"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."
Oswaldo José Payá Sardiñas (2002)
The Castro regime's decades long affair with cocaine trafficking
Panamanian soldier guards part of the shipment of drugs from Cuba that were seized.
Andrea Torres of Local 10 News reported today that "Panama seized a shipment of cocaine valued at $90 million. It was
inside of a container that was in a ship that was coming from Cuba,
authorities said. Panamanian authorities intercepted the cargo Saturday at the
Puerto de Cristóbal. There were 1,517 wide bricks of cocaine hidden
inside of 46 large black duffle bags with wheels." This means that the cocaine was seized on May 18, 2019. According to shipping documents these items were supposedly bags of coal.
#Aeronaval logra ubicación y aseguramiento de cuantioso cargamento de presunta sustancia ilícita dentro de un contenedor supuestamente llevaba sacos de carbón/Puerto de Cristóbal/Colón procedente de la jurisdicción portuaria de Cuba/con destino final Estambul/Turquía #NoAlDelitopic.twitter.com/Uocm74ejU0
This was not the first time, three years ago in April of 2016 Panamanian police seized more than 400 kilograms of cocaine in a Cuban ship on its way to Belgium. However Panama is not the only channel.
Cocaine shipment from Cuban ship hidden under molasses discovered in Panama
Agence France-Presse reported on July 12, 2017 that
Ermal
Hoxha (age 42), the grandson of former Albanian communist dictator
Enver Hoxha, was found guilty of belonging to a "criminal group involved
in cocaine
trafficking from Cuba through Albania to west European countries," the court statement said. The dictator's grandson was arrested in January 2015 and 264 pounds of
cocaine were also confiscated.
Noriega's link to Castro and Cocaine During General Manuel Noriega's 1992 trial information emerged publicly implicating the Castro regime that Sun Sentinel reported at the time:
"Federal prosecutors say Noriega traveled to Havana to ask [Fidel] Castro to
mediate a potentially deadly dispute with top members of Colombia`s
Medellin cocaine cartel. They say the cartel chiefs were upset because a
major drug lab had been seized in Panama despite payment of millions of
dollars in protection money to Noriega. According to the Noriega
indictment, Castro negotiated a peace accord between the cartel and
Noriega at the 1984 meeting. The allegation forms a cornerstone of the
racketeering and drug trafficking charges against Noriega."
In a 1991 Frontline documentary, Cuba and Cocaine,
U.S. Coast Guard Lt. Commander Jeff Karonis, stated, "We would observe
in the middle of the day an air drop going on inside Cuban waters. The
scenario would be for a small twin-engine airplane with maybe 1,000 to
2,000 pounds of cocaine to fly over Cuba, drop the drugs to a
predesignated rendezvous point to several boats. Then it would exit back
down off Cuba, and many times a Cuban military vessel would be in the
immediate vicinity, right on scene with them.'' Ignoring this history led to a bizarre outcome. A peace process that led to an explosion in cocaine production. General Raul Castro played a high profile role in mediating the peace negotiations between the Santos government and the Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia (Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia) FARC in Colombia. FARC are known for funding their conflict with Cocaine production. The State Department's report offers ominous news on Cocaine production in Colombia:
The United States estimates that the area devoted to coca cultivation in Colombia increased 42
percent in 2015 to 159,000 ha from 112,000 ha in 2014, returning to cultivation levels last seen
in Colombia in 2007.
Ever since Colombian commandos captured the laptop of a leader of the
FARC organization eight years ago, it’s been known that Chávez gave the
Colombian narcoguerrillas sanctuary and allowed them to traffic cocaine
from Venezuela to the United States with the help of the Venezuelan
army. But not until a former Chávez bodyguard [ Leamsy Salazar] defected to the United
States in January [2015] did the scale of what is called the “Cartel of the Suns ” start to become publicly known.
[...]
The day after Salazar’s arrival in Washington, Spain’s ABC newspaper published a detailed account of the emerging case against Cabello, and last month, ABC reporter Emili Blasco followed up with a book laying out the allegations of Salazar and other defectors, who say
Cuba’s communist regime and the Lebanese militia Hezbollah have been cut
in on the trafficking."
Over the past 37 years Castro regime agents have used cocaine to fund both their revolutionary activities and lavish lifestyles at the expense of destroying lives while seeking to undermine Western democracies. Policy makers ignoring this reality do a disservice to their constituents.
Guerillas continue to place bombs in acts of terror in Colombia.
Santander police academy in Bogota, Colombia was car bombed killing 21
On January 17, 2019 in the mid-morning a car bomb exploded at the General Santander police academy in Bogota, Colombia, killing 21 people and injuring dozens. Colombia's Defense Minister identified the National Liberation Army (ELN) as being behind the attack January 18, 2018.
Peace talks with the National Liberation Army (ELN) stalled last year, in January of 2018, following a series of bombings that killed seven and wounded many more in an attack on a police station in Baranquilla, Colombia.
On Friday, January 18, 2019 Colombian Presdent Ivan Duque called on the Cuban government to hand over the members of the National Liberation Army (ELN) that are currently in Havana for the stalled peace talks.
“We appreciate the solidarity expressed by the government of Cuba
yesterday and today we ask you to make effective the capture of the
terrorists who are in your territory and deliver them to the Colombian
police authorities.
It will be interesting to see what the response of the Cuban government will be to this request. There is a history that needs to be looked at to understand the full context of what is going on.
Historical context In 1964, the Cuban government was providing weapons, training, and financial assistance to the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC). In the same year a another guerrilla movement would also emerge plunging Colombia into further violence. The National Liberation Army
(ELN), after the FARC, is Colombia’s second largest leftist guerrilla
group, also formed in 1964 whose founding members were not only inspired
by the Communist Revolution in Cuba and Che Guevara but were also
trained in Cuba when they attended
"a Cuban scholarship program known as the Brigada Pro Liberación
Nacional." ELN sought to overthrow the Colombian government in favor of
one following the Castro model in Cuba.
Flaming wreckage following car bomb in Bogota on January 17, 2019
The Castro regime continued funding FARC through the 1970s and 1980s. The rise to power of Hugo Chavez in 1999 led to the FARC reportedly being supplied with up to $300 million by Venezuela with the Chavez regime trading arms and oil with the terrorist group.
Obama policy marginalized dissidents, legitimized regime. Fidel Castro died and Miami celebrated. Meanwhile more repression in Cuba, new prisoners of conscience, and a more aggressive posture in Venezuela. The Trump Presidency has begun the process of undoing some of the previous Administration's Cuba policy.
Cuba in 2017 is a captive nation that since 1959 has been subjected to a
communist regime run by the Castro family. 11 million souls continue to have their lives coarsened by a totalitarian regime that systematically
violates the human rights of all Cubans. The Obama Administration's Cuba policy continued to unfold further marginalizing dissidents, legitimizing the Castro regime internationally until the final days of his presidency. Three decisions cemented the Obama White House's legacy on Cuba at the expense not only of a free Cuba but of the lives and security of American citizens.
On October 14, 2016 The White House issued a Presidential Policy Directive ( PPD) that calls
for the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (DNI) to
"support broader United States Government efforts to normalize relations
with Cuba, with Intelligence Community elements working to find
opportunities for engagement on areas of common interest through which
we could exchange information on mutual threats with Cuban
counterparts." A former NSA official wrote that "Obama just opened the door for Castro's spies."
On January 12, 2017 The White House released a "Statement by the President on Cuban Immigration Policy"
that does two concrete things: Further restricts the Cuban Adjustment
Act and ends the Cuban Medical Professional Parole Program. The Obama administration secretly negotiated with the Castro
regime and did not consult with Congress in restricting the Cuban Adjustment Act, which is US law.
FALN
placed more than 130 bombs in American cities — including one in New
York on Jan. 24, 1975. The explosive went off in busy Fraunces Tavern
during lunch hour. Four people died, including Frank Connor, a
33-year-old father. “I
faced Lopez six years ago at his parole hearing ... If he had expressed
any atonement, any sympathy or empathy ... we’d have recommended he be
released. But he didn’t,” said Joe Connor, who was a 9-year-old when his
father was killed. López got 10 years tacked onto his sentence when he
and a fellow FALN member were caught plotting a prison break that
included killing their guards.
Zach Dorfman in The Wall Street Journal wrote an important analysis on June 8, 2017 of how Fidel Castro supported terrorism in America and the role played by the dictatorship in funding and training the FALN. Long time Cuban activist Frank Calzon in a June 5, 2017 oped in The Miami Herald provided a partial summary of the Castro regime's support for international terrorism including the United States:
"A summary of Havana’s support for terrorism should include the heist of
$7 million from Wells Fargo in West Hartford, Connecticut, in 1983. The
money was taken to the Cuban Embassy in Mexico and turned over to the
regime. Castro’s Cuba has also been associated with the infamous
terrorist Carlos, who in 1975 kidnapped 70 hostages in Vienna (three
people were killed) at a meeting of oil ministers from OPEC. “Carlos”
who committed several murders in France was, according to The Guardian,
provided by Cuba “with passports, money and five apartments in Paris.”
As a result, the Quai d’Orsay expelled several Cuban diplomats."
Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/opinion/op-ed/article154513419.html#storylink=cpy
2016: Year of change at the top The past year ushered in a historic change that many had awaited with great anticipation and that was the death of Fidel Castro on November 25, 2016. Celebrations broke out in the streets of Miami where tens of thousands of Cubans and Cuban Americans went out to celebrate the tyrant's departure.
Cuban American voters played a role in ushering in another, but unexpected change, with Mr. Donald J. Trump winning the Presidency of the United States.President elect Trump had a clearer and historically more accurate view of Fidel Castro that he expressed in a statement following the dictator's death that read in part:
"Today, the world marks the passing of a brutal dictator who oppressed
his own people for nearly six decades. Fidel Castro’s legacy is one of
firing squads, theft, unimaginable suffering, poverty and the denial of
fundamental human rights."
Granting unilateral concessions to long term items that the Cuban government had wanted for decades as President Obama did over eight years did not endear him to the Castro regime. Instead they viewed him as weak and it manifested in high profile ways.
President Obama does the wave with Dictator Raul Castro at baseball game
“Obama! Obama! with what fervor
we’d like to confront your clumsiness, to give you a cleansing with
rebels and mortar, and send you a hat of lead to the head.”
Not fearing reprisals for bad actions the regime has been more aggressive at home and abroad engaging in violent repression to the detriment of Cubans and Venezuelans.
Human Rights
In 2016 there were 9,940 politically motivated arrests in Cuba documented by the Cuban Commission of Human Rights and
National Reconciliation. There are new prisoners of conscience. Compare this with 2009, the first year of the Obama Administration, there were just 869 arbitrary detentions
documented. During the eight years of the Obama White House there was more than an eleven fold increase in politically motivated arbitrary
detentions with 2016 being the worse. Religious repression escalated in Cuba in 2016 with pastors beaten up, Churches confiscated, and some demolished by the dictatorship.
Sirley Avila Leon denounces death threats against her son and mom
Update on 2015 machete attack victim
Sirley Ávila León on May 24,
2015 was the victim of a brutal machete attack carried out by
Osmany Carriòn, with the complicit assistance of his wife, that led to
the loss of her left hand, right upper arm nearly severed, and knees
slashed into leaving her crippled. Following the attack she did not
receive adequate medical care and was told quietly by medical doctors in
Cuba that if she wanted to get better that she would need to leave the
country. The regime had been embarrassed by a campaign she organized to keep a school open. She arrived in Miami on March 8, 2017 and thanks to the Cuban exile community a team of medical doctors attended to her and by September of 2017 Sirley was walking and returned home to Cuba. She found her home occupied by strangers and went to her mother's house. A short time later a camera was set up outside to spy on her. By mid October 2016 Sirley was getting death threats from state security and feared for her life. She fled back to the United States a couple of weeks later and sought asylum.
New prisoners of conscience
Cubans had to mourn the death of Fidel Castro or else face punishment. Oswaldo Payá Sardiñas was the founding leader of the Christian Liberation Movement (MCL) and when he was killed on July 22, 2012 along with the organizations youth leader, Harold Cepero Escalante a new leader was selected: Eduardo Cardet Concepción. The new MCL leader was traveling abroad when Fidel Castro died on November 25, 2016 and gave a frank assessment of the old tyrant's legacy in Cuba. When he returned to Cuba five days later he was beaten up in front of his family, jailed and in March of 2017 sentenced to three years in prison. An entire family: Maydolis Leyva Portelles, the mother, twin sisters Anairis, Adairis Miranda Leyva and their brother Fidel
Manuel Batista Leyva were taken away and detained for not grieving Fidel Castro's death and going out during the official period of mourning.
Jailed pro-democracy leader Eduardo Cardet of the Christian Liberation Movement
Dissident arrested and sent to psychiatric facility as punishment
On May Day in Cuba before the world's cameras a lone Cuban ran down the path the parade would take, waving an American flag he was tackled down by State Security and jailed. Daniel Llorente Miranda was charged with "public disorder and resistance" and was initially held at the Technical Department of Investigations of the Police in 100 and Aldabó. Weeks later he was transferred to the Comandante Dr. Bernabé
Ordaz Ducungé Psychiatric Hospital better known by its pre-revolutionary
name Mazorra.
Using
psychiatric facilities to torture dissidents is a practice that
originated in the Soviet Union but was adopted early on by the Castro
regime's intelligence services. Mazorra is a madhouse of death were patients have died by the score from exposure to the elements and neglect by hospital staff.
Students and faculty expelled for their beliefs Fếlix Yuniel Llerena López, a 20 year-old religious freedom
defender, was expelled
from the Enrique José Varona Pedagogical
University in Havana on May 8, 2017 following a visit to the United
States. 18-year-old journalism student, Karla Pérez González, was
expelled from Marta Abreu University of Santa Clara for “political
reasons” on April 12, 2017 and her expulsion ratified three days later. 24 year old David Mauri Cardoso was expelled from the University of Cienfuegos in February of 2017 after he honestly answered politically loaded
questions in what was supposed to be a Spanish literature exam.If you have a relative who is a
dissident, although you are not, you can still be fired from your job.
Professor Dalila Rodriguez from the University of Las Villas was expelled from her job on May 9, 2017 because her father, Leonardo Rodriguez is a dissident. These are not new tactics. Expelling students and denying them an education
for their political orientation has a long and shameful history in Cuba under the Castro regime too
often ignored.
Trade with Cuba collapsed during Obama Presidenecy
Venezuela: Cuba's colonial possession
On May 15, 2016 Henry Ramos Allup, the head of the National Assembly of Venezuela complained over social media of the leadership role played by a Cuban general and 60 Cuban officers over the Venezuelan military to maintain Maduro in power and continue exploiting Venezuela's natural resources. Despite this long time reality Secretary of State John Kerry in August of 2015 reported "the United States and Cuba are talking about ways to solve the
Venezuelan crisis."
Mary O'Grady writing in The Wall Street Journal in an oped titled "How Cuba Runs Venezuela" explained:
"Havana doesn’t care about Venezuelan poverty or famine or whether the regime is unpopular. It has spent a half-century sowing its ideological “revolution” in South America. It needs Venezuela as a corridor to run Colombian cocaine to the U.S. and to Africa to supply Europe. It also relies heavily on cut-rate Venezuelan petroleum. To keep its hold on Venezuela, Cuba has embedded a Soviet-style security apparatus." ... Every Venezuelan armed-forces commander has at least one Cuban minder,
if not more, a source close to the military told me. Soldiers complain
that if they so much as mention regime shortcomings over a beer at a
bar, their superiors know about it the next day."
The Obama Administration's view that the Castro
regime can be a partner in resolving the crisis in Venezuela indicates that it did not understand that it is the Cuban dictatorship that is causing the crisis and has existential reasons to continue driving the South American nation into becoming another Cuba. The new Trump Administration appears to be going in another and saner direction on both Cuba and Venezuela policy.
Cuba, National Security and the war on terror.
U.S. Marine Corps. Lt. Gen. Vincent R. Stewart, director of the Defense
Intelligence Agency reported to the Senate Armed Services Committee in his written submission
on May 23, 2017:
“Russia and
China are preeminent among the foreign intelligence threats to DoD and
U.S. national security through their robust use of traditional and
nontraditional collection efforts against U.S. personnel, operations,
and capabilities. Iran and Cuba also pose persistent foreign
intelligence threats to the United States. Cuba’s intelligence
apparatus, for example, maintains a robust capability and an intent to
give priority to collection on the United States.
The previous Administration's director of national intelligence had reported similar information in February of 2016 to the same committee that also highlighted Cuba as one of four main threats.
Undeclared military cargo Cuba tried to smuggle to North Korea
Smuggling heavy weapons to North Korea (2013)
Panamanian President Ricardo Martinelli tweeted
the above photo with the following text on July 15, 2013: “Panama captured North Korean-flagged ship from Cuba with
undeclared military cargo.” On March 6, 2014 a panel of UN experts reported that in the the shipment of smuggled weapons sent by Cuba to North Korea, hidden under bags of sugar, what was found, in part, was: "A
total of 25 standard shipping
containers (16 forty-foot and 9 twenty-foot) and 6 trailers were found,
for a total of about 240 tons of arms and related materiel."
The Cubans
were caught trying to provide the North Koreans with surface to air missile systems (SA-2 (C-75 Volga) and SA-3 (C-125 Pechora), two MiG
21 jet fighters, and 15 MiG-21 engines, eight 73 mm rocket propelled
projectiles
(PG-9/PG-15 anti-tank and OG-9/OG-15 fragmentation projectiles) to be
fired with recoil-less rifles, as well as a single PG-7VR round, a high
explosive antitank tandem charge to penetrate explosive reactive armor,
were also in the shipment.
The Panel noted "that some of the SA-2 and SA-3 parts could also meet the criteria defined in the list of items, materials, equipment, goods and technology related to ballistic missile programmes (S/2012/947), whose export and import by the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea are prohibited." Colombian government seizes smuggled weapons shipment bound for Cuba (2015)
On March 2, 2015 news broke
that the government of Colombia had seized a shipment of ammunition
bound for Cuba on a China-flagged ship due to a lack of proper
documentation. The BBC reported that
"Officials said about 100 tons of gunpowder, almost three million
detonators and some 3,000 cannon shells were found on board. The ship's
records said it was carrying grain products." Blogging by Boz, founder of Hxagon, a consulting and technology company that provides risk assessments and predictive analysis in emerging markets, reached
a reasonable conclusion: "Two big shipments of weapons seized in 20
months means that this is probably a regular occurrence." U.S. Hellfire missile ends up in Cuba (2014 - 2016)
A U.S. Hellfire missile,
used in NATO exercises in Europe, on its way back to the United States
ended up in Cuba by June of 2014. Despite repeated requests from the
Obama Administration, Cuba refused to return it until it became a public
embarrassment over a year later in February of 2016. This took place while the White House was secretly negotiating with the Castro regime to normalize relations.
Harboring cop killers and terrorists
Cuban diplomats for more than 50 years plotted and facilitated terrorist attacks, beat up
peaceful protesters, threatened and bitten protesters using homophobic language, and
participated in the cover up of extrajudicial killings. The case of escaped cop killer Joanne Chesimard harbored by the Castro regime is often mentioned in the press but there are many others.
Guillermo Morales who according to The Washington Post, "escaped from a hospital in New York while under police custody. He has admitted he was planting a bomb at a New York military installation when the bomb blew up, taking nearly all his fingers. He was facing 89 years in prison when he escaped. He is still believed to be living in Cuba." The New York Times reported on June 29, 2017 that Ishmael LaBeet (today goes by the name Ishmael Muslim Ali) who in 1973 "was convicted along with
four other men of murdering eight people in a shooting at the Fountain
Valley Golf Course in St. Croix, V.I., in 1972"and "in 1984, as he was being transferred from a court in the Virgin Islands back to prison on an American Airlines flight, he hijacked the plane and redirected it to Cuba, where he has lived ever since."
On July 8, 2017 The New York Times reported that there are an estimated 70 other fugitives from U.S. justice being harbored by the Castro regime. The Obama Administration removed Cuba from the list of state sponsors of terrorism but if the Castro regime today continues to harbor and host terrorists in Cuba shouldn't they return this terrorists and killers to face justice in the United States or failing to do that be returned to the list of terror sponsors?
My Administration's policy will be guided by the national security and
foreign policy interests of the United States, as well as solidarity
with the Cuban people. I will seek to promote a stable, prosperous, and
free country for the Cuban people. To that end, we must channel funds
toward the Cuban people and away from a regime that has failed to meet
the most basic requirements of a free and just society.
IACHR Deeply Concerned about the Situation of Migrants in Colombia Close to the Panama Border
August 8, 2016
Washington, D.C. - The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights
(IACHR) expresses its deep concern regarding the extreme vulnerability
of some 1,300 migrants who are stranded in the Colombian town of Turbo,
near the Darien Gap, Colombia, close to the border with Panama. Among
the migrants are men and women, including pregnant women, as well as
children, including newborns. Most of the migrants come from Cuba and
Haiti, along with others from African and Asian countries, and are
headed to the United States.
According to publicly available information, the migrants
who have made it to Turbo have reached Colombia via different
routes—through Venezuela, Ecuador, Guyana, or Brazil—so as to then
continue their journey to the United States, passing through Central
American countries and Mexico. The situation of the migrants stranded
in Turbo has been exacerbated by the closure of the border and the
tightening of immigration controls by Panama on May 9, 2016. The IACHR
welcomes the information sent by the State that there have not been
detentions of irregular migrants because this practice is not legal in
the country.
According to a population survey by the Colombian Human
Rights Ombudsman’s Office, as of July 28, 2016, there were 1,273 Cuban
migrants in vulnerable circumstances in the town of Turbo, including
nearly 300 children. According to the Colombian State, the Ministry of
Health and the Colombian Family Welfare Institute has been providing
special attention to women and children. The Ombudsman’s Office
reported that the main human rights concerns have to do with the
migrants’ living quarters, problems with access to food, the risk of
contracting diseases, and the potential for becoming victims of human
trafficking.
According to the information presented by the State, there
has been a promotion of voluntary exit of migrants from Colombian
territory and through this mechanism, more than 600 migrants in
irregular situation have left the country using a travel document. On
this matter, the IACHR reiterates that before promoting a voluntary
exit, it is the obligation of the State to identify migrants who have
special needs of protection, such as asylum seekers and refugees,
persons subject to complementary protection, victims of human
trafficking, among others, and to adopt the measures needed for their
protection.
The Commission has received information indicating that the
migrants, faced with a lack of legal and safe migration channels, are
turning to clandestine routes and channels, in which they are
vulnerable to abuse and extortion by criminal organizations, traffickers
of migrants, and some police. Moreover, there have been incidents in
recent years in which migrant boats have sunk while trying to reach
Panama from Colombia, resulting in migrant deaths and disappearances.
On January 11, 2016, the Colombian authorities reported that a boat
transporting 24 African migrants sank in the Gulf of Urabá; nine of the
migrants were rescued by authorities.
The Commission has also received information regarding the
dangers of death and abuse faced by migrants who have set out through
the jungle region of the Darien Gap, where armed groups operate.
Migrants who have traveled that route reported that they had endured
inhumane conditions on the journey through the jungle and had walked by
the bodies of migrants who had died and others who had suffered
serious injuries and bone fractures. The Commission has also received
information regarding rapes and acts of sexual violence, as well as
robberies, physical blows, and extortion by traffickers of migrants and
in some cases even by members of the police. The Colombian State
informed it has created a unified command center that coordinates,
develops and evaluates the activities of the authorities to answer to
the situation, with the participation of several national and
international bodies.
In keeping with Colombia’s international human rights
obligations, the Commission calls on the Colombian State to implement
any measures necessary to protect the life, integrity, and security of
all migrants under its jurisdiction. The effective guarantee of the
right to life requires the State to adopt prevention, protection, and
assistance measures when it is aware of situations of migrants in
danger. The State should also adopt measures to guarantee the rights to
due process and judicial protection in the context of immigration
proceedings, the right to family unity, the right to seek and receive
asylum, the principle of non-refoulement, and the prohibition
on the collective expulsion of foreign nationals. In addition, States
should adopt the necessary measures to prevent and punish any abuses
that individuals and State authorities may commit against migrant
persons.
In the wake of the announcement by Colombia’s immigration
agency, “Migración Colombia”, that it was beginning deportations of the
migrants in Turbo, the IACHR reiterates that, in keeping with
international norms and standards, immigration proceedings—especially
those that could lead to deportation—must analyze, establish a basis
for, and decide individually on each case, and must respect minimum
guarantees. These include migrants’ right to be heard by the relevant
authority in the context of the deportation proceedings and to have
sufficient opportunity to exercise their right to a defense; the right
to interpretation and translation; the right to legal representation;
the right to consular protection; the right to receive notification of a
deportation order; access to an effective remedy to appeal a
deportation decision; the right to appeal a deportation decision; and
the right to suspension of deportation while the matter is under
appeal. The State reported that to date has not been filed any remedy
against the deportations. Based on the above and the extremely
vulnerable situation of these migrants, the Commission notes that these
people are in Turbo, a remote area of the country, and that the State
should take steps to effectively implement the right to have a remedy to
appeal the deportation decisions.
“The fact that migrants are turning to irregular channels
and to traffickers is explained by the absence and shortage of legal
and safe migration channels. We call on the American States to take
immediate action to open up channels that allow these people to migrate
legally and safely,” said Commissioner James Cavallaro, President of
the IACHR. To that end, States can make use of programs such as
humanitarian admission programs, family reunification visas, student
scholarships, labor mobility programs, private sponsorships, and
refugee resettlement programs.
A principal, autonomous body of the Organization of American States
(OAS), the IACHR derives its mandate from the OAS Charter and the
American Convention on Human Rights. The Inter-American Commission has a
mandate to promote respect for human rights in the region and acts as a
consultative body to the OAS in this area. The Commission is composed
of seven independent members who are elected in an individual capacity
by the OAS General Assembly and who do not represent their countries of
origin or residence.
Castro regime mediating conflict it sustained for decades.
Castro backed guerrillas continue to wreak havoc in Colombia 52 years later
News that peace may finally come to Colombia after fifty two years of continuous conflict should be cause for celebration, but there are reasons to be concerned that it may not be achieved. First of all having the negotiations between the Colombian government and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) held in Cuba with the Castro regime as mediator is a bit surprising when one considers the surrounding history.
In the same year a another guerrilla movement would also emerge plunging Colombia into further violence. The National Liberation Army (ELN), after the FARC, is Colombia’s second largest leftist guerrilla group, also formed in 1964 whose founding members were not only inspired by the Communist Revolution in Cuba and Che Guevarra but were also trained in Cuba when they attended "a Cuban scholarship program known as the Brigada Pro Liberación Nacional." ELN sought to overthrow the Colombian government in favor of one following the Castro model in Cuba.
According to Stanford University's Mapping Militant Organizations the April 19 Movement (M-19) guerilla group in Colombia founded in 1974was also inspired and aided by the Castro regime. M-19 members "attended military training camps in Cuban military
academies where they learned both urban and rural forms of guerilla
warfare."
For Colombians, the agreement involves “swallowing toads”, in a local
metaphor. The FARC claim to have fought a just war against unequal land
ownership. In that cause the country suffered bombings, firefights,
murders, kidnapping and extortion. Many people find it hard to accept
that FARC leaders accused of crimes against humanity will not go to jail
provided they confess. [...]
Nobody knows how much money the
FARC has invested from its criminal businesses. Many distrust the
sincerity of the FARC’s conversion to democracy. And partly because the
peace negotiations have taken so long and missed so many deadlines,
Colombians have no love for Mr Santos. In a recent poll his approval
rating was just 20%, lower than that of Nicolás Maduro in Venezuela.
Now there appears to be a difference
between the guerillas and the Colombian government about where the final
peace signing will take place. The Colombian government had announced that it would take place in Colombia and the guerillas are insisting that the signing take place in Cuba. Let us hope that this process full of irregularities manages to achieve a lasting peace and not be remembered as the 1938 Munich Agreement, a betrayal in the service of peace that ended in war.
Despite what the Obama Administration and mainstream media would have you believe the United States and the Castro regime have had extensive diplomatic contacts since 1977, military contacts since 1994, and trade since 2000. This is why when Obama pledged on December 17, 2014 the objective of normalizing diplomatic relations
the Castro regime was able to raise numerous demands that the United
States has complied with that undermine U.S. security and credibility.
Below are five reasons why the normalization of relations with the Castro regime is unfolding into another Obama foreign policy failure:
3. On July 27, 2015 watered down the State Department's human trafficking report for political aims including ignoring the severity of sex trafficking in Cuba and the use of slave labor.
Secretary of State John Kerry will be in Havana,
Cuba to raise the flag at the US Embassy on Friday, August 14, 2015 and
that would be the perfect day to remind the world the price paid in
compromising not only the national security of the United States (freeing
terrorist spies
and letting ones guard down as to the terrorist threat posed by the
dictatorship) but also undermining the credibility of the State
Department's report on human trafficking and respect for human rights.
Above are images that you can click on and share
with others on social media or print them out to use in public protests
to hold the administration accountable for another foreign policy failure while recognizing that there is a nonviolent alternative.
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