Uncommon Sense

Biscet says Juanes sang for Cuban slaves

Cuban human rights activist Dr. Oscar Elias Biscet was unable to attend Juanes' "peace without borders" concert on Havana on Sunday — he was not allowed a furlough from the Combinado del Este prison, where he is serving a 25-year sentence — but he is not a fan.

In an an interview with Radio Martí, Biscet compared the big show to when colonial slave owners gave their slaves a day off here and there in order to celebrate holidays with a big party.

The next day, like Monday in Cuba, they were still slaves.

A post-script: Do yourself a favor, and an honor for this giant of the Cuban opposition, and listen to the Radio Martí interview. Even if you don't understand Spanish, you will be impressed by the strength of his voice, which is only an indicator of the strength of his courage and his character.

If you are looking for a more concrete way to support Biscet, consider contributing to the completion of this film project.

Fidel Castro wanted to nuke U.S. in the '80s — study

A recently revealed Pentagon study provides further evidence of the sometimes grave threat to U.S. security posed by Fidel Castro and his dictatorship for more than 50 years.

According to the study, Castro during the 1980s suggested his Soviet sugar daddies to get tougher with their Cold War adversaries by launching a nuclear strike against the United States.

But as usually happens with Fidel Castro, his instincts for self-preservation took over:

The Pentagon study attributes the Cuba revelation to Andrian A. Danilevich, a Soviet general staff officer from 1964 to ’90 and director of the staff officers who wrote the Soviet Union’s final reference guide on strategic and nuclear planning.

In the early 1980s, the study quotes him as saying that Mr. Castro “pressed hard for a tougher Soviet line against the U.S. up to and including possible nuclear strikes.”

The general staff, General Danilevich continued, “had to actively disabuse him of this view by spelling out the ecological consequences for Cuba of a Soviet strike against the U.S.”

That information, the general concluded, “changed Castro’s positions considerably.”

If only evidence like this would finally disabuse those who persist in gushing over this man of the notion that he isn't what he is: A tyrant and a coward.

Juanes' was not just another concert

Juanes' "peace without borders" concert in Havana on Sunday was not just another concert.

And not for the reasons Juanes and the other performers might lead you to believe.

Reports continue filter out from the island about the pre-show crackdown carried out by the Castro secret police against potential troublemakers. You know, those rabble rousers like the Ladies In White and other dissidents who want real peace and freedom for their fellow Cubans and for their country.

One of the most complete reports was filed by independent journalist Roberto Guerra, who has a detailed list of what happened to whom.

The dictatorship, not Juanes, is not responsible for what happened to the dissidents. But what happened should be proof to Juanes and anyone else with doubts about what really happened in Havana on Sunday, that the only "borders" to peace in Cuba are those enforced by the Castro brothers and their despicable regime.

Yosvani Anzardo Hernández, Cuban Political Prisoner of the Week, 9/20/09 (UPDATED)

Yosvani Anzardo Hernández

UPDATED, Sept. 26, 2009 — Anzardo was released from custody on Sept. 23, complete with an apology from a police official.

Cuba's independent journalists and bloggers are at the vanguard of the movement for freedom in Cuba. Overcoming political and technological obstacles, the bear witness to the reality of Cuba today.

Which is why, like what happened to Yosvani Anzardo Hernández, they are sometimes arrested by the Castro secret police.

More than a week after his arrest, Anzardo, editor of the Candonga digital magazine, remains in jail.

Read about him here.

Reports Without Borders has more on Anzardo's arrest:

Two bloggers, Luis Felipe González Rojas and Yosvany Anzardo Hernández, were arrested and beaten by police in the eastern city of Holguín on 10 September and their computers were confiscated. González was released after four hours but Anzardo is still being held. His detention brings the number of detained journalists in Cuba to 26.

The interview González recently gave to Miami-based Radio Marti was the probable reason for his arrest. He also keeps a blog called Animal de Ancatarilla (www.cubaencuentro.com).

Anzardo is the editor of Candonga (www.candonga.org), an online newspaper for Cubans in Cuba that is currently inaccessible. He has also been reporting for the Miami-based website Payo Libre for more than three years. Payo Libre editor Pablo Rodriguez Carvajal said Anzardo has not been able to communicate with his family since his arrest.

“The authorities are going out of their way to stifle any online expression of the civil society that is emerging in Cuba,” Reporters Without Borders said. “This censorship reflects the government’s refusal to accept the current and future changes on the island, which are escaping its control.”

Be sure to read the whole Reporters Without Borders report, which also details some of the barriers to Internet access on the island.

If Juanes really is for peace ...

... then he must decry the injustices being done against the Cuban people on the eve of his big concert Sunday. Radio Martí reports the Cuban secret police is busy rounding up anyone who might cause trouble at the show.

And he should do this, too.

Give Juanes' 'peace' a chance

Revolution Square, Havana, on the eve of Juanes' "peace without borders concert (AP photo)

I had never heard of Juanes before he scheduled his "peace without borders" concert for Sunday in Revolution Square in Havana, so I guess the Colombian pop star has already used the event to his advantage. Not that I am about to go out and buy one of his records.

Havana is not a traditional venue for a pop music show — after all, how many Cubans can afford the cost of a typical pop music concert ticket — but more power to Juanes, even if somehow the dictatorship turns the spectacle of a "free" music festival under the visage of Ché Guevara into a propaganda victory for itself. After all, who can be against "peace?"

Well, the Castro dictatorship for one, as more than 50 years of history show.

Let Juanes play his concert. Even let him be used as a tool by a regime whose very essence is contrary to everything music and peace are suppose to be about. If you advocate for free expression, as I do in my professional life and on this blog, you take the stupid with the good.

It should not affect how those of us who would never be caught within earshot of Revolution Square, react to what will happen on Sunday.

I will not castigate Juanes, nor curse him, nor call for crowds to burn his records. That's a bunch of wasted energy, on which the Castro brothers will feed.

Instead, I will take the opportunity he has presented those of us committed to a free Cuba, the attention he has generated for himself and for Cuba, to educate, to advocate on behalf of those Cubans who recognize that the only "border" blocking peace on the island is that placed by a murdering regime against the Cuban people.

As Juanes and the other singers perform, I will be remembering the political prisoners and other Cubans who have dedicated their lives to bringing a true peace to Cuba — a peace with respect for respect for human rights, a peace with justice, a peace with freedom.

That will be much more than Juanes is likely to do for them.

Pánfilo released from jail (UPDATED)

Cuban political prisoner Juan Carlos Gonzalez Marcos, better known as Pánfilo, has been released from prison just weeks after he was sentenced to 2 years in the Castro gulag for being a "pre-criminal social danger."

A Cuban human rights group said Pánfilo, who became an Internet sensation after he was caught on camera pleading for food, has been transferred to a psychiatric hospital for three weeks for treatment of alcoholism.

After all, only a drunk would complain about the "paradise" that is Cuba.

Seriously, this is a welcome development. But unfortunately, it does not reflect any greater change by the regime.

If I had to guess, it probably has more to do with a certain musical concert, and an attempt by the government to avoid tough questions about Pánfilo.

UPDATED, Sept. 20, 2009 Yoani offers her take on Pánfilo's release.

These are Cuban journalists ...

... but they won't be able to cover Juanes' "peace" concert in Havana on Sunday.

Because they are in jail.

Enjoy the show, if you want, but remember this: Without justice for these and other political prisoners, there will not be real peace in Cuba.

Pedro Argüelles Morán*

Victor Arroyo Carmona*

Mijail Bárzaga Lugo*

Adolfo Fernández Saínz*

José Ferrer García*

Alfredo Felipe Fuentes*

Miguel Galván Gutiérrez*

Julio Gálvez Rodríguez*

José García Paneque*

Lester González Pentón*

Ricardo González Alfonso*

Iván Hernández Carrillo*

Normando Hernández González*

Juan Herrera Acosta*

José Izquierdo Hernández*

Héctor Maseda Gutiérrez*

Pablo Pacheco Ávila*

Fabio Prieto Llorente*

Alfredo Pulido López*

Omar Rodríguez Saludes*

Omar Ruíz Hernández*

Oscar Sanchez Madan

Alberto Triay Casales Other Cuban journalists in the Castro gulag are: Guillermo Espinosa Rodríguez Raimundo Perdigón Brito Ramón Velásquez Toranzo (* Members of the Group of 7556.) To learn more about Cuba's independent press and its imprisoned journalists, visit Reporters Without Borders and Committee to Protect Journalists.

The Rodríguez Lobaina brothers arrested in Havana

Néstor and his brother Rolando Rodríguez Lobaina

Cuban democracy activities Néstor and his brother Rolando Rodríguez Lobaina were arrested Tuesday in simultaneous raids by police on two locations in Havana, apparently in response to recent meetings of dissidents that they organized.

I guess they, too, won't be in the crowd for the Juanes concert on Sunday.

These Cubans won't be at the Juanes concert

Let Juanes play his "peace" concert, let Juanes help the Castro dictatorship get some good p.r. After all, it is his soul.

For those of us who would never let themselves be used like this, however, don't waste the opportunity to use the concert to educate the public about the Cuba beyond Revolution Square, about the Cubans who would never be allowed to attend.

Cubans like these men, members of the Group of 75 still in the Castro gulag more than six years after the "black spring" crackdown:

The Group of 55 is:

Nelson Aguiar Ramírez

Pedro Argüelles Morán

Victor Arroyo Carmona

Mijail Bárzaga Lugo

Oscar Biscet González*

Marcelo Cano Rodríguez

Antonio Díaz Sánchez

Eduardo Díaz Fleitas

Alfredo Domínguez Batista

Adolfo Fernández Saínz

Efren Fernández Fernández

José Ferrer García

Luis Ferrer García

Alfredo Felipe Fuentes

Próspero Gaínza Agüero

Miguel Galván Gutiérrez

Julio Gálvez Rodríguez

José García Paneque

Diosdado González Marrero

Jorge González Tanquero

Lester González Pentón

Ricardo González Alfonso

Leonel Grave de Peralta Almenares

Iván Hernández Carrillo

Normando Hernández González

Juan Herrera Acosta

Régis Iglesias Ramírez

José Izquierdo Hernández

Librado Linares García

José Martínez Hernández

Héctor Maseda Gutiérrez

Luis Milán Fernández

Nelson Molinet Espino

Angel Moya Acosta

Jesús Felipe Mustafá

Félix Navarro Rodríguez

Pablo Pacheco Ávila

Arturo Pérez de Alejo Rodríguez

Horacio Piña Borrego

Fabio Prieto Llorente

Alfredo Pulido López

Arnaldo Ramos Lauzerique

Blas Reyes Rodríguez

Alexis Rodríguez Fernández

Omar Rodríguez Saludes

Omar Ruíz Hernández

Claro Sánchez Altarriba

Ariel Sigler Amaya

Guido Sigler Amaya

Ricardo Silva Gual

Fidel Suarez Cruz

Manuel Ubals González

Héctor Valle Hernández

Antonio Villarreal Acosta

Orlando Zapata Tamayo

*Oscar Elias Biscet was arrested in December 2002, and during the "black spring" he was convicted and sentenced to 25 years in prison.