Uncommon Sense

Fariñas ends hunger strike after seven months

From EFE News:

Cuban dissident ends 7-month hunger strike

Havana, Aug 31 (EFE).- Cuban dissident Guillermo Fariñas on Thursday decided to end the hunger strike he began seven months ago to pressure the island's Communist regime to allow him Internet access, his mother told EFE.

Alicia Hernandez said that her 43-year-old son's health had worsened in recent days because of the rigors of the hunger strike he began on Jan. 31.

Over the past several months, Fariñas — who is being monitored and provided with medical care at a hospital in the central city of Santa Clara — has been receiving intravenous nourishment to keep him alive.

A psychologist by training, Fariñas is the director of the independent news agency Cubanacan Press. He initiated his hunger strike — the latest of 20 he has staged on various matters since 1995 — in a bid to get the government to allow him Internet access in his home, a privilege denied to virtually all Cubans.

His mother, a retired nurse, said that "(Wednesday) night I saw he was in very bad shape. He was not going to be able to stand more than 72 hours in that state" and after talking by telephone with dissidents Bertha Antunez and Martha Beatriz Roque, and with neurosurgeon Hilda Molina, they managed to convince Fariñas to abandon his hunger strike.

Fariñas decided to end the strike itself "but not his demands on the government, which he will keep alive in other ways, starting the moment he finishes his recovery," according to a communique released by the banned Assembly to Promote Civil Society headed by Roque.

Hernandez said that she felt "more relieved, relaxed," although she remained worried about her son's health "because now we have to see how it progresses." "It's a treatment that takes time, seeing his body's reaction.

His recovery will not be immediate, the rehabilitation will take months, she added.

She noted that at this time Fariñas has at least two bacterial infections that are giving him a fever, and his immune system is in a weakened state.

Hernandez said Wednesday night that Fariñas was in "serious" condition and had been moved to an intensive care room in the hospital.

Guillermo Fariñas (UPDATED)

Seven months today, on Jan. 31, independent journalist Guillermo "Coco" Fariñas began his hunger strike protest, demanding that the government reverse a decision to bar him from using the Internet to transmit his stories to the outside world. He later expanded his protest by demanding that all Cubans be granted access to the Internet.

Seven months later, Fariñas is near death.

The government has not backed down, an intransigence that again has shown the Castro regime's true colors, and boosted Fariñas' moral authority.

Fariñas will die an outlaw in Cuba, but he also will die a hero.

Of course, chances are plenty that this anniversary will get more play.

How can the world still ignore this man?

He is dying for freedom.

He is dying for Cuba.

Yet he is dying in silence.

Read my tribute to Guillermo Fariñas here.

UPDATED, 11 a.m. EDT

The Cuban Assembly for the Promotion of a Civil Society has posted an update that includes a report from Fariñas, in his own words.

At the end, Fariñas said:

"Every day, the Cuban regime's methods become more fascist. ... It is my impression that political discussion with the radical fidelistas is over, and when political discussion is over, you have to use violence."

(H/T to Coalition of Cuban-American Women.)

More background at Reporters Without Borders.

Cuba's new chief propagandist is ... (UPDATED)

... Ramiro Valdes Menendez, who Granma reported Thursday is the new communications minister.

I will leave the Kremlinology to others, but it probably is key that Valdes has a long-standing, and sometimes bitter, ties with the Castro brothers.

EFE News reports:

This was the first ministerial appointment made since Cuban leader Fidel Castro underwent surgery to stop intestinal bleeding on July 31, just days before his 80th birthday, and handed over power provisionally on that same date to his younger brother, the island's long-time defense minister and No. 2 man in the regime.

Valdes, one of the protagonists of the revolution, served as interior minister from that Cabinet department's creation in June 1961 until 1968. He served a second tour as interior minister that ended in 1986.

He was one of the young revolutionaries who joined Fidel Castro in the July 26, 1953, attack on the Moncada barracks, considered the start of the Cuban Revolution, according to his biographical profile.

Twenty years ago, Valdes fell out of favor with the Castros, especially Raúl, and was removed as interior minister as part of a ploy by Defense Minister Raúl to add the Interior Ministry's police powers to his portfolio.

In his book, "After Fidel: The Inside Story of Castro's Regime and Cuba's Next Leader," former CIA man Brian Latell describes how Raúl delivered the bad news to Valdes — and how bigger things might now be in store for the general.

Valdes was summoned to Raúl's office, and just in case he might become violent, Raúl hid the chief of his personal security detachment in the bathroom that opens directly to his office. With his pistol drawn and cocked, the security man silently stood guard, listening to every word in the conversation as Valdes learned that his political star had fallen.

Some outside of Cuba believe the former minister could reemerge as a powerful rival to Raúl in a succession struggle, and that possibility gained some credibility in 2003 when Valdes emerged from years of obscurity with an appointment to the Council of State. If he were elevated again by Fidel, say, to a seat on the party Politburo, speculation about his rehabilitation might prove to be accurate."

Accurate, indeed.

UPDATED, 7:29 a.m. EDT, Sept. 1, 2006

Valdes will be not only the chief propagandist, but the chief censor, too.

The Miami Herald has more on the appointment, and what it might say about Raúl Castro and the future governance of Cuba.

Letters from Cuba

Via Coalition of Cuban-American Women:

CUBA: VIOLENT THREATS AND SURVEILLANCE ON FAMILIES OF PRISONERS OF CONSCIENCE
August 2006

I am the wife of prisoner of conscience, Diosdado González Marrero, and I belong to the group, The Ladies in White (Las Damas de Blanco). I want to denounce to the world that since the Cuban nation was informed on July 31, 2006, that Fidel Castro had surgery to avoid intestinal hemorrhage, my home has been under surveillance day and night by people who belong to groups such as The Committee in Defense of the Revolution (CDR), the Federation of Cuban Women (FMC), and State Security. The order is to beat and attack me if I express any opinion against Fidel Castro’s recovery.

My children and I are worried about this situation. The violent spirit of these people could cause physical harm to my family. I don’t permit them to become violent; I am a peaceful woman, and I have the right to express the opinions I desire.

Fear on the part of the government is clear. These ideas of attacking are not those of the Cuban people but rather part of the tactics of Cuban State Security in order to increase the terrorism and fear it has imposed upon the people.

ALEJANDRINA GARCÍA DE LA RIVA

García also writes:

PRISON AUTHORITIES THREATEN PRISONERS OF CONSCIENCE IN SEVERAL CUBAN PRISONS WITH EXECUTION BY FIRING SQUAD
August 2006

My husband, prisoner of conscience Diosdado González Marrero, sentenced during the wave of repression of March, 2003 to a 20-year prison sentence, denounces and informs national and international public opinion from the Provincial Prison Kilometro Cinco y Medio in Pinar del Río, that since August 1, 2006, prison authorities have ordered and authorized prisoners to attack anyone who expresses opinions with respect to Fidel Castro's health. In addition, every prisoner is obligated to turn in the names of prisoners who express their ideas on the matter to authorities, who will take measures against them.

The prisoners ... were threatened by prison authorities that all those attempting to leave on rafts and political prisoners would be shot if something happens to Fidel Castro or if the United States intervenes in Cuba.

The same type of thing is occurring in Las Mangas Prison in Granma Province where prisoner of conscience Félix Navarro was beaten by two common prisoners and where he received threats of being shot, according to what his wife, Sonia Alvarez Campillo, who visited him on August 16, 2006, informed me.

On the other hand, in Aguica Prison in Matanzas, prisoners are also being threatened with being beaten and punished if the express their opinions regarding Fidel Castro's health.

This difficult situation of violence and aggression in Cuban prisons, encouraged by prison authorities, can provoke uprisings in the jails.

ALEJANDRINA GARCIA DE LA RIVA

Resident of Calle Santa Rita #29, El Roque, Perico Matanzas, Cuba

Presidential straw poll

If you had a vote, who would you for to be the next president of Cuba?

Castrianism has the ballot.

Cuban American Pundits has bios on the candidates.

They're all great candidates, all with the moral voice to lead Cuba at a time when it will need a strong moral voice in the presidency.

My vote goes to Martha Beatriz Roque, with maybe Oscar Biscet as vice president.

By the way, does anyone else see a chance for a heated rivalry for the job between Roque and Osvaldo Payá?

Cindy Sheehan arrested again

Well, sort of.

At least it wasn't for drinking beer.

Health care, Cuban style

The sad reality is that for Cubans not named "Castro," the Cuban health care system is not everything the Castro regime, and its apologists, make it out to be.

Real Cuba has new pictures that show that reality.

Be on the lookout, Cuba is working to export its health-care values to the United States, in the form of American-born medical students receiving training at the Latin American School of Medicine in Havana.

Arroz con Frijoles

Figuring out what the Roman Catholic Church's jefe maximo, i.e. the pope, is thinking can sometimes be as tricky as determining what is going on behind the scenes with the leadership of Latin America's dictatorship.

So without comment, I ask what could this mean?

From TotalCatholic.com:

Speculation over the situation of the Church in Cuba and the health of Fidel Castro is mounting this week after the Pope took the unusual step of receiving a private audience with Cuba’s apostolic nuncio on Monday.

Usually nuncios are only received after the General Audience on Wednesdays. But the Vatican Press Office yesterday confirmed that Pope Benedict received Archbishop Luigi Bonazzi in a private audience at the start of the week.

However, details of the meeting have not been released by the Vatican.

(H/T to La Nueva Cuba.)

|—————|

You have to hand it to Fidel Castro.

He is a dictator of all trades.

Thief.

Rapist.

Murderer.

To that list, according to this story, you can add "appliance salesman" and "loan shark:"

Eighteen-wheelers stacked with hundreds of Chinese-made Haier fridges stopping door-to-door in the remote countryside and on city streets have been as common a sight as military transports. About 300,000 households, in a country of 11 million people, are replacing ageing appliances -- all in an effort to lower total energy use.

This being Cuba, not only are the replacements mandatory, many people have had to take out loans from government banks to pay for the new appliances.

"Don't think that because we're in a socialist regime that the fridges are free," said a religious leader, who asked to remain anonymous, in a coastal city.

"Actually, they're quite expensive. I'm paying the equivalent of US$286. My wife and I make about US$25 a month. So, like most people, we're financing it over a 10-year period at 10% interest."

(H/T to Real Cuba.)

|—————|

Yada, yada, yada ...

Raúl Castro is showing the world that he is now in charge.

So is the bottom line of this story from the Associated Press:

HAVANA, Cuba (AP) -- Acting President Raul Castro received a Syrian delegation over the weekend, state media said Tuesday, as the younger brother of ailing leader Fidel Castro began taking on a leadership role for the summit of nonaligned nations to be hosted by Cuba next month.

The younger Castro met Sunday with the delegation led by Syrian Information Minister Mouhsen Bilal, which confirmed President Bashar Assad will attend the mid-September gathering in Havana, the Communist Party daily Granma said.

The group gave Raul Castro, the defense minister and No. 2 man in the communist-led government, a message from Assad wishing his older brother a speedy recovery and affirming Syria's solidarity with the island nation amid "a toughening of threats and aggressions by the Bush administration toward Cuba," the newspaper said.

The article was the first strong indication by Cuba's government that Fidel Castro will not be well enough to host the event, which opens in 2 1/2 weeks, and that his younger brother, Raul, would be assuming that role.

Don't you know that the Syrian officials were chomping at the bit to fly to Havana that the timing of the trip corresponded with this guy's visit to Syria?

Ernesto wimps out

Here's a paraphrase of an actual conversation at work earlier this evening:

Me: "A lot of my friends in Miami are making jokes about Ché, as in Ernesto "Ché" Guevara."

Co-worker: "Who's he?"

Fortunately, the news from Miami was much more encouraging, as Ernesto hit the city and its surroundings at barely tropical storm strength.

Hopefully, Ernesto will keep weakening as he tries to make trouble — kind of like Guevara did — wherever he can find it up the Florida peninsula, before he is extinguished in the mountains of Bolivia Virginia.

Here in the Tampa Bay region, it should be wet and windy, but tropical storm-forced winds should largely spare us.

The National Hurricane Center has even called off the tropical storm watch for our area.

That sounds wonderful to me.

Now as for my co-worker ...

Pray for South Florida

Where I am sitting right now is under a tropical storm watch, according to the latest advisory from the National Hurricane Center.

However, at greatest risk for Ernesto's wrath is Miami and South Florida.

We are still within the "cone of uncertainity," but the projected path for Ernesto has it coming ashore — maybe even as a tropical storm and not a hurricane — through the Keys and the Everglades, and then moving north through the eastern part of the state. We'll probabaly get some rain and gusty winds from the storm's outer bands.

Am I nervous? A little bit. This will be our first storm as homeowners, and you can't help but worry.

But I think we will be OK.

I'm worried more about family and friends in the Miami area.

Keep them in your prayers.