Uncommon Sense

F*** The Police

This should make you sick.

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MTV's Kurt Loder gets it ("SiCKO blogburst update)

To read my contribution to a recent "SiCKO" blogburst, go here. To read what others wrote, go here.

Some days, you wake up and read something about Cuba that both will surprise the hell out of you, and make you smile.

Today, thanks to veteran rock journalist Kurt Loder of MTV, is one of those days.

From his review of "Sicko":

Fidel Castro's island dictatorship, now in its 40th year of being listed as a human-rights violator by Amnesty International, is here depicted as a balmy paradise not unlike the Iraq of Saddam Hussein that Moore showed us in his earlier film, "Fahrenheit 9/11." He and his charges make their way — their pre-arranged way, if it need be said — to a state-of-the-art hospital where they receive a picturesquely warm welcome. In a voiceover, Moore, shown beaming at his little band of visitors, says he told the Cuban doctors to "give them the same care they'd give Cuban citizens." Then he adds, dramatically: "And they did."

If Moore really believes this, he may be a greater fool than even his most feverish detractors claim him to be. Nevertheless, medical care is provided to the visiting Americans, and it is indeed excellent. Cuba is in fact the site of some world-class medical facilities (surprising in a country that, as Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar noted in the Los Angeles Times last month, "imprisoned a doctor in the late 1990s for speaking out against government failure to respond to an epidemic of a mosquito-borne virus"). What Moore doesn't mention is the flourishing Cuban industry of "health tourism" — a system in which foreigners (including self-admitted multimillionaire film directors and, of course, government bigwigs) who are willing to pay cash for anything from brain-surgery to dental work can purchase a level of treatment that's unavailable to the majority of Cubans with no hard currency at their disposal. The Cuban American National Foundation (admittedly a group with no love for the Castro regime) calls this "medical apartheid." And in a 2004 article in Canada's National Post, writer Isabel Vincent quoted a dissident Cuban neurosurgeon, Doctor Hilda Molina, as saying, "Cubans should be treated the same as foreigners. Cubans have less rights in their own country than foreigners who visit here."

As the Caribbean sun sank down on Moore's breathtakingly meretricious movie, I couldn't help recalling that when Fidel Castro became gravely ill last year, he didn't put himself in the hands of a Cuban surgeon. No. Instead, he had a specialist flown in — from Spain.

(H/T to Michelle Malkin, who links to the blogburst)

Fred, Hillary and Cuba (UPDATED)

As best as I can tell, the only presidential campaign to respond directly to non-candidate Fred Thompson's comment about suitcase-bomb-carrying Cubans was that of Democrat Hillary Rodham Clinton:

Clinton's campaign manager, Patti Solis-Doyle, said in an e-mail:

“For many decades, Cubans have been forced to leave the island, risking their lives to escape Fidel Castro’s brutal dictatorship in search of freedom and opportunity. It is simply wrong to equate people fleeing from communism with terrorists.“

Clinton's husband gave us wet-foot, dry-foot, so there are reasons to wonder about her commitment to a sound Cuban policy.

But the possible pandering aside — and with a Clinton, you can never dismiss that possibility — it is hard to argue that Clinton's instincts, and her logic, on this one are right-on.

If you conclude that Thompson's comments aren't so bad if you put them in a particular context, he still may have some explaining to do in Florida, according to one of the state's leading Cuban American politicians:

"That just shows his ignorance. When he comes to Florida, he's going to have to answer to Cubans about what he meant," said State Rep. Rene Garcia, a Cuban-American who heads the Florida Legislature's Hispanic Caucus. "It's offensive to me and other immigrants."

UPDATE, 8:30 p.m. EDT

Clinton spoke for herself today, about Thompson's comments:

"I was appalled when one of the people running for or about to run for the Republican nomination talked about Cuban refugees as potential terrorists," Clinton told Hispanic elected officials. "Apparently he doesn't have a lot of experience in Florida or anywhere else, and doesn't know a lot of Cuban-Americans."

Also at the same gathering, Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama said his administration would focus on Latin America.

"It's not enough for us to have a Latin American policy based on not liking (Venezuelan president) Hugo Chavez and not liking Fidel Castro," Obama said.

Do not forget the invisible ones ...

... do not forget Iván Hernández Carrillo. Payo Libre, via a report from Cuban journalist Félix Reyes Gutiérrez, is reporting that Hernández, a journalist, librarian and democracy activist, has been on a hunger strike since Monday. He reportedly started his protest after a prison captain accused Hernández of inciting common prisoners at the Guamajal Hombres prison in Villa Clara to disrespect Fidel Castro and the socialist system. More trouble could be coming is way if he didn't stop, according to Reyes' story. Hernández, who took the accusations and warning as a threat, said he will not eat until State Security has addressed his complaint. Hernández, now 36, was arrested during the "black spring" of 2003, and sentenced to 25 years in prison.

For more on how you can show your support for Normándo Hernández and other Cuban political prisoners, visit Bloggers United for Cuban Liberty.

Fred Thompson exposes contradictions

This is what Fred Thompson, up to now the one presidential hopeful who has risen above the pandering and rhetoric when talking about Cuba, said Wednesday during a campaign stop in South Carolina about Cuban migrants/refugees arriving in the United States:

"I don't imagine they're coming here to bring greetings from Castro. We're living in the era of the suitcase bomb."

Not the most politic comment, especially on a topic so important to a powerful electoral constituency.

(The liberal media and other nannies, are likely to give Thompson a pass. After all, it's not like he suggested Muslim immigrants might have a proclivity for terrorism.)

Still, Phil Peters thinks Thompson's is a point worth considering, and I agree:

Thompson is putting his finger on something interesting here.

The Administration calls Cuba a state sponsor of terrorism.

Washington also maintains a policy of allowing Cubans who are illegal immigrants – those who arrive in U.S. territory, by boat or across the Mexican border, with no visa and no basis for an asylum claim – to come right in. (The Cuban Adjustment Act of 1966 has nothing to do with this practice, and it certainly does not require it. The Act does give Cubans who are here for one year an opportunity to acquire legal status, and they overwhelmingly avail themselves of that opportunity.)

You may agree or disagree with either policy, but it is hard to argue that the two are compatible. If Cuba is a state sponsor of terrorism, the open-door policy toward Cuban migrants represents a huge danger to U.S. national security. It is an open invitation to Cuba to send operatives into the United States in the guise of normal migrants.

As Peters suggests, too much about American policy on Cuba is based on contradictions and expediencies. Cuba is a terrorist state, but for reasons political, humanitarian and otherwise — all reasons I agree with — we leave the doors wide open. It's not like we would ever do the same for migrants from Iran or North Korea, other nations on the terror list, and let them stay, no questions asked.

And then there is the greatest current contradiction of current U.S. policy: Wet-foot, dry-foot. We welcome Cubans with open arms if they make it to American soil, because Cuba is un-free, and the U.S. is free, and we believe Cubans deserve the same.

But if those same Cubans don't make it to dry soil, we collude with the same dictatorship we label as terrorist, to send the migrants back, to discourage other Cubans from doing the same.

In the meantime, the dictatorship keeps repressing its way towards its 49th anniversary.

Here's guessing that Thompson was not talking about contradictions and expediencies. Except for maybe his own on Thursday, as he tried to "clarify" his earlier comments. A smart move, perhaps, but disappointing considering how quickly Thompson resorted to something resembling pandering and rhetoric, by reiterating how much he loves Cubans, and the more, the merrier.

But more love is not what we need, what Cubans need, what America needs.

This moment in Cuban history deserves better from the United States.

What is needed in an American president who will rise above the old, tired, anything-for-the-votes rhetoric; break through the pandering and the contradictions; and lead with policies and actions that will help free a nation.

Whether the next president is Thompson or someone else, that must be item No. 1 on the Cuba agenda.

Interview with Arturo Sandoval

The Cuban-born music great Arturo Sandoval will be playing tonight at the Ann Arbor Summer Festival in Michigan. In advance of the show, Sandoval granted an interview with Bruce Walker of the Mackinac Center for Public Policy in which, according to the group's Web site, he "discusses his experience with artistic censorship, his views on Cuba’s health care system and his thoughts on what American citizenship means to someone who has experienced government oppression firsthand."

It is a wonderful listen.

Listen for yourself here.

Do not forget the invisible ones ...

... do not forget Normando Hernández González.

Yarai Reyes returned with somber news, after her semi-monthly visit last week with her husband, a 37-year-old Cuban independent journalist arrested during the "black spring" of 2003, and sentenced to 25 years in prison.

Apparently, the benefits of Cuban health care have not been extended to Hernández, as he continues to suffer from malabsorption and other ailments that can be traced, at least in part, to the awful conditions he has faced while in prison.

"He had a lot of nausea, his hands shook, and he couldn't eat the prison food," Reyes told journalist Miriam Leiva, for a story posted at CubaNet.

Hernández's bad digestive health has dropped his weight to about 117 pounds, and he is so weak that someone had to carry for him a bag of items Reyes had brought to the prison.

Almost a year ago, Reyes petitioned the government to grant her husband a medical parole, but there has been no response.

Similarly, the dictatorship has rejected an offer by the government in Costa Rica to grant Hernández a visa so he could emigrate to Central America.

Jeremy Gerard, an editor for Bloombery News, this morning, writes more about Hernández:

Hernández González was arrested on March 18, 2003, during a crackdown that netted 75 journalists and other alleged dissidents. After brief trials, most of which reportedly lasted less than a day, they were sentenced to prison terms of as long as 25 years. According to human-rights organizations monitoring the situation, 59 of the 75 remain in prison.

At the time of his arrest, Hernandez Gonzalez was the head of the Camaguey College of Independent Journalists. ``It was a group established by Normando,'' says his mother, who now lives in Miami. ``The headquarters was at my house, in Camaguey. They are all in jail now.''

The group's 10 writers, of whom Hernández González was the youngest, were charged with violating Article 91 of the Cuban Criminal Code for writing stories that tracked government abuses and mismanagement by social-service agencies, according to a report by the PEN American Center, a watchdog group that publicizes human-rights violations against writers around the world.

In April, PEN announced that Hernández González would receive its 21st annual PEN/Barbara Goldsmith Freedom to Write Award. The $10,000 award honors ``international literary figures who have been persecuted or imprisoned for exercising or defending the right to freedom of expression,'' according to Larry Siems, director of the project and of PEN's international programs.

``They're going to kill him,'' Goldsmith, a historian, author and philanthropist, said in an interview on June 25. ``The award is emblematic of everything we do, but in this particular case we tried to take the person in the most jeopardy.''

Read the whole thing here.

Meanwhile, BosNewsLife News Center has updates on two other Cuban political prisoners, Dr. Luis Milan Fernandez and the journalist Pedro Argüelles Moran.

For more on how you can show your support for Normándo Hernández and other Cuban political prisoners, visit Bloggers United for Cuban Liberty.

Journalist detained for six hours because of story

Aliomar Janjaque Chivas

Aliomar Janjaque Chivas, director of the Marti Youth Coalition Information Bureau, is one of the new stars of the Cuban independent press.

At least if how nervous a journalist makes the secret police is any indication of his abilities.

Journalist Carlos Serpa Maceira, no slouch himself, is reporting that a police officer grabbed Janjaque, 32, off a Havana street and took him to a police station, where he was detained for about six hours, according to a dispatch posted at Payo Libre. Apparently, the cops wanted to know about who provided him with information he used to write a recent story about a communist party investigation of a state psychiatric hospital.

Serpa's story did not say whether Janjaque talked, but after reading his story about the hospital, he doesn't strike me as a journalist who would give up his sources to the police.

More on Dr. Jose Luis Garcia Paneque

Dr. Jose Luis Garcia Paneque

Last week, Human Rights First issued a "defender alert" on behalf of imprisoned Cuban dissident Dr. Jose Luis Garcia Paneque. Via e-mail, here's more on his condition, and on his family:

Dear Friends, We are writing to request your urgent prayers and action for Dr. Jose Luis Garcia Paneque, a doctor and a devout Roman Catholic who has been imprisoned in Cuba since 2003. His family is seriously concerned for his health, which has deteriorated dramatically in prison where Dr. Garcia Paneque has suffered from chronic diarrhoea leading to malnutrition. As a result, he has lost approximately 5 ½ stone (80 pounds or 30 kg) while in prison. He now weighs less than 10 stone.

Other prisoners have reported that he has been given psychotropic drugs and during one period last autumn, spent a lot of time crying and banging his head against the wall.

Most recently his family has been told that government doctors have found a cyst on his kidneys and have recommended emergency surgery. The family is concerned however, that given his bad state of health, he will not survive surgery.

Dr. Garcia Paneque, who is from Las Tunas, located in the eastern part of Cuba, was sentenced to 24 years in prison in April 2003 because of his work in support of human rights and democracy. He is active in an independent association of journalists and was also the administrator of an “independent” library. His arrest and imprisonment was part of a larger crackdown on human rights and democracy activists in what has now become known as the Black Spring of 2003. 75 activists were arrested and imprisoned during the crackdown.

His wife and their four young children were forced to flee the country earlier this year after intense harassment and attacks on their home. They were granted asylum in the US but have continued to monitor Dr. Garcia Paneque’s situation closely. His wife, Yamile, (said) that it was a very difficult and painful decision to leave the country but following the attacks on their home, they decided it was the only way to keep their children safe. She said she misses her country every day.

Yamile also(said) that the doctor takes great comfort from his Bible which he has been allowed to keep with him in prison and which he reads every day. For some time, the prison authorities refused to allow him to meet with a priest, but have now changed the policy and are allowing a meeting once every two months. Although his physical health continues to suffer, she said his spiritual health is strong.

Yamile requested prayer for the following points:
• The health of her husband.
• For the reunion of the family.
• For the adjustment to life in a new country. (The children will go to summer school to learn more English but Yamile speaks very little.)

You might consider sending a card or letter of encouragement to the doctor at:

Dr. Jose Luis Garcia Paneque
Prision Provincial Las Mangas (Hombres)
Mayor Rigor
Bayamo
Cuba

For more on how you show your support for Dr. Jose Luis Garcia Paneque and other Cuban political prisoners, visit Bloggers United for Cuban Liberty.

Moore ignores Cubans (Blogburst update)

UPDATE
For more from the "SiCKO" blogburst, go here.

The worst part about Michael Moore's visit to Cuba to film part of his new movie, "SiCKO," is not that he willfully allowed himself to become part of the Castroite propaganda machine's perpetual campaign to pimp for the Cuban health care system. (Although that is enough for me to consider dismissing, sight unseen, whatever otherwise legitimate points Moore makes in his movie about American health care.)

Or that to do so, he exploited rescue workers who became ill after they responded to the 9/11 attack on the World Trade Center.

What is most objectionable is that in going to Cuba, Moore ignored the Cuban people and their real experiences with the Cuban health care he arranged for the rescue workers, and believes we should replicate in this country.

Moore ignored the health care apartheid in Cuba, where foreigners and government officials — and idiot filmmakers from the United States — get one, maybe even pretty good health care. While most Cubans get this.

And of most concern, is that Moore ignored Cuba's political prisoners, each of whom represents the tremendous cost Cubans pay — their freedom — for "free" health care.

Moore reportedly went to Cuba to see if he could arrange for the 9/11 workers, who suffer from ailments caused by the contaminated air they breathed at Ground Zero, to get treatment at the U.S. Navy base in Guantanamo. Moore heard that suspected terrorists held at the base had received high-quality care, and figured the rescue workers deserved the same.

Moore may have a good point there.

But what Moore also should have reported is that the Cuban health care the 9/11 workers got is not what prisoners of conscience locked away in the gulag receive. In fact, as Committee to Protect Journalists reported last week, life in a Cuban prison only makes inmates sicker, and when it does, getting good care, for reasons mostly political, is impossible.

A common theme in the numerous profiles I have written about Cuban political prisoners — click on any of the names listed on the left — is how sick many of them are. Surely, some of them would be willing to trade places with al-Qaida members held at Gitmo, for the chance to finally get some decent health care.

No, Moore's film is not about Cuban health care or the dictatorship's political prisoners. He had his agenda, and the right to stick to it, and make the movie he was pre-determined to make. Maybe one day, someone else with the talent and marketing ability of a Michael Moore — only with more integrity — will produce an exposé of a Cuban prison.

However, the fact that Moore went to Cuba and portrayed its health care system in the best possible light in order to make a point about American health care — while ignoring the reality on the Cuban street, and in Cuban prisons — makes him at best, disingenuous, and at worst, a tyrant's tool.

I am going to try to see the movie this weekend. I will report back ASAP.