Uncommon Sense

Dissidents call for free elections

Oswaldo Payá and the recently released former political prisoner Francisco Chaviano, on Thursday called on the Cuban government to hold free, democratic elections.

No word from the golf courses of Italy, on the dictatorship's official response:

The Associated Press reports:

HAVANA: The architect of the Varela Project pro-democracy drive asked Cuba's parliament to abolish and replace the country's electoral law and hold free, democratic general elections as soon as possible.

In the letter addressed to the president of Cuba's national assembly, Oswaldo Paya also asked for a change in existing laws to guarantee citizens "freedom of expression, respect for diverse opinions existing in society and access by all citizens and opinions to mass media."

A copy of the letter and an accompanying news release were hand-delivered by messenger to The Associated Press on Thursday evening.

The latest move by Paya, among Cuba's best-known dissidents, appeared aimed at reviving the long-shelved Varela Project just as communist-run Cuba gears up for municipal elections this fall.

There was no immediate official reaction to the new initiative, which was announced after government offices closed for the day.

The Varela Project was a signature-gathering drive that asked voters if they favored a referendum that would change Cuba's electoral law and guarantee rights including freedom of speech and assembly and private business ownership.

When Paya delivered the first batch of 25,000 signatures to the parliament in 2002, it was seen as the most extensive homegrown, nonviolent effort to push for reforms in Cuba's one-party system since Fidel Castro took power in 1959.

Lawmakers later shelved the initiative, ruling it unconstitutional, and the Cuban government responded with its own petition drive to declare socialism an "irrevocable" part of the constitution.

"We call on all Cubans to pay attention and support this demand for a new electoral law," Paya and Minervo Lazaro Chil Siret wrote in a separate declaration as leaders of the Christian Liberation Movement that previously promoted the Varela Project.

"In this moment in our history, Cuba needs transparency and confidence and that only can be achieved by respecting the ideas and rights of everyone, not imposing an electoral process ... that for years has impeded the people from freely expressing and deciding for itself."

In a similar move, recently released political prisoner Francisco Chaviano on Thursday sent journalists a letter also addressed to National Assembly President Ricardo Alarcon, asking that the next general elections include a referendum on whether to continue with Cuba's current system.

Signed by Chaviano and his wife, Ana Anguililla, the letter said such a popular referendum "is necessary, given the historical juncture implied by the end of Fidel Castro's mandate due to his health and age." Chaviano, among Cuba's most veteran dissidents, was released earlier this month after 13 years in prison.

Castro, 81, officially remains Cuba's president, but has not been seen in public in the 13 months since he temporarily ceded his powers to his brother Raul after undergoing intestinal surgery. His exact ailment and condition remain secret and there is no official word on whether he will return to power.

No date for general elections to elect provincial and national assembly members has been announced, but they are expected early next spring. Municipal assembly elections are scheduled for Oct. 21, with neighborhood meetings to nominate candidates starting this weekend.

The Varela Project was named for the Rev. Felix Varela, a 19th century Roman Catholic priest and early promoter of Cuba's independence from Spain.

“Long live human rights, long live democracy, and long live Jesus Christ!”

A post earlier this week detailed how three Cuban dissidents were detained, while trying to visit the hospitalized son of political prisoner José Antonio Mola Porro.

Cuban Democratic Directorate has more details on what happened:

Human rights activists who were visiting Michael Mola, son of political prisoner José Antonio Mola Porro, at the Provincial Hospital Amalia Simoni, confronted a group of soldiers who arrived harassing them at the young man’s hospital room, with shouts of “Long live human rights, long live democracy, and long live Jesus Christ!”

Juan Carlos González Leiva, president of the Cuban Foundation for Human Rights (FCDDHH) and secretary of the Human Rights Rapporteur Council of Cuba, Eisy Marrero Marrero, national treasurer of the FCDDHH, Luis Esteban Espinosa Echemendía, independent journalist, Raúl Federico Caballero, human rights activist from Camagüey, and Jorge Luis Suárez Varona, former political prisoner, were with Michael Mola when military officials entered the room and tried to take González Leiva’s video camera, device he was using at the time to film an interview with Mola Porro’s son. When González Leiva did not let them take it, the officials detained him along with Luis Esteban Espinosa Echemendía and Esiy Marrero Marrero, and were taken to the military hospital at this place.

There, six military officials savagely beat the three activists, took their personal belongings (including the video camera) and transferred them by force to the Camagüey police unit, where they were locked up for three hours in a dungeon full of excrement and urine. The three activists continued shouting pro-democracy slogans from the dungeon.

González Leiva at this moment is suffering from hematomas all over his body, an inflamed shoulder, and bruises on his head, all these given by the prison military officials.

“I hold responsible the Camagüey State Security for this beating, who gave the orders. ... I told them that I would call the internal dissident movement to stand firmly before then Camagüey police if they did not return my belongings,” expressed González Leiva to the Cuban Democratic Directorate on a telephone conversation.

Upon hearing this, the police returned his belongings and they were freed. The three activists were at this province visiting former political prisoners who were recently freed upon completing their sentences and the Ladies in White from Camagüey.

José Antonio Mola Porro, Michael’s father, is currently in poor state of health and without proper medical attention at Kilo 9 prison in Camagüey.

Political prisoner demands freedom

José G. Ramón Castillo (Pepín)

Via Cuban Democratic Direcotorate:

Santiago de Cuba, August 29, 2007 (ICDPRESS). In spite of his critical state of health, José G. Ramón Castillo (Pepín) was transferred eight days ago from the Boniato prison hospital to a regular prison cell.

Since then, Pepín, a dependent of insulin, is forbidding anyone to inject him. This prisoner of conscience demands immediate freedom, or at least the right to remain in the care center for prisoners at this place.

His wife, Blanca Echavarría, source of this information, informed that the hygienic and sanitary conditions at the cells of the Boniato Prison are extremely precarious.

“They have unbalanced his sugar levels once again due to the inadequate nutrition he is given, which is not designed for a person who suffers from diabetes. On July 4th he went into a coma for two days and almost loses his life after he is given the wrong dosage of insulin administered by that hospital. Now they just throw him into that filthy cell,” expressed Echavarría.

As a result of 4 years of imprisonment, affirms his wife, Pepín has presented various ailments such as: cirrhosis of the liver, arterial hypertension, venous insufficiency, central nervous system (CNS) disorders, diabetes, and hair loss.

The National Prison and Cell Management has prolonged his application for parole for nearly two years. This solicitation was made by his medical team at this prison hospital due to his critical health.

Such parole, given already to other 16 prisoners of conscience, could mean the release of this independent journalist and mechanical theory professor of Santiago de Cuba.

The hypocrisy of the Washington Post

Humberto Fontova nails the Washington Post to the wall, with nothing but the facts, for its publication of Pat Oliphant's cartoon assault on Cuban Americans:

Note that a smiling Uncle Sam insults an American ethnic group as “nuisances" while forcibly expelling them from the nation in a rickety boat titled "Cuban-Americans," while these scowling, elderly and Mafiosi-clad people scream “we demand a chance to interfere with the '08 election!”

By “interfere” we have to assume the cartoonist refers to the right, privilege and duty bestowed upon U.S. citizens known as "voting." It so happens that the cartoonist, Pat Oliphant, is himself an immigrant to this country. In an interview with Time magazine he admitted to “leaning Democratic” in his politics.

I now invite you to contemplate the reaction from the usual political-correctness police had any other U.S. ethnic group (except overwhelmingly Republican Cuban-Americans) inhabited that boat. Imagine the fire and brimstone (literal, perhaps) if instead of Fedoras (rarely worn by Cuban-Americans, by the way) the group had worn kuffiyeh's, burkha's and chadors!

Imagine the clamor and attempted extortions followed by craven apologies and grovelings if the boat's passengers had been "nappy-headed" and headed for Africa! Imagine the rallies in Los Angeles and the indignant blusterings by California politicians and Nancy Pelosi if they'd worn sombreros!

Such cartoons are indeed imaginable with other ethnic groups — but surely with Uncle Sam cast as the villain, wearing a white hood, a swastika or an Ann Coulter mask. Maybe all three. In this one Uncle Sam smiles benevolently while handing the boat's ethnic occupants their just desserts.

Fontova concludes:

Attempting to enforce U.S. law as in potential expulsion, (with full due process) of, illegal immigrants is denounced by the Washington Post as "xenophobic," "shameful," "poisonous," "nativist," "cruel," "self defeating," "illogical," and "ugly."

But a cartoon celebrating the expulsion of Americans who happened to be foreign-born, who played by the rules, who became U.S. citizens, who then outpaced even the overall U.S. population in educational and income levels (in "Americanization" you might say) and who specialize in exercising their right and duty to vote, well, these vermin should be shoved off en masse to Stalinist prison camps by a smiling Uncle Sam. Unreal.

Read the whole thing here.

Craig tapped feet with Castro

U.S. Sen. Larry Craig, R-Idaho, is a pimp, and not just because of his bad bathroom habits.

He earned his stripes in February 2004, when he traveled to Havana to drum up business for Idaho farmers, and to show his support for lifting sanctions against the Castro regime. His visit was considered so important that Craig, as this photo shows, got to meet Fidel Castro and trade some Idaho wine for some Cuban cigars.

There's no word on how close Craig danced with his hosts, but regardless of whether it was limited to a boardroom or got really nasty behind closed doors, it was to a tune sure to sicken.

(H/T for the photo to La Nueva Cuba, via Babalú.)

Journalist stands up to dictatorship

If speculations are correct, and the announcement of Fidel Castro's death coincides with a roundup of Cuban dissidents, so as to silence any potential troublemakers, high on the target list will be independent journalists. Their record of "lawlessness" under the dictatorship — reporting stories about the real Cuba, and distributing them to the outside world — makes independent journalists a mortal threat to a punk like Raúl Castro trying to make his bones without the protection of his big, much more capable, brother.

Ludis Rodríguez Díaz, editor of the El Martiano Libre newspaper, already has gotten a taste of what might be to come.

On Aug. 23, Rodríguez was summoned to a police station in Manzanillo, in Granma province, according to a story by independent journalist Mario Hechavarria Driggs, posted at CubaNet. A secret policeman named "Quintana," warned Rodríguez to quit the newspaper, which she publishes out of her home, or she might be sent to prison. He then seized her identity card, which without in a police state like Cuba's, is like walking the street naked.

Rodríguez's response might best be summed up like this:

"Fuck that!"

"El Martiano Libre is a newpaper produced by a group of pacific opponents, with the intent of having citizens read a free press, without censorship nor hindrances of any type," Rodríguez told Hechavarria. "El Martiano will continue to come out because the public wants and asks for it. I will be without an identity card as long as they want, but that won't get in the way of my journalistic work."

In the face of courage like that, how long can Raúl Castro really survive?

Imprisoned librarian is sick

Imprisoned independent librarian José Antonio Mola Porro — a former Uncommon Sense Prisoner of the Week — reports that prison has made him sick. An inmate at the Kilo 9 prison in Camagüey, Mola, 40, suffers from headaches and ear aches, and his lips have become inflamed, but he has not received needed medical care, human rights activist Juan Carlos González Leiva told independent journalist Luis Esteban Espinosa.

González spoke via telephone to Mola, who is serving a 1-year prison sentence handed down in May — for what, the government hasn't said — on Aug. 21.

"When he entered prison, he was a healthy man, but the poor food and inhuman conditions he is kept in, have causes these illnesses," González told Espinosa, for a story posted at CubaNet.

Coincidentally, González, journalist Espinosa and another human rights activist, were detained by police on Sunday, while trying to visit Mola's hospitalized son.

I'm sorry for being Cuban

The always eloquent Alberto de la Cruz today published an e-mail he received several years ago during the Elian Gonzalez mess, an episode that seemingly still stains Cuban Americans in the eyes of many.

Its message reminds all — Cuban Americans and those, like Pat Oliphant, not fortunate enough to be — what we mean to this country:

Dear Uncle Sam:

I am writing you to apologize for all the terrible things that we Cubans have done to you while living in the United States. Please let me begin with my own humble plea for forgiveness.

Forgive me for being too Cuban, too Spanish, too European and too white. I know how painful it must be for you to have Spanish speaking Caucasians living on your soil.

I also beg you to forgive my Afro-Cuban brothers and sisters for being descendants of the Yorube people of West Africa, one of the most highly cultured and sophisticated African ethnic groups. It is not their fault that they are both intelligent and beautiful or that they overcame the horrors of slavery with courage and dignity. Nor is there any malice in their ability to live in harmony with their white compatriots. I ask you to forgive them for being thoroughly Cuban.

On a collective level, please forgive us for having a strong work ethic, for being educated, and for enjoying a certain level of economic prosperity.

Forgive us for paying our taxes and for obeying your laws.

Above all, forgive us for having served in your armed forces and for having suffered casualties in your Vietnam War out of all proportion to our numbers.\

Forgive us for having transformed Miami from a sleepy Southern town into a thriving world-class metropolis.

Also, forgive us for contributing billions of dollars to the American economy.

Forgive us for having successfully run major American corporations such as the Coca-Cola Company.

Forgive us for not being a burden on your social welfare system, for being economically self-reliant, for being charitable, and for believing in equality and social justice.

Forgive us for helping the Nicaraguans and the Haitians in South Florida. Forgive us for our contributions to both American popular and high culture.

Forgive us for Desi Arnaz, Andy Garcia, Gloria Estefan, Celia Cruz, Arturo Sandoval, Paquito de Rivera, and the Buena Vista Social Club. I assure you, we meant no offense or harm by providing you with so much entertainment and pleasure, as well as for all the intellectuals and professors whom we have given to your universities.

Forgive us for major leagues.

Forgive us for adding to your culinary diversity. Forgive us for our black beans, roast pork, arroz con pollo, fried plantains, shrimp enchilado, Cuban sandwiches, flan, pastelitos de guayaba and a host of other dishes that lack the refined sophistication of your meatloaf.

Forgive us also for brewing coffee that actually looks, tastes, and smells like coffee and most of all, forgive us for cooking with garlic.

Uncle Sam, forgive us for actually practicing family values instead of simply talking about them. Forgive us for loving our extended families and our children and for treating our elderly with affection and respect.

Forgive us for enjoying life, for being both passionate and compassionate, and for sharing whatever we have with those who are less fortunate.

Forgive us our humanity.

Please Uncle Sam, I implore you to forgive us for our participation in the political and civil life of your nation, for becoming US citizens, for voting in your elections.

Forgive us for having elected Cubans to all levels of your government and please, please forgive us for having alienated our Latin-American cousins by defending your interests in the region.

Also, forgive us for learning the lessons of Henry David Thoreau and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., as well as for mastering that most American of all political acts, civil disobedience.

I now realize that we Cubans are terrible people, and we have hurt you in unspeakable ways, but I assure you that we will get out of the country as soon as we regain our homeland. Unfortunately, it does not appear that this will happen any time soon, therefore, if I may be so bold, could you please allow us to remain here just a little longer? I promise that we will do our best to behave more like a stereotypical minority.

Oh, and by the way, could you find it in your heart to forgive us for choosing freedom over fascism?

Sincerely,

Unknown Cuban-American

Journalist du Bouchet denounces recent conviction

Cuban independent journalist Albert Santiago du Bouchet Hernández, convicted earlier this month of stealing a hankerchief once belonging to Fidel Castro, this week denounced the government for prosecuting him:

"I have been the victim of a false prosecution by the government of Fidel Castro, which spares no recourse or means to silence the independent press."

Reporters Without Borders has more on the government's flimsy "case" against du Bouchet.

"Castro" endorses Clinton-Obama

Clinton-Obama '08, as endorsed by "Fidel Castro"

Fidel Castro — or someone writing as the decaying dictator — opines that Clinton-Obama is the dream ticket for Democrats in 2008:

"The word today is that an apparently unbeatable ticket could be Hillary for president and Obama as her running mate."

Castro's favorite U.S. president? Jimmy Carter.

Bill Clinton wasn't so bad, either.