Uncommon Sense

Cuba Cardinal Ortega: Release of Group of 11 'not in my hands'

Cardinal Jaime Ortega of Havana said Monday he has a "clear promise" from the Castro dictatorship that 11 prisoners still in jail because of their refusal to leave Cuba will be released and allowed to stay on the island.

But Ortega, the self-appointed savior of Cuba's political prisonersm said he has no idea when that will be, almost five months after he, the former Spanish foreign minister and the dictator Raúl Castro struck a deal to release 52 prisoners from Cuban jails and expel them to Spain.

"Those who remain will be released. I don't know when. That is really not in my hands, but I have a clear promise that the rest will be freed and allowed to stay in Cuba," Ortega said after a meeting in Madrid with several former prisoners who were released only after they agreed to leave Cuba.

And this is the man of God in which the fate of the prisoners has been placed?

Ortega's is not enviable position, as he has to protect the church while at the same time trying to use his and the institution's moral suasion to influence the regime. The difficulty he faces is understandable.

But what is indefensible is that at least publicly, he never comes across as a champion for those Cubans — particularly the political prisoners and their families — who have suffered so much because of the Castro dictatorship.

He never puts himself at risk on behalf of a cause greater than himself.

Instead, he offers only excuses for the Castros, selling out not only the prisoners, but his soul and that of his church.

Exhumation of Zapata's remains is delayed

The exhumation of the remains of Orlando Zapata Tamayo has been delayed until his mother, Reina Luisa Tamayo, is certain that she and other family members will be able to leave Cuba for the United States.

Sra. Tamayo said she and her family are not in a hurry to leave the island, and that it is up to the Castro dictatorship to resolve the hang-ups in the process.

The regime last month offered Sra. Tamayo a chance to leave Cuba, but she said she would not emigrate without being able to take her son's cremated remains with her.

Radio Martí and Cuban Democratic DIrectorate have the story.

Here is my video tribute, produced earlier this year, to Zapata and to his mother:

Cuban journalist/blogger Luis Felipe Rojas arrested released (UPDATED x 4)

Luis Felipe Rojas

UPDATED, Nov. 29, 2010 (8:45 a.m. EST) - Yoani Sanchez reports via Twitter that Luis Rojas is being transferred back to his home in San German.

UPDATED, Nov. 29, 2010 (5:45 p.m. EST) - He has been released.

Luis Felipe Rojas is one of Cuba's most accomplished independent journalists and bloggers.

Which probably is why Cuban police today reportedly detained him and his family outside of Guantanamo, according to the Twitter feed of Cuban democracy activist Rolando Lobaina.

UPDATED, Nov. 28, 2010 — As of this morning, Luis Felipe Rojas remained incommunicado, according to a post on his blog.

UPDATED, Nov. 28, 2010 — Rojas and his family were going to Guantanamo to attend the baptism of Robaina's children, but State Security officials apparently didn't believe that was his real intent for being in the city, according to a report today.

Luis Felipe Rojas and his family.

Ariel Sigler Amaya wins 'freedom by the pound'

Freedom by the Pound from Babalu Bloggers on Vimeo.

Read more about Ariel Sigler Amaya's remarkable recovery at Babalu.

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Cuba political prisoner José Luis Rodríguez Chávez on hunger strike

José Luis Rodríguez Chávez

Cuban political prisoner José Luis Rodríguez Chávez started a hunger strike last week after prison officials prevented a friend from visiting him, according to a report from the CIHPRESS news agency.

News agency chief Roberto de Jesus Guerra Pérez had previsouly visited Rodríguez several times before at the Quivicán prison. But on Nov. 24, officials blocked a visit, noting that Guerra is not a family member and, perhaps most tellingly, that he is a "counter-revolutionary."

In response, Rodríguez starting chanting anti-Castro slogans — "Down with the dictatorship!" "Long live human rights!" etc. Guards then threw him into a punishment cell, and Rodríguez declared himself on hunger strike, according to a report from another inmate cited by CIHPRES.

Guerra said the real reason the visit was blocked is that officials did not want Rodríguez to reveal to him what he knew about the recent stabbing deaths of three inmates at Quivicán.

Five years after launch, Uncommon Sense goes on

Five years ago, on Nov. 29, 2005, I started this blog, with no clear idea of what it would be, and definitely no expectation I would still be writing it five years later.

Thank you for reading, because without you I would not have made it this far.

At first, I jumped from topic to topic, but within weeks I was blogging almost exclusively about Cuba, particularly its political prisoners and others on the frontline in the struggle against the Castro tyranny and for freedom. My primary goal has been to do what I can to make sure the world knows as much as possible about the brave Cubans risking it all so that they can be free.

Five years later, my efforts remain dedicated to them.

In blogging, I have learned so much about myself as a journalist, and as a Cuban.

I rely on the efforts of others — Cuban independent journalists, Radio Martí and other Spanish-language outlets, etc. — in reporting and commenting the best I can on events on the island. But I'd like think that Uncommon Sense has contributed, if only a bit, to the understanding of what is happening in Cuba today. I often wish I could do more, but I am confident that on most days, I am doing my best.

Blogging about Cuba has rekindled my Cubanidad, my identity as the son and grandson of former refugees who fled their homeland so that their family could have a better life in freedom. And blogging about Cuba has opened a world of new friends and new experiences.

For example, I never imagined I would be asked to speak in Tampa about Cuban political prisoners within blocks of where José Martí more than a century ago had come to recruit support for the revolution against Spain; or that I would get to exhange correspondence with modern Cuban heroes like Dr. Darsi Ferrer and former political prisoners; or that I would get to hear a first-hand account of the capture and execution of Ché Guevara; or that I would be embraced, literally, by older Cubans who remember a much more famous member of my family.

Despite many days when I get angry and/or cry about what is happening on the island, blogging about Cuba has given me the confidence and the faith to believe that despite the ignorance of so many about Cuba, the island and its people will one day be free. Tyranny will not prevail.

Somehow, I hope my efforts will help hasten that day.

I wish there wasn't a need for Uncommon Sense, that Cuba was again a free nation, its jails empty of citizens there only because of their faith in freedom, and their faith in their fellow Cubans.

But the Castro tyranny persists, and the struggle against it goes on.

And so does Uncommon Sense.

Gorki to the Cuba dictatorship after latest arrest: 'It's only rock and roll'

Under suspicion and harassment once again by forces of the Castro dictatorship, Cuban punk rocker Gorki Aguila, front man for Porno Para Ricardo, had a simple yet powerful response: "It's only rock and roll."

Yes, Gorki, but the dictatorship definitely does not like it, and what it represents to a regime as repugnant as the one you challenge with your songs.

Which is why the authorities moved against Gorki and his bandmates on the eve of a planned Havana concert and trip to the United States.

Two news releases on the group's website, now translated into English, tell the story:

Porno Para Ricardo “I Love my CDR” Concert Canceled following Arrests and Threats that Musical Instruments would be Confiscated

NOVEMBER 27, 2010.

The members of Porno Para Ricardo were arrested on Friday, when traveling toward the home of Silvio Benítez (Liberal Party President of the Republic of Cuba) in Punta Brava, to go and leave some of the instruments they were going to use for the concert "I love my CDR. " This concert was scheduled to kick off the tour of the same name.

Ciro Diaz (guitar), Hebert Dominguez (bass) and Claudio Fuentes photographer were taken to the 5th Station of Playa and Gorki Águila (vocals) and William Retureta were taken to the station of Siboney. All were handcuffed and taken in patrol cars to police stations where they were accused of "carrying instruments of dubious origin."

Ten hours later they released them.

The concert scheduled for tonight at 7, will be canceled because the instruments and sound equipment may not be transported and run the risk of being confiscated by the authorities. Gorki Aguila has reported the harassment of a patrol car that follows him everywhere since the announcement of the concert.

Today, Saturday, November 27, Gorki has been cited by authorities at the Immigration Offices, the reasons are still unknown, but it is feared that the subpoena is related to the invitation that the group has received to travel to Los Angeles, California, to a cultural event that will have Polish leader Lech Walesa and Patty Smith scheduled to be present.

Porno Para Ricardo
Havana, November 27, 2010.

Porno para Ricardo’s Gorki Águila asks Immigration Police during interrogation: "Why are you so concerned about a small rock group? … It's only rock and roll."

After the arrests suffered by the members of Porno Para Ricardo on Friday, November 26, Gorki Águila (singer and guitarist) was requested to appear on Saturday afternoon at the immigration office for questioning about his music, the concert in Punta Brava and an interview he recently gave to Radio Martí, the questioning was intended to intimidate him with refusing to allow him to leave the country, where the group is in the midst of the process to attend a cultural event in Los Angeles, which will be attended by Lech Walesa and Patty Smith.

When the members of Porno Para Ricardo were arrested, all their belongings were temporarily confiscated. The police erased the footage that the musicians had made of the police harassment and the lyrics of the songs that were in the guitar case of Gorki Aguila.

On the night of November 27, 2010, there was a major operation outside the house of the musician Gorki Águila, in the municipality of Playa. From the balcony of his apartment, you can see the presence of police, state security, the Committees for the Defense of the Revolution and the Rapid Response Brigades. All these elements have maintained a permanent surveillance and harassment along with open confrontation.

In the interview with the Immigration Police, Gorki Aguila said:

"Why are you so concerned about a small rock group that only plays a few songs to which you have removed all artistic value; why give it so much importance if we are not up in arms? It's only rock and roll. "

Porno Para Ricardo
Laura García Freyre, Manager, 28 November 2010

(H/T to Notes from the Cuban Exile Quarter.)

Yanisleydis Ramírez Terue, Cuba Political Prisoner of the Week, Nov. 28, 2010

One of the more nefarious qualities of Cuba under Castro is that the rule of the dictator, not the rule of law, prevails.

That explains the dictatorship's practice of labeling those Cubans who somehow don't conform with what it is trying to impose on the populace, as "pre-criminal social dangers," complete with prison terms of up to 4 years. With no evidence to help build its cases, the regime presumes it has the foresight to determine who in the future will cause it trouble.

The dictatorship's justice ministry enforces the practice, but "justice" has nothing to do with it.

Human rights activist Yanisleydis Ramírez Terue is one of Cuba's newest "social dangers," sentenced earlier this month to 4 years in prison for not behaving like the dictatorship would have her.

According to one report, Ramírez seems to be sort of a free spirit, visiting discos and riding in cars with foreigners, presumably raising questions about her character — at least as the dictatorship sees it.

But her persecution also seems to have a political component, as a State Security official told her family that she had been accused of supporting opposition groups. Also, Ramírez also may have been targeted because of her mother's support for the wife of prisoner of conscience Pedro Argüelles Morán.

Of course, the details don't matter, because the dictatorship — as long as it is in power — will never have to prove its case.

For more news about Cuban political prisoners and other events on the island, follow Uncommon Sense on Twitter @marcmasferrer.

Cuba political prisoner: 'I am very convinced of what I'm doing'

Pedro Argüelles Morán

Cuban blogger Claudia Cadelo has published an extraordinary interview with independent journalist Pedro Argüelles Morán, one of 11 prisoners of conscience still in jail despite ostensibly being covered by a deal between Spain, the Catholic Church and the Castro dictatorship for their release. In the interview, Argüelles describes what the origins of his activism, the events leading to his arrest in 2003 and what he will do if and when he is released.

Here's an excerpt, in which Argüelles describes living conditions in prison:

Claudia Cadelo: The Cuban jails are unpresentable. The rapporteur for torture and ill-treatment was unable to visit Cuba last year because the Cuban government would not allow it. Tell me about your life in prison, the journalist behind bars, how you managed to hold onto your morals and principles in such terrible conditions.

Pedro Argüelles: I always speak for myself and also my brothers, but in this case for myself: I am very convinced of what I'm doing and since I began this fight in 1992 I knew everything that I was exposing myself to. I knew the risks I would run and the sacrifices that I would have to make. They could expel me from my workplace. They would monitor me and I would be declared an official non-person for denouncing human rights violations. Because Cuba is a signatory to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

In here we live in appalling conditions, incredible overcrowding, poor nutrition and medical care. The snitching -- speaking in popular terms -- is enormous, the police informers are in the thousands. I am constantly observed, there are many eyes on me because every time there is a violation of human rights I investigate and denounce it, at the risk of what might happen.

To work and write in prison is not easy. Life here is hard: this is not a day care center or a school in the countryside, nor an urban school. It’s a prison with a series of psychedelic elements, psychiatric cases, mentally retarded, dangerous people who have murdered, raped, who have committed all sorts of crimes. People who will never leave prison. It’s a social dump and you’re forced to live with it. There are, of course, normal people, good people who never should have come to prison or who were punished excessively for some nonsense.

All the time the police tell you what to do, who you can talk to, who you can meet. But we have to carry on even though the environment is hostile.

The sanitary conditions are appalling. I am in a cubicle with room for two people and there are six people here, there are two triple bunks. The bathrooms are holes in the ground and we get water twice a day. The water isn’t drinkable and it’s for everything: drinking, bathing, cleaning.

Read the whole thing, in English or en español.

Former Cuban political prisoner starts a blog

Miguel Galban

After more than seven years in prison, Cuban independent journalist Miguel Galban Gutierrez was released this past September and forced into exile in Spain.

Barely two months later, he has started a blog, Miguel Galban Gutiérrez desde el destierro (Miguel Galban Gutiérrez from exile)

You can read it here.