Reflection on conditional forgiveness, justice and the silent vigil for July's Cuban martyrs

“ Then you shall know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” John 8:32

A version of this essay was published in The Daily Signal on July 13, 2015.

Over the past twenty years I have taken part in acts of remembrance for the 37 victims of the July 13, 1994 "13 de marzo" tugboat massacre and over the past 19 years for the four victims of the February 24, 1996 Brothers to the Rescue shoot down. What has motivated me to do this and to continue is a desire for justice and with these actions engage in preserving memory and the facts known about these two events.  Now in the case of the Brothers to the Rescue shoot down I lost two friends: Mario de la Peña, and Armando Alejandre Jr, but long ago made peace with their untimely passing.

From the start the words of the New Testament informed my political beliefs and in public forums both written and verbal cited a key passage from the Lord's Prayer: "forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors." A later biblical passage expands on this passage: " If you forgive others their transgressions, your heavenly Father will forgive you. But if you do not forgive others, neither will your Father forgive your transgressions."

In a letter to the editor to The Miami Herald published on July 30, 1996 I made the case against hatred and revenge and for civility:

Many in this community have suffered torture, the death of loved ones, decades of unjust imprisonment and the separation of families. They have good reason to hate Castro, and his supporters, but for the good of the Cuban nation (inside and outside of Cuba) they must overcome their hatred. In the words of Jesus Christ they must love their enemy. They must save the Cuban nation from the evils committed by this enemy, and not add to them out of a thirst for revenge. Leave revenge to God for that is to whom it belongs. The true test of respect for freedom of expression and of thought is how do we react to what we strongly disagree with. I believe that we have a moral obligation to criticize what we think is wrong in a civil manner, but we also have a moral obligation to protect those we disagree with from violations of their civil and political rights.

I still believe this, and live by it, and this belief is at the root of my profound rejection of the dictatorship in Cuba. The Castro regime's "political culture" is one of misrepresenting, slandering and seeking to destroy not only the person advocating a position they oppose when alive but also their dignity and memory after they have died or been killed.

My opposition to Castroism led not only to a rejection of physical violence but also verbal violence that attacks individuals. Cuba needs a new political culture that places Castroism on the ash heap of history. Change must first come from within each person. This is an appeal to civility. The Institute for Civility in Government offers the following definition: "“Civility is claiming and caring for one’s identity, needs and beliefs without degrading someone else’s in the process.” The democratic resistance in Cuba in order to thrive and succeed must embrace and practice civility fully because it is a necessary prerequisite for effective civic action.

However, civility does not mean accepting the rewriting of history or tolerating continuing or new atrocities committed by the unrepentant dictatorship that exists in Cuba. Like, Antonio "Tony" Ramón Díaz Sánchez, a former prisoner of conscience and secretary general of the Christian Liberation Movement, I reject hatred while at the same time forgiving past injustices but refuse to forgive those that are ongoing or that will be carried out in the future. Because to forgive ongoing and future evils raises the danger of one becoming morally complicit in them or as Tony puts it:

"Because what I do not forgive is that the year has started with the same repression that ended last year. What I can not forgive is that in my country, those who govern, do not recognize the need to change to democracy and allow the people to decide in free and pluralistic elections. I can not and do not want to forgive that right now, at this instant, there are political prisoners in Cuba and that the existing laws guarantee their imprisonment or perhaps the firing squad for others. I do not forgive that young people are living without life projects, while a group in power live as billionaires. Nor do I forgive the complicity of many interests that seek capital now in Cuba without wanting to find out today what is happening there. I do not forgive out of hate. No, no but because forgiving a present and a future of injustice and totalitarianism for your country, is not mercy but complicity with the evil of others."

The extrajudicial killings of Oswaldo José Payá Sardiñas and Harold Cepero Escalante on July 22, 2012 and the ongoing escalation of violence against activists and civilians cannot be ignored or tolerated. Clare Short, a former Labor member of parliament addressing the topic of forgiveness and justice raises two important points that underline the previous raised point of forgiving ongoing injustice and repression:

"Is anger about injustice one of the forces that drives historical progress and important social reform? Is there an important difference between the bitterness,hatred and quest for vengeance that can be so damaging to those who have been hurt or wronged, and the anger that thirsts after justice?" ... "I also agree that the quest for vengeance is also wrong because it so often inflicts harm on people who share an identity with the original perpetrator but have no guilt,and it means the evil of the original harm is recreated in the actions of the person who has been wronged. But all this said, there is such a thing as just anger and those who are subject to continuing oppression can get strength from that anger in order to join with others to liberate themselves. And so I wish to conclude by celebrating forgiveness and reconciliation but also by reminding us that reconciliation can not be the answer when there is a continuing wrong or continuing oppression."

Reconciliation with the Castro regime is presently impossible because of its unwillingness both to be reconciled and to admit any wrong doing. Secondly, according to some experts on the subject a "willingness to forgive" does not necessitate reconciliation or for that matter giving up on justice being served. However for forgiveness to take place it does require repentance and must be conditional. Author and theologian Chris Brauns outlines the argument on his blog which is reproduced below:

•  Christians are called to forgive others as God forgave them (Matthew, 6:12, Ephesians  4:32).
• God forgives conditionally. God only forgives those who repent of their sins and turn in saving faith to Him (1 John 1:9, John 3:36).
• Likewise, we also should offer forgiveness to all. 
• We forgive those who repent.  Indeed, we are obliged to forgive (Luke 17:3-4), knowing that whatever someone has done to offend us pales in comparison to what we have done to offend God (Matthew 18:32-33).

The alternative to this, according to Brauns, that in some quarters is called "unconditional forgiveness" may actually lead a victim to internalize "unforgiveness and bitterness." This is not the path to peace and reconciliation but to its opposite.

Defending memory by pursuing truth and maintaining the call for justice is an ever present opportunity for the other to repent and embrace justice and actual forgiveness. The antithesis of this is "forgiving and forgetting" while injustices are ongoing  and new ones being compounded not only harms the victims but also condemns the perpetrator to continue committing evil acts and is described as a "false reconciliation."   It is preaching forgiveness without repentance which the German theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer described as "cheap grace." Forgetting the past and the truths that it holds is a threat to freedom.

It is important to remember what has been done within a context of justice while remaining open to forgiveness by calling on the other side to repent and for civil authorities to hold them accountable for past and present crimes. This is why on July 13, 2015 at noon people of goodwill shall gather in silence for 13 minutes in a demand for justice for the thirty seven men, women,  and children killed on July 13, 1994 and for Oswaldo Payá Sardiñas and Harold Cepero Escalante killed on July 22, 2012 in what has all the hallmarks of a state security extrajudicial execution.  Speaking to family members in both cases who with their faith have not succumbed to hatred, but continue to demand justice. Jorge García who lost 14 relatives on July 13, 1994 expressed it best during a question and answer session at Florida International University on July 13, 2004:

''There are those who think that we should be full of rancor and a thirst for vengeance but I don't want revenge. I feel sorry for the people who assassinated my family. I can never be compensated for my loss. I will never be happy again with my family surrounding me. There will always be a tinge of sadness but I do want there to be a trial so that this situation can serve as a lesson and that these people or others like them in other parts of the world, don't do this kind of thing again. Not in Cuba. Not anywhere.''

Policy paper shows correlation between US engagement and rising repression in Cuba

The Obama Administration’s Cuba Engagement Policy and Rising Repression


by John Suarez, Cuban Democratic Directorate

“The Cuban people deserve the support of the United States and of an entire region that has committed to promote and defend democracy through the Inter-American Democratic Charter.” – The White House December 17, 2014 

Sirley Ávila León: Holds state security responsible for May 2015 machete attack

Summary:

• Levels of violence and numbers of arbitrary detentions have grown exponentially during the 18 months of secret negotiations between the Castro regime and the Obama administration. 
• Human Rights defenders were victims of brutal, life threatening machete attacks in the same month that secret negotiations between the Obama administration and the Castro dictatorship started. 
• The December 17, 2014 announcement of normalized relations was surrounded by repression, violence and death. 
• There has been an explosion of arbitrary detentions in Cuba, jumping from an average of 550 per month to 742. 
• The Castro regime has been implicated in heightening repression against pro-democracy activists in Venezuela, including extrajudicial killings.

Introduction
Six months ago on December 17, 2014 following eighteen months of secret negotiations between the Obama administration and the Castro regime, a new U.S. Cuba policy was announced with great pomp and circumstance by the President to the American people, at the same time that General Raul Castro,wearing his military uniform, addressed the Cuban people. President Obama argued that U.S. isolation of Cuba had failed to achieve its goals of a democratic transition, and that instead it had isolated the United States internationally and reduced its influence in the hemisphere. The aim of this paper is to analyze some of the events that took place during the secret negotiations and what has taken place since the policy was announced in the area of human rights violations.

Background
First, the premise that U.S. policy on Cuba over the past half century had been one of unwavering isolation is inaccurate. President Carter between 1977 and 1980 lifted the travel ban on Cuba*, engaged the Castro regime in a dialogue, both countries opened interests sections creating for all intense purposes de facto embassies that have operated to the present date. In 2000 Bill Clinton, shook hands with Fidel Castro, and opened up sanctions on Cuba that began trade between American companies and the Castro dictatorship in what would reach billions of dollars.

Secondly, during both openings U.S. interests were negatively impacted in the region and internationally. During the Carter administration it coincided with the rise of the Sandinista dictatorship in Nicaragua and raging civil wars across Central America aided and abetted by the Castro regime.

During the Clinton administration the opening to Cuba coincided with the rise of Hugo Chavez in Venezuela. In both cases the U.S. policy of engagement with the Castro regime ended up expanding the dictatorship’s influence in the region while limiting that of the United States. The presence of Cuban state security has assisted in the undermining of human rights standards in both countries and needs to be taken into account in any analysis of human rights involving the Castro regime.#

The ‘New’ Policy
President Obama cited the loosening of sanctions that he had carried out in 2009, 2011 and on December 17, 2014. Concretely this new policy would involve re-establishing diplomatic relations, facilitating an expansion of travel to Cuba and make improvements on existing regulations to empower the Cuban people. Not mentioned was the commutation of the sentences of three Cuban spies, long demanded by the Castro regime, in exchange for Alan Gross, a U.S. citizen in what amounted to a hostage for terrorists swap. One of the spies, Gerardo Hernandez was serving a double life sentence, one of them for conspiracy to murder three U.S. citizens and a resident on February 24, 1996 in an act of international terrorism.

On April 10, 2015, Presidents Barack Obama and Raul Castro shook hands at the VII Summit of the Americas in Panama. They met and gave a joint statement the following day. Meanwhile the President remained silent on violence and harassment against activists by Cuban state security agents during the Summit and only met with two Cuban dissidents, who support his policies, in a closed meeting. On May 29, 2015, despite evidence that the Castro regime was still engaged in sponsoring terrorism, the State Department removed Cuba from the list of terror sponsors.

Sadly, the stated position of the Obama administration to hold “a critical focus” that “will include continued strong support by the United States for improved human rights conditions and democratic reforms in Cuba” seems not to be a priority in the ongoing discussions and increased engagement between the two countries. Removing Cuba from the list of terror sponsors closes off an avenue that victims had to obtain justice in U.S. Courts.

Consequences of the Obama Cuba Policy on Cubans
In Cuba, since the announcement of the normalization of relations between the United States and the Castro dictatorship, which occurred on December 17, 2014, repression against human rights activists and people in general continues. Not to mention that the levels of violence and numbers of arbitrary detentions, during the prior 18 months of secret negotiations between the Castro regime and the Obama administration, grew exponentially starting in June of 2013.

Machete Attacks
Human rights defenders were victims of brutal and life threatening machete attacks in the same month that the secret negotiations between the Obama administration and the Castro dictatorship started. On June 8, 2013 in Holguin, Cuba Werlando Leiva of the Christian Liberation Movement was attacked with a machete on a public street. Later that same month on June 21, 2013 in Camaguey, Orlando Lazaro Gomez Hernandez, a member of the Pro Human Rights Party of Cuba and of the Orlando Zapata Tamayo National Civic Resistance Front stepped out of his house with a sign demonstrating his solidarity with hunger striker Luis Enrique Santos Caballero. Seeing this the president of the Committee for the Defense of the Revolution (CDR), an individual known as “Julio” ran out of his home with a machete and started to attack Orlando Lazaro with it, cutting part of his right hand and also striking him on the back. Others in coordination with the CDR president came out as the activist fell to the ground and began to kick him.

Sirley Ávila León, an ex-delegate of the People’s Assembly (Poder Popular) who in 2012 led a battle against the authorities of Las Tunas for a school in her town that led her to join the UNPACU opposition movement was gravely wounded in a machete attack on May 24, 2015. The attack was severe enough that she suffered deep cuts to her neck and knees, lost her left hand and could still lose her right arm. She has still not recovered from her injuries but has been sent home in this critical state. She says that they are trying to be rid of her and that the authorities on several occasions pressured her son (an ex-counterintelligence official) to commit her to a mental hospital arguing that dissenting from the system was insane. Furthermore that various occasions her cows and pigs were attacked with machetes, which she then added “I reaffirm that this is something that was prepared against me for some time.” Ávila is accusing Cuban state security of being behind the attack.

Yuriniesky Martínez with his dad, son, and on (right) how he was found

Extrajudicial killings
The December 17, 2014 announcement of normalized relations was also surrounded by repression, violence and death. Just a day earlier on December 16 the Cuban coastguard ram and sank a boat with 32 refugees, one of them, Diosbel Díaz Bioto, went missing and is presumed dead. The rest were repatriated and detained. Less than four months later Yuriniesky Martínez Reina (age 28) was shot in the back and killed by state security chief Miguel Angel Río Seco Rodríguez in the Martí municipality of Matanzas, Cuba on April 9, 2015 for peacefully trying to leave Cuba. A group of young men were building a boat near Menéndez beach to flee the island, when they were spotted trying to leave and were shot at by state security.

Yosvani Melchor Rodriguez arbitrarily detained since 3/19/10

Arbitrary Detentions
During the Obama presidency there has been an explosion in the number of arbitrary detentions in Cuba with the highest numbers(on average) occurring during the eighteen months that the White House was secretly negotiating with the Castro regime [the number of detentions jumped from an average of 550 a month to 742 detentions a month]. According to Centro de Información Hablemos Press (CIHPRESS) there were 8,519 arbitrary detentions registered in 2014 compared to 5,718 in 2013. Addressing this dramatic increase in arbitrary detentions, Erika Guevara Rosas, Americas Director at Amnesty International in their 2015 annual report on Cuba warned, “we have been receiving incredibly worrying reports about a rise in harassment and short-term detentions of dissidents throughout 2014 which has continued in recent weeks. Prisoner releases will be no more than a smokescreen if they are not accompanied by expanded space for the free and peaceful expression of all opinions and other freedoms in Cuba.”

The Cuban Commission of Human Rights and National Reconciliation (Comisión Cubana de Derechos Humanos y Reconciliación Nacional) documented 178 politically motivated arbitrary detentions in January 2015, 492 in February 2015, 610 in March 2015, 338 in April 2015 and 641 in May 2015 in their monthly reports. Reports from opposition activists during the course of March 2015 indicated that hundreds of arbitrary arrests have been carried out as of March 16, 2015. March 1st began with 13 members of the Ladies in White beaten up and arbitrarily detained and later that is the same month 101 UNPACU activists were detained in Santiago, Cuba on March 15, 2015. The Cuban Commission of Human Rights and National Reconciliation (CCDHRN) reported that "[t]he current and palpable uptrend in indiscriminate and often violent political repression against women and men who are only intending to exercise basic civil and political rights in a completely peaceful way continues to be alarming."

Antonio Rodiles attacked by State Security July 5, 2015

The news agency EFE reported that CCDHRN also denounced that in May 88 peaceful opposition figures were victims of physical attacks, vandalism, harassment and "acts of repudiation" attributable to the secret political police or State Security. On July 5, 2015 Antonio Rodiles was severely beaten on his way to the weekly Sunday march in Havana organized by the Ladies in White to demand the release of Cuban political prisoners. Rodiles suffered a broken nose requiring immediate surgery, several blows to the head, in the left ear, jaw and a fracture in the large left toe.

Over the past twelve consecutive Sundays scores of activists have been violently detained while trying to peacefully march with the Ladies in White. The Havana based project State of SATS (Estado de SATS) on June 17, 2015 published a video on YouTube interviewing members of the Ladies in White: Yaquelín Boni, Yamilé Garro Alfonso, Alina de la Caridad Lans García, Cecilia Guerra Alfonso, Aliuska Gómez García and other human rights activists such as Ángel Moya Acosta. who gave testimony on the repression that took place on Sunday, June 14, 2015 where 90 + activists were subjected to an act of repudiation by mobs brought in by state security agents and being detained arbitrarily, punched, kicked, grabbed by throat, thrown to the ground, and handcuffed by these same agents and national revolutionary police.

On December 26, 2014 Danilo Maldonado, known as El Sexto, was detained on the Malecón esplanade in Havana as he was driving towards Central Park to hold a performance art happening with two pigs whose bodies were painted with the names: Fidel and Raúl. Since then “El Sexto” has remained detained in Valle Grande prison. He has been accused of “disrespect“and is awaiting a trial. Relatives report that he came down with pneumonia and has not received adequate medical care. As of July 1, 2015 he remains arbitrarily detained.

On June 24, 2015 Rosa María Rodríguez Gil addressed the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva and called for the release of her son, Yosvani Melchor Rodriguez, unjustly imprisoned since March 19, 2010. In her statement she outlined the circumstances that led to his arbitrary detention:

My name is Rosa Maria Rodriguez Gil, I am a member of the Coordinating Council of the Christian Liberation Movement (MCL) and I live in Havana, Cuba. For my activism and commitment to the MCL ... because I refused to collaborate with the Cuban political police, my son Yosvani Melchor Rodriguez, a young man with psychological problems, was arbitrarily arrested, subjected to a show trial, where the prosecution was unable to demonstrate evidence of an alleged crime of trafficking in persons that he did not commit, they sanctioned him to 12 years in prison and he has spent 5 years in the prisons of Cuba. My son is being punished as a vendetta for my participation in the civic and constitutional campaign for a referendum where the people can freely decide whether if they want democracy. Not content to kidnap my son, the Cuban authorities denied Yosvani even the right to parole, that all inmate has on the island once they have passed the half way point of the sanction imposed, in this case unjustly. 

Political trials
At least four activists were placed on trial in the period following the December 17, 2014 announcement and others are awaiting trial. On December 19, 2014 Ciro Casanova Alexis was put on trial and sentenced to four years in prison. Daniel Moreno de la Peña tried on January 6, 2015 and sentenced to eight months in prison. On January 15, 2015 the trial of Ibars González Mirabal was carried out. He is under house arrest until the sentence is dictated against him facing one year and six months in prison and is still subject to harassment. On January 28, 2015 in Havana the rapper, Maikel Oksobo, also known as El Dkano, was sentenced to a year in prison under the charge of ‘peligrosidad predelictiva’ (precriminal dangerousness).

Exporting repression to Venezuela and Panama
Throughout the 1960s and 1970s Fidel Castro had repeatedly tried to expand his style of revolution throughout Latin America and failed when the U.S. firmly upheld its policy of containment and isolation. Following both the Carter administration’s engagement policy (1977 – 1980) and Clinton’s (1999 – 2000) first through armed struggle in Nicaragua and secondly through subverting the democratic process in Venezuela was able to expand his reach in the hemisphere undermining regional human rights standards and structures. According to the 2005 Stratfor World Terrorism report, beginning with the Hugo Chavez presidency in 1999 there has been a “rapid increase in the numbers of Cuban political advisors, military officers and intelligence operatives in the country”—a disturbing presence, as the island country remains the last dictatorship in the hemisphere.

As early as 2005 there were reports on how security forces would frequently break up strikes and arrest trade unionists, allegedly under the watchful eye of Cuban security officials.^ Following the death of Chavez in March of 2013 the Castro regime successfully installed Nicolas Maduro and consolidated its control over the regime in Venezuela turning it into a virtual colony. During the 18 months in which the United States and Cuba took part in secret negotiations the levels of violence and terror visited upon the democratic opposition in Venezuela also grew exponentially as have reports of Cuban military and state security agents developing strategies of repression and participating in the crackdown.

Beginning in February of 2014 the high profile torture and killing of student opposition activists were carried out to terrorize the student pro-democracy movement. Reports in the media described individuals with Cuban accents involved in the brutality. Protests erupted in Venezuela where Cuban flags were burned while denouncing the Castro regime’s role in the repression therefore when analyzing Cuban repression, the role of the Castro regime in Venezuela must be taken into account. Here are some high profile examples of 43 killed between 2014 and the present date.

• Bassil Alejandro Dacosta was shot in the head in Caracas on February 12, 2014 from shots fired by a group of police men and his killing was captured from different angles on three different cameras. He was 24 years old.
• Robert Redman, carried the shooting victim, Bassil Alejandro Dacosta on February 12, 2014, was himself shot in the head and killed later that same day in Caracas but not before tweeting: "Today I was hit with a rock in the back, a helmet in my nose. I swallowed tear-gas, Carried the kid who died, and what did you do?" He was 31 years old. ,
• Génesis Carmona was shot in the head in the city of Valencia in the state of Carabobo on February 18, 2014 and died a day later from her injuries. In the last picture taken of her before being shot she is holding up a poster with two other women that reads: "God's time is perfect but if we don't go out into the streets, the time of Maduro will be ETERNAL." She was 22 years old.
• Geraldine Moreno was shot in the head with buckshot on February 19, 2014 in Tazajal, located in Naguanagua, in the state of Carabobo while taking part in a protest and in one of her last tweets on February 17th explained what motivated her to take part in the demonstrations: "No one sends me I go because I want to defend my Venezuela." She died from her injuries on Saturday, February 22, 2014. She was 23 years old.
• 14 year old high school student Kluiverth Roa was extrajudicially executed on February 24, 2015 by a member of the Bolivarian National Police of Táchira State identified as Javier Mora. This officer shot the teenager in the head, killing him in the afternoon. Kluiverth Roa, a student in San Agustín Codazzi school in San Critóbal, had just gotten out of school and was in the Barrio Obrero sector of the city, three blocks from the Catholic University of Táchira (UCAT) where a student protest was taking place. The teenager was surprised by a couple of functionaries riding on motorcycle and one of them shot the youth in the head. Kluiverth Roa was buried on February 25th with his Scout troop serving as pallbearers. 

The respected human rights organization Provea warns that the "killing of Roa Kluiverth is not an isolated event, but is a consequence of the rise of repression in the country." 43 young people, many of them students, have been extrajudicially executed in this manner since February of 2014.

Leticia Ramos and Augusto Monge attacked in Panama

Cuban state security engages in violence and intimidation at VII Summit of the Americas in Panama
Inviting the Castro regime to the VII Summit of the Americas in Panama City, Panama in April of 2015, violated the democratic ideals of the summit and democratic charter signed of September 2001. On the eve of and during the course of the summit, the anti-democratic and violent nature of the dictatorship in Cuba was made evident. The Panamanian government had hoped that extending an invitation to all elements of Cuban society would propitiate a dialogue where all involved could “listen to each other within the frame of respect.” The summit was inundated with Cuban officials and state security agents that carried out acts of repudiation to disrupt events of the Summit in order to prevent Cuba’s or Venezuela’s independent civil society from participating in designated summit activities. "activists Rosa Maria Paya, daughter of murdered opposition leader Oswaldo Paya, and Lillian Tintori, wife of imprisoned Venezuelan opposition leader Leopoldo Lopez were welcomed by screams and insults at the Civic Society Forum. ,

Outside of the Summit in The Porras public park on April 8, 2015 the Castro regime sent its agents, including a high ranking intelligence agent of the Castro regime (charged with overseeing repression in Venezuela) identified as Alexis Frutos Weeden to physically assault a small group of opposition activists who sought to leave a wreath at a bust of Jose Marti. The level of violence was such that several activists had to obtain medical treatment due to their injuries. Among those targeted for the worse beatings were activists from inside the island Jorge Luis García Pérez Antúnez, Yris Pérez Aguilera, and Leticia Ramos Herrería were brutally attacked. From Miami, Cuban Americans Orlando Gutiérrez Boronat, suffered a broken rib and torn ligaments and cartilage in his knee requiring surgery, and Augusto Monge was also badly beaten and required medical attention.

Conclusion
A concrete result of the Obama administration’s engagement policy has not only been a rise in violence and repression in Cuba but the expansion and intensification of the Cuban intelligence services active measures against nonviolent democratic activists in highly visible instances in Venezuela and Panama. It should be cause for concern that one of the top Cuban intelligence agents tasked with overseeing the violent repression of young Venezuelan nonviolent pro-democracy activists would be transferred to Panama to oversee a violent action against Cuban pro-democracy activists while President Obama shook hands and met with Cuban dictator Raul Castro.

End notes
*   Conversations with Carter  by Jimmy Carter, Edited by Don Richardson  October 1, 1998 Pg 310
#   The Civil War in Nicaragua: Inside the Sandinistas by Roger Miranda, William E. Ratliff,  March 1, 1992 pg 100
^   Meghan Clyne, “Venezuela Outsources Intelligence Activities to Cuba – Caracas Provides Cheap Oil in Exchange for Surveillance of Citizens,” New York Sun, 26 January, 2005; on Cuban security presence in Venezuela, see also Javier Corrales, “The Logic of Extremism: How Chavez Gains by Giving Cuba So Much,” in Cuba, Venezuela and the Americas: A Changing Landscape, Inter-American Dialogue, December 2005.

Two violent assaults in Cuba and two radically different media responses

Violence escalates in Cuba. 

Two high profile dissidents in the past two months have been victims of violent attacks. A former academic turned dissident was badly beaten up on July 5, 2015. A former government official turned dissident was machete attacked a month and a half ago that took her left hand and may yet claim her life.

Antonio Rodiles attacked by State Security agents on Sunday

Yesterday opposition activist Antonio Rodiles was badly beaten up by state security agents who broke his nose and big toe leaving him bloody while he was on his way to join the Ladies in White on their weekly Sunday march following Mass in a peaceful demand for the release of political prisoners. The courageous activist denounced the attack shortly after returning from the hospital describing in a video with detail the beating and choke hold he was placed in while peacefully dissenting and the news has been covered widely in the international media as it should be.

Sirley Ávila León: Holds state security responsible for May 2015 machete attack

In contrast, on May 24, 2015 Sirley Ávila León was brutally attacked with a machete by a husband and wife team in a state security coordinated assault. She lost her left hand and may still lose her right arm. She went on record, before a camera to denounce the attack. She is a former delegate to the so-called "People's Assembly" who disenchanted with the regime shutting down a school in her district and without avenues to address it ended up joining the opposition. This made her a target of escalating harassment that ended in the brutal machete attack earlier this year. However the international media has by and large ignored her plight. She was sent home from the hospital in mid June while still in a critical state.

The situation in Cuba for nonviolent dissidents is deteriorating and requires international attention and solidarity. Over the past 12 Sundays in Cuba hundreds of activists have been violently arrested for exercising their fundamental rights.

Hopefully the international media will pay more attention to their plight.

Examining Cuba and North Korea healthcare claims

"Communist political violence flowed from a utopian vision of the future, from the great goals pursued, and from the intolerance the service of these ideals inspired, as well as from an intense attachment to power. The means had to be subordinated to historically unparalleled ends that require extraordinary measures." - Paul Hollander, The Distinctive Features of Repression in Communist States

Regimes in Cuba and North Korea are totalitarian allies

 

Both Cuba and North Korea are totalitarian dictatorships that have made claims of great achievements in the area of healthcare over the course of the past month.

On June 19, 2015 the regime in North Korea said that it had "created a wonder drug which not only cures AIDS, but also eradicates Ebola and cancer."  At the same time North Korea has approximately 10.2 million North Koreans currently facing famine.

On June 30, 2015 the World Health Organization said that the regime in Cuba had "became the first country in the world to receive validation from WHO that it has eliminated mother-to-child transmission of HIV and syphilis." This is the same regime in Cuba that tried to cover up or under report dengue and cholera outbreaks jailing doctors and reporters who warned of the outbreaks at the time in order to preserve a false image of its healthcare system. The dictatorship has not reported any new cholera cases since September 2014 but according to the Public Health Agency of Canada the government of Canada reported a case of cholera in a traveler who returned from Cuba in January of 2015. Tourists have been stuck with the bill in Cuba after contracting cholera on vacation.

When evaluating the above claims by both dictatorships it is important to recall the nature of these type of regimes. The website Boundless which seeks to provide a "cloud powered education" gives a complete definition of totalitarianism which includes the following observation:

"Totalitarian regimes stay in political power through all-encompassing propaganda campaigns (disseminated through the state-controlled mass media), a single party that is often marked by political repression, personality cultism, control over the economy, regulation and restriction of speech, mass surveillance, and widespread use of terror"

Now the claim made by the regime in North Korea was ridiculed by the mainstream press and shows that the regime is not as sophisticated in its propaganda messaging as their Cuban counterparts.

The regime in Cuba used the World Health Organization (WHO) to promote a false narrative of the Cuban healthcare system exploiting a misleading validation process which the WHO described on their website:

"As treatment for prevention of mother-to-child-transmission is not 100% effective, elimination of transmission is defined as a reduction of transmission to such a low level that it no longer constitutes a public health problem. An international expert mission convened by PAHO/WHO visited Cuba in March 2015 to validate the progress toward the elimination of mother-to-child transmission of HIV and syphilis. During a five-day visit, members visited health centers, laboratories, and government offices throughout the island, interviewing health officials and other key actors. ... The validation process paid particular attention to the upholding of human rights, in order to ensure that services were provided free of coercion and in accordance with human rights principles."

Before anyone travels to a totalitarian regime they should first read Paul Hollander's Political Pilgrims: Western Intellectuals in Search of the Good Society if they do not want to be manipulated.  This book studies and catalogs the strategies and tactics that these regimes use to control what one sees visiting their respective countries and what the unintended consequences are for its victims: i.e. the people who have to live there. Katherine Hirschfeld, an anthropologist, in Health, Politics, and Revolution in Cuba Since 1898 who spent a lot longer than five days in Cuba studying the healthcare system, contracted dengue while there experiencing first had the 'discrepancies between rhetoric and reality,' She observed a repressive, bureaucratized and secretive system, long on 'militarization' and short on patients' rights. 

These false or exaggerated healthcare claims are a central element to both totalitarian regimes' justification for continuing their repressive systems and hanging on to power using "extraordinary measures." 

Wife of Jailed Venezuelan Opposition Leader Addresses U.N.

Lilian Tintori, the wife of Venezuelan opposition leader and prisoner of conscience Leopoldo Lopez, testified this week before the UN Human Rights Council. 

Testimony of Lilian Tintori before UNHRC, 30 June 2015

Thank you, Mr. President.

My name is Lilian Tintori and I am Venezuelan. I have the honor to make this declaration on behalf of UN Watch.

Article 2 of the Durban Declaration prohibits all forms of discrimination, including discrimination based on political or other opinions.

I am here for all the names I have on my chest and my back. They are tortured, persecuted and killed. My husband Leopoldo Lopez, opposition leader in Venezuela, unjustly in jail, is only one of many cases. I speak in his name and in the name of all those silenced, like Geraldine Moreno, assassinated in close range, and Jose Manuel Carrasco, raped with a weapon in his anus, both by state security forces.

My husband Leopoldo is in jail for speaking out against the human rights violations that occur in our country, the right to life is violated every 20 minutes, homicides last year were above 25,000, inflation, medicine and food scarcity is more that 72%. Leopoldo has been in jail for 16 month, 9 of which in solitary confinement, with inhuman treatment and torture. In 2014, there were more than 3700 arbitrary detentions. I am here as a wife, as a mother that is raising her two children alone.

My husband and opposition leaders are in jail for demanding democratic change through constitutional, non-violent methods. They have not committed any crime. The UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention determined that Leopoldo had been detained in violation of international law, as did the Committee Against Torture, the High Commissioner and the Special Rapporteur Against Torture.

The Venezuelan government must respect the rights of all people. Today there are 75 political prisoners that should be liberated. Isolation should stop. The Tumba, a white torture center, has to be closed. The Red Cross should have access to prisons and we have to put an end to impunity.

Venezuela continues to be a member of this Council, when it violates the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. We dream and work for a positive change for all Venezuelans. I ask this Council to demand the liberation of all political prisoners in Venezuela.

Thank you, Mr. President.