Legacy of the March 13, 1957 assault on Batista's presidential palace in Havana, Cuba

"If you fight with violence, you are fighting with your enemy’s best weapon and you may be a brave but dead hero."- Gene Sharp

Student leader José Antonio Echeverría (center)

 

Sixty four years ago today in the afternoon, a group of young men took up arms and charged into the presidential palace in Havana to assassinate the Cuban dictator, Fulgencio Batista, and were all gunned down. Nearby at the same time in Radio Reloj not knowing that the assault had failed student leader José Antonio Echeverría declared the dictator dead only to be himself killed in a skirmish after leaving the radio station. It was described as the day that Cuba lost its future.

Over six decades later both sides in the ongoing struggle declare José Antonio Echeverría as one of their own. However, his democratic credentials and history as an elected student leader and practicing catholic would place him at odds with the Castro dictatorship.


Jose Antonio's sister Lucy Echeverría  on August 27, 2014 spoke at a panel discussion, "The Urban Insurrection Against Batista: The Life and Times of Jose Antonio Echeverria" at Florida International University about her brother's leadership at the University of Havana: "My brother held the presidency of the Federation of University Students (FEU) four times elected by overwhelmingly majorities. There the troubles began with Castro. As he never became president, he always kept that inside." 

Not mentioned in the Castro regime's official press is how the Echeverria family rejected the Castro regime's totalitarian turn to dictatorship and ended up in exile by 1961. According to Lucy, objects found in the Birthplace Museum of  José Antonio Echeverría in Cárdenas do not belong to her brother. She also explained how a televised tribute by the dictatorship in Cuba, had imposters play the supposed parents of the martyred leader, while the real ones were already exiled in the United States.

Nevertheless, the legacy of the "13 de Marzo" action to overthrow Fulgencio Batista by violent means ended with the deaths of many good and brave Cuban democrats, José Antonio among them, opening the way for Fidel Castro and in hindsight can be seen to have been a disastrous idea.

Michael Nagler, a long time peace scholar, presents the theorem as follows: Nonviolence sometimes “works” and always works, while by contrast, Violence sometimes “works” and never works.  Nagler offers a more detailed explanation.

The exercise of violence always has a destructive effect on human relationships even when, as sometimes happens, it accomplishes some short-term goal. The exercise of nonviolence, or Satyagraha, always brings people closer. This explains why Gandhi, after fifty years of experimentation in every walk of life, could declare that he “knew of no single case in which it had failed.” Where it seemed to fail he concluded that he or the other satyagrahis had in some way failed to live up to its steep challenge.  Taking the long view, he was able to declare that “There is no such thing as defeat in non-violence. The end of violence is surest defeat.”

Unfortunately, the "13 de Marzo" also has another and related significance in Cuban history. Twenty seven years ago this upcoming July 13, 1994 a tugboat named the "13 de Marzo", in honor of that violent anniversary, carrying Cuban families seeking to flee the Castro dictatorship, that replaced Fulgencio Batista in 1959, was attacked by agents of the current dictatorship and 37 were killed among them 10 children.

Victims of the "13 de Marzo" Tugboat Massacre

Sixty nine years ago today Cuba's last democratic government was overthrown: The Batista Dictatorship and the Decline of Democracy in Cuba

The beginning of the Republic's end

Fulgencio Batista (Left) Carlos Prio Socarras (Right)

From CubaBrief

Sixty nine years ago today democracy ended in Cuba when General Fulgencio Batista carried out a coup d’état against the democratically elected President of Cuba, Carlos Prio Socarras. Professor Jaime Suchlicki, of the Cuban Studies Institute analyzed the conditions and circumstances that led to the 1952 Batista dictatorship.

In a Memorandum of Conversation, by the Ambassador in Cuba (Beaulac) with Dr. Miguel Angel de la Campa, Minister of State datelined Habana, March 22, 1952 and marked secret the U.S. Ambassador indicated that according to Dr. Campa:

“ Cuba intended to restore normal relations with countries toward which the former Cuban Government had had an attitude of hostility. He mentioned Spain and the Dominican Republic in particular. He said he thought the United States should recognize promptly; that it was in our interest that the situation should develop in an orderly way. I reminded Dr. Campa that our Government had not been consulted about the coup d'etat and that Cuba could not expect automatic recognition from us.” 

On March 24, 1952 in a memorandum by the Secretary of State Dean Acheson to President Harry S. Truman expressed surprise and " deplore[d] the way in which the Batista coup was brought about and is apprehensive that this kind of thing may occur in other countries of Latin America where elections are being held this year." 

Secretary of State Dean Acheson and President Harry S. Truman

 

The U.S. eventually recognized the Batista regime, but the ambivalence remained. On May 20, 1957 Fidel Castro requested that the United State stop sending arms to Batista. The United States complied with an arms embargo imposed on the Batista regime less than a year later.

In January of 1958 the United States was pressuring Batista to restore Constitutional guarantees in exchange for the sale of arms.

On March 14, 1958 the State Department in a telegram to the U.S. Embassy in Cuba  requested that the export license for 1,950 M-1 rifles for the Cuban Army awaiting shipment be suspended. This was done because the State Department felt that the Cuban government had failed to "create conditions for fair elections." 

Manuel Urrutia

On March 17, 1958 Fidel Castro's future candidate for provisional president, Manuel Urrutia, along with a delegation of other supporters in exile of the July 26th movement, met with officials at the State Department. They lobbied the U.S. government and argued that arms shipments to Cuba were for hemispheric defense, and they claimed that Batista using them against Cuban nationals was in violation of the conditions agreed to between the two countries. On the same day the Cuban Government presented to the U.S. Embassy in Havana a formal note protesting the delay in the shipment of M-1 rifles to the Cuban Army, and warned that it would weaken  the Cuban government and lead to its possible downfall.  

On March 26, 1958 in another telegram from the State Department to the U.S. Embassy in Havana the view was expressed how the arms embargo could lead to the fall of Batista's regime:

“Department has considered possibility its actions could have an adverse psychological effect GOC and could unintentionally contribute to or accelerate eventual Batista downfall. On other hand, shipment US combat arms at this time would probably invite increased resentment against US and associate it with Batista strong arm methods, especially following so closely on heels of following developments:

1. Government publicly desisted from peace efforts.
2. Government suspended guarantees again.
3. Batista expressed confidence Government will win elections with his candidate and insists they will be held despite suspension guarantees but has made no real effort to satisfy public opinion on their fairness and effectiveness as possible means achieve fair and acceptable solution.
4. Batista announced would increase size arms and informed you he would again undertake mass population shift Oriente, and otherwise acted in manner to discourage those who supported or could be brought to support peaceful settlement by constructive negotiations.

The United States would continue to pressure Batista to hold free elections and leave office for the remainder of 1958. Earl E. T. Smith, the U.S. ambassador to Cuba, on December 17, 1958 delivered a message from the State Department to Fulgencio Batista that the United States viewed "with skepticism any plan on his part, or any intention on his part, to remain in Cuba indefinitely."

 

Ambassador Earl E. T. Smith

The U.S. government had dealt Batista a mortal blow, and fourteen days later the Cuban dictatorship fell, and the Castro era had started. 

International Women's Day 2021: Reflection on women leaders around the world

"We still think of a powerful man as a born leader and a powerful woman as an anomaly". - Margaret Atwood, author of The Handmaid's Tale

First  edition of The Handmaid's Tale

In 2020 focused on the problematic origins of International Women's Day, but today reflect on women who have achieved power around the world by both democratic and other means. 

Capitalist Democracies have seen the rise of women leaders around the world: Golda Meir in Israel, Margaret Thatcher in the United Kingdom, Indira Gandhi in India, Angela Merkel in Germany, Vigdís Finnbogadóttir in Iceland, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf in Liberia, Kim Campbell in Canada, Michelle Bachelet in Chile, Erna Solberg in Norway, Simonetta Sommaruga in Switzerland, and the list goes on for a while.  

Prime Ministers Indira Gandhi and Margaret Thatcher

Women leaders in communist regimes are few and far between, such as Jiang Qing in China, Elena Ceaușescu in Romania, and Vilma Espín in Cuba became high profile figures because of their respective husbands, and owed whatever power they had to these male leaders. Independent women with popular support and their own power base did not fare well in these regimes.

In the Cuban case strong women, not related or backing the Castro brothers, were subjected to violent repression and exile or death.

Laura Inés Pollán Toledo, a courageous woman spoke truth to power and protested in the streets of Cuba demanding an amnesty for Cuban political prisoners. She had been a school teacher, before her husband was jailed for his independent journalism in 2003 along with more than 75 other civil society members. Laura was greatly admired both inside and outside of the island for founding the Ladies in White movement after the Black Cuban Spring of 2003. She, and the group of women she led, nonviolently challenged the Castro regime in the streets of Havana initially, and eventually across the island. 

Ladies in White continue in their activism in Cuba a decade after Laura's death

Laura reached out to the wives, mothers, sisters, and daughters of the 75 prisoners of conscience jailed in March of 2003 along with her husband and they carried out a sustained nonviolent campaign that after nine years obtained the freedom of their loved ones. Since she did not disband the Ladies in White when her husband returned home. Laura recognized that the laws had not changed, that prisoners of conscience remained behind bars and that she would continue her human rights activism. This is why the Castro regime did away with her on October 14, 2011.

Lady in White Daisy Cuello Basulto denounced that her 21 year old daughter was arrested, violently stripped and forced to urinate in front of police officers in a police station in Cotorro. The 21 year old was arrested along with her mom and other family on September 27, 2015 while on their way to attend the Sunday march of the Ladies in White. In the police station "she was humiliated," although she refused to urinate in front of the agents, who constantly jeered at her, explained her mother in an interview with Radio República. The young woman was locked in a cell with a strong smell of hydrochloric acid and now suffers from a sore throat. "She has a fever and feels very bad," reported her mother.

 This has gone on for decades.

Maria Elena Cruz Varela (1991)

Twenty years earlier on On November 19, 1991 Cuban poet Mariela Elena Cruz Varela, who peacefully dissented asking for nonviolent change, was assaulted by a mob organized by the dictatorship who tried to force feed the poet her own words. She wrote about the assault in her book, Dios en las cárceles cubanas (God in the Cuban jails):

"They broke my mouth trying to make me swallow the leaflets that members of my group had distributed throughout Havana. Afterwards I spent three days brutally besieged, imprisoned in my own home with my two children, with no water, no electricity, no food, no cigarettes. We heard what the huge speakers never stopped amplifying, allegorical songs to the country, the necessary punishment of traitors, and anyone who wanted to could shout at me, organized, of course, the slogans they pleased: Comrade worm, we are going to execute you by firing squad!"

And the violence continues today against women in Cuba, who demonstrate leadership. Cuban dissident Sirley Ávila León, age 56, was gravely wounded in a machete attack on May 24, 2015 by Osmany Carrión who had been "sent by state security thugs" and that she is sure that the aggression "was politically motivated." 

Sirley Ávila León in May 2015

The attack was severe enough that she suffered deep cuts to her neck and knees, lost her left hand and nearly lost her right arm. Sirley had been a local official who had sought the reopening of a school for Cuban children, and drew the ire of the dictatorship with her persistent demands.

Laura, Maria Elena, and Sirley were leaders that in a democratic Cuba would have had leadership positions in government, and at least one could have become president, but Cuba is a communist, male dominated dictatorship.  

47 Chinese activists were arrested in January 2021 and now face life sentences for organizing an unofficial primary to choose opposition candidates for the now-postponed 2020 Legislative Council election. It attracted approximately 600,000 voters. One of the youngest defendants is a  23-year-old young woman, Wong Ji-yuet, she is a first time political hopeful. The pro-democratic primary nominee won 22,911 votes, and came in third in the NTW Constituency in Hong Kong. She is a political leader.

Wong Ji-yuet, 23-year-old young woman

In the Orwellian world that is the Peoples Republic of China in the 21st century, exercising democratic rights under the National Security Law imposed last year on Hong Kong is grounds for a maximum sentence of life in prison. 

What of women communist leaders? They appear to achieve power through their husbands, and their fortunes rise and fall with their spouse. They also have a poor track record on women's liberation. Considering that Elena Ceausescu is considered one such "leader" as the First Vice Chairwoman of the Council of Ministers. Her husband, Nicolae Ceausescu, presided over policies that were not pro-women.

Elena Ceaușescu and Nicolae Ceausescu

Shannon Quinn authored the essay "17 Moments In History that Inspired the Handmaid’s Tale" in History Collection and provides a summary of Ceauşescu's Decree 770 policy for women.

One of the specific events that Margaret Atwood found during her research process was “Decree 770” in Romania. This was a law that passed in 1967 that made abortions and all forms of contraception illegal. This had nothing to do with religious beliefs. It was an action that the government believed was necessary for the future of their country. The government already taxed married couples a 6% income tax if they did not have children between the ages of 25 and 50, but they realized that this was not enough to stop people from using contraception.

During the 1950’s, Romanian women were entering the workforce and having fewer children. By the 1960’s, abortion became a common practice, because there were very few birth control options available to women to prevent pregnancy. This began a sharp dip in the country’s birth rate. The Communist Party wanted the population to increase from 23 million to 30 million in a single year, so they enacted Decree 770. After the change of law in 1967, and women no longer had access to birth control, the number of babies born that year skyrocketed to roughly double what they had been the year before. Thousands of new preschools and nursery schools had to be built. Orphanages were overflowing with children whose parents could not afford them.  Aside from making abortions illegal and taking contraception off of store shelves, women’s bodies were literally policed. Decree 770 forced women to visit the gynecologist once a month to check for pregnancy, and police officers stood in the halls to make sure women complied. If a woman was pregnant, the doctors followed her progress very closely. Wealthy women were able to buy birth control pills and condoms on the black market, but poor women did not have that option. There were some cases where women caught the pregnancy before the doctors did, and some women died while attempting to give themselves an at-home abortion. The policy continued until the fall of the Soviet Union in the 1980’s.

Hundreds of thousands of children were subjected to this in Romania, and millions of women were forced to have children.

International Women's Day should be a day to celebrate democracy and markets as instruments for the empowerment of women, and observe closely the dystopian record for women under communist regimes, and resolve to resist the system that inspired Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale. 

Gracias cubanas!#PatriaYVida #LibertadYVida#CubaDecide#8Marzo #8M pic.twitter.com/gZwcAFmMuU

— Rosa María Payá A. (@RosaMariaPaya) March 8, 2021

Tourism to Cuba is a bad idea: Update on the case of Benjamin Tomlin

Cuba is the North Korea of the Americas, a secretive, totalitarian communist dictatorship with a terrible human rights record. Why would anyone go on vacation in Cuba or North Korea? There are cautionary tales on what happens to tourists traveling to these countries.

Otto Wambier: December 12, 1994 - June 19, 2017

College student Otto Wambier was sentenced to 15 years in prison and hard labor in March 2016 for allegedly trying to steal a political propaganda poster in North Korea. One year and three months later he was released to the United States in a coma acquired in prison allegedly from botulism and died a day after his return. e.

Joachim Løvschall was a Danish youth studying Spanish in Havana. On March 28, 1997 Joachim Løvschall ate his last dinner with white wine in a little restaurant called Aladin, located on 21st street in Havana. He went to the Revolutionary Plaza and bought a ticket to the Cuban National Theater. Following the performance he went to the theater's bar, Cafe Cantate, and met up with two Swedish friends. They each drank a couple of beers, but soon left because Joachim did not like the music. At 23:30, they said good bye to each other on the sidewalk in front of Cafe Cantate. 

Joachim Løvschall: December 7, 1970 - March 29, 1997

Joachim was gunned down by a Castro regime soldier in Havana, Cuba on March 29, 1997. The identity of the soldier has never been revealed to Joachim''s family. No one has been brought to justice. He was killed after leaving friends from a night out, on his walk back home

Despite these cautionary stories, tourists continue to go to North Korea and Cuba on holiday, and tragedies continue to happen. William Southworth, a recent university graduate, has written the following  report on the plight of Canadian national, Benjamin Tomlin and conditions in Cuba's prisons. This blog first reported on his plight on September 18, 2020. Below is an update.

Injustice and Inhumane Conditions in a Cuban Prison

Something is rotten in the state of Cuba.

Benjamin Tomlin: falsely imprisoned

By William Southworth

There are 300 prisoners at La Condesa, most of them foreigners. Nearly all have been sentenced on blatantly false charges if the men we interviewed are any good indication. Many have been detained chiefly for their value as political prisoners and not for their roles in any potential crimes. They were arrested abruptly and without explanation. Not understanding their predicament, these unfortunate persons were left to rot under terrible conditions without a sentence for months or years. One French prisoner had to wait 3 years and 5 months before he had his prison sentence explained to him.

If the incarcerated are lucky, they may eventually get the formality of a trial. The charges are normally exaggerated and oftentimes pure fiction. The witnesses are being led and if representation is provided, it is normally provided in bad faith by the Cuban state. While it may seem strange for a country whose economy depends on tourism to arbitrarily imprison visiting foreigners, the Cuban regime has a habit of taking political prisoners in order to seize their assets or use them as bargaining chips in foreign negotiations [1]. Regrettably, Cuba has gotten away with these practices by keeping its human rights abuses well out of the international spotlight.

If the Cuban regime does one thing very well, it is to control the flow of information [2]. The regime keeps a tight grasp on its hyperactive mass media to effectively project an image of power and purity both to its citizens and the outside world. Cuban independent journalists are a critically endangered species and are frequently , so an honest headline out of Cuba is a rarity [3]. Surely, Cuba has earned its lowest rank for journalistic freedom in Latin America [4]. As impressive as Cuba’s ability to control the spread of information in Cuba within their borders is, this achievement pales in comparison to their ability to control the spread of information outside its borders.

Consider the example of Benjamin Tomlin. 

Benjamin Tomlin is a well-respected Canadian businessman and a former employee of the Canada Development Investment Corporation (CDEV), he was arrested in 2018 during a visit to Cuba. He was charged with allegedly having sex with a 15-year-old girl during a previous visit, but the exact nature of his charges was kept from him for a very long time. Tomlin was arrested without proper explanation and held for months before a trial. While it is impossible to know the real motives behind his arrest, it stands to reason from previous cases that Cuba may have seized Benjamin over his potential value as a well-connected prisoner. The Cuban state has arrested several other prominent Canadian nationals in order to secure their large on-island assets, namely the wealthy Sarkis Yacoubin and the well-connected Cy Tokmakijan, [5]. When he was being arrested, Tomlin asked the attending officers a poignant question:

“I am a criminal?”

The answer was equally pointed.

“No, you’re just unlucky.”

When he did finally get his trial, it was marred by irregularities and gaps in evidence. Luckier than most, Tomlin was represented in good faith by a Cuban Canadian lawyer, Ricardo Alcolado Perez[6]. Even so, none of the witnesses were able to identify Tomlin before the court, not even the girl whom Tomlin had allegedly had intercourse with. According to Tomlin’s later testimony, he had never seen the girl that was brought before the court. Tomlin was also made to sign various agreements in a Spanish without proper translation. Despite the clear lack of evidence, Tomlin was sentenced to ten years at La Condesa.

The conditions there are terrible. The prison is overcrowded, the beds tightly packed. Tomlin estimates the prison is built for 150 but houses at least twice that number. Disease runs rampant, electricity is intermittent, toilets are hard to access and supplies are scarce. Seriously sick prisoners must wait months for treatment. Mr. Tomlin said he had to wait a month before he received treatment for an excruciatingly painful kidney infection. He has also never received medication for chronic pain owning to a spinal injury. His time at La Condesa has debilitated Benjamin. If this is not proof enough of bad conditions, surely the recent death of one Venezuelan prisoner there, a man named Oscar Nuñez, puts it beyond all doubt. According to Tomlin, Nuñez had been asking to see a doctor for some time before he died without treatment. The prison authorities were allegedly aware of Nuñez’s critical condition before his death.

Tomlin supported his horror story of neglect and inhumane conditions with the testimonies of three other prisoners. These prisoners, one Canadian, one Frenchman and one Venezuelan, echoed Benjamin’s account with their own stories of arbitrary arrests and months spent waiting for an explanation and then, at last, sham trials. They were all in prison for long sentences ranging from 8-10 years and were ready to tell their stories despite the potential consequences. Although they had all once been wary of running their mouths about prison conditions, they had lost all hope of a sudden release and all fear of the extended sentences the guards still threaten them with.

The other Canadian prisoner spoke about the crumbling infrastructure with as much detail as the short interview allowed. The Frenchman, Jacques, alleged the prisoners suffered psychological abuse at the hands of the guardsmen. The Venezuelan, Fabio, talked about moldy food and speculated about the nature of the Cuban police state.

Talking about the muddy circumstances surrounding his sudden detention, he hazarded a few words.

“Esto es Cuba.” (This is Cuba.)

Who knows what other injustices these prisoners might have revealed if they only had a few more minutes to speak? When we interviewed the prisoners, the lines were on a 5-minute time limit and always monitored. The prisoners spoke rapidly in quiet, urgent tones to keep a modicum of confidentiality. Our conversations would often be cut out off at random intervals, or when sensitive topics came up. I received calls from restricted numbers soon after these conversations, although I declined to answer them.

But according to Caroline Simpson, Tomlin’s sister, the true state of these Cuban prisons is a secret. Her inquiries about the prison never got straight answers from Cuban officials, who painted a rosy picture of La Condesa. In this fantasy, all the prisoners were well-cared for and had easy access to the supplies in the prison store. If they had any issues, they could easily contact their native embassies for governmental assistance. But as the testimony of the prisoners reveals, the reality at La Condesa and other Cuban prisons is far worse than the official picture [7].

That these prisoners should be willing to testify at all is an act of bravery. The guards had promised punishment should they speak about the poor conditions at La Condesa, threatening the prisoners with extended sentences. But Tomlin said that he and his fellow prisoners had grown tired of keeping their silence and living in fear.

Now that a new president has assumed office, the Cuban question is all the more pressing. Will the United States pursue a policy of détente or renew a blockade with the island? Is a middle course possible and if so, what will it mean for the prisoners in La Condesa? 

As the case of Benjamin Tomlin demonstrates, the United States and Canada must remember that they are dealing with a dishonest, totalitarian state. If other nations continue to tolerate boldfaced human rights abuses in Cuba, Tomlin will certainly not be the last foreigner to fall victim to a predatory Cuban police state.

Cited Sources

[1] Whitefield, Mimi. “53 Cuban Political Prisoners Are Free, but Controversy Remains.” Miami Herald, Miami Herald, 14 Jan. 2015, www.miamiherald.com/news/nation-world/world/americas/cuba/article6544485.html.

[2] MacDuff, Carlyle. “Cuba's Official Media and Its Informative Omissions.” Havana Times, 18 July 2020, havanatimes.org/opinion/cubas-official-media-and-its-informative-omissions/.

[3] Oppenheimer, Andres. “A Horrible Time for Journalists - and Not Just in Cuba and Venezuela.” Miami Herald, 27 Oct. 2018, www.miamiherald.com/news/local/news-columns-blogs/andres-oppenheimer/article220668215.html.

[4] N.A. “Cuba : Constant Ordeal for Independent Media: Reporters without Borders.” RSF, Reporters Without Borders, 2020, rsf.org/en/cuba.

[5] Quinn, Jennifer. “Canadian Businessman Expelled from Cuban Jail.” Thestar.com, 7 Feb. 2014, www.thestar.com/news/world/2014/02/06/canadian_businessman_expelled_from_cuban_jail.html.

[6]The Canadian Press | News. “Freeland Says She Brought up Case of Imprisoned Canadian with Cuban Foreign Minister.” National Observer, 2 Sept. 2019, www.nationalobserver.com/2019/09/02/news/freeland-says-she-brought-case-imprisoned-canadian-cuban-foreign-minister.

[7] Associated Latin Press. “Prensa Latina - Latin American News Agency.” Www.plenglish.com/, 25 June 2020, www.plenglish.com/index.php?o=rn.

In Solidarity with the Hong Kong 47: A call for hope and action

“The solidarity of the shaken can say ‘no’ to the measures of mobilization that make the state of war permanent. … The solidarity of the shaken is built up in persecution and uncertainty: that is its front line, quiet, without fanfare or sensation even there where this aspect of the ruling Force seeks to seize it.” - Jan Patočka

Wong ji-yuet is on trial and faces a maximum sentence of life in prison

Over the past 71 years the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has murdered tens of millions of Chinese citizens, backed the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia, and the Kim regime in North Korea. The CCP through its lack of transparency, silencing of Chinese scientists and journalists, has led to a global pandemic that has killed hundreds of thousands and crashed the global economy.

These are the fruits of engaging with a mass murdering totalitarian dictatorship, but too many have not learned the lesson, and seek to return to the old unacceptable status quo.

Press accounts report that "39 men and eight women are charged with 'conspiracy to commit subversion' in connection with the unofficial primary to choose opposition candidates for the now-postponed 2020 Legislative Council election, which attracted some 600,000 voters." These 47 activists face great legal jeopardy in China, but in a free country they would be congratulated for being good citizens.

In early January 2021 mass arrests were carried out and grueling bail hearings are now underway that have left four of the defendants hospitalized due to exhaustion.

In the largest single crackdown yet on the opposition under a China-imposed national security law, 47 pro-democracy campaigners and activists were charged in Hong Kong https://t.co/XB2YAb3utd pic.twitter.com/sNL5gqsaSo

— Reuters (@Reuters) February 28, 2021

One of the youngest defendants is 23-year-old Wong Ji-yuet, she is  a first time political hopeful. The pro-democratic primary nominee won 22,911 votes, and came in third in the NTW Constituency in Hong Kong. Let us speak up for her and the other 46 who are unjustly persecuted.

In the Orwellian world that is the Peoples Republic of China in the 21st century, exercising democratic rights under the National Security Law imposed last year on Hong Kong is grounds for a maximum sentence of life in prison. 

Worse yet, members of the UN Human Rights Council supported this law stifling democracy and freedom of expression.

On July 1, 2020 the Cuban dictatorship introduced a  resolution at the UN Human Rights Council praising China for passing the Hong Kong National Security Law, also known as 66 article law.  53 governments backed this resolution, endorsing the death of a free Hong Kong. Official Chinese media "celebrated" their victory at the human rights body.

The Chinese Communist Party in a secretive legislative process circumvented Hong Kong's sovereignty and imposed this new law a day earlier on June 30, 2020, the 23rd anniversary of the British handover of Hong Kong. 

This action is a breach of the agreement made with the British.  Professor Johannes Chan, a legal scholar at the University of Hong Kong in a BBC news report explained that "effectively, they are imposing the People's Republic of China's criminal system onto the Hong Kong common law system, leaving them with complete discretion to decide who should fall into which system." 

Hong Kong media tycoon Jimmy Lai, in an interview with the BBC put it more succinctly, "It spells the death knell for Hong Kong."

Today 47 citizens of Hong Kong are being subjected to China's communist legal system for exercising their fundamental human rights, that prior to June 30, 2020, had been recognized by the government in Hong Kong and tolerated by Beijing. 

It is worthwhile to explore Cuba's role in backing this repressive measure.

Communist China and Cuba are joined by ideology

President Xi, who is also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, exchanged congratulatory messages with Raul Castro Ruz, first secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba Central Committee, and Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel to celebrate the 60th anniversary of diplomatic relations between the two communist dictatorships.

In September 1960 the Cuban government diplomatically recognized the Peoples Republic of China. Between 1960 and 1964 the two regimes would collaborate closely together. 

Ernesto "Che" Guevara with a Cuban delegation visited Mainland China and met with Mao Zedong, Zhou Enlai, and other high ranking Chinese officials in November 1960 to discuss conditions in Cuba and in Latin America, and the prospects for communist revolution in the Western Hemisphere.

This was at a time that Havana still had normal diplomatic relations with the United States. Diplomatic relations between Cuba and the United States were severed on January 3, 1961.

Relations between China and Cuba cooled in 1964 when the Castro regime sided with the Soviet Union in the Sino-Soviet  split, but warmed again in 1989 following the Tiananmen Massacre. The Castro regime was one of the few governments to support the massacre, and the Castro regime had distanced itself from the Soviet Union viewing Perestroika and Glasnost  as existential threats to their rule.

Cuba's relationship with the Soviet Union provided Havana with expertise in biological warfare and biotech that had been denied the Chinese due to the above mentioned split. The Castro regime beginning in the late 1980s began offering that knowledge to their counterparts in Beijing and signed a  formal agreement to produce monoclonal antibodies in 2002.

The two regimes have been working closely together during the COVID-19 pandemic that originated in Wuhan, China in December 2019.  Above is a video presentation given in April 2020 on this relationship.

Little surprise that on July 1, 2020 the Castro regime took the lead in backing the new security law in Hong Kong that effectively ends freedom there.

We must do what we can to speak up for our Chinese brothers and sisters imprisoned for non-violently exercising their rights in the defense of human rights and democracy.

Erazim V. Kohák in his book Jan Patočka: philosophy and selected writings refers to Patočka’s “solidarity of the shaken” as a community freed “from the preoccupation with the pursuits of peace and prosperity that inevitably lead to war and turn it instead to the pursuit of the Good, the care of the soul” that is “living with a clear conscience, living in truth, or in far older terms, seeking first the Kingdom of God.” 

This solidarity of the shaken is not passive resistance but an active nonviolent resistance to injustice. People of goodwill must join together to resist this expanding tide of totalitarianism and authoritarianism, and in doing so preserve freedom. 

In 1990 in his book, Disturbing the Peace, the late Czech President, and dissident, Vaclav Havel reflected on the nature of hope, and it is even more relevant in these challenging times. 

“Hope, in this deep and powerful sense, is not the same as joy that things are going well, or willingness to invest in enterprises that are obviously headed for early success, but rather an ability to work for something because it is good, not just because it stands a chance to succeed. The more unpromising the situation in which we demonstrate hope, the deeper that hope is. Hope is not the same thing as optimism. It is not the conviction that something will turn out well, but the certainty that something makes sense, regardless of how it turns out."

Let us be hopeful, and not despair, continuing to speak out for brethren in China and elsewhere that repression and injustice are operating.