The headlines were buzzing today with reports that the Castro dictatorship was about to start letting Cubans buy and sell property, most of which was stolen by the dictatorship some 50 years ago.
But I had a hard time giving a damn, much less taking the news seriously because I knew that there were again Cubans being beaten, threatened, harassed, arrested, etc. because of their political opposition to the regime. Allowing real estate deals just seems like another way for the regime to hold onto power, and to earn more cash for itself, without changing the fundamental nature of its rule.
That pessimism was reinforced by a new report * from the unofficial Cuban National Commission for Human Rights and National Reconciliation that details 268 politically motivated arrests, bringing the total for the year to 3,070.
That differs from a count provided this week by another human rights group, but in a country like Cuba, where the police often operate in the shadows and don't see the need to be held accountable for its actions, such counts are only estimates. The reality is probably worse.
How bad is 268 arrests for Cuba, a nation of more than 11.2 million people?
Well, if the same proportion of the population in the United States, a nation of 307 million, were detained, it would add up to more than 7,340 arrests.
Would you notice that?
Whatever the exact numbers, they reflect the reality of Cuba today much more than a "new law" allowing Cubans to buy property stolen from them with money they don't have.
(Learn more about the dictatorship's real estate scam here.)
*The PDF attached to the Miscelaneas story is for October 2010, not 2011.
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