"The first victory we can claim is that our hearts are free of hatred. Hence we say to those who persecute us and who try to dominate us: ‘You are my brother. I do not hate you, but you are not going to dominate me by fear. I do not wish to impose my truth, nor do I wish you to impose yours on me. We are going to seek the truth together’. THIS IS THE LIBERATION WHICH WE ARE PROCLAIMING."
Oswaldo José Payá Sardiñas (2002)
A 2017 declassified British diplomatic cable revealed that
"at least 10,000 people were killed. The Chinese Communist regime still defends committing this massacre, and is punishing those who seek to remember and observe the date.
In Hong Kong, commemorating the Tiananmen Square Massacre with white flowers, signs, or a hunger strike lead to arrests.
It's a poignant example of eroding free speech and political rights. Charges of 'sedition' could result in lengthy imprisonment. https://t.co/tUpJR5YWKg
George Orwell wrote in "As I Please" in the Tribune on February 4, 1944 that "[t]he
really frightening thing about totalitarianism is not that it commits
'atrocities' but that it attacks the concept of objective truth; it
claims to control the past as well as the future."
We are witnessing this attempt to silence the victims, erase and rewrite the history of the 1989 Tiananmen protests and the crackdown and massacre that began on June 3, 1989 through social media and in the real world. People are being arrested for engaging in silent, nonviolent protests in remembrance of students and workers murdered by the Peoples Liberation Army (PLA) on orders of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Making this known is the most effective method to combat it.
The Czech writer Milan Kundera wrote that "[t]he struggle of man against power is the struggle of memory against forgetting." This is the challenge presented by the Chinese Communist Party in its effort to erase the mass protests, months long occupation and crackdown in Tiananmen Square, and across China. It is also why we must remember and honor courageous Chinese dissidents such as Liu Xiaobo martyred for his commitment to nonviolence and democracy.
My performance artist friend Sanmu just got arrested in Hong Kong, he was trying to perform on the street on June/3 to commemorate 1989 Tiananmen Square Massacre, during his arrest, he yelled “, Hongkongers have no fear! Don’t forget June 4th!” pic.twitter.com/itYnfDiSii
Last night participated in a candlelight vigil hosted by the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation where I listened to eyewitnesses who were present in the square in 1989, and those persecuted today for holding vigils in remembrance.
HRIC Note: On the 34th anniversary of the June Fourth Massacre, the Tiananmen
Mothers have authorized Human Rights in China to publish this essay. See our website
for more information on June Fourth and the Tiananmen Mothers.
[Translation by Mi Ling Tsui]
The year 2023 marks the 34th anniversary of the June Fourth Massacre that unfolded
on the night of June 3-4, 1989, on the ten-mile-long Chang'an Avenue in Beijing, the
capital of China.
Though 34 years have passed, for us, family members of those killed, the pain of
losing our loved ones in that one night has tormented us to this day, in a nightmare
that has never let go. In a time of peace, the Chinese government flouted the world’s
condemnation and brazenly mobilized the nation’s military power against unarmed
students and ordinary people, in a massacre that shocked the world—the June Fourth
Massacre. We, families of June Fourth victims, will not relinquish our determination
to seek justice for our loved ones every single day that the authorities refuse to make
public the truth about the massacre—until justice is done.
Since the 33rd anniversary of June Fourth, in 2022, seven members of our group have
passed away (one of them died of old age and physical decline in the first half of the
year, and the other six died in the second half of the year). Every time we heard the
news of the passing of a fellow family member, we were struck with great sorrow,
especially because we could not visit the families of the deceased immediately due to
pandemic restrictions. Our hearts are heavy, with no relief.
As we commemorate our loved ones on this 34th anniversary of June Fourth, we
honor the deceased family members here—in order to restore history, bear
witness to how the victims were killed, recall the harm and suffering inflicted on
the victims’ families by the troops who perpetrated the massacre, and so that
people can know their misery and remember their desire and unwavering
determination to defend their lawful rights and seek justice for their loved ones.
Although their lives are gone, their final wishes are still with us.
Today four Ladies in White are in prison for demanding freedom for political prisoners and respect for human rights.
Ladies in White Tania Echevarría, Saylí Navarro, Sissi Abascal & Aymara Nieto jailed.
May 22, 2023 marks the day twenty years ago when a group of brave Cuban women took the name the Ladies in White.
They first came together on March 30, 2003 in the aftermath of a major crackdown that began on March 18, 2003, and with political show trials underway targeting their loved ones.
Claudia Márquez (L) , Blanca Reyes
(center) y Miriam Leiva (Rt), on 4/7/03 (Martí Noticias)
These courageous women carried out marches demanding the freedom of all prisoners of conscience and recognition of international human rights standards.
Their objective was to see an end to prisoners of conscience in Cuba.
They've paid a high price for this stand. Movement leader Laura Pollán may have paid the highest price.
Laura Pollán, February 13, 1948 - October 14, 2011
Mary O'Grady in The Wall Street Journal on October 24, 2011 reported that Pollán instead of disbanding sought to expand "the movement across the country and promised to convert it to a human rights organization open to all women. Speaking from the Guanajay prison as her condition was deteriorating, jailed former Cuban counterintelligence officer Ernesto Borges Pérez told the Hablemos Press that making public those objectives likely sealed her fate." Laura Pollán died on October 14, 2011 and was cremated shortly afterwards.
On
April 18, 2022, Ms. Sayli Navarro Alvarez began serving an eight-year sentence for crimes of public disorder, contempt,
and assault related to her participation in the July 11 protests.
Ms. Sissi Abascal Zamora was sentenced to six years in prison
for participating in the 11J protests in the town of Carlos Rojas, in
the municipality of Jovellanos, in the province of Matanzas.The 23-year-old activist and member of the Party for Democracy Pedro Luis Boitel has ten business days to appeal.Reports
are that a bus full of women dressed as civilians arrived where Sissi
was peacefully demonstrating with others on July 11, 2021, and proceeded
to beat her and others up, and a bottle was broken over Ms. Abascal
Zamora's head requiring that she receive stitches.
Artists have celebrated them over the years, and their work endures. Mike Porcel in 2005 composed the song "Damas de Blanco" for a documentary about the Ladies in White.
Solidarity with our brothers and sisters in Belarus
May 21st is the day of the political prisoner in Belarus. This event was organized by Libereco, a partnership for Human Rights is a Swiss-German NGO that advocates for the respect and maintenance of human rights in Belarus and Ukraine.
Belarus must free Raman Pratasevich and Sofia Sapega. Stop the crackdown on freedom of expression.
This blog today is dedicated to Belarusian journalist Raman Pratasevich and his Russian girlfriend Sofia Sapega who today are political prisoners in Belarus.
Belarus, Europe's last dictatorship, its security services and a MiG-29 on May 23, 2021 diverted a commercial airline to kidnap a dissident journalist and his girlfriend. "Belarusian authorities scrambled a [Mig-29] fighter jet and flagged what turned out to be a false bomb alert to force a Ryanair plane to land on Sunday and then detained [Raman Pratasevich] an opposition-minded journalist, and [ his girlfriend Sofia Sapega ] who [were] on board, drawing condemnation from Europe and the United States," reported Reuters.
Political Prisoners: Raman Pratasevich and Sofia Sapega
According to the U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken in a statement released on May 23, 2021, " initial reports suggesting the involvement of the Belarusian security services and the use of Belarusian military aircraft to escort the plane are deeply concerning and require full investigation."
The 26-year-old dissident was traveling on Ryanair flight 4978 from Athens, Greece to Vilnius, Lithuania on Sunday when shortly before touchdown the plane was diverted by Belarusian air traffic control to the capital Minsk over a supposed security alert.
Ryanair's CEO Michael O'Leary accused Belarus of "state-sponsored piracy," telling Ireland's Newstalk radio Monday that he believed Belarusian KGB agents were also on the flight that was carrying 26-year-old Protasevich, who is wanted in Belarus on a variety of charges.
A short while later a coerced confession was aired in violation of international standards.
The degrading and humiliating ‘interview’, showing Raman Pratasevich to be under intolerable psychological pressure, amounts to ill-treatment. Those behind this travesty must be held accountable.
One hundred and twenty one years ago today at noon the flag of the United
States was brought down and the Cuban flag raised over Havana as Cuba
became an independent republic. However, when looking at Cuba one should
look back over the first 467 years and where it is situated today to
gain greater understanding of the unfolding tragedy.
Cuba is just 90 miles south of the United States with a population of
approximately 11 million people. It is 780 miles long and has a land
area of 40,369 square miles and is the largest island in the Caribbean
and 17th-largest island in the world by land area.
Cubans engaged in two protracted wars of independence. The first was the 10 Years War that took place between 1868 and 1878 and the second took place between 1895 and 1898 ending with U.S. intervention and a 4-year
occupation that ended on May 20, 1902. Cuba's first president was a Cuban exile named Tomas Estrada de Palma.
Future first Cuban president Tomas Estrada de Palma travels to Havana
There are many important figures and entities that emerge in the 19th century but for
the sake of brevity will mention Father Felix Varela, Jose Marti,
Antonio Maceo, Maximo Gomez and the Bacardi family.
Father Varela was a catholic priest who is said to “have taught the
Cubans how to think” and entertained ideas of independence that led to
his exile to the United States.
Antonio Maceo and Maximo Gomez were
Cuban generals that played important roles in both wars of independence.
Antonio Maceo was of a mixed racial background: part Spanish and part
African.
Maximo Gomez, was an experienced military man of Dominican origin who
oversaw the overall military campaign in the second war of independence
and of the three previously mentioned was the only one who survived the
war to see the arrival of the Republic.
José Martí and Antonio Maceo
Jose Marti was a journalist, poet and revolutionary who organized and
advocated for the 1895 war of independence and spent most of his adult
life exiled in the United States in New York City.
The Bacardi family, began their world famous Rum business in Santiago de Cuba. Don Facundo Bacardí Massó and Don Emilio Bacardi founded Bacardi Limited
on February 4, 1862.
Emilio Bacardi Lay, son of one of the two founders of Bacardi, Don Emilio
Bacardi, "was a field officer for Gen. Antonio Maceo in 1895 during the
invasion of Cuba by independence forces, and reached the rank of colonel
by the age of 22," according to his obituary in The New York Times on October 16, 1972 when he died at the age of 95 in exile in Miami.
The family would also play an important role in
civic life in Cuba, especially Santiago over the 20th century, and were
constant opponents of dictatorship, political corruption and remained
ardent Cuban nationalists over several generations.
The beginning of the Cuban republic on May 20, 1902 had an asterisk –
The Platt Amendment: which allowed the United States to intervene in
Cuban affairs if U.S. interests were threatened. This Amendment was
gotten rid of in 1933 but left a bad taste in the mouth of Cuban
nationalists.
Between 1902 and 1952 Cuba progressed socially and economically but
faced challenges on the political front. For example in the late 1920s
Gerardo Machado, the democratically elected president did not want to
leave power becoming a dictator. He was driven from office and into exile in 1933 by a general strike.
This was followed by a
revolution led by university students and enlisted men in what became
known as the sergeants revolt.
During this period labor unions made great strides for worker's
rights in Cuba, especially after the ousting of President Gerardo
Machado in 1933.
Created the Ministry of Labor, since there was no body specifically in charge of labor matters.
Established employer liability for accidents; he suspended the
evictions of tenants and canceled 50% of the taxes and contributions not
paid in due time.
Established the eight-hour work day and the right to unionize. He
promulgated the Labor Nationalization Law that established the
obligation that 50% of the workers and employees had to be native
Cubans.
Creation of the Central of Workers of Cuba Central de Trabajadores de Cuba (CTC in Spanish)
In 1940 all the political tendencies in Cuba met to draft what became
known as the 1940 Constitution and a presidential election was held and
Fulgencio Batista elected. He served out his term as president from 1940
to 1944. Due to a clause in the new Constitution he was unable to run
for re-election. Cuba's 1940 Constitution further enshrined workers’ rights into law with 26 articles which included:
A maximum work day of no more than 8 hours and a maximum working week
of 44 hours equivalent to 48 in wages (Article 66); The right to paid
vacation of one month for each 11 months of work in each calendar year
(Article 67); The right of unionization (Article 69); The right to
strike (Article 71); The system of collective labor contracts (Article
72); a non-discriminatory practice in the distribution of opportunities
to work ( Article 74).
In the election of 1944 the opposition candidate,
Ramon Grau San Martin, won and served a term as president from
1944-1948 and in the election of 1948, Batista’s political party again
lost at the general elections and Carlos Prios Socarras was elected president.
Cuba's republic during this democratic period played an important role in the drafting of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights of the United Nations and the establishment of the UN Human Rights Commission.
This democratic renaissance was brought to an end within days of the
1952 presidential elections, when on March 10th Fulgencio Batista
organized a coup against the last democratically elected president.
A little over a year later on July 26, 1953, Fidel Castro organized an
armed assault on the Moncada Military barracks that was a military
disaster but a public relations success. Although most of the men
involved with Fidel Castro in the assault were killed, Fidel Castro
became a national figure at his trial for organizing the attack. At the trial he
portrayed himself as a democrat that wanted to restore the previous
democratic order and attacked the Batista dictatorship for its
usurpation of the democratic order.
How the totalitarian darkness arrived in Cuba
Upon Batista’s departure from Cuba on January 1, 1959 Fidel Castro
began his triumphal trek across Cuba to Havana where he began to
consolidate power while continuing publicly to claim that he was a
democrat but privately began to infiltrate his movement with communists,
alienating many who had fought with him.
On January 22, 1959 the CTC was replaced by the CTC-Revolucionaria.
In the X Congress, held in November 1959, the Secretary General, David
Salvador Manso,"said that the workers had not gone to the event to raise
economic demands but to support the revolution." And in the XI
Congress, November 1961, the delegates renounced almost all the
achievements of the labor movement, including "the nine days of leave
for sickness, the supplementary Christmas bonus, the weekly shift of 44 x
48 hours, the right to strike and an increase of 9.09%, among many
others. Workers were required to do "voluntary work" that was actually mandatory.
Ramiro Valdez oversaw the installation of the totalitarian communist apparatus in Cuba beginning in 1959. He is now probably doing the same thing in Venezuela. It was on his watch that the East German Stasi, and KGB created and trained Cuban State Security.
This is how the darkness of totalitarianism took over Cuba and 64 years
later remains entrenched there. Cuba gained its independence on May 20,
1902 after centuries of Spanish colonial rule and four years of U.S.
occupation following the Spanish American war.
José Julián Martí Pérez: January 28, 1853 - May 19, 1895
José Martí was killed in battle against Spanish troops at the Battle of Dos Ríos, near the confluence of the rivers Contramaestre and Cauto,
on May 19, 1895. He is buried in the Santa
Efigenia Cemetery in Santiago de Cuba.
Cubans the world over honor his memory and Cuban independence follows a
day later. Seven years and one day after Martí's death Cuba formally
obtained its independence on May 20, 1902.
Cubans across the ideological divide claim José Martí as their own. The
claims of the dictatorship led by the Castro brothers that Martí is the
intellectual author of their political project is ironic considering
that the life and writings of this Cuban patriot is the antithesis of
the Castro regime.
José Martí believed that "Peace demands of Nature the recognition of
human rights." A 64 year old dictatorship that rejects fundamental human
rights is the antithesis of what the Cuban independence leader fought and died for.
Furthermore, José Martí proclaimed the idea that: "One just principle from the
depths of a cave is more powerful than an army."
A principle shared not
only by dissidents in Cuba today but also echoed by Vaclav Havel, one of the
dissidents who had an important role in ending Communism in Eastern
Europe in 1989 said: "I really do inhabit a system in which words are
capable of shaking the entire structure of government, where words can
prove mightier than ten military divisions."
On this Cuban
Independence Day we observe that Cubans have lived without democracy for
71 years, and rededicate ourselves to the struggle for a free Cuba.
May 20, 1902 the Cuban flag is raised and the Republic born
"There is no forgiveness for acts of hatred. Daggers thrust in the name of liberty are thrust into liberty's heart." - José Martí
José Julián Martí Pérez: January 28, 1853 - May 19, 1895
José Julián Martí Pérez was killed 128 years ago today in battle against Spanish troops at the Battle of Dos Ríos, near the confluence of the rivers Contramaestre and Cauto, on May 19, 1895. He is buried in the Santa Efigenia Cemetery in Santiago de Cuba.
Cubans the world over honor his memory and Cuban independence follows a
day later. Seven years and one day after Martí's death Cuba formally
obtained its independence on May 20, 1902. Cuban historian Dr. Jaime Suchlicki in his essay
"The Death of a Hero" describes him as Cuba’s greatest hero and most
influential writer.
Maykel Castillo Pérez "Osorbo"
Yesterday, a modern José Martí, marked two years in prison. Maykel Castillo Pérez "Osorbo" is an artist, husband, father, and an Amnesty International prisoner of conscience
who has spent 48 months separated from his family for "the crime" of exercising his fundamental rights.
He is a rap artist, like Martí a poet, a defender of human rights, and
imprisoned for his defense of Cuban sovereignty residing among the
Cuban people.
The Castro regime jails
minors for expressing themselves, in an action reminiscent of the
Spanish colonial government's targeting of the future Cuban independence
leader when he was a child. On October 21, 1869, when he was just 16
years old, José Martí was jailed,and accused of sedition for a letter he wrote criticizing
a friend for joining the Spanish army.
Cubans across the ideological divide claim José Martí as their own. The
claims of the dictatorship, led by the Castro family, that Martí is the
intellectual author of their political project is ironic considering
that the life and writings of this Cuban journalist, poet, and
independence leader are the antithesis of the Castro regime.
Killed 128 years ago today riding into battle on horseback.
It is doubly ironic because both Francisco Franco's father and Fidel and Raul Castro's father had been soldiers who fought in Cuba to preserve its colonial status within the Spanish empire. Castro's father, Angel, according to the 2016 documentary, "Franco and Fidel: A Strange Friendship",
had a photo of Franco on his nightstand. This historical link
translated into a "special relationship" between the two dictators and
is available online.
Both José Julián Martí Pérez's writings and actions taken by him in life point to a man
who prized liberty, independence based in popular sovereignty, and
freedom of speech, thought and association as fundamental to his sense
of being. He was a prisoner of conscience, before Amnesty International
coined the term, jailed for writing a disapproving letter to a classmate who joined the Spanish army.
Under the Castro regime freedom of expression can end in prison for engaging in "enemy propaganda," and freedom of thought can also lead you to prison for the crime of "dangerousness." This is an affront to José Marti's belief that
"liberty is the right of every man to be honest, to think and to speak
without hypocrisy." Hypocrisy, under the Castro regime, is a currency
for survival.
Oswaldo Payá Sardiñas
Cuba under the Castros is not the vision advanced by Cuba's greatest hero. This tradition of freedom and respect for freedom of thought and speech existed during the Republic (1902 - 1952) and still exists today, underground, among dissidents in the island, and on more than one occasion cost the lives of other heroes to defend. One of Marti's modern day counterparts is Oswaldo Payá Sardiñas, who addressed the European Parliament on December 17, 2002:
"The first victory we can claim is that our hearts are free of hatred. Hence we say to those who persecute us and who try to dominate us: ‘You are my brother. I do not hate you, but you are not going to dominate me by fear. I do not wish to impose my truth, nor do I wish you to impose yours on me. We are going to seek the truth together.’"
Oswaldo was extra-judicially executed by the secret police on July 22, 2012. Other modern counterparts can also be found in the 27N and San Isidro movements, and the artists, journalists and intellectuals that nonviolently gathered in front of the Ministry of Culture to read the works of José Martí on January 27, 2021, and were beaten up by the Castro dictatorship's Minister of Culture, and arrested by the regime's political police.
The Cuban dictatorship has managed to exceed the Spanish colonial authority by jailing a parent for speaking up for their imprisoned child. Rowland Jesús Castillo Castro, jailed at age 17 for nonviolently protesting during the 11J protests, is serving an unjust five year prison sentence with forced labor. His father, Rolando Castillo, was subjected on May 18, 2022 to an "express trial" without an attorney and sentenced to two years in prison, with less than two hours notice is also serving out his prison sentence today.
Father and Son: Rowland Jesús Castillo Castro and his dad Rolando Castillo
The legacy of José Martí in Cuba today is found among the persecuted dissidents defending free speech, freedom of association and demanding a free and independent Cuba. Although the Castro regime uses the name and image of the Cuban journalist and poet they have done everything to pervert and destroy his true message of liberation.
"I think they kill my child every time they deprive a person of their right to think." - José Martí
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