Castro regime joins "axis of shame" at the United Nations trying to cover up Islamic Regime of Iran's human rights violations in Iran.

Good news today for the people of Iran. The Islamic Regime of Iran will have to answer to a fact-finding mission to investigate human rights violations in Iran. The United Nations Human Rights Council voted 25 to 6 to create it, and condemned human rights abuses in Iran.

Bad news for Cuba. 

The Castro regime in Geneva today joined an "axis of shame" with the People's Republic of China, Eritrea, Indonesia, Pakistan, and Venezuela to block the creation of an investigative mission on the Islamic Republic of Iran’s ongoing crimes.

Credit to Hillel Neuer of UNWatch for aptly coining the term Axis of Shame for this deplorable vote, and defense of the Mullahs.

Drama at UNHRC session on Iran: In surprise move, China tries to kill paragraph creating an investigative mission on Tehran regime’s crimes. Totally defeated! 25-6. Only China, Cuba, Eritrea, Indonesia, Pakistan & Venezuela supported it. Axis of Shame. Full text will pass soon. pic.twitter.com/H3pXa9vq2V

— Hillel Neuer (@HillelNeuer) November 24, 2022

How it started.

Mahsa Amini beaten and killed by morality police for not properly wearing her hijab.

Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old Kurdish woman, was arrested in Iran by the Morality police on September 13, 2022. They beat her badly, left her in a coma, and she died on September 16th. She was beaten to death for not properly wearing her hijab. A little bit of her hair was visible. News of her extrajudicial killing at the hand of agents of the Islamist regime in Iran sparked nationwide protests

Since September 17, 2022, the repressive forces of the Islamist Regime of Iran have killed 440 protesters, and over 18,000 Iranians have been arrested.

This blog has been following events unfolding in Iran over the past two months, and remain horrified at the brutality of the Islamist theocracy in Iran, and the Castro regime's support for this brutal regime that has brutally murdered so many young girls and boys.

We have also joined in protests denouncing these human rights abuses, and calling for a democratic transition in Iran. 

This blog on September 24, 2022 called for readers to listen to Iranian women, and to follow Masih Alinejad @AlinejadMasih on Twitter and amplify her voice, and that of other Iranian women such as:  Nazanin Nour @NazaninNour, Roya Hakakian @RoyaTheWriter, Nazanin Boniadi @NazaninBoniadi, Nazenin Ansari @NazeninA, Nazanin Afshin-Jam MacKay @NazaninAJ, and Mariam Memarsadeghi @memarsadeghi. 

This is 7-year-old Hasti Naroei, from Iran's Baluchi minority, who was killed by security forces in Zahedan. She is one of at least 43 children killed in Iran since Sept. Tomorrow at #SS35 the @UN_HRC MUST establish an investigative & accountability mechanism on Iran #مهسا_امینی pic.twitter.com/0aAq2P02jc

— Amnesty Iran (@AmnestyIran) November 23, 2022

Sixty one children have been killed in Iran since September 17th by the Islamist regime. Angelina Jolie posted photos of 35 of them.

Castro regime repeatedly backs Islamist regime in Iran

Over the past two months the Castro regime in Cuba has repeatedly denounced sanctions placed on the Islamist Regime in Iran, and claimed that the protests are not legitimate.

Bruno Rodriguez, the Castro regime's foreign minister on November 16, 2022 and October 24, 2022 over Twitter repeatedly condemned new sanctions placed on Iran by the United States.

The Castro dictatorship's foreign minister met with Tehran's foreign minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian on September 26, 2022 in New York City during the UN General Assembly.

Dictatorships' diplomats: Bruno Rodriguez in Cuba and Hossein Amir-Abdollahian in Iran.

The Cuban dictatorship’s official media is blaming the United States, and other Western Democracies for the protests in Iran. The mullahs did the same for Havana during the nationwide protests that erupted in Cuba on July 11, 2021.

The communist regime in Havana and the Islamist regime in Tehran have had close and problematic relations for over four decades, and they are both hostile to the United States.

Fidel Castro visited Iran on May 10, 2001, four months before the September 11, 2001 attacks, where he was quoted by the Agence France Presse at the University of Tehran stating that "Iran and Cuba, in cooperation with each other, can bring America to its knees." ... "The U.S. regime is very weak, and we are witnessing this weakness from close up." 

Fidel Castro speaks with Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, in Tehran May 9, 2001.

Eleven years later on January 12, 2012 in Havana, Cuba the controversial president of Iran, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, declared "Our positions, versions, interpretations are alike, very close. We have been good friends, we are and will be, and we will be together forever."

Raul Castro with Islamic Republic of Iran's Mahmoud Ahmadinejad

Both Havana and Tehran have close relations with the terrorist groups Hamas and Hezbollah. The Jerusalem Post reported on October 16, 2022 that Hezbollah was helping the Islamist regime quash protests in Iran. Hezbollah’s Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah referred to Amini’s death as a “vague incident”and that the protests did not reflect the true will of the Iranian people, according to The Jerusalem Post.

While the Castro regime backs the Mullahs in Tehran against the Iranian people, Cuban women on November 1, 2022 called on President Biden to back the expulsion of "the murderous Iranian regime from the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women." One of the signers of the letter to the President, Sirley Avila Leon, on November 19, 2022 at a protest for freedom in Iran at the Torch of Friendship in Miami.

Will Canada stand up for democracy in the upcoming OAS elections?

Fool me once, shame on you. fool me twice, shame on me.

Almagro                       Espinosa                            De Zala

 Will Prime Minister Justin Trudeau allow a Chavista candidate, or a political opportunist with ties to Chavismo, become the next Secretary General of the Organization of American States? Conventional opinion expressed in The Washington Diplomat claims that the current OAS secretary general Luis Almagro has the backing of Canada, but in recent years the traditional view has often been proven wrong

Carlos E. Ponce, Senior Lecturer, Columbia University, Senior Fellow, Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation and former Freedom House Latin American director has written an important opinion piece in El Tiempo Latino that outlines the high stakes in the upcoming vote for the next OAS Secretary General, and the role played by Canada.

"A new election approaches to re-elect or elect a new secretary general for the Organization of American States (OAS). The competition is between the re-election of the current Secretary General Luis Almagro and two candidates who could put the very existence of the organization at risk. Those two candidates are the former Minister of Defense, and a highly trusted person to the former Ecuadorian dictator Rafael Correa, the Ecuadorian María Fernanda Espinosa; and the ambassador of Peru to the United States, Hugo De Zela."

Ponce than provides an analysis of what the institutional outcome would be if either Espinosa or De Zela is elected to the post.

"Mrs. Espinosa has not been nominated by Ecuador, her country, but by two ALBA countries, Antigua and Barbuda and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines. Of particular interest is the support of a person so close to Nicolas Maduro and Hugo Chávez, who is also nominated by the autocrat of San Vicente, Ralph Gonsalves, who has been supporting the narco-dictatorship of Venezuela and benefiting from that relationship. Espinosa has in her favor the ability to convince with a false, but effective discourse, which led various civil society organizations to fall in love with her. These organizations seem to forget that during Rafael Correa's government was when there was an inclement persecution against the Inter-American Human Rights System and that Espinosa was part of a government that systematically violated human rights and freedom of expression. On the other hand, the dangerous game of Argentina and Mexico, supporting this candidate, endangers the very existence of the OAS. Espinosa's triumph would return the OAS to an appendix of ideological factors that seek the destruction of the regional organization and would give the perfect excuse to the United States to suspend economic aid to that organization."

"The other candidate who wants the position of secretary general, Hugo De Zela, has a capacity for political adaptation to all the different governments that have passed through Peru in the last 42 years; He is a bureaucrat who adapts effectively to changes and manipulates institutions for his personal interest. He was the chief of staff of the most gray and noxious general secretary of the OAS, José Miguel Insulza."

In either case with the departure of Almagro, his replacement would be seeking an accommodation with Maduro in Venezuela and Castro in Cuba. This was the status quo under OAS secretary general José Miguel Insulza who attended gatherings in Cuba, and dropped the ball on Venezuela as the crisis worsened and spun out of control.

This leads to the obvious question. Why would Canada not be strongly backing Almagro?

Historically, Canada has been a strong defender of human rights and fairness on the international state, but today there is cause for concern with the current government. This would be a Faustian bargain that would trade this vote for the votes of several Caribbean countries to obtain a seat on the United Nations Security Council.

Recent history indicates that regional democrats and human rights defenders should be concerned.

In November 2019, Canada shifted its long time support for Israel at the United Nations backing a anti-Israel resolution sponsored by North Korea and Zimbabwe that broke years of a Canadian bipartisan consensus in defense of the one democracy in the Middle East.

The vote change is dramatic. If it wanted to shift, Trudeau's government could have moved from a No, as it voted last year with U.S., to an Abstain, as Australia voted today. Instead, they jumped all the way to a Yes—for the first time in years and breaking bi-partisan tradition. pic.twitter.com/qw3CeX4ViV

— Hillel Neuer (@HillelNeuer) November 19, 2019

According to International lawyer, human rights activist, UN Watch Executive Director, Hillel Neuer describing the November 2019 vote, "Trudeau is trading Canada's bedrock principles of fairness and equality for a UN Security Council seat."

Reading the February 15, 2020 column by Earl Bousquet titled "Between the Bridgetown Summit and the Washington OAS Vote" should give one cause for concern on the Canadian position on the upcoming vote. Bousquet described the priorities at The Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Bridgetown Summit that took place on February 17-18th and cited that Canada's Trudeau was pushing for the CARICOM's support for the UN Security Council seat. According to Bousquet, the preferred Caribbean candidate is the Chavista candidate, María Fernanda Espinosa.

Taking all of this into consideration than what Carlos Ponce describes makes alarming sense and should be a wake up call to democrats in the region, and for Canadians to ask Prime Minister Trudeau what he is doing?

Trudeau meets Castro at his father's funeral

Professor Ponce presents a disturbing picture of Canada's strategic support for De Zela that is roughly translated below:

"On this occasion, in addition to his country's nomination, he has Canada's strategic support for his candidacy. De Zela's game is clear, allow Almagro and Espinosa to confront each other and since there is no consensus, he will sell himself as the candidate who gets support in different sectors and who should be the consensus candidate. A strategy that seems to have come from Canada. The possible failure of Espinosa would lead Argentina, Mexico and the Caribbean to support the De Zela candidacy. ... The triumph of candidate De Zela would take the OAS back to a gray stage, full of political compromises and little attention to the fight against dictatorships and authoritarians of the region; in other words, a return to a time similar to that of Insulza."

However, this game played by the Trudeau government goes beyond simple vote swapping, although it is a factor. Trudeau demonstrated his affinity for the Castro regime, upon the death of Fidel Castro in 2016, with a statement that could have been authored by Senator Bernie Sanders.

“It is with deep sorrow that I learned today of the death of Cuba’s longest serving President. Fidel Castro was a larger than life leader who served his people for almost half a century. A legendary revolutionary and orator, Mr. Castro made significant improvements to the education and healthcare of his island nation."

 Prime Minister Trudeau has an unhealthy affection for Cuba's dictatorship that has killed tens of thousands of Cubans, jailed hundreds of thousands of political opponents, and driven an entire nation into misery, and assisting in the destruction of a second.  This is why the stakes later this month with the election of the OAS secretary is of such great importance. Sadly, the current Canadian government is playing a dangerous game that would deal a negative blow to the Organization of American States. Professor Ponce outlines the Canadian government's dangerous double standard between Cuba and Venezuela.

"Within the process of designating the Secretary General, the double standards of the Government of Canada are very dangerous, who on the one hand speak of the need to free Venezuela from tyranny, but at the same time openly support the dictatorship of Cuba. Not only do they support it at the diplomatic level, but with millions of Canadians going to the island for tourism and diverse support for programs in Cuba. But they also seem to punish Almagro for his defense of freedom for Cuba and have been campaigning for him not to be re-elected."

Friends of Israel were caught by surprise when Canada switched its vote at the UN back in November 2019. Friends of a free Cuba and a free Venezuela should take note and mobilize  to ensure that a nasty surprise isn't sprung later this month in the vote for the OAS general secretary.

Cuba should be removed from UN Human Rights Council until Castro frees Eduardo Cardet

"So long as the Castro government jails Eduardo Cardet, a prisoner of conscience, we call for the complete removal of Cuba from this Council." -  Hillel Neuer of UN Watch, addressing the UN Human Rights Council, March 20, 2017

Sentenced today to three years in prison

Eduardo Cardet Concepción, prisoner of conscience and Christian Liberation Movement national coordinator, was sentenced to three years in prison today. Meanwhile at the United Nations Human Rights Council his plight was referenced in an oral statement by Hillel Neuer of the nongovernmental organization UN Watch. Speaking out for the Cuban dissident drew an angry protest from the Castro regime's diplomats that interrupted the courageous speaker.

MCL leader Eduardo Cardet condemned to three years in prison
From the Christian Liberation Movement website:

Today Eduardo Cardet was informed of the sentence to three years in prison that was dictated by the court that tried him on March 3, 2017 in Gibara, Holguin. Eduardo Cardet told his wife, the sentence is based on manipulated data, without taking into account the testimony of defense witnesses. Cardet's family will appeal the ruling

Listen to Yaimaris Vecino's testimony in Spanish.

Eduardo Cardet has been jailed since November 30, 2016 for speaking critically of Fidel Castro following his death. Amnesty International declared him a prisoner of conscience on January 31, 2017.

Yaimaris Vecino, Eduardo Cardet and their two sons

Dictatorships at UNHRC try to silence UN Watch's Hillel Neuer

UN Human Rights Council, debate under Agenda Item 8, Vienna Declaration of Human Rights
delivered by Hillel Neuer, executive director of UN Watch

Today we ask: Is the world living up to the Vienna Declaration, which reaffirms basic human rights?
We ask the government of Turkish President Erdogan, if it cares about human rights, why did they just fire more than one hundred thousand teachers, university deans, judges, prosecutors, religious figures and public servants?

We ask Pakistan, when will they release Asia Bibi, the innocent, Christian mother of five, now on death row on the absurd charge of blasphemy?

We ask Saudi Arabia, when will you end gender apartheid? When will you stop oppressing all religious practice that is not Wahhabist Islam? When will you release Raif Badawi, serving 10 years in prison for the crime of advocating a free society?

We welcome the Secretary-General’s new pledge of UN reform. That is why today, pursuant to Article 8 of Resolution 60/251, we call for the complete removal of Saudi Arabia from this Council.

So long as 1.3 billion people are denied their basic freedoms, we call for the removal of China. So long as human rights are abused by Bangladesh, Bolivia, Burundi, Congo, Egypt, Iraq, Qatar, and UAE, we call for their removal.

So long as the Maduro government imprisons democracy leaders like Mayor Antonio Ledezma of Caracas, and causes its millions of citizens to scavenge for food, we call for the removal of Venezuela.

So long as the Castro government jails Eduardo Cardet, a prisoner of conscience, we call for the complete removal of Cuba from this Council.

Mr. President, we have the right to cite the suspension provision of this council’s own charter. They can silence human rights defenders at home, but they cannot do so at the United Nations.

UN Watch Executive Director interviews Rosa María Payá Acevedo following dozen tyrannies trying to censor her

Hillel Neuer, UN Watch Executive Director, interviews Rosa María Payá Acevedo after she completed making her oral statement before the UN Human Rights Council on Item 4 of the Agenda that was interrupted by a dozen tyrannies in an effort, most likely orchestrated by the Castro regime, to harass the young activist over the course of a half hour to read a two minute statement.

UN Watch: On Syria, The UN Human Rights Council Has Been Wrong for So Long

Testimony before urgent session of the UN Human Rights Council, Geneva, March 1, 2012, delivered by UN Watch executive director Hillel Neuer.

Thank you, Madam President.

The nations gathered here, including Syria, have solemnly pledged to uphold the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Yet when a government massacres thousands of its own citizens—innocent men, women and children—it violates that declaration's most basic right: the right to life.

When a government turns heavy artillery upon its own cities, day after day, it commits inhuman acts that shock our collective conscience.

When a government announces that it has held a referendum adopting a new constitution, on the same day that it bombards whole neighborhoods, killing 138 people, its cruelty is compounded by cynicism.

We ask: Does Syria believe the UN will be silent while it commits mass murder before the eyes of the world?

If so, perhaps it is because, for too long, this council turned a blind eye to Syria's gross human rights abuses.

Perhaps it is because this council, for too long, turned a blind eye to regimes such as Qaddafi's Libya, whose representative was elected as its chair.

Sadly, this council allowed Syria to play the role of a human rights champion.

For too long, this council adopted Syrian-sponsored resolutions against a neighboring state, a liberal democracy that protects, not attacks, its citizens.

We have just heard several council members defend and justify the actions of Syria's regime. In doing so, they breach their pledge to promote human rights, and place their own membership credentials in question.

Madam President,

The Human Rights Council has been wrong for so long. As a result, millions have suffered. For the sake of Syria's victims, it is time to right this wrong.

As stated in the preamble of the Universal Declaration, a government that shows contempt for human rights, and practices tyranny and oppression, loses its right to govern.

Today, it is time for this council to send a clear message: a government that murders its citizens must go.

Thank you, Madam President.