What if I told you?

You can't move to another state; even stronger you can't move to another city within your state. The ACLU would probably come to your defense and accuse the government of violating your civil rights. You probably have never even thought about moving within the US as "immigration".

In Cuba however, it is illegal for you to change cities or provinces without government approval. An recently, about 20K "illegal" residents of La Habana got "deported" back to their places of origin.

But don't fret, after all they have free health care.

Dry Feet

We got 32 dry feet at Key Biscayne this morning.

Signs of "Democracy" in Cuba

Ever since Raulito took over, there has been much balihoo that things are "better" with Raul; that he is willing to be a "softer" ruler if such a thing exists.

Apparently, one dissident thought it would be a good idea to try out just how receptive Raulito is and submitted a request to parliamient to issue amnesty to political prisoners and take down the exit permit doctrine.

This in the same week that Cuba accuses another dissident of being a "mercenary" and making up numbers. Yet they didn't deny the existence of political prisoners.

Interesting.

Cambio

If you are in any of these cities (Havana, Miami, Los Angeles) please participate in the CAMBIO movement. Speak now, when even the parrots of the regime are afraid enough to ridiculize these dissidents as mercenaries.

Dr. Ferrer states, “The current constitution supposedly recognizes the rights and freedoms of the Cuban people. The penal code characterizes apartheid as a felony. In practice, both are systematically violated by the established public policy.”

Dr. Ferrer continued, "People around the world were horrified with the ghettos of South Africa. It is time to condemn the apartheid suffered by the Cuban people.”

Protest marches will be held in Havana at the park on Calzada between D and E (Vedado), in Miami at the Graham Center at Florida International University (FIU), and in Los Angeles at 202 West First Street. The marches will begin at 11:00 am EST (8:00 am PST).

Cambio

I got mine, have you gotten yours?

Show your solidarity and your beliefs.

Awarding a Dissident

I didn't want to let this pass on my blog, so I too honor Dr. Oscar Elias Biscet and congratulate him on winning the U.S. Presidential Medal of Freedom. In light of recent events in which 70 youths were arrested for wearing a bracelet that said "cambio" I believe this becomes even more relevant for the dissident movement.

Marc @ Babalu, has a great post on what it is that Dr. Biscet believes.

"To defend the inalienable rights of the human race, we understand the need to put limits on government to prevent the undermining of those rights. It is because of this that we have become activists in this organization – to establish in our country the rule of law, so that each man and woman may be fulfilled as complete human beings."

For more on this man you can go here.

Cubans in the U.S.

One thing I love about blogging is the stories I get to read; in particular those of Cubans who have reached success.

Such is the story of Juan Alonso. A great story of a working class family who sent their 9-year-old boy to the states. Juan worked hard and discovered he was gay; later he channeled his artistic spirit into painting and now has a collection on exhibition at a gallery.

While Juan and I don't agree on everything we do share one thing in common:

About Seattle friends who visit the island and come back full of praise, he's
ambivalent. "I don't think they realize that Cubans working in the tourist
hotels are not allowed to eat there or even talk freely to the customers. I have
a nephew in that position. It's real. But Americans visit and say the place is
lovely. I say, yes, my island is lovely. It's a lovely police state."

Hey it's Seattle, I'll take any sane argument about the apartheid in Cuba.

Free Speech

You can say what you want, but it comes with a great measure of responsibility.

Cubans in the News

Babalu this morning has a post on Cuban doctors in Namibia pleading for help getting them out; three of them already got humanitarian visas and are on their way to the US.

Free healthcare in Canada has sort of hit a rough spot: Cuba. Medical tourism to Cuba is on the rise (doesn't Canada have free healthcare for all? why are people going out of Canada to get their services?). But that's not the newsworthy item. The Canadians going to Cuba to get the treatment their doctors in Canada wouldn't administer have filed their claims with Canada's medicare. Yup you read right, they are going to Cuba and are expecting Canada to foot the bill.

Now why would people with free healthcare go somewhere else for non free healthcare?

The growing phenomenon of medical tourism "is related to waiting lists" here. Lucie Vermette, HSI's president and co-founder, said she launched the company after she waited six months to see a specialist for what turned out to be a life-threatening condition; the specialist "had me on an operating table the next day."

Ahhh, wanting the cake and eating it too. Seems like social healthcare still has some kinks to overcome, if people are turning back to paid healthcare somewhere else.

On more positive news some Cubans have found freedom.

Gestapo Tropical

Cuban dissident Darsi Ferrer who has been arrested more times than I can count, and whose child Cuban police tried to murder, sends us this great piece on the Cuban Gestapo. As soon as I have time, I will translate. For now it is only available in Spanish. Enjoy.

Los métodos represivos de la policía política del régimen de los hermanos Castro incluyen todo tipo de aberraciones e ilegalidades, sin que se observen los límites de su actuar, en función de someter a la sociedad mediante el terror.

El deterioro de la quebrantada salud del gobernante vitalicio incrementa los temores de la cúpula en el poder. La inseguridad en las altas esferas también es generada por la falta de legitimidad de la sucesión dinástica.

Se percibe en el país un incremento de la tensión social subyacente motivada por la grave crisis económica que ahoga al pueblo, una tensión que se transforma en insatisfacciones y descontento general en la medida que el inmovilismo oficial impide soluciones a la acumulación de problemas sociales.

Hasta ahora, la actitud de los castristas es evadir la responsabilidad ante la tragedia que sufre la nación por el afán de poder de unos pocos. Derivan las culpas a factores externos mientras aferran su política a la supervivencia.

La opinión pública internacional se distrae con espejismos respecto a Cuba. Centran la atención en qué hizo el Sr. Moratinos, qué dijo la Sra. Rice, discuten sobre el pragmatismo y la capacidad reformista de un viejo militar, si alguien posee o no dotes de periodista, y si ese alguien tiene mejor o peor semblante, entre otras insignificancias.

Lo cierto es que el régimen desempolva métodos represivos más brutales mientras se le agotan los mecanismos de dominación relativamente pasiva, amparados en el poco reproche y tolerancia internacional devenidos de sus atropellos.

Salvo pocas excepciones, en las valoraciones y políticas de los diferentes gobiernos referidas al tema de la situación en Cuba priman los intereses económicos en detrimento de la ética y de las necesidades de los cubanos, como se demuestra en la actualidad con la posición asumida por el gobierno socialista del Sr. Zapatero.

Durante los últimos tiempos el ataque a la disidencia pacífica incluye el incremento de las campañas difamatorias, el retorno a los encarcelamientos masivos, las torturas físicas y psíquicas, el terrorismo de estado mediante los actos de repudio, etcétera.

La población es aterrada con los frecuentes allanamientos de moradas de las brigadas de policías y trabajadores del ministerio de comunicaciones que persiguen la captación de señales satelitales por todos los barrios.

Otra modalidad rescatada recientemente por la seguridad del estado es el asalto de un vehículo en la vía pública y secuestro de todos los pasajeros (una anciana, una joven universitaria, una señora y un adulto, ajenos a la situación) para enmascarar el arresto de un disidente, con la intención de impedir su asistencia al lugar donde tenían preparada la filmación del programa News Today, de la cadena televisiva NBC.

El colapso progresivo del sistema totalitario amenaza la concreción del traspaso hereditario del poder. En esta etapa, los gobernantes se enfocan en ganar tiempo enviando mensajes banales hacia el exterior y para el interior desatan lo peor de la brutalidad de sus sicarios de la policía política.

Los acontecimientos señalan que la desesperación en las altas esferas del régimen reproduce el círculo vicioso: miedo-terror-inconformidad-pérdida de legitimidad social.

Es de esperar que, ante la ineficacia del modelo represivo acostumbrado, las cosas cambien…para mal. A nadie asombre que en cualquier momento la escalada represiva dispare la cantidad de nombres en las listas de desaparecidos o comiencen a aparecer disidentes baleados en las cunetas. El preludio lo constituye los centenares de presos políticos que lentamente y con impunidad están matando en las cárceles de la Isla.

Win Some, Loose Some?

Cuba has released at least seven political prisoners. This should be good news, right?

Well, yes and no. You see the release comes on the heels of another dissident being sentenced for 12 years in prison, after a quick closed trial and 4 years in jail without having been charged. So he'll end up with close to 16 years. Where are the Human Rights activists that so loudly lobby for the prisoners in Guantanamo? The silence is deafening.

For more comments on this story read Justice Castro Style.

News and Views

The Ladies in White were harrassed during one of their protests that mark the anniversary of the Black Spring.

Recently, Chavez claimed that he gave more financial aid than the billion or so proposed by Bush. But I doubt that even Chavez, and his socialist propaganda, can compare to the aid the U.S. indirectly sends to Latin America.

And the Cayman Islands government continues to act against their residents ideals when it comes to Cuban refugees.

Last but not least comes the scariest news of the day. Why so scary? Because it seems that from #16 on, most of this directives have been accomplished.

Cuba in the News

While Mel Martinez introduces a bill to punish companies who help Cuba drill for oil, someone, somewhere is saying that Castro will run for re-election in 2008.

Excuse me? Re-election? He was never elected. It seems the press has forgotten the big headline of "Why run an election if the people have already voted". I cannot believe any serious paper or journalist would even consider such a headline.

Re-election my ass.

Another Success Story

I love Cuban refugee success stories such as this one. There are still people who realize the American dream is there for those who pursue it.

Cuban to the End

Three heartfelt stories of three unrelated exiles who had to leave Cuba due to Castro.

I always enjoy running into these stories; and I'm always amazed people are surprised that exiles who have lived longer in the US than in Cuba, still feel love for the country they were born in.

Jumping on the Cuba wagon

I've been off the wagon for a while.......

Three Cubans try to escape from Russia to the US by pretending to be Mexican nationals, while eleven others rafted their way out of Cuba and landed at the Cayman Islands - and were greeted as an embarassment to the officials. At least not all Cayman residents approve of the treatment.

If you need a reminder of why Cubans flee, you can always rely on Armando Valladares to tell it like it is.

Meanwhile the first courting of the Cuban community by a presidential hopeful has begun. I'm sure many more will follow reciting to us the same tired speech only to gain our votes. I wonder if the time has come where at least one candidate will have the balls to be honest and practice what they preach.

Banning Harry Potter

The media was in an uproar when the Cuban exile community in Miami requested a ban on the controversial book "Vamos a Cuba". Even the ACLU got involved.

But have you heard about this?

The Hunger Strike

With irrelevant hunger strikes being hyped by the media - Sheehan and Hussein - while real hunger strikes - such as Guillermo Fariñas - go unnoticed, I decided to type hunger strike into Google News.

The result? Another unnoticed real hunger strike; so real that this Akbar Mohammadi died from it.

How come this isn't getting any play in the news?

Tags: Iran, Dissident, Hunger Strike, Political Prisoner, Akbar Mohammadi

Fariñas Harrassed in Hospital

Remember him? The Cubanacan Press director? The independent journalist in Cuba in a hunger strike for SIX months in order to gain the right to freely access the Internet and use his email?

He's been IV fed for a while now and kept barely alive in a hospital. However, all that could end. Why? Because Fariñas is threatening to have the IV removed unless he is given a room where he can have visitors and a phone that works.

His mother tells EFE the story, in Spanish via El Nuevo Herald.

Tags: Cuba, Democracy, Journalism, Free Speech, Human Rights, Guillermo Fariñas

Guillermo Fariñas - My Personal Cause

I started this post yesterday evening; but then blogger crashed and I lost it. I was so mad I had to walk away. So here we go, with take two.

Ever since I first posted about this story, now more than a month ago, Guillermo Fariñas became close to my heart. I do not know him, have not spoken with him, have not met him; all I know is he is fighting for his freedom to report, freedom of the press, the same freedom I have as I write this post and the same freedom you have to read it.

Guillermo Fariñas is fighting for his right to access to the Internet, so he can continue to report the abuses, censorship, and attacks on dissidents in Cuba. His weapon of choice, is his own life. He is on a hunger strike for access to the Internet, his emails and his right to freedom of the press - to report a story as he sees it, not as the government tells him it has to be seen.

As of late, little by little, more and more venues are picking up the story and reporting it, trying to give Guillermo Fariñas a stronger voice, and support in his effort.

In the most recent piece, and op-ed, The Miami Herald reports (my emphasis):

Desperate for freedom
OUR OPINION: CUBA IMPOSES AN INFORMATION BLOCKADE
The Cuban dissident Guillermo Fariñas is hungry to inform. To protest Cuba's cutting off his e-mail access, he has taken no food or water since Jan. 31. He has vowed not to resume eating until his e-mail is unblocked. The regime, meanwhile, shows no sign of easing up.

A psychologist turned independent journalist in a dictatorship that allows no free press, Mr. Fariñas directed the Cubanacán news agency from the city of Santa Clara. He sent uncensored accounts of human-rights abuses and other news via e-mail from an Internet café. That ended after he described to The Miami Herald a government-organized mob attack typical of the tightening squeeze on Cuban dissidents.

''I got on my knees and said, `Down With Fidel!','' Mr. Fariñas was quoted in the front page of the newspaper. ``They started kicking and beating me, bruising my back, arm and head. They stopped when they saw I would not lose my dignity and say things I didn't feel.''

The next day, his e-mail was blocked, and his hunger strike soon followed. Now he is being fed intravenously in a hospital and has lost more than 60 pounds.

Many people protest the Chinese government's Internet censorship, and with good reason. Freedom of information is a fundamental right. Cuba has been controlling Internet access and blocking websites for years and should be condemned, too.

Indeed, Cuba's information blockade has allowed it to misinform the Cuban people, promote its image abroad and sustain its dictator in power for nearly five decades.
We do not condone Mr. Fariñas' hunger strike and hope he ends it before his health is damaged even more. But his voice should not be silenced by any government.

His courage under repression is admirable. Mr. Fariñas' desperation for freedom is yet another measure of Cuba's brutality.

What will it take for this man to be granted his Internet? Will he ultimately die? Will the world allow this to happen? Uncommon Sense has more on Guillermo Fariñas here.

Previous Posts:
Hunger Strike for Internet Freedom - Update
Hunger Strike for Internet Freedom
Fariñas Still on Hunger Strike
Hunger Strike for Internet Freedom Continues
Hunger Strike for Internet Freedom - Update on Fariñas

Related Links:
Hunger strike continues
Guillermo Fariñas Update,
Guillermo Fariñas Update 2Are you ready for this?

Tags: Cuba, Internet, Freedom, Fidel Castro, Human Rights, Journalism, Dissident