Uncommon Sense

Cuban secret policeman to hunger striker's mother: 'If he dies, it's not our problem'

Yuriet Pedroso (Photo: Hablemos Press)

As Cuban hunger striker Yuriet Pedroso's condition continues to worsen, the Castro dictatorship can't help but show disdain for his suffering and for his demand for justice.

Pedroso, who started his protest on March 2, is demanding the regime drop a criminal charge of "assault" pending against him. Pedroso had been arrested in December after he was caught posting anti-Castro bumper stickers.

On Friday, as doctors were giving Pedroso's mother an update on medical condition, a secret policeman interjected: "If he dies, it's not our problem."

Which basically has been the dictatorship's attitude toward the Cuban people for more than 56 years.

Castro police arrest more than 100 Ladies In White, other activists as they leave Havana church

President Barack Obama's rapprochement with Cuba has been accompanied by a plethora of stories about how neat-o -- the travel, the music, the food, etc. -- it will be when full diplomatic relations with the Castro dictatorship are restored.

Missing from most of the coverage is how the prospects of the lifting the embargo, reopening of embassies, etc., has not been accompanied by an improvement in the human rights situation on the island.

Maybe that's because maybe it's actually getting worse..

For instance, for the umpteenth Sunday in a row, the Castro goon squads earlier today were unleashed to attack the Damas De Blanco, or "Ladies In White," and their supporters as they left a Havana church after Mass. More than 100 arrests were reported.

The international media, especially the American media, will ignore today's events and even if they are aware, most will stick with the previous narrative.

Fortunately, there are many in the Cuban opposition who know how to use Twitter.

 

Cuban opposition activists describe this past Sunday's attacks by Castro police

Not withstanding President Barack Obama's wishful thinking, political repression in Cuba is as bad as it ever was.

Just listen to first-hand accounts of Cuban men and women who were beaten and arrested this past Sunday in Havana when they tried to display photos of Cuban political prisoners.

"They beat and bit us," said a member of the Cuban Ladies In White.

Cuban opposition activist gravely ill after 53 days on hunger strike to protest arrest

Cuban opposition activist Yuriet Pedroso Gonzalez is in intensive care in a Santa Clara hospital, suffering the effects of a hunger strike he started March 1 to protest a pending charge against him of "assault."

Pedroso, 34, a member of the Central Opposition Coalition, was charged in December after he posted anti-Castro stickers in the town of Esperanza in Santa Clara province.

Pedroso is demanding that the authorities drop the charge.

Martinoticias.com has more details.

Human Rights Foundation honors Cuban political prisoner El Sexto with Havel prize

Kudos to the New York-based Human Rights Foundation, which has named Cuban prisoner of conscience Danilo Maldonado one of the three 2015 recipients Václav Havel International Prize for Creative Dissent.

Maldonado, nicknamed "El Sexto," is a graffiti artist  was arrested Dec. 26 in Havana as he was driving towards Central Park, where he was perform a piece of art featuring two pigs whose bodies were painted with the names "Fidel" and "Raul."

He faces a charge of "disrespect" -- not to the pigs, but to the brother-dictators -- but he has yet to stand trial.

The Human Rights Foundation explained why El Sexto is one of three people to receive the honor this year:

El Sexto, whose real name is Danilo Maldonado, is a Cuban graffiti artist and activist whose public work has turned him into a formidable dissident, evidenced by the ongoing repression he suffers at the hands of the Castro dictatorship. This past December, El Sexto was arrested on his way to put on a performance art piece called "Rebelión en la Granja," with two pigs decorated with the names “Fidel” and “Raúl.” El Sexto was charged with contempt and remains in prison awaiting trial.

Past recipients of the Havel prize include the Russian punk rock group Pussy Riot, in 2014; and the Cuban Damas De Blanco ("Ladies In White"), in 2013.

 

 

Raul Castro endorses Barack Obama's 'honesty' after Obama breaks promise on Cuba

Barack Obama on Saturday sold out the cause of Cuban freedom and made a final break with this campaign promise from 2008: "My policy toward Cuba will be guided by one word: 'libertad.' ... "The road to freedom for all Cubans must begin with justice for Cuba's political prisoners, the right of free speech, a free press, freedom of assembly, and it must lead to elections that are free and fair," ... "That is my commitment."

"I won't stand for this injustice; you will not stand for this injustice, and together we will stand up for freedom in Cuba. That will be my commitment as president of the United States of America," he said.

Raul Castro, of course, couldn't be happier with Obama's broken promise. Castro said he apologized to Obama for inheriting a hostile U.S.-Cuba relationship he said was in no way Obama's fault.

“In my opinion," Castro said, "President Obama is an honest man."

Cuban political prisoner Máximo Pradera Valdés dies in Castro gulag

Máximo Pradera Valdés

Cuban political prisoner Máximo Pradera Valdés, in jail since after he and two others were arrested in 2001 while trying to sneak onto the island, has died, according to Cuban independent journalist and former prisoner of conscience Ivan Hernandez Carrillo.

Pradera, as well as Ihosvani Suris de la Torre and Santiago Padron Quintero, were held without trial until August 2010, when they were tried and convicted of terrorism-related charges. Pradera and Padron were sentenced to 30 years in prison; and Suris received a life sentence.

Hernandez reported that Pradera's funeral was to take place Sunday in Pinar del Rio.

A day after Obama-Castro meeting, Castro's police arrest more than 50 opposition activists

Cuban people Sunday arrested more than 50 opposition activists, including members of the Cuban Ladies In White, after they displayed photographs of political prisoners while riding a bus in Havana.

It is is the least-surprising news of the day after Barack Obama and Raul Castro met in Panama

Raul Castro's man in Washington

It's now official: A free, democratic Cuba is no longer the goal of United States policy toward the island.

After this weekend's bro-fest in Panama, it's not exactly clear what has replaced it after 50 plus years, except for maybe the new check marks on President Barack Obama's legacy checklist and his Apologize for America World Tour T-shirt.

“So often, when we insert ourselves in ways that go beyond persuasion, it’s counterproductive, it backfires,” Obama said, adding that was “why countries keep on trying to use us as an excuse for their own governance failures.”

“Let’s take away the excuse,” Obama said.

In return for releasing American hostage/political prisoner Alan Gross in December, Cuban dictator Raul Castro this weekend collected his ransom from Obama: De facto recognition and normalization of relations and the promise of much more.

All Obama could offer the people of Cuba were platitudes.

“(W)e are willing to discuss everything, but we need to be patient — very patient,” Obama said.

After 50 plus years of tyranny, repression and yes, sponsorship of international terror, all Obama can say about efforts on the island, and elsewhere, to bring freedom and democracy to Cuba, is "be patient."

That must have given Castro, an 83-year-old general never elected to anything, a hearty laugh at Obama's expense.

Because that promise of change -- "hope in change," if you will -- is not part of Castro's agenda.

His goal since taking over for his decaying, decrepit big brother in 2006, has been to do whatever it takes to preserve his regime's deadly grip on all levels of power. That is why he has instituted so-called "economic reforms," and that is why he held onto Alan Gross until the American president gave in to his No. 1 ransom demand: A lifting of the embargo and other sanctions, and full diplomatic recognition.

Obama is well on his way to giving Castro all that he wants.

What about the Cuban people? They continue to suffer under Castro's jackboots. For example, since Dec. 17, when the U.S.-Cuba rapprochement was announced, the Cuban secret police have made some 1,000 politically-motivated arrests.

The re-set of U.S.-Cuban relations has been of no use to those brave Cubans risking what little freedom they do enjoy to demand democracy or at the very least, a seat at the table.

Castro has no interest in allowing that and after this weekend in Panama, he has a willing accomplice in the White House.

More on Castro mob attack on Cuban dissidents, U.S. citizens in Panama

The whole world is watching -- or at least it should be -- after a pro-Castro mob in Panama City, Panama, attacked a group of peaceful anti-Castro activists trying to pay attribute to Jose Marti in a park near the Cuban embassy. The anti-Castro activists were arrested, but the mob was allowed to go free.