Uncommon Sense

Arroz Con Frijoles, 12/6/08

A few notes you might have missed as you try to find the perfect 50th anniversary present for a "revolution" that has been nothing but revolting:

• La Corriente Agramontista, made up of Cuban lawyers on the island and in exile, issued a call for the release of political prisoners.

• State Security officers detained and interrogated for several hours five government opponents in the town of Palma Soriano, in Santiago de Cuba province, apparently as part of an effort to determine the activities of the Pedro Luis Boitel Political Prisoners Movement, one of the more active opposition groups on the island.

• Dissident José de la Rosa Pérez was detained in Moa, in Holguín province. His mother says it was retribution for de la Rosa's participating in a teleconference event at the U.S. Interest Section in Havana on Election Day, Nov. 4.

• Political prisoner Ariel Sigler Amaya, hospitalized for more than two months suffering from spina bifida and other ailments, has been transferred to the Carlos J. Finley military hospital in Havana.

• Another political prisoner, the independent journalist Oscar Sánchez Madan, is being denied adequate medical care for his ailments.

I'm one of those who thinks maybe the United States should consider changes in how it approaches Cuba. But what is important to remember when considering new tactics or strategies is that the same scourge, the same tyranny — as evidenced by these and numerous other stories — continues to afflict the island. If we are naive about that, no amount of change will bring success.

Blogging the Cuban counter-revolution

Recent news suggesting a government crackdown on Cuban bloggers is underway are not surprising. After all, that's what dictatorships, like the Castro brothers' for almost 50 years now, do. More than just about anyone, the dictators understand that information is power, so they do all they can - nothing is out of bounds for these thugs - to control who uses it.

But the beauty of it is that theirs is a futile effort. The Internet, to quote the Castro dictatorship's chief censor, is a "wild colt," even more out of control when its reins are in the hands of brave, brilliant souls like Yoani Sanchez. Freedom one day will prevail in Cuba, and nothing the dictatorship does to limit access to information on the Internet, and the spreading of that information, will prevent that.

Cuban political prisoner named RSF's Journalist of the Year (UPDATED)

Ricardo González Alfonso

Reporters Without Borders (RSF) has named Cuban independent journalist Ricardo González Alfonso, imprisoned since 2003, as its Journalist of the Year, bringing much-needed attention to the plight of Cuban independent journalists, especially those jailed because of their work.

RSF writes:

After daring to challenge to the state’s monopoly of news and information, González was arrested on 18 March 2003 along with 26 other dissident journalists during the crackdown known as the “Black Spring.” Accused of being “in the pay of the United States” and “undermining Cuba’s independence and territorial integrity,” he was given a 20-year prison sentence. He has been held in Havana’s Combinado del Este prison since late 2004, despite poor health.

RSF continues:

González Alfonso used to work for the state TV agency, where he was in charge of children’s broadcasting. Born in 1950, he began working for Cuba Press, an independent news agency, in 1995 and became Reporters Without Borders correspondent in 1998. He and his friend Raúl Rivero set up the Manuel Márquez Sterling Association in May 2001 to train Cuba’s independent journalists, who are often self-taught. In December 2002, he and other journalists launched the fortnightly De Cuba, with a first-issue print run of 200 copies. It tackled subjects ignored by the government such as racism in Cuba and the Varela Project campaign, which gathered more than 11,000 signatures to a petition calling for democratic change by constitutional means.

Read more about González here and other imprisoned Cuban journalists here.

UPDATED, 1:45 p.m. EDT In a statement in response to the award, published at Cuba Encuentro, Alfonso vows that his struggle for freedom, and that of other imprisoned journalists, continues.

"In these years in captivity, our convictions have been strengthened," Alfonso said via a telephone call to his wife. "Despite the difficult conditions we face, we continue our efforts to build a Cuba with a liberty of opinion and of the press."

Alfonso said he proudly shares his award with other journalists and other dissidents imprisoned during the "black spring."

"You can be sure that the present is not the end of time, but the prelude to new ones where we have no fences, neither inside nor outside," Alfonso said.

Crackdown on Cuban bloggers?

The Castro dictatorship has begun striking back against some of its harshest critics — Cubans with the courage and the skill to share their criticisms and other observations of Cuban life on the blogosphere.

Yoani Sanchez, fresh from winning yet another international award for her blog, has been warned: Stay away from a meeting of bloggers on Saturday, or else.

So has Claudia Cadelo.

Combined with new rules designed to reinforce limits on what Cubans can view on the Web — as if such limits are ever fully enforceable — the dictatorship may be preparing to try to shut down the Cuban blogosphere.

Penultimos Dias has the details.

And for more analysis of what might be going on, check out Black Sheep of Exile and Review of Cuban-American Blogs.

Prisoner demands freedom ... for another prisoner

Cuban political prisoner Alfredo Domínguez Batista has his own problems, starting with an unjust 14-year prison sentence handed down in 2003 because of his political activism. As a political prisoner, he is targeted for special maltreatment by guards in the Castro gulag; most recently, reports were that Domínguez was being denied visits by a Catholic priest.

However, that has not prevented Domínguez from petitioning officials to grant clemency to another prisoner at the Las Tunas provincial prison, Juan Carlos Ortiz Durán, who is suffering from terminal cancer.

A Cuban prison, with its bad food and poor medical care, is no place for Ortiz to die. But as Domínguez has demonstrated with his act of selflessness, there are in the Castro gulag still plenty of examples of courage and character that give confidence that in the end, good will triumph over evil in Cuba.

Uncommon Sense: Banned in Cuba?

No names are named, but a new directive from the Castro dictatorship means government watchdogs will continue to block access to Web sites "whose contents are contrary to the interests of society, morals and good customs."

Where do I sign up?

The real Che Guevara movie

New movies about Che Guevara will have their American premiere this week, inexplicably, in Miami, where thousands of residents are well familiar with the murdering bastard's true legacy.

Part of that legacy, at least for my family, was the execution of Santa Clara police chief Cornelio Rojas - a cousin of my grandfather Raimundo Masferrer Rojas. Rojas' death, captured by film and video cameras, was one of the defining images of the early days of Castroite/Guevarian terror in Cuba, but here's guessing it won't be re-created in the new biopics.

So before you go, if you go, be sure to watch this:

Need to know more about Guevara? Enroll in the Che Guevara Re-Education Program.

Political prisoner too sick to talk with supporters

A group of 14 Cuban dissidents conducting a prayer vigil for political prisoners was able to reach via telephone the hospital room of political prisoner Ariel Sigler Amaya. Before the line was not-so-mysteriously disconnected, Sigler's wife told the callers that the prisoner was too sick to talk with them.

Sigler, who was arrested during the "black spring" of 2003 and sentenced to 20 years in prison, is currently being held at the Gustavo Aldereguía Lima University Hospital in Cienfuegos. Another report says he is suffering from numerous ailments, including polyneuropathy, kidney and gall bladder problems, osteoporosis, arthritis and spina bifida.

Reporters Without Borders honors Cuban journalist

Imprisoned Cuban independent journalist Ricardo González Alfonso is a finalist for Reporters Without Borders' Journalist of the Year awards. Also in the running are journalists from Niger, Syria, Russia, Vietnam and Sri Lanka.

The recipient will be announced Thursday in Paris. Last year's winner was from Eritrea.

Read more here.