Fact checking The Washington Post on the Antonio Maceo Brigade

A white washed history of a shameful chapter in Cuban American relations with the island

Fidel Castro with members of the Antonio Maceo Brigade

 Reading Tina Griego’s  January 5, 2015 article “They risked everything to open a door to Cuba. They were shunned for it,” was a surprise considering it celebrates the equally notorious Antonio Maceo Brigade and Areito magazine.  Christopher S. Simmons, a U.S. Army counterintelligence officer, has stated publicly that “both entities have long and distinguished histories of collaboration with Cuban Intelligence.”

However it is not only from U.S. officials that such claims have been made but by a now deceased high profile Cuban in the island who met with members of the Antonio Maceo Brigade exchanging life experiences only to later discover that what was discussed would be reported on by one of these Cuban American youth from Miami to Cuban State Security in a report signed in their name.

Eliseo Alberto in 1997 published a book titled Informe contra mi mismo(Dossier Against Myself) in which he detailed the encounter and betrayal. On page 12 of his book is the first mention of the Antonio Maceo Brigade followed by how they met with the author at his home.  On page 16 while describing an interrogation by State Security to pressure him into spying on his own father Eliseo is given a report of confidences shared, and that the author wrote that the data was “worthwhile to have in mind at the hour of evaluating present and future actions.” Eliseo writes of the document that “It was signed at the bottom of the page by one of those young Cubans residing in Miami.”
 

Dossier Against Myself 

Cuban American youth traveling to Cuba to spy on Cubans for the Castro regime sowed distrust and division. At least one of them ended up in their professional career spying at Florida International University before being arrested by the FBI, placed on trial and sentenced to 3 to 5 years in prison. The Antonio Maceo Brigade didn't open a door to Cuba but rather another door for the Castro dictatorship to engage in espionage on both sides of the Florida Straits. That the Washington Post would ignore, or whitewash, this history does a disservice to the facts and to Cubans who are seeking an authentic and enduring national reconciliation between all Cubans.

Rosa María Payá Acevedo: Nine months after her father's and Harold's deaths

"Today marks 9 months without my father and Harold!" - Rosa María Payá Acevedo, over twitter today

Oswaldo Payá and Harold Cepero

"The Christian Liberation Movement and the Payá Acevedo family filed a complaint with the Inter-American Commission of Human Rights for due process irregularities in case that occurred on July 22." -Rosa María Payá Acevedo
  


 Today marks nine months since Oswaldo Payá and Harold Cepero died in a suspicious car crash that appears to have been provoked by state security. It also marks six days since  Rosa María Payá Acevedo returned home to her home and family in Havana, Cuba on April 16, 2013. She'd finally been able to travel outside of Cuba, after having been refused the opportunity to study in Chile in January of 2013, on February 16, 2013. It was not her first time outside of Cuba; she had been permitted to visit family in Spain and also visited Rome, and Poland back in 2008.

Waiting to catch flight out of Cuba in Havana at the airport

 Over the course of two months she traveled through Europe and the United States to pursue justice for her father and Harold. In the meantime back home the death threats began to arrive at her family's home as had also been done against her father when he was alive. On the same day that she spoke for the first time at the Geneva Summit for Human Rights on February 19, 2013 another member of the Christian Liberation Movement, Antonio Rodríguez,  died in another car crash was it just a coincidence or a message?

Speaking at the Geneva Summit for Human Rights on February 19

People of good will inside and outside of Cuba need to keep an eye on the plight of the Payá family and support their call for an international investigation into the deaths of these two courageous activists.

In the meantime let us also pray for the safety of Rosa Maria, her mother Ofelia and her younger brother Reinaldo Isaías as well as the members of the Christian Liberation Movement who remain in Cuba speaking truth to power and seeking justice for Oswaldo and Harold.

Rosa María Payá returns to Cuba on April 16, 2013

Fact Checking the Romney Campaign's Chávez For Obama Ad

President Barack Obama and Venezuelan strongman Hugo Chavez

The Chavez for Obama political advertisement released by the Romney Campaign links together Hugo Chavez, Mariela Castro, and the image of Che Guevara in a thirty second spot which states the following (translation below courtesy of The Miami Herald):

NARRATOR: Who supports Barack Obama?
CHAVEZ: “If I were American, I’d vote for Obama.”
NARRATOR: Raúl Castro’s daughter, Mariela Castro, would vote for Obama.
CASTRO: “I would vote for President Obama.”
NARRATOR: And to top it off, Obama’s Environmental Protection Agency sent e-mails for Hispanic Heritage month with a photo of Che Guevara.
CHAVEZ: “If Obama were from Barlovento (a Venezuelan town), he’d vote for Chávez.”
ROMNEY: I’m Mitt Romney, and I approve this message.

Below is the actual advertisement:


Supporters of the President have attacked it and the media has reported on the debate over the advertisement describing its content as controversial and incendiary, but the question remains, is it accurate? Is it true?

Three claims are made:

1) Hugo Chavez would vote for Obama if he were an American citizen.

Reuters reported on September 30, 2012 that Hugo Chavez had endorsed President Obama quoting the Venezuelan strongman saying: "I hope this doesn't harm Obama, but if I was from the United States, I'd vote for Obama,"  ... "Obama is a good guy ... I think that if Obama was from Barlovento or some Caracas neighborhood, he'd vote for Chavez". The video in the advert does not represent or take out of context what Hugo Chavez is saying. The claim is accurate and true.

2) Raul Castro's daughter, Mariela Castro said as a citizen of the world she would vote for Obama.

In an interview with CNN's Christiane Amanpour on June 4, 2012, Mariela Castro: "As a citizen of the world, I would like him to win," Castro told CNN's Christiane Amanpour in an interview set to air Monday. "Seeing the candidates, I prefer Obama." ... "If Obama counted on the full support of the American people, then we can normalize the relationships; we can have better relations than what we had under President Carter". The claim is accurate and true.

3)  President Obama’s Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) sent e-mails for Hispanic Heritage month with a photo of Che Guevara.

The Washington Post reported on September 14, 2012 that the EPA sent an e-mail out that "contained passages about Hispanic culture apparently copied word-for-word from Buzzle.com. And as icing on the oopsie-cake, it also featured a photo of a horse and buggy — no doubt meant to illustrate the picturesque elements of the culture — passing a painted billboard of Che Guevara." It was widely covered in the media. The claim is accurate and true.

The claims made in the advertisement are accurate and not taken out of context. It is not the advertisement that is incendiary or controversial but the affinity of a authoritarian despot, and the daughter of a dictator for President Obama and EPA circulating an image of Che Guevara, a mass murdering advocate for totalitarian dictatorship and a symbol for violent political action.