The Castro dictatorship's crudity, and cruelty, takes so many different shapes. The strategic goal is obvious — oppress and repress the Cuban people to maintain its killer grip on power. The tactics, however, vary, depending on the imagination — or lack thereof — of the secret policemen, street thugs, common criminals, neighborhood watch groups and others the dictatorship drafts into service.
For instance, in the town of Cruces, in Cienfuegos province, someone recently dumped a large amount of trash and excrement in front of the home of independent journalist Francisco Blanco Sanabria.
"This type of aggression by paramilitaries in service of State Security is designed to create stress for me and my family, because of our opposition to the regime," Blanco told independent journalists Guillermo Fariñas.
At the end of the day, I suspect, that is a minor annoyance for Blanco and his family.
More ominous is the threat former political prisoner Benito Ortega Suárez received after meeting with the top U.S. diplomat in Havana.
On Aug. 13, Ortega — who last month was released from prison after serving more than seven years for the supposed crime of "disrespect" — met with Michael Parmly, the chief of the U.S. Interests Section in Havana.
The next day, a Lt. Col. Teoli from State Security warned Ortega he could be returned to prison for meeting with Parmly. Ortega's time would be better spent, Teoli said, worrying about his elderly mother, than in participating in opposition activities, according to a story by independent journalist Yoel Espinosa Medrano, posted at Payo Libre.
The dictatorship's methods, whether on the street or in a police station's interrogation room, are not so subtle, so maybe they're no longer effective. Stories of particular instances like those above sometimes all read the same.
But the dictatorship still can harass and "disappear" the likes of Blanco, Ortega and others with the courage to stand up to the regime and challenge its right to power.
As the past almost 49 years have shown, the dictatorship doesn't have to use a lot of imagination to get its way.
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