Simple math: #YoVotoNo = #YoNoVoto = #N1Mas = #NoMoreCastroRegime

"Nonviolent action is just what it says: action which is nonviolent, not inaction. This technique consists, not simply of words, but of active protest, noncooperation, and intervention. Overwhelmingly, it is a group or mass action." - Gene Sharp  

#YoVotoNo =  #YoNoVoto = #N1Mas = #NoMoreCastroRegime

The Cuban opposition today is preparing for the February 24, 2019 sham the Castro regime calls a "constitutional referendum."  Part of the Cuban democratic opposition is calling on Cubans to stay home and not vote. While another part of the opposition is calling on Cubans to go to the polls and vote no.

The current Cuban Constitution, a Stalinist invention adopted in 1976 was modified twice: first in 1992 and a second time in 2002, but for the purposes of this essay will not focus on the changes, but on Article 137 that deals with constitutional changes.

"If the modification has to do with the integration and authority of the National Assembly of the People’s Power or its Council of State or involves any rights and duties contained in the Constitution, it shall also require the approval of the majority of citizens with the right to vote by means of a referendum called upon for this purpose by the Assembly itself."

This means that a majority of the total population of eligible voters would have to vote "Yes" for the new draft of the constitution to pass. Both opposition campaigns are valid and compliment each other.  Whether one refuses to vote or votes no they are not part of the "Yes," and are rejecting the Castro dictatorship.

Despite this, there is still a debate that presents two positions. On the one hand encouraging Cubans to abstain from voting is an act of non-cooperation and powerful. It also is relatively low risk.  On the other hand voting no is also relatively low risk, but presents a possibility to mobilize around polling places, and also present challenges to vote count methodologies in an act of nonviolent intervention that can also generate change.

A democratic movement has room for debate and conversation, but one should also remember the old Roman dictum for conquering enemies: divide et impera (divide and rule).

These are tactical debates within a shared nonviolent strategic network and the Cuban democratic opposition should be able to navigate these differences and engage in conversations and understandings in order to present a united and democratic front against the dictatorship. It also presents an excellent opportunity to expose the anti-democratic nature of the Castro regime.

21 years ago, under very different circumstances, on the other side of the world a democratic opposition was able to work together to send a message rejecting a long term dictatorship.
 
In 1988 Chile held a plebiscite on the rule of General Augusto Pinochet who had taken power on September 11, 1973 and ruled over the country for 15 years.  This plebiscite would mark the beginning of the end of the Pinochet dictatorship.  To vote "Yes" was to vote for continued military rule and to vote "No" was to vote for a democratic restoration.

On February 24, 2019. Cubans will have an opportunity to reject the murderous dictatorship in Havana. This sham vote will take place twenty three years to the day that two Brothers to the Rescue planes were shot down over international airspace while engaged in a search and rescue for Cuban rafters killing the four pilots on board.

Let Cuban democrats unite in rejection of the Castro regime, and in support of justice and a democratic transition. Let us also remember Armando Alejandre Jr. (age 45), Carlos Alberto Costa (29), Mario Manuel de la Peña (24), and Pablo Morales (29), the four men murdered in an act of state terrorism by the Castro regime on February 24, 1996 while they sought to save Cuban lives.

The Nonviolent Legacy of Payá: Demonstrating Love is Stronger than Hate

The cause of human rights is a single cause, just as the people of the world are a single people. The talk today is of globalization, but we must state that unless there is global solidarity, not only human rights but also the right to remain human will be jeopardized. - Oswaldo Payá, December 17, 2002

Oswaldo Payá Sardiñas and Harold Cepero Escalante

Oswaldo Payá Sardiñas was right when he observed that the failure of global solidarity would endanger both human rights and the right to remain human.  At the same time he demonstrated throughout his life the power of nonviolence and prior to his untimely death provided Cubans a road map to peaceful change called "The Peoples Path" whether or not the dictatorship in Cuba wanted it or not.

It is best described in a hopeful vision of the future that Oswaldo outlined in a 1990 Christmas Message from the Christian Liberation Movement:

"The rifles will be buried face down, the words of hatred will vanish in the heart without reaching the lips. We'll go out into the street and all of us will see in the other a brother, let us look to the future with the peace of he that knows that he forgave and he that has been forgiven. Let there be no blood to clean or dead to bury, the shadow of fear and of catastrophe will give way to the reconciliatory light, and Cuba will be reborn in every heart, in a miracle of love made by God and us." 

In 2012 months prior to his untimely death Harold Cepero gave a clear assessment of the risk each individual takes when confronting a brutal dictatorship.

"Christians and non-Christians who have the courage and the freedom to consider the peaceful political option for their lives, know they are exposing themselves to slightly less than absolute solitude, to work exclusion, to persecution, to prison or death."

The nonviolent legacy that Harold and Oswaldo shared revolves around two key ideas: 

• We are not against other people, only what they are doing.
• Means are ends in the making; nothing good can finally result from violence.

On December 17, 2002 in Strasbourg, France receiving the Sakharov Prize from the European Union Oswaldo explained what motivated the choice to embark on a nonviolent struggle:

"We have not chosen the path of peace as a tactic, but because it is inseparable from the goal for which our people are striving. Experience teaches us that violence begets more violence and that when political change is brought about by such means, new forms of oppression and injustice arise."

In nonviolent expert Michael N. Nagler's book, "The Nonviolence Handbook: A Guide for Practical Action"  a passage that reflects both the struggle now taking place in Cuba and in Venezuela is critical to seeing where things stand:

"Conflicts escalate when they are not resolved, and if they are left untended they can rapidly get out of control." From the nonviolence point of view, the intensity of a conflict is not necessarily a question of how many guns or how many people are involved (the same metric would work for a quarrel between lovers as between nations); it is primarily about how far dehumanization has proceeded. If someone no longer listens to you, is calling you names or is labeling you, it’s probably too late for petitions. In terms of knowing how to respond, we can conveniently think of this escalation in three stages that call for distinct sets of responses. Let’s call these three stages Conflict Resolution, Satyagraha (active nonviolent resistance), and—hopefully this is rare, but it helps to know it exists—Ultimate Sacrifice.

Both Cuba and Venezuela offer demonstrations of the consequences of the failure of global solidarity and the power of nonviolence to confront injustice despite great odds. Due to this failure dehumanization has proceeded to the point where many are required to make the ultimate sacrifice within a context of nonviolent resistance.

Both in Cuba and in Venezuela the democratic opposition in its vast majority have chosen to pursue a nonviolent strategy, but their respective starting points are radically different. In Cuba the regime arrived in power through a violent revolution replacing a dictator, while in Venezuela the regime took power through the ballot box. Both sought to install totalitarianism, but in the case of Venezuela the residue of democracy has made it more difficult. Another factor is that in Cuba the opposition to the regime during the first seven years was a violent resistance with guerillas in the Escambray region. Despite their courage they where either exterminated or imprisoned.

"Violent flanks" and the use of the so-called "diversity of tactics" reduces mobilization and decreases the probability of success for a resistance movement. Strategic thinker Gene Sharper put it succinctly when he said "using violence is a stupid decision."

This would explain why both the Castro and Maduro regimes manufacture evidence and constantly accuse nonviolent activists of being violent ignoring all the evidence to the contrary. First and most importantly if the charges are believed it helps to reduce popular mobilization against these regimes which is the greatest threat to their power. Secondly, it raises questions that can impact international solidarity and support. Third, it allows these regimes to infiltrate agents to carry out violent acts that delegitimize the movement placing it on the defensive in damage control mode.

The Christian Liberation Movement and the CubaDecide campaign have advocated for a plebiscite in Cuba to both mobilize and empower Cubans for a democratic change. On Sunday, July 16, 2017 the Venezuelan opposition conducted an unofficial plebiscite where more than seven million Venezuelans defying government threats went out to vote. This is not a magic bullet but it has mobilized millions of Venezuelans, attracted international attention, strengthened the opposition and placed the government in a difficult position. Cubans should be watching closely as events unfold in Venezuela. The People's Path called for by Oswaldo Payá prior to his extrajudicial killing on July 22, 2012 appears to be working in Venezuela. It is still not too late for Cubans to follow this effective and nonviolent path of liberation.

The New U.S. Cuba Policy: A good first step

The reality versus the spin

President Trump at the Manuel Artime Theater with Cuban Americans

 
Friday, June 16, 2017 was a good day  for Cuba's freedom at the Manuel Artime Theater. On February 3, 2017 White House spokesman Sean Spicer announced that the Trump Administration was in the midst "of a full review of all U.S. policies towards Cuba" and that human rights was a priority.  Over four months later with the input of all interested parties in the government having a voice a new policy was announced in stark contrast to what the prior Administration did.

The Trump Administration took a first step to address the previous Cuba policy's shortcomings releasing the "National Security Presidential Memorandum on Strengthening the Policy of the United States Toward Cuba" that begins by defining what will guide this new policy:

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.

The previous US Cuba policy was drawn up in secret, excluding Congressmen, Senators and even the State Department but included high ranking members of the Castro regime, among them Raul Castro's son, Alejandro Castro, with a small group of Administration officials led by an individual with a degree in creative writing. The end result did not advance U.S. national interests, marginalized Cuban dissidents, and worsened human rights in Cuba.

Cuban Americans where told that the new Cuba policy was unchangeable and Hillary Clinton openly campaigned on lifting sanctions on the Castro regime and her running mate Senator Tim Kaine said, "...we may have a fast or slow process, but we're not going back". This led the Brigade 2506 to endorse Mr. Trump for President on October 25, 2016.  Donald J. Trump got 54% of the Cuban American vote in 2016 that helped him win Florida. Elections have consequences and Cuba policy is being changed.

What is taking place now is a debate over what U.S. Cuba policy should be defined by what would serve the just interests of the United States. The previous policy failed on several counts and needs to be dismantled and replaced.  The memorandum and Friday's statement by President Trump is a good start but much more needs to be done.

Critics of President Trump's Cuba policy announcement such as Fabiola Santiago call this policy announcement "window dressing, a way for Trump to save face with Bay of Pigs veterans and his Cuban-American supporters," trying to downplay its importance but the howls of indignation indicate that it is not cosmetic.

The Miami Herald Editorial praising the new Cuba policy, "Trump right to make Cuba pay for its intransigence," will give some insight into all the angry noise from those who backed the previous policy:

Trump’s new measures are designed to exert more pressure on Havana to reform itself." ... "Trump is right to recalibrate this policy without jettisoning it wholesale. In one of the most important changes, transactions with the Business Administration Group, S.A — GAESA — will be prohibited. GAESA is the company of the Cuban Armed Forces that, according to estimates, controls 60 percent of the Cuban economy."

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/opinion/editorials/article156494959.html#storylink=cpy

This recalibration is a shift in direction but how far it will go depends on what is done over the next three years. When the previous Administration announced the new Cuba policy on December 17, 2014 in a post titled "Obama's Legacy: Normalizing relations with an Abnormal Regime" the observation was made that "President Obama in his address gave the impression that the economic embargo had been completely lifted and that is not the case."

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/opinion/editorials/article156494959.html#storylink=cpy

Then, the Obama White House took a step in a drive to set a new policy that over  2015 - 2016 would continue to radically change U.S. Cuba policy. The Obama State Department politicized the human trafficking report to benefit the Castro regime, and took Cuba off the list of state terror sponsors. President Obama signed executive orders repeatedly loosening sanctions, carried out an official state visit that helped to raise the profile of Raul Castro's son Alejandro Castro as a successor, ordered U.S. intelligence agencies to share information with the Castro regime's secret police in October 2016, and finally shut the door on fleeing Cubans in January of 2017. All of this that unfolded could be traced back to secret negotiations begun in mid 2016, a handshake between President Obama and Raul Castro at Nelson Mandela's funeral on December 10, 2013, although formally announced on December 17, 2014.

June 16th, like December 17, 2014, marked a turning point in Cuba policy. In both cases claims were made that exceeded the changes announced at the time. What was announced on December 17, 2014 set the direction on Cuba policy for the rest of the Obama Administration.  However on both occasions a tone was set that was equally important.

President Obama described the premeditated act of state terrorism carried out on Fidel and Raul Castro's orders on February 24, 1996 as a "tragic circumstance" on December 19, 2014 while ignoring the open indictments on members of the Cuban military directly involved in the shoot down by U.S. courts. The human rights situation in Cuba during the Obama administration deteriorated and there was a body count that coincided with the normalization drive that first began in 2009 and continued to the end of that Presidency.

President Trump identified the Castro regime for what it is and denounced it for its past crimes in dramatic contrast with his predecessor:

"To the Cuban government, I say:  Put an end to the abuse of dissidents.  Release the political prisoners.  Stop jailing innocent people.  Open yourselves to political and economic freedoms.  Return the fugitives from American justice -- including the return of the cop-killer Joanne Chesimard. And finally, hand over the Cuban military criminals who shot down and killed four brave members of Brothers to the Rescue who were in unarmed, small, slow civilian planes.  (Applause.) Those victims included Mario de la Pena, Jr., and Carlos Costa."

Last year during the campaign Donald Trump met with Cuban exiles and listened to their concerns. Attending the gathering on Friday where Cuban opposition activists from the island such as Angel Moya, Jorge Luis García Pérez "Antúnez", Antonio Rodiles, Martha Beatriz Roque, and young Cuban millennials such as Rey Anthony Lastre who'd taken to the streets to protest the previous policy in 2014 and 2015 when Hillary Clinton advocated the lifting of the Cuba embargo when she visited Florida International University. 

Among the human rights activists sitting front and center behind President Trump was Rosa María Payá Acevedo whose father Oswaldo Payá and friend Harold Cepero were both murdered on July 22, 2012 for denouncing the fake change the Castro regime was preparing to carry out. Rosa is 28 years old. She was able to talk to President Trump and hand him information on Cuba Decide's campaign for a plebiscite and on the murder of her dad and friend.

Contrast this with how she was treated by the Obama Administration when Rosa María attended a press conference, as an accredited member of the press (she'd been writing a blog for a newspaper) she was threatened by the State Department spokesman that if she asked a question she would be forcibly removed to avoid offending the sensibilities of Castro's Foreign Minister. The exchange was caught on video by other journalists who were present.

Sitting nearby was Sirley Avila Leon, who was the victim of a brutal machete attack in May of 2015 planned by Cuban state security in retaliation for her opposition activities.

Also present was Silvia Iriondo of Mothers Against Repression, who was aboard the one Brothers to the Rescue plane that made it back on February 24, 1996 the day two other planes of that same organization where shot down in a premeditated act of state terrorism ordered by Fidel and Raul Castro.

Berta Soler, leader of the Ladies in White, the most well known opposition group in the island, released a letter supporting the Trump Administration's shift in Cuba policy and thanking President Trump for mentioning them during speech:

In my capacity as leader of the Cuban non-violent human rights defenders, the Damas de Blanco, I am honored to convey to you the warmest thanks from all the members of our organization, including our four Damas recently sentenced to up to 3 years in prison, for your kind mention of our struggle. These days, Mr. President, when most of the World responds with a deafening silence to the harassment, arbitrary detentions, beatings, house searches, and robberies against peaceful opponents, human rights activists and defenseless women, your words of encouragement are most welcomed. 

Important elements of the dissident movement in Cuba, victims of repression are supporting this change in direction and rhetoric. Time will tell if this positive turn of events signals a profound and continuing change in Cuba policy that unfolds over the years to come.

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/news-columns-blogs/fabiola-santiago/article156480324.html#storyl

Please U2 consider adding Cuban women democrats to your Ultraviolet montage on Women's movements

Open plea to the Irish rock band to consider adding images of Cuban women human rights defenders to their tribute to women's movements during the song Ultraviolet.

Images of women's movements and movement leaders during U2 concert

Dear Bono, The Edge, Adam and Larry:

Great show tonight in Miami. One Republic was also a great opening band. Furthermore thank you for your shout out of support tonight for Senator Marco Rubio, and his support for AIDS funding for those most in need. I've been a U2 fan since high school, remembered your performance during the Conspiracy of Hope tour in in 1986 and seen all your concerts in Miami beginning with the Pop tour and was there on June 29, 2011 when you gave a shout out of concern for Cuban human rights defender Dr. Oscar Elias Biscet:

"Now I would like you to do something we've never done before. A beautiful man, a doctor who has spent his time in the prisons of Cuba. He is also released. His name is Dr. Biscet. I want you to hold him up. Let everyone in Cuba know that he is special to us and we are watching WE ARE WATCHING. Hold him in your thoughts. Hold him in your prayers."

The past six years have been difficult ones and although Dr. Biscet, perhaps thanks to your shout out, is still alive and doing well others have not been so fortunate.

Laura Inés Pollán Toledo died on October 14, 2011 at 7:50pm from heart failure at the age of 63 under suspicious circumstances in the custody of Cuban State Security. Dr. Biscet called it a case of purposeful medical neglect. Laura was one of the founders of the Ladies in White, a movement nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize and winner of the European Union's Sakharov Prize.

Laura Inés Pollán Toledo (1948 - 2011)

The Ladies in White came into existence in the midst of a government crackdown in Cuba that imprisoned 75 Cuban human rights defenders in March of 2003 sentencing them to long and unjust prison sentences. Amnesty International recognized them all as prisoners of conscience. This movement was made up initially of the wives, mothers, daughters, and sisters of these political prisoners. They began organizing regular events, marches and campaigns for the liberation of their loved ones. They faced regular harassment, beatings, and death threats but refused to back down. They continue to march and protest today under the leadership of Berta Soler.

Oswaldo Payá Sardiñas, and Harold Cepero Escalante were killed in what has all the hallmarks of state security extrajudicial execution camouflaged as a car accident on July 22, 2012. Both were members of the Christian Liberation Movement. Oswaldo was the founding leader and Harold, a youth leader in the movement.

The Christian Liberation Movement (MCL), founded on September 8, 1988, organized a petition drive in Cuba named after a Catholic priest called the Varela Project that called for human rights reforms in the Cuban legal code. Tens of thousands of Cubans signed it, MCL turned into the National Assembly and it led the Castro regime to ignore its own laws refusing to debate this initiative and instead change its constitution to make it "unchangeable." The current MCL leader in Cuba is Eduardo Cardet, who has been jailed since November 30, 2016 and is an Amnesty International prisoner of conscience.

Rosa María Payá Acevedo

Following the deaths of Oswaldo and Harold, Oswaldo's daughter Rosa María Payá Acevedo began the CubaDecide campaign calling for a plebiscite, that she says is a continuation of the Varela Project. She frequently travels to Cuba and remains a legal resident there.

Tonight watching the images of women's movements during your performance of Ultraviolet from the Achtung Baby album I was surprised not to see the Ladies in White or Rosa Maria Payá represented.

Both Rosa Maria Payá, and the Ladies in White would benefit by being highlighted in your Ultraviolent video montage on Women's movements. Please consider adding these Cuban women democrats to your tribute to women's movements because at times of uncertainty it could make a crucial difference.

Thank you.

A lifelong U2 fan


 

#PayaPrize: Castro regime reveals its totalitarian and repressive nature before region's democrats

Our interest is to bring Cuba closer to Inter-American values and principles and expand its achievements in science, health and education. - Luis Almagro, the Secretary General of the OAS

Award ceremony in Havana at 11:00am this morning

At 11:00am with her home surrounded by Cuban State Security and with the names of Mr. Luis Almagro and Ms Mariana Aylwin taped to two empty chairs Rosa Maria Payá and a small group of activists who had managed to evade the security cordon carried out the award ceremony. At the same time in Miami, Ofelia Acevedo and other Cuba Decides activists held a press conference to update what had been going on and she explained to The Miami Herald: “We have seen their level of intolerance, arrogance and contempt for others,” she said. “They feel attacked because other personalities in the world recognize not only the Oswaldo Payá award, but also because in Cuba there are people who think differently and have different alternatives.”

Ofelia Acevedo, Oswaldo Payá Sardiñas's widow addresses the press

Earlier this morning Luis Almagro, the Secretary General of the Organization of American States reported over social media that he had been denied entry to Cuba by the Castro regime's immigration authorities.

Letter from @Almagro_OEA2015 to @RosaMariaPaya after being denied visa to travel #Cuba to receive #OswaldoPayá prize https://t.co/GTGfcMNSPt pic.twitter.com/EcvztU91Mw

— OAS (@OAS_official) February 22, 2017

He was the third high ranking Latin American democrat to be blocked from entering Cuba in the past 72 hours. A day earlier on February 21, 2017 former Mexican president Felipe Calderón was also told he would not be able to enter Cuba and on the evening of  February 20, 2017 former minister and member of parliament Mariana Aylwin, who is also the daughter of the former Chilean president Patricio Aylwin was declared inadmissible by the Castro regime's immigration machinery. The past seventy two hours should have dispelled any notions that the Castro regime has changed.

Cuba under General Raul Castro remains a totalitarian communist state that only legally recognizes the communist party, one educational system that it controls, one centrally planned economy that it also controls, regime monopoly over all media, and a communist moral code. Independent grassroots organizations are illegal and critical thought is punished.

Hannah Arendt, the political scientist who wrote The Origins of Totalitarianism, in a lecture on the profound difference between authoritarianism and totalitarianism delivered at Oberlin College on October 28, 1954: “If we look at it as a form of government, it rests on two pillars: on ideology and on terror. It is no tyranny because tyranny is lawlessness and because it is content with the political sphere in the more narrow sense of the word.” ...“Authoritarianism in many respects [is] the opposite of totalitarianism."

This is why a private award ceremony in Havana is turned into an international crisis because the totalitarian regime in Cuba refuses to tolerate international political figures recognizing dissidents, even if it is only to accept an award. Secretary General Almagro in a letter to Rosa Maria outlined the Castro regime's objections:

Last Thursday, OAS official Chris Hernandez-Roy was called to a meeting by the Consul of Cuba in Washington and the First Secretary of the Consulate during which the following was conveyed to him:

1. The surprise of the Cuban authorities at the reason for the visit
2. That they would not grant us the visa
3. That our entry to Cuba would be denied, (even in the case of traveling with a Uruguayan diplomatic passport)
4. Their “astonishment” at the involvement of the Secretary General of the OAS in anti-Cuban activities
5. That the reason for which we requested the visa is considered “an unacceptable provocation”
6. That the prize is not recognized by the Cuban state
7. They characterized the activities of “Cuba Decides” as undermining the Cuban electoral system.

Presenting a human rights award named after a nonviolent Cuban activist is according to the Castro dictatorship an "anti-Cuban activity" furthermore that the prize "is not recognized by the Cuban state" and "an unacceptable provocation." Finally the "Cuba Decides" campaign for a plebiscite within existing Cuban law according to the dictatorship is "undermining the Cuban electoral system." Cuban citizens cannot independently create a prize and offer it to someone for their good works without the permission and recognition of the Castro regime. Seeking to give Cuban citizens a voice to exercise their sovereignty is considered subversive by the Castro dictatorship.

Friends of Cuban Decides following the award ceremony in Havana.

 The Castro regime's embassy in Chile issued a statement worth analyzing to better understand the nature of the system being confronted by Cuban democrats that repeated many of the same points raised with Almagro but went further in libeling Cuba Decides: ... “as an illegal anti-Cuban group that acts against the constitutional order and that provokes the repudiation of the population, with the collusion and financing of politicians and foreign institutions, in order to generate internal instability and, at the same time, affect our diplomatic relations with other countries.”

The facts of the matter are that the dictatorship does not respect its own constitutional order if it in any way limits the regime. Furthermore dissidents are systematically disenfranchised from the economy to keep them marginalized. Finally there is no freedom of assembly or association and citizen initiatives such as the Varela Project are never aired over the official media which is the only mass media on the island. This is why some in the opposition have to seek funds outside of Cuba and access to international media with the hope that it will bounce back into the island.  Nevertheless the dangers of dissent far outweigh any benefits as the untimely deaths of Oswaldo Payá Sardiñas and Harold Cepero Escalante would demonstrate and still need to be investigated five years later.

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/news/nation-world/world/americas/cuba/article134256469.html#storylink=cp

Communist regimes have a century long track record of killing dissidents and Cuba is no different, but it is important to remember that there are two types of executions. Thousands have been placed against the wall and executed by firing squad in Cuba, others have been victims of extrajudicial killings using a variety of methods ranging from poison, car "accidents", drowning or a shot in the back. However there is what Cuban writer Carlos Alberto Montaner called the "other wall"  and subtitled it "the assassination of character in Cuba" and his presentation in Spanish is available online that describes the killing of reputations.

Orlando Zapata Tamayo: May 15, 1967 - February 23, 2010

Even worse Cuban dissidents have been subjected to both types of execution. The case of Orlando Zapata Tamayo, an Amnesty International prisoner of conscience, who died on February 23, 2010 is a case in point. He was beaten down repeatedly and tortured over seven years in Cuban prisons for his human rights activism. Orlando Zapata Tamayo had collaborated on the Varela Project with Oswaldo Payá and engaged in human rights education campaign with Dr. Oscar Elías Biscet. His death while on hunger strike drew international attention and led to a posthumous campaign of slander by Castro regime agents to deny Orlando Zapata's history as an activist seeking to portray him instead as a violent criminal.

Today while taking part in a television program I heard first hand this execution by character assassination by a Castro regime apologist. The attack to slander and destroy the reputation of  Rosa Maria Payá using logical fallacies is underway. Under the vast majority of moral and ethical systems the ad hominem attacks, slanders and libels directed against Rosa are profoundly evil.

Communist morality has no problem with any of it because as the communist revolutionary Vladimir Lenin observed in a speech to Russian communist youth on October 2, 1920:

"The class struggle is continuing and it is our task to subordinate all interests to that struggle. Our communist morality is also subordinated to that task. We say: morality is what serves to destroy the old exploiting society and to unite all the working people around the proletariat, which is building up a new, communist society."

Ronald Reagan understood the full significance of communist morality as defined by Lenin and identified how this was applied by the communist regime in Russia in 1983:

... "I pointed out that, as good Marxist-Leninists, the Soviet leaders have openly and publicly declared that the only morality they recognize is that which will further their cause, which is world revolution. I think I should point out I was only quoting Lenin, their guiding spirit, who said in 1920 that they repudiate all morality that proceeds from supernatural ideas -- that's their name for religion -- or ideas that are outside class conceptions. Morality is entirely subordinate to the interests of class war. And everything is moral that is necessary for the annihilation of the old, exploiting social order and for uniting the proletariat."

This is Machiavelli's the ends justify the means on steroids. Communist morality views revolution via class struggle as a moral imperative while at the same time dismissing traditional moral and ethical systems based in metaphysical absolutes as an instrument to control the working class.  

The outcome of this morally flawed system has been over a 100 million killed and counting, generations living in misery and the emergence of totalitarian dictatorships the world over preaching egalitarianism but delivering hardship and slavery to billions.

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/news/nation-world/world/americas/cuba/article134256469.html#storylink=cpy

End Impunity: Truth and Memory three and a half years after Oswaldo Payá and Harold Cepero killings

"Three and a half years since the attack that took away #OswaldoPayá and #HCepero. Their hope remains #EndImpunity" - Rosa María Payá Acevedo, over twitter in Spanish and reproduced below
 

Rosa María Payá tweeted this photo with her dad  Oswaldo Payá

Today marks another sad anniversary that a daughter observed posting a picture from better days when her dad was still alive. The tragedy is that Oswaldo Payá Sardiñas was murdered by agents of the Cuban dictatorship along with Harold Cepero, a young man who was a friend of hers and a youth leader in his nonviolent democratic movement.  Three and a half years later and the evidence that an extrajudicial execution was carried out by Castro's state security service has piled up and petitions made to the UN Human Rights Council and Inter-American Commission on Human Rights but nothing has been done and the killers remain at large and unidentified.

Young members of the Free Cuba Foundation in an open letter replying to Cuban American businessmen advocating engagement with the Cuban dictatorship and the Obama administration's "new policy" of unilateral concessions to the regime that began in 2009 made reference to both of them. The bitter harvest of this approach can be seen in the high profile body count generated. The December 17, 2014 announcement by President Obama doubled down on this policy that has been hostile to Cuba's democratic aspirations.

Cuba has seen rising levels of violence against nonviolent activists and the suspicious deaths of human rights defenders during the Obama presidency: Orlando Zapata Tamayo (February 23, 2010), Daisy Talavera de las Mercedes Lopez (January 31, 2011) , Juan Wilfredo Soto Garcia (May 8, 2011), Laura Inés Pollán Toledo (October 14, 2011), Wilman Villar Mendoza (January 19, 2012), Sergio Diaz Larrastegui (April 19, 2012), Oswaldo Payá Sardiñas (July 22, 2012) and Harold Cepero Escalante (July 22, 2012).

Both Laura Pollán and Oswaldo Payá each had the international recognition and ability to head an authentic democratic transition in Cuba. Oswaldo Payá had forced the dictatorship to change the constitution in 2002 because of Project Varela, a citizen initiative demanding legal reforms within the existing system, and Laura Pollán through constant street demonstrations achieved the freedom of scores of Cuban prisoners of conscience. It is important to remember that the deaths of these high profile human rights defenders all happened on President Obama's watch.

 What is profoundly moving is that despite all of this, Rosa María Payá Acevedo continues not only to advocate for justice on behalf of her dad and her friend but also for Cubans to be able to decide their country's destiny in a plebiscite in a initiative called CubaDecide. She will be addressing these issues on February 23, 2016 in Switzerland at The Geneva Summit for Human Rights and Democracy. You can register online if you plan to attend in person or watch it live stream.

Message to the world: After 56 years let the Cubans decide

For real change...

 

Ask the People
An auto-transition from Power to Power is being contrived despite the will of Cubans and their exile

by Rosa María Payá Acevedo

Although the current Summit of the Americas in Panama has been a blackboard where the peoples of the Americas have been forced – once again – to choke on the barbarian mouthful of that old subject that is Cuban totalitarianism, hope is renewed by the attitude of consistency and solidarity assumed by the diverse civil society of the Americas.

Today in Cuba, a auto-transition from Power to Power is being cooked up, which tries to ignore the will of the Cuban people and their exile, while enthroning the military elite after a masquerade of reforms which decriminalize certain economic concessions but continues to maintain hijacked all the rights of the citizenry.

Since landing in the sister nation of Panama, I have re-experienced firsthand repression in the style of the Cuban regime. The sincere apologies of the Panamanian Foreign Ministry lose force in the face of all the abuses it permitted later to take place against Cuban independent civil society and all of America.

Only Cuban civil society activists and the foreigners who work with us were threatened and detained in Panama. More so there were no consequences for the officials of Cuban State Security – such as Alexis Alfonso Frutos Weeden – who beat their peaceful countrymen openly in the street, simply for thinking that our beloved Cuba deserves, after more than half a century without multiparty elections, an alternative to totalitarianism. Similarly, these agents boycotted the discussion tables of civil society and beat accredited foreigners.

As in the Island, also in Panama the Cuban opposition has been found a priori guilty in the eyes of the authorities. The marvelous-real thus turned the isthmus into the magically-repressive. From there civil society members elevate our demand for democracy in Latin America to the Organization of American States, in the hopes of catching less indolent ears than those of the OAS’s outgoing secretary general.

However, the documents read in the plenary session at the end were indeed the consensus of the civil society of all of America. The regime’s rudeness little served it, as before the intolerant cry of “There will be no Forum,” the consistent voice of Latin American civil society was raised, supporting the implementation of “binding mechanisms for consulting the citizenry, such as plebiscites and referendums.”

Civil society forged networks to demand a life in truth. We young Latin Americans refuse to be subjects of alliances and hegemonies that with a more or less revolutionary rhetoric, claim the lives of Venezuelan or Mexican students, gag the press in Nicaragua or in Ecuador, and condemn Cubans to a dynastic totalitarianism in perpetuity.

As my father Oswaldo Payá said so many times before his extrajudicial execution in Cuba on Sunday, 22 July 2012, dictatorships are not of the left or of the right, they are only dictatorships. Because rights have no political color, no race, no culture. Because the dignity of the human person is an inalienable gift far beyond the markets and the State.

For this reason we are now working on the citizen initiative Cuba Decide, which proposes holding a plebiscite, which we presented in the parallel summits and in the Civil Society Forum in Panama. After decades of dictatorship, the Cuban government does not represent the people. Nor do we pretend to speak for all Cubans, but we do want the Cuban people to have a voice.

The democracies of the world have the opportunity today to pay less media homage to handshakes between the elected president of the White House and the hereditary general of the Plaza of the Revolution, and to prioritize the agenda of accompanying Cubans in our liberation, asking the people in a plebiscite that returns to us our sovereignty.

Original text in Spanish

Performance art as a test for free speech in Cuba

I also demand...

Rosa María Payá Acevedo... "I also demand" ... "Plebiscite Cuba"

Tania Bruguera, is an internationally recognized installation and performance artist. She is also the daughter of Miguel Bruguera, "a Cuban Political Advisor to the Cuban Embassy in Paris and ambassador to Lebanon and Panama." She is a daughter of the nomenklatura. This may provide some protection for a dissenting voice.

Five years ago in April of 2009 she organized a performance art piece that sparked a debate over free speech in Cuba outside of the island and she is at it again.

This time she is moving her performance art piece to the Plaza of the Revolution and has scheduled it for December 30, 2014 at 3:00pm and has also organized a virtual campaign through Facebook with the hashtag #YoTambienExijo (#ITooDemand) that is also being promoted by Yoani Sanchez through her twitter and online news publication 14 y Medio. This is an open invitation made by Tania which states:

The idea is go to the Plaza the 30th of December at 3pm sharp to talk and peacefully converse about what is worrying us in these moments. To be together letting others know what we think and why, in an atmosphere of tolerance and respect. 

Let there be diversity of opinions and topics to talk and discuss together. We do not have an agenda or seek a particular ideological line: we just want people to come, come those who so far have not found a place to share their doubts or experiences or do not feel represented by alternative spaces that have already been created.

 Meanwhile in Miami to draw further attention to this performance art piece being held in Havana a second one is planned to be held outside the Freedom Tower in Downtown Miami.An open microphone where in the same spirit described above individuals can come and speak their minds for one minute.

It is being organized by Rosa María Payá Acevedo who has adopted the hashtag #YoTambienExijo (#ITooDemand) and added a second hash tag #PLEBISCITOCUBA (#PlebisciteCuba).

On Tuesday, December 30 at 3:00pm keep an eye out for these acts of performance art that are also a test for free speech and the totalitarian security apparatus in Cuba.


If I have the opportunity to attend on Tuesday this is what I would say:

"Four things have to take place for Cuba to begin the transition to democracy and national reconciliation: 1. Free and internationally supervised free elections need to be held in Cuba after the Constitution is changed so that the Communist Party monopoly is ended and rights are respected. 2. All political prisoners need to be freed. 3. An international and transparent investigation needs to be carried out into the deaths of Oswaldo Payá Sardiñas and Harold Cepero. 4. The individuals in the chain of command that ordered and carried out the shootdown of two Brothers to the Rescue planes on February 24, 1996 and the sinking of the "13 de Marzo" tugboat on July 13, 1994 need to be held accountable before a court of law." Finally, I would recommend that all representatives of organizations who are present consider signing the Democracy Accord.

Needless to say that you can say a lot in just one minute when you put your mind to it.

XI Anniversary of Project Varela

Oswaldo Payá Sardiñas, Regis Iglesias and Tony Díaz Sánchez

Eleven years ago today on May 10, 2002 Project Varela, an initiative signed by 11,020 Cuban citizens, demanding a plebiscite is presented before the National Assembly.

Together with Oswaldo at the time of the presentation of the signature (and seen in the photo above) were Regis Iglesias and  Tony Díaz Sánchez. Less than a year later during the Black Cuban Spring both would become prisoners of conscience and spend the next seven plus years unjustly imprisoned.

Ten years, two months and twelve days later Oswaldo Payá Sardiñas was killed in a car crash under suspicious circumstances.

The demand for a plebiscite continues as does now the demand for an international investigation into the deaths of Oswaldo Payá Sardiñas and youth leader Harold Cepero.

Today, let us remember that day eleven years ago when the voices of 11,020 Cubans were heard loud and clear around the world with this act of civic courage.

Turning the word "NO" into an affirmation

 "Truth and love must triumph over lies and hatred." - Vaclav Havel

Today, the death of the authoritarian president of Venezuela was announced within hours of Angel Carromero confirming that Oswaldo Payá Sardiñas and Harold Cepero Escalante had been killed by agents of the Cuban government. Tonight, at the 30th Miami International Film Festival a very special film saw its Miami premier.

Just left the Olympia Theater at the Gusman Center after viewing what one month ago this blog recommended keeping an eye out for, a film about the 1988 plebiscite in Chile called "NO." The film by Pablo Larraín had been nominated for an Academy Award in 2013 for Best Foreign Film but lost to the French drama, Amour. 

Q&A with Alfred Castro who played Lucho Guzman

Nevertheless, having spent time in Chile and being familiar with the democratic transition there, having had the honor of meeting with and talking to various activists who actually participated in the struggle, I knew that the film would be worth seeing. Therefore, went in with high expectations, and although a fictionalized account, the film delivered. 

With President Patricio Aylwin who appears in the film

The Pinochet regime in 1988 was seeking greater international legitimacy and organized a plebiscite in which Chileans could vote "yes" for eight more years of military rule or "no" for an end to the military government.

The film in a fictionalized manner dramatizes the campaigns for and against the vote while using actual footage from the campaign. Additionally, some of the actual participants appear in the film at their present age but when filmed, the documentary footage shows them as they were at the time. 

Vaclav Havel in 1989 in the midst of the Velvet Revolution said something that on the face of it seems obvious:  "Truth and love must triumph over lies and hatred."

The campaign for the "No" which is a negative word managed to turn the word into an affirmation by rejecting hatred, violence, censorship and identifying the word with defiance to tyranny and freedom. In a real sense this film is an exploration of Havel's aphorism.

Tonight after the film there was a short Question and Answer session with Alfredo Castro, who played the role of Lucho Guzman, the publicist backing the Yes Campaign who delivers an excellent performance.

The film has sparked a debate in Chile over its emphasis on the fictionalized publicists and the downplaying of the grassroots work of the opposition that registered 7.5 million Chileans to vote.   

Nevertheless, the film offers viewers the nonviolent essence of the successful campaign that overthrew Pinochet, and that is something to be celebrated.  It also offers journalists a chance to interview the real participants in the struggle to end the Pinochet government.

No: A film about the nonviolent campaign that brought down Pinochet

Keep an eye out for the 2013 Academy Award Nominee for Best Foreign Film. It's "NO" a film by Pablo Larraín that offers a fictionalized account of the 1988 Plebiscite that decided the future of the Pinochet regime. It opens in New York and Los Angeles on February 21, 2013 and will make its way down to Miami in short order.


The story has been told in film in a documentary format in A Force More Powerful and there is lots of information on this successful nonviolent campaign that brought an end to the Pinochet dictatorship at the ballot box.

The official website for the film offers the following description:

 In 1988, Chilean military dictator Augusto Pinochet, due to international pressure, is forced to call a plebiscite on his presidency. The country will vote YES or NO to Pinochet extending his rule for another eight years. Opposition leaders for the NO persuade a brash young advertising executive, Rene Saavedra (Gael Garcia Bernal), to spearhead their campaign. Against all odds, with scant resources and under scrutiny by the despot's minions, Saavedra and his team devise an audacious plan to win the election and set Chile free.