Uncommon Sense

April 19, 2017: A bloody day as Venezuelans demand end of dictatorship

3 Cuban siblings in jail for opposing Castro. Amnesty International says they may be near death.

Fidel Batista Leyva y Anairis y Adairis Miranda Leyva

Amnesty International last week called for "urgent action" on behalf of three imprisoned siblings, who their mother says are in poor health after starting hunger strikes on March 7 to demand their freedom.

Twin sisters Anairis and Adairis Miranda Leyva, their brother, Fidel Manuel Batista Leyva and their mother Maydolis Leyva Portelles, all well known anti-Castro activists in the city of Holguin, were arrested Nov. 27 for leaving their home during a period of official mourning. In January, they were convicted for "public disorder" and "defaming institutions, organizations and heroes and martyrs of the Republic of Cuba," and each sentenced to one year in prison.

The mother was allowed to serve her time under house arrest, but her children were taken into custody on March 7 to begin their sentences. That same day, they started hunger strikes to demand their freedom.

Amnesty International, which has designated all four members as "prisoners of conscience" has more:

The siblings are currently being held in three separate hospitals in critical condition. Doctors informed their mother that Adairis is at risk of a heart attack and that Fidel is urinating blood; and that all have lost significant weight. On her last hospital visit, Maydolis Leyva Portelles says that she was asked to sign a document which would authorize doctors to force feed her three children, which she refused to do. She told Amnesty International, “I don’t want any of my children to die, but I want to respect their wishes.” All three siblings and their mother are prisoners of conscience and must be released immediately and unconditionally.

Martinoticias has more about the family here and here.

Amnesty International has information here about how you appeal on the family's behalf to the Castro dictatorship.

Report: Cuba dictatorship makes almost 10,000 political arrests in 2016

Members of the Cuban Damas de Blanco were arrested during a demonstration in March. (AP photo)

In the post-fact world we live in, you can interpret numbers anyway you want, even when they reflect the absolute tyranny of the Castro dictatorship in Cuba.

For instance, if you are so deluded, you could argue that repression in Cuba is on the decline. Yes, there were at least 458 politically motivated arrests on the island in December, the second-lowest monthly count in 2016, and less than half of the 930 recorded in December 2015. See, the death of Fidel Castro and more importantly, President Barack Obama's opening to Cuba have made a difference!

But in the real world, where facts still matter, the bottom-line is this: Political repression in Cuba, after all the new tourist flights and other business deals, after the re-establishment of diplomatic relations with the U.S., is worse than ever.

The Cuban Commission on Human Rights and National Reconciliation -- the source of the above figures -- reported this week that 2016 ended with at least 9,940 politically motivated arrests across the island. The optimists and apologists might argue that that's less than the 10,000 that had been projected earlier in the year, but it's still the highest since the human rights commission began counting in 2010. (Add in the inevitable arrests no one knows about -- it's not like the Cuban police allow themselves to be held accountable -- and the actual count is probably much higher.)

As the numbers show, the opening with the United States and the death in November of Fidel Castro has been met not with a relaxation of political control but instead by a reaffirmation by Raul Castro that he and his regime remain firmly, and mercilessly, in control.

Fidel or no Fidel, repression in Cuba continues at torrid pace

Members of the Ladies in White Human Rights organization are arrested by Cuban police on December 10, 2015 in Havana. (ADALBERTO ROQUE/AFP/Getty Images)

Fidel Castro's death alone, as welcome as it was, will not free Cuba from political repression. If for no other reason that his kid brother Raul has more than proven he is capable of being a dictator his brother, and other tyrants in history, can admire.

The Castro secret police in November made at least 359 politically motivated arrests, adding to what already was a record year for repression in Cuba, according to the Cuban Commission on Human Rights.

It was the lowest monthly tally since April 2015, but the Castro dictatorship remains on pace to surpass 10,000 arrests in a year for the first time since the commission began keeping count in 2010. As of Nov. 30, there have been at least 9,484 political arrests in Cuba.

The previous highest count for a year was 8,899 in 2014.

Fidel Castro died proud of his brother.

Fidel Castro was 'one of the world’s worst press freedom predators'

Fidel Castro could always count on sympathetic, if not outright fawning coverage in the international media. It's too much to say the media created Castro, but in his more than 60 years in the public spotlight many in the media, whether because of their ignorance or their indifference, could always be relied on to provide cover for one of the world's worst tyrannies.

The irony was too much for Reporters Without Borders, or RSF, which for years has documented the Castro regime's persecution of Cuban independent journalists and how it has enforced a brutal information blockade on the Cuban people.

RSF set the record straight in its "obituary" on Castro:

Castro has been hailed as one of the leading figures of the 20th century and father of the Cuban people in many of the thousands of messages that followed the announcement of his death. But behind the revolutionary’s romantic image lay one of the world’s worst press freedom predators. The persecution of dissidents was one of the distinguishing features of his 49 years in power, and constitutes the harshest aspect of his heritage.

The current situation in Cuba speaks to this. Cuba continues to be one of the worst countries in Latin America for media freedom and ranks 171st out of 180 countries in RSF’s World Press Freedom Index. Fidel Castro’s brother Raúl, who replaced him in 2007, is now also on RSF’s press freedom predator list.

Cuba’s constitution permits only state-controlled media outlets. Independent news agencies and bloggers who try to dispute the state’s monopoly of news and information are subjected to intimidation, arbitrary arrest and draconian censorship.

As a result, independent news agencies have often had no choice but to go into exile and post their news reports online from abroad. This is far from ideal because Internet access within Cuba is still very problematic (only 5% of households have internet access).

Finally, with two journalists currently jailed, Cuba continues to be one of the few western hemisphere countries where reporters can still be found behind bars. Venezuela and Panama are the other two.

But the situation was much worse under Fidel Castro himself. The father of the Cuban revolution imposed a climate of censorship and used often violent methods to prevent the circulation of any news and information at variance with that provided by the state media.

Read the whole thing here.

Rosa Maria Paya to present information about Cuban arrests to UN

Eduardo Cardet, left, and Danilo "El Sexto" Maldonado

Cuban democracy activist Rosa Maria Paya says she will present to United Nations human rights officials information about the arrests of activists Danilo Maldonado and Eduardo Cardet in the days after the death of the dictator Fidel Castro.

Both Cardet, the national coordinator of the Christian Liberation Movement, which was founded by Paya's father Osvaldo Paya, and Maldonado, a graffiti artist known as "El Sexto," were arrested after letting it be known they were less than overwhelmed by Castro's death.

El Sexto produced a video in which he mocked Castro, and Cardet criticized the regime for imposing a mandatory period of mourning for the dictator.

"It is impossible for our people to be able to freely and spontaneously express their true feelings about this event," Cardet told a Spanish radio station. "Castro was a man who was widely hated and rejected by our people"

El Sexto was arrested Nov. 26. His mother reports he has been beaten while in jail, and he has started a hunger strike. Amnesty International has declared El Sexto to be a "prisoner of conscience."

Similarly Cardet was arrested Nov. 30, after being "savagely beaten" in front of his young children, Paya told Martinoticias.com

There have been reports of other anti-government activists being arrested after Castro's death, and Paya said she is likely to present information on those cases to the UN, as well.

Amnesty International declares jailed Cuban artist El Sexto as a prisoner of conscience

El Sexto

Amnesty International has declared Cuban artist Danilo Maldonado -- better known as El Sexto -- a prisoner of conscience after he was arrested not long after he posted on Facebook a video in which he mocked the death of the dictator Fidel Castro, according to Martinoticias.com.

El Nuevo Herald has details of the arrest:

In the video, shot with a cell phone selfie-style, Maldonado refers to Castro as a yegua(mare) and calls on the public to celebrate the former leader’s death.

“Here we are, three hours after the death of the mare,” Maldonado says in the seven-minute video. “...We need people to come out to the streets...and ask for liberty...”

Speaking Spanish, he goes on to criticize those feigning sadness over Castro’s death and ends the broadcast by spraying “El Sexto” onto a wall at the Hotel Habana Libre where Castro took up temporary residence following his triumphant march into Havana in 1959.

Relatives said Maldonado is being held without charges at a police station in Guanabacoa, a municipality on the outskirts of Havana.

Amnesty said El Sexto was arrested because he exercised his right of free expression, and demanded the government immediately released him, according to the Martinoticias report.

Other sources reported that El Sexto has been beaten while in jail, and that the official reason for his arrest is connected to the graffiti on the hotel.

UPDATE: @dmmelsexto 's mother finally visits him in Guanabacoa where he was BADLY BEATEN, accusations are tied to graffiti #FreeElSexto

— Alexandra Martinez (@alex____mar) November 30, 2016

Amnesty previously recognized El Sexto as a prisoner of conscience after he was arrested after he attempted to carry out a performance art event in 2014 featuring two pigs painted in green with the names “Fidel” and “Raúl. He was released in October 2015, after 10 months in jail.

After Castro's death, Cubans in Miami and elsewhere celebrate freedom

Cubans in Miami celebrate after the death of Fidel Castro, Nov. 26, 2016. (Photo: Marc R. Masferrer)

The death of Fidel Castro, as significant as it was, does not change a thing in Cuba.

Cuba and Cubans remain enslaved by a lying, thieving, murdering communist military dictatorship created by Castro and that for more than a decade has been run by his far less talented little brother Raul.

Most Cubans remain hungry, and those Cubans brave enough to exercise their God-given right to free expression remain targets for political repression. No free elections have been scheduled, and dozens, if not more, of political prisoners continue to languish in the Castro gulag.

But Cuba's dismal reality does not mean there wasn't reason on Saturday to celebrate, finally, the earthly demise of the bearded bastard.

As soon as I heard early that morning that Castro had died, I knew I would be on a 4-hour drive to Miami. It was a promise I had made to myself long ago, and to the memory of my grandparents and other family members who were not fortunate to survive the man who had taken so much from them.

Police closed Eighth Avenue Southwest -- Calle Ocho -- in Miami's Little Havana to give more room for the crowd that gathered after the death of Cuban dictator Fidel Castro, Nov. 26, 2016. (Photo: Marc R. Masferrer)

As I walked down Calle Ocho toward the large crowd gathered outside the Versailles restaurant, I could feel them walking beside me.

Two of the first people I saw and greeted were two former prisoners of conscience, Darsi Ferret and Fidel Suarez Cruz, of the Group of 75 prisoners jailed during the "black spring" of 2003. The encounter lifted my heart, knowing first-hand they were now living in the freedom allowed in the United States and that maybe my 11 years of writing on this blog about them and other Cuban freedom fighters maybe had something to do with that.

I was so happy to see these heroes at the party.

Darsi Ferret and Marc R. Masferrer, in Miami, Nov. 26, 2016. (Photo: Marie Masferrer)

What a party it was.

Certainly, there were a few distasteful, if not macabre displays taking great joy in Castro's death. But who could blame them, considering the tens of thousands deaths Castro was responsible for during his 90 years. His record of death is important to remember as the apologists try to distract with accolades for Cuban education and health care, and suggestions that Castro deserves some sort of respect for surviving 10 U.S. presidents. (Between 1959 and today, there have been 15 free presidential elections in the U.S., compared to zero in Cuba.)

For a majority of the Cubans and Cuban Americans in the crowd, our aim was not to dance on a tyrant's grave, but to celebrate our freedom. Castro's death was just an excuse to do what comes naturally for Cubans.

A crowd celebrates in Miami, after the death of Cuban dictator Fidel Castro. (Photo: Marc R. Masferrer)

With songs and chants and dances, we celebrated our freedom, a freedom fueled by the blood, sweat and tears of our parents, grandparents and other family members forced into exile because they refused to raise their children under yet another, more brutal dictator. They came here with little more than the clothes on their backs and built new lives for their families the way they wanted.

As a child, I have many happy memories of my grandparents and other older family members. But I also remember how hard they worked, sometimes at two or three jobs at a time, to provide for their families. After all, they started in America with nothing, thanks to Fidel Castro. But they were never bitter about it, at least in front of me.

Everyone seem to be carrying a Cuban flag. (Photo: Marc R. Masferrer)

After decades of building new lives in America, but never forgetting what had been taken from them, Castro's death unleashed from exiles and their successors a joy more momentous than anyone might have expected. Anyone who knows Cubans, knows we know how to party, but this was more than that.

In the air was also a sense of gratitude. Yes, most were thankful that finally, Castro was dead. Despite all we had lost decades ago, we had prevailed over the dictator. We won, and he lost.

The celebration may turn out to be the most-recorded event in the history of social media in Miami. (Photo: Marc R. Masferrer)

But as evidenced by the American flags flying alongside a field of Cuban banners, there was a thankfulness to America for taking us in. A gratitude for letting us build new lives in freedom, and allowing us a chance to make America even greater than it already was.

Freedom. That is what we were celebrating. This time, it also was accompanied by a sense of hope that Castro's death, despite the evidence on the ground, will finally make possible real change in Cuba.

Celebrating our freedom and other accomplishment is nothing new for Cubans. We do it every day, in our careers and elsewhere, to prove ourselves worthy of the sacrifices made my our parents and grandparents.

This time, on Calle Ocho and everywhere else where Cubans are pondering what Castro's death might mean, it is accompanied by a hope that maybe we're a little closer to Cubans in Cuba being able to celebrate their own freedom.

It was a happy, beautiful day in Miami. (Photo: Marc R. Masferrer)

 

Fidel Castro loses, we win

The bastard is dead.

The death of Fidel Castro is the best news ever for Cuba and Cubans, whether they are on the island or in exile. Maybe, finally, real change -- that is, freedom -- will come to Cuba. We will know more about that in the weeks and months to come.

What is known is that the demise of the dictator is a big deal for my family.

Like so many other Cubans, my family in the early 1960s was forced to leave their homes because of Castro and his so-called revolution, if they were to raise their children in freedom.

Our journey, like that of other exiles, was often hard, and sometimes tragic. But as the decades have shown, as evidenced by all our successes, we won.

We won, and Castro lost.

His death does not define our victory. But it does remind that too many exiles, who in their hearts never left Cuba, are not with us to celebrate.

Upon hearing the news, I first thought of my grandfather, Raimundo Masferrer, who with his brothers left Cuba on New Year's Eve 1958 as Castro's rebel army declared victory. I learned so much about being Cuban from him and my grandmother, Abadora.

And my grandmother, Adela Lamadrid Godinez, who worked so hard to build a life for my mother and her nine brothers and sisters. Despite the blood, sweat and tears, she lived the American dream.

I wish I could celebrate with them today.

But their legacy is alive and strong.

We won, and Castro lost.

That is what we must remember today.

Amnesty International pleads for support for Cuban human rights lawyers

Amnesty International is sounding the alarm on behalf of Cubalex, a Cuba-based group of human rights lawyers that AI says has been subjected in recent months to increased harassment and intimidation by the Castro dictatorship:

Progressively since September, Cuban authorities have intimidated members of Cubalex (Legal Information Center), a non-government organization, not recognized by the Cuban authorities, which provides free legal and human rights advice in Havana, the capital.

On 23 September, according to its Director, Laritza Diversent, authorities searched Cubalex’s centre of operation without warrant, confiscated a number of laptops and documents, and forced at least one woman to undress. The provincial prosecutor in Havana provided notice to Cubalex that it was under a tax investigation.

 

Laritza Diversent

 

According to Cubalex, since then, state prosecutors have summoned at least two members of the organization for questioning. Cubalex stated that the interviews, which reportedly lasted up to one hour and 45 minutes, were filmed, leading members to believe that the authorities were seeking information to criminalize activities of the organization. According to Cubalex, authorities have also questioned people who received advice and information from their centre.

 

Cubalex’s Director reported that she has been stopped and questioned a number of times at the airport during her recent trips. She believes her home, which provides a base for Cubalex’s activities, is under surveillance. One of Cubalex’s members, Julio Ferrer Tamayo, reported being strip searched and detained during the search of Cubalex on 23 September and remains in custody.

Amnesty International has details on how you act to show your support for Cubalex.

Farinas: Stop U.S.-Cuba business deals until repression ends

President Barack Obama and Guillermo Farinas, in Miami in 2013. (Photo: Martinoticias.com)

Cuban human rights activist Guillermo Farinas is urging President-elect Donald Trump to halt or suspend trade and investment deals between the United States and Cuba until the Castro dictatorship ends political repression and institutes democratic reforms.

For now, Farinas told FoxNews.com, the loosening of the U.S. embargo is only enriching the Castro regime and financing continuing repression.

“The people of Cuba see very little of the money that comes in from foreign investment and trade,” Farinas said.

“It makes the regime richer, and stronger, and bolder, because they have felt that because of President Obama’s decision to do business with it, it has credibility internationally," he said. "It uses this international credibility to thumb its nose at the Cuban people, especially its critics and dissidents. And it’s gotten more brutal and more intolerant of dissent.”

Farinas did say he supports expanded travel links between the two countries and that he was not calling for reversing the re-establishment of diplomatic relations between Washington and Havana.

Meanwhile, President Barack Obama told an audience in Peru he did not expect Trump to reverse his Latin American policies, including the re-establishment of diplomatic relations with Cuba.

Read the whole FoxNews.com story here.

Former Cuban political prisoner Jorge Alberto Liriano Linares dies

Former Cuban political prisoner Jorge Alberto Liriano Linares, who spent several years in the Castro gulag, has died, according to journalist Roberto de Jesus Guerra Perez, who reported the news on Facebook.

As I noted in a 2008 profile of Liriano, he distinguished himself as a journalist reporting on what he witnessed in the Castro gulag:

In prison, however, Liriano, a member of the Christian Democratic Party and Pedro Luis Boitel Political Prisoner organization, has distinguished himself as a journalist, or more precisely, a witness to the horrors of the Castro gulag. He doesn't report on what is happening to him, only to what is happening to his fellow prisoners. Punch his name into Google and what you will find are numerous accounts of life and death in the Castro gulag, with Liriano as the primary source.

Most recently, Liriano reported on an upswing in violence by a "death squad" of guards towards inmates at the Kilo 7 prison in Camagüey. In March, "32 inmates were victims of savage beatings and terrifying torture, most with injuries to the head," Liriano said.

Liriano also describes how some prisoners were stripped of their clothes and "crucified" by being handcuffed to the bars of their cells for three days without food or water.

"This is the cruel, unusual fate of prisoners confined in more than 200 prisons and forced labor camps sustained by the island's regime, due to the hostile policy of the government, an authoritarian government that for half a century in power has recognized in theory the rights of the people, but does not guarantee the protection and implementation thereof. That is why in the Kilo 7 prison thousands of prisoners ... areterrified and living with the permanent anguish of trying to survive without being beaten, tortured or killed unjustly " Liriano said.

Liriano had recently fallen ill, after he was assaulted by Cuban police.

Cuba among 'most repressive' places for internet freedom

Cubans use a Wi-Fi hot spot. (EFE photo via Martinoticias.com)

Internet freedom remains almost nonexistent in Cuba, despite "modest steps" to increase the public's access, according to a new Freedom House report on internet freedom around the world.

Out of 65 countries surveyed, Cuba's score based on several factors was tied with Uzebekistan with the fifth-lowest. (Scoring lower were, from bad to worse, Ethiopia, Iran, Syria and China.)

The scores cover developments between June 2015 and May 2016.

"Despite modest steps to increase internet access, Cuba remains one of the world’s most repressive environments for information and communication technologies," Freedom House said.

None of this should be a surprise to anyone familiar with the nature of the Castro dictatorship. But it belies the notion that the re-establishment of diplomatic relations with the United States and other developments have brought real change the country.

The fact remains that internet freedom, like other forms of freedom, remains endangered in Cuba.

Freedom House gave countries a score of between 0 and 100, with a higher score meaning less freedom. 

Cuba's score of 79 was made up three parts: obstacles to access, 21 of 25; limits on content, 26 of 35; and violation of users' rights, 32 of 40.

Freedom House noted several key developments in Cuba during the study period:

• Despite the Cuban government's launching of its first-ever paid Wi-Fi hotspots, the limited and expensive connections still constitute a major barrier.
• The Cuban government has not responded to efforts by Google and other U.S. firms to offer services on the island, in the wake of the re-establishment of diplomatic relations with Washington.
• The Castro dictatorship continues to censor, intimidate and arrest bloggers and independent journalists.
• Despite the repression, Cubans have launched several independent web-based information sites.

Read the full report on Cuba here.

At Pope Francis' behest, Cuba pardons 787 prisoners -- but no political prisoners

Pope Francis and Raul Castro, during the pope's visit to Cuba in March. (Getty Images)

In response to Pope Francis' call for a show of mercy, the Castro dictatorship this week pardoned 787 "common prisoners." But human rights activists said there was no indication that they include any political prisoners.

Reuters reports:

Those pardoned include women, youths, people who are ill and "other categories," according to Granma. A list of names has not been made public.

Cuba, which has denied that it has political prisoners, said those convicted of murder, rape, child abuse and drug trafficking would be excluded from the pardons.

Pope Francis chose the theme of mercy for the Holy Year that Roman Catholics began celebrating last December. The period, officially proclaimed by the pontiff as the Extraordinary Jubilee of Mercy, will end on Sunday.

Earlier this month in Vatican City, during a special Jubilee mass for prisoners, Pope Francis asked authorities worldwide to consider "the possibility of carrying out an act of clemency towards prisoners they think can benefit from such a provision".

“We're very happy with this decision by the Cuban state," said Dionisio Garcia, president of the Cuban Bishops' Conference.

The Cuban Commission for Human Rights and National Reconciliation, a non-government group that monitors human rights and prisoners' issues, said it had not received any reports of what it views as political prisoners being freed.

"Until now, they are all common prisoners," said Gerardo Sanchez, the group's spokesman.

In September 2015, Cuba pardoned 3,522 common prisoners in what it called a humanitarian gesture ahead of a visit by Pope Francis, repeating similar actions it took before two previous papal visits.

Cuba has one of the highest incarceration rates in the world, according to the London-based Institute for Criminal Policy Research, with 510 out of every 100,000 citizens behind bars.

Cuban dissidents have said they are often targeted by authorities, most often detained for a few hours or days, for having a different opinion. The government has long considered dissidents a tiny and illegitimate minority.

The Human Rights Commission reports there are 93 political prisoners in Cuban jails.

Castro dictatorship Cuban threatens independent journalist Sol Garcia Basulto

Sol Garcia Basulto (photo via Facebook)

Cuban independent journalist Sol García Basulto is pleading with the world to take up her cause, after the Castro secret police threatened to imprison her and punish her family because of her work.

Garcia, a correspondent for 14ymedio,  said she has never committed a crime, and that the threats started when she demanded the Castro dictatorship respect the rights of Cuban citizens.

"Journalism has the power to oxygenate the social thinking in favor of those in Cuba," Garcia said in a video posted on Facebook.

Garcia was arrested Nov. 3 in Camaguey, after she tried to travel to Havana to obtain a visa so she could attend a journalism conference in Panama.

Police told Garcia she was being accused of "disobedience," a charge that could bring her a year in jail. They also threatened to take her child into custody and to charge her parents with "complicity." Before letting her go, police seized several of her belongings, including a cell phone.

Read more at Martinoticias.com.