Uncommon Sense

Demand Cuba release all its political prisoners NOW!

At 10 a.m. EST Monday, get on Twitter and Facebook and demand the Castro dictatorship in Cuba release all its political prisoners NOW!

Castro regime denies Dr. Oscar Biscet permission to visit United States

Dr. Oscar Biscet and his wife Elsa Morejon

One of Raul Castro's so-called "reforms" that has most excited so-called "Cuba experts," was a change in policy that has allowed numerous dissidents and other Cubans to travel overseas without first having to obtain government permission.

Unless, apparently, that dissident is named Dr. Oscar Biscet.

Biscet, perhaps the most recognizable of the Group of 75 prisoners of conscience jailed during the "black spring" crackdown, said this week the Cuban government denied him permission to travel to Washington, D.C., to participate in a White House event commemorating the 50th anniversary of the Presidental Medal of Freedom.

President George W. Bush in 2007 presented the medal to Biscet's children, as he Biscet sat in a Cuban prison.

Biscet was parole from prison in 2011 -- but only after he refused efforts by the regime, the Catholic Church and the Spanish government to force him to take overseas exile as a condition of his release.

It is his official status as being only "conditionally" free that the Castro dictatorship is using to block him from accepting President Barack Obama's invitation to the anniversary event.

"In reality, I remain a political prisoner," Biscet told MartiNoticias.com.

Another dissident told me during his recent visit to the United States that the Castro regime is allowing him and other activists to leave the country as a ploy to try to fool the world that real change is underway in Cuba.

What is happening to Biscet reveals how much of a ploy it really is.

Listen to Martinoticias' interview with Biscet, here.

2 Cuban political prisoners released; a third near death on Day 57 of hunger strike

Two Cuban political prisoners, including one who had been on hunger strike, were released Friday, apparently after a State Security informant retracted an accusation that they had stolen a computer from another activist.

The prisoners were Rubislandis Ávila González and Roilán Alvarez Rensoler, who had been hospitalized because of his lengthy protest.

The Cuban Patriotic Union (UNPACU) credited internations pressure as influencing the Castro regime to release the pair.

Meanwhile, another political prisoner, Marcelino Abreu Bonora, is on Day 57 of a hunger strike he started to demand his immediate release. He has been imprisoned since Aug. 13, 2012, when he took the occasion of Fidel Castro's birthday to distribute anti-communist leaflets and shout anti-Castro slogans.

A year later, he was tried, convicted and sentenced to 4 years in prison on charges of "public disorder" and "disrespecting" Fidel Castro.

The effects of his hunger strike have landed him in intensive care in a hospital in Santa Clara.

The Cuban Patriotic Union has more on these case.

Poster by Rolando Pulido.

2 Cuban independent trade unionists sentenced to long prison terms

Two independent trade unionists, Vladimir Morera Bacallao and Jorge Ramírez Calderón, have been sentenced to lengthy prison terms, in connection with how they reacted after the Castro police organized an "act of repudiation" outside of Ramirez's home.

Morera was sentenced to 8 years in prison on charges of public disorder, assault, "disrespect" and "injuries." Ramirez, a former political prisoner, was sentenced to 4 years, and his wife, Nélida Lima Conde was sentenced to 3 years "conditional freedom," or probation.

The act of repudiation took place Feb. 14.

When Morera went outside, a Castro goon cut him on the chin and arm with a knife, but it was Morera, and not his attacker, who was prosecuted. When Ramirez was arrested, police threw him into a patrol car and sprayed him with tear gas.

"This has been a terrible injustice, everything has been a lie," Morera's sister, Vilma Morera, said of the trial and other proceedings in the case.

Read more at Diario de Cuba.

Talking Cuba on the radio

I was fortunate enough to be the guest on Silvio Canto's BlogTalkRadio show, during which we talked about Cuba and its election today to the United Nations Human Rights Council.

You can listen to a replay here (I'd love to hear what you think):

 

More Politics Podcasts at Blog Talk Radio with Silvio Canto Jr on BlogTalkRadio

Cuba wins seat on UN Human Rights Council #DontVoteCuba

That it was not a surprise doesn't make any less absurd: Cuba wins a seat on the UN Human Rights Council.

So do a few other dictatorships.

Voice of America reports:

China, Russia, Saudi Arabia and Cuba have won seats on the United Nations Human Rights Council.

The U.N. General Assembly voted Tuesday on 14 new members of the 47-seat council. The vote has upset rights groups that have spoken out against controversial candidates.

Also elected to three-year terms are Algeria, Britain, France, the Maldives, Macedonia, Mexico, Morocco, Namibia, South Africa, and Vietnam.

New York-based Human Rights Watch said candidates such as as China, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Vietnam, and Algeria have poor rights records at home that prevent them from being useful members of the council.

The Geneva-based U.N. Watch, which operates as a watchdog on U.N. activities overall, says allowing such nations to participate on the Human Rights Council amounts to "making a pyromaniac into chief of the fire department." It also included Cuba among the candidates to which it objects.

I will be speaking with Silvo Canto Jr. on his BlogTalkRadio show at 8 p.m. EST about today's events at the United Nations. To listen and for information about how to call in, go here.

The evidence is clear: #DontVoteCuba to UN Human Rights Commission

A social media campaign to dissuade members of the United Nations on Tuesday from electing Cuba to its Human Rights Commission is in response to almost 54 years of human rights abuses by the Castro dictatorship against the Castro dictatorship. The UN can and must do better, it must not reward the regime for its bad behavior, it must not allow the Castros -- and other dictatorships -- a venue from which it can cover up its crimes and those of their fellow dictators.

In a news release Monday, the Cuban Democratic Directorate outlines some of the newest evidence in the case against Cuba:

-- In Bayamo, Cuban political activist and rap singer Angel Yunier Remon, aka El Critico, is hospitalized, near deat the effects of a hunger strike he started almost four weeks ago to protest his unjust imprisonment. When State Security officials informed him Sunday that it would not meet his demands as long as he continues his protest, he again vowed to continue his hunger strike until "freedom or death."

-- In Baracoa, State Security officials have upped the pressure on human rights activists, including the Oct. 26 arrest of José Manuel Rodríguez Navarro and a subsequent "trial," conviction and sentence of 4 years in prison for being a "pre-criminal social danger," the bogus charge the dictatorship frequently uses to target opposition activists. Another activist, Juanier Rodríguez Matos, who earlier was expelled from the University of Oriente because of his Catholic faith and opposition activities, has twice been beaten and arrested for demonstrating his support for Rodriguez Navarro.

-- And in Banes, Cuban police and its goons targeted activists gathered at the homes of Alexander Rodríguez Santiesteban and  Gertrudis Ojeda. Similar reports have also come in from Santa Clara and Sancti Spritus.

Janisset Rivero, an official with the Directorio, said to responsd to this and other clear evidence of Cuban human rights abuses by electing the regime to UN Human Rights Council would represent an "hypocrisy" and a "lack of respect for human rights defenders in Cuba."

Another Sunday of repression in Cuba as Castro police target Ladies In White

UN should reject Cuba, other dictatorships for seats on Human Rights Council

In an editorial published this weekend, the Washington Post sums up the case against electing Cuba and other dictatorships to the United Nations Human Rights Council:

According to a General Assembly resolution, candidates for the council are supposed to be countries that “uphold the highest standards in the promotion and protection of human rights.” Cuba does not meet that criterion. Other regimes that resort to brutality and violence because they lack genuine political legitimacy are also bidding for seats. Admittedly, the council is not the most effective force, but why bestow membership on those who brazenly violate basic principles of human dignity?

In advance of the Nov. 12 vote, human rights activists have taken to social media to demand:

#DontVoteCuba

Sign the petition here.

 

#FreeElCritico #FreeElCritico #FreeElCritico #FreeElCritico #FreeElCritico #Cuba