ck5s1bWNcu9/w400-h300/1-Paya-Sardinas-17-12-2002_web.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Ceremony for Mr Oswaldo Payá Sardiñas, 2002 Sakharov laureate with EU's Pat Cox</span></td></tr></tbody></table><p></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: normal;"><span style="font-size: normal;">Twenty one years ago this week on December 17, 2002 in Strasbourg, France while receiving the Sakharov Prize from the European Union Oswaldo Payá Sardiñas <a href="http://cubanexilequarter.blogspot.com/2012/12/oswaldo-paya-nonviolence-and-price-of.html">explained</a> what motivated his movement's choice to embark on a nonviolent struggle:</span></span></span><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: small;"><br /></span>
</p><blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: arial; font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: normal;"><span style="font-size: normal;"><i><span style="color: black;"><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 20.7833px;">"We
have not chosen the path of peace as a tactic, but because it is
inseparable from the goal for which our people are striving. Experience
teaches us that violence begets more violence and that when political
change is brought about by such means, new forms of oppression and
injustice arise.</span></span><span style="color: black;">"</span></i></span></span></span></blockquote><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: small;">Oswaldo's full written speech <a href="http://cubanexilequarter.blogspot.com/2012/12/10-years-ago-today-oswaldo-paya.html">is available online</a>, and required reading, and video of the speech is also available online.<span><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 20.7833px;"> </span></span></span></p><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/TJx47JMd2O8?si=HFxxBlj28WsSwlyW" title="YouTube video player" width="420"></iframe><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: small;"><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 20.7833px;">He ended this speech <a href="http://cubanexilequarter.blogspot.com/2012/12/10-years-ago-today-oswaldo-paya.html">affirming</a> the Christian foundation of the movement he founded and led: the Christian Liberation Movement. </span></span></p>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: arial; font-size: small;"><span style="color: black;"><i><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 20.7833px;">"We dedicate this prize and our hopes to the Lord Jesus, born in a lowly manger.</span><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 20.7833px;"> Thank you and Merry Christmas.</span><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 20.7833px;">" </span></i></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 20.7833px;"> </span></span></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: arial; font-size: small;">Oswaldo paid the ultimate price for freedom. Let us remember and honor him by sharing the truth about the <a href="http://cubanexilequarter.blogspot.com/2012/08/communique-from-family-of-oswaldo-paya.html">circumstances surrounding his </a>murder and the murder of MCL youth leader Harold Cepero on July 22, 2012.</span><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: normal;"><span>Their murders demonstrate that Nonviolent resistance to a brutal dictatorship is not without risk, and after 64 years in power even more so. <br /></span></span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: normal;"><span>Nonviolent scholar Michael N. Nagler in his book, "<a href="http://www.amazon.com/The-Nonviolence-Handbook-Practical-Action/dp/1626561451/freecubafoundati">The Nonviolence Handbook: A Guide for Practical Action</a>" in the following passage provides a description and analysis relevant to what is taking place in Cuba, and may be useful in understanding where things stand in the struggle today:</span></span></span><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: small;">
<br /></span>
</p><blockquote class="tr_bq">
<div class="epub__indentb">
<span style="font-family: arial; font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: normal;"><span>"Conflicts escalate when they are not resolved, and if they are left
untended they can rapidly get out of control." From the nonviolence
point of view, the
intensity of a conflict is not necessarily a question of how many guns
or how many people are involved (the same metric would work for a
quarrel between lovers as between nations); it is primarily about how
far dehumanization has proceeded. If someone no longer listens to you,
is calling you names or is labeling you, it’s probably too late for
petitions. In terms of knowing how to respond, we can
conveniently think of this escalation in three stages that call for
distinct sets of responses. Let’s call these three stages Conflict
Resolution, Satyagraha (active nonviolent resistance), and—hopefully
this is rare, but it helps to know it exists—Ultimate Sacrifice.</span></span></span></div></blockquote><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: small;">The Christian Liberation Movement released the following statement that has been translated below from the original Spanish. </span><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: small;"> <br /></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: small;"><b><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDOtf-WNQe3-tBc0icdbG52BEiGnYEavYZP_PvKDvZPrf9BosuQSRCH3ps8n8JgQBuFDxmwBMGzh5psSRGy1tLkfLoKA6cuMepwiQZIRHPktfXJNfcgHI86OMDBRccTRZlMcdA9bADrONRsczx6mrhOZlzJVmtXZWiWJWkoWvGopKZokauY3qqyr2FEiH1/s1080/413926190_378638445113688_186340705400092933_n.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="738" data-original-width="1080" height="274" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDOtf-WNQe3-tBc0icdbG52BEiGnYEavYZP_PvKDvZPrf9BosuQSRCH3ps8n8JgQBuFDxmwBMGzh5psSRGy1tLkfLoKA6cuMepwiQZIRHPktfXJNfcgHI86OMDBRccTRZlMcdA9bADrONRsczx6mrhOZlzJVmtXZWiWJWkoWvGopKZokauY3qqyr2FEiH1/w400-h274/413926190_378638445113688_186340705400092933_n.jpg" width="400" /></a></b></span></div><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><b>Christmas Message from the Christian Liberation Movement<span class="jCAhz"><span class="ryNqvb"> </span></span></b></span></p><p><span class="HwtZe" lang="en" style="font-family: arial; font-size: small;"><span class="jCAhz ChMk0b"><span class="ryNqvb">We are very close to celebrating the Nativity of the Lord and we want to unite in good wishes with our people.</span></span><span class="jCAhz"><span class="ryNqvb">
</span></span><span class="jCAhz ChMk0b"><span class="ryNqvb"> </span></span></span></p><p><span class="HwtZe" lang="en" style="font-family: arial; font-size: small;"><span class="jCAhz ChMk0b"><span class="ryNqvb">Just as the people of God walked through the desert, in the midst of tribulations and in the diaspora, they never stopped looking with their hearts towards Jerusalem, so our people walk in the midst of oppression and exile, looking towards Cuba with hope in their soul.</span></span> <span class="jCAhz ChMk0b"><span class="ryNqvb">and in every thought.</span></span> <span class="jCAhz ChMk0b"><span class="ryNqvb">The hope that the faith and determination of a people who want to be free and seek happiness in their own country gives us.</span></span><span class="jCAhz"><span class="ryNqvb"> </span></span></span></p><p><span class="HwtZe" lang="en" style="font-family: arial; font-size: small;"><span class="jCAhz ChMk0b"><span class="ryNqvb">Those imprisoned for political causes have also marked the year.</span></span> <span class="jCAhz ChMk0b"><span class="ryNqvb">They have been kidnapped and with dignity they bear the full weight of repression for the freedom of our people.</span></span> <span class="jCAhz ChMk0b"><span class="ryNqvb">Their faces are also that of hope.</span></span><span class="jCAhz"><span class="ryNqvb">
</span></span><span class="jCAhz ChMk0b"><span class="ryNqvb"> </span></span></span></p><p><span class="HwtZe" lang="en" style="font-family: arial; font-size: small;"><span class="jCAhz ChMk0b"><span class="ryNqvb">The Letter to the Hebrews in chapter 13 tells us “Remember those who are in prison as if you were in prison with them.”</span></span><span class="jCAhz"><span class="ryNqvb">
</span></span><span class="jCAhz ChMk0b"><span class="ryNqvb"> </span></span></span></p><p><span class="HwtZe" lang="en" style="font-family: arial; font-size: small;"><span class="jCAhz ChMk0b"><span class="ryNqvb">Extreme poverty rates are increasing and the difficulties of putting bread on the table has become a true miracle.</span></span> <span class="jCAhz ChMk0b"><span class="ryNqvb">While the caste that has kidnapped the rights of Cubans lives in the midst of luxuries and privileges, segregating citizens.</span></span><span class="jCAhz"><span class="ryNqvb"> </span></span></span></p><p><span class="HwtZe" lang="en" style="font-family: arial; font-size: small;"><span class="jCAhz ChMk0b"><span class="ryNqvb">But injustice will not prevail because our hope comes from above, it comes on Christmas from Jesus Christ, a defenseless child cold in the middle of the night in his poor manger.</span></span><span class="jCAhz"><span class="ryNqvb"> </span></span></span></p><p><span class="HwtZe" lang="en" style="font-family: arial; font-size: small;"><span class="jCAhz ChMk0b"><span class="ryNqvb">That next year we can all meet in our homeland, our fraternal Cuban National Home so that our lives can be reborn in freedom, the spiritual life of the Cuban soul and we can find happiness in the land that God gave us and the Virgin of Charity, Mother of</span></span> <span class="jCAhz ChMk0b"><span class="ryNqvb">all Cubans bless.</span></span></span></p><p><span class="HwtZe" lang="en" style="font-family: arial; font-size: small;"><span class="jCAhz ChMk0b"><span class="ryNqvb">Let us celebrate this birth with joy and hope, so that God continues with us on this long journey.</span></span><span class="jCAhz"><span class="ryNqvb">
</span></span><span class="jCAhz ChMk0b"><span class="ryNqvb"> </span></span></span></p><p><span class="HwtZe" lang="en" style="font-family: arial; font-size: small;"><span class="jCAhz ChMk0b"><span class="ryNqvb">Let us return our hearts to God, because the freedom of Cuba will necessarily pass through faith and values.</span></span><span class="jCAhz"><span class="ryNqvb"> </span></span></span></p><p><span class="HwtZe" lang="en" style="font-family: arial; font-size: small;"><span class="jCAhz ChMk0b"><span class="ryNqvb">Merry Christmas!</span></span> <span class="jCAhz ChMk0b"><span class="ryNqvb">God bless our beloved Cuba!</span></span><span class="jCAhz"><span class="ryNqvb"> </span></span></span></p><p><span class="HwtZe" lang="en" style="font-family: arial; font-size: small;"><span class="jCAhz"><span class="ryNqvb"> </span></span><span class="jCAhz ChMk0b"><span class="ryNqvb">All Cubans, All Brothers and Now Freedom!</span></span><span class="jCAhz"><span class="ryNqvb">
</span></span> </span></p><p><span class="HwtZe" lang="en" style="font-family: arial; font-size: small;"><span class="jCAhz ChMk0b"><span class="ryNqvb">Christian Liberation Movement</span></span><span class="jCAhz"><span class="ryNqvb"> </span></span></span></p><p><span class="HwtZe" lang="en" style="font-family: arial; font-size: small;"><i><span class="jCAhz"><span class="ryNqvb"> </span></span><span class="jCAhz ChMk0b"><span class="ryNqvb">December 24, 2023</span></span></i></span><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: small;"> <br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: small;"> <br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><b>Mensaje de Navidad del Movimiento Cristiano Liberación </b></span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: small;">Estamos muy cerca de celebrar la Natividad del Señor y queremos unirnos en buenos deseos con nuestro pueblo.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: small;">Así como el pueblo de Dios caminó por el desierto, en medio
tribulaciones y en la diáspora nunca dejo de mirar con el corazón hacia
Jerusalén, así camina nuestro pueblo en medio de la opresión y el
exilio mirando mira hacia Cuba con la esperanza en él alma y en cada
pensamiento. La esperanza que nos da la fe y la determinación de un
pueblo que quiere ser libre y buscar la felicidad en su propia patria.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: small;">Los presos por causas políticas han marcado también el año. Han sido
secuestrados y con dignidad asumen todo el peso de la represión por la
libertad de nuestro pueblo. Sus rostros son también el de la esperanza. </span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: small;">La Carta a los Hebreos en su capítulo 13 nos dice “ acuérdense de los presos como si también ustedes lo estuvieran”</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: small;">Los índices de pobreza extrema aumentan y las dificultades para
llevar el pan a la mesa se ha convertido en un verdadero milagro.
Mientras la casta que ha secuestrado los derechos a los cubanos vive en
medio de los lujos y privilegios segregando a los ciudadanos. </span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: small;">Pero la injusticia no prevalecerá porque nuestra esperanza viene de
lo alto, viene en Navidad de Jesucristo, un niño indefenso con frío en
medio de la noche en su pobre pesebre. </span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: small;">Que el próximo año nos podamos encontrar todos en nuestra patria,
nuestro Hogar Nacional Cubano fraterno para que renazcan nuestras vidas
en libertad, la vida espiritual del alma cubana y encontremos la
felicidad en la tierra que Dios nos entregó y la Virgen de la Caridad
Madre de todos los cubanos bendice. </span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: small;">Celebremos este nacimiento con alegría y esperanza, para que Dios continúe junto a nosotros en este largo caminar.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: small;">Volvamos nuestros corazones a Dios, porque la libertad de Cuba pasará necesariamente por la fe y los valores. </span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: small;">¡Feliz Navidad! Dios bendiga a nuestra amada Cuba!</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: small;">Todos Cubanos, Todos Hermanos y Ahora la Libertad!</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: small;"> Movimiento Cristiano Liberación</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: small;">24 de diciembre 2023</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: small;"><b>Fuente: </b><a href="https://mcliberacion.org/2023/12/mensaje-de-navidad-2023-movimiento-cristiano-liberacion/">https://mcliberacion.org/2023/12/mensaje-de-navidad-2023-movimiento-cristiano-liberacion/</a></span><b> </b><br /></p>John Suarezhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11333798474560217548noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1419558703918975245.post-51846028727254649612023-12-18T13:08:00.002-05:002023-12-18T13:10:01.443-05:00Remembering Václav Havel, Oswaldo Payá Sardiñas and nonviolent action <p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: small;"> <span><span><i>"A single idea, if it is right, saves us the labor of an infinity of experiences." - <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=ZChgnQEACAAJ&dq=%22A+single+idea,+if+it+is+right,+saves+us+the+labor+of+an+infinity+of+experiences.%22+-+Jacques+Maritain&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwj5iIHbo73PAhUBpB4KHQ0gCikQ6AEIUjAK">Jacques Maritain</a></i></span></span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: small;"><span><span><i></i></span></span></span></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXoTI6RXALs3WO6Vd4y152OlJUrBa6Thxe9Igns1K7ACwCbSx6VP4Y30yhJiXbHqLCH3GBTbLiZk7rl01vU928VqIV65m-etEDEb-6LsgCL2MJcOJlEakmaRFWgxhaC0GeYWEzL27W-uAgHvvD9oJoiBFWIm-4rVCesGisMX7I9tqxwlsE1rRgdrkBL_Yo/s400/paya_havel.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="291" data-original-width="400" height="291" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXoTI6RXALs3WO6Vd4y152OlJUrBa6Thxe9Igns1K7ACwCbSx6VP4Y30yhJiXbHqLCH3GBTbLiZk7rl01vU928VqIV65m-etEDEb-6LsgCL2MJcOJlEakmaRFWgxhaC0GeYWEzL27W-uAgHvvD9oJoiBFWIm-4rVCesGisMX7I9tqxwlsE1rRgdrkBL_Yo/w400-h291/paya_havel.jpg" width="400" /></a></span></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;">Oswaldo Payá Sardiñas <a href="http://cubanexilequarter.blogspot.com/2016/12/an-unfinished-dialogue-between-oswaldo.html">and</a> President Václav Havel in Prague (2002)</span></td></tr></tbody></table><p></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: small;"><span>Twenty<span> one years ago on December 17, 2002 </span><span><span><a href="http://cubanexilequarter.blogspot.com/2009/12/oswaldo-payas-december-17-2002-speech.html">Oswaldo Paya</a>
addressed the European Parliament in Strasbourg at a ceremony awarding
him the the Sakharov Prize where he outlined his nonviolent vision for
change in Cuba.</span></span><br /></span></span>
</p><blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: times; font-size: small;"><span><span>The first victory we can claim is that our hearts are free of hatred.
Hence we say to those who persecute us and who try to dominate us: ‘You
are my brother. I do not hate you, but you are not going to dominate me
by fear. I do not wish to impose my truth, nor do I wish you to impose
yours on me. We are going to seek the truth together.’ </span></span></span></blockquote><span style="font-family: times; font-size: small;"><span>
<span> Václav
Havel passed away twelve years ago today, on December 18, 2011, and his nonviolent
resistance and dedication to truth in successfully resisting
totalitarian rule in Czechoslovakia remain powerful legacies and
examples that are relevant today. In 2002, President Vaclav Havel <a href="http://cubanexilequarter.blogspot.com/2014/12/vaclav-havels-advice-to-president-obama.html">addressed the Cuban people</a> and offered words that <a href="http://cubanexilequarter.blogspot.com/2014/12/vaclav-havels-advice-to-president-obama.html">should be heeded now</a>:
</span>
<br />
</span></span><blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: times; font-size: small;"><span><span>
"Our world, as a whole, is not in the best of shape and the direction it
is headed in may well be quite ambivalent. But this does not mean that
we are permitted to give up on free and cultivated thinking and to
replace it with a set of utopian clichés. That would not make the world a
better place, it would only make it worse. On the contrary, it means
that we must do more for our own freedom, and that of others."</span></span></span></blockquote><span style="font-family: times; font-size: small;"><span>
<span>Nonviolence <a href="http://freecubafoundation.blogspot.com/2014/12/to-united-states-government-and-castro.html">requires recognizing these extreme injustices </a>and the justifiable <a href="http://www.emotionalcompetency.com/anger.htm">anger</a>
that it generates but at the same time channeling it into creative and
productive means to end the injustices. Some would argue that one must
remove their anger, as one takes off a back pack, but that is profoundly
mistaken. Martin Luther King Jr. <a href="http://www.inc.com/hitendra-wadhwa/great-leadership-how-martin-luther-king-jr-wrestled-with-anger.html">offered a different approach</a> that has proven far more powerful: </span>
<br />
</span></span><blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: times; font-size: small;"><span><span>"The supreme task [of a leader] is to organize and unite people so that their <a href="http://www.emotionalcompetency.com/anger.htm">anger</a> becomes a transforming force." </span></span></span></blockquote><p>
<span style="font-family: times; font-size: small;"><span><span>Mohandas Gandhi spoke in 1920 <a href="http://cubanexilequarter.blogspot.com/2012/01/season-for-nonviolence-january-30-april.html">of learning</a> "through bitter experience the one supreme lesson to
conserve my anger, and as heat conserved is transmuted into energy, even
so our <a href="http://www.emotionalcompetency.com/anger.htm">anger</a> controlled can be transmuted into a power that can move
the world."
<br /> </span><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: times; font-size: small;"><span><span>This is not <a href="http://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG0015/_P81.HTM">hating</a> but harnessing a powerful spiritual energy and <a href="http://freecubafoundation.blogspot.com/2014/12/to-united-states-government-and-castro.html">channeling it productively</a>.
Blowing up and screaming at someone is a waste of that energy that can
be channeled into creative solutions to end the injustice.</span><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: times; font-size: small;"><span><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: times; font-size: small;"><span><span>Nonviolence theoretician Gene Sharp also <a href="http://cubanexilequarter.blogspot.com/2015/05/non-violent-resistance-razors-edge-to.html">recognizes</a> that there is a <a href="http://www.aeinstein.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/TARA.pdf">moral dimension</a>
that cannot be ignored without dire consequences (as the recent drive
to normalize relations with the Castro regime in Cuba demonstrated): "It
is unreasonable to aim for a 'win- win' resolution. Brutal dictators
and perpetrators of genocide do not deserve to win anything."</span></span></span></p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p dir="ltr" lang="und"><span style="font-size: small;">Václav Havel | October 5, 1936 - December 18, 2011. We will always remember. <a href="https://t.co/V4x8xICrAZ">pic.twitter.com/V4x8xICrAZ</a></span></p><span style="font-size: small;">— Forum 2000 (@Forum_2000) <a href="https://twitter.com/Forum_2000/status/1736638284128776609?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 18, 2023</a></span></blockquote> <span style="font-size: small;"><script async="" charset="utf-8" src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script></span> <p><span style="font-size: small;"><span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span>Nonviolent
thought can be divided into two general categories: strategic
nonviolence and principled nonviolence but although emphasizing
different perspectives they need not be in conflict. </span></span>
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span><br /></span></span></span></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span>Strategic nonviolence takes a pragmatic approach that is based on being more effective then violence. </span></span></span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: small;"><span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span>Non-violent resistance is <a href="http://cubanexilequarter.blogspot.com/2013/06/non-violent-resistance-different-kind.html">an armed struggle</a> but its weapons are not deployed to do violence or kill<i>. </i>These arms are psychological, social, economic and political weapons. <a href="http://www.aeinstein.org/self-liberation/">Gene Sharp</a> <a href="http://cubanexilequarter.blogspot.com/2013/06/non-violent-resistance-different-kind.html">argues with much evidence</a>
"that this is ultimately more powerful against oppression, injustice
and tyranny then violence. Historical studies are cited that demonstrate
the higher success rates
of nonviolent movements when compared against violent ones:</span></span>
<br /></span></span>
</p><blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span>University Academics Maria J. Stephan and Erica Chenoweth in their 2008 study <a href="http://belfercenter.ksg.harvard.edu/publication/18407/why_civil_resistance_works.html">"Why Civil Resistance Works: The Strategic Logic on Nonviolent Conflict"</a>
compared the outcomes of 323 nonviolent and violent resistance
campaigns from 1900 to 2006. They found that major nonviolent campaigns
have achieved success 53 percent of the time, compared with just under
half that at 26 percent for violent resistance campaigns. Finally there
study also suggests “that nonviolent campaigns are more likely than
violent campaigns to succeed in the face of brutal repression.” </span></span></span></span></blockquote><span style="font-size: small;"><span>
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span>
Principled nonviolence looks at the spiritual dimension, and the power
of an individual to change and in doing so impact the world. Mohandas
Gandhi described it as follows on September 8, 1913 in <u>Indian Opinion</u>:</span></span><br />
</span></span><blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span>"We but mirror the world. All the tendencies present in the outer world
are to be found in the world of our body. If we could change ourselves,
the tendencies in the world would also change. As a man changes his own
nature, so does the attitude of the world change towards him. This is
the divine mystery supreme. A wonderful thing it is and the source of
our happiness. We need not wait to see what others do." </span></span></span></span></blockquote><span style="font-size: small;"><span>
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span>
The advantage of principled non-violence and taking it up as a daily
practice in ones life is that it gives one the strength to resist
provocations and builds up the character of the practitioner that assists in carrying out a strategic nonviolent plan.</span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span>Critics
of nonviolence often argue that nonviolence works well against
democracies but not brutal regimes, often citing the Nazis. Nevertheless in 1943 in Germany on <a href="http://cubanexilequarter.blogspot.com/2014/09/berlin-rosenstrasse-and-wall.html">Rosenstrasse</a>
street German wives married to Jewish men, who had been taken to
concentration camps, organized a series of strikes and protests that
forced the Nazis to return their Jewish husbands back from the death camps.
Those men survived the Holocaust thanks to their wives courageous and
nonviolent action. </span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span>The disturbing questions that should arise are: What would have
happened if instead of the violent <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antifaschistische_Aktion#Germany">Antifa</a> movement, that fought the Nazis in street battles throughout the 1930s that escalated violence, opponents of the Nazis had <a href="http://cubanexilequarter.blogspot.com/2011/03/in-defense-of-mohandas-gandhi-and.html">followed Gandhi's advice</a>
at the time and resisted them nonviolently? What would have happened if
the Weimar Republic instead of attempting to silence the Nazis by
repeatedly prosecuting them for violating hate speech laws had
challenged their evil ideas in the court of public opinion?</span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span>Since the founding of the <a href="http://cubanexilequarter.blogspot.com/2014/08/remembering-gustavo-arcos-eight-years.html">Cuban Committee for Human Rights</a>
in 1976 there has existed in overall terms a general strategy of change
that can be summed up as: " Carrying out a nonviolent struggle in
defense of human rights for the freedom of Cuba."<br />
<br />
Looking at another definition of strategy that divides it into three
parts gives a better idea of the challenges facing the democratic
opposition in Cuba:</span></span><br />
</span></span><blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span>
1. Diagnostic: A totalitarian dictatorship with dynastic elements with the political will to hang on to power.<br />
2. Guiding policy: nonviolence<br />
3. Action plan: There exist different areas of emphasis by the
opposition and civil society that is also somethin</span></span><span style="font-family: times;"><span>g found in nonviolent
struggles.</span></span></span></span></blockquote><span style="font-family: times; font-size: small;"><span>
<span><span>Strategic nonviolence takes a pragmatic approach that is based on being more effective then violence: </span></span><br />
</span></span><blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: times; font-size: small;"><span><span><span>Non-violent resistance is <a href="http://cubanexilequarter.blogspot.com/2013/06/non-violent-resistance-different-kind.html">an armed struggle</a> but its weapons are not deployed to do violence or kill<i>. </i>These arms are psychological, social, economic and political weapons. <a href="http://www.aeinstein.org/self-liberation/">Gene Sharp</a> <a href="http://cubanexilequarter.blogspot.com/2013/06/non-violent-resistance-different-kind.html">argues with much evidence</a> "that this is ultimately more powerful against oppression, injustice and tyranny then violence." </span></span></span></span> </blockquote><span style="font-family: times; font-size: small;"><span>
<span><span>
</span></span></span><span><span><span>The
reason for the greater success rate of nonviolent resistance is that it
is easier to mobilize large numbers of people to take nonviolent action
than to engage in violent action. Success is not only defined by
overthrowing the existing regime, but having a transition that ends in a
democratic regime. The methods used in nonviolent struggle translate
better to democratic practices then violent resistance because they
involve nonviolent discipline, the mobilization of large numbers and the
encouragement of civic virtue. </span></span></span></span><blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-media-max-width="560"><p dir="ltr" lang="en"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: small;">Vaclav Havel talks about the Communist regime in Cuba and the position he is in to promote free thinking and other freedoms that Cubans are deprived of in their own country. ( Recorded 2007) <a href="https://t.co/EuwaqttG7E">https://t.co/EuwaqttG7E</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Cuba?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Cuba</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/CzechRepublic?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#CzechRepublic</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Havel?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Havel</a></span></p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: small;">— Center for a Free Cuba (@cubacenter) <a href="https://twitter.com/cubacenter/status/1736635481490690546?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 18, 2023</a></span></blockquote> <span style="font-family: times; font-size: small;"><script async="" charset="utf-8" src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script></span> <p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: small;"><span><span>Furthermore the use of humor is not to be underestimated. </span><span>Václav Havel in an address to the Central European University on <a href="http://old.hrad.cz/president/Havel/speeches/1999/2406_uk.html">June 24, 1999</a> at a difficult moment on the international scene made the case for laughter.</span><br /></span></span>
</p><blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: times; font-size: small;"><span><span>"The only thing I can recommend at this stage is a sense of humor, an
ability to see things in their ridiculous and absurd dimensions, to
laugh at others and at ourselves, a sense of irony regarding everything
that calls out for parody in this world."</span></span></span></blockquote><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: small;"><span>
Following his death in 2011, every year on the anniversary of his passing admirers of <span>Václav Havel the world over wear <a href="https://twitter.com/PragueMorning/status/1604105380778283008">short trousers</a> in his memory. </span></span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: small;"><span><span></span></span></span></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiE-jHI1zFIk1xMUOCBNZMJS55wBQb70YUqPMCRsfXeGJrR0oV6u1BXdRrMiBIMXhQBI8I0ruYRp_hI9lfDTvKLAt3-91AlbLl_4Gif8sBV5pvSrmYPttTjtz6CNxSA3jrSLIhyXttFCG1RP6m0mauWVLJeADPRblrEtfnxGGsV_cBpI5bmjTkzEOjZtJw8/s1447/fb-event-2015-kalhoty.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="535" data-original-width="1447" height="148" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiE-jHI1zFIk1xMUOCBNZMJS55wBQb70YUqPMCRsfXeGJrR0oV6u1BXdRrMiBIMXhQBI8I0ruYRp_hI9lfDTvKLAt3-91AlbLl_4Gif8sBV5pvSrmYPttTjtz6CNxSA3jrSLIhyXttFCG1RP6m0mauWVLJeADPRblrEtfnxGGsV_cBpI5bmjTkzEOjZtJw8/w400-h148/fb-event-2015-kalhoty.png" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">On <a href="https://cubanexilequarter.blogspot.com/2015/12/on-december-18-wear-short-trousers-for.html">December 18th</a> roll up your trousers to honor Vaclav Havel</td></tr></tbody></table><p></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: small;"><span><span>Organizers <a href="http://cubanexilequarter.blogspot.com/2015/12/on-december-18-wear-short-trousers-for.html">explained its historic significance</a> along with its particular Czech sensibility.</span><br />
</span></span></p><blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: times; font-size: small;"><span><span>
The “Short Trousers for Václav Havel” initiative started in 2012 to
honor the memory of Václav Havel with a gesture that was unique,
memorable and easily achieved by supporters of this exceptional person
in modern Czech and European history. Short Trousers is a reference to
Havel stepping into political life in 1989 and his inauguration to the
presidency in visibly short trousers. He explained vainly that rather
than a tailor’s mistake it was his habit to pull his pants up at every
dramatic situation. To this, one might say global mythology of his short
trousers, he added with a smile: "I must say that I am glad of it, more
or less. From my point of view it’s a pretty gentle way of mocking
myself." An effort to honor such a respectable person by a gesture that
points to this humorous episode might appear, at first sight, as a
contradictory act. But the opposite is true. We believe that rolled up
trousers on the anniversary of the death of Václav Havel is a gesture
which is Czech, slightly satirical and which can be easily joined by
anyone who wants to honor the memory of the last Czechoslovak and the
first Czech president Havel in a cheerful way.</span></span></span></blockquote><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: small;"><span>
This method of spontaneous remembrance contrasts dramatically with how dictators <a href="http://cubanexilequarter.blogspot.com/2017/11/refusing-to-mourn-fidel-castros-death.html">forcibly demand that they be remembered on penalty of imprisonment</a> for dissenting as has been the case following the <a href="http://cubanexilequarter.blogspot.com/2017/11/refusing-to-mourn-fidel-castros-death.html">2016 death of Fidel Castro</a>. </span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: small;"><span> </span></span></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLbULukiNN1-1r1WAlRafOGGHZ5ilzQqAKKOcNwDJD0lvdQzAJCZV-ZZ5xmIDeiUP42kBPJ1tJJYzgCO1TLz5kmRohBajZb-OIat4l6tooidO1NcwNo7DH9iB24VnEEOZTuJ1fnBrHY3E45I5SuK0Meh7bofVpOIvBReu6Rr-QwQDWo5MlcIhX1jTo9V2r/s979/CWkP-QTVAAAQCM4.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="595" data-original-width="979" height="243" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLbULukiNN1-1r1WAlRafOGGHZ5ilzQqAKKOcNwDJD0lvdQzAJCZV-ZZ5xmIDeiUP42kBPJ1tJJYzgCO1TLz5kmRohBajZb-OIat4l6tooidO1NcwNo7DH9iB24VnEEOZTuJ1fnBrHY3E45I5SuK0Meh7bofVpOIvBReu6Rr-QwQDWo5MlcIhX1jTo9V2r/w400-h243/CWkP-QTVAAAQCM4.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="css-1qaijid r-bcqeeo r-qvutc0 r-poiln3" style="text-overflow: unset;">Marking </span><span style="font-family: times; font-size: small;"><span><span class="css-1qaijid r-bcqeeo r-qvutc0 r-poiln3" style="text-overflow: unset;">Vaclav Havel's </span></span></span><span class="css-1qaijid r-bcqeeo r-qvutc0 r-poiln3" style="text-overflow: unset;">12th death anniversary wearing short trousers. </span></td></tr></tbody></table><span style="font-family: times; font-size: small;"><span><br /></span></span><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p>John Suarezhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11333798474560217548noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1419558703918975245.post-34847465273310791362023-12-17T18:41:00.004-05:002023-12-17T21:26:11.467-05:00Obama's Cuba Policy Legacy: Normalizing relations with an Abnormal Regime <p> A shameful legacy<br /></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnT4p9LPnyR6VWO7MyllW98hOvXrxsTKMM1XHjC9nWPmLvrt1lGhYmGtK3i8oFRfZhz18-Ju1bB_qKQGKFJKyvNCnjygQXVO-Anp90D56zHH7U1J3lHqNuoqoIlN6OE8dEGQBug8cUJZZQc5Gzexr3nzmQRi0UQYqbkrhePwdgj_Q72ASmpPX_tknIGSac/s885/bosomobodies.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="323" data-original-width="885" height="146" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnT4p9LPnyR6VWO7MyllW98hOvXrxsTKMM1XHjC9nWPmLvrt1lGhYmGtK3i8oFRfZhz18-Ju1bB_qKQGKFJKyvNCnjygQXVO-Anp90D56zHH7U1J3lHqNuoqoIlN6OE8dEGQBug8cUJZZQc5Gzexr3nzmQRi0UQYqbkrhePwdgj_Q72ASmpPX_tknIGSac/w400-h146/bosomobodies.png" width="400" /></a></div><p><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"><b>Why December 17, 2014 Cuba policy changes failed, and shouldn't be repeated</b></span></p><div class="sqs-html-content" id="yui_3_17_2_1_1702852763128_271">
<p id="yui_3_17_2_1_1702852763128_291" style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><a href="https://www.cubacenter.org/archives/2023/12/17/cubabrief-why-december-17-2014-cuba-policy-changes-failed-and-shouldnt-be-repeated">From CubaBrief </a></p><p id="yui_3_17_2_1_1702852763128_291" style="white-space: pre-wrap;">President Barack Obama's rapprochement with Cuba began in 2009 with the unilateral loosening of sanctions, <a href="https://www.cubacenter.org/archives/2021/4/7/cubabrief-appeasing-cubas-regime-didnt-work-over-42-years-and-the-dangers-of-underestimating-the-castro-regime" target="_blank">it followed the same failed pattern of other Administrations</a>, <a href="http://cubanexilequarter.blogspot.com/2021/03/legacy-of-president-obamas-2016-state.html" target="_blank">opposition leaders killed</a>, <a href="http://cubanexilequarter.blogspot.com/2021/03/legacy-of-president-obamas-2016-state.html" target="_blank">increased repression</a>, and <a href="https://www.cubacenter.org/archives/2020/7/10/cubabrief-us-cuba-relations-are-a-mess-because-obama-ignored-the-pitfalls-of-reopening-and-normalization-of-relations-with-us-is-not-havanas-top-priority" target="_blank">hostile actions against U.S. interests abroad</a>. This did not prompt a change in policy, but a doubling down. It did not help that secret negotiations on Washington's side <a href="https://www.cubacenter.org/articles-and-events/2016/5/9/ben-rhodes-and-cuba" target="_blank">were led by Deputy National Security Adviser Ben Rhodes</a>, who is a former fiction writer with no foreign policy experience. Senior U.S. diplomats at the State Department <a href="https://www.cubacenter.org/articles-and-events/2016/5/9/ben-rhodes-and-cuba" target="_blank">were kept in the dark</a>. His counterpart on Havana's side was Raul Castro's son, Fidel's protege and senior Ministry of the Interior official, Colonel Alejandro Castro <span><span>Espín</span></span>. His colleagues in the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/08/magazine/the-aspiring-novelist-who-became-obamas-foreign-policy-guru.html" target="_blank"><i>New York Times</i> profile</a> describe the Deputy National Security Adviser as "<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/08/magazine/the-aspiring-novelist-who-became-obamas-foreign-policy-guru.html" target="_blank">having no poker face</a>", leading the negotiations versus some of the most seasoned and manipulative intelligence officials in the world. </p><p id="yui_3_17_2_1_1702852763128_291" style="white-space: pre-wrap;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSkI1mjb_HYjkatjp4_5rAlOC85qGximjt6aCBFIh126qoevw1i7hIZ9FfEILfOMQQKlNVtw2BnxuahEf63w9vxmRfxzw1bP0NzwMPH5wCDXDRf96K2PBAPrOPKUO4KOPNEzTKeJLQvIxu4EPuqD_5LIHUh2QtAXw1oPe026gKXBOCyaXM-4MthGLINEr1/s1111/benrhodeslehy.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="879" data-original-width="1111" height="253" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSkI1mjb_HYjkatjp4_5rAlOC85qGximjt6aCBFIh126qoevw1i7hIZ9FfEILfOMQQKlNVtw2BnxuahEf63w9vxmRfxzw1bP0NzwMPH5wCDXDRf96K2PBAPrOPKUO4KOPNEzTKeJLQvIxu4EPuqD_5LIHUh2QtAXw1oPe026gKXBOCyaXM-4MthGLINEr1/s320/benrhodeslehy.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><i><br /> Ben Rhodes with Rodolfo Dávalos León, a Cuban oligarch <a href="https://www.nbcmiami.com/news/local/son-of-top-cuban-advisor-living-in-miami-speaks-after-tweets-spark-controversy/2499092/">living in South Florida</a>. When protests erupted in Cuba in July 2021, Mr. Dávalos León <a href="https://www.nbcmiami.com/news/local/son-of-top-cuban-advisor-living-in-miami-speaks-after-tweets-spark-controversy/2499092/">tweeted</a>: "If the revolution falls you will find me in Cuba, with my father, knee on ground, rifle in hand, defending the work of Fidel. Long live Cuba, long live Raul, & long live Fidel!" </i><p></p><p id="yui_3_17_2_1_1702852763128_291" style="white-space: pre-wrap;">Nine years ago, on December 17, 2014, this thaw was elevated and formalized when <a href="https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/photos-and-video/video/2014/12/17/president-obama-delivers-statement-cuba" target="_blank">President Barack Obama</a>, and Cuban dictator <a href="https://www.c-span.org/video/?323392-1/cuban-president-ral-castro-speech" target="_blank">Raul Castro</a> announced the intent to normalize diplomatic relations. <a href="https://www.justice.gov/d9/pages/attachments/2017/08/30/commutation_grants_-_december_15_2014.pdf" target="_blank">Obama freed three Cuban spies</a> the same day, including Gerardo Hernandez, who was serving two life sentences, one of which was <a href="https://www.politico.com/blogs/under-the-radar/2014/12/price-of-us-cuba-deal-releasing-a-murderer-200102" target="_blank">for conspiracy to murder four members of the Brothers to the Rescue</a> in return for aid worker Alan Gross, <a href="https://www.bcheights.com/2016/02/03/surviving-five-years-in-cuban-prison-alan-gross-talks-about-his-time-doing-time/" target="_blank">who had been abducted by Havana in 2009</a>, and an unidentified Cuban intelligence agent. This was a great propaganda victory for the Castro regime.</p><p style="white-space: pre-wrap;">Following Obama’s announcement the Cuban military <a href="https://apnews.com/general-news-1a473ab397bb4868a4c1c4fae7f4a816">expanded its control over the national economy during the 2014-2017 detente</a>. </p><p style="white-space: pre-wrap;">This was followed by an exodus of over 120,000 Cubans through Central America <a href="https://www.cubacenter.org/archives/2022/8/18/lty3xpf0cqebnux20fmtent07rgbrg" target="_blank">who entered the United States between 2014-2016</a>, regine influence expanded with their client state Nicaragua <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/the_americas/from-rebel-to-strongman-how-daniel-ortega-became-the-thing-he-fought-against/2018/08/24/117d000a-97fe-11e8-818b-e9b7348cd87d_story.html" target="_blank">becoming a full blown dictatorship under Daniel Ortega</a>, and <a href="https://www.cubacenter.org/articles-and-events/2016/2/3/obama-administration-turns-a-blind-eye-to-cubas-transgressions" target="_blank">more</a> <a href="https://www.cubacenter.org/articles-and-events/2016/2/3/obama-administration-turns-a-blind-eye-to-cubas-transgressions" target="_blank">hostile actions</a>. In the midst of this on <a href="http://cubanexilequarter.blogspot.com/2021/03/legacy-of-president-obamas-2016-state.html" target="_blank">March 20, 2016</a> President Obama, with his family, <a href="https://www.cubacenter.org/articles-and-events/2016/4/4/obamas-cuban-disgrace?rq=Obama%20" target="_blank">arrived in Cuba for a state visit</a>. On August 22, 2016 the Foreign Minister of the Islamic Republic of Iran Mohammad Javad Zarif visited Cuba, and <a href="https://www.cubacenter.org/articles-and-events/2016/8/23/obamas-cuba-policy-opens-doors-for-iran" target="_blank">said Iran wants to forge a “new path” in its relations with Cuba by tightening ties</a>. Russia’s Deputy Defense Minister Nikolay Pankov <a href="https://www.cubacenter.org/articles-and-events/2016/10/7/russia-threatens-to-reopen-military-base-in-cuba" target="_blank">said on October 7, 2016</a> that Moscow was considering plans to return to Cuba where it had a military base in the past. </p><p style="white-space: pre-wrap;">Calder Walton, of the Harvard Kennedy School, in his article "A US ambassador working for Cuba? Charges against former diplomat Victor Manuel Rocha spotlight Havana's importance in the world of spying" published in <span style="text-decoration: underline;">The Conversation</span> on December 15, 2023 reviews the Russian and Chinese presence in Cuba.</p><blockquote><p style="white-space: pre-wrap;">"Putin’s government reopened a <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jul/16/russia-reopening-spy-base-cuba-us-relations-sour" target="_blank">massive old Soviet signals intelligence facility in Cuba</a>, <a href="https://www.cia.gov/readingroom/document/cia-rdp80t01782r000100710001-8" target="_blank">near Havana</a>. This facility had been the Soviet Union's largest foreign signals intelligence station in the world, with aerials and antennae pointed at Florida shores just 100 miles away. Soviet records reveal that Moscow <a href="https://www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/christopher-andrew/the-sword-and-the-shield/9780465010035/?lens=basic-books" target="_blank">obtained valuable information from U.S. military bases in Florida</a>. Russia may well still be trying to try to eavesdrop on U.S. targets today from Cuba, although the U.S. government is doubtless alert to such efforts and is likely undertaking countermeasures. Cuban intelligence today is also collaborating with China, which reportedly plans to open <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/cuba-to-host-secret-chinese-spy-base-focusing-on-u-s-b2fed0e0" target="_blank">its own eavesdropping station in Cuba</a>. Beijing has significant influence over Cuba as its largest creditor and, following in Soviet footsteps, views the island as a valuable intelligence collection base and a “bridgehead” — the KGB’s old code name for Cuba — for influence in Latin America."</p></blockquote><p style="white-space: pre-wrap;">Beginning in November 2016, U.S. and Canadian diplomats stationed in Havana <a href="https://www.cubacenter.org/archives/2022/2/22/cubabrief-sixty-minutes-on-havana-syndrome-targeting-americans-the-youngest-victims-of-havana-syndrome-how-american-airlines-caved-to-the-castro-regime" target="_blank">began suffering brain injuries</a>, and on January 2, 2017, Raúl Castro presided over a military parade in which <a href="https://www.charlotteobserver.com/opinion/article124948269.html" target="_blank">Cuban soldiers chanted</a>: “Obama! Obama! With what fervor we’d like to confront your clumsiness, give you a cleansing with rebels and mortar, and make you a hat out of bullets to the head.”</p><p style="white-space: pre-wrap;">This was a failed policy that did not understand what motivates Havana. The Communist regime in Cuba is anti-American and over the past 64 years it has sought to end the post-1945 U.S. led world order by seeking out alliances with regimes hostile to the United States, and <a href="https://news.yahoo.com/courting-u-enemies-hemisphere-dictators-190956561.html">coordinating efforts to undermine it</a>. This is the <a href="https://kenoshanews.com/opinion/column/commentary-by-arthur-i-cyr-cuba-spying-in-strategic-context/article_81e8cfe6-9aa9-11ee-bff9-b3ab2f705c38.html">strategic context</a> that too many have ignored.</p>
</div><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/umWc411SFp0?si=gd8H3er3TSObhrd1" title="YouTube video player" width="420"></iframe><p>Proponents of constructive engagement with the Cuban dictatorship are
asking policy makers to do three things: disregard the past, dismiss
current actions by Havana, and get ready for their own country's
taxpayers to foot the tab.</p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsMiFIAEzccvuBVTEmacvWPr7J7SV01uzWeim58BDXvfwybvNIeImvs9X-tp6SOUfYxUbu5tc4QarRY4ZdThgjSnoU6oJ3YaecrGvpB1NIt770U-EW3XsuDuZ_aEaq9KHDn2io2oNHBC2yBTRY9oSWbPTobd9vxifepH7Bpap3VYjTfGb3kbFOamJWsPiW/s846/Screen+Shot+2021-04-07+at+10.16.15+AM.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="482" data-original-width="846" height="228" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsMiFIAEzccvuBVTEmacvWPr7J7SV01uzWeim58BDXvfwybvNIeImvs9X-tp6SOUfYxUbu5tc4QarRY4ZdThgjSnoU6oJ3YaecrGvpB1NIt770U-EW3XsuDuZ_aEaq9KHDn2io2oNHBC2yBTRY9oSWbPTobd9vxifepH7Bpap3VYjTfGb3kbFOamJWsPiW/w400-h228/Screen+Shot+2021-04-07+at+10.16.15+AM.png" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Richard Nixon met Fidel Castro in April 1959 and sought a detente with him in 1974</span></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><p></p>
<div class="sqs-html-content">
<p style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>1. Disregard the past</b><i><br />Multilateral sanctions against Havana worked to contain communist expansion in the Western Hemisphere until Kissinger lifted them.</i></p><p style="white-space: pre-wrap;">The Ford administration <a href="https://www.cubacenter.org/archives/2023/12/3/cubabrief" target="_blank">provided Havana with a number of inducements without expecting anything in return</a>, believing that they could restore relations with the Castros. Initially, the United States supported the OAS resolution on July 29, 1975, which essentially put an end to the multilateral economic and diplomatic sanctions against Cuba. On August 19, President Ford went further loosening the US embargo, removing the sanctions against foreign aid to nations that conducted business with the regime in Cuba and enabling ships traveling to the island to refuel in the US. This was an initiative led by Secretary of State Henry Kissinger. Rather than the "easing of tensions" that was anticipated, the Ford Administration found itself looking foolish. Havana’s response was to send thousands of Cuban troops to Africa, first to Angola. Secretary Kissinger was so angered by the Cuban intervention in Angola, and the failure of detente that <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/29441281" target="_blank">he entertained the idea of air strikes on Cuba</a>. Multilateral sanctions were not reimposed and Communist Cuba's influence would expand in the region. Subsequent administrations ( Carter 1977, Clinton 1993 and 2000), Obama (2009-2017) attempted rapprochements with Havana, and endured the same cycle. Carter's opening coincided with plunging Central America into civil war, with the establishment of communist rule in Nicaragua with Daniel Ortega in 1979 and a mass exodus in 1980 which Fidel Castro personally seeded with murderers, rapists, and psychiatric patients. The Clinton Administration's normalization efforts coincided with massacres of Cubans, the Brothers to the Rescue shootdown, another exodus, the expansion of Cuban influence in Venezuela and the take over of Hugo Chavez in 1999.</p><p data-rte-preserve-empty="true" style="white-space: pre-wrap;"></p><p style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>2. Dismiss current actions by Havana</b></p><p style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><i>Lessons from Europe's constructive engagement</i></p><p style="white-space: pre-wrap;">Although the European Union (EU) has and continues to pursue a policy of constructive engagement, and <a href="https://www.realinstitutoelcano.org/en/work-document/an-overview-of-the-cuban-economy-the-transformations-underway-and-the-prospective-challenges-it-faces-wp/" target="_blank">was Cuba’s top trading partner in the 1990s</a> it did not curb its international outlaw behavior. Venezuela became Cuba's <a href="https://cri.fiu.edu/events/2015/political-and-economic-links-cuba-and-venezuela/" target="_blank">top trading partner in 2001</a>, and was <a href="https://crsreports.congress.gov/product/pdf/R/R44822/18" target="_blank">eclipsed by China in 2016</a> However, when Europe de-linked human rights considerations from economic engagement with Havana trade shot up. As of 2019, the EU was Cuba's <a href="https://www.eeas.europa.eu/sites/default/files/cuba_factsheet_revised.pdf" target="_blank"><span style="text-decoration: underline;">top trading partner</span></a> for both imports and exports. It was also Cuba’s <a href="https://www.eeas.europa.eu/sites/default/files/cuba_factsheet_revised.pdf" target="_blank"><span style="text-decoration: underline;">top development partner and source of foreign investment.</span></a> In 2019, a <a href="https://www.eeas.europa.eu/sites/default/files/cuba_factsheet_revised.pdf" target="_blank"><span style="text-decoration: underline;">quarter of all tourists</span></a> visiting Cuba, which <a href="https://bti-project.org/en/reports/country-report/CUB#pos11" target="_blank"><span style="text-decoration: underline;">relies on its tourism sector</span></a> for income, were from the EU.This did not alter Havana's hostile posture towards Europe. <a href="https://www.cubacenter.org/publications/2023/10/13/cuban-soldiers-in-the-russian-army-fighting-in-ukraine-some-historical-context" target="_blank">Cubans are in Russian uniforms fighting to advance Moscow's objectives</a> in the illegal war in Ukraine, and <a href="https://www.cubacenter.org/archives/2023/5/29/cubabrief-eus-high-representative-for-foreign-policy-josep-borrells-potemkin-village-visit-to-cuba-cuban-military-training-in-belarus-and-contract-soldiers-fighting-for-russia-in-ukraine?rq=%20Ukraine" target="_blank">Havana is conducting military training in Belarus</a>.<b> </b>Terrorists <a href="https://www.cubacenter.org/publications/2021/8/4/a-publication-of-the-cuban-studies-institute-cubas-support-for-terrorism">continue to be harbored in Cuba</a>, and the Cuban dictatorship refuses to extradite them. Cuban diplomats <a href="https://thehill.com/opinion/international/4270996-cubas-dictatorship-has-a-serious-problem-with-jews/">have held high level meetings with Hamas in 2023</a>, and Hezbollah maintains a base in Cuba. Cuba’s communist dictatorship and Iran’s Islamist regime <a href="https://news.yahoo.com/courting-u-enemies-hemisphere-dictators-190956561.html">are closely allied and coordinating efforts against Israel</a>.<br /><br /></p><p style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>3. Get ready for taxpayers to foot the tab.</b></p><p style="white-space: pre-wrap;">"One of the best-kept secrets of our 40-year-old trade embargo with Cuba is that it has saved millions of dollars for U.S. taxpayers. Due to the embargo, there are no U.S. banks in the ``Paris Club'', a consortium of Cuba creditors. (The Paris Club is currently owed between $10 and $15 billion in debt from Cuba.) Otherwise, U.S. banks now would be hitting U.S. taxpayers to cover their losses in Cuba. If the U.S. begins to subsidize trade with Cuba--estimated at $100 million a year--five years from now, U.S. taxpayers could be holding, or paying off a $500 million tab." - <a href="https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/CHRG-107shrg94877/html/CHRG-107shrg94877.htm">Senator George Allen, May 21, 2002, Hearing on U.S. Trade Policy with Cuba</a></p><p style="white-space: pre-wrap;">Cuba scholar Jaime Suchlicki at the Cuban Studies Institute on April 10, 2023 published an important analysis titled “<a href="https://cubanstudiesinstitute.us/principal/the-folly-of-investing-in-cuba/">The Folly of Investing in Cuba</a>” that outlines a number of pitfalls both economic and moral to doing business with the Castro dictatorship <a href="https://cubanstudiesinstitute.us/principal/the-folly-of-investing-in-cuba/">that is a must read</a>. </p><p style="white-space: pre-wrap;">Existing U.S. sanctions have protected American taxpayers from having to shell out billions of dollars to subsidize the Castro dictatorship. </p><p style="white-space: pre-wrap;">Others <a href="https://www.cubacenter.org/archives/2023/4/14/cubabrief">have not had the benefit of this policy</a>.</p><p style="white-space: pre-wrap;">China<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/kenrapoza/2019/05/29/china-has-forgiven-nearly-10-billion-in-debt-cuba-accounts-for-over-half/?sh=3a5fb802615b"> canceled $6 billion dollars in Cuban debt in 2011</a>, On November 1, 2013 the government of Mexico announced that it was ready <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/mexico-cuba-idUSL1N0IM15320131101" target="_blank">to waive 70 percent of a debt worth</a> nearly $500 million that Cuba owes it. The former president of Mexico Vicente Fox <a href="http://www.latintimes.com/vicente-fox-criticizes-cuban-government-chupacabras-after-mexico-waves-debt-149540" target="_blank">protested the move stating</a>: “Let the Cubans get to work and generate their own money…They’re normally like <i>chupacabras</i>. The only thing they’re looking for is someone to give them money for free.” In <a href="http://www.euractiv.com/sections/trade-society/spain-forgive-eu17-billion-cuban-debt-interest-320412" target="_blank">December 2015</a> it was announced that Spain would forgive $1.7 billion that the Castro regime owes it. In December of 2013, Russia and Cuba quietly signed an agreement <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2014/07/russia-writes-off-32-billion-in-cuban-debt/374284/" target="_blank">to write off $32 billion of Cuba's debt </a>to the former superpower. Western governments <a href="https://demanpillet.com/cuba-maritime-claims/" target="_blank">pursued Cuban maritime debts</a> seizing Cuban vessels and negotiating payment through Canadian courts.</p><p style="white-space: pre-wrap;">The 2015 debt restructuring accord between Cuba and the Paris Club, <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-cuba-debt-exclusive/exclusive-cuba-fails-to-make-payment-in-key-debt-accord-sources-say-idUSKBN2052C6" target="_blank">according to Reuters</a>, "forgave $8.5 billion of $11.1 billion, representing debt Cuba defaulted on in 1986, plus charges." </p><p style="white-space: pre-wrap;"> <a href="https://clubdeparis.org/en/communications/page/permanent-members">The Paris Club</a> is made up of the following permanent members: Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France,Germany, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Netherlands, Norway, Russia, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom, and the United States. Thanks to existing U.S. sanctions, none of the $11.084 billion in debt has been left for U.S. taxpayers to pay off. </p><p style="white-space: pre-wrap;"> Carmelo Mesa-Lago is Distinguished Service Professor emeritus of economics and Latin American studies at the University of Pittsburgh, and in his work <a href="https://cri.fiu.edu/news/2023/cuba-current-economic-crisis/carmelo-mesa-lago-cuba-economic-crisis.pdf"><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><b>CUBA’S ECONOMY IN TIMES OF CRISIS: 2020–2022 AND PROSPECTS FOR 2023 </b></span></a> provided the following table which lists debt forgiven, and remaining debt owed by the Cuban dictatorship.</p><p style="white-space: pre-wrap;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFerVa_nTW5287tIXzb4BfnY6y0WI21-BUTv61h4GOXrjuAnQQFCUAucIoAp2_T4pQojBC82sb6eIHTv0r2guZvHWcpLpn0_8CxPP3AM8uUB9yuzBcOE2bZbXSYXtOBA5XyKR9egLfIvfspyiDsagVMD9hLx0sk1v_elSm2RwEQj7raUPTf6t2ANQFIEna/s808/tablesixdebts.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="587" data-original-width="808" height="290" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFerVa_nTW5287tIXzb4BfnY6y0WI21-BUTv61h4GOXrjuAnQQFCUAucIoAp2_T4pQojBC82sb6eIHTv0r2guZvHWcpLpn0_8CxPP3AM8uUB9yuzBcOE2bZbXSYXtOBA5XyKR9egLfIvfspyiDsagVMD9hLx0sk1v_elSm2RwEQj7raUPTf6t2ANQFIEna/w400-h290/tablesixdebts.png" width="400" /></a></div><br /> <p></p>
</div>John Suarezhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11333798474560217548noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1419558703918975245.post-85885569927369208372023-12-13T00:00:00.007-05:002023-12-13T00:10:32.468-05:00European Union honors memory of Iranian martyr Mahsa Amini<p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzKrlQ_xC2R7NA3XKuupsvnPfwhPcbkoBO28tY_Jz8ByAiqDj9zIbUNEJ4OO7IoL7MyOblgu3d4px7i3JK2kpDlQ8UUWbJWnZUAzog8v9xry8sVSr-jK3sRV5idhA1yWfAvrSbdHbmyxggsCibvqKOwcqZ1ekQYpI-B0tmo6qL5HcoPlwp6MBnMa7Qs2p9/s801/Mahsa_Amini_ING_Statement_9.21.22.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="451" data-original-width="801" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzKrlQ_xC2R7NA3XKuupsvnPfwhPcbkoBO28tY_Jz8ByAiqDj9zIbUNEJ4OO7IoL7MyOblgu3d4px7i3JK2kpDlQ8UUWbJWnZUAzog8v9xry8sVSr-jK3sRV5idhA1yWfAvrSbdHbmyxggsCibvqKOwcqZ1ekQYpI-B0tmo6qL5HcoPlwp6MBnMa7Qs2p9/w400-h225/Mahsa_Amini_ING_Statement_9.21.22.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Mahsa Amini</i></td></tr></tbody></table><p></p><p>Morality police in Iran beat Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old Kurdish woman, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2022/sep/16/iranian-woman-dies-after-being-beaten-by-morality-police-over-hijab-law">to death</a> for not complying
with Tehran's hijab regulations. Mahsa <a href="https://news.un.org/en/story/2022/09/1127471">was arrested on September 13, 2022</a> badly beaten, left in a coma, and she died from her injuries <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2022/sep/23/how-iran-erupted-after-mahsa-amini-death-protests">on September 16</a>, 2023.</p><p></p><p>Today she was posthumously awarded the European Union's Sakharov Prize.</p><p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikoM5FT16yzxPQuow1_bnuOlBj4XUq0t6qzCQO3b2OUFpmHmsiOzzgbbs_aZeDX92_5uk2fzcnyewfXYl7q4JxHQ7CqJm3UaxpmSMuG7-PCZRPLcOYsbRBnsLVfgIA8EtmXhjE_C02oaL7FF6bZMcXWszsqeU3C8qNk7MCbAKIYGhLrWcCxGiCJw-mCEaa/s767/GBJSUctXAAAHc6v.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="511" data-original-width="767" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikoM5FT16yzxPQuow1_bnuOlBj4XUq0t6qzCQO3b2OUFpmHmsiOzzgbbs_aZeDX92_5uk2fzcnyewfXYl7q4JxHQ7CqJm3UaxpmSMuG7-PCZRPLcOYsbRBnsLVfgIA8EtmXhjE_C02oaL7FF6bZMcXWszsqeU3C8qNk7MCbAKIYGhLrWcCxGiCJw-mCEaa/w400-h266/GBJSUctXAAAHc6v.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="css-1qaijid r-bcqeeo r-qvutc0 r-poiln3" style="text-overflow: unset;"></span><span class="css-1qaijid r-bcqeeo r-qvutc0 r-poiln3" style="text-overflow: unset;"></span><span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>Saleh Nikbakht, Mahsa Amini’s family lawyer and Iranian activists Afsoon Najafi & Mersedeh Shahinkar </i></span><br /></td></tr></tbody></table></p><p>Her murder at the hands of Islamic regime agents <a href="https://cubanexilequarter.blogspot.com/2023/09/call-for-solidarity-with-protesters-in.html">sparked the</a> #WomanLifeFreedom movement.</p><p>Her family <a href="https://www.npr.org/2023/12/10/1218439893/iran-blocks-mahsa-aminis-family-from-collecting-a-human-rights-prize-in-her-name">was barred by Tehran's mullahs from traveling to attend the event</a>.</p><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/WMVsEAXJNAM?si=N010fK15Lb8PxTjc" title="YouTube video player" width="420"></iframe>John Suarezhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11333798474560217548noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1419558703918975245.post-89463887708403693302023-12-09T19:35:00.008-05:002023-12-09T19:50:57.290-05:00The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the forgotten man, and Cuba's human rights legacy<p><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjV4nHPOLx_XFf3UNFDv_JUW3GDT3bcr-6Z0ZTe0qppkrKiYE4IliJmbO_JkkUaw8kOh8LX1vt_BclrfWgOzUrbY8Ca4l8ioxEIN2cVvIOSDnNsbU3vjUGcY0S4vKCjkWY-6_WsaJubloVdOZ_hmK5C8GyXjpg9kNJFcv-DRCpEiWlIUMSXXQRxPvUBVsau/s1200/undhr1948.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1200" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjV4nHPOLx_XFf3UNFDv_JUW3GDT3bcr-6Z0ZTe0qppkrKiYE4IliJmbO_JkkUaw8kOh8LX1vt_BclrfWgOzUrbY8Ca4l8ioxEIN2cVvIOSDnNsbU3vjUGcY0S4vKCjkWY-6_WsaJubloVdOZ_hmK5C8GyXjpg9kNJFcv-DRCpEiWlIUMSXXQRxPvUBVsau/w400-h300/undhr1948.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><p></p><p><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Seventy five years ago on December 10, 1948 the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was adopted by the UN General Assembly. In 2008 in commemoration of the 60th anniversary of this important milestone, Mary Ann Glendon, the United States Ambassador to the Holy See, highlighted Latin American and Catholic contributions to human rights, and made special mention of the contribution made by Cuba </span><a href="https://ia801306.us.archive.org/13/items/08VATICAN47/08VATICAN47.pdf" style="text-decoration: none;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">that was documented in a diplomatic cable.</span></a></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></p><blockquote>“The principal leader of the Latin American group in 1948 was a charismatic young Cuban representative named Guy Perez Cisneros. His son, Pablo Perez-Cisneros, attended the conference and recounted his father's contributions to the UDHR, noting the gap between the Cuba of his father's day and the deplorable state of human rights under the present regime. The work of Guy Perez-Cisneros and other delegates was captured in a <a href="https://youtu.be/MLLbV7Bmgws?si=Ze4rqY2lNR4AXs-r">12-minute video</a> presentation featuring archival footage of Eleanor Roosevelt and Guy Perez-Cisneros' UN speech in support of the UDHR.”</blockquote><p></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">However, Perez Cisneros was not the architect of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and until </span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Washington Post</span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> journalist David Hoffman explored this chapter of Cuban history in his 2022 book, </span><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Give-Me-Liberty-Oswaldo-Daring/dp/1982191198" style="text-decoration: none;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Give Me Liberty: The True Story of Oswaldo Payá and his Daring Quest for a Free Cuba</span></a><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, this information was only available in some archives, and obscure blogs. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></p><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/MLLbV7Bmgws?si=YBh34BEwj7JryZkW" title="YouTube video player" width="420"></iframe><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Hoffman found that the 1940 Cuban Constitution, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and Article 88g of the 1992 Cuban Constitution that made the Varela Project possible were largely the result of one talented Cuban who over the course of his career had been a diplomat, jurist, and scholar, but you’ve never heard of him. In fact, he has been called the “</span><a href="http://drgustavogutierrez.blogspot.com/2008/06/boigraphy-berta-g-montalvo.html" style="text-decoration: none;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">forgotten man</span></a><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">”.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipeI_mSbVOH9NRoqXpj8t2-rBns56b2J6m-cgtx5rytGu_1Cs-RH_uAc5JVL1dWq1qZadR0iwU4EOkBjv3B5HX_9hNu8uhWYLLh4TdCbDvAnAj16cWPE5JLj82tfXLYENqskldJ6twuxa1xpc8vR2V5bQZYXp-2Si8ZizEQUmwvClwsmiooe0hiiVvmx0n/s485/Gut.Gus.Pres.Cam.1940%232.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="485" data-original-width="352" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipeI_mSbVOH9NRoqXpj8t2-rBns56b2J6m-cgtx5rytGu_1Cs-RH_uAc5JVL1dWq1qZadR0iwU4EOkBjv3B5HX_9hNu8uhWYLLh4TdCbDvAnAj16cWPE5JLj82tfXLYENqskldJ6twuxa1xpc8vR2V5bQZYXp-2Si8ZizEQUmwvClwsmiooe0hiiVvmx0n/w290-h400/Gut.Gus.Pres.Cam.1940%232.jpg" width="290" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Gustavo Gutierrez Sanchez (1895 - 1959)</span></td></tr></tbody></table><p></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">His name was Gustavo Gutierrez Sanchez and he was born in Camajuani, in the Province of Santa Clara, Cuba </span><a href="https://www.latinamericanstudies.org/book/Cubans_of_today.pdf" style="text-decoration: none;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">on September 20, 1895</span></a><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, and he died in exile in Miami on July 17, 1959 at age 63. In 1916, at just 21 years of age he had obtained doctorates in Civil and Public Law, and became Assistant Professor of International Public Law in the University of Havana, and in 1919 became the department head at age 24.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><a href="https://cubansinamerica.us/web/prominent-cuban-americans/law-politics/carlos-marquez-sterling/" style="text-decoration: none;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Carlos Márquez Sterling</span></a><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, a Cuban historian and statesman who led the drafting of the country’s 1940 Constitution, in 1976 </span><a href="http://drgustavogutierrez.blogspot.com/2008/06/gustavo-gutierrez-by-carlos-marquez_9255.html" style="text-decoration: none;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">wrote an article</span></a><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> in </span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Diario de las Americas</span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> where he highlighted Gustavo Gutierrez’s role in the drafting of the 1940 Constitution.</span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></p><blockquote>"Gustavo had formed part of the Bicameral Commission which drafted the project of the Constitution and I can assure you that many of the institutions that later found expression in our original document were based on previous works created by Gustavo Gutierrez." </blockquote><p></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Hoffman in “Give Me Liberty” reported that the 1940 Constitution had a provision that had been drafted years earlier by Gustavo Gutierrez, and became “Article 135, Section F, which provided that laws could be proposed by congressmen and senators, government officials, courts, - and by citizens. ‘In this case,' the constitution declared, ‘it will be an indispensable prerequisite that the initiative be exercised by at least ten thousand citizens having the same status of voters.”</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Cuban jurist believed that this clause would have given Cuban citizens a voice in public affairs that could have acted as a brake on Machado’s slide into dictatorship, or led to an earlier repeal of the Platt Amendment, or prevented Batista becoming a strong man. This provision somehow was recycled into the 1992 Cuban Constitution, and was the basis for the Project Varela that challenged totalitarian rule in Cuba beginning in 2002.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipFD_B17aQI6Tm2SUGbDmSZ0rq12ZTw96TkfMXi_3sWWm1JVFkpeKLyBEwmauFyD71998X0wtcgD-XWYgR77ritO7jTAkvBrMFenMHABLEaF_OIeTaW0O9Xo77pIP85HyfbY_tM7K_z0yCecNByLq0fhMhB4kUdKxuw_UUm_RziIF5I3Y5SubzJqsDb8aT/s500/ChapultepecCastle.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="332" data-original-width="500" height="265" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipFD_B17aQI6Tm2SUGbDmSZ0rq12ZTw96TkfMXi_3sWWm1JVFkpeKLyBEwmauFyD71998X0wtcgD-XWYgR77ritO7jTAkvBrMFenMHABLEaF_OIeTaW0O9Xo77pIP85HyfbY_tM7K_z0yCecNByLq0fhMhB4kUdKxuw_UUm_RziIF5I3Y5SubzJqsDb8aT/w400-h265/ChapultepecCastle.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Chapultapec Castle in Mexico City</span></td></tr></tbody></table><p></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Less than five years later in February 1945, with World War Two still underway, at the </span><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Chapultapec Castle in Mexico City twenty Latin American countries and a large delegation from the United States participated in the </span><a href="https://conferences.unite.un.org/unterm/Display/record/UNHQ/Inter-American_Conference_on_Problems_of_War_and_Peace/0ABEDDEA81598D44852569FA00006216" style="text-decoration: none;"><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Inter-American Conference on Problems of War and Peace</span></a><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. </span><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Dr. Gustavo Gutierrez</span><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> presented on behalf of Cuba “two detailed proposals for consideration, a </span><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Draft Declaration of the International Rights and Duties of the Individual</span><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> and a </span><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">"Draft Declaration on the Rights and Duties of Nations</span><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">." </span><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">These two drafts were written by Dr. Gustavo Gutierrez in his book </span><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">La Carta Magna de la Comunidad de Naciones. </span><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Later that year the Cuban delegation in San Francisco would present his draft for consideration in the creation of a universal declaration of human rights.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">French jurist René Cassin and Guy Perez-Cisneros </span><a href="https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000114488" style="text-decoration: none;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">argued strongly in the discussion over the drafting of the declaration</span></a><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> that the right of individuals to petition “for redress of alleged human rights abuses to ‘the public authorities of the State of which he is a national or in which he resides, or with the United Nations.” was an essential human right that should be included. This was objected to by the Soviet Union, and Mexico that argued that it “violated the principle of national sovereignty and violate provisions of non-interference.” It would not end up in the declaration, but be recognized later by some states. The spirit of this clause that individuals could petition to have injustices committed against them all the way to the UN is consonant with Gutierrez’s advocacy for giving citizens a voice in public affairs.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Canadian legal scholar John P. Humphrey is credited with preparing the first draft for the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1947, but in his memoirs published in 1983, Humphrey </span><a href="https://cubaproject.org/cuban-republic/human-rights/" style="text-decoration: none;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">credited Gustavo Gutierrez for presenting the model that inspired the draft</span></a><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><i><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 11pt; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></i></p><blockquote><i>“I was no Thomas Jefferson and, although a lawyer, I had had practically no experience drafting documents. But since the Secretariat had collected a score of drafts, I had some models on which to work. One of them had been prepared by Gustavo Gutierrez (Sanchez) and had probably inspired the draft Declaration of the International Duties and Rights of the Individual which Cuba had sponsored at the San Francisco Conference.”</i></blockquote><p></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Universal Declaration of Human Rights was an initiative by Latin American nations, in which Cuba played an important role </span><a href="http://cubanexilequarter.blogspot.com/2023/12/can-cubas-human-rights-legacy-be.html" style="text-decoration: none;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">proposing it</span></a><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, assisting to draft the document, and </span><a href="https://victimsofcommunism.org/can-cubas-democratic-legacy-be-recovered/" style="text-decoration: none;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">successfully lobbying for it</span></a><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Cuban diplomats that played this historic role in bringing into existence this “Magna Carta of the Community of Nations” have been erased to make way for one of the great lies of the Castro dictatorship that the political concepts of liberty, equality, and justice are not universal but differ based on geography. This is also why the communist dictatorship in Havana views the Universal Declaration of Human Rights as enemy propaganda.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">This is why Cubans across the island risked everything to be heard by the international community in 2002, 2004, and 2021 in their demands for freedom and an end to dictatorship. In 2002 and 2004 this demand was made in the Project Varela petition by tens of thousands of Cubans, and in July 2021 by hundreds of thousands of Cubans across the island shouting for it at the top of their lungs. Currently there are over 1,000 political prisoners in Cuba, and on international human rights day 2023, the 75th anniversary of the signing of the declaration we call for their freedom, and the freedom of all Cubans.</span></p><br /> <iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/fmCPWavxbTs?si=DuWF9t4TZMtO-e99" title="YouTube video player" width="420"></iframe>John Suarezhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11333798474560217548noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1419558703918975245.post-84056872237974825752023-12-03T18:38:00.005-05:002023-12-03T18:42:04.777-05:00Can Cuba’s Human Rights Legacy Be Recovered?We have memory.<br /><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-m9rgbjx_6iBT3paowHui-4avBAyMtiKQp8ZxDn9yFqC6ol29SsZnQ0y-cmA8LVSURtCYxMXgceqmUGLI8AHWXUr-BMAkIskRKCnYArgWAN4yStIYoeTEqakXjzklC4hE5ZdqzgKUYJzSDudWTupu9Q_1s1RL19JjLsQNJcJaC-kwyEySBo9_un8aRgN-/s710/GuyChurchill.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="420" data-original-width="710" height="237" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-m9rgbjx_6iBT3paowHui-4avBAyMtiKQp8ZxDn9yFqC6ol29SsZnQ0y-cmA8LVSURtCYxMXgceqmUGLI8AHWXUr-BMAkIskRKCnYArgWAN4yStIYoeTEqakXjzklC4hE5ZdqzgKUYJzSDudWTupu9Q_1s1RL19JjLsQNJcJaC-kwyEySBo9_un8aRgN-/w400-h237/GuyChurchill.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Dec. 1945. Ex-PM Winston Churchill invited to lunch at the Cuban Embassy in the UK.<br /></span></td></tr></tbody></table><p></p><p>Human rights are an intrinsic part of Cuban history that the current
dictatorship has spent decades systematically trying to erase, denigrate, and deny,
but every day Cubans for decades have stood up for the <a href="https://cubanexilequarter.blogspot.com/2020/05/project-varela-looking-back-at.html">defense of human rights and dignity</a> at great cost to <a href="https://cubanexilequarter.blogspot.com/2017/11/remembering-some-of-victims-of-cuban_11.html">themselves</a>.There are <a href="https://lista.prisonersdefenders.org/">over 1,000 political prisoners today in Cuba</a>, more than in the rest of Latin America combined for demanding the restoration of human rights and democracy.</p><p>One of the great <a href="http://cubanexilequarter.blogspot.com/2017/09/more-relevant-to-debate-over-cuba-today.html">lies</a> of the Castro regime, and <a href="http://cubanexilequarter.blogspot.com/2017/10/how-communism-arrived-in-cuba.html">there are many</a>, is the claim that the Universal Declaration of Human Rights <a href="http://cubanexilequarter.blogspot.com/2013/01/rights-are-neither-bourgeois-or.html">contains rights that are alien to Cubans</a>. </p><p>Fidel Castro in a 1986 interview <a href="http://cubanexilequarter.blogspot.com/2017/12/call-for-un-offiicials-to-reflect-on.html">claimed that</a>
"[y]our political concepts of liberty, equality, justice are
very different from ours. You try to measure a country like Cuba with
European ideas. And we do not resign ourselves to or accept being
measured by those standards." </p><p>However the now dead Cuban dictator omitted that the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was an initiative
led by Latin Americans, and Cubans in particular. Furthermore that <a href="http://www.sun-sentinel.com/opinion/fl-gmcol-oped0702-20150701-column.html">language placed in the Declaration</a> was taken from the 1940 Cuban Constitution. </p><p><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Beginning in 1945 Cuba took part in lobbying for and participating in the drafting of the declaration and submitted <a href="http://www.penultimosdias.com/2011/12/09/por-los-derechos-humanos-en-cuba/">nine proposals</a>
of which five made it into the final document. </span> </p><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/MLLbV7Bmgws?si=Z20fh-uTD4i92yXo" title="YouTube video player" width="420"></iframe><p>Cuban diplomats invited <a href="http://www.penultimosdias.com/2011/12/09/por-los-derechos-humanos-en-cuba/">Winston Churchill</a>
to lunch at the Cuban Embassy in London in December of 1945 and
proposed the creation of a human rights commission for the United
Nations. <span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"></span> <span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"> </span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Cuban Ambassador Willy De Blanc hosted the former British Prime Minister with other Cuban diplomats
(including delegates to the U.N. Preparatory Commission Dr. Guy
Pérez-Cisneros y Bonnel and Cuban jurist Dr. Ernesto Dihigo y López
Trigo) where they requested his assistance in the creation of a human
rights commission for the United Nations.</span></span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"> <br /></span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Churchill recommended that the
Cubans lobby Mrs. Eleanor Roosevelt, and they followed his advice.
Eventually the former First Lady was selected as chairwoman to the Human
Rights Commission.
</span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">The first meetings of
the General Assembly and the Security Council took place in London on January 10, 1946. On December 10, 1948 the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was voted on, and a Cuban diplomat played a high profile role that day.<br /></span></p><p>On December 10, 2017 in the Miami Herald's <a href="http://www.miamiherald.com/opinion/letters-to-the-editor/article188996894.html">letters to the editor section</a>, Pablo Pérez-Cisneros Barreto, the son of <a href="http://www.christusrex.org/www2/fcf/passionironycuba.html">Guy Pérez-Cisneros</a> y Bonnel, wrote of his family's and Cuba's legacy in drafting of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.<br />
</p><blockquote class="tr_bq">
My late father believed that the declaration is the fruit of the
great efforts of our civilization and human progress, a unique moment in
which humanity came of age in its civic education; that it is also a
source of inspiration for the formation of today’s citizens, and not
cause for divisions among them. [...] Cuba had the distinction of being
the country that proposed the finished declaration be put up for its
final UN vote on Dec. 10, 1948. Hard to believe now but Cuba was once a
leader when it came to human rights. And it is important to note that
nine initiatives proposed in 1945’s Cuba became part of the final
declaration, and that Cuba was the country that entrusted the Economic
and Social Council of the United Nations in San Francisco to prepare the
declaration as early as 1946. The third preamble of the declaration is a
copy of one of the articles of the famed 1940 Cuban Constitution, and
Cuba had the initiative to include in the declaration the right to honor
one’s human rights and reputation, as well as protect citizens against
arbitrary government interference in their private lives. Cuba
presented the first amendment to the draft declaration which was
accepted, adding the right of citizens of any member country to follow
the vocation they choose. Cuba presented a second amendment which was
also accepted — the right of every worker to receive an equitable and
satisfactory payment for their work. </blockquote><p> Last month Cuba underwent a universal periodic review of its human rights record at the UN Human Rights Council. On the eve of this examination, a UN side event was held with witnesses testifying on the human rights violations committed by Castroism over the past five years.</p><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/f1rCQXhViWw?si=Qv8x2_x2WffhYI9D" title="YouTube video player" width="420"></iframe><p><a href="https://victimsofcommunism.org/can-cubas-democratic-legacy-be-recovered/">Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation</a>, November 28, 2023 <br /></p><div class="single-post-title container">
<h1>Can Cuba’s Democratic Legacy Be Recovered? </h1>
</div>
<p>By John Suarez </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVMvsGbQ3zxF3Zepw71rWCf21U38BfY7qWYTtqbROWUEw4F-Y39gdMp5WjfX6ZE-RvTEDkpo73MOZhDgIHEe0CjJnXGo_gw82eHf-CYM94bM8ndT_Ija1CZVF9GRDW2TXjopHaE4L7QmPtsTzE9QczsiUiByg2HwpARqjxRYVc5Gl9SbDapyiYGplBBs_B/s949/Media-Featured-Image-for-VOC-website-use-10-1.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="509" data-original-width="949" height="215" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVMvsGbQ3zxF3Zepw71rWCf21U38BfY7qWYTtqbROWUEw4F-Y39gdMp5WjfX6ZE-RvTEDkpo73MOZhDgIHEe0CjJnXGo_gw82eHf-CYM94bM8ndT_Ija1CZVF9GRDW2TXjopHaE4L7QmPtsTzE9QczsiUiByg2HwpARqjxRYVc5Gl9SbDapyiYGplBBs_B/w400-h215/Media-Featured-Image-for-VOC-website-use-10-1.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><p></p><p>Communist Cuba underwent its fourth Universal Periodic Review (UPR)
on November 15, 2023, at the UN Human Rights Council, a process Havana
repeatedly subverted <a href="https://www.ohchr.org/en/hr-bodies/upr/cu-index" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">since 2009</a> by using <a href="https://unwatch.org/fraud-cuba-uses-454-front-groups-subvert-todays-un-review-human-rights-record/" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">front groups to drown out critical human rights reports</a> by established human rights organizations.</p>
<p>Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez began the UPR session <a href="https://www.radiohc.cu/en/especiales/exclusivas/339370-speech-by-the-minister-of-foreign-affairs-bruno-rodriguez-parrilla-at-the-presentation-of-cubas-national-report-to-the-fourth-cycle-of-the-universal-periodic-review-upr-of-the-human-rights-council-hrc" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">attacking Israel</a>, went on to blame the Cuban dictatorship’s shortcomings <a href="https://www.radiohc.cu/en/especiales/exclusivas/339370-speech-by-the-minister-of-foreign-affairs-bruno-rodriguez-parrilla-at-the-presentation-of-cubas-national-report-to-the-fourth-cycle-of-the-universal-periodic-review-upr-of-the-human-rights-council-hrc" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">on U.S. sanctions</a>, and turned the review into a politicized circus.</p>
<p>Over 20 years, I’ve witnessed Cuban diplomats undermine international
human rights standards, first at the United Nations Human Rights
Commission and later at the UN Human Rights Council, making a mockery of
human rights.</p>
<ul><li>On April 15, 2004 when the UN Human Rights Commission decided by a
single vote to censure Cuba for its human rights record, a Cuban human
rights defender attending the session, Frank Calzon,<a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20140503074706/https:/freedomhouse.org/article/un-must-condemn-cuba-beating-ngo-representative#.U2Se_7DP1qY" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank"> was physically attacked by a Cuban diplomat</a>. </li><li>On March 28, 2008 the Castro regime’s delegation, together with the
Organization of Islamic Congress, successfully passed resolutions that
turned the UN special rapporteur on freedom of expression<a href="https://www.article19.org/data/files/pdfs/press/hrc-resolution-passed.pdf" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank"> into an investigator policing “abuses” of freedom of expression</a>. <br /></li><li>On Feb. 2, 2009 during the Universal Periodic Review of China, Cuban Ambassador, Juan Antonio Fernandez Palacios,<a href="https://www.fidh.org/en/region/asia/china/CHINA-Adoption-by-the-UPR-Working" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank"> recommended that China repress human rights defenders with more firmness</a>.<br /></li><li>On March 17, 2014 at the UN Human Rights Council, Cuban diplomats<a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20140319070243/https:/diariodecuba.com/internacional/1395072638_7662.html" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank"> defended the North Korean regime’s human rights record</a>. <br /></li><li>On Sept. 21, 2018 Cuban Ambassador to the UN, Pedro Luis Pedroso
Cuesta, during the Universal Periodic Review on Cuba at the UN Human
Rights Council<a href="https://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2018/09/human-rights-council-adopts-universal-periodic-review-outcomes-canada-cuba" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank"> stated that</a>
“our country will not accept monitors. Amnesty International will not
enter Cuba and we do not need their advice.” Less than a month later,
Cuban diplomats led an “<a href="http://cubanexilequarter.blogspot.com/2009/12/acts-of-repudiation-mariel-1980-and.html" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">act of repudiation</a>“ at the UN<a href="https://www.yahoo.com/now/u-n-cuban-diplomats-shout-down-u-event-195127049.html" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank"> shutting down a discussion on political prisoners in Cuba</a>.</li><li>On July 1, 2020 the Cuban dictatorship <a href="https://bitterwinter.org/the-axis-of-shame-july-2020-the-countries-that-supported-china-on-hong-kong/" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">introduced a resolution</a>
at the UN Human Rights Council endorsing the death of a free Hong Kong
and praising China for passing the Hong Kong National Security Law. </li></ul>
<p>What the diplomats of Cuba’s communist dictatorship do in Geneva is
horrible, but it pales compared to what they do to Cubans on the island.</p>
<p>Human rights defenders Oswaldo Payá and Harold Cepero <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2023/06/12/oswaldo-paya-death-cuba-investigation/" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">were killed on July 22, 2012</a>. On June 12, 2023, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights <a href="https://www.oas.org/en/iachr/decisions/2023/ADM_14-196_EN.pdf" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">confirmed that the two Cuban pro-democracy leaders were assassinated</a> by Castro regime operatives.</p>
<p>On July 11, 2021 <a href="https://youtu.be/7qVVp6tKHQo?si=seBEbaA7aPa9-uK9" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">when Cubans across the island</a>
protested in huge numbers called for freedom, and an end to
dictatorship. Raul Castro’s hand picked president, Miguel Díaz-Canel
went on national television and gave the “<a href="https://youtu.be/t7MX8O3L5WM?si=6JmqwNGKo562dGTa" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">order of combat</a>.”
Regime agents opened fire on unarmed Cubans, the number killed remains
unknown due to regime repression, and lack of transparency, but the
video of 36 year old singer <a href="https://victimsofcommunism.org/its-not-too-late-to-stand-with-the-cuban-people/" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">Diubis Laurencio Tejeda</a> shot in the back by police, and <a href="https://youtu.be/RHBORuEBBLg?si=jSuIKDSu9EHLgDCZ" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">dying in his friends’ arms is devastating</a>.</p>
<p>Artists <a href="https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2023/06/cuba-must-release-prisoners-of-conscience/" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara and Maykel “Osorbo” Castillo Pérez</a>
are imprisoned in Cuba today for authoring a song about “homeland and
life.” The dictatorship has severely restricted artistic freedoms,
passed laws outlawing criticism of the regime on the internet, and
passed an even more draconian penal code that expands the death penalty.</p>
<p>Human rights defenders <a href="https://havanatimes.org/features/chained-hands-feet-activist-sayli-navarro-enters-prison/" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">Felix Navarro and his daughter Sayli Navarro</a>,
who sought to ascertain the plight of detained Cuban protesters, were
themselves arrested and sentenced to long prison terms. There are over
1,000 prisoners of conscience in Cuba. </p>
<p>It was not always this way. </p>
<p>A democratic Cuba helped draft the Universal Declaration of Human
Rights 75 years ago. Carlos Prío Socarrás, Cuba’s last democratic
president, was elected in free and fair elections and <a href="https://www.cubacenter.org/archives/2019/10/10/cubabrief-the-spirit-of-yara-and-cubas-last-legitimately-elected-president" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">took office on October 10, 1948</a>. President Prío valued human rights, as seen by the activities of his diplomats during the United Nations’ founding.</p>
<p>Cuba, Panama, and Chile were the first three countries <a href="https://www.corteidh.or.cr/tablas/25400.pdf" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">to submit full drafts of human rights charters</a>.
Latin American delegations, especially Mexico, Cuba, and Chile inserted
language about the right to justice into the Universal Declaration of
Human Rights, in what would become Article 8. </p>
<p>Cuban delegate Guy Pérez-Cisneros <a href="https://cubanexilequarter.blogspot.com/2020/12/cuba-and-1948-origins-of-universal.html" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">addressed the UN General Assembly</a>
on December 10, 1948 proposing to vote for the Universal Declaration of
Human Rights. The Cuban Ambassador celebrated that it condemned racism
and sexism, and <a href="https://cubanexilequarter.blogspot.com/2020/12/cuba-and-1948-origins-of-universal.html" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">addressed the importance of the rule of law</a>: </p>
<p><i>“My delegation had the honor of inspiring the final text, which
finds it essential that the rights of man be protected by the rule of
law, so that man will not be compelled to exercise the extreme recourse
of rebellion against tyranny and oppression.” </i></p>
<p>Fulgencio Batista <a href="https://sports.yahoo.com/1950s-cubans-soon-learned-moncada-221614597.html" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">overthrew this democratic Cuba on March 10, 1952</a>, Guy Pérez-Cisneros <a href="https://www.ipscuba.net/english-version/spaces/padura-en/guy-perez-cisneros-humanist/" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">died of a stroke in 1953</a>, and hopes for democratic restoration were dashed by the Castro brothers in 1959 when they <a href="https://youtu.be/Jf7M5SP3Q4s" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">imposed a communist dictatorship</a>.</p>
<p>This shared democratic Cuban heritage that in 1948 made world history
must be restored, and Cuban communism dumped on the garbage heap of
history.</p>
<p><i>John Suarez is Executive Director of the </i><a href="https://www.cubacenter.org/" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank"><i>Center for a Free Cuba</i></a><i>.</i></p><p><i><a href="https://victimsofcommunism.org/can-cubas-democratic-legacy-be-recovered/">https://victimsofcommunism.org/can-cubas-democratic-legacy-be-recovered/</a> <br /></i></p>
<p>
<iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/mHC3cVHj6BA?si=xS8WVXrmV9Z-URjy" title="YouTube video player" width="420"></iframe></p>John Suarezhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11333798474560217548noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1419558703918975245.post-46175393039186331662023-11-25T15:52:00.002-05:002023-11-26T00:23:07.292-05:00Holodomor Remembrance Day: Memory and witness for the victims of Stalin's 1932-33 Ukrainian Famine 90 years ago, and calling out Putin's genocide today <p> <i>"In the future, there will be fewer but better Russians." - Greta Garbo, <a href="https://youtu.be/pv9KJC7eYSg">Ninotchka</a>, 1939</i></p><p><i>#HolodomorRemembranceDay <br /></i></p><p><i></i></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-OjMOD6CxUk9VUUpPYDvt9EpmfTIwvBzLgK_VkRsztVOjS2Oh9QvhvqL67hEOlMNlT-5I0zUVgebhCzbNLe181sXKiKw5fQgWV3lf_19-zdRelSL6JBV011IcYmkLPvj4WiZUEu1ykUlC9JMFELj6ZmhBBAlLjWIa_yNNiCDEEk1RU6XJUpYUAelc-qDu/s400/En8UDVXWEAAuLaE.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="400" data-original-width="400" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-OjMOD6CxUk9VUUpPYDvt9EpmfTIwvBzLgK_VkRsztVOjS2Oh9QvhvqL67hEOlMNlT-5I0zUVgebhCzbNLe181sXKiKw5fQgWV3lf_19-zdRelSL6JBV011IcYmkLPvj4WiZUEu1ykUlC9JMFELj6ZmhBBAlLjWIa_yNNiCDEEk1RU6XJUpYUAelc-qDu/w400-h400/En8UDVXWEAAuLaE.jpg" width="400" /></a></i></div><p></p><p><a href="https://holodomormuseum.org.ua/en/holodomor-remembrance-day/">Holodomor Victims Remembrance Day</a>
is held on the <a href="https://twitter.com/ZelenskyyUa/status/1728413269621158145">fourth Saturday of November</a>, at 4:00pm, the memory of
more than 10,5 million Ukrainians killed during Stalin's genocide is
commemorated with a moment of silence and lighting of
candles.<span style="font-size: 100%;"> <br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 100%;">The genocide in Ukraine is known as the <a href="http://www.holodomorct.org/history.html">Holodomor</a>
and took place ninety years ago between 1932 -1933. Millions of children died in an
artificial famine. This crime was ignored by the United States as it <a href="http://www.thenewamerican.com/culture/history/item/4656-holodomor-the-secret-holocaust-in-ukraine">formally recognized the Soviet Union in 1933</a>. <a href="http://www.economist.com/blogs/easternapproaches/2012/11/ukraines-tragic-history">The Economist in 2012 reported</a> on the 80th anniversary of this man-made famine:</span></p><p></p><p></p>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 100%;">Holodomor literally means death by
hunger. In 1932 and 1933, a vast famine in Soviet Ukraine killed three
to seven million people, according to estimates. While people starved,
the grain was shut away in barns for export.</span></div></blockquote><p>The deadliest famines in the 20th century were not in Africa <a href="https://theconversation.com/famines-in-the-21st-century-its-not-for-lack-of-food-73587">but in Europe</a> (Ukraine) and <a href="https://theconversation.com/famines-in-the-21st-century-its-not-for-lack-of-food-73587">China</a>.<br />
Social science research has demonstrated that famines "happen only with some degree of human complicity." Human <a href="https://theconversation.com/famines-in-the-21st-century-its-not-for-lack-of-food-73587">decisions</a> "determine whether a crisis
deteriorates into a full-blown famine."</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgljeIN6FgF2cUW_Qm4vqfBTDiMgf3Q3kb50jYykTlRzzEtgMRBJv7AtgDsWZ9wQCwdJW5C9AYEsDgAHm_ayy2wgBIlR9ekkvxGGBw-2o9nqTrRTb4SkUfnZ5orgFklH7wi3nreaqg23zTVQZQHApwcvMT3ag620CveYQM30qWotbPIWtWB8wrHpfu5sSzT/s400/Enm0RYhXcAU_J0l.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="225" data-original-width="400" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgljeIN6FgF2cUW_Qm4vqfBTDiMgf3Q3kb50jYykTlRzzEtgMRBJv7AtgDsWZ9wQCwdJW5C9AYEsDgAHm_ayy2wgBIlR9ekkvxGGBw-2o9nqTrRTb4SkUfnZ5orgFklH7wi3nreaqg23zTVQZQHApwcvMT3ag620CveYQM30qWotbPIWtWB8wrHpfu5sSzT/w400-h225/Enm0RYhXcAU_J0l.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /> <span style="font-size: normal;"><span><span>According to <a href="https://yalebooks.yale.edu/book/9780300195811/famine-politics-maoist-china-and-soviet-union">Felix Wemheuer</a>, professor of Modern China Studies at the University of Cologne, </span>in his book <u>Famine Politics in Maoist China and the Soviet Union</u>," during the twentieth century, 80 percent of all famine victims worldwide died in China and the Soviet Union." </span></span><p></p><p><span style="font-size: normal;"></span></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHdXqH5-sRNA5THhbmxBrDIweDR3A4MkBg3Q7UrMJfPL_mYWEOGwpzzDm7KoBVHtKtZjRy_qYDdXJL3vD05IGElYDHWPl_cnAB2M283jyPtTC52LaoK_hZY68g_t3G3pBKde82W69HS6SP5CN2E5wfRdwTdLKiINffNTGvGSc7NzFBeVVW3NejSbgM6OfO/s399/jstalin.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="297" data-original-width="399" height="297" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHdXqH5-sRNA5THhbmxBrDIweDR3A4MkBg3Q7UrMJfPL_mYWEOGwpzzDm7KoBVHtKtZjRy_qYDdXJL3vD05IGElYDHWPl_cnAB2M283jyPtTC52LaoK_hZY68g_t3G3pBKde82W69HS6SP5CN2E5wfRdwTdLKiINffNTGvGSc7NzFBeVVW3NejSbgM6OfO/w400-h297/jstalin.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: normal;"><span>Millions starved to death <a href="https://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/millions-of-ukrainian-peasants-starved-to-death-under-brutal-famine-imposed-by-joseph-stalin/news-story/365241687aa6bac8e4c4b29caa1bb803">under brutal famine</a> imposed by Joseph Stalin</span></span></td></tr></tbody></table><span style="font-size: normal;"><br /><span><span>However, to understand the nature of
famine politics in communist regimes the monograph of Andrea Graziosi
and Frank E. Sysyn in the <a href="https://www.ewjus.com/index.php/ewjus/article/view/216">East/West: Journal of Ukranian Studies </a>titled "Communism and Hunger" is <a href="https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=2ahUKEwj65cb489LgAhVkZN8KHfaDD18QFjAAegQIYRAC&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ewjus.com%2Findex.php%2Fewjus%2Farticle%2Fdownload%2F216%2F84&usg=AOvVaw09vTENrYCRotOaEc95FS26">required reading</a>. Consider the <a href="https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=2ahUKEwj65cb489LgAhVkZN8KHfaDD18QFjAAegQIYRAC&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ewjus.com%2Findex.php%2Fewjus%2Farticle%2Fdownload%2F216%2F84&usg=AOvVaw09vTENrYCRotOaEc95FS26">following</a>:</span><br />
</span></span><p></p><blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-size: normal;"><span>"In fact, with the exception of the 1943
Bengal famine with its approximately two million victims, all of the
other major famines of the twentieth century are directly connected to
socialist "experiments": in 1921 and 1922 in Russia and Ukraine (
1million - 1.5 million deaths); in 1931, 1932, and 1933 in the USSR (6.5
million - 7.5 million deaths, of which 4 million were in <a href="https://cubanexilequarter.blogspot.com/2017/01/bitter-harvest-one-hundred-years-of.html">Ukraine</a>
and 1.3 million - 1.5 million in Kazakhstan); in 1946 and 1947 in the
USSR (1 million - 1.5 million deaths); from 1958 to 1962 in China (30
million - 45 million deaths); from 1983 to 1985 in <a href="https://sites.tufts.edu/atrocityendings/2015/08/07/ethiopia/">Ethiopia</a>
(0.5 million - 1.0 million deaths); and from 1994 to 1998 in North
Korea ( estimates vary from a few hundred thousand to more than 2
million deaths)."</span></span></blockquote><p><span style="font-size: normal;">
<span>This was not due to poor central
planning and socialist inefficiencies, but a deliberate policy of
genocide against targeted population to consolidate political control by
eliminating those who do not support their regime. The percentage of
victims in the USSR and China relative to their respective overall
populations were the same (5%). In the case of the USSR that meant
around 7 million deaths out of a population of 160 million and in the
case of China estimates between 30 million and <a href="https://cubanexilequarter.blogspot.com/2017/09/what-new-york-times-missed-on-chinese.html">45 million deaths</a> out of a population of 600 million. The <a href="http://ucrdc.org/Film-Harvest_of_Despair.html">Ukrainian Research and Documentary Center</a> on the 50th anniversary of the Holodomor released the documentary <a href="https://youtu.be/IHm_1uN80s0">Harvest of Despair</a>.</span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: normal;"><span></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://youtu.be/IHm_1uN80s0?si=3kvjcbDeFpTSQK3J"><span style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="224" data-original-width="400" height="224" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTP97B-u7Ith1gHaXL1TerPsuNP9-LPrKjYgMqZGgC2XvKzSxesd5PKVC1mFOMRMYPNvlPJMHH3KlxhaMWHclUoEm8UPmhDdd70NHACefwD01rlY9AcrbvVUaavb5sdxlMi3sW_aWECBtQLbXyRhdkla_AIgMhfIPDYBtVN156z0xET7Pl4PvLspmhoM9F/w400-h224/harvestofdespair.png" width="400" /></span></a></div><br /> We must also remember those who bore witness and spoke truth, and those who covered it up. <a href="https://cubanexilequarter.blogspot.com/2020/11/the-high-price-of-good-journalism-case.html">Gareth Jones</a>, a <a href="http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/gareth-jones-hailed-ukraine-famine-4571451">Welsh</a> journalist <a href="http://www.garethjones.org/soviet_articles/walking_tour.htm">broke the story on the Ukranian famine on March 29, 1933</a> despite official denials. Walter Duranty of <u>The New York Times</u> wrote an article a day later <a href="http://www.garethjones.org/soviet_articles/russians_hungry_not_starving.htm">rebutting Jones's claims</a> that was published <a href="http://www.garethjones.org/soviet_articles/russians_hungry_not_starving.htm">in the paper of record</a>
on March 31, 1933. Duranty knew that what Jones published was true, but
he sought to appease his Soviet hosts, and remain in the country.<p></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvfkk_hF8ADj_voe_T3pxFZVUy5UFqPg9ckmwHazBOXjxfIVUTKi1d8g2eM1n6fguzNajjkXdRt7qcK0oBBvQRVTOCSfzBDbauUM1EIS0G5NammdZ9kcfK_fQYZxt9fn_DfSYbbZS2ITegsI1hFjMo0fi-QybatEgEitGjQabhNmZKBgwBogfXs0bBsgtY/s320/CYUCgljUoAAsPpK.jpg%20large.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="298" data-original-width="320" height="373" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvfkk_hF8ADj_voe_T3pxFZVUy5UFqPg9ckmwHazBOXjxfIVUTKi1d8g2eM1n6fguzNajjkXdRt7qcK0oBBvQRVTOCSfzBDbauUM1EIS0G5NammdZ9kcfK_fQYZxt9fn_DfSYbbZS2ITegsI1hFjMo0fi-QybatEgEitGjQabhNmZKBgwBogfXs0bBsgtY/w400-h373/CYUCgljUoAAsPpK.jpg%20large.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><span style="font-size: small;"><br /> The Russians, under the dictatorship of Vladimir Putin, are engaging in genocide again. People of goodwill cannot remain silent, or worse try to
minimize what is taking place. </span><blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p dir="ltr" lang="en"><span style="font-size: small;">Olena <a href="https://twitter.com/ZelenskaUA?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@ZelenskaUA</a> and I joined the commemoration of the Holodomor genocide.<br /><br />Today, the Ukrainian people are united in their prayers, desire for justice, and the flame of our national memory.<br /><br />Ukraine will never forget the millions of our people who were killed by starvation. <a href="https://t.co/YlOYJvGmzS">pic.twitter.com/YlOYJvGmzS</a></span></p><span style="font-size: small;">— Volodymyr Zelenskyy / Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) <a href="https://twitter.com/ZelenskyyUa/status/1728367139000877490?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 25, 2023</a></span></blockquote> <span style="font-size: small;"><script async="" charset="utf-8" src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script></span> <p><span style="font-size: small;">It also saddens me that the Castro regime in Cuba is not siding with the little country being invaded by a superpower, but is instead siding with the aggressor, sending Cuban soldiers to fight for war criminal Vladimir Putin in Ukraine.</span></p>
<iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/BJdYdm1k6Uw?si=5eSsQmnHI7deCsGD" title="YouTube video player" width="420"></iframe><p>If you are in the Washington DC area today then please consider joining in a nonviolent act of remembrance marking 90 years since this Russian act of genocide.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjoYWTQpOtjI42VHWz-HM1RUiSBMV0UEAzvqQOzOWMZ27VHmhIAUYK8R4RG5XljfsLfeZYt6GL-tBx5Ut9XSy-UGM7lH0D-O15oczPCBadL24u-3plnbom7Wjhx_sCjagBCFJtcUktSoNHZ-2rPnpX8eRsNEToS0sOIdlQ_blBeNPNKx4QRtvbrKT7omSs_/s1068/F_yxzoEXIAEInHr.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1068" data-original-width="823" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjoYWTQpOtjI42VHWz-HM1RUiSBMV0UEAzvqQOzOWMZ27VHmhIAUYK8R4RG5XljfsLfeZYt6GL-tBx5Ut9XSy-UGM7lH0D-O15oczPCBadL24u-3plnbom7Wjhx_sCjagBCFJtcUktSoNHZ-2rPnpX8eRsNEToS0sOIdlQ_blBeNPNKx4QRtvbrKT7omSs_/w309-h400/F_yxzoEXIAEInHr.jpg" width="309" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p>John Suarezhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11333798474560217548noreply@blogger.com0