#TwelveMonths after the #11J protests in #Cuba: A reflection and call to action

Take the truth as a weapon, placing it in practice in the civic field, what Scripture proposed in the spiritual realm: "the truth shall make you free". Bishop Agustín Román, December 16, 2006

Cubans march under a banner declaring "Down with dictatorship" and "Patria y Vida"

Tens of thousands of Cubans marched in over 50 cities and towns in the island nation beginning on July 11, 2021 and were met with threats, violence, mass arrests, and deadly force that brought these nationwide protests to an end on July 13, 2021, , but sporadic protests continue in Cuba despite the regime's efforts to shut them all down. In one week, a year will have passed.

How did it begin?

A protester from San Antonio de los Baños told BBC Mundo that the initial protest was organized on Saturday[July 10, 2021] through social networks for Sunday [July 11, 2021] at 11:30 AM (local time). Reuters on August 9th reported in more detail on the social network used, and its background confirming the initial reporting by the BBC. On Sunday July 11, 2021 in the late morning hundreds of Cubans took to the streets of San Antonio de los Baños and were soon joined by thousands more.

Thinking that this would be a replay of the August 5, 1994 Maleconazo the Castro regime sent out its repressive forces to quell the protest in San Antonio de los Baños, and President Miguel Diaz-Canel arrived to the protest site to claim that all had returned to normal, but it was too late, the protests had been seen through social media and multiplied across Cuba.

The non-violent protests continued and spread across Cuba with Cubans chanting "the streets belong to the people", "Homeland and Life", "Freedom", "We are not afraid", and "Down with Communism." 

Why did it start?

First, protests in Cuba are not a rare phenomenon. Nationwide or mass protests involving thousands and tens of thousands are rare due to the lack of communication, regime surveillance, repression and the right to peaceful assembly is not recognized in Cuba.  Havana on August 5, 1994 had a social explosion with large numbers of protesters and they were met with an extremely violent response from the dictatorship.

Secondly, this time was different. Fidel Castro was dead five years, and Raul Castro, who turned 90 in 2021, is a shadow of his former self.  Sixty two years of communist dictatorship had millions of Cubans desiring change.

There were or other aggravating factors.

Let Cubans die to advance "home grown vaccine" claim

Tîcö Äwö Ôrümîlä, buried grandmother in mass grave in the Juan González cemetery in Santiago, Cuba. (Facebook)

 The Cuban government's decision not to get foreign vaccines for Cubans in order to claim that Cuba was the first country in the world to vaccinate their entire population with homegrown vaccines caused many deaths.

Officials decided not to acquire vaccines from their allies, China and Russia, or sign up with the United Nation's COVAX program. Russian and Chinese vaccines became available in Latin America as early as December 2020.

Official regime journalist Leticia Martinez Hernandez over Twitter on May 18, 2021 bragged that "Cuba will be the first country in the world to vaccinate their whole population with their own vaccines. Live to see!" 

Havana's foreign ministry on June 9, 2021 repeated the same campaign theme: "Cuba could be the first country to immunize its entire population with its own vaccines. The population wants and trusts the vaccine candidates, our science, and the country's experience in vaccine development."  

Officials rejected using alternative vaccines over the six months that they were available, because their  first "homegrown vaccines" had not been ready for clinical trials until May 2021 in Havana, and in the rest of the island until June 2021.

Cuban official statistics on COVID-19 infections and deaths are not reliable. Professor Duane Gubler of the Duke-NUS Medical School in Singapore in the January 8, 2019 New Scientist report, "Cuba failed to report thousands of Zika virus cases in 2017", stated matter of factly that "Cuba has a history of not reporting epidemics until they become obvious." Doctors and journalists have been jailed in Cuba for speaking truthfully on past disease outbreaks.   

Thousands of Cubans did not live to see the home grown vaccines, and died by the score.

Following July protests in Cuba, officials in August 2021 accepted China's sinopharm vaccine and began providing it to Cubans. This was at least nine months after it had already started to be distributed in the rest of Latin America. 

Havana used the pretext of the pandemic to tighten monopoly control over distribution of assistance with zero transparency, and refused to allow farmers markets. Cubans are resentful of this internal blockade placed on them.

Volunteers collect humanitarian aid collected in Miami to be sent to Cuba.

In 2020 the Castro regime seized a humanitarian shipment that would have helped tens of thousands of Cubans.They continue to block grassroots efforts today. 

The Biden Administration in early July 2021 granted a temporary authorization from the US Department of Transportation for two cargo airlines to travel to the island with humanitarian cargo. According to 14ymedio the "permit, which will be in force until November 30 and was made public on August 13, includes charter flights 'for emergency medical purposes, search and rescue, and other trips considered of interest to the United States.'” Two months had passed and there was still no response from Havana, despite the urgent need on the ground.

The Castro regime seized and collectivized properties, and prohibited farmers selling their crops to non-state entities, in the early years of the revolution. The Cuban government established production quotas and farmers were (and are) obligated to sell to the state collection agency, called Acopio. Most recent law on agriculture in Cuba ( Decreto Ley 358 de 2018) continues to prohibit private sales of agricultural products to non-state entities. 50% of crops rot waiting on Acopios to collect them. During prior crises in the 1980s and 1990s officials had allowed farmers markets, temporarily to emerge and sell their produce directly to Cubans to alleviate hardship then shut them down after the crisis. This practice was not permitted during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Between 70% and 80% of Cuba's food is imported. Since 2000, much of the food purchased by Havana has been imported from the United States, but the only legal importer is the Cuban government that price gouges Cubans with 400% and higher price markups.

On July 14, 2021 the Cuban Prime Minister Manuel Marrero appeared on television and announced that the dictatorship would "temporarily lift restrictions on the quantity of food and medicine incoming travelers could bring into Cuba."

How did the 11J protests end?

President Miguel Diaz-Canel, in a public address on July 11, 2021 threatened: 

"They [protesters] would have to pass over our dead bodies if they want to confront the revolution, and we are willing to resort to anything." 

What did Cuba's top official mean by this? Diaz-Canel did not mince words: 

"We are calling on all the revolutionaries of the country, all the communists, to take to the streets and go to the places where these provocations are going to take place today from now on, and in all these days and face it decisively, firmly, with courage." 

The Castro regime's president concluded declaring, "the order of combat is given, revolutionaries take to the streets."

Unarmed protesters beaten, shot and killed by regime agents.

Videos emerged of Cuban officials firing on fleeing unarmed protesters in Cuban neighborhoods, and other footage emerged of Cuban protesters showing where the bullets had passed through their bodies.

Diubis Laurencio Tejeda, (age 36) was shot in the back by police on July 12, 2021

Havana officially recognized one Cuban killed on July 12th during the continuing protests, Diubis Laurencio Tejeda, (age 36). He was shot in the back by regime officials on day two of nationwide protests in Cuba. Reports have been received that family members of those killed have been threatened to remain silent.  

Christian Díaz, age 24, disappeared after joining the 11J protests. Relatives on July 12, 2021 reported him missing to the PNR in Cárdenas. Police told his father that Christian was jailed in Matanzas. On August 5, 2021 officials informed his family he’d drowned in the sea and was buried in a mass grave. His family is convinced he was beaten to death. 

Christian Díaz, age 24, disappeared during 11J protests.

Cuban protesters were met with extreme violence by the dictatorship, but continued to take to the streets over three days before the extreme repression, and militarization of all Cuba shut them down.

Thousands detained

 Yoani Sanchez's news outfit 14ymedio reported more than 5,000 protesters detained on July 13, 2021.

On Saturday, July 17 the regime held their official rally, and even there they could not obtain unanimity and violently dragged out an unknown protester who screamed "Freedom."

Hundreds of political show trials

Over 550 Cuban protesters have been sentenced to over 4,000 collective years in prison, but not all were protesters. Dayron Martín Rodríguez was sentenced to 30 years in prison for recording the protests that he happened upon.

Dayron Martín sentenced to 30 years of prison for filming protests (Photo: Claudia Peiro)

On January 13, 2022, France24 reported on the plight of Dayron Martín Rodríguez (age 36) who was sentenced to 30 years in prison. He was "detained in La Güinera. Dayron went out "to buy food for his pigeons when he ran into the rally," said his mother, Esmeralda Rodríguez (age 63), who added that "he started recording to send his father the video." He felt the stones hitting him, he fell and lost his phone. Video emerged during the 11J protests of police throwing rocks and firing on unarmed protesters. Esmeralda Rodríguez, "suffered a pre-infarction when she found out in Ecuador, where she emigrated. eight years ago" that her son had been sentenced to 30 years in prison. 

Regime officials are doing everything possible to terrorize Cubans into silence with long and unjust prison sentences, and a continued militarized presence on Cuba's streets. It is important to note that the worse punishments were meted out not to protesters, but to those who recorded the protests, and shared it over social media.   

More draconian laws

Following the 11J protests on August 18, 2021 Havana brought Decree-Law 35 into force. Human Rights Watch reported that "the decree, which has the stated purpose of 'defending' the Cuban revolution, requires telecommunications providers to interrupt, suspend, or terminate their services when a user publishes information that is 'fake' or affects 'public morality' and the 'respect of public order.'

On May 15, 2022 the Cuban dictatorship issued a new penal code that punishes with "penalties of 10 to 30 years – in extreme cases even death" for "those who give information to international organizations, associations or even people who have not been authorized by the government." Insulting or attacking officials or civilians doing their “citizens’ duty” can jail you for up to five years. Five years in prison if you “incite” against the socialist order,  and 10 years if you use communications media to do it.

The political show trials continue in Cuba, and so does the repression combined with the uncertainties around the new repressive laws, and penal code. 

Call to action

On the evening of July 11, 2021  I was outside of the Cuban Embassy in Washington DC with others protesting the repression of the dictatorship, and in solidarity with Cubans on the island demanding freedom, but we had long planned the protest to remember the victims of the July 13, 1994 "13 de marzo" tugboat sinking and the martyrdom on July 22, 2012 of Oswaldo Payá Sardiñas, and Harold Cepero Escalante by the secret police.

Last year, we were at the Cuban Embassy protesting repression, remembering victims, and martyrs. We will be there again on July 11 at 7:00pm.  

July 13th now has a double significance for victims of communism in China and Cuba

Free Cubans and Chinese share a common day to mourn victims of communism.

 Over the past 27 years Cubans have mourned the 37 men, women, and children who were extrajudicially executed by agents of the Cuban government on July 13, 1994 "13 de Marzo" tugboat was attacked and sunk.

Tragically, Chinese are mourning Chinese Nobel Peace Prize Laureate and human rights defender Liu Xiaobo who died four years ago on July 13, 2017 at the First Hospital of China Medical University, Shenyang, China after being unjustly imprisoned from December 8, 2008 until his untimely death. It is likely that he died of a cancer made terminal by politically motivated neglect. Today marks the one year of his passing. After eight years in "unofficial detention" his widow Liu Xia was finally allowed to leave China on July 10, 2018.

Liu Xiaobo  was one of the authors of Charter 08 and signed it along with more than three hundred Chinese citizens. The Charter is a manifesto that was released on December 10, 2008, the 60th anniversary of the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. It calls for more freedom of expression, human rights, more democratic elections, the privatization of state enterprises and economic liberalization and would collect over 10,000 signatures.

Charter 08 is reminiscent of the Varela Project that was initially signed by 11,020 Cubans in May of 2002 calling on the Cuban government to respect international human rights norms and engage in the same kind of reforms. Both were inspired by Vaclav Havel and Charter 77. Lamentably one of the authors of the Varela Project, Oswaldo Payá Sardiñas, founding leader of the Christian Liberation Movement and a youth leader of the same movement, Harold Cepero Escalante were both extrajudicially executed nine years ago on July 22, 2012 in a crash engineered by the Cuban dictatorship's agents.

The demand for justice remains unfulfilled in all these cases, but we must not despair.

We bear witness embracing truth and memory in defiance of the attempt to whitewash and forget. Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel explained the importance of doing this in his 1986 Nobel Lecture on why it is important to remember:  

"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." ... "There may be times when we are powerless to prevent injustice, but there must never be a time when we fail to protest." 

In 2017, I was present at a candlelight vigil in Washington, DC on July 17th organized by the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation to pay my respects for Liu Xiaobo and demonstrate my solidarity with Chinese human rights defenders.

On Sunday, July 11, 2021 I was in front of the Cuban embassy in a vigil for the 37 victims of the July 13, 1994 "13 de Marzo" tugboat massacre and in solidarity with Cubans that had taken to the streets of over 50 towns and cities across Cuba. Together with scores of others we lit candles and said prayers for these victims of communism, their loved ones, and for justice.

We continue to remember.

 

July 13, 2017
Liu Xiaobo, Age: 61

July 22, 2012
Oswaldo Payá Sardiñas, Age: 60
Harold Cepero Escalante, Age: 32

July 13, 1994
Hellen Martínez Enriquez. Age: 5 Months
Xicdy Rodríguez Fernández. Age: 2
Angel René Abreu Ruíz. Age: 3
José Carlos Niclas Anaya. Age: 3
Giselle Borges Alvarez. Age: 4
Caridad Leyva Tacoronte. Age: 5
Juan Mario Gutiérrez García. Age: 10
Yousell Eugenio Pérez Tacoronte. Age: 11
Yasser Perodín Almanza. Age: 11
Eliécer Suárez Plasencia. Age: 12
Mayulis Méndez Tacoronte. Age: 17
Miladys Sanabria Leal. Age: 19
Joel García Suárez. Age: 20
Odalys Muñoz García. Age: 21
Yalta Mila Anaya Carrasco. Age: 22
Luliana Enríquez Carrazana. Age: 22
Jorge Gregorio Balmaseda Castillo. Age: 24
Lissett María Alvarez Guerra. Age: 24
Ernesto Alfonso Loureiro. Age: 25
María Miralis Fernández Rodríguez. Age: 27
Leonardo Notario Góngora. Age: 28
Jorge Arquímedes Levrígido Flores. Age: 28
Pilar Almanza Romero. Age: 31
Rigoberto Feu González. Age: 31
Omar Rodríguez Suárez. Age: 33
Lázaro Enrique Borges Briel. Age: 34
Julia Caridad Ruíz Blanco. Age: 35
Martha Caridad Tacoronte Vega. Age: 35
Eduardo Suárez Esquivel. Age: 38
Martha Mirella Carrasco Sanabria. Age: 45
Augusto Guillermo Guerra Martínez. Age: 45
Rosa María Alcalde Puig. Age: 47
Estrella Suárez Esquivel. Age: 48
Reynaldo Joaquín Marrero Alamo. Age: 48
Amado González Raices. Age: 50
Fidencio Ramel Prieto Hernández. Age: 51
Manuel Cayol. Age: 56

Remembering Cuba's martyrs from July: Oswaldo Payá Sardiñas, Harold Cepero Escalante and the "13 de marzo" tugboat massacre

"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." - Elie Wiesel

Although July is the first full month of summer for Cubans it is overshadowed by crimes that darken what should be a sunny and joyous time.

Two awful days will be observed this month:

First, 26 years ago on July 13, 1994 Cuban government agents killed 37 Cubans trying to flee Cuba aboard the "13 de marzo" tugboat. 

Second, eight years ago on July 22, 2012 Cuban agents rammed a car Oswaldo Payá Sardiñas and Harold Cepero Escalante were traveling in Cuba.

Both bodies appeared later. There is evidence that Oswaldo and Harold were extra-judicially executed.

What plans do you have to honor the memory of these Cubans killed during July under suspicious circumstances that have never been cleared up?

Acts of remembrance to mark 25 years since the "13 de marzo" tugboat sinking

“For the survivor who chooses to testify, it is clear: his duty is to bear witness for the dead and for the living. He has no right to deprive future generations of a past that belongs to our collective memory. To forget would be not only dangerous but offensive; to forget the dead would be akin to killing them a second time.” - Elie Wiesel, Night

Twenty five years have passed but the victims are not forgotten, the survivors continue bear witness, and this crime is part of our collective memory along with our continued demand for justice.

July 13th marks 25 years since 37 men, women and children were massacred by Cuban government agents who sank the tugboat they were on and used high pressure hoses to drown them. July 13th also marks two years since Nobel Peace Prize Laureate and Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo died of "multiple organ failure" while still under the custody of the Chinese communists. Friends and family had expressed concern that he was not receiving proper medical care.  On July 22, 2012 Oswaldo Payá Sardiñas and Harold Cepero Escalante were killed for dedicating their lives to a nonviolent transition to democracy and freedom in Cuba.

Five years ago visual artist Rolando Pulido created an artwork that became a visual reference at protests observing the 20th anniversary of the "13 de marzo" tugboat massacre. He has now updated it to mark the protest to be held tomorrow night (Wednesday, July 10 at 8pm) at the Cuban Embassy (2630 16th St NW, Washington, DC 20009) to mark 25 years without justice with a 25 minute silent vigil.

On Saturday at the Museum of the Cuban Diaspora located at 1200 Coral Way, Jorge Garcia, who lost 14 family members in the "13 de marzo" tugboat massacre will give a presentation of an edition of his book on the subject that has now been translated to English.  Ramon Saul Sanchez and Marcel Felipe are co-hosting the event. Below is a tweet from Ramon Saul Sanchez of Movimiento Democracia announcing the event.

Te invitamos a la Conmemoracion del 25to Aniversario de la Masacre del Remolcador 13 de Marzo y la presentacion del libro en ingles de Jorge Garcia, este sabado 13 de julio, 2 PM, en el Museo de la Diáspora Cubana, 1200 Coral Way. Tel. 305 785 0669.

— Ramon Saul Sanchez (@saulsanchez) July 8, 2019

Jorge Garcia and survivors of the massacre, such as Sergio Perodin, have done the hard work of bearing witness both for the dead and the living. It is a heavy burden they carry, but a necessary one to safeguard memory from the malicious fictions propagated by the Castro regime's propagandists.

Below is a playlist of videos beginning with Inspire America Foundation's announcement of the event on Saturday, July 13 at 2pm. The videos are mostly in Spanish, but some are subtitled in English. Please share them widely with others, and let them know about this terrible crime.

Fact Sheet on July 13, 1994 "13 de Marzo" Tugboat Massacre

Reconciliation necessitates both truth and justice.

 

On July 13, 1994, a group of 72 Cubans, including children and women, tried to escape from the Island of Cuba aboard an old tugboat. State Security Forces, and four Coast Guard boats of the Havana regime intercepted the boat 7 miles off the coast of Cuba, with water jets from pressure hoses pulled people off the deck, tore the children from the arms of their mothers and sank the tugboat. 37 people were murdered, 11 of them children.  

Fact 1:  In the early morning hours of July 13, 1994, four boats belonging to the Cuban State and equipped with water hoses attacked an old tugboat that was fleeing Cuba with 72 people on board.  The incident occurred seven miles off the Cuban coast, opposite the port of Havana.  The complaint also indicates that the Cuban State boats attacked the runaway tug with their prows with the intention of sinking it, while at the same time spraying everyone on the deck of the boat, including women and children, with pressurized water.  The pleas of the women and children to stop the attack were in vain, and the old boat--named "13 de Marzo"--sank, with a toll of 41 deaths, including ten minors.  Thirty-one people survived the events of July 13, 1994.

Source:  IACHR REPORT Nº 47/96 CASE 11.436 VICTIMS OF THE TUGBOAT "13 DE MARZO" vs. CUBA     October 16, 1996  http://www.cidh.org/annualrep/96eng/Cuba11436.htm

Fact 2: According to eyewitnesses who survived the disaster, no sooner had the tug "13 de Marzo" set off from the Cuban port than two boats from the same state enterprise began pursuing it.  About 45 minutes into the trip, when the tug was seven miles away from the Cuban coast--in a place known as "La Poceta"--two other boats belonging to said enterprise appeared, equipped with tanks and water hoses, proceeded to attack the old tug.  "Polargo 2," one of the boats belonging to the Cuban state enterprise, blocked the old tug "13 de Marzo" in the front, while the other, "Polargo 5," attacked from behind, splitting the stern.  The two other government boats positioned themselves on either side and sprayed everyone on deck with pressurized water, using their hoses.

Source:  IACHR REPORT Nº 47/96 CASE 11.436 VICTIMS OF THE TUGBOAT "13 DE MARZO" vs. CUBA     October 16, 1996  http://www.cidh.org/annualrep/96eng/Cuba11436.htm

Fact 3: The pleas of the women and children on the deck of the tug "13 de Marzo" did nothing to stop the attack.  The boat sank, with a toll of 41 dead.  Many people perished because the jets of water directed at everyone on deck forced them to seek refuge in the engine room.  The survivors also affirmed that the crews of the four Cuban government boats were dressed in civilian clothes and that they did not help them when they were sinking.

Source:  IACHR REPORT Nº 47/96 CASE 11.436 VICTIMS OF THE TUGBOAT "13 DE MARZO" vs. CUBA     October 16, 1996  http://www.cidh.org/annualrep/96eng/Cuba11436.htm

Fact 4: In  the  days  immediately  following  the  tragedy,  the  authorities  attempted  to  prevent  any protest or public demonstration of grief.    A mass for the victims had to be cancelled and people  wearing  black  armbands  as  a  sign  of  mourning  were  also  reportedly  detained briefly.    Relatives  of  the  victims were  also  reportedly  prevented  from  throwing  flowers into the sea on the grounds that that is only usually done for “martyrs of the Revolution”. On  23  July  1994 Aida  Rosa  Jiménezof  the Movimiento  de  Madres  Cubanas  Por  la Solidaridad,  Movement  of  Cuban  Mothers  for  Solidarity,  which  had  called  on  Cuba women to wear black or purple ribbons for three days as a sign of mourning, was arrested at her home and taken to State Security headquarters at Villa Marista. She was reportedly told by officials that it was because of her efforts to encourage people to attend a mass in commemoration of the victims of the tugboat sinking.

Source: Amnesty International "Human Rights Defenders and Activists  Cuba: The sinking of the "13 de Marzo" Tugboat on 13 July 1994" 30 June 1997, Index number: AMR 25/013/1997  https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/amr25/013/1997/en/ 

Fact 5: In  1996,  in  his  report  to  the  52nd  Session  of  the  UN  Commission  on  Human Rights7, the Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial, Summary or Arbitrary Executions stated that he had transmitted allegations concerning the case to the Cuban Government in June 1995  and  expressed  deep  concern  that  he  had  not  received  a reply.  He  urged  that  the allegations  be properly investigated, the perpetrators brought to justice and the victims’ families compensated.    The UN Special Rapporteur on Cuba, in his interim report to the UN General Assembly dated 7 October 1996, also expressed serious concern “about the fact that an event of this magnitude, in which 37 people died, has not been investigated”. 

Source: Amnesty International "Human Rights Defenders and Activists  Cuba: The sinking of the "13 de Marzo" Tugboat on 13 July 1994" 30 June 1997, Index number: AMR 25/013/1997  https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/amr25/013/1997/en/  

Fact 6:  Despite consistent testimonies that four Transportation Ministry boats fired water cannons onto the decks of the tugboat and later rammed and sank it, President Castro denied a government role in the sinking.131 Although President Castro asserted that Cuba had fully investigated the incident, the commission noted that Cuba never recovered the bodies lost in the tugboat, nor the boat itself, and concluded that "there was no judicial investigation and the political organs directed by the Cuban Chief of State rushed to absolve of all responsibility the officials who went to meet the 13 de Marzo tugboat."132

Source: Human Rights Watch,Cuba's Repressive Machinery https://www.hrw.org/reports/1999/cuba/Cuba996-11.htm  (1999)

Fact 7:  The victims who died in the incident of July 13, 1994 are:  Leonardo Notario Góngora (27), Marta Tacoronte Vega (36), Caridad Leyva Tacoronte (36), Yausel Eugenio Pérez Tacoronte (11), Mayulis Méndez Tacoronte (17), Odalys Muñoz García (21), Pilar Almanza Romero (30), Yaser Perodín Almanza (11), Manuel Sánchez Callol (58), Juliana Enriquez Carrasana (23), Helen Martínez Enríquez (6 months), Reynaldo Marrero (45), Joel García Suárez (24), Juan Mario Gutiérrez García (10), Ernesto Alfonso Joureiro (25), Amado Gonzáles Raices (50), Lázaro Borges Priel (34), Liset Alvarez Guerra (24), Yisel Borges Alvarez (4), Guillermo Cruz Martínez (46), Fidelio Ramel Prieto-Hernández (51), Rosa María Alcalde Preig (47), Yaltamira Anaya Carrasco (22), José Carlos Nicole Anaya (3), María Carrasco Anaya (44), Julia Caridad Ruiz Blanco (35), Angel René Abreu Ruiz (3), Jorge Arquímides Lebrijio Flores (28), Eduardo Suárez Esquivel (39), Elicer Suárez Plascencia, Omar Rodríguez Suárez (33), Miralis Fernández Rodríguez (28), Cindy Rodríguez Fernández (2), José Gregorio Balmaceda Castillo (24), Rigoberto Feut Gonzáles (31), Midalis Sanabria Cabrera (19).

Source:  IACHR REPORT Nº 47/96 CASE 11.436 VICTIMS OF THE TUGBOAT "13 DE MARZO" vs. CUBA     October 16, 1996  http://www.cidh.org/annualrep/96eng/Cuba11436.htm

Fact 8:  Oswaldo Payá Sardiñas, who was murdered on July 22, 2012 by state security agents, addressed the significance of this crime. "Behind the Christ of Havana, about seven miles from the coast, "volunteers" of the Communist regime committed one of the most heinous crimes in the history of our city and of Cuba." ... "Let the silenced bells toll. But let them toll for all the victims of terror that in reality is only one sole victim: the Cuban people that without distinctions, suffers the loss of each one of their children." 

Source: Human Rights Watch,Cuba's Repressive Machinery https://www.hrw.org/reports/1999/cuba/Cuba996-11.htm  (1999)

Dead Refugees and the Cuban Foreign Minister's Crocodile Tears

The Castro regime has the custom of declaring that the U.S. has "no moral authority" to criticize the systemic human rights violations that go on in Cuba. However, officials from the dictatorship do not follow their own advice.

Last week on June 26th, Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez tweeted about the tragic death of Óscar Alberto Martínez Ramírez and his daughter Valeria, two refugees, who drowned trying to reach the United States.  Castro's foreign minister blamed capitalism for causing the poverty that led to their desire to migrate. These are crocodile tears and recent Cuban history bears this out.

Diosbel Díaz Bioto went missing December 16, 2014

On December 16, 2014 the Cuban coastguard ram and sank a boat with 32 refugees, one of them, Diosbel Díaz Bioto, went missing and is assumed drowned.

Yuriniesky Martínez Reina, age 28, (pictured above in organge) was shot in the back by state security chief Miguel Angel Río Seco Rodríguez in the Martí municipality of Matanzas, Cuba on April 9, 2015 for trying to leave Cuba. He was part of a group of young men building a boat near Menéndez beach to flee the island, and were shot at by state security when they were spotted trying to leave.  Yuriniesky was found face down in some brush two days later by his brother.

These are not isolated cases but a pattern that stretches back decades. The Castro regime has a history of extreme cruelty against Cuban refugees and migrants, and those who try to document what happens to them. Below is a partial accounting.

July 13th will mark 25 years since the sinking of the "13 de marzo"tugboat massacre were 37 Cubans, of which 11 were children, were massacred by Castro regime agents six miles from the Havana coast line. Wrote about this crime in greater detail on June 13th and quoted some of the observations made by Oswaldo Payá Sardiñas on the incident. However the previous post failed to list the names of the 37 massacre victims, all killed on July 13, 1994. Below are the names listed by age.

Hellen Martínez Enriquez. Age: 5 Months
Xicdy Rodríguez Fernández. Age: 2
Angel René Abreu Ruíz. Age: 3
José Carlos Niclas Anaya. Age: 3
Giselle Borges Alvarez. Age: 4
Caridad Leyva Tacoronte. Age: 5
Juan Mario Gutiérrez García. Age: 10
Yousell Eugenio Pérez Tacoronte. Age: 11
Yasser Perodín Almanza. Age: 11
Eliécer Suárez Plasencia. Age: 12
Mayulis Méndez Tacoronte. Age: 17
Miladys Sanabria Leal. Age: 19
Joel García Suárez. Age: 20
Odalys Muñoz García. Age: 21
Yalta Mila Anaya Carrasco. Age: 22
Luliana Enríquez Carrazana. Age: 22
Jorge Gregorio Balmaseda Castillo. Age: 24
Lissett María Alvarez Guerra. Age: 24
Ernesto Alfonso Loureiro. Age: 25
María Miralis Fernández Rodríguez. Age: 27
Leonardo Notario Góngora. Age: 28
Jorge Arquímedes Levrígido Flores. Age: 28
Pilar Almanza Romero. Age: 31
Rigoberto Feu González. Age: 31
Omar Rodríguez Suárez. Age: 33
Lázaro Enrique Borges Briel. Age: 34
Julia Caridad Ruíz Blanco. Age: 35
Martha Caridad Tacoronte Vega. Age: 35
Eduardo Suárez Esquivel. Age: 38
Martha Mirella Carrasco Sanabria. Age: 45
Augusto Guillermo Guerra Martínez. Age: 45
Rosa María Alcalde Puig. Age: 47
Estrella Suárez Esquivel. Age: 48
Reynaldo Joaquín Marrero Alamo. Age: 48
Amado González Raices. Age: 50
Fidencio Ramel Prieto Hernández. Age: 51
Manuel Cayol. Age: 56 

One year earlier eyewitness accounts from the Guantanamo Naval Base reported crimes against humanity.  U.S. soldiers patrolling the perimeter of the base were surprised by the sounds of explosions then horrified by what they observed. This led to a formal diplomatic note to the Cuban government by the Clinton Administration. This in turn led to a front page story in The Miami Herald on July 7, 1993 which described what had been witnessed:

Cuban marine patrols, determined to stop refugees from reaching the U.S. Naval Base at Guantanamo Bay, have repeatedly tossed grenades and shot at fleeing swimmers and recovered some bodies with gaff hooks, U.S. officials charged Tuesday. At least three Cubans have been killed in the past month as Cuban patrol boats attacked swimmers within sight of U.S. Navy personnel at Guantanamo.

Human rights defenders who attempted to quantify the numbers of dead or missing refugees were targeted by state security and made a cautionary example. Francisco Chaviano González, a former mathematics teacher, and human rights defender was the president of the National Council for Civil Rights in Cuba (Consejo Nacional por los Derechos Civiles en Cuba - CNDCC), an organization whose work included "documenting the cases of Cubans who have been lost at sea trying to leave the country."

Francisco Chaviano: 13 years jailed for investigating missing Cubans

Chaviano was trying to investigate the cases of a number of Cubans who had gone missing. He was  warned by state security to stop his human rights work or he would be arrested and sentenced to 15 years in prison. He refused to leave and was detained on May 7, 1994, drugged and subjected to a military trial and sentenced to 15 years in prison of which he served over 13 years in terrible conditions suffering numerous beatings and the denial of healthcare which led to a wholesale decline in his health. Amnesty International recognized Chaviano as a prisoner of conscience. Chaviano was released on August 10, 2007. He was forced into exile in 2012.

The Cuban government with these draconian measures has succeeded in preventing systematic reporting of its worse crimes. According to the 1993 U.S. protest note, U.S. military guards surveying the bay witnessed five separate incidents:

* On June 19 at 2 p.m., U.S. guards, startled by the sounds of detonations, saw Cuban troops aboard patrol boats dropping grenades in the paths of several swimmers headed for the U.S. base.
* On June 20 at 1:30 p.m., Cuban troops repeated the action, then strafed the water with machine-gun fire.
* On June 26 at 11 a.m., three patrol boats surrounded a group of swimmers, lobbing grenades and spraying them with automatic weapons fire. At least three corpses were lifted out of the water with gaffs.
* On June 27 at 11:30 a.m., guards aboard patrol boats lobbed two grenades into the water.
* The same day, just before 3 p.m., a patrol boat opened automatic fire on a group of swimmers, who were later seen being pulled from the water. The swimmers' status was unknown.

In a July 22, 2007 interview in El Nuevo Herald, Amado Veloso Vega described what happened to him in 1992 when he was just 21 years old and trying to leave Cuba "managed to crawl through the third barrier between Cuban territory and the U.S. Naval Base at Guantanamo when the warning flares lit the night sky."  He thought he'd stay in "no-man's land." till dawn, confident the Cuban guards could not enter. "But then he heard shots, and when he tried to move, a mine exploded, destroying his legs and flinging him 15 feet.  

Amado Veloso Vega in 2007

 With no strength to shout, Veloso lay there until he heard the soldiers approach." "Strips of flesh dangled from my legs. I was disfigured and my mouth was torn," he recalled.  One of the soldiers said that he "wouldn't make it alive" to the hospital in Guantanamo. According to Amado,  they started to play with him. They bayoneted him in the hand and in the leg and then pulled him off the fence. Veloso showed his scars.  They took him directly to the morgue. There, a doctor wouldn't give up, injecting him with adrenaline. Veloso was revived.  For attempting to leave, he was sentenced Veloso to two years house arrest at his Havana home. Veloso tried to remake and requested prosthetic legs at a Havana hospital. According to Amado, "[t]hey concluded that my accident was due to my attempt to leave the country illegally and told me the (prostheses) they had were for revolutionaries and fighters back from Angola."   They refused to give him the prostheses.

Oswaldo Payá Sardiñas who spoke out on the July 13, 1994 "13 de marzo" tugboat massacre was killed on July 22, 2012 along with Harold Cepero in what appears to have been an extrajudicial killing arranged by the Castro regime's secret police.

This history must not be relegated to an Orwellian memory hole because impunity breeds repetition, and costs more lives. The Castro regime must be held to account. As should all who engage in acts that violate human rights and dignity wherever they are. 

On July 10th at 8pm there will be a 25 minute silent candlelight vigil in front of the Cuban Embassy in Washington, DC. Over the past 25 years the days leading up to this grim anniversary have been marked by protests and vigils inside and outside Cuba. If you are in the DC area and wish to take part in a solemn and nonviolent protest then please join us. Elie Wiesel  was right, “For the dead and the living, we must bear witness.”